Page 27 of Caleb’s Cause (Broken Wheel Ranch #12)

Several days later, Katherine opened the door to her cabin when someone pounded on it. She was shocked to see all the women standing there.

“What’s up?”

Marcia was the one to speak for the group. “We were wondering if we could crash here for a few hours.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, instead of taking Pru out for a bachelorette party, we thought we’d see if we couldn’t have it here.”

“I don’t have a problem with it.” Katherine turned to Caleb with a raised brow. Since the two of them stayed in the same cabin, it was only fitting to see if he didn’t mind having the others invade their space. Before Caleb could respond, everyone turned at the sound of a piercing whistle.

“Caleb’s coming with me,” Ryan said from his spot out in the driveway. “The guys are throwing me a bachelor party over at Erin’s Way.”

Caleb looked at Katherine with a grin. “Nope, I have no problem with these ladies staying here.” They all laughed as he made his way through them and went out to meet his uncle. When they drove away, Katherine invited them in.

“I don’t have anything to serve.”

“We’ve got you covered,” Adele said as everyone started putting bottles of wine, and trays of food on the kitchen counters.

It wasn’t long until they all had a glass of wine, or in Erin’s case, her nightly two fingers of whiskey.

They filled a plate and settled in the living room.

At one point, Katherine looked at Marcia and sighed heavily.

She knew it was none of her business, but since being in the barn all the time lately, she’d noticed something and cleared her throat.

“Marcia?”

“Yeah?” the other woman answered, but didn’t look up from her phone for several moments, when she did, she frowned. “What’s up?”

“Can I ask you something? You can tell me to mind my own business, but I’ve noticed things and I’m worried.”

“About?”

“You. Well, you and Lloyd.”

“What are you talking about? We’re fine.”

“But are you?”

“Whoa,” Pru said. “What are you talking about, Katherine? I may be a little slow at times, but I’m even confused by what you’re saying.”

“I’m sorry, maybe it’s not my place to say anything.”

“No, speak,” Marcia said. “I’m confused as to why you think there’s something bad between Lloyd and myself. I love that man with all my heart.”

“Oh.” Katherine deflated. “I’m sorry, maybe I’m reading it all wrong then.”

“Reading what?” Erin asked. “Tell us what you’re seeing.”

Katherine drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Okay, I’m not pointing fingers, or accusing anyone, but I’m a little concerned and worried.

Because I’m helping Naomi with the bunktels, and now I’m doing background checks on the potential clients, I’ve been observing how everyone works.

I want to see how you act with the horses, and the clients. ”

“Which every person with their weight should,” Marcia agreed.

“Okay, now, onto my observations. I’m not accusing anyone of anything, it’s just what I see.”

“What’s that?” Naomi asked.

“I see Marcia constantly on her phone. She’s sending text messages, and she has a smile on her face as she does it.

I thought the messages were from Lloyd, because your face would light up.

However, I looked up from watching you and saw Lloyd glaring at you.

He did not have his phone in his hand. Every time you got a text, he would glare at you.

Again, I’m not accusing, but from where I see things, it’s almost like you’re having an affair.

” The entire room went silent and it was Marcia that jumped to her feet and swore.

“Son of a bitch!”

“What? What’s wrong?” Everyone asked.

Marcia turned in several circles before she sighed heavily and sat down just as heavily.

She looked around the room at all the women present and nodded.

“You guys know my story, right?” Everyone agreed except for Katherine, and Marcia took the next fifteen minutes telling her what had happened to her.

“Holy shit, that’s a lot to take in.”

“Yeah, try living it.” She looked at Erin with a nod. “I was going to come to you in a month to talk to you about Jacobs.”

“Who?” several of the women asked.

“Sargeant Anthony Jacobs. We joked that he was my older, younger brother.”

“How can that be?” Pru asked.

“Chronically, by birth, he is three years older than I am. That’s the older brother part. However, I don’t know the correct terminology for this, but as a ranking officer, he became a Sargeant three years after I did. That’s the younger brother part.”

“Holy hell,” Pru said on a laugh. “I even understood that. So, Jacobs is your older, younger brother. I know I know this, but it escapes me, what happened to him when his parachute didn’t open?”

“He didn’t have as many broken bones as I did, but what he did have were worse.”

“How is that possible?” several of them wondered.

“While I broke almost all of my bones, and it took two years before I was ready to get on with my life, my breaks were clean. Jacobs wasn’t so lucky.

He twisted when he hit that mountain, so he had a hip and shoulder on one side, as well as the knee and ankle on the other.

However, they weren’t broken, they were shattered.

It took at least ten operations over the course of three years to repair all the damage. ”

“Holy hell,” everyone said as one.

“And now?” Erin asked as she sipped her whiskey.

“Now, Jacobs has reached out to me to let me know that he has a clean bill of health and wants to know if I know of anyone that would hire him. He walks with a limp, and his shoulder isn’t perfect, but as long as he keeps up with his PT, then he should be fine.”

“Are you thinking of inviting him to Broken?”

“Yes, but I wanted to make sure he was medically one hundred percent. Last I heard, he had no girlfriend, nor wife, and his family stopped helping him when he wasn’t healed after the first eight weeks of the accident.

They figured if you had a broken bone, the doctors could slap a cast on it and it would heal in eight weeks.

Didn’t happen.” She shrugged. “He did what he could, and I didn’t think I abandoned him, but once I healed and heard about Broken, I came here.

We kept in touch, but I knew not to push my luck when it was around time for another operation. ”

“What do you mean, push your luck?” Katherine asked.

“You know, tell him this one will be the last one, that he got this, that it would be okay. I never sugarcoated anything with him, even before the accident. I was the little/big sister and treated him with not only respect, but I was also a hard ass on him when he would get down. It’s hard to explain. ”

“I think I get it,” Pru nodded. “So, why is he texting you all of a sudden?”

“He’s gotten a clean bill of health, and he was finally released from the service.

” She looked at the three people that weren’t veterans, and explained, “Since we were on a mission when the sabotage slash accident occurred, he was on medical leave until he was healed. Since getting a clean bill of health, and passing his physical, he can now be discharged.” Marcia looked at the others with a nod before she turned to Erin.

“He wants to know if there is any place for him here.”

“First, he’ll have to go through a background check with Duane and Jake. Second, I’m not saying no, but a couple of things will have to happen before I agree to hiring him. Third, he wouldn’t be working at Broken.”

“Like?”

“Like I need to know that Lloyd will be okay with him being here. I’m not saying that I trust a man’s word over yours, but I need to know that he’s okay with this guy being here. What’s his name again?”

“Anthony Jacobs. I always called him Jacobs because we really only hung out when we were on duty. I do know that his family called him Tony. I’ll sit down and talk with Lloyd tonight, or tomorrow and explain everything to him.

Until Katherine pointed it out, I never thought anything about it.

In my eyes, Jacobs is my brother, and that’s it.

I never had any romantic feeling for him, ever. ”

“Make sure you tell Lloyd that.”

“Why wouldn’t he work at Broken?” Katherine asked.

“I have enough employees for Broken, however, I don’t have enough for New Double.

If I hire this guy, then please know that I’m not putting him over on New Double to keep the two of you apart, I’m putting him over there because the only people working there right now are Ann, Cole, Clem, and Ducky.

You guys fill in when you can. Oh, and I know you don’t know this yet, because it hasn’t been spoken yet, but I think I’m going to send Clem out on a scouting mission soon. ”

“For?” Naomi asked with a frowned.

“I just had this thought a couple of days ago, that’s why I haven’t talked to you about it yet, but I’ll need to get with you for this.

” She saw confusion on the other’s faces and sighed as she finished off her whiskey.

After setting the glass down, she settled back in her chair.

“What the hell, I might as well say what I’ve been thinking, and you gals can tell me if I’m wrong or not. ”

“Hit us,” Pru said as she topped off her wine glass and passed the bottle. When everyone was settled, they turned to Erin. “What’s in that fabulous head of yours?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s fabulous, but you know that I’m starting a rodeo ranch right? Across the street where Laurie, Lorissa, and Lois live?”

“Yes, what about it?”