He set the buckets down and watched Norah work.
"You don't have to do this every day," he said.
"Do what?"
"Cook. Thomas can make enough to keep us going."
Norah glanced at him.
"Can he make enough to keep you healthy, growing properly, or just enough to keep you breathing?"
Eli didn't answer.
"That's what I thought."
She stirred the pot.
"Where's Cade?"
"Probably off sulking somewhere. He does that."
"About what?"
"Everything."
Eli leaned against the counter.
"He doesn't trust people much, especially not people who show up claiming they want to help."
"I'm not claiming anything. I am helping."
"Yeah, well, we've heard that before."
Thomas came through the door then, stamping mud off his boots.
He looked exhausted already, and the sun had barely risen.
"Two fence posts down in the east pasture," he announced to no one in particular. "Cattle got through. Took me an hour to round them back up."
"I'll fix the fence after breakfast," Eli offered.
"We both will. It's a two-person job."
Thomas noticed Norah at the stove.
"You didn't have to make breakfast."
"Someone had to."
"I would have handled it."
"I know."
Norah plated food and started setting it out.
"But you've got enough to handle. Let me do this part."
Thomas looked like he wanted to argue, then just nodded and sat down.
The younger boys drifted in, drawn by the smell of food.
Ru climbed into his chair and watched Norah with those enormous eyes that seemed to absorb everything.
"Where's your father?" Norah asked.
"South pasture," Thomas said around a mouthful of food. "Checking on the sick cattle."
"Sick how?"
"Some kind of fever. Started two weeks ago. Lost three already."
Norah's hands paused.
Sick cattle meant less meat.
Less milk.
Less income.
It meant the gap between survival and collapse getting narrower.
"Has anyone tried to treat them?"
Thomas laughed, but there was no humor in it.
"With what? We can't afford a veterinarian. Can barely afford feed."
"There must be something."
"There isn't."
His voice went flat.
"We just wait and hope they either get better or die quick so they don't suffer."
The table went quiet.
Even the younger boys stopped eating.
Norah set down the spoon.
"That's it? You just accept it?"
"What else are we supposed to do?" Eli asked. "Pray for a miracle? Those don't happen out here."
"Have you asked other ranchers what they do?"
"Other ranchers don't talk to us much anymore," Thomas said. "We're the family that's failing. Nobody wants that to be contagious."