13
Fifteen years later.
“Are you all right, old man?” Landon glared at the man in front of him. “Well, I suppose you’re just too ornery to be anything but all right, aren’t you?”
“You get yourself away from here and leave this old man in peace for a few minutes. I got me things to say.” Monroe nodded but said nothing more. When he walked away, going into the woods that were darker than the area where he was now sitting, Landon knew that he’d not go far. Like his family, he was worried for him.
“Got us a beautiful family now, my Katie dear. You missed a lot going on ahead of me like you did.” He looked out over the expansive fields, the wheat and hay swaying gently in the afternoon breeze. “I miss you more and more every single day, I do.”
He saw the tractor going through the next field over. There were six of them now, all running nearly year round. Landon heard the air brakes of a big rig as they were let off, and turned his head slightly to see what business was going on at the ranch. More flesh going out. Horse or steer, it was hard to guess, but it was making money, no doubt.
“You should have seen that little girl Loren last night, love. Just as pretty as you were on your wedding day, and fit right in that dress of yours like it had been tailored to her. Calls me Grandpa, she does, and made me feel like I could have taken on the world when she had me walking her down the aisle.” He thought of taking her hand in his and handing her over to her new husband. “Jack is a good man. You’d like him and that brood of his. Two of the cutest little boys you’ve ever seen. And you think they don’t love her too? My goodness, those two would beat their daddy up if’n they thought he wasn’t treating her right.”
Zach and his wife, they’d done well by that child, bringing her into their lives and his. There were others too, that had been born or brought to his family by other means since his Katie had passed. Landon wanted to complain about being lonely without her, but knew it for the lie that it would have been.
“Our Emma is working again. That girl could never stay too idle. Even when they begged her, mind you, I said begged her to come on back and be the mayor, she turned them down. Now she’s in Child Like darn near every day, making something or another for them kids to love her for.” He thought of Mason. “Good man, him. I never in all my wildest dreams would have pegged him as the man for our Emma, but he’s done right fine. Not just with her, but with the ranch too. Expanded again, he did. Making us not just cover them few states like we had started on, but even more. And the government, they come see him when they have ranching concerns, and those of beef. I surely do love that man. And them kids of his too.”
Mason and Emma had four children, nearly all of them grown up now. But they were taking after their daddy and him, out there on the range like they’d been born to a saddle. He supposed in a way they had been. Three of the prettiest little girls that were as mean as a rattlesnake if cornered, and a son that was the spitting image of his daddy.
“You seeing old Palmer and that Georgie? Nicest couple, they were. Miss them like I do my fishing. And you just knew that when Palmer passed that Georgie wouldn’t be far behind him. Four hours…can you believe it? Just four hours separated them passing on. I guess they just couldn’t be without each other none. I have to tell you, I worried for them boys when she went. Mason, big man that he is, sobbed like a little baby. Had to have me a minute or two myself, seeing them all gathered around them graves like they’d lost their parents. I’m supposing in a way that they did. Yes, ma’am, they sure took their deaths hard.” He thought of when his Katie had passed and how much he’d wanted to join her. “Couldn’t though, now could I? You made me promise I’d be around for them boys. Well, I’m nearly ninety now, love, thanks to that old vampire and his blood. I’m thinking I did what you wanted.”
Jace and Holly had a passel of kids. Six boys and four girls. Not all of them blood, but he also knew that no one of them would ever think of it. The kids they’d brought into their lives had been hurting, nearly to the point of never coming back, but those two, heck fire, all them Douglases, they brought them around and showed them what love was all about.
“Gerard, he got himself some things going on, he does. He and Miss Susie have opened up four more of them ranches for kids. I’m telling you, sometimes when I think about how them kids benefit from those ponies of theirs, I just want to cry me a river. Those kids sure do enjoy themselves when they come out. Even though some of them leave here only to pass on that very next week, you can see by their faces that they loved every minute of it.”
He thought of his own rides now, the ones where he had to have help getting on his own horse and then off again. But he knew, just like Mercedes’ daddy had, being on a horse would cure what ails you. Never felt better than when he was on his old saddle moving around like he wasn’t nearly crippled up in pain.
Landon looked out over the fields again. The semi was gone now, and in its place a tractor. He watched as the operator put large bales of Douglas hay in the barn and went on back for another. Landon wasn’t surprised to see one of Logan’s boys on the tractor. This was a family that sure did work together. He looked back at the marker next to his wife’s.
His son. His only blood born son had been such a disappointment to them all. He knew that he was in a better place. Dirk’s head hadn’t been screwed on just right. But he was gone now, leaving them in peace that they’d seldom had when he’d been alive.
“Dirk, there are times when I just sit and bawl over some of the things that I could have done with you. You done went and broke this old man’s heart. Not that you’d care about that, but I wanted you to know it.” He had to look away, the dates on the marker not just sad for how close they were, but that every time he thought of that time, he hurt more. “When it comes down to it, son, I think we’re all a bit better off that you are gone. Burns my soul to say that, but you weren’t nice, not even a little bit.”
He thought of the day his son had come at him with a bat, beating him nearly to death. If it hadn’t been for the big vampire that now hid in the shadows, he’d not be here to hold his grandchildren, or to drop a worm or two in the water with one of them Douglas boys. Monroe sharing what he was with him that fateful day had not just saved him, but given him a little more juice in his blood to keep him living longer. But he was tired now.
“Anyhow. Darin? I’m telling you, never would have pegged him for being a teacher. He sure does love it. He’s got him a good thing going on with the ranch and all. None of them boys slacked off when they got to be rich as Midas, but he wanted to give back. Now he wears himself a tie and goes to school every day to teach them kids about farming and ranching. Even them others, those brothers, they go in and help him out too. Mercedes, she’s just enjoying being a vet. That girl, I’m telling you, my Katie, she can do her job better than any person I’ve ever seen.”
There was laughter beyond the trees now. He looked up to see several children, all of them laughing and running through the woods. When he spied the two wolves, graying at their face and moving a little slowly, he smiled. Paddy and his missus were babysitting again.
“That little Bonnie sure did surprise us all. Four little pups born to her a year after marrying her mate. Had you asked me, I might have told you she wasn’t nearly old enough, but she sure was. In her twenties now, can you believe it?” Paddy saw him and Landon waved. He knew they’d not come over; this was his private time with his own missus. “They call me Grandda too. Got me so many grandkids now, Katie love, it’s hard to remember who is who.”
But he did know them. Each and every one of them. Not just their names, but the day they were born. He might not know how old they were, but he knew when they had a special one coming up. He chuckled a little when he thought of old Monroe’s last birthday.
“He wasn’t pleased with me, you understand that. But him looking like he ain’t no older than you and me were when we wed, and being nearly six hundred, is just plain funny to me.” He was powerful too, Monroe was. And one of the kindest sweetest men he knew, so long as you didn’t piss him off. “You know, there are days when teasing him is about all the fun I have me anymore.”
Which wasn’t true. He laughed every day. And was loved more than he’d ever thought possible. He had a family like none other. Vampires, cougars, wolves, and a few other creatures that he might not know of. But he had them and he loved them.
“Logan and Charlie are on a tour right now. Never would have thought them the jet setting type, but they go off to these wild places and help with vineyards and grape growing too. They got them about a half dozen little ones now too. And they’re thinking that they might be taking in a couple more. I’m telling you, Katie love, we sure do have the best of the best here.”
He thought of the real reason he’d come out here today. Not just to update his missus on things, which he did weekly, but to talk to her seriously about something. He wanted her approval on something. Not that she’d ever tell him he was wrong...well, she might, but she’d be really happy, he thought, with what he’d done. He knew it was time, past time, to settle things up.
“Zach and Tisha have moved me in with them. Got me a full-time helper to come in and stretch these poor old muscles out and get them moving again. Spending all that time on a horse, it’s not good on a man. And now I’m paying for it, I’m thinking.” He was stalling, and if his Katie was here…well, he could almost hear her telling him to get to it. “I’m gonna. You just have to let me ride the fences for a bit first.”
He’d been living with Zach and Tisha in their big house for nearly a month now. And he was loving every moment of it. They sure did have a houseful all the time, but he never felt like he was being shoved in a corner. Even them kids that were only passing through their home to another more permanent place, they called him Grandda and sat up on his knee when they needed him.
“Emma and I been talking about some things. I had her changing things around for me. I knew we talked about it before you passed, but things have changed a bit. Them boys, they need more than just a little bit of cash left to them. So I took matters into my own hands, and I fixed things for them.”
He had to smile. Little bit of cash? Landon knew for a fact that even should he leave each of the boys a million dollars, there would still be enough left over to give each of his grandchildren and great grandchildren that much as well.
Landon had never worried about money his whole life, and now getting close to death like he was, he was concerned about it. Not so much about how much he had, but who was to get it. And he thought he’d done the right thing.
“They don’t need money. Not a one of them has suffered at all like they did in the beginning. Made them better men, I believe. Showed them the real value of having more than they could spend at one time.” Nodding, he wiped at the tears. “I surely do miss you, my love. You sure did hurt my heart, passing on like you did. But there aren’t no more suffering in your beautiful eyes haunting me when I go to sleep. I see you as you looked that day you come down that long church aisle and took me as your husband. Best thing that ever done did happen to me.”
He let the tears fall freely. Landon thought that at his age, he’d do as he darn well pleased and didn’t care what anyone thought anymore. When he could see plainly again, as well as a ninety-year-old could, he looked down at the markers before him.
“There is more than enough money in the trust that I set up to run both the Child Like foundations, as well as the pony ranches that Susie has going.” He thought about all the ways that he’d spread his money around. Money he’d worked a lifetime to achieve, and had come to realize meant very little when you were loved like he was. “I set some up for the kids too. College funds for them or whatever they might need it for.”
He glanced at Dirk’s marker and wondered if any of them would need it for bail money or the like. Landon didn’t think so. The kids that were fruits of the children he’d come to love were like their parents, each and every one of them knowing the way things should be and never harming a living soul.
“I took care of Zach mostly.” He loved that boy. Had from the moment that he’d seen him coming across the lawn at him that day he’d come for advice. Back then Landon had thought himself an expert on a great many things, but found out that while he was smart, he knew squat about more than he thought he knew. “He’s a fine boy, better man than most I know twice his age.”
Zach wasn’t going to be happy with him when he found out what Landon had done. Emma knew, of course, as did Mason. The big man had told him it was the smartest thing he could have done, not telling Zach. But he was relying on Mason to explain it to him. Tell him what he’d been thinking.
It had taken him the better part of two years to complete his project concerning young Zach. But he’d been prouder than a pup at his first venture out in the yard when Child Like had earned national attention for what it was for. And the praise of a president of these United States telling the world they needed more men, men who thought with their hearts like Zach, to make this a better place for people.
“I got him a ranch in every state, my darling. One that can be, with the money I left for each of them, a grand place for families to go and stay while they’re waiting on things to settle.”
He didn’t want to say aloud that they were for the dying children and their families, but that’s what they were. And the ranches that were a part of each of them would hold some ponies or other animals for the children to get to see, touch, or ride should they need it. He’d seen firsthand what a little bit of contact with a horse could do to someone who thought they had nothing left in them.
The noise behind him had him turning. He saw the horse coming toward him and had to smile. He’d be checked on a few more times before he left his area. One or more of the Douglases would come on around, pretending to check on fences that no more needed checking on than he did.
“Brought you out some water.” He took the plastic dewy bottle and held it while Zach said his piece. “I might need your help later today.”
“You know as well as I that I ain’t got a darn thing going on.” Zach nodded, but didn’t continue. “You know that I’m nearing the better side of a hundred, don’t you? Better be telling me what it is before I’m lying next to these two causing trouble.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he knew that he should have taken better care. Zach sat on his horse, that cowboy hat of his just resting there like it had for forty some odd years. The way it rested on the back of his head, it gave Landon a full view of the pain he’d caused the boy. But before he could tell him he was sorry, Zach spoke.
“You’ve been like a father to me, you know that, don’t you?” Landon nodded, telling him he was sorry. “I know that your time is limited here, and I’m thinking on that more and more every single day. And to think of waking up one morning and you not here…well, it just busts up my heart terribly.”
“I’m powerfully sorry I was so hurtful.” Landon stood up, not without a bit of effort. He’d been sitting too long again. “Come on down off that horse and give an old man a hug.”
Zach threw his leg over the pommel and slipped off the horse. As he made his way to him, Landon felt the years fade away. The young men that they’d both been seemed to come over him, and he relished, as he did every time, in the strength and happiness a set of strong arms around a person could make you feel. With another hug and a pat on the back, they both moved to the bench that had been set here for him years ago.
Both were silent as they dealt with life. Landon thought of his years left, and how this man beside him had made them better, tolerable too. He had a feeling that Zach was thinking of all the work he had to do, and whatever problem had brought him out here.
“When I was seventeen-years-old I was sitting about where we are now. Trespassing on your land, but not really caring much about you catching me. Hoping for it, really.” Landon said he’d not have cared. “I knew that even then. That you were a powerful man. A man of reason and worth. I made it my life’s work, as much as a kid could, to be like you. But there was something always getting in the way. Mostly the lack of money.”
“You sure were scraping the bottom of the barrel when you were younger. But like your own daddy would have done, you didn’t let it make you bitter or mean.” Zach thanked him for that. “Wish I could have helped you more back then. But like a lot of families, I had my own issues taking me away from things that were important.”
They both looked at Dirk’s headstone, saying, without words, that he’d been some of the trouble in both their lives. Only Landon’s had been a little closer to home. When Zach leaned back on the bench, Landon did as well, knowing that he’d get to it sooner or later. But it didn’t take him as long as he’d thought it would.
“I have it in my head that you’re saying goodbye to everyone.” Landon said nothing. He’d always thought the boy was smarter than he let on. “I wanted to tell you that while I don’t want you to go on, I know that you’re tired too. And that I can understand missing Katie.”
“I do. More than I thought it possible, I miss her.” He reached out and touched the rose that had been engraved on her granite stone. “I love you, Zach. More than just as a buddy that let me hang out with him. I’ve come to think of you as my son. All of you Douglas boys, but you most of all.”
“I know that.” Zach reached into his boot and pulled out a pretty red rose that he’d not seen there before. It was a little damaged, the blossom of it a little frayed. But when he laid it on his Katie’s grave, Landon got so choked up that he could hardly breathe around it. He’d seen the roses on her grave every time he came out here, and now knew who was bringing them to her. “I love you, Landon. And if it’s okay with you, just for the time you give me that you have left, I’d like to call you Dad.”
Landon couldn’t speak. Almost couldn’t move, but when Zach put his hand into his, it was being given a lifeline. A gift stronger than anything he’d ever had before. As the two of them sat there, not saying a word, Landon tried to put into words what the simple gesture had done for him.
“Zach, I’d be as proud as any father could be to have you call me Dad. You’ve come to mean so much to me that I feel that this is as good as apple pie a la mode I done ever did have.” Zach laughed, and so did Landon. “You made this old man feel like he can conquer the world and come out smelling like a fast running horse.”
“Leave it to you to make this about dessert and horses.” Zach hugged him once again. “I do need your help on something. It’s not huge, mind you, but could cause my Loren to get her panties in a twist when she and Jack get home.”
“You bought her the Burner house, didn’t you, boy?” He nodded. “I heard it was on the market, and darn near bought it myself. I didn’t have any idea what I was gonna do with it, but this is about perfect. Yes, sir, perfect.” Landon thought of the house and the history they had with it. “You thinking she’s not gonna want it?”
“No. I’m thinking she won’t want to live this close to us.” Landon asked him why he’d think a fool thing like that. “Because we’re her parents, and she’d only be a few miles from our house. I don’t want her to think we’d be butting in all the time.”
“You won’t.” Zach told him he knew that. “You won’t, and she knows it. Heck fire, boy, she nearly had to beg you to come out to the college and have a looksee. You are the most un-interfering people I know.” Landon laughed. “She sure has got herself a temper on her. Just like her momma, I think.”
“You know it. She can peel paint off the walls when she has a mind to it. And be as sweet as sugar on a cookie the next.” Landon knew that was true as well. “But I thought that with her ready-made family and all, she’d not be happy to have all of us so close.”
“Well now, here is what I’m going to tell you. And if’n you tell her I mentioned this, I’m going to deny it.” He’d started to say with his dying breath, but didn’t want to upset the boy again. “She’s been telling me how she wished that she had herself a big house in town. Didn’t know that the Burner house was up for grabs again, or like I said, I might have eased her mind and got it for her. But she loves her daddy and mom more than you know.”
“We love her too. Very much.” Landon knew that as well. “You don’t think she’ll be upset? I have a crew in there now making it up to date. Those last owners went and boarded up the elevator again, can you believe that?”
“Some people just don’t know a good thing when they got it, they surely don’t.” After a bit, Zach said he had to get going and Landon got himself another hug out of it. As he was walking back to his horse, Zach turned back to him with his hat in his hand. A thing he’d only seen him do when he was being real serious.
“I love you, Dad. And I’m glad that you’ve stuck around for us. But if you could see your way clear to hanging around until Loren returns, I’m sure that she’d be happy.” Landon said that he’d do what he could. “Good. That’s good.”
As he rode off, Landon sat back down. He was hurting pretty badly from sitting out here. And when Mason came back to help him home, he told him what Zach had said to him.
“You’ve done a good job with them, you know that. And him calling you Dad now is something I think has been in his heart all along. You’ve been his father longer than today.” Landon thanked Mason. “You’re very welcome. Perhaps if I’d had a father like you, I might have been a better man.”
Both of them stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. Mason was a good man, when it suited him. But he could be a real bastard when it didn’t. That was why he liked the man so much.
Yes, sir, Landon thought as he was set down in his room by Mason, he had a pretty good life here. And figured that he was going to have a better afterlife. As he sat in his favorite chair by the window, he looked out over the cemetery once again.
“Soon, my love. Soon.”