Chapter 8

Ace

I climbed in my truck and quickly texted Sam Ryder, Wildcat, my two brothers, and Eagle. “Everyone helping in some way with protecting Jaelyn, meet me at the ranch house in twenty minutes. Wildcat no cameras.”

I got thumbs up from everyone but GrayWolf who called me. “I can’t get all the hands in that quickly.”

I hadn’t thought about them. “Not the hands. We can tell them what they need to know later tonight. Just the main team, basically the Ryders, Wildcat and Gear Box, and you and Taylor. Also, plan to hang around after dinner tonight. We need to have a family meeting about something else.”

“I’ll let Taylor know he’s with me. We were checking the Blue herd and moving them closer to the branding pens.”

With that, he hung up. For not being a Wilder by birth, he acted an awful lot like Dad. He never said goodbye, just what needed to be said, then hung up. Gray was the same way. I shook my head and called Amber. “Hey Ace. My client just left, but I need to get this horse in a stall and calmed down. So make this quick please.”

I smiled. I still remember the day I was home on leave and then sixteen-year-old Amber came to me, telling me she needed me to go to Billings with her to bid on some horses. Dad went with us, but he was there to bid on a bull and refused to help his baby girl buy horse flesh to start a breeding program. He didn’t think it was worth the risk, and she was too young to run a business.

But she had shown me her business plan, and it looked solid to me. She had her own money and knew exactly how much she could spend, but because she wasn’t an adult, the auction company wouldn’t let her make any bids.

I convinced the old man to let her try. I told him I’d take responsibility if she failed and sell the horses at auction. He told me it was on me if she failed. I agreed, and we’d gotten to the auction barn and she’d been impressive. She talked to the owners of the horses she wanted, examined them like she knew what she was doing. Looked over their pedigrees and paperwork, asking insightful and purposeful questions.

When she was done looking, she had four horses she wanted. One stallion and three mares. All had good ranching pedigrees and distinguished lines. They might not produce any thoroughbred racers, but she could probably get good foals this year. All ranch or rodeo quality. She had been studying natural training methods and had spent the summer before working for Melody Ryder on the Ryder Historical Experience ranch. Melody herself had a reputation for being able to tame and train any horse. She didn’t break horses. She trained them with some methods strange to cowboys, but no one could fault the results.

She and Amber hit it off, and Amber became a dedicated student and Melody turned out to be an amazing mentor and teacher of her method of training horses. Once the summer was over, they kept in contact through email and Amber had learned as much as she could. So I knew she’d breed this first year and in two she’d have three two-year-old’s to work on training.

Then, as so often seems to happen when someone has connected to any of the Ryder’s personally, something unexpected dropped into Amber’s lap.

On the way to our seats, we had to pass what, for lack of a better term, were the ‘dog food pens’. This was for old, broken, useless horses that were on their last legs. When a rancher couldn’t use them anymore, they’d get one last pay day by selling them to the Mexican dog food companies. The companies would buy them cheap, transport them south of the border, and turn them into dog food. A horrible end for a horse that had given all that they could to a ranch or cowboy, but to the bottom-line ranchers, it was money and that was what counted.

There in a pen by himself was the most perfect specimen of a golden palomino stallion I’d ever seen. Amber stopped and just stared. “Why is he in the kill pens, Ace? That horse is magnificent.” Before anyone could stop her, Amber was over the fence and slowly walking toward the big stallion. An old rancher saw her and whisper-yelled at her. “Girl, get out of there quick. That is the meanest horse I ever done owned. He’s seriously hurt more cowboys than any horse ever. Almost killed the last one. Get out.”

Amber stopped moving when the horse started digging at the ground with his front left hoof and blowing hard, his head going up and down in agitation. “Nonsense, he’s just scared.” Then she stood there looking at that horse and humming some wordless tune. The rancher turned to me. “Mister, if you care for that girl, you’ll get her out of that there pen.”

Without looking at us Amber asked, “How much would it take for you to sell him to me?”

The whole time she kept humming when she wasn’t talking. The rancher was shaking his head. “Little girl, I can’t sell you that horse. I’d be legally responsible for selling a dangerous horse if you or anyone got hurt.”

She kept humming, and I watched as the horse stopped pawing at the ground. After a few minutes, his head stopped bobbing up and down, and his ears that had been flat against his head came up and his head tilted a bit to the right like he was listening to her song. Amber quit humming and slowly reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a horse nugget. A treat she made for the horses back home from oats, apple bits, and honey. She held it out on her palm and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth three times and took one step toward the horse. The rancher started to say something, but I shook my head. “Watch.”

Amber stood there and started humming again. Then she held her hand up with the nugget on it and clicked her tongue again and took two steps toward the horse. He blew once, and she stopped, lowered her hand, and started humming. I talked to the rancher while we kept watching Amber and the horse. “Mister, that horse is named Aliento del Diablo. Maybe you heard last month I took him to the rodeo in Billings and offered a prize of ten thousand for anyone who could stay on him for just eight seconds. I thought if nothing else, by the time the night was over, he’d be broke or at least used to a cowboy on his back.

“The longest anyone stayed on was two point three seconds, and that was Vince Wilder, the champion. That horse knocked the champ clean out of the rig and knocked him out.”

I knew about that. Vince had told us about that horse and that ride. “That’s Breath of the Devil?”

“Yes, that’s why I can’t sell him to anyone but the meat and glue factories. He’s a killer waiting to happen.”

Then the unbelievable happened. Amber held her hand out with the treat on it and clicked three times, and damned if that horse didn’t take a step toward her as she took one toward him.

She clicked again and that ‘killer’ horse took two steps and Amber did the same. Amber clicked again, and the horse walked up to her as slow and docile as an old hound dog and lipped the nugget from her hand. “Well, I’ll be damned.” The old rancher said. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never believed it.”

I glanced over at him. “Tell you what, sell me the horse. I’ll give you” and I named a price that was just shy of twice what the meat plant would offer him. “And I’ll sign a legal affidavit stating we absolve you of any legal responsibility if the horse hurts, maims, or kills anyone.”

The old rancher knew how to horse trade and gave me a number over four times what the glue factory would offer him. I laughed.

“Five minutes ago, you wouldn’t sell him to me for glue prices. We both know what I offered you is twice what they’d give you.”

I upped my price by a thousand dollars. He came back at triple the meat price. I shrugged.

“My little sister wanted your horse but what I just offered you is all I’m gonna offer you.” I called to Amber “come on Baby Sister, I tried he just don’t want to sell to us.”

Amber knew this game too, so she patted the big stallion and said with crocodile tears in her voice and eyes. “I’m sorry, big guy. I tried.”

She started backing away because Melody had trained her to never turn your back on a horse until you were 100% certain he would not turn on you. She got a few feet away and turned and damn if that big ole horse didn’t neigh at her and start following her like a big puppy. The old rancher sighed. “Now hold on a minute. He ain’t no good to me, anyway. You sign that affidavit and I’ll let you have him for that last price.”

I stopped, but Amber didn’t. She climbed over the fence. “I don’t think so, Ace. If Vince couldn’t ride him, maybe he ain’t trainable. Besides, we can get those other two stallions for that much. They weren’t as good, but they’ve been successful breeders and are rideable.”

The rancher stared hard at my baby sister. “What’s yer name, little lady?”

Amber smiled at him, all sweet and girl-like. “I’m Amber Wilder, sir. Of Wilder Stables and Training Center.” She handed him a business card from a holder on her belt. They were slick, too, had the name she’d registered already with the state and a logo with the name around the Rocking W brand with her name as Lead Trainer on it.

The old timer grunted. “Ain’t never heard of ya. But I know that brand, yer daddy sells quality beef.”

“Well, you’ve heard of me now and pretty soon everyone will know who we are.”

She looked at me. “Come on, Ace, I don’t want to miss my picks.”

“Hold on now. Sign that paper making me not liable and I’ll let ya have him for...” The man gave us a price that was only one and a half the price the kill pen would net him. I reached out and shook his hand. Amber squealed and kissed his old weathered cheek. “Thank you so much. Starshine thanks you, too.”

“Starshine?”

She nodded. “Yes sir, Ace, register that name change on the bill of sale, please. I’m not calling that beautiful horse the Breath of the Devil. You give a horse the name you want him to live up to, just like a child.”

“Just be careful, girl. What you did today was amazing, but I ain’t convinced anyone can tame that horse.”

She grinned. “Mister, you buy a ticket to the Carter County Rodeo in six months. I’m supposed to carry the opening flag and I’ll be ridding that horse you just sold me.”

“Girly, iffen you can do that, I’ll hire ya right then and there to train all my difficult horses for five years.”

She held out her hand. “You got a deal, mister.”

“King, Rodney King of the Crown K ranch.”

Both our eyes got large. Rodney King and the Crown K was the most lucrative ranch in all of Montana. Six months later, Rodney did exactly what he promised. He signed a five-year contract with Amber and the Wilder Stables and Training Center, after she rode Starshine. And not just for the opening ceremony. She also put on a trick riding demonstration at the closing ceremony on that big stallion.

After that, my baby sister had all the work she could handle and she and that stallion not only created several champion horses with her string of mares, but they were renowned all across Montana as the most entertaining trick riding team in the state. She had to turn down offers to put on shows, she was so busy. So if she said to make it quick, I knew she meant it.

“Be free tonight after dinner for an emergency family meeting and you get to Facetime in Vince. Skylar’s doing Violet.”

I could hear the curiosity in her voice. “Okay, give me a hint what the meeting is about?”

“I need to talk to everyone, and I’d rather do it only once.”

“Okay, hey, got to go I just got pinged by that weird spider guy about my client being here.”

“Yep, later.”

“Love ya Ace.”

“You too, baby sister.”

I parked in front of the home I’d grown up in and headed around back. Only company used the front door. But front or back there was a boot station with a mounted stiff brush to clean any work-related substances off the bottom, and a heel puller. No one, and I mean no one, entered mom’s house in their boots more than once. The first time she was nice and asked you to take them off and put them on the rug inside the door for that purpose. After that, Mom didn’t consider you a guest and if you tracked mom’s hardwood, she would hand you the broom and mop. If you lived on the ranch, she’d hand you a can of paste wax and a rag. You’d sweep your mess, mop the floor, and polish the hardwood back to the shine it had before you were thoughtless of her hard work.

My boots were off before I opened the mudroom door and I put them on the rug and entered the kitchen. “Ace, I didn’t expect to see you. Did you get Jaelyn situated at your place?”

I nodded. “I left her with Skylar. Dad around?”

“He’s in the office grumbling about his worthless ranch manager and that computer guy.”

Mom said with a smile. “You should go let him know you have the ranch in hand again.”

“I will, but first I called a family meeting tonight right after supper. Is that okay?”

Mom stopped and looked at me. “Are you going to tell us what’s been going on with you, finally?”

I should have known mom knew something was wrong. She was my mother, and she always seemed to know everything. “I know you aren’t going to tell us you’re getting married yet because you didn’t ask me for your grandma’s ring and we both know you’d do that first.”

I laughed. “Mom, nothing gets past you, does it?”

“Well, it’s hard to ignore it when half the hospital staff calls to tell me how sweet you and Jaelyn look all wrapped together squeezed into her hospital bed, son.”

I nodded, not even a bit embarrassed. “Mom, honestly, she’s it for me. I knew from the minute she yelled for me to cowboy up. But she isn’t ready for that yet. She needs time to heal both physically and emotionally.

“Wiggie made sure Jaelyn and I knew that a physical relationship was not possible without setting her recovery back. She promised to tell us when we could have an intimate relationship. I think was the term she used. But she did remind me that it might take longer for her emotional recovery to allow it.”

Mom put her hand over her mouth to hide her grin. I knew those two ladies could get personal and raunchy as any other ranch wife, but Mom at least tried to keep it in check. “Well, you got to admit Linda Owing’s calls it just like she sees it. I don’t think you should try to circumvent her on this one, son.”

I sighed and squirmed. This conversation was headed somewhere no man or boy ever wants a conversation with his mother to go. “I will not discuss my love life with you, Mother. But I will just say the day will come when I’ll ask, and you can be certain grandma’s ring will end up on Jaelyn’s finger unless she flat out refuses to marry me. If that happens, you can give it to Taylor or Vince. It wouldn’t look bad on Debra’s hand.”

Mom shook her head. “Not you too. Listen, Ace, and remember I said it. Debra Mathews will never be a Wilder. Everyone needs to leave her and Taylor alone. They are friends and that’s all they will ever be no matter how hard them old biddies and Deacon Mathews wish or push. Your brother has his heart set on another woman. He just needs to get over the fact that she isn’t what he thinks he needs. I tell you what I’d tell anyone. The heart knows what the heart knows, and the soul will listen to the heart before it will listen to the head.”

I frowned. “You know who his heart wants?”

“Son, you are almost thirty years old. Haven’t you realized I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT MY FAMILY? Even the things you keep hidden for our safety or what you think is our safety. I think you’ll find that your meeting tonight helps you more than you ever thought it would. A burden shared is lighter for the sharing.”

She walked over and kissed my check then swatted my ass. “Now, go calm your dad and get those soldiers sorted that you brought out here to help protect our girl.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Our girl?”

“You’ve claimed her, that makes her a Wilder in my book. So, while it may be your house and bed she sleeps in, she belongs to me, too. I may not walk around being all ninja quiet, but let that son of a bitch set foot on this ranch. I’ll put a few Winchester slugs in him if I get the chance.”

I stood there looking at my mother. In thirty years, I’d never heard her curse anyone. Oh, like any other western or southern woman, she’d ‘bless their heart’ all the way to hell, but that was the strongest I’d ever heard her speak. She looked at me. “What, just because I ain’t as free with them curses as you men don’t mean I don’t know ‘em and when to use ‘em. Now get out of my kitchen.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I was chuckling as I walked down the hall to the ranch office and knocked on the door frame. “Hey dad I think you’re in my chair.” I joked.

He looked at me and frowned. “I don’t know. Seems like the worn spots are still fit to my cheeks, boy. Besides, I thought you signed back up to play soldier again.”

I sighed silently. I knew part of him was teasing, but I could hear the underlying resentment that I’d put some unknown girl ahead of what he saw as my duty to the family. “Dad, all joking aside. When you met mom did you know she was the woman you were going to make Mrs. Buck Wilder?”

He sat up in the chair straight and tall. Bad ticker, age catching up with him or not, he was proud of his relationship with mom and I knew the answer because this was his favorite story to tell. “Of course, I did. I’m a Wilder after all. Wilder men always know. Might take us longer to admit it sometimes, but we know instantly.”

I shut the door behind me. “Then let me ask you this. If, when you met mom, some dickhead had held her captive, beat her to the brink of death, violated her every way a man could, and you found her like that and they had to admit her to the hospital to heal for a few days, where would you be?”

“You know where, with her every second.”

“Uh-huh and if, during that time, you found out that the prick still planned to regain physical control of her, and keep hurting and using her, thinking he could get away with it because no one cared about her and his daddy was a very important congressman who would keep him out of trouble. Then what would you do?”

“I’d do whatever it took until his balls were roasting over the darkest, hottest fire in the worst level of hell.”

“Then don’t ask me to do any less. This girl, dad, she’s my Mrs. Wilder, she just don’t know it yet.”

“Well, hell fire boy, why didn’t you say so? Let’s go show that snake the Wilder way to hell.”

I smiled. “Those men that disrupted the ranch yesterday, would you say that they look like the type of fellas that could help me do just that?”

Dad rubbed his jaw. “Well, maybe not that one in the Halloween costume. Pretty sure Amber could beat him in a fight.”

I laughed and nodded. “Yea, well, his boss told me specifically not to put a gun in his hand unless we want him to shoot his own foot off. That ain’t what he’s here for.”

“Then what is he here for?”

“Well, according to the men who know him best, he’s the best at what he does. Put him behind a computer and some electronic junk and he’ll find anyone or anything. He’s putting an electronic net over the ranch so airtight that if a field mouse farts, he’ll be able to tell us which field he was eating in that gave him gas before the mouse even knows it farted.”

“Reckon that could be handy.”

“Yep, and I have a job for you that only you can do.”

Dad perked up at that. “What do you need, son?”

“The woman that came with the camera crews. She’s their boss. I need you to keep her busy. One of the cover stories is that Wildcat is going to build us a special motorcycle to use in parades and at motorcycle shows to promote the ranch and our meats.”

“Okay, what’s that got to do with me?”

“Well, Taylor and Vince are going to help, but they need you to do what you do best. You show that woman everything on the ranch. Take your time. Tell her every story in your arsenal. All about how the Wilders settled here, Great-grandpa’s stories, Grandpa’s stories. Yours and moms, you keep her head spinning with tall tales of the Montana Wilder west.

“Then you show her the town because the boys are telling her they are going to open a shop here and put down roots. So you take her to the honkytonk, the diner, all over, tell her about building the church. And all the old spots, anything you think will keep her filming you. If they are filming you, they aren’t filming me or Jaelyn. We cannot be on camera or even mentioned on camera.”

Dad nodded. “Got it, I can do it. Heck, I’ll call the good ole boys and we’ll tell her so many tall tales she’ll never know what day it is.”

“Perfect dad.”

“You just take care of your woman and her abuser.”

“Dad, I promise you. I’m letting Frank have first crack. He wants to do it the ‘legal’ way. But this guy who hurt Jaelyn, he’s Congressman Robinson’s son. We both know the Congressman ain’t going to let his son get in the type trouble that will end up on the news. And that’s the type of trouble he’s in.”

Dad nodded. “Never did like that slimy liberal toad. So in the end you’ll have to handle it your way, huh?”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told those senators in Washington when they asked me dangerous questions, dad.”

“What was that Ace?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny any such rumor or innuendo at this time.”

Dad cracked up. “I bet that got their panties in a knot.”

“Well, it helped I could start that sentence with ‘For reasons of National Security.’ Can’t do that in this case. But honestly, the less I tell you, the better for you. If it goes wrong, you can deny knowing anything about what I was doing. Not that I expect it to go wrong, but, like you taught me growing up, ‘plan for the worst and make the best happen.’ Speaking of that, I asked for a family meeting after supper tonight. Need to give everyone some hard information you all do need to know.”

“Tell you mother she’ll make it happen.”

“Everyone knows just trying to keep you in the loop.”

“All right, go meet your soldiers and take care of this Robinson kid.”

“Yes, sir.”

I walked back down the hall and knocked on the first door in the hallway. A surprisingly fit, brown-haired, brown-eyed guy opened the door. “Spidey?”

“Yes sir. Ace Wilder?”

“That’s me.”

“Come in, everyone’s almost here. Last ones will be your two brothers. They are five minutes away.”

I couldn’t help it. I looked at my watch and set the indicator. The need to see how good this kid really was filled me. Men started showing up and the room filled with enormous bodies and tons of egos and testosterone. Sure enough, the last two through the door were my brothers. I looked at my watch. It was five minutes on the dot. The kid was scary good.