Mason
This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
World Castle Publishing, LLC
Pensacola, Florida
Copyright
© Kathi S. Barton 2015
Hardback
ISBN: 9781629893228
Print
ISBN: 9781629893235
eBook
ISBN: 9781629893242
First
Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, August 21, 2015
http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com
Licensing Notes
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in articles and reviews.
Cover:
Karen Fuller
Editor:
Eric Johnston
Editor:
Maxine Bringenberg
Table of Contents
Mason moved along the fence line looking for
breaks. He was out here because he needed to be alone, not because of any
report that the fence was down. Instead he had made up a story about the line
and needing to check it early this morning, and was enjoying the quiet of the
afternoon now. Things at home were…too much, he supposed. He’d never been one
to party it up. It wasn’t his style to go to bars. Not that he drank at all,
but he was a loner and he enjoyed the quiet, like he was finding here on the
open area.
When a noise broke his silent reprise, he
looked at the big horse coming toward his and frowned. The McBrides were having
a hard time of the quiet at their home in the opposite way he was. Three months
ago, their son had decided that he didn’t want to be a rancher. Their second
child, a girl, had moved out long ago for greener pastures. Mason had a feeling
that there wasn’t much in the way of brother/sisterly love between the two
children, but no one had ever confirmed or denied it, so he never asked. Dirk
McBride, the son, was an ass anyway, and he’d never met the girl. But he liked
Landon and Katie McBride a great deal.
“Mason.” He nodded at the older gentleman. “I
thought I saw you going by the house this morning. Missus sent you out some
lunch. She said you’d more than likely not have eaten.”
“I forgot to get anything when I left the
house.” He took the large paper bag and put it on his lap. “You out looking at
fences too? I’ve hit the ones behind me from your line on the property if you
wanted to go this way. It’s clean behind us.”
Mason hoped that the man would say that he’d only
brought him some food and go back, but he turned his horse in the same
direction that his was going and said he’d ride along. Mason only nodded and
gave his horse a little nudge to get him going. He reached into the bag and
pulled out a large piece of angel food cake, and unwrapped it as he rode
forward.
“My daughter comes home in a few weeks. She
said she was coming to see us about something. I’m sure she’s not happy about anything
that might be happening between us and Dirk.” Mason nodded as he took another
bite of the soft moist cake. “She’s a mite on the stubborn side. Not in the way
that Dirk is, but a good deal more sassy. Dirk is just…he’s got some strange
ideas about what he wants and where he’s headed.”
“Dirk move out yet?” Landon said that he was
still there. “I heard that he was having some problems finding him a place. I
could help him find something if you want.”
“Nah, he’s going to do what he’s going to do on
his own. And we’re not giving him any more money.” Mason knew that was a sore
point for the McBrides. “I have it and I want to keep it. Someday I might want
to take the missus on a long vacation, and if Dirk had his way, he’d rather we
spent it on him. Or take him along. I’ve done that kid wrong and now I’m paying
for it.”
“I don’t know what you think you did, but you
and Katie aren’t to blame for what he is. Not by a long shot.” Landon snorted
and spit tobacco onto the ground before he looked at Mason. “Okay, I’ve heard
things. And he never was one to be overly friendly when we were growing up. He
has it in his head that his money—though I was never sure why it was his and
not yours—but that his money was what made him special.”
“He’s a prick.” Mason didn’t say anything but
stuffed the paper that the cake had been in back in the bag. Reaching for the
sandwich that was there, also wrapped in waxed paper, he peeled it back to
reveal a nice thick roast beef sandwich. “We should have made him finish
college, or at least get a job. You’d think that he was too good to work the
way he talks about it. Never even raised a finger to help out around the ranch.
And to be truthful about it, I should have guessed he didn’t want the ranch
long before now.”
Mason thought that if Dirk did take the ranch
from his parents, it would be over almost as soon as he had to go out to the
first chore. Dirk, as he’d always told them as kids, wasn’t a rancher. He was
more of the baron to one, and had shitheads to do the work for him. Good luck
with that one, he’d thought even back then.
“You should just buy me out, Mason. I’d cut
you a real good deal on the ranch and the steer.” Mason stopped his horse and
waited for Landon to stop and notice that he was no longer with him. “You want
it, don’t you? I mean, you do most of the work there anyway since I’ve got this
cancer thing. I want to sell to you ‘cause I know you will do right by it.”
“I know nothing about steer, Landon. I can
milk a cow and even farm a little, but nothing about raising steer to sell on
the hoof.” Landon laughed and Mason felt his face heat up. “Yeah, I’d love to
buy you out, but I’d have no idea what to do with it.”
“It’s all cattle, Mason. And you sell the
milk your cattle gives up now. Steer ain’t no different. You’re just selling
the whole cow and not just a byproduct of it.” Mason started to shake his head.
“The barn is new with a heater in it. The house is up to date on all the
appliances. We even put in new carpets last month with the idea of selling to
somebody. You’re the right person to buy it.”
“How big?” He didn’t have to explain to
Landon what he wanted to know. The man could talk farm and ranches as well as
he could. And when Landon looked out over the fence, the one that separated his
ranch from the McBrides, he was almost afraid of the answer.
“Fifty acres of it belongs to my daughter.
She wanted it and we gifted it to her some time ago. I’ll talk to her about it
when she comes in. Emma might not even want it anymore.” Mason nodded, still
waiting. “Dirk won’t want any of it when it comes down to it. The money, sure,
but not the land. He made that perfectly clear when I told him we might be
selling. He don’t know that it’s you, of course, but he said that he…he told me
he’d like his money in the form of cash. Little shit. I think he might think he’s
gonna get to stay on. I’ve yet to break that to him—”
“Landon, how big is the ranch? I’ve heard but
I just don’t…how big is it?” Mason had heard that it was the biggest ranch in
the state. Other times he’d heard it was the biggest on this side of the United
States. Either way, it was going to be a great many acres.
“Just over forty thousand acres.” Mason heard
the buzzing in his head and tried his best to ignore it so he could hear the
man in front of him talking. “Covers three states, it does. Don’t know why on
earth we thought to have that much, but when we started out, we were young and
thought more was better. Turned out that we didn’t need nearly close to what we
had, and started renting it out to other farmers and ranchers for the income.
Not that we needed it, but the extra money was nice to have. Mason, you’re
turning green.”
“Holy Christ, Landon. Three states? Mother
fuck. I don’t have that kind of money. Not even…I can’t afford to buy you out.”
Landon nodded and turned his horse around to lead them. Mason caught up with
him and felt badly that he couldn’t help the man out. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s not over. I’ll think of something.” Mason
thought the man would have to think for a good long time for him to buy that
much in the way of land. “The rent on the other parts would make a huge dent in
the payments a month. Hell, one of them alone is damned near all of it. And
they all have contracts should they decide they don’t want to use it any more. I
don’t think that’ll be a problem. You’re a good man and most everyone knows
that.”
“The bank will require me to have a good deal
more than I have right now.” Which, Mason thought, was about a grand in his
account. In the few weeks that he and Jace had been running the Rancher
Association, he’d been paid well, but he had a lot of catching up to do. And
buying a ranch, especially the size of the McBride ranch, wasn’t even close to
being on that list.
“Like I said, I’ll have me a look into
things. We’ll figure something out.” Landon stretched and looked over at him
with a smile. “Maybe you could just take my daughter as your wife, and it’ll
all be yours free and clear. And we’d keep it all in the family. I wouldn’t
even care should you want to change it to the Double Deuce. Like that name just
fine.”
Mason laughed with him. There was no way he’d
be marrying his daughter, and he was pretty sure Landon knew it. The man was
making a joke, a poor one, as it felt for Mason, but a joke all the same. Mason
had a mate out there somewhere, and Emma McBride wasn’t it. He was sure of it. She
was…well, she was a McBride, and he’d had his fill of the McBride children a
long time ago in Dirk.
They rode along for another hour. It was
getting close to dinner time, and Mason knew that he had to head home. He’d
been hiding out long enough. But he also knew that should his family need him,
someone would have gotten in touch with him and he’d have been right there.
Mason needed this solitude, or what he’d had of it, more than he could have
explained to his family.
Holly was going to have a baby in about eight
months or so. She and Jace were so happy setting up their home and getting
ready for it. The ranches, both of them, were doing better than they’d dreamed
they would, and they’d even had to hire on some extra hands just to keep up.
Their dairy was going out all over the state
now, and they’d been approached more than once by a few of the Mennonites
around the area to sell them any extra they might have at the end of the day.
So far it had been working out well for all of them. Very well.
“You and your family, you’re doing well now.
I gotta tell you, never thought of Jace as being a man like he is.” Mason asked
Landon what he meant. “Nothing bad. But to see him in a suit around town when
he’s at that big building…well, your momma, she’d be tickled pink, she would. Her
boys working in a big corporations like that. And Jace and you seem to be doing
a bang up job on the RA too. That Ranchers Association is helping a lot of
people. And them dues we pay sure doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as that banker was
trying to do.”
“Rogers.” Landon nodded. “Yeah, he’s not been
heard from for a while now. People say he’s taken off with their money. But
that’s dying down now too, since the bank is paying back what was ripped off
from them.”
Rogers was dead. Few people knew about it,
but he was. Jace had worked with a couple of wolves he knew, and the man was
fertilizer in some field somewhere with no part of him even big enough to
search for. Some things like this were much better kept quiet. Landon might
think it was a good thing, but Mason would never tell.
When they were near the ranch house, Landon
shook his hand. “Thank you for the ride. Needed to get out more than I thought
I did. Nice talking with a man who doesn’t jabber all the time.”
Mason thanked him and headed in the direction
of his own ranch. Aunt Georgie was coming out on the porch when he got off his
horse. She looked at him with her hand over her eyes to shield out the sun, and
then smiled.
“I see you’ve been with Landon again. I swear
to you that the man sits on his porch looking for one of you boys to ride by.
He’s a mite on the lonely side.” Mason nodded as he tied his horse up. “You
hungry? I can make you something before dinner.”
“Nah. He brought me out a sandwich and some
of Katie’s cake.” She asked him if it was her angel food. “Yeah. Man, that
woman can bake like nobody’s business.”
“I hear that Emma can cook that well too. She
don’t much, I guess, but she can. Katie said she’s coming home soon. Something
about a sale.” Mason only nodded. No sense in telling her of Landon’s pipedream.
“Did he ask you?”
Mason only nodded his head at her. Damn, but
she could tell what was on a person’s mind faster than they might know. Instead
of answering her, he sat on the porch and let the swing rock him back and
forth. When Aunt Georgie sat beside him, he just tilted his hat over his eyes
for a moment.
“I can’t swing it. As much as I’d like to,
there is no way for me to do it.” She only hummed her noncommittal answer. “Did
you know that his land covers three states?”
“I did. I’ve lived here all my life too, you
know.” He eyed her under the brim of her hat. She was up to something, he just
knew it. “That son of theirs, what do you know about him?”
“Dirk? Nothing much. He’s a prick. We called
him Dirk the Dick in school. I think he’s closer to Jace’s age. Told his daddy
that he didn’t want the ranch. I’m not sure, but I think Landon is sort of
relieved that he doesn’t.” Aunt Georgie nodded. “I think he’d sell it off and
walk away without a backward glance. Landon said that he wants money, not
ground. Even told him when he sold out to give him cash for it. Like that man
deserves even a dime off his dad’s hard work.”
“That’s really too bad. There won’t be any
more dirt made in this world, but money will be the death of a lot of things.”
Mason said nothing. He’d heard her say that a great many times over the years.
“If he can’t find a buyer, do you know what he’ll do with the land?”
“No. I didn’t even ask him what he wanted for
it. Forty thousand acres is more than I can handle even if he was selling it for
a nickel an acre.” She stopped swaying her feet and looked at him. “Yeah, that’s
what I said, forty thousand.”
“Good heavens. I knew it was big, but…wow. You’d
never know he had that much to look at him. I’d have thought…damn.” Mason
laughed when she cursed. It was something that she never did and rarely
tolerated. “I’m guessing whoever gets it won’t be ranching it. Probably turn it
into a dude ranch or something.”