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“No.” The offer was firmly rejected, a lower lip jutting out in defiance.
“Wouldn’t you like to take a bath? I’ll put lots of bubbles in the tub,” Ruth coaxed.
The little girl considered the offer for a long minute before she finally held out her hands to the older woman. Chase surrendered her into the woman’s care, pride transforming his usually hard features as he listened to his daughter jabbering to the woman carrying her up the stairs.
“She knows exactly what she wants, doesn’t she?” he murmured to Maggie.
“And you see to it that she gets it,” she murmured dryly in return.
“That’s a father’s prerogative,” Chase insisted as he bent his head to roll his mouth across her lips. “How was your visit with Culley?”
“Fine.” It was always a wrenching experience to see her brother in that institution, but she took comfort from the knowledge he was being helped. “They let me show him a picture of Cathleen today. Culley insisted she looked just like me when I was a toddler.”
“He was bound to notice the resemblance,” he replied. “She’s you all over again in miniature.”
“But I was never spoiled the way she is,” Maggie retorted. “Someday you’re going to be sorry for letting her have whatever she wants. She’ll grow up thinking the world is hers for the taking.” Realizing she had allowed the mention of their daughter to sidetrack her, she returned to her original topic. “Getting back to Culley, the doctor was encouraged by his reaction to Cathleen’s photograph. It didn’t seem to faze him at all that she’s a Calder.”
“That’s probably because she looks like you instead of me.” His mouth slanted in its familiar hard smile.
“Maybe,” she conceded. “But it’s a beginning.”
“For your sake, Maggie, I hope it is.” Her brother had never given him anything but trouble, so he didn’t pretend to have any personal interest in the prospects for Culley’s recovery. He knew how twisted with hatred Culley had been toward the Calders, infecting Maggie with it for a long time. Ultimately Buck Haskell had used that malice her brother had felt and made him a pawn in his deadly plot. It was something he couldn’t forget, although he kept his silence on it.
Maggie knew his feelings and smiled faintly at his response as she looked again at the remainder of the mail to be sorted. “Ruth said you went to Broken Butte. What’s the status on the drilling?”
“They expect to reach the desired depth in two weeks.” He peered over her shoulder as she separated the ranch-related correspondence from the personal letters. “Don’t expect a gusher this time either,” he advised her mockingly. “The results from the first well and the tests that have been completed indicate it’s a shallow field, maybe capable of supporting a dozen wells, so there’s little chance that we are going to become oil tycoons. Hopefully we’ll earn enough off the barrels being pumped to make some improvements on the ranch. All the roads need work, and there’s some sections that need new fencing. And we do need better housing for some of the married men.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of a new car, or new drapes for the upstairs bedrooms.” So few of the profits from the Triple C were used for their personal lives. All of it seemed to find its way back to the ranch. It always amazed Maggie how greedy the ranch was—not that she lacked for anything, but personal items were certainly far down the list of priorities.
“And I was thinking if there was anything left over, I might buy a helicopter. It would certainly be an asset during roundup,” he teased.
“You’re kidding right now, but when the time comes, you’ll probably be serious,” Maggie retorted.
“Why is this letter by itself?” The idle inquiry was followed by his hand reaching to pick it up.
Maggie tensed at his action. “It’s for Ty.” Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him stiffen as he read the return address on the envelope.
“What’s this?” A frown narrowed his eyes as he shot an accusing look at her. “Why is he getting a letter from a university in Texas?”
“E. J. Dyson happens to be an alumnus of the University of Texas. When he was here this last winter, he talked to Ty about it. Ty expressed some interest in possibly going to college there.” It was impossible to explain casually when she was so conscious of the gathering thunder in Chase’s expression. “E.J. pulled a few strings to see if he could get him accepted. I imagine that letter is the answer.”
“Why wasn’t I told?” he demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerously low pitch.
“You were there when the discussion took place,” she reminded him tensely.
This clash of wills had been brewing for a long time. Maggie was determined to have Ty obtain a college education, and Chase was just as adamantly opposed to it. This was an issue to which she doubted they would ever find a mutually acceptable compromise. She had dreaded this moment for a long time, but she had no intention of backing down now.
“I was there,” Chase admitted roughly. “But I wasn’t aware that it had gone beyond a mere discussion.” His hand tightened on the envelope, bending it in half. “Dammit, Maggie. There are experts on the Triple C who know more than a bunch of damned college professors. This is where he needs to be!”
“He is entitled to the best education we can give him,” she countered with equal force. “And that doesn’t mean just the kind you get from the back of a horse. And he needs time just to have some fun—something you and I never had! It was always work—work and struggle and hardship of one kind or another. I don’t want Ty to grow up as fast as we had to.”
“You want to make him soft,” he accused. “He can’t be soft and run the Triple C! A man almost has to be born on this land to have an adequate knowledge of managing it. Ty didn’t have that advantage. All he’s had is three years, and it’s only been within this last year that he’s developed enough skill to be considered even an average ranch hand. He needs a lot of seasoning and training and experience in the operations of a ranch this size. How the hell do you expect him to get it out of a book!”
“There is a lot that can be learned from books.” Maggie trembled, but she refused to give rein to her temper. “Some member of the Calder family believed that, too, or all those shelves in the den wouldn’t be lined with books!”
“It’s too soon, Maggie,” Chase insisted grimly. “It’s too soon for him to be leaving the ranch. Practically all tha
t he’s learned will be lost. Let me have him here year-round for at least three more years. Don’t take him from me now.”
