Ranch Life is Great Read online

  "No, I'm all right," she said, leaning against his chest.

  "Honey, I'm sorry this happened. That heifer was too big for you to be trying to take care of."

  "No, Cade, she wasn't. The problem was with me. You told me not to ever let myself get between the heifer and the side of the stall, and I forgot. I thought you were worrying too much about nothing, but as soon as she jumped and I fell, I remembered when you told me that. You said that exact thing could happen. You said to stay on the side of the heifer closer to the middle of the stall and not the wall. If I would have done that this wouldn't have happened." She was quiet for several moments before quietly saying, "I'm sorry, Cade."

  "Thank you for telling me that, Elsie. Are you saying you want to continue working with injured animals as large as this heifer?"

  "Yes, I do, very much. I love working with them. Please don't make me stop."

  "I know you enjoy it, honey, and you can still work with the smaller animals, like the calves and foals. Once they get to be a few months old, though, like this heifer, they can be big enough to cause you harm without meaning to. Let me give this some thought. You're probably going to have to stay off your ankle for a little while, so I'll give it some thought during that time."

  "It wasn't the heifer's fault. She didn't mean to hurt me."

  "I understand that. I'll think about it. But for now, let me take you to the house so we can try and get you comfortable until Doc gets here."

  He picked her up and carried her to the house, where Maria met them at the door. "Oh, my goodness, what happened?" She held the door for him and followed him to the sitting room, where he laid Elsie down gently on the sofa.

  He answered Maria's question while he gently put her ankle on a pillow to elevate it. "A heifer knocked her down and then laid on her. Her ankle's hurt, but I'm not sure how bad. Dallas went to get the doc." He turned his attention to her next. "I'm going to take your stockings off so—"

  "Cade," she exclaimed, "that would not be proper."

  "Hush, wife. It would be very proper. Doc Wallace will have to examine your ankle, and as part of that I'm sure he'll want to compare the injured ankle to the other one so he can see how much swelling is there. He's a doctor, so it's very proper. Now stop fussing and let me take your boots and stockings off."

  She started to argue again, but this time she did catch the warning look he gave her, and closed her mouth and leaned back into the couch. "Much better," he mumbled as he set about doing exactly as he said he would. When he had her boots and stockings off, he took the afghan off the back of the couch and laid it gently over her. "Feel better with that over your bare ankles?"

  She blushed, but nodded. "I do. Thank you."

  "You're welcome," he said with a quick kiss on her cheek.

  They talked a little more about how the accident happened, so she could explain it to Maria, who kept shaking her head. "My goodness. You could have been hurt seriously, my dear. I know you enjoy working with the animals, but are you sure it's safe?"

  "I'm asking myself the same question right now, Maria. She's so little, I'm wondering if this is a good idea."

  "But Cade, think about that a minute. I understand what you're saying, because I often worry about you working with the animals. I know you're bigger than me, but the animals you work with are much bigger than that heifer, too. If it's not safe for me, a smaller person, to work with that heifer, why would it be safe for you to work with the much larger animals?"

  "Because I know how to work with them safely. I've grown up working with them."

  "So the first time you worked with them you were much smaller, as well; am I right?"

  "Yes, but I'd been taught how to do it safely."

  "As have I. I made a mistake today, and I already admitted that and apologized for it. But let me ask you, when you were learning how to work with the animals, are you saying you never made a mistake?"

  "Of course I'm not saying that. We all make mistakes occasionally."

  "And that's exactly what I did. Like I said, my main mistake was that I didn't take what you said seriously enough. I thought you were being more protective than you needed to be. Now I see differently, and I learned the hard way. I know I'll be more careful in the future to listen to your instructions."

  "When I tell you things like that you need to listen to what I say. You're my wife, and I do try to protect you. I very much dislike seeing you hurt."

  Maria enjoyed watching this young couple work through the trials of a new marriage. Cade was just like his daddy. He was undoubtedly the head of the family, very protective of his wife, but also very loving and caring. When he gave orders, he expected them to be followed. Elsie was a very strong, independent young lady who wasn't used to taking orders from anyone. They both listened to what the other was saying, though, and worked through their problems well. It was obvious to her they were very much in love, and it was fun being part of their lives.

  "I'm going to go check on supper and make sure I have everything turned down so it will keep," Maria said. "Cade, when Doc Wallace is done, please convince him to have supper with us. We have plenty."

  "Yes, ma'am," Cade said with a smile.

  There was a knock at the front door a couple minutes later. Cade started to get up, but Wyatt called out, "Stay there, Cade, I'll let him in." Wyatt showed the doctor into the sitting room. "I'll be out in the kitchen with Maria if you need either of us," he said as he closed the door to the room.

  Half an hour later Cade and the doctor walked into the dining room. "Maria, the doc agreed to having supper with us, but if it's fine with everyone, I'm going to fix a plate for Elsie and one for myself and eat with her in the sitting room."

  "I'll fix them, Cade," Maria said, as she started dishing up the meal.

  "No, I've got it, Maria, but thank you. I'd appreciate if you and Wyatt would entertain Doc Wallace for me."

  "We'll do that, Cade. You go eat with your wife. Is her ankle all right?"

  "It's just sprained," Cade said, "but Doc says we need to keep her off of it for a few days."

  Wyatt laughed. "Good luck there, my friend."

  "Oh, my," Maria echoed. "That will be a challenge."

  "I know. I'm counting on you guys to help me with it. Doc, why don't you tell them what you told me about her ankle and what we should do to care for it?" Cade suggested with a chuckle as he carried a tray with two plates out the door. "You can be my witnesses and back me up when she tries to tell me Doc said it's fine for her to be going out to work with the animals the next few days."

  He disappeared, leaving the others smiling as they sat down to eat.

  Cade closed the doors behind him when he went into the sitting room. He set the tray down, but she stopped him. "Cade, thank you for offering to eat in here with me, but I'm not really hungry. You can go eat with them and the doctor."

  "I'm eating in here with you, wife. I thought we could talk while we eat."

  "What do you want to talk about?"

  "You, your ankle, working with the animals, your place on this ranch."

  She was instantly concerned, and turned to look at his face, trying to read his thoughts. "All right," she said tentatively.

  Leaving the food set on the table, he turned to her and took one of her hands in his. "Elsie, I love you, and I want you to be happy here on our ranch. This is your home. I know you haven't grown up doing a lot of things most ladies grow up doing, and so I understand why you wouldn't especially enjoy them."

  "But if you want—"

  "Sshh. Hush and listen to me a minute, please. I'm fine with that. I married you to be my wife, not my housekeeper. Maria is like family to me and I would want her to stay on, even if you did like doing those things. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem very happy working with the animals."

  "I am," she said softly. "I love it. Please don't tell me I can't do it any more. I'll be more careful now, I promise."

  He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "All
right, Mrs. Collins, I've come to a decision. I planned to think it through a little longer, but it seems pretty clear to me what I have to do. I want you to be happy, and I can tell that's exactly what working with the animals does. Not only that, but you're good at it. The animals feel safe around you, and that's something that has to be natural. They sense these things, and it tells me a lot when I see how easily they trust you. And you're helping them heal, and heal much faster. When we care for an injured animal we look at it once, maybe twice a day. But when you come out here several times a day, you're doing more than just putting the liniment on them more often, which helps them heal faster. You're also getting them calm enough to lie down and rest, which is exactly what they need."

  She had a guarded smile forming at the corners of her mouth. "So does that mean I can keep doing it?"

  "Yes, but there are conditions. When I give you specific instructions about an animal, like do not allow yourself to get caught between the animal and the wall, you have to listen to me. I'm not saying these things just to be talking. There's a specific danger involved, and I'm trying to keep you safe."

  "I understand."

  "Before you get too excited, I want you to listen carefully to this next part." He waited until her skeptical eyes were pinned to his, so he knew she was listening. "The next time I see you doing something I warned you about, or otherwise doing something I consider dangerous around the animals, you will be getting a good spanking. If I walk into the barn and see you up close to a wall, and you're between the wall and an animal, you'll be going over my knee. If I see you in a pen with even a small calf and you're wearing your shoes instead of your boots, you'll be getting your bottom warmed. If I see you in a pen with a larger animal, like the heifer that you were working with today, and you have your back to it, you'll have trouble sitting on your bottom that evening. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

  "Yes, sir," she said softly.

  "Good." As he looked at her, his stern expression slowly morphed into a smile. "Then with that understanding, you can keep working with the animals."

  She lunged at him to fling her arms around his neck. "Thank you, Cade."

  "You're welcome. You said something that made me stop and think. When I was small, you're right, I did make a mistake or two when I was learning how to work with the animals. Every time I did, Pa set my rear end on fire for it, but I learned. His spankings hurt, but they were effective. I don't remember ever making the same mistake with an animal twice."

  "I'm sure I'll remember not to let it trap me between it and a wall again, either. Thank you for giving me a second chance and letting me continue to work with them."

  "You're welcome. But for the next two weeks you won't be."

  "But—why not? You just said I could."

  "Didn't you hear what Doc Wallace told you? He wants you off that ankle for at least two weeks, and then he'll check it again and let us know if you can start putting weight on it."

  "But Cade, surely he didn't mean not to be on it at all."

  "Surely he did, honey. He made that very clear."

  "But I thought—"

  "We're going by what he said; not by what you thought you could get away with."

  "But Cade—"

  "I'm serious about this, wife. If you want to work with the animals again, you have to show me you can listen to rules to keep you safe. This is one from the doc, but it is, in fact, a rule meant to keep you safe. That means that for the next two weeks, anytime I see you on your feet, you've got a spanking coming."

  Her eyes went wide. "You can't mean that."

  "I can and I do mean that. You need to learn to listen to rules meant to keep you safe, or I'll have to rethink you working with the animals." That last part, said in a very authoritative, warning tone, made her rethink the argument she had ready for him. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I know this is going to be hard for you, honey, but it really is very important that you learn to listen to my rules. Now, how about some supper?"

  Elsie didn't have much of an appetite for supper, and Cade had to wonder how much of that was from her sore ankle and the ordeal she'd been through, maybe a little fright. He suspected more of it was from his warning of a spanking if he caught her walking on her ankle. He felt pretty sure it wasn't a question of if she got caught walking, but rather when she got caught. He had a feeling she was having a similar thought.

  Cade and Maria together made sure she had everything she needed all evening, and Cade carried her upstairs to their bedroom.

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning, Cade suggested she leave her nightgown on and stay in bed for the day to rest her ankle, but she vehemently objected. "Cade, I'll be so bored up here all day. At least let me get dressed and go downstairs so I can sit in the kitchen and visit with Maria."

  "You know the doctor said to rest so your ankle is up. How are you going to lie down in the kitchen?"

  "He said to make sure my ankle was elevated. If I sit in one chair and put my ankle on another chair, that would elevate it, wouldn't it? Please don't make me stay in bed all day. I'm not sick."

  Cade sighed, but had to admit he understood how she must feel. "All right, we'll compromise," he offered. "I'll allow that this morning, but then after lunch I'll carry you into the sitting room, and I want you to rest on the couch. That will be more comfortable for your ankle, and I'd like to see you take a nap. You had a big day yesterday with quite a scare, so if you try to take a short nap today, I think it would do you good. I know it would do your ankle a world of good."

  She started to object again, but stopped. "I guess that is a compromise, isn't it?"

  "Yes, it is, my stubborn little wife, and I might suggest you take it. I don't always offer them."

  "But you are always fair, even if I don't always like to admit it." She sighed deeply.

  "Thank you for admitting it now." He gave her a quick kiss, and helped her get dressed.

  Maria was surprised to see him carrying her to the kitchen. "I thought she was to rest today. What—"

  Elsie quickly explained their plan, leaving out the part about taking a nap. "I agreed he could take me to the couch after lunch. I was hoping maybe you would have some time to visit with me there?"

  Cade's one eyebrow shot up as he looked at his wife. "Do you mean after you take a nap?"

  Maria saw the looks on both their faces and had to turn away to keep from laughing. These two certainly did keep life interesting.

  After breakfast, the two ladies visited while Maria cleaned the kitchen, and made a pie for supper. She made them both some tea and sat down for a short visit, before making dinner. True to his word, after dinner he carried her to the couch in the sitting room. He elevated her ankle with a pillow, covered her with a light blanket, and encouraged her to rest and close her eyes. She did, to avoid another argument. Once she heard the door close, she'd scoot back up and read a book.

  Much to her shock, she woke up two hours later. She sat up a little straighter and looked around, wondering what she should do. "Maria? Are you out there?" When she got no answer, she assumed she was probably outside doing laundry.

  She saw a book on a table not too far from the couch. It was the book Cade had talked about the other day. It sounded interesting, and she'd asked him to leave it out so she could read it. She could do that now, except apparently Maria wasn't around to get it for her.

  She tried to think of something else to do with her time, but came up with nothing. That book was sounding better and better, and the more she looked at it, the closer she realized it was. She could stand on her good foot and hold onto the couch, then the chair, and the table was just on the other side of the chair. With something good to hold onto, she shouldn't have a problem hopping on one foot. Then she'd have the book, and something to do.

  She removed the blanket and carefully swung her feet over the side, keeping her injured left foot just off the ground. It throbbed a little, but wasn't bad. She held onto the couch as she pu
lled herself up, and just as planned, leaning on both hands for balance, hopped on one foot over to the chair. She sat down to rest a minute, and picked up the book. Holding onto the book, she pulled herself back up. She tried hopping back to the couch, just like she'd gone to the chair, but it was harder to do while holding onto the book. She went slower, concentrating more on keeping her balance.

  She was almost back to the couch, when she heard a deep voice behind her. "Let me help you back." She jumped and about lost her balance, but Cade's strong arms were around her, steadying her.

  "Cade, what are you doing in here?"

  He picked her up and sat down on the couch, seating her on his lap. "I have to tell you, honey, I'm a little surprised."

  "About what?" she asked meekly.

  "I anticipated having trouble keeping you off your ankle, but I really did think you'd make it one full day before earning your first spanking."

  Never one to give up easily, she kept her head up, as if defying what he'd just said. "Cade, let me explain. It isn't what it looked like."

  "Oh, it isn't? All right, you better explain it to me then, because from where I was standing when I walked in the room, it looked like you decided you wanted to read, so instead of waiting until someone could help you, you got up on your feet and tried to hop over to the table, get the book, and hop back to the couch. I'm glad to hear that's not what was happening, because that would earn you a spanking. What was happening?"

  He could see her thinking, but eventually she dropped her head and slumped her shoulders. "All right, maybe it was what was happening, but still, please let me explain why I had to do that."

  "Of course I'll let you explain it, honey. I will always let you explain anything you want to explain to me. I'm not nearly as confident that I'll agree that you had to do it, nor that it will keep you from getting that spanking, but of course I'll listen to your explanation."

  That took the wind out of her sails, but she still felt she had no choice, so she tried to explain that to her husband. Seeing the determined expression on his face, though, she smiled as she was reminded of something she'd said to him not long ago. She told him he was her rock solid husband. She'd said it meant a lot to her that he was always there for her when she needed him. While he was smiling proudly, she chuckled and went on to explain that rock solid also meant that once he'd made a decision he could rarely be moved from it; much like trying to move a large rock.