an intruder.â
âIntruder?â Hannah cried. âYou grew up on this ranch. You built half the house with your own hands. You owe it to the boys, to yourself to stay. And I wouldnât have sent the letter if we didnât need you. Marsh,â she said, turning away from Blake, âwill you fetch Carter and Zach? Tell them they have a visitor.â
Marsh frowned. Reluctantly he started back to the house.
âYou have to understand, Caulie,â Hannah said quietly as she led the way to the veranda. âWeâve been very happy.â
âHe seems a good man. Why did you send for me? He appears willinâ and able to deal with the problem.â
âMarsh is good and kind and gentle. Heâs got a natural way with growing things. But heâs never fired a shot in anger, not even at a prowling bobcat. He wouldnât know how to answer Henry Simpson.â
âAnd I would?â
âYes,â she said sadly. âYou did once.â
âAnd it cost me everythinâ I ever held dear.â
âI know,â Hannah said, looking away. âWhy is it we do and say things we donât mean, Caulie? Why do we let pride and duty get in the way of whatâs really important?â
âDuty is important, Hannah.â
âNot that duty. If only you could have turned away. But you couldnât. I know that. You never back down. Simpson knows that, too. He remembers. And thatâs why youâve got to stop him damming the creek.â
âCanât be done, not the way you want,â Blake said, getting to his feet and pacing back and forth beside the bench. âI saw him today. Heâs older, but the hateâs still there. None of itâs mellowed. The fightinâs got to be done in a way he understands. He knows power. He respects it.â
âI wish there was some other way.â
âYou do, I do, Dix does, but there isnât any other way. Weâre not fightinâ some kind of crusade, Hannah. This isnât one of your King Arthur stories. Itâs real.â
âIâm afraid theyâll kill you this time.â
âIf they can.â
âSimpsonâs got a lot of men. He practically owns the town.â
âAll my life someoneâs been after me, Hannah. Iâm still here.â
âIâve missed you,â she said. âI donât see how we could ever have drifted apart.â
âThat was Simpsonâs doinâ, too. Hannah, I never stopped lovinâ you.â
âIt would have been better if you had,â she whispered. âIâve got another husband now. Heâs a good man, Caulie. I donât want to hurt him.â
âI understand. Iâm only here to stop Simpson.â
âCaulie, Iâm hoping youâll have a chance to get to know the boys again. Theyâre so much like you. Zach rides like a devil, and Carterâs gotten so tall. Youâll hardly recognize him.â
âYouâve done a good job with âem then. And the little ones?â He asked, pointing to the girl in particular.
âHer nameâs Sally. She was five last week. The twins are Todd and Wylie. Theyâre almost four.â
âYou always did want a big family.â
âA ranch takes a lot of hands.â
Blake laughed, remembering how sheâd said the same thing years before when theyâd held hands in the oak grove.
âOf course five seems enough,â she said, pointing to the lines of washing hanging behind the house.
âWhat you want done, Hannah, wonât be easy. It means startinâ with the dam. Simpson might deal with you on it. More likely heâll just squeeze.â
âHow?â
âBlock the markets. Cut your credit.â
âYou seem to know a lot about this.â
âIâve seen it before. Big ranchers never seem to be content with what they have. They want more.â
âSo first we
John R. Little and Mark Allan Gunnells