Page 23 of Resilience on Canvas

“I think we ought to start with the worst of the chores,” Robert said, nodding toward the barn. Henry squinted to see one of the cows lying on its side. Poor thing had probably suffocated in the storm. “We need to bury her. Looks like Tessa, maybe, from her colorin’. Clara will keep the little ones busy for a while. Don’t want them to see. It seems like Tessa’s the only one, though. Thank the Lord. Because we were plannin’ on sendin’ them to slaughter soon. Benefit from that program they have now. Drought Relief Service or somethin’?”

“Ah, yeah, I heard about that,” Henry said.

Robert sighed. “Oh well. Now we’ll only be sellin’ the other two.”

“Damn shame,” Henry said. “I’m sorry you weren’t hereto—”

“I know,” Robert said curtly. “Leave it.”

Henry’s heart sank, but he kept his eyes straight ahead, his mouth a hard line. Gosh, why couldn’t he seem to stop irritating his new friend?

Friend.

Henry chewed on his cheek a bit as the word rattled around in his head. In Henry’s mind, he could still see Robert’s hungry, fiery look from the previous night. He’d probably nevernotsee it for the rest of his life. Oh, how he wished they could be more thanfriends.

Robert began giving out instructions for what they ought to do with the cow. Even though Henry’s muscles were still humming with that feeling ofwant, the image of Robert’s expression from the previous night still flickering in his mind like a candle’s orange flame, he forced himself to try to focus on following what Robert was saying.

Together, they found some shovels from the barn, and then they got started digging the grave. After only a couple of scoops of their shovels, however, Robert paused. He wiped the sweat from his brow and heaved a long, exhausted sigh.

“Dammit, we ought to leave her to rot,” he said through a ragged breath. “But I can’t. Tessa was May’s favorite. Truth be told, I’m not even sure I would’ve sold her for slaughter.”

Henry planted his shovel in the powdery soil and offered Robert his most sympathetic look—his eyebrows turned up and lips curled into a sad half smile—but wished he could think of something to say. It was backbreaking work to shovel in the hot sun like this, especially since they still needed to remove the mounds of soil that had settled on top of the crops later, too. The fact that Robert would put himself through this was a testament to how wonderful of a caretaker he was.

But Henry couldn’t make himself say those words for some reason. So, when Robert resumed shoveling, Henry only stood by in awe. What a remarkable man he was, that Robert Davis.

After a couple more scoops of the shovel, Robert let out a small, frustrated scream.

“Goddamn son-of-a-bitch storm!” he exclaimed. “Got to have me a cow funeral now.”

Henry’s chest pinched. Cow funeral. Goodness. All of this was his fault, too, wasn’t it? If Henry hadn’t been too much of a people-pleaser, he would have never agreed to that proposal in the first place. And if he hadn’t been too big of a coward, he’d have called off the wedding sooner. Heck, when Robert had shown up to punish him for calling it off, Henry ought to have taken the beating. But he had run off instead. He really had caused all of this.

Gritting his teeth, Henry resumed his shoveling, too.

Once it seemed like the hole was big enough to fit a cow, both men planted the ends of their shovels in the ground and wiped the sweat from their brows. Next, they had to fetch the tractor from the barn. Robert said it hadn’t been used in months. It was the most expensive thing that the Davis family owned, save for the farm itself, and Robert said it had been more reliable than their Model T was.

Luckily, the tractor roared to life without issue, and so, Robert rode it over to where Tessa lay. Henry then tied her to the back of the tractor so that she could be pulled into the hole. Henry’s stomach roiled while he watched the body being dragged through the dirt. No wonder Robert wasn’t keen on the kids seeing this.

When Tessa’s body was in the grave, Robert picked up his shovel so that they could set to work on covering her, but he stopped before he could plunge the tool into the ground.

“Maybe we ought to let May see Tessa before we bury her. Like a viewin’.” Robert sucked on his teeth for a moment. “Goddammit, what’s the right thing here, Hen? May’s six. Do you remember bein’ six? Only things I remember are penny candies and my father’s switch.” He took a pause, and his frown deepened. “Alright, that’s exaggeratin’, but still, there weren’t no cow funerals. I never really cared for cows or chickens or nothin’. Do you think May would want to see her cow? Do you think she would want to say goodbye to her like this? Or should we cover Tessa up and put some dandelions on top?”

Henry shrugged. “Uhm . . . maybe?”

“Maybe what? Leave her or cover her?” Robert huffed.

Henry slunk into himself a little. “I, uhm, well...”

Robert rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the help, Hen,” he said in a biting tone.

Henry knew he ought to have picked one of the options. Lord, why was he so weak?

“Leave her,” Henry forced out. “If it were me, I would want to see her.”

Robert nodded once. And then they went back to the house.

After Robert broke the news, the three children and Clara accompanied Robert and Henry back outside, and everyone picked a few flowers. Dandelions, mostly, since they were practically the only ones blooming. Then the family stood near the edge of the hole that the men had dug. Everyone shared their favorite memory of Tessa, including Robert, whose favorite memory was the time Tessa had whipped Peter in the head with her tail and then pooped on his shoes.

Listening to Robert tell that story and watching the way it brightened everyone’s mood, Henry’s chest began to ache with a fierce longing, one so intense that it took a whole lot of mental fortitude for Henry not to take Robert’s face in his hands right then and there and plant a kiss on his plump, kissable lips. God, how Henry wanted to tell Robert how wonderful he was. Robertwas sweet and strong and loyal, and ho-ly heck, Henry was liking him more every second they were together.

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