Place to Belong, a Read Online Free PDF Page B

see into your mind? I mean, it’s uncanny.”
    â€œMor would say that is the Holy Ghost at work.”
    â€œShe sure would” came from the wagon bed.
    Ransom and Arnett swapped a glance. Maybe taking this time to be with his family was more important than setting posts and supports in the collapsed part of the mine after all. Somehow it would all get done. At least he sure hoped so.

4

    M avis listened with one ear to Gretchen and Cassie and with the other to the conversation between the two men. While Ransom was usually the silent one, he was obviously making an effort to talk with Dan Arnett. And Dan, who once had thrived on conversation, was just as obviously realizing he’d missed too much and wanted to get back into living again. He’d always been a storyteller, but she wondered at times if he remembered the early days of ranching in the Black Hills area, since he didn’t bring that up much. He and his wife had come to their ranch maybe three or four years after she and Ivar moved into the cabin.
    That cabin. Who would have guessed that that “temporary” structure would still be finding good use? The first year Ivar and Adam Lockwood had lived in it. And then after Adam left for the Wild West show circuit, taking John Birdwing with him, Ivar lived there alone until they were married. Then it was home to the newlyweds until Ivar could complete the main ranch house. And now, Cassie’s dear friends lived there, and it was still in good shape. Who would live there next?
    As did all the ranchers in this area, Arnett and Ivar had traded off work. House raisings and barn raisings, fencing and haying. I’ll help you and you help me. As more cattle arrived, there were roundups and brandings and a great deal of sorting during those years when the range was open and livestock roamed, before barbed-wire fences started crisscrossing the valleys. When Arnett bought the sawmill, life became easier for all of them.
    Maybe this afternoon they could get the old man telling stories in front of the fireplace. She’d suggest it to Ransom. The two of them got along real well. Arnett did not need to spend the afternoon alone in the bunkhouse, though he kept saying he didn’t want to impose on their hospitality. Mavis didn’t mention to him that this was far easier than one of them going to his ranch every day to check on him. When they moved the dog and chickens over, Arnett came to live in their bunkhouse—for the rest of his life, as far as she was concerned, if he’d only listen to her.
    Ransom drew the team to a halt beside the house. Their off gelding shook his head impatiently. He knew where his feed was, and it wasn’t here. Ransom stayed in the box. “How about taking charge of keeping that front fireplace going today, Arnett? Most likely that’ll be where we all end up.”
    â€œIf’n you want, a’course I will. Besides, I got something I want to talk over with all of you. Any idea when Lucas will be home?”
    Mavis smiled. “He said in time for dinner, and you know Lucas, he doesn’t like to miss out on apple pie.”
    Arnett cackled as he stepped to the ground and came around the wagon to help the womenfolk out.
    â€œI don’t suppose you’d like to give me a hint?” Mavis shuffled her skirts back into order as she waited for Cassie and Gretchen. She loved to hear the old man laugh; one could never stay too somber with Dan Arnett around. That was one of the things she’d missed after his wife died, because she used to egg him on until they were all panting from laughter.
    â€œYou did remember to tell Micah and the others that we expect them to join us for dinner?” she asked Ransom when he came into the kitchen from unhitching the team.
    â€œI did. They said they’d watch for the wagon to come back.” He hung his long jacket on the coat-tree by the back door. He automatically checked the woodbox to