MacKinnon’s Rangers 03.5 - Upon A Winter's Night by Pamela Clare Read Free Book Online Page B

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    She turned to Annie. "Go and get Nessa from the barn and loose her in the paddock. Spread hay for her and fill the trough with water."

    The water would freeze during the night, but it was the best they could do until other arrangements could be made.

    Annie nodded and dashed off toward the barn.

    Joseph frowned. "What do you know of bulls?"

    "I watched one of the sisters tend our herd of cattle at the abbey. I often walked beside her as she led the bull to pasture."

    Joseph shook his head. "This beast is mean-spirited. It would be hard for a grown man to tame him, let alone a small woman."

    The bull bellowed again, swung its head from side to side, pawed at the snow.

    "It has nothing to do with size. It is about mastery," Amalie said, remembering what Sister Marie Louise had once said to another nun who was afraid to go near the bull. She turned to Farmer Fairley. "When the cow has been moved, you can take him and place him with her."

    Farmer Fairley nodded. "The company of a good cow ought to calm him. ’Tis more often than not the cows that train the bull."

    Killy chuckled and opened his mouth as if to speak, then seemed to think the better of it, his mouth snapping shut.

    Farmer Fairley motioned to the back of the wagon. "Why don’t you two men unload the rest of it while we’re waitin ’?"

    Amalie looked over at Sarah again, amazed. There was more?

    Killy and Joseph walked to the side of the wagon and, together, drew back a heavy sheet of canvas, a wide grin spreading across Killy’s face. "A plow — and a fine one at that — and a scythe, too."

    Amalie stared over at Sarah, astonished.

    Sarah looked as if she feared she’d done something wrong, her gaze drawn repeatedly to the bull, which lowed and huffed. "These are my Christmas gifts to all of you. I wanted to help in some way, to use my coin to make life on the farm easier."

    "Such gifts, Sarah!" Amalie couldn’t imagine how much the bull must have cost, much less the plow and scythe. She knew Sarah had been left with a small fortune, but hadn’t imagined Sarah would spend so much of it on the farm. "You are very generous."

    "You are my family now."

    Sarah’s simple reply put a lump in Amalie’s throat. She understood only too well how it felt to be alone in the world. Until she’d come to live at the farm with Morgan, she’d never had a place she could truly call home. "Yes, we are your family."

    "Well, the boys will be surprised when they get back, won’t they?" Killy laughed, lifting the scythe out of the wagon and walking over to lean it up against Iain and Annie’s cabin.

    "That much is certain." Grinning, Joseph hopped into the wagon and lifted up the heavy plow. "I am glad I will be here to see their faces."

    The bull bellowed again, lowered its head, and crashed once more against the back of the wagon, making Sarah gasp and nearly knocking Joseph off balance as he tried to lower the plow to Killy .

    "I’ve got it." Killy rested the heavy implement on the ground, chuckling. "Aye, this will be a Christmas to remember."

    Amalie saw that Nessa was now in the paddock, Annie spreading hay on the snow-packed ground.

    Farmer Fairley saw, too. He handed the horse’s reins to Killy , then got something out of the back of the wagon — a thick rod.

    Another bellow, another crash.

    "Quit your caterwaulin ’!" Farmer Fairley walked to the back of the wagon, hit the bull with a stick to make it step back, and unbound the rope, glancing over at Amalie. "You’d best move aside, mistress. Bulls are troublesome. You can never tell when — "

    The bull bellowed and turned as if to run, the sudden motion causing Farmer Fairley to drop the rod. For a moment, Amalie feared the bull would charge the poor farmer, perhaps even gore him.

    Without thinking, she stepped between the farmer and the terrified animal, raised her hand, and struck the bull as hard as she could on its nose. " Non ! "

    It quietened at once, turning its