Rose had to close her mouth before she could reply. “On the corral fence.”
“You can’t mean to knuckle under just like that,” Monty protested.
“If we’d helped Ma more, she might not have died,” Hen said as he walked away.
“Well, I’ll be damned and double-damned,” Monty muttered.
Just then George came out with his mattress over his shoulder.
Monty took one look and broke into an ear-splitting grin. “By damn, Rose, if you haven’t outmaneuvered me again. Slipped around my left flank and routed the whole damned column without me even knowing. Maybe I should have brought you half a dozen turkeys instead of just three.” He walked over to his horse and untied from his saddle three large birds that he had shot that morning after his watch.
“Three are quite enough,” Rose said, as bewildered by her success as Monty. “You can bring me more some other time.”
“I sure will,” he said as he hung the turkeys on a nail in the porch roof, out of reach of the dogs.
“Okay, you scamps,” George said to Tyler and Zac. “If you want a hand with those mattresses, you’d better get off your hindquarters.”
“But, George—” Tyler began.
“Give it up,” Monty said. “We’re in full retreat. We’ve been beaten by a better man.”
“She don’t look like no man to me,” Zac pointed out.
“That’s why we’ve been beaten,” Monty said, looking first at George and then at Hen with an inquisitive gleam in his eyes. “I made the mistake of ignoring her most obvious weapon.”
“What are you talking about?” Tyler asked.
Monty threw his arm over his brother’s shoulder. “It seems we’ve seriously neglected your education, my boy. You’d better ride with me today.”
“It might be better if he rode with me,” George said. “I doubt his understanding will be much improved by anything you would tell him.”
“Zac, put the sheets in the wash pot,” Rose said. “Tyler, you can hang the blankets on the line. I’ll have breakfast on the table by the time you’re finished.”
“I can’t bring you my mattress or my sheets,” Jeff said, waving his stump at Rose.
Rose knew he was registering his objection to her victory rather than complaining about his arm.
“I’m sure you could if you made up your mind to try.” She spoke as normally as she could into the uncomfortable silence. “But you can get me some water from the well, if you like. I’m going to need more to wash the floors.”
George hadn’t expected Rose to confront Jeff’s opposition as she had, or to understand the real meaning of what he said. Her deft handling of his remark increased his growing respect for her.
“Come on,” George said to Jeff. “The sooner we get the water, the sooner we eat.”
As soon as they got beyond hearing distance of the others, George turned angrily on his brother. “I think it’s about time you decided what you want.”
“All I said was—”
“You’re the one who demanded a housekeeper. The others would have been happy with a range cook. Well, I hired her. And not even you can deny that Rose has done more work in two days than we ever thought possible. Yet all you’ve done is object to everything.”
“I can’t help it. I don’t like her.”
“Well, I do, so start giving her a little cooperation.”
“Are you telling me you’d choose that woman ahead of me, your own brother?”
“I’m telling you to start pulling with the family and not against it. And as long as Rose is working for the family, I mean her as well.”
“I suppose you’ll want me to leave if I refuse.”
George swore in exasperation. “I want no such thing. This is your home as well as mine.”
“It’ll never be my home. We should go back to Virginia. We could get Ashburn back if we tried.”
“What for? The house is a near ruin. The land has been fought over until I doubt there’s a barn, fence, or tree left standing. This is our home now. You have to learn to accept that.”
“I can’t.”
“You give yourself too many battles to fight, Jeff. Come on. Rose is waiting for the water.”
“I’m going to need someone to help me with the heavy work around here,” Rose announced. The men were almost through with breakfast. They were full of ham and gravy and grits and milk. Too contented to get upset. Yet.
“What work?” Zac asked, his black eyes apprehensive.
“Someone needs to build a coop for the chickens. I’m surprised the coyotes haven’t gotten them all.”