Page 61 - Homestead By Ann Newhouse

lately, he had started drinking too much. Liz told me she was only 19, so she would not have known what went on between her parents and the Tirrell’s.
As we reached the outskirts of the town, I decided to end the conversation. I suggested I would have lunch in the café, while she informed her mother of her return. I was served by a young lad, who I suspected was standing in for Liz. I ordered the full breakfast and a pot of coffee, as I intended hanging around to get a few answers to my questions, and what made Bob and John enemies. Just as I finished eating and was about to leave, Shelly appeared and beckoned me to join them in their private room at the back of the café. I went through the open door into quite a large space decorated like a log cabin. Wood panelling covered the walls, which made the room seem dark. There was a small seating area, next to a large table with four chairs and a wood burning stove. Behind a heavy curtain were a couple of beds and a door at the far end, I presumed, housed a bathroom. I did not feel very comfortable in this room as it felt quite depressing and unfriendly, although Liz’s mother was pleasant and hospitable. I wanted to leave as soon as I entered. Liz introduced me as a friend of Josh’s family, but I corrected her, telling Shelly I was just a ranch hand on the Homestead, and had only arrived there about a less than a year ago. I didn’t want to give them the impression that I was too close to the Tirrells.
“So, you are not from this area?” I was asked.
Shelly seemed to become more interested in me after I said John Tirrell was just my boss.
“No, I come from a little place outside Santa Fe. When my parents passed, I was alone, so I decided to try and seek a better life. I foolishly went into the desert on foot not sure where I’d end up. I came within a few miles of the Homestead and collapsed. I was lucky Josh found me and his family nursed me back to health.”
“So, John Tirrell showed you kindness? Not something I’m sure he is known for,” Shelly claimed.
“I understand he is responsible for a lot of folk’s happiness,” I replied. I did not want her to think I was here to damn him. I asked her if something had happened in the past to make her angry towards John. I was surprised that she had trusted her daughter to go with Josh, knowing he was John’s son, to stay overnight with a man she believed to be unkind.
“You give the impression that you don’t trust John, so I don’t understand why you approved of Liz going to the Homestead, not knowing who, or indeed what, she would face.”
“I did not want her to go, but my daughter wanted to see the man who, we suspect, was responsible for her father’s death. I made the mistake of telling my husband, Bob, of my past and of the wrong