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Trey, on the other hand, was in his height of glory, perched atop the saddle, both hands wrapped around the horn while Jessy led the horse around the corral. When it was Laura’s turn to ride, Jessy made sure that Trey thought he had charge of the lead rope.
Keeping both twins entertained required her undivided attention. Jessy was unaware of Tara’s return until she heard the rumble and rattle of the truck and horse trailer pulling away from the barn. She spotted Ty heading toward the ranch commissary. She assumed he was going to meet with Bud Ramsey, who managed the store for them. Ty had mentioned at breakfast that he needed to get together with him that morning, but Tara’s arrival had necessitated a postponement.
A check of her watch indicated she had roughly an hour before lunch. Once again she hefted a skinny Trey onto the saddle.
“Okay, buster, two more turns around the corral then we have to call it quits so I can get you two cleaned up before lunch.”
Unconcerned, Trey grinned from ear to ear, satisfied to be back on the horse.
“Something tells me you aren’t gonna get any argument from him until you try to take him off,” Ballard remarked as he swung himself onto the corral’s top rail. “Looks like he’ll be quite the horseman when he grows up.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Jessy agreed with more than a little pride at the thought.
“Jobe tells me she bought a couple horses.” Ballard didn’t bother to identify Tara by name. On the Triple C, any use of the feminine pronoun invariably referred to Tara.
“That’s right.” Jessy continued walking the horse around the pen.
“I wonder how she’s gonna get them to Wolf Meadow,” Ballard mused absently.
“Probably the same way as always, she’ll fly in.”
“If it was me, I would pull up to one of the gates, offload the horses, throw a saddle on one, and lead the other through the gate.”
“Who knows? Maybe she will.”
“Did Ty have anybody to follow to see that she doesn’t?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.” With the second and last circuit of the corral finished, Jessy led the horse to the gate.
Ballard hopped off the fence. “I’ll open that for you. You’ve got your hands full.”
He swung the gate wide, giving her plenty of room to pass. After the horse passed through, he dragged it shut and double-checked the latch.
“If you want, I’ll be happy to unsaddle him and turn him out,” Ballard offered.
“Thanks, but I can manage.”
“Not easily, I’ll wager.” His smile had a wry slant to it, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Not when you’ve got to deal with these two at the same time.”
“I never said it would be a breeze.” Jessy smiled back. “But I want Trey to learn he is responsible for the care of his own horse, not somebody else. And it is never too early to start teaching that.”
“You’ve got a point,” Ballard conceded. “I don’t know of anyone who’s been able to say that a Calder doesn’t pull his own weight.”
“And they aren’t going to start with Trey and Laura. Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“You can bet if they were her kids, she’d have somebody waitin’ on ’em hand and foot. They probably wouldn’t do anything for themselves, let alone saddle or unsaddle a horse.” He strolled along beside her and appreciatively sniffed the wilting flowers in Laura’s hand when she held them out to him. “According to Gabe, he overheard Ty agreeing to go over to her place Friday morning right before she left. I suppose you know about that.”
“I know Ty’s been talking about going. Why wonder what she’s doing when he can go look for himself.” Jessy knew that was what Ballard was really asking, not whether she was aware of Ty’s plans.
“You know, if Ty would share some of that, it might make everybody rest a little easier in their minds.” Ballard frowned thoughtfully as he studied the hard-packed ground before them. “Take the way he’s so friendly with her, for instance. It bothers ’em.”
“Maybe because they don’t know Tara as well as Ty does. Ty is convinced that she will eventually get tired of living here. Just like before, there won’t be enough to see or do, no parties, no bright lights. When that happens, Tara will sell. But if we treat her like an enemy now, she is liable to sell to an outsider just to spite us.”
“It makes sense.” Ballard nodded his head in agreement.
“Ty knows what he’s doing,” Jessy stated, privately wishing that she shared Ty’s confidence. On one point she certainly didn’t disagree with Ty: Tara was more than capable of selling to someone other than a Calder, purely out of spite. At the same time, Jessy didn’t trust the woman. Not on inch.
But Ty never made it to Wolf Meadow on Friday. As he was about to leave for there, word came of an accident to one of the men on the windmill crew. A misstep on a ladder had resulted in a twenty-foot fall.
