Chapter One
“I’ll go around the East end of the ranch,” Silas Ward pointed off toward the land that met with the West Fork Trinity River. His breath misted in front of him with each exhale.
He turned to face his daughter when Emmie didn’t answer.
She quickly realized she’d been nodding her head. “Right,” She spoke too loudly after her silence. “Red and I will take the West.”
Emmie was anxious to get moving in the cold. Her fingers and toes were beginning to go numb in the dark cold and it was no use to stand around talking. Emmie grinned at her father as she double checked her rifle and turned Red toward the East end of the ranch. The sun would be up soon, the sky was starting to glow with the promise of future warmth.
“…And be careful.” Her father’s words fell like pebbles at her back. Emmie’s eyes and ears were focused ahead. The last few months something had changed between her and her father. She’d grown into a woman and Silas had just seemed to notice, or maybe just the women in the town had begun whispering in his ear.
Her behavior had never bothered her father before but now he was suddenly all too aware that she was supposed to be a lady. not the farm boy he’d raised her to be.
Emmie was careful to wear dresses and do her hair up whenever she was sure to be noticed by someone from town but now even the old work pants she wore this morning had gotten a prolonged look.
Red trotted off, happy to be moving on the land he knew best. She went out a quarter of a mile and turned. Silas was nowhere to be seen, only lazy blocks of cattle clumped into misshapen groups speckled the land.
“Now it’s just me and you,” She leaned over Red and gave him an affectionate pat. “Let’s go find some cattle rustlers.”
Emmie gave a light whistle and Red took off again, this time at a canter. The air seeped straight through the woolen scarf she'd pulled around her neck and her eyes watered, but her thighs gripped around Red, her muscles contracting and blood finally begins to move through her body.
Mornings were always early on the ranch but this morning they’d come out for a reason. Thieves.
Nothing had been taken from the Ward ranch, yet. But there were rumors. The McGillicuddy Ranch to the East of them had lost a dozen head of cattle in the middle of the night. Vanished into thin air. And the McGillicuddy’s didn’t have any to spare. They were hard up and the whole town knew it.
It had been Emmie’s idea to do a few security rounds in the middle of the night and Silas had basically agreed. He’d not thought it a large enough problem to enlist the help of ranch hands or to make a 2 A.M. round as Emmie had first suggested but he’d thought one early morning round couldn’t hurt.
A soft sound of movement made Emmie stop. She pulled on Red’s reins and looked into the partially lit morning. The sound came again, clearer now that she’d stopped moving. Emmie turned Red on a ninety-degree angle and stared ahead. When the sound came once more she took off. Red instinctively understood his owner, his legs and neck reached forward as he lunged toward their unknown destination.
The thundering of Red’s hooves wouldn’t go unnoticed by thieves if that’s what the noise was, so Emmie pushed the horse to move with all his power. The sun was coming up now and the horizon became clearer as Emmie accelerated.
A small group of longhorn cows were running along the horizon. Emmie squinted out to where they moved. In a few yards, she understood why she didn't see any thieves.
"Coyotes," Emmie said under her breath as she pulled up short. With one flick of her hand, she unstrapped her gun and swung it over her shoulder. She pulled the rifle into focus and held tight to the group. There were three or four coyotes, and they were snapping at the cattle, moving faster than she'd ever seen before.
"Come on," She whispered to her rifle. Red held still as if he knew just what she'd wanted. As soon as one pulled into focus they were quickly out again. Emmie refocused and waited for one on the outside of the group. With a quick motion, she cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.
The rifle blasted into the early morning air. She hit him, she could have sworn she’d hit him, but he was already gone. The cattle began to scatter and stumble in different directions. Her shot had scared the coyotes off. Emmie squinted hard, holding her rifle with one hand and guiding Red forward with the other.
Nothing. The cattle were no longer together and Emmie could see no sign of the coyotes. She trotted around the spot where they’d clustered. A spray of blood dotted a dry patch of cold ground.
"I thought so," Emmie spoke to Red, whose ears perked up at the sound of his master's voice. She sighed and looked uneasily to the horizon. After a hard moment of staring at nothing, Emmie made a call to the cattle. She rounded up the group, and slowly moved them back toward the main house. They would have to keep the groups closer to home overnight unless until someone could watch them graze during the day.
Halfway back to the main house, Emmie saw Silas galloping toward her. She saw worry and relief on his face at the same time and Emmie realized that he'd heard the shot.
“No men, just coyotes,” Emmie called out in his direction before he could ask.
“Coyotes?” Silas’ brow wrinkled.
Emmie raised her shoulders in a shrug but her face burned red with embarrassment.
“They dead?”
Emmie coughed a little and looked away, “No.”
“No?” Silas stopped his horse and Emmie could feel her father’s eyes staring at her. She was a sure shot. Better than any of the men on the ranch. Better then Silas himself.
“I hit one but then it disappeared. They were large and…fast…not like the usual coyotes from around here.”
Silas nodded but didn’t respond. Emmie took a large breath then began moving Red around the cattle again.
"Well, help me bring them in," Her words came out sharper than she'd meant them to and she could feel a bad mood settling over her day. The sort of mood that would be very hard for her to shake.
Once the cattle were close enough to keep an eye on them, Emmie took off toward a small empty paddock on the far side of the main house. She unbridled Red and grabbed her rifle.
“Where are you going?” Silas called after her.
“I need to make sure this thing is working properly,” She indicated the rifle in her hand and watched as Silas repressed a smile. Emmie was not amused even if her father found it humorous.
“I don’t miss.”
"I thought that's exactly what happened," Silas laughed. Emmie had been talking more to herself than to her father but now she turned to him with wide eyes. He tried to straighten out his face but it was useless, he began laughing again almost immediately.
Emmie's jaw tightened and she walked into the paddock with more purpose and aggression than was strictly necessary. She picked up three discarded horseshoes and walked them back to Silas.
“Throw them,” Her voice was void of the good nature Silas was unable to repress.
He took a sigh and looked at his daughter with a nod, “Alright.” He pulled one horseshoe away and shifted.
“No,” Emmie shook her head at Silas.
“What?” He looked at his hand defensively.
“All three at the same time,” Emmie tipped her head forward.
Silas slowly grinned again then moved all three half-moons into his right hand. With a flick of his wrist, he threw the group high into the air.
In one swift motion, Emmie lifted her rifle. Three shots rang out followed by the sound of startled hooves scampering away from the noise. As each horseshoe fell to the ground Emmie looked at them happily.
“Guess it still works after all.” She smiled at her father, dropped her rifle to her side, turned, and walked with a light step back to the main house.