AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And yet we’re still talking about him.”
She nudged him. “Just start the truck.”
They drove through Castle Springs, which had a population of eight hundred. If you counted the outlying ranches not within the town limits, it rose to one thousand. The ThreeOaks was outside of the city limits, but only by seven miles. The ranch encompassed the eastern half of the valley in which Castle Springs sat directly in the middle of.
The springs ran underground through most of the valley and popped up in various spots, keeping the grass green year-round. The pond on the Three Oaks was fed by the underground spring system.
The town itself had been there for close to a hundred years. And in the twenties, it was a tourist spot for the wealthy. But the ranchers soon discovered the rich grasslands and plentiful water and began buying up property. Jake’s great-grandparents bought ten thousand acres in the early thirties. The family now had double that and would soon be adding the additional ten thousand if the deal they’d been working on went through.
As they drove toward Genny’s house, they passed the one obstacle in the way of the sale. William Bradford owned five hundred acres on the south end of the ten thousand. And William Bradford would never sell to the O’Connell’s.
Jake slowed down as he drove past the rundown house that was once occupied by William and his family. They left the valley eight years ago, and the house had sat empty. He had no interest in the land. He just didn’t want the O’Connell’s to have it.
Jake pulled over. “How’s this deal going?”
“Well, not much has happened since dad had his stroke. But J.T. has been talking with the Robinsons and Trevor Jones. I thought it be good to let him take charge of the negotiations. That son of yours is quite the business man. At least when it comes to real estate. I think they’ve about decided to go through with the deal without the Bradford property.”
“The stubborn bastard.”
Genny studied the house. “He never forgave Misho for lobbying to have the state declare the public property he counted on for grazing as an historical sight.”
“I guess that was a bit of a loss. He had to cut his herd down.”
She looked at Jake, again. “The status of that land had been debated for years. He should’ve known better than to depend on always having it to use.”
“We’ll have to work around his five hundred acres until he sells it to someone else. Then we might have a chance of getting our hands on it. And I’ll be proud to surround and protect the sacred Chippewa land.”
“Noko Esty would be proud. Talk to J.T. he knows what’s going on with it. He also mentioned he’d like to build on the other side of the ridge that overlooks the pond.”
“He has been itching to build himself a home. And that’s a beautiful spot.” Jake turned in his seat toward Genny. “Did you all think I wasdead?”
“We didn’t want to go there. It was too soon. And until someone showed us your body, we were going to keep looking.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry I put you through all that.”
She reached for his hand. “Jake. Don’t say that. Obviously, something traumatic was going on.”
“There must be some way to backtrack from the motel. I must’ve left some sort of trail.”
She patted his hand. “Don’t you worry about that. I’m looking into it.”
“You are?”
“You’ll be the first to know if I find anything out. You’ve got enough on your plate just getting back to work and settling in. Not to mention Dad. And having all the kids home.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you to it.”
“Do you have many moments like you did at the grocery store?”
He thought about it. “Searching for something and having no idea what I’m searching for? Yes. It’s like a constant fluttering file in my brain. I’ll get a glimpse or a… I don’t even know how to explain it.”
“We’ll figure this out, Jake. I promise.”
He glanced through the rear window at the birds. “We better get these damn birds home.”
Jake continued down the road and turned on the gravel drive leading to Genny’s house.She had it built twenty years ago after her very short marriage ended in divorce. It was a modest three-bedroom house with a big porch, a huge garden, and a series of pens for her various birds.
The only other animals she had were two dogs who were from the same litter as Mick and Decker. They were Australian Shepherds, and without a herd of four-legged critters to keep in line, they kept their eyes on the birds.
