Harlan waited where the broad stock trail narrowed toward the lane. Asa stood off to his left. Wade and Ellis held the higher ground. They had spread themselves where Ruth would see how easily they could turn animals back.
She let the herd slow. It took time for the rear to understand what the front was doing. Horses drifted to either side, and Benito worked to keep them from spreading into the scrub. Mateo sat stiffly behind Carmela. Ruth saw him lift the shotgun across his saddle.
Harlan looked older in the afternoon light than he had in his kitchen. There was dust in the lines beside his mouth.
“That's enough,” he said.
Ruth stopped Lark beyond his reach.
“There's a yard ahead. You can take your horses there.”
“I can take them here.”
“You've nowhere to hold them.”
“I've got men.”
Asa rode toward the outside mares. Benito moved between him and Inés. His pistol remained in its holster, but he sat with his right hand free. Asa stopped, looked at Mateo's shotgun and spat into the dust.
Harlan kept his attention on Ruth.
“You've been playing at this long enough. You're not a child.”
“Then stop talking to me like one.”
He took a breath. She saw him rearrange himself, the way he used to when a buyer's wife entered a negotiation and he decided charm would be cheaper than argument.
“Let's get you out of the middle. You and me. They can wait.”
Carmela brought her horse up.
“We're not waiting.”
Harlan looked at her as if she had spoken in the wrong room.
“I've made you an offer.”
“You told us to come back.”
“Without a penny charged for the trouble. Most men wouldn't be so easy.”
“Keep being easy,” she said. “There's room on your right.”
She turned her gelding that way, toward the broad strip of ground between Harlan's horse and the fence. Eva clung to her sleeve. Teresa came behind with the packs. Luis and Inés began turning the loose animals toward the same opening.
Harlan reached for Carmela's bridle.
Ruth lifted her rifle from the scabbard. She didn't point it at his chest. She laid it across her arm, muzzle clear of Carmela, and said his name.
He looked at it, then at her.
For the first time since she came home, she saw him genuinely uncertain.
Mateo's shotgun clicked as he brought the hammer back. The sound was small. Eva started to cry. Carmela kept moving.
“You want to do this here?” Harlan asked Ruth.
“I want your hand off her horse.”
He released the bridle.
The family went through, not quickly. There was no room to bolt without scattering animals, and Carmela wouldn't run her child past a man's stirrup. Teresa rode next, mouth set. Mateo followed. He had turned pale. Luis kept his eyes on his father's horse. Inés looked straight ahead until she passed Benito, then reached down and touched his sleeve.
Ruth waited. Harlan's gaze stayed on the gun.
“After all the things I've done for you.”
She didn't answer. Behind him the stock road entered the banked cut. Ruth could see the eastern fence wing now, weathered rails rising toward the enclosure. Beyond it stood two wagons, each with a pair of workhorses turned for the settlement, harness flashing dull in the light. A man in a brown coat stood on the front wagon's box, waving his hat at Carmela.
Esteban. They had made it far enough for him to see them.
Not far enough for anything else.
Harlan glanced back. His face changed when he saw the wagons.
“You planned all this.”
“Carmela did.”
He looked toward Wade. The older man stared at the ground between his horse's ears.
“They're taking their things,” Ruth said. “Your stock comes back. All sixty. Nobody needs to shoot anybody.”
“And who pays me for four days?”
“I don't have it.”
“You had it Tuesday.”
He was still counting her money. She might have laughed if she could have trusted the sound that would come out.
Asa raised his voice. “The mares are pushing past.”
“Let them go into the lane,” Harlan said. “There's a pen.”
Ruth saw the choice he had made. The ground would do the holding for him. Fences, a cut, men at the western end. He still thought the wagons were something he could dismiss once the horses were secure.
She eased Lark after the herd.
Harlan rode beside her. Asa and Wade gathered the last animals from the broad ground, helping the movement now because it carried their employer's property toward enclosure. Benito stayed between them and the family, his face wet with sweat.
Ruth held the rifle low against her saddle. Her shoulder ached. She had never been so aware of what a bullet would do to a horse crowded among others.
At the western mouth of the lane Harlan leaned toward her.
“Get down,” he said. “Leave the rifle on your horse. I want a word without all this foolishness.”
She saw Carmela reach Esteban. He stepped down from the box and caught her in a hard, brief embrace. Then she pushed him away and pointed at the packs. He began working.
Teresa called for the second wagon. The other driver turned its team slightly so it stood beyond the east wing, its bed accessible from the road. There was room between the wagons for people to work without stepping among the teams.
Ruth dismounted. She kept the rifle in her hand and Lark's reins in the other.
Harlan stayed mounted, looking down at her.
“I said leave it.”
“I heard you.”