Sea Of Grass (3 page)

“No, I live here. I was just curious.”

The couple nodded and scurried off the train. Tess followed and grinned when she saw the Jeep. How that thing still ran, she would never know. And there stood Chuck Edwards with his big grin and his old cowboy hat pulled down over his brow, protecting him from the wind. He looked the same, but as she neared, she saw how he had aged when he took off his hat. His hair now was more salt than pepper and his face more weathered.

“My God, Tess!” He put his hat back on and threw his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground, though Tess heard his deep groan. “You haven’t changed at all.”

“Put me down before you rupture something, Chuck. I’ve put on a few pounds sitting in a classroom.”

He obeyed and stepped back, then kissed her on the cheek. “You look just fine, Tess. C’mon, let’s get out of this wind.”

As they drove through town, Tess eagerly looked out the window. “It’s still the same.”

“Nothing changes around here, you should know that by now,” he said, watching the road. “I was glad when Maria told me you were coming back.”

“How’s Dad?” she asked, watching his face. She could always
tell when Chuck was lying. He’d frown and bite at his bottom lip.

“He’s okay,” he said as he chewed his lip.

“Liar. Tell me the truth.”

Chuck glanced at her and grinned. “Still the same smartass. Like your mother.”

“Yes, I am. Now tell me.”

Chuck took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if preparing Tess, who felt a sick feeling deep in her stomach as she waited.

“He’s doing too much, and he’s getting on. He’s too old for the day to day, but you know how stubborn he is. And now with Telford breathing down his neck.”

“That fat fucker,” Tess said angrily and blushed when Chuck laughed.

“Watch that, you know how your dad hates it when you curse. Doesn’t matter if you’re an old professor.”

“Shut up. Has he been to the doctor?”

“You know him. Maria had to threaten him with a frying pan. But Doc came out to have a look. He told him to take it easy and get some help on the ranch.”

Tess looked at Chuck again. “Why is he doing too much?”

Chuck shifted uncomfortably behind the wheel. “We lost a few hands. Telford got them all convinced they’d be out of a job if they stuck around. And you know how hard these winters are. Money talks.”

“So who do we have left?”

“Me, Stan, and Luke,” he said. “And you.”

Tess gave him an incredulous look. “Me?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Listen to me. I haven’t been on a horse in years. I haven’t had anything to do with the ranch in almost six years. I’ll help out with the finances and see what…”

“It don’t matter how long it’s been.”

Tess rubbed her temples and groaned. The idea of riding the range and taking care of the cattle was absurd. Her ass was killing her already just at the thought of it.

Chuck seemed to sense her irritability and laughed. He reached over and patted her knee. “You’ll be fine.” He squeezed her knee a few times. “Hmm, you may need to firm up those thighs after all.”

Tess shot him an angry glare as he smiled sheepishly. They both broke into a fit of laughter. “My thighs are the least of our problems.”

Chuck pulled onto the property. The long road leading to the range went on for miles. Tess felt that anxious, pulling sensation in her stomach when she saw the fence and the gate leading to her home. She looked up to see “Double R Ranch” etched in the log timbers that framed the wooden gate.

“I’m glad you’re home, Tess.”

“Me too.”

As Chuck pulled up to the house, he honked the horn a few times. In a moment, her father walked onto the front porch. He was smiling and waving.

“God, Chuck….” Tess whispered.

“I know. Don’t let him see that concerned look on your face.”

Tess nodded and smiled as she waved. Jed Rawlins ambled down the porch steps as Tess jumped out and hugged him fiercely around the neck. “Dad, it’s so good to see you.”

“Oh, Tess, it’s good to see you, sweetie. I’ve missed you.”

Tess pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks, seeing her father do the same.

“C’mon, let’s get out of this weather. Maria made stew and—”

“Biscuits.” Tess licked her lips. “I can taste them already.”

“Remember those thighs,” Chuck whispered in her ear as he passed.

Tess was about to retaliate when she saw Maria standing at the front door. “Wipe your boots, Chuck.” She then opened her arms; Tess quickly mounted the steps and wrapped her arms around Maria. “Oh, child, it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

“So have I, Maria.”

“You’ve lost weight,” Maria said.

Tess stuck her tongue out at Chuck, who laughed and struggled out of his heavy coat.

Jed put his arm around her and kissed her check. “I’m starved. Now let’s eat and you can tell us all about California and you being a big important professor.”

They sat around the kitchen table as Maria served the meal. “Nothing has changed.” Tess looked around the kitchen. It was the same as when she was a child.

The kitchen was quite large, and in those days, the ranch hands used to eat at this table while Tess and her family ate in the dining room. Emily would make the meals for all of them.

When Tess was a child, she remembered how her mother was constantly at the stove cooking for ten ranch hands and the family. How she did that, Tess never knew, and she did it with no complaining. She seemed to love to cook for so many people, three meals a day. Or perhaps it was just the way of life, and you did what you had to do because Tess knew her mother loved the ranch as much as her father did.

“Tess?”

Tess looked up to see her father grinning. “You didn’t hear a word I said.”

“Oh, sorry, Dad. I was just thinking about Mom. What did you say?” She took another mouthful of stew and moaned happily.

“I said I was so happy when Maria said you called and you were coming home for your summer.” He reached over and took another biscuit off the plate.

Tess glanced at Maria and Chuck, seeing their pleading looks. “I’ve been away too long. It was time I came home for a while.”

“So you’ll stay on?” he asked. Tess heard the hopeful tone. “I mean till your classes start again in the fall?”

Tess reached over and took his hand. “Yes, Dad.”

“Well, the weather is clearing,” Chuck said and drank his coffee. “Tomorrow you can take a ride and see the herd. We’ll need to move the fences day after tomorrow.”

Tess nodded and took another biscuit. “You’re still bale feeding?”

Chuck and Jed exchanged happy glances. “What else?” Jed asked.

“I don’t know. We might try swath grazing. How was the summer hay? Are you still getting it from Bob? We really should have our own hay.”

“Bob has been very good to us. And buying the hay from him is no hardship.”

“I understand, but we have to think of the future.”

Jed leaned over and placed his hand on Tess’s forearm. “If surviving means putting another rancher and friend out of business, then we’re no better than Warren Telford.”

“Okay, we’ll think of something.”

“Well, I’m stuffed,” Chuck announced as he patted his stomach.

“Me too,” Tess said. “Maria, you still make the lightest biscuits in Montana.”

“That’s only because you’ve spent so much time in California.”

Jed laughed, then regarded Tess. “I’m so proud of you.”

Tess cocked her head. “Why?”

“Because you followed your heart. Just like Uncle Jeremiah did. And your mother would be just as proud of you knowing you went to the same university.”

Tess saw the tears well in his eyes. She stood and kissed the top of his head. “I’m going to change and go out to the stable. Do you think Stella remembers me?”

Jed grunted. “That ole horse won’t let anyone else near her. Give me a minute. I’ll go with you.”

“It’s so cold, Jed,” Maria said.

“I’m fine. No fussing.” Jed walked out of the kitchen. “Your room is all set for you, Tess.”

Tess walked down the hall to her room. As with everything else, nothing had changed. The huge four-poster bed still looked inviting; she suddenly realized how exhausted she was. She opened the closet and grinned when she saw her old black cowboy hat hanging on the peg and her deerskin winter coat. “God, I hope the damned thing fits.”

She was glad she at least had a good pair of boots, broken in just right, though she spied the old comfortable-looking pair on the floor of the closet. She reverently took the hat and placed it on her head, then took it off and worked the brim until it was just right. “Yep, nothing has changed.” She looked at her reflection in the mirror, then slipped into the deerskin coat. “Thank God. A little snug and one more of Maria’s biscuits…” she whispered and walked out.

“I’ve never seen the moon this bright.” Tess sighed as she led the mare into the stable.

Jed lifted a pile of loose hay with the pitchfork and tossed it into the stall with a grunt. “You’ve said that about every moon since you were a little girl,” he reminded her.

She pulled a childish face. “Well, it’s true,” she countered as she examined the mare. Tess gave her a playful slap on her rump. “You’re in good shape, Stella.” When she slapped at her flank, the horse gave a loud snort and slowly loped into the stall. “Good girl, sleep tight. I missed you, too.”

Tess blew into her cupped hands to warm them as she looked around for her father. She walked out of the stable and noticed him leaning against the fence post gazing at the moon.

She cuddled her deerskin coat around her, walked up next to him, and looked up into the night sky, as well.

“Hmm, you just might be right, Tess. It is a handsome moon tonight.”

Tess noticed the touch of melancholy in his voice. She put her arm around him, took off her old beat-up cowboy hat, and laid her head on his strong shoulder.

“I’m so glad you’re here.”

“You said that already. Now how are the cattle?”

“All settled. This has been a mild winter. I don’t think we lost too many.”

“We’ll be fine,” she assured him with a hearty hug. “And if we aren’t, I’ve got a few irons in the fire. We’ll make it one way or the other.”

Jed Rawlins glanced at her. “You are a beauty. You’ve got the golden hair and piercing blue eyes like your mother. You’re a fine catch.”

Tess snorted and leaned against the fence post. They stood in comfortable silence for a moment or two before Jed spoke.

“You’re the next heir to the Rawlins dynasty passed down from my grandfather to my father and to me. This will all be yours someday. I hope there’s…”

Tess kissed his cheek to quiet him. “You’re an old softy, Jed Rawlins,” she countered happily. “We will make it. They won’t take the Double R from us, not while I have a breath in me.”