Saviours of Oestend Oestend 2 by Marie Sexton Read Free Book Online Page B

town for supplies.”
They all looked surprised at that, and he couldn’t blame them. Simon had been through less than two weeks before. “Coal got low,” he explained. “That cold snap froze the windmill solid. Just about burned through what we had.”
His father and Jay stared blankly at him, obviously confused, but Tama laughed and swatted him with the towel she had in her hand. “Now, really,” she said. “The truth this time.”
Now it was his turn to be confused. “I’m serious. That freeze had us running on reserves for one night, and on coal for two more. Still have a bit left, but not enough to last if we get another storm like that.”
Now they were more than confused. They were beginning to glance awkwardly at each other, as if asking, “ Do you know what he’s talking about ?”
“Ya’ll didn’t have a freeze here?”
“This time of year?” Tama asked.
“I sure as hell didn’t imagine it! We were walking on ice for three days! Frances started talking about some fancy boots he had back on the continent with sleigh runners on them!”
Clearly, the wrong thing to say. Now they were looking at him as if he were downright crazy. “Ask Cami!” he said at last. Except, unfortunately, Cami was already inside with Aren.
“Well,” Tama said finally, “whatever the reason, we’re glad you’re home.”
He had supper in the dining room with his family. The room seemed so much bigger now than it had before. In years past, it had held Jeremiah, his three sons, their wives, and the four boys. On occasion, Deacon had joined them, depending on his frame of mind. On Sundays, even the hands squeezed in at the table with them. But this time, there was only Dante, Jay, Jeremiah, Alissa, who sat without saying a word, Tama, and her two sons.
The two boys were begging to be allowed to work the ranch with the hands, but were recalcitrant about doing the chores they’d actually been assigned. That was ever the way of small boys on ranches. Jay talked of an elk he’d brought down while hunting two weeks before. There was gossip from town—about Daisy working at The Chalice, about some of the hands who’d been kicked out of the tavern in Milton and told to never come back, and about a man visiting from the East who was offering a ridiculously large reward for the return of his missing son. Alissa and Tama also hinted that they suspected their sister Beth was in a bad way, because Frank McAllen was desperately trying to marry her off. Jeremiah laughingly told Dante how Frank had promised everything he owned as dowry if Dante would take the girl off his hands. He was glad his dad had known well enough to turn the man down.
They talked more of the ice storm. Dante was stunned to learn that the BarChi had experienced nothing out of the ordinary.
“A bit less windy than usual,” Tama said. “But it was nice.”
“How could that be?” Dante asked. “I’m telling you, it was cold! We had ice everywhere. The windmill was frozen solid!”
But nobody had any answers.
They’d long since finished their meal and the boys were trying to hide their frequent yawns when Deacon came in. He looked as he always did—big and strong, his hat pushed low on his head and his long dark hair in a queue down his back. The room fell silent when he entered.
He looked right at Dante. “I need to talk to you.”
Everybody else stood up, whether out of respect for Deacon or because they didn’t want to witness an argument Dante didn’t know. Chairs scraped across the floor and dishes clanked together as they quickly cleared the table and headed for the door. Jeremiah stopped and said a few words to Deacon, too low for Dante to hear. Deacon shook his head and said something back. Jeremiah seemed pleased with the answer. He clapped Deacon on the back, then gave Dante what was probably supposed to be a reassuring wink.
And then they were alone.
In the past, Dante would have been thrilled to have a few moments of Deacon’s time, but not