Chapter Twenty-One

"Liz, we need to have a talk with you."

Elizabeth glanced over at Brody and the kids as all the ranch hands minus Aiden, Nick, Wendell and Cookie approached her just as soon as she'd ridden in sight of the barns. "Go on ahead, Brody, and get the kids settled in at the pony barn, they have stalls to clean. I'll see to this and join y'all in a minute."

Brody took a draw off his cigarette and nodded before clicking his tongue and leading the children away.

"What seems to be the problem?" Elizabeth questioned as she dismounted, though she already knew what they were going to say.

It was a hand named Graham who had been with them off and on for close to two years that stepped forward first, "We want Nick and Aiden gone."

Elizabeth nodded as she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side, "That's a pretty serious request," she acknowledged. "What seems to be the problem with them?"

The men all shared looks and shifted their feet as if waiting for someone else to speak up. Elizabeth fixed Graham with a stare and took a page out of Brody's book as she raised her brow. "Men, we have a ranch to run so either get to giving me a damn good reason why I should let go of two hard working men who haven't given me a single reason to want them gone or get the hell to work."

"Boss, those men aren't natural and I for one won't be working around a man who might want to rut with me," Curly grumbled.

Elizabeth looked the slim, dirt crusted, middle-aged man up and down and shook her head, "You think too highly of yourself, Curly. I'm sure rutting with you never once crossed their minds."

Curly's dark eyes flashed with temper but Elizabeth wasn't afraid. She hadn't been raised to feel fear and she'd dealt with men much tougher than Curly in her time—hell she was married to Brody Atkinson after all.

"Miss Elizabeth, this is serious," Frank spoke up. Elizabeth was disappointed in the man. She had known Frank nearly her entire life and had expected better of the man than to be so afraid and intolerant of something he didn't understand, "We ain't comfortable working around those men."

"Then you have two choices," Elizabeth said, using one of her husband's favorite lines as she looked around at the group of men, "You can either get the hell over your small mindedness and do the work that I pay you to do—or you can pack up your belongings and get off my ranch. What's it going to be?"

"I'm gone," Graham growled. Elizabeth waved goodbye to him and he turned and stormed off toward the bunkhouse with Curly and two other hands on his heels.

"If you stay then you damn well better be willing to get over this and not cause any trouble," Elizabeth warned the nine men still standing in front of her. They all nodded in agreement though they didn't look too pleased. "Then let's get to work."

Elizabeth split the men into groups to go and ride the fence lines to check for any more problems. They hadn't seen anyone coming around the hole they found cut and no new holes had since been discovered. Elizabeth hoped the hole had been nothing but a one-time incident, the culprits had been scared off and nothing else would come from it.... The thought of someone stealing from her was enough to make her blood boil especially when Elizabeth had always done everything she could to help anyone who needed help.

"Did you get things squared away, boss?" Brody asked as she joined him at the small barn where he was supervising the children as they went about tending to their ponies and cleaning the stalls.

"Sure did," Elizabeth replied with a nod.

Brody grunted as he shoved himself off the corral fence he'd been leaned against, "Well I'll be getting ready to head into town then. I just gotta find Aiden. Where the hell is that man?"

"I'm right here," Aiden's voice came from behind them and they turned to see him walking their way from the house.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Elizabeth asked. "You aren't going to make a habit out of fainting are you?"

Aiden flushed and then shook his head, "No, of course not. I'd never done it before then and I can promise it won't happen again."

Elizabeth laughed and threw her arm around his shoulders, "That's good then. I'm glad you're here, Aiden—" Elizabeth stopped speaking when Curly, Graham and the other two hands who had decided to quit, temporary men that had only been passing through to begin with, came out of the barn with horses.

"I'll expect all four of those beasts to be at the damn livery when I get into town. They got Atkinson brands and ain't yours for the taking," Brody warned. Elizabeth could tell that Brody understood why the four men were leaving and the hatred in their eyes as they looked at Aiden made it even clearer.

"Of course," Graham growled, "We aren't fucking horse thieves."

"Why don't you watch how you speak in front of my children?" Brody demanded and Elizabeth nearly laughed out loud. Those children heard more curse words in a day from their father and mother than they did in a month from the hands. She knew that Brody was just angry at the men for abandoning the ranch and therefore wanted to be difficult with them.

"What about our final pay?" Curly questioned.

"You were just paid a few days ago," Elizabeth shook her head. "Renting our horses for a ride to town is gonna cost ya a good two dollars but I reckon I could give you a discount and just call everything even if you shut the hell up about paydays. Otherwise I reckon you owe me about a dollar fifty."

Elizabeth saw the men glare at her and Graham looked angry enough to hit her but Elizabeth was also aware of Brody beside her, his posture relaxed but his hand resting on his gun. She had no doubt that if either of these men made a single move in her direction they would be killed without hesitation.

The tension in the air was thick but finally the four men mounted the horses and rode off. Aiden moved from beneath Elizabeth's arm which was still wrapped around his shoulders, "I don't like that I've caused all this," he admitted.

Elizabeth waved her hand, "It'll be fine, Aiden. Truth be told I didn't like any of them much anyhow."

"Yeah but this ranch is your life and the hands are your family, you said so yourself."

"No I said some of the hands are my family. Some are just passing through or only get hired on for certain seasons. The only long term hands we have here are Cookie, Frank, Kent, Wendell, Nick and you. Now, unfortunately, Kent and Frank have their heads up their asses at the moment but I'm hopeful that they'll pull them back out soon... As far as the other hands go they've agreed to stay and they claim they won't give you any trouble. If they do then you come to me and I'll straighten things out."

"That's enough chit chatting," Brody said as he stepped forward, "Come on now, Aiden, you can ride the boss's horse. We gotta get to town and send a letter to your folks."

"We do?" Aiden asked uncertainly and Brody nodded as he slid up into the saddle of his own horse.

"Yep, we do."

"You mean you want to go into town with me?" Aiden still seemed uncertain and it broke Elizabeth's heart a little. She couldn't imagine what kind of life it would be to have to hide who you were and live in fear that those around you would turn on you just for being who you were.

Elizabeth glanced at her husband and hoped he'd handle this the right way, "Why the hell wouldn't I?" Brody asked seeming confused as he sat there on his horse with his cigarette hanging off his lip.

Aiden smiled and his shoulders straightened a bit as if a weight had been lifted off of them. He swung himself up into the saddle of Elizabeth's horse and she handed him the reins, "You two be good now—and Brody don't forget to check that train schedule for Thomas and Sally."

"I won't," Brody replied with a shiver. "I hate trains," he added.

Elizabeth watched Brody and Aiden begin to ride away and she laughed when she heard Brody say, "Just remember, Aiden, I'm a married man and my wife is a jealous woman."

***

Aiden rode beside Brody into town and looked around at all the people carrying on with their daily lives. He was glad he'd avoided Susie before leaving the ranch and even more glad that it seemed she hadn't yet told Elizabeth or Brody about walking in on him and Nick.

Brody was acting surprisingly normal—which meant he wasn't speaking much to Aiden at all. Aiden had learned since being at Atkinson Spread that Brody never had a whole lot to say but yet he was always aware of every single movement and whisper around him.

Aiden knew that with the ranch hands knowing about him and Nick, it would only be a matter of time before the rest of town did too and he had to admit that thought frightened him. Though it frightened him a lot less than it had now that he knew he had Brody on his side. He figured that would make people a lot less likely to say anything to him.

Aiden mirrored Brody's actions as the man slid from the saddle and hitched his horse outside the post office in town, "Alright then, we'll head in and I'll mail this little letter I wrote for your folks," Brody said as he walked up onto the boardwalk, "I need you to tell me where to send it."

"Uh.. can I read it first?"

Brody shrugged and handed him the unsealed envelope. Aiden opened it and saw the greeting was blank, "I don't know your folks names so you'll have to tell me just so I can fill that part in," Brody informed in.

Aiden simply nodded and then began reading the letter. There were no pleasantries and no mincing of words and Aiden found himself fighting back a rebellious kind of laughter with every word he read,

I don't know who the hell you folks think you are but my name is Brody Atkinson and your boy Aiden is now an employee on my wife's ranch and a member of my family. If you're expecting word from those worthless hired killers you sent then you're gonna be waiting a while because I killed them both just yesterday— in self-defense of course.

Send a single person after Aiden again and I'll be killing both of you just the same—in self-defense of course. I protect what's mine with bullets, blades and branding irons; that's the only way I know. Aiden is mine now and he has no more need for such addle-brained, thoughtless parents such as yourselves.

If you've got any brains at all and you can still use them with your heads so far up your own asses then you'll heed my warning, if not, then I'll be glad to help you remove your head from that position and replace it with my boot.

Brody Atkinson

Aiden looked up at Brody with a mixture of admiration, shock and gratitude, "Are you sure you want to send this?"

"Yep," Brody replied the corners of his lips twitching. "Now what are their names so I can add that in. I was gonna address it to Mr. and Mrs. Walking Dead Man but I didn't think that would be the proper way to address such fine folks."

Aiden let out a loud bark of laughter and shook his head, "You'll have my father downing a whole fifth of scotch by the time he gets to the end of that letter."

"He ain't your father, Aiden," Brody stated with all amusement fading from his voice. "A father wouldn't have done what he did."

Aiden shifted his feet and adjusted his hat, "No I guess not."

"Let's get in there now and send this letter so we can get that train checked on and head home. I think the boss was wanting you to help Ellie and Susie with the plans for a party we're throwing this Friday."

"Party planning?" Aiden asked with a frown.

Brody grunted, "It's either that or mucking stalls."

Aiden plastered a wide grin on his face, "Party planning sounds good to me."

***

"What have you been doing all day?" Nick asked Aiden as he sat down on his new cot which was right next to Aiden's in the bunkhouse. He had chosen to move his sleeping space now that quite a few more cots were clear.

Unfortunately many other people had chosen to move as well. They had quite a wide expanse of space between them and everyone else other than Wendell and Cookie who were still bunking close by, was crammed into the other side of the bunkhouse.

"Brody took me into town and we mailed a letter to my folks," Aiden replied.

"Really?" Nick frowned. "I didn't think he'd really do that."

"Oh he did it," Aiden nodded.

Nick found himself chuckling, "That bad huh?"

Aiden laughed, "It was pretty good."

"So then what did you do?" Nick asked looking down at his folded hands. He wanted so bad to hold Aiden close to him but he figured that would cause the bristling men on the other side of the bunkhouse to attack them.

Aiden rubbed at his face and smiled, "I ended up spending the day helping two pregnant women plan a party while chasing a toddler."

"A party for what?" Nick asked with amusement.

"Sally and Thomas's going away party and a surprise birthday party for Susie all in one."

Nick nodded at the reminder that Thomas and Sally were leaving early the next week. Thomas hadn't said much to Nick today but they had worked side by side to do some repair work on the barns and it hadn't been too awkward. Nick figured that was good enough.

"Did Sally and Ellie have anything to say to you?" Nick asked cautiously.

Aiden nodded but kept his voice down as he replied, "Ellie said to tell you to make sure you treat me right because I'm one hell of a man."

Nick chuckled, "I'll agree with her on that," he admitted, causing a bright smile to light up Aiden's face. "What about Sally?"

"She didn't say anything about any of that but she treated me just fine. She wasn't hostile, which is more than I can say for some people," Aiden's gaze went to the glaring men still watching them closely.

"So what have you been doing?" Aiden asked, braving the glares and reaching across the distance between them to lay one of his hands over Nick's. The gesture was innocent enough but it had a few of the men clearing their throats loudly and murmuring. Aiden quickly yanked his hand away and flushed, "Sorry... I wasn't thinking."

"Don't apologize to those bastards," Cookie snapped as he settled down in his cot and the old hound that was always on his heels curled up beneath it. "They're just jealous cuz nobody gives two hoots in hell about them or takes the time to ask how their days were."

"Have you ever had somebody that asked about your day, Cookie?" Wendell asked as he too lay down and rested on his side so he could see the men he was talking to.

"I had a wife once," Cookie acknowledged, his wrinkled face looking a bit sad.

"What happened?" Aiden asked quietly.

"She died, boy. That's the way of life isn't it?" Cookie replied with a sigh, "Don't you two worry for two minutes what anybody thinks about you. You take care of one another and just be happy to spite them all. Life is far too short to waste it pleasing others who don't really matter when it comes right down to it. That goes for you too, Wendell."

Nick and Aiden shared a smile and this time it was Nick that reached out and laid his hand over Aiden's and shot the other men in the bunkhouse a glare, daring them to say anything at all.

After the lights had been doused and snores filled the bunkhouse, Nick realized Aiden was still awake and staring at him in the darkness. "Aiden, I hope you weren't wanting to party plan tomorrow," Nick whispered.

"Why?"

"Because I asked Liz to give us patrol duty on the fences for the day."

Nick heard Aiden smile, "I'd like that."

Nick felt his heart beat just a bit faster as he thought hard about what he had planned for Aiden tomorrow, "Goodnight, Aiden."

"Goodnight."