“Yeah, he said he was going to, but he forgot about the bullet in the chamber, or he would have done it.”
“I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Rory, I’m not going to lie. My job can be dangerous. I want you to know that if you want me to quit, I will.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t. I would though, if it bothered you.”
“Let’s just see how it goes.”
“All right, but I could help you with the farm. I liked it.”
“We’ll see, okay? I don’t want you to quit for me.”
“It would be for me too, but you’re right. We’ll see how it goes. I would never want you to be worried about me on a case.” His words slurred as the pill worked its way into his system.
“I know, but we’ll talk about it later. You just rest.”
“Maybe I should get to the bedroom.”
She could tell he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
“We can do that later. Just sleep, cowboy. I’m going to head to the barns for a little while. Do not try to get up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured but smiled.
Rory shook her head and grinned. Yeah, he was about out of it.
She headed out to the kitchen to get her hat and walked out the door to go to head for the milking parlors.
After entering, she moved down the aisle and saw Duane, Joel, and Abe. They looked her way and headed for her.
“Rory, how’s Wilder?” Abe asked her.
“He’s still very sore, but he’ll be fine. Thanks for asking.”
“We wish we had known what was going on, Rory,” Duane said.
“Don’t blame yourselves. I never suspected anyone here. I’m so glad you three weren’t in on it.”
“Hal asked me once if I wanted in on something to make more money, but I said no. I never thought he meant stealing from you,” Joel said.
“I’m happy you turned him down, Joel. Well, I think we need to get some milking done. It’s going to be a little rough with just four of us for a while.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll do what we can.” Joel nodded.
“I know you will.”
“Time’s wasting. Let’s get back to work.” Duane walked down the aisle between the milking machines.
Rory smiled. She knew she could depend on these three to keep the farm up and running, but she also knew she’d have to hire more workers. Although she was still disappointed about her missing cows, she knew the farm had to keep going, and she knew it would.
****
Wilder woke up and moved to sit in but hissed in a breath at the pain shooting through his arm. Damn pill wore off. He wondered where Rory was because he could use another pill. He looked at the clock on the mantel to see it was four hours since he took the last one.
His arm felt like it was on fire as he tried to sit up. Damn. He needed a pill. Then he heard the back door open.