Green Calder Grass by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online

to day work. And I’ve been here on and off ever since. More on than off. This place gets into a man’s system. The bigness of it, and the rawness. I don’t care where you go, there’s no other place like it. But”—he brought his glance back to Jessy—“to answer your question, I guess I’m telling you this because for years I’ve seen the potential here and watched it go untapped. Do you know how frustrating that can be? It can eat a man up. The other day, when Ty asked me about that bull, it was like uncorkin’ a champagne bottle. It all just came bubblin’ out. I suppose I’m repeatin’ it all to you for the simple reason that, when a man knows he has a good idea, he wants everybody else to get on their horses and ride with him. So far, all I’ve seen out of you and Ty is skepticism. What I want is for him to say—you’re right, Ballard; we’re goin’ for it. I’d get a lot of satisfaction out of that, Jessy.”
    She believed him. She didn’t know a single cowboy who didn’t welcome a pat on the back for a job well done. Dick Ballard was no exception.
    “We do appreciate the information.” She kept her response simple, without commitment.
    He nodded. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”
    “Hey, Ballard!” somebody yelled from the chute area. “Come give us a hand.”
    He lifted the reins to his horse, started to swing his mount to the side, then checked it. “By the way, you might have Ty check out a rumor I heard.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I was talkin’ with Guy Phelps on the phone the other night. He wants me to ride his cutting horse in a big competition comin’ up in August. According to him, Parker sold a half interest in that bull for close to a quarter million.”
    Without waiting for Jessy to reply, he kneed his horse forward, pushing it into a slow trot. She stared at his back, her thoughts reeling at the number.
    For the rest of the day she couldn’t get the conversation off her mind. It was late in the afternoon by the time work was wrapped up for the day and Jessy returned to the Triple C headquarters.
    From force of habit, she stayed at the barns long enough to unload her horse from the trailer, see that it was rubbed down and fed, and her saddle and gear stowed in the stack room. Only when that was finished did she set out for the house.
    But there was no hurry in her stride. Everywhere she looked, Jessy noticed things she had taken for granted her entire life—the neatness of the sprawling ranchyard, all the buildings in good repair, the huge, century-old barn with its massive timbers and rustic look and the summer-gold sea of grass that rolled away from it, its expanse broken only by the towering, green cottonwoods that lined the banks of the river to the south.
    Ballard’s remarks had given Jessy a fresh perspective on everything, but especially on The Homestead. It was with these new eyes that she gazed at the imposing two-story structure, built atop a flat knoll of land that elevated it above the rest of the headquarters. A wide porch ran the length of its south-facing front, with towering white pillars rising at intervals from its edge. The grand scale of it should have looked out of place, but anything smaller wouldn’t have suited the site. Jessy understood for the first time that The Homestead was a statement of ownership, a claim of dominion over this vast sweep of land.
    When she paused at the bottom of the porch steps, one of the babies moved inside her. She laid a reassuring hand on her stomach, suddenly awed by the thought that The Homestead was only a small part of all that would one day belong to their children.
     
     
    As usual, the conversation at the evening dinner table centered around the day’s activity, the tasks accomplished, and those yet to be finished. But Ty was quick to notice Jessy’s lack of participation in the discussion that was normally three-sided. He glanced across the table at her down-turned head, her tawny hair still showing