The Hired Man. Lynna Banning

      He pushed back his chair, stood up and grabbed the speckleware coffeepot off the stove. Then he grabbed his cup out of her hand, sloshed it full and sat down again.

      Eleanor’s frown etched deep lines into her forehead. “Cord, what is wrong with you this morning?”

      Cord caught Danny’s eye. “Kids?” He tipped his head toward the back door. “Outside.”

      “C’mon, Molly. Let’s go find the kittens.”

      “No! I wanna see what’s gonna happen.”

      Danny blinked at his sister. “Molly,” he whispered. “What do you think’s gonna happen?”

      “I think he’s gonna spank Mama!”

      Eleanor made an involuntary jerk, shooed both children out the back door and moved toward the sink. When the door slammed shut, she sat back down and stared at her folded hands, waiting until Cord looked at her.

      “It’s not the door, is it? It’s something else.”

      He clamped his jaw shut. “Well,” he said after a long minute, “it is and it isn’t.”

      “All right,” she said as patiently as she could manage. “What is and isn’t it?”

      Cord swallowed a double gulp of coffee and pushed the cup around and around in a circle on the table. “I think...”

      He made an effort to keep his voice calm. Stay rational. Don’t let too much show. “I don’t care what people in Smoke River do. I think you should lock your front door at night.”

      She just stared at him, her eyes looking more like hard agates every second.

      “And the back door,” he added. “You’ve got no way of knowing who might come snooping around, Eleanor. You’ve lived a very protected life.”

      “This is something you learned at some point from people who weren’t exactly honest.”

      “That’s partly true. The rest I learned just living somewhere that’s not a little town like Smoke River. This place is...well, it’s like a little bit of heaven. Peaceful and quiet. Nothing much goes wrong here unless it’s some mercantile store getting painted pink. Most places aren’t like this.”

      She sat without moving for so long he thought maybe she hadn’t heard him. Then she absentmindedly reached for his coffee cup and downed a big swallow. “All this upset is about locking my doors?” An unexpected little spurt of laughter escaped her. “The children think you’re going to spank me!”

      He chuckled at that. “Maybe I would if I thought I could catch you.”

      He rescued his cup from her fingers and stood up to pour some coffee for her. Before he set it down in front of her he reached for the brandy bottle she kept on the top shelf of the china cabinet and dolloped some of the liquor into her cup.

      * * *

      Monday morning Cord decided he needed to go into town for another pound of nails and some hinges, and he timed his trip so he’d be riding back when Danny would be walking home from school. He had an idea. He knew Eleanor wouldn’t like it, but it was a good idea anyway.

      Sure enough, half a mile after he left the mercantile he spied the boy trudging along the dusty road, his satchel slung over one drooping shoulder.

      “Hold up, Danny.” Cord reined up his bay mare and waited. The boy looked up and his dusty, heat-flushed face broke into a tired smile.

      “Didn’t know you was comin’ to town today, Cord. You see that Miss Fanny lady at the mercantile?”

      “Nope. Wasn’t looking for Miss Fanny. Bought some nails and some sugar for your ma. Glad I ran into you, though.”

      “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

      Cord leaned down and spoke quietly. “Thought you might fancy a ride on Sally here.”

      Danny’s eyes lit up. “Oh, boy, would I? You mean it?”

      “I never say things I don’t mean, son. Now just hold on a minute, all right?” Before the boy could say another word he slipped out of the saddle and was unbuckling the cinch.

      “You ready to ride her?”

      “Can’t. Ma won’t let me.”

      “Maybe your ma won’t know about it.”

      Danny frowned up at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

      “Like I said, Dan, I never say things I don’t mean.” He lifted his saddle off and hefted it onto his shoulder.

      “Golly, Cord, I don’t know.”

      “Thought you wanted to learn to ride,” Cord said.

      “Oh, I sure do, but—”

      “No buts.”

      Danny bit his lower lip in exactly the same way Eleanor bit hers. “How come you took the saddle off?”

      “Because first you’re gonna learn to ride bareback. The saddle comes later.”

      The boy dropped his book satchel in the dust and reached up to touch the mare’s nose. “H’lo, Sally. Gosh, you’re real handsome, and...” All at once he looked doubtful. “How am I gonna get up there without a stirrup?”

      “Indian boys don’t use saddles or stirrups. How do you think they do it?”

      “They... I bet they stand on something so’s they can reach.”

      Cord shifted the saddle so he could make a foothold with his hands. “Step here,” he ordered. “Now, grab some of the mane and haul yourself up.” He watched the boy hold tight to a fistful of mane and clamber onto Sally’s broad back.

      When he was sitting upright, he sent Cord a triumphant smile. “What do I do now?”

      “Squeeze your knees right around her belly and let go of her mane. Then pick up the reins. You won’t fall off if you keep your knees tight.”

      “O-okay. My knees are squeezin’ like anything and I’m gonna let go of all this hair.” He lifted one hand a scant inch from Sally’s thick mane, then gingerly freed the other and grabbed the leather lines.

      “Now,” Cord said, “give her a little nudge with your heel.”

      “Can’t,” Danny announced.

      “Why not?”

      “I’m scared she’ll move!”

      Cord chuckled. “That’s what you want her to do, Dan. Try it.”

      The horse moved ahead a single step and Danny yelped. “Hell, Cord, she’s moving!”

      “Watch your mouth, son. There are some things I will tell your ma about.”

      “S-sorry.” He patted the mare’s neck. “Sorry, Sally.”

      Cord bit back a grin, turned away and headed down the road. “You know how to make her go,” he called over his shoulder. “If you want her to stop just pull back on the reins and say ‘whoa.’”

      “Hell—Golly, Cord, I don’t know...”

      But after a moment Cord heard the unmistakable clop-clop of Sally’s hooves on the road behind him. He dropped back to walk alongside the mounted boy and tried to remember how he’d felt the first time he’d ever felt a horse move under him. Scared. Proud. All “growed-up,” as Danny put it.

      Well before they reached the turnoff to the farm, Cord raised his hand and the boy brought the mare to a halt and slipped off. “You gonna mount up like you just rode in from town?”

      “Nope.” He grasped the reins and walked alongside Danny until they reached the farm. He motioned the boy to open the gate and walked the horse