Part 16 (1/2)
”We'll have to give it something to eat.”
”I've got hay and oats in the shed.”
”Wait until Zac sees it.”
Tyler laughed. ”He's likely to want to eat it.”
”But he doesn't like venison. I heard him say so.”
”He likes it better than nothing.”
”Are we out of food?”
”We're close.”
Daisy jumped in front of Tyler. ”Promise me you won't let Zac hurt it.”
”He won't slaughter it, if that's want you mean. He's more likely to get Willie to do it for him.”
”n.o.body can hurt this deer. Promise.”
Tyler smiled, and Daisy's heart turned a flip. His eyes were so warm, so inviting, she hardly noticed his beard.
”While we have it in the shed, n.o.body will touch it,” Tyler said. ”But I can't promise you it won't end up on somebody's table after we let it go.”
Tyler started toward the cabin again, and Daisy followed still feeling a little giddy. ”Maybe we can keep it.”
”No.”
”I don't mean in the shed. You can make a corral for it.”
”It wouldn't stay in a corral. If it did, the cougar would surely get it. Wild animals are meant to be free. If you're going to lock them up, you might as well kill them. It would be a greater kindness.”
Daisy walked behind Tyler, knowing what he said was true, angry because it was.
”Not all deer get eaten by cougars or men,” Tyler said. ”I saw a magnificent twelve point buck this past fall.”
”Did you shoot it?”
”No. I let it stay with its harem. This doe might be one of his offspring.”
Daisy felt a little better. Tyler wouldn't let anybody harm the deer.
She wasn't too sure the mules and the burro felt the same way. They didn't seem pleased to be sharing their home.
”I'll need water and bandages,” Tyler said. ”There's warm water on the stove, bandages on the shelf.”
By the time Daisy returned, Tyler was bending over the deer, his knee on its neck.
”Now that it's safe, it doesn't want to lie still,” Tyler explained.
As she watched Tyler work with the deer, Daisy tried, and failed, to make sense of the last half an hour.
She had found the deer, but she had only meant to let it go. Tyler, who would have killed it for food if it had been running free, had carried it back to the shed, cleaned its wound, and bandaged it for protection. He even put some poles across the end of the shed to protect it from the mules and burro. It didn't seem like it was her deer any more. It was Tyler's. He was always protecting the vulnerable or weak. First her, now the deer. She suspected he was protecting Zac as well.
Daisy leaned over and patted the doe. Its coat was coa.r.s.e and rough. It lay still, its big eyes watching. ”Why doesn't it eat?” she asked.
”It's too tired now. It'll be time enough to worry if it hasn't eaten anything by morning.”
Daisy wanted to stay to a.s.sure herself the deer would be okay, but Tyler clearly meant for her to leave with him.
”Let's hope Willie and Zac found a deer,” he said as they returned to the cabin. ”If not, I'm going to have a hard time explaining why I'm keeping one in the shed.”
A hard time hardly covered it. Zac and Willie came back empty handed after a long, cold afternoon.
”Of course we didn't get anything,” Willie said. ”I couldn't surprise a deaf coyote with your brother talking his head off and floundering about making more noise than a bull moose in rut.”
Willie received the news about the deer in shocked silence. Zac's reaction was more vocal.
”You got what in the shed?” he asked.
”A young, female mule deer,” Tyler said, his brown eyes glittering with amus.e.m.e.nt. ”It's at the end of the shed, behind the poles, if you want to go take a look at it. Daisy will show you. She'll even let you pet it if you promise to be gentle.”
Zac stared at his brother, his mouth open. ”Here we are about to starve, and you got a deer in the shed eating its head off.”
”It's too tired to eat,” Daisy explained.
”I'm surprised you're not feeding it by hand,” Zac snapped.
”You should have cut its throat while it was down,” Willie said. ”It can be right tricky once it gets on its feet.”
”n.o.body's going to cut its throat,” Daisy said. ”It's hurt. We're going to keep it until it get's well.”
”Next you'll be taking in badgers and coyotes,” Zac said, turning unbelieving eyes on Tyler.
”He already took in one coyote,” Daisy said.
”Of all the ungrateful brats!” Zac exploded. ”After everything I did for you.”
”What did you do for me?”
”Take a bullet for one thing,” Zac reminded her.
”I told you I was sorry about that, but that's no reason to want to kill Tyler's deer.”
”It's not his deer. It's--”