Ichabod looked doubtful, but he also seemed ready to defer to Ellis. “If you say so.”
“Now, let me go do that thing, and then at some point we’ll talk about it. But I would bet that somebody who couldn’t afford them sort of herded them along until they reached our land and then let them loose.” He wanted to figure out what to tell Ichabod about Rick and the cowboys who were loyal to him before he blurted it out.
“That’s crazy. I mean if nothing else these animals are worth several hundred a piece right?”
“Oh, that bull is probably worth a couple thousand, but some people would rather give their animals away than try to auction them off.” He got that. If somebody had heard he was in the market for cattle then they thought maybe he would keep them rather than sending them right off to the slaughterhouse. “All righty, let me go play cowboy some more. I’ll come back and have a meeting with you in a bit.”
“Thank you, Ellis. I had no idea what to do.”
Ellis chuckled. “I reckon you’re going to learn pretty quick.” He glanced down at Ichabod’s feet. “The biggest thing you can do is do me a favor. Don’t ever come out where there’s cow shit with flip-flops on again. That’s an extra tetanus shot waiting to happen. Oh, and I think you’re pretty fine, too, honey.”
He left Ichabod with a stunned expression on his face, but he heard the laughter when it started up. He reckoned that made his day. Even dealing with these cows felt a little better now.
Chapter Seven
Ichabod figured Ellis had put him off about the cattle that had shown up on their front doorstep, essentially, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind.
It seemed like before he could even blink the cows had been moved from the pasture usually reserved for horses at the front of the yard and taken to a larger paddock where they had room to wander.
Ellis had fed them and filled a stock tank for them, and then moved the bull out of the horse ring, too, which was what Ichabod had wanted most.
That beast, when it looked at them, was clearly gauging whether or not it should take your ass off this earth, and he didn’t want his kids to be dealing with that. Especially Michael, who wasn’t particularly respectful of everybody’s personal space, or Zane who was pretty good at most of the work around the ranch, but who didn’t want to get up close and personal with anything resembling a horse or a cow.
Ichabod also decided that he was going to let it slide because with Ellis here and the kids helping, he was gettingactual work done. He’d finished his two major commissions this past week, and Ellis had rewired the shed for him so that his kiln wouldn’t keep blowing breakers, which meant he’d been able to fire them before and after he glazed them. That was huge, because he now had a check in hand for said vases, which was a lovely chunk of change and made him feel ten feet tall.
“You kids want to run into town and go to the bank with me?” he asked all the kids, who had finished their chores for the afternoon and were lying around on the living room floor together playing some sort of board game. He was damn proud of Zane because he was holding Chrissy on his lap and helping her play with a patience he didn’t think he’d seen in at least two years. He and Zane were still tying it up, but not near as often. It was kind of great.
“Can I go get a coffee while you do your thing at the bank?” Zane asked.
“Of course you can. We’ll bank, you do that, then we’ll all meet up and go to dinner. How does that sound?” See him. See him try to be a fair and just dad.
“Ooooh, what are we gonna have?” Allie asked.
“Well, I figure we’ve tried pizza, and we’ve had burgers. How do you guys feel about Mexican food?”
Zane practically vibrated. “Oh my God, I would love some Mexican food. I miss it. Denver had some good places.”
“I know. I suck at it.” Mexican was one of the few foods he didn’t make well, and they’d had this little Mexican restaurant maybe three blocks away from their house in Denver where they’d gone for tacos all the damn time. “So Mexican food it is.”
“Cool. Then maybe I could stay with the other kids while you’re in the bank and take them to the toy store next door?” Zane said it with elaborate casualness.
His eyebrows flew up, and he tried not to let hisamazement show otherwise, but it was tough. That offer shocked the living hell out of him.
Ichabod nodded. “That sounds great, kiddo. I would appreciate that.”
Michael bounced. “Should we ask Mr. Ellis to go with us?”
“Hmm. Let’s put it to a vote.” He saw Zane wrinkle his nose, so he made it democratic. He didn’t think Zane disliked the man or anything, but Ellis wasn’t afraid to tell Zane when he was going about a chore in the wrong way or making it harder for himself. That had to rankle a little bit.
Ellis wasn’t quite competition in Zane’s eyes, but…
“I want him to go.” Allie raised her hand.
“Me too,” Michael said.
Chrissy squealed, and Zane rolled his eyes. “Seriously, guys? You’re such suck-ups.”
“What’s a suck-up?” Allie asked, and Michael shot Zane an evil look.
