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“I hope somebody remembers to check that hanging valley.” She dipped the oatmeal pan in the rinse water and passed it to Sally to dry. “That old longhorn-cross brindle cow always hangs out there, usually with two or three others.”
Sally stared at her as if she had taken leave of her senses. “What does that have to do with chicken salad?”
“Chicken salad?” Now it was Jessy’s turn to stare in bewilderment.
“Yes. I just asked what you thought about having chicken salad for lunch today.”
“You did?” Jessy said in surprise. “I’m sorry. I guess I was miles away.”
“That’s obvious.” A suppressed smile of amusement carved dimples in Sally’s plump cheeks.
Trey chose that moment to pick a fight with his sister by snatching her doll. The theft evoked the expected response, as Laura screamed an angry, “No!”
With the devil gleaming in his dark eyes, Trey taunted his sister with the doll. When Laura clambered to her feet to snatch it back, Trey took off with it, grinning from ear to ear. Laura turned to Jessy for help.
“Mama, Mama, dolly, dolly,” she wailed, her hand outstretched toward her brother, fingers clutching and unclutching in that familiar gimme-gimme gesture of a child.
“Trey, you give that back to your sister,” Jessy ordered.
With a gleeful giggle, he clutched it tighter and tore out of the kitchen as fast as he could. “Trey Calder, you come back here this minute.” Jessy dropped the dishrag in the sink water, hastily dried her hands on a towel, and ran after the fleeing toddler, leaving Sally to comfort the furious Laura. When she entered the living room, she spotted Trey making a beeline for the den. “Trey Calder,” she called one last warning.
He threw a look behind him and barreled into Chase, who was on his way out of the den. The collision with Chase’s legs knocked Trey to the floor. Seconds after he landed, he broke loose with an ear-splitting shriek.
When Chase crouched down to see how badly the boy was hurt, Trey took one look at him and screamed all the louder. In Jessy’s experience, it was a sure sign that his pride was hurt a lot worse than he was, a fact she confirmed when she arrived.
“He came out of nowhere,” Chase said in regret.
“I know.” Satisfied that Trey had suffered nothing worse than a bruise or two, Jessy picked him up. But he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her, his whole body stiffening in resistance while he twisted toward the den, screaming for his daddy. “Daddy isn’t here, Trey,” Jessy told him, which brought a freshened cry of anger. In the age-old response of all mothers, Jessy bounced him up and down in her arms and slid an annoyed glance at Chase. “The poor guy hasn’t seen Ty in a week. They are always asleep by the time he comes home.”
“It’s rough on them,” Chase agreed and laid a comforting hand on Trey’s head, but Trey batted it away with his fist. “I was just on my way to Broken Butte. I’ll make sure Ty comes home early today.”
In that split second, Jessy made a decision she would never regret. “I have a better idea. We’re going with you. Give me five minutes to get their things together.”
Thirty minutes later the headquarters of the Triple C was well behind them, and the ranch road to the Broken Buttes area stretched ahead of them in a long tan line. Jessy glanced in the back seat to check on the twins. The drone of the Suburban’s engine had worked its magic, lulling both toddlers to sleep.
“I don’t have to worry about them missing their morning nap,” she said to Chase.
He threw a look over his shoulder and smiled in agreement. “I thought it was awfully quiet back there.”
Facing the front again, Jessy scanned the land on either side of the open road. But one look at the drought-seared earth took any enjoyment from the outing.
“It has to rain soon,” she murmured.
“Not according to the thirty-day forecast,” Chase replied grimly. “At best, we might see an isolated shower.”
“Even that would be better than nothing,” Jessy said with feeling.
Shortly after midmorning they arrived at the gather point. A dust fog swirled around the small herd that had already been collected. A thin film of it drifted into the makeshift camp set up by the motorized cookshack. Parked nearby were a half-dozen pickups and stock trailers hitched behind them. Chase parked alongside one of them and gave Jessy a hand with the twins. The minute Trey spotted the spare horses tied in the shade of the trailers, his excitement knew no bounds.
“G’mpa, horsey.” Trey pointed to them with a look of pure joy.
“Lots of horses,” Chase agreed.
“Trey wide, G’mpa,” Trey asserted with a vigorous nod of his head.
Chase shook his head. “We’ll ride later. Right now your grandpa wants a cup of coffee.”
“Me, too.”
