The rancher stared.
“What?”
“You may take them for forty-eight hours.”
“County agent inspects the ranch tomorrow.”
“If conditions are unsuitable, the arrangement ends.”
“After that, we hold a formal hearing.”
The rancher nodded.
“Fine.”
The judge leaned forward.
“One more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Do not make promises you cannot keep.”
The rancher thought about the twelve-year-old demanding that he swear.
Too late.
He had already made one.
He walked outside.
Nine children looked up.
The oldest boy searched his face.
The rancher said:
“Forty-eight hours.”
The boy frowned.
“What happens after?”
“Hearing.”
“And then?”
“I don't know.”
The boy looked away.
The rancher corrected:
“But tonight you're coming with me.”
Nobody celebrated.
That surprised him.
Then he understood.
Children accustomed to losing homes did not celebrate new ones quickly.
They waited to see how long they lasted.
The rancher borrowed a covered wagon from the livery.
His horse alone could not carry nine children.
The county agent arranged for another team.
They gathered the children's belongings from the widow's house.
There was almost nothing.
Three small trunks.
Two carpetbags.
A wooden box filled with schoolbooks.
One quilt.
A tin cup with a dent.
A rag doll missing one button eye.
The toddler carried no bag.
Only the older girl's hand.
The rancher stood in the widow's doorway and looked at the little beds crowded into two rooms.
He saw chalk letters on one wall.
A height mark beside a door.
A row of hooks with children’s initials scratched above them.
The widow had created order from scraps.
He felt suddenly ashamed of calling his six empty bedrooms proof he was prepared.
Rooms were easy.
Home was the difficult part.
The twelve-year-old boy watched him.
“You changing your mind?”
The rancher turned.
“No.”
“You keep looking.”
“I'm thinking.”
“That usually happens before people change their mind.”
The rancher nodded.
“Probably.”
The boy looked toward the bedrooms.
“She kept us together.”
The rancher understood the warning.
“So you've said.”
“She promised.”
The boy’s voice changed.