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best thing that could happen." Louie
was hopeful. Everyone respected and admired Cole's
business sense. He'd turned the Branding Iron into
one of the best spreads in the area. If anyone could
make the Lazy S a paying proposition again, it was
Cole.
    "We'll have to wait and see what happens when
she gets here. Have you heard anything more from
her?"
    "No. Last I heard, she said she'd be arriving in
Durango on tomorrow afternoon's train. It's going to
be hard for her, coming home this way, but there was
no easy way to give her the bad news with her living
so far away," Louie said. He and his wife, Frances,
who was cook and housekeeper on the Lazy S, both
loved Jenny. They'd worked on the ranch for years
and had watched her grow up. Louie could just imagine how distraught she'd been when she'd gotten the
wire he'd sent notifying her of her father's death. "I
planned on going into town to meet her, unless you
want to do it, being executor and all."
    "No, that's all right. You go on ahead," Cole told
him. "I've got to ride back to the Branding Iron tonight to check on things there, but I'll make it a point to come back over here tomorrow so I can speak with
Jenny."

    "Does she know you're in charge?"
    "According to Marsden, Paul did not tell her what
he'd done in the will, so I'll have to tell her when I
see her."
    "What if she doesn't want to sell? What if she decides she wants to try to run the ranch herself?"
    "Since she hasn't bothered to come back once since
she went East, I don't think that will be a problem.
There's nothing left to hold her here now that her
father's dead."
    "What should I tell the men? They've been a little
uneasy about what might happen. They're wanting to
know if they're going to have jobs come the first of
the month."
    "Tell them they're still on the payroll until they
hear different from me," Cole said with authority, taking charge just as Paul had intended.
    "Why don't you come with me and tell them yourself? They'll be glad to hear the news that you're in
charge." Cole was a man they could all believe in and
trust. As much as Cole might resent the burden of
taking over, Louie knew that Paul had done the right
thing.
    "All right. I'll be along in a minute and meet you
there."
    Louie walked off, and Cole was left alone with his
thoughts once again. He remained at the graveside,
mourning his friend's passing, wishing things could have been different, but promising to deal with everything the best he could even Jenny. It was what Paul
had wanted him to do, so he would do it.

    Cole looked down one last time at the grave, then
turned and walked away. He strode toward the house,
ready to talk to the men and take care of ranch business.

     

"We're almost there. Are you going to be all right?"
Evelyn asked Jenny as the Denver & Rio Grande train
slowed and headed into the Durango station.
    Jenny looked at her aunt, her expression strained.
"I'm going to try..."
    Jenny fell silent. She was home. At last, she was
home. In her heart, though, her home and her father
were synonymous. She couldn't imagine returning to
the Lazy S and her father not being there. She didn't
know if she could bear it.
    Her father was gone dead and she'd never had
the chance to tell him she loved him. She'd never had
the chance to say good-bye.
    Anger suddenly flared within Jenny.
    How dare he go and die on her!
    Jenny embraced the emotion. The heat of her out rage was far better than the bottomless sense of emptiness and loneliness that had filled her ever since
she'd received Louie's telegram. If she was angry, she
could handle what was to come. If she was angry, she
could cope with the loss that could never be restored.

    How dare he have a riding accident! He was an
excellent horseman.
    The thought that he'd been killed while out riding
was just too hard to accept. When she'd first received
the wire from Louie, she hadn't believed it, but now,
as they drew ever closer to Durango