Putting the Heart Before the Horse

Rick was only holding Harry by the arm, but even though Harry was only a few inches shorter than Rick, the older man was substantially broader. Harry wasn’t going anywhere. Plus, it didn’t look like he had the heart to fight back. Instead of glaring at them defiantly, he was staring at the ground, looking lost. Josh turned on him in a rage.

“What the hell did you think you were doing, you idiot? Someone could have gotten killed!”

“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Harry mumbled.

“You’re lucky no one did!” he yelled. Harry flinched, and despite himself, Josh felt some of his anger ebb away. He made a pathetic figure, with his torn jeans and dirty face. “What were you thinking?”

“I just wanted to get the ranch back.”

“What?”

“The land that you stole from my grandfather.”

Josh met Rick’s gaze, and he was just as confused as Josh was. “No one stole anything, Harry.”

“Your family did! Everything used to belong to my grandfather and his family until you stole it!”

Rick shook his head. “I have no idea what he’s talking about. We’ve owned the Golden Horse for four generations.”

“Liars,” Harry spat out.

Josh tried to get him to explain, but Harry refused to say anything else.

“Fine,” Josh snapped. “You can wait until the sheriff gets here.” He refused to spend any more time focusing on Harry when his attention should be on Hope. His concern for her outweighed anything else.

He guided her away from Armstrong and wrapped his arms around her again. When he thought about losing her, never again having the chance to hold her softness against him, it tore him up inside. He wanted to shift and run for miles. He wanted to stay and take it out on Harry. He wanted to hide Hope away so she’d always be safe.

Flashing lights outside the barn signaled that Sheriff Mills and his deputies had arrived. And promptly, unlike the other times they’d called him. Josh guessed that the words “aggravated assault” might have had something to do with his response.

Mills headed to Rick rather than Allison or Josh, but Josh was just as happy that he didn’t have to tell the story. He stayed with Hope while the one of the deputies handcuffed Harry. Rick and the sheriff shook hands, and Rick laid out the bare bones of the story, gesturing at Hope and then Harry. Mills strolled over to where Josh and Hope were standing.

“Ms. Callahan? Joe Mills.”

Hope freed an arm from Josh’s embrace to take the sheriff’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Sheriff Mills.”

“Call me Joe,” replied Mills.

Josh stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Mills was pouring on the charm, trying to do damage control on a situation he’d ignored for far too long.

“Rick explained what happened here tonight, but I’d appreciate it if I could hear it in your own words.”

“There’s not too much to say.” She straightened, and Josh reluctantly released her from his embrace.

“I was out for a walk a few hours ago, and someone grabbed me from behind. A few people, I guess. They put me into a van and drove me out here. When they pulled me out, they tied me to this chair.”

The sheriff had a pad out and was taking notes in messy, cramped handwriting. “Did they say what they wanted?”

Hope shook her head. “Not at first. After they brought me here, they argued for a while. Harry seemed to be the one in charge, and he came over to me and said that he wanted to talk to someone from the Golden Horse, because they’d stolen his family’s land.”

Mills motioned to his deputy, who guided a reluctant Harry over to where they were standing.

“You want to explain yourself, son?” he asked Harry.

“They stole it.”

“Yeah,” Josh snapped, at the end of his patience, “you keep saying that. What the hell do you mean? Why in God’s name do you think we stole your land?”