On Her Way Home by Sara Petersen Read Free Book Online

to grade it,” he ranted.
    Leif didn’t want to hear any more complaining from Kirby about the road. He was certainly grateful that he had two new hands and wouldn’t be making another trip to town with Kirby for a long while.
    At long last the black truck cleared the woods, and the road evened out, turning onto a smoother lane with grass growing up the middle of it. Leif pointed to a white house a few hundred yards in the distance. “That’s the ranch. This road is the start of our land. It runs about five hundred acres east and west of this road and north up that ridge line.”
    The road to the ranch house was surrounded by pasture with a herd of cattle grazing intermittently in the field. A barbed wire fence ran along the perimeter of the field both east and west with a partially finished rail fence bordering the road. The path to the house took a little dip down a hill, where a new calf and her mother were enjoying some shade, and then up again, opening into the yard of the ranch. Leif swung the truck in a wide circle and came to a stop. He and Kirby opened their doors, and the three of them all but fell out of the truck like yeast foaming over the bowl.
    A two-story white farmhouse with dark green shutters welcomed visitors to the ranch. Three wide steps led to a covered porch supported by straight white columns wrapping around the whole house. The front door was stained a deep walnut color and had simple diamond shapes carved in straight lines. Extending from it were two long, narrow windows of the same rich woodwork. The rest of the window casings and trim were painted a dark green. On the second floor, directly above the front door, stood a gabled balcony and two dormer windows on either side of it, perfectly symmetrical. On the right side of the roof, a gray stone chimney rose in the air.
    The newness of the house was surprising to Jo. She had assumed it would be a much smaller, older structure, not this large inviting house that stood before her. The yard wasn’t nearly as welcoming as the house. If the rocks and dirt piled in long rows on each side of the house were any indication, Jo guessed this house was built rather recently. Excepting one large aspen tree, the yard was untouched by human hands, with no grass, flowers, or plants of any kind occupying the space. About a hundred yards back and to the left of the house stood a large weathered barn with a corral. Unlike the house, it appeared to have withstood many seasons on this land. There were three other buildings on the property: a chicken coop with a dozen hens clucking around the yard, a small bunkhouse with a freshly shingled roof, and an outhouse. Jo heartily disliked the idea of using the outhouse. The smell always reminded her that she was sitting where others had sat, especially in the heat of the summer. She was a ranch hand now though, and the obvious proximity of the bunkhouse to the outhouse left no question in her mind that it was for the use of ranch hands.
    “Jo, Charlie, let me show you around the place,” Leif said, directing them to follow him. First, he showed them the barn, sliding the double doors apart and spilling light into the dark space. The smell of the barn wrapped around Jo. Rows of neatly stacked hay ran along the left and up the ladder into the loft, giving the barn a cozy, safe feeling. Jo felt a squeeze in her heart as the sweet smell of hay was like coming home to her. She used to play all sorts of games in their barn at home. Krissy and Jo had made up a game called Black Mountain, where they would pretend that the barn was their fortress, and they’d climb and play all over inside it.
    Leif introduce Jo and Charlie to the horses. Seven in total, they were Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, General, and Kirby’s horse, Big Dan.
    She didn’t believe Leif at first when he told her those were the names of the horses. “You can’t be serious. Those are ridiculous names for horses.”
    Leif laughed. “I