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Ember took Jacob’s blood pressure, which was fine. Exceptional, actually, if you considered his age. She patted his hand. “I know you want to do all the things you used to do. Even things as simple as pouring yourself a cup of coffee. Butyou need to be patient. If you hurt yourself, it’ll take even longer to get back in shape.”
Jacob nodded. “It’s damn hard.”
“I know.”
He glanced at Sage and Sawyer. “You shouldn’t have to take care of your old granddad. Not yet anyway. Because I’m not that old.”
Sage smiled at him. “We know Granddad. We also know it’s temporary.”
Sawyer laughed. “Yeah. You’re too ornery to let something like a stroke slow you down for too long.”
Jacob winked at him. “Damn straight.”
Chapter twenty-eight
"I really hate cows, Dad."
It was a week before Thanksgiving and Jake hadn’t seen much of Ember. When she wasn’t with Jacob, she kept to herself. And he’d been busy with the land deal. Now that he was back, Matt Robinson and Trevor Jones felt better about going through with the sale. In thirty days, the Three Oaks Ranch would be adding another ten thousand acres of grazing land, timber, and another spring-fed pond twice the size of the one behind the house. The five-hundred acres owned by the Bradfords would have to wait. For now, they would work around it.
Jake had been spending way too much time in town lately. But now that the paperwork was signed, he could get back to doing what he was supposed to be doing. And currently that was getting ready to move the herd down to the lower pastures for the winter. It hadn’t snowed yet. But it would soon.
When Jake drove up to the barn and parkedhis truck, he saw Ember in the training pen on Button. He walked over to her and watched her for a moment before she noticed him. She was circling the pen at a lope and she was riding well. He was impressed.
When she spotted him at the fence, she slowed down, then rode to him.
“Hi.”
He smiled. “You two look good together.”
“She’s a great horse. Sawyer said she was yours.”
“Yeah. She and I spent a lot of time together. It was hard to let her go. Have you taken her on a trail ride?”
“No. I don’t want to venture out by myself. And it seems you have all been busy lately.”
“Yeah. Just closed a real estate deal. It’s kept J.T. and me busy. Which has left Sawyer and Sage picking up the slack.”
“More land?”
Button nodded her head and Jake ran a hand down her nose. “Ten thousand acres, which actually connects to the east side of the Three Rivers.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of acres.”
“It’s two parcels owned by two different parties, so it was a bit of a negotiation. But we got it all worked out. One has quite a bit of timber on it. And the other is prime grassland.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Congratulations.”
Jake cocked his head. “I know what you’rethinking. How much land could he possibly need?”
“I wasn’t. I know nothing about ranching or how much land is too much.”
“Now that my kids are adults, and will at some point be raising families of their own, we need to increase our revenue in order to support everyone. And that means more cows. And cows need grazing land.”
Ember patted Button’s neck. “I’m glad they all want to stay and be a part of it.”
“Yeah. Even Sawyer’s coming around. He could’ve returned to Missoula now that I’m back. But he’s still here. My dad signed the ranch over to Genny and me a few years back. But the contract stipulates each kid, upon turning thirty, will get one fifth ownership.”
She smiled. “A true family enterprise.”
