"You get the fuck off my land. And you stay the fuck off my land. Forever."
Both men nod. Wes backs up, keeping the gun trained on the man at the edge of camp. He mounts first, and I pause with my foot in the stirrup.
"Cut him loose," the man cries, pointing at the rope. "Cut him loose. We agreed."
"Hmm." I mount Hester Prynne. "I'm not certain I believe you."
"I promise," the man with the rope moans. "Please. Please. I have children."
"So did that mountain lion. You killed her in front of her children."
"I'm sorry. So sorry." He's crying.
I lift my leg, prepared to kick Hester Prynne. And I do. But, a moment before, I use the knife Warner gave me five years ago to slice through the rope.
Wes and I are off, galloping across our land, the night air smacking our cheeks. We don't stop for a long while, and when we do, he is smiling from ear to ear. Happiness spreads through me at the sight of my oldest brother feeling unadulterated joy.
"You are fucking unbelievable, Calamity."
It's the first time in a very long time that my nickname hasn't sounded like a bad thing.
24
Wes
Jessie leavesme at the stable after I decline her offer to walk me back to my cabin. I need some time to figure shit out.
I'm not sure what to think of her. Everything I thought about my sister seems to have been more than a little wrong. I don't like thinking of how I've been shortchanging her. Besides, there isn't much I can do about that now.
But there is something different I can do moving forward. Dakota was right when she said I needed to pull back from the ranch while we get Colt's hearing challenges sorted out. I knew she was right, of course. My wife is an intelligent woman. A warrior, of sorts. But she needs me now, and so does my son.
I'm passing through the front yard, my boots bending the blades of grass with every step, when a deep voice sails through the dark.
"What are you doing, Wes?" It's my father, sounding confused and tired.
I change my route and head for the stairs, taking them two at a time. He's sitting in a chair, an ankle crossed over the opposite knee. His pajama pants and messy hair tell me he'd been having an unsuccessful night of sleep.
I don't feel much like sitting, not after the night I've just had, so I lean my ass back against the porch railing and cross my arms. "Jessie came and got me. Told me she'd found a dead mountain lion out on the northwest edge."
"Natural causes?"
I shake my head slowly, still reconciling what I saw tonight with everything I thought of my baby sister. "Bullet. Recent, too, according to Jessie."
I wait while my dad has the expected reaction. When he's finished swearing, he asks, "What now?"
I shake my head. "Nothing. Jessie took care of it."
He uncrosses his legs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Took care of it, how?"
I recount the entire story from beginning to end, and my dad interrupts a few times to ask questions. The wonderment and conflict I feel? It's plain as day on his face too. "She was like you, Dad. That's the best way I can describe it. She did what you would've done. I provided her with security, but she commanded the situation."
My dad's hands steeple and he presses the sides of his fingers against his lips as he thinks. "Jessie did all that? No direction from you?"
"None of it was my idea. She walked into that situation with absolute confidence. She laid down the law, and when they challenged her, she showed them what the consequence would be for noncompliance." I take a deep breath, one I've been holding ever since Warner left his position at the HCC. "I'm going to ask her to run the ranch with me. Be my second-in-command. She has ideas, Dad. Good ones. She's everything this ranch needs."
He nods slowly, the tiny muscles around his eyes tightening as he mulls over my words. "Okay, Son. I trust your judgment."
I nod. "It's settled then. I'll talk to her tomorrow. I don't think there's a chance she'll say no."
