Stan met my eye when I walked in the room. “That okay with you, Major? Can you handle things without me?”
“Sure. Of course.” I still hadn’t spilled his secret to Doc about the spinal arthritis, so Doc was shocked at Stan’s change of plans. He looked from Stan to me.
“Good for you for taking some time off, Dad. You know I think you should consider retiring. You and Mom deserve some years with less stress.”
Stan was in his seventies, and the life of a rancher wasn’t kind. He definitely deserved retirement. But the man had never replaced his lost ranch foreman back when I’d come on. He’d acted as his own foreman sort of using me as his unofficial second-in-command even though my main job was managing the Hobart farm. If he retired, something would have to change. He’d either need to hire a foreman or he’d need to replace me on the farm. As it was, I was already working around the clock most days, especially in spring and fall.
Stan glanced at me for the briefest second before looking at Doc. Something about his look didn’t sit right with me.
“I’ve been thinking about selling.”
Oh hell.
“What?” Doc asked. His eyes jumped to me, and I shrugged. Obviously this was the first I was hearing about it, but I wasn’t any happier about it than he seemed to be. “Why?”
Lois handed Billy a tray of burger patties. “Honey, why don’t you put these on the grill for Granny? It’s already hot.”
Once Billy was outside and I’d sent Jackie to the bathroom to wash her hands, Doc asked his dad again.
“Why? I get you wanting to retire, but I never thought you’d sell the ranch.”
Stan’s eyes slid over to me again and back to Doc. I felt like I should have offered to leave the room along with the kids. I moved to stand, but Doc put a hand on my arm.
“Stay.”
Stan cleared his throat. “Son, you’re a doctor, not a rancher. Billy’s too young to take over anytime soon and that’s if he even wanted to. There’s no future for the ranch in this family.”
Doc looked at me again, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He’d always assumed I’d take charge of the ranch one day, and to be honest, so had I. I’d never expected to inherit it, of course not. But I’d expected to be its caretaker at the very least to keep it profitable for the sake of Doc and the kids.
I stayed quiet and kept my eyes down on my clasped hands on the place mat in front of me. The silence in the room was deafening. I finally couldn’t take it any longer.
“I’d better help Billy with the burgers,” I mumbled, standing and heading for the rarely used rear door.
When we returned with a plate full of cooked burgers, the conversation had clearly ended to no one’s satisfaction. We ate quietly until the girls came crashing in covered in bits of straw and stinking like horse shit.
“Straight to the bath,” I called out, pointing to the stairs, before they could step foot in Lois’s clean kitchen. “Don’t even think about coming in here like that, girls.”
Doc, Stan, and Lois all stared at me while I took another bite of my burger. Billy just snickered under his breath.
Lois looked over at Doc with a smirk on her face. “You think Betsy’s haunting Major?”
Stan cracked a smile. “Possessing, more like,” he added.
Doc seemed to relax a little for the first time all evening. His crooked grin was my favorite. “You should have heard him one time when one of our rescues in Nam got sick all over the back of Major’s seat in the chopper. He made me and the crew chief clean it with a toothbrush.” He stopped for a second, remembering, and then blushed deep red to the roots of his hair. I quirked my head at him in question. He cleared his throat. “He, ah… well, let’s just say I’ll never forget him barking at us that day.”
Suddenly I remembered what I’d said to him when I’d instructed him to clean out the mess.
Don’t forget the cracks and crevices, Lieutenant.
Chapter 27
Liam “Doc” Wilde
After Major left and the girls were in bed, I gave Billy permission to stay up a little later so he could read his book out on the screened porch off the side of the house where it was nice and cool.
My parents sat me down in the kitchen and brought up the subject of selling the ranch again.
“Why wouldn’t you let Major take over the ranch?” I asked.
My parents exchanged a look. “He’s not family, honey,” my mom said. “I mean, we love him like a son, but…”
After everything that man had done for this family, it hurt like hell to hear her say that.