Sea Of Grass Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked out at the Bitterroot Mountains.
    The sprawling pasture in the foreground wonderfully landscaped the majestic mountains in the distance. My God, she thought, this is heaven. Somebody, anybody, everybody should be enjoying this scenery, she thought as she rode back to the house.
    She was starving, her mouth watering for one of Maria’s biscuits, when she heard Chuck’s voice booming from the kitchen.
    “Quit? You can’t, Maria!” Chuck exclaimed as Tess walked into the kitchen. Maria nodded sadly as she dried her hands on the towel.
    “What’s all the barking about, Chuck?” Tess asked, looking from Maria to Chuck.
    Chuck ran his fingers through his hair and groaned. He pointed at Maria. “She’s quitting!” he squeaked out.
    Tess was smiling, however, upon hearing the word, she frowned deeply. “What?”
    “I must go home, Tess. I just got word. My cousin has left to help with his family. There will be no one left, so I must go.”
    “Shit, Maria. Of course you have to go.”
    “Thank you. As I said, there’s no one left now but me. I leave in a week. I’m sorry,” she said. Tess took off her hat and tossed it on the long table. “Take that off the table, young lady,” she said just as softly.
    Tess frowned and grabbed the hat, hanging it on the back of the chair. “What are we supposed to do without you?” Tess asked. In an exasperated gesture, she ruffled her short blond hair. “I just get home and you’re leaving?”
    “Don’t whine. I have a friend who knows a young widowed woman who is a cook in Helena. She needs the job and is very good. She’ll do fine until I return in the summer.”
    “So you’re not quitting really?” Tess asked.
    Maria gestured to the smiling and much relieved Chuck. “If he would stop crying like a baby, I was trying to tell him,” Maria scolded Chuck, who turned red and chuckled nervously.
    “So this woman, is she as good as you?” Tess grumbled childishly. “God, Maria, you’re family. What is Dad going to say?”
    Maria winced. “I-I haven’t told him yet.”
    “Are you insane? You’re leaving in a week and you haven’t told him? Oh, God, he’ll flip!”
    “Flip? I don’t understand flip…”
    Tess rolled her eyes. “He’ll be angry, very angry.”
    “You tell him for me,” she said and grinned.
    Tess gaped at Maria, then shook her head rapidly. Chuck threw up his hands and dashed out the door, unnoticed by both women.
    “No, no, no,” Tess argued. “I am not telling Dad.”
    “Tell me what?” Jed said from the kitchen door. Both women froze. Jed slowly walked into the kitchen, his fingers looped in the pockets of his vest. “Tell me what, ladies?”
    Maria sighed and stood tall. “Jed, I must go back to New Mexico. My family needs me now. I’ll return in the summer.”
    Jed blinked a few times. “Leave the ranch? What are we supposed to do?”
    Tess tried to slip away.
    “I have told Tess—come back here, child,” she said, glaring at Tess, who stopped dead in her tracks, “that a friend of mine has someone who is looking for a job. She’s a good cook, works in Helena, and is a widow. She has a young son, but he can work around the ranch. It will only be for the spring and midsummer. It will go by quickly. Then I’ll be back to take care of you… both,” she amended and looked away from Jed.
    Father and daughter let out an unhappy resigned sigh. “When you go, I’ll drive you to the train station,” Jed said firmly.
    Maria shook her head. “I’ll take the bus.”
    “You will not. You’ll fly home. No arguing.”
    Maria was looking at the floor. “I’m an employee, Jed.”
    “You’re more than an employee here. I’ve told you that for years now,” he added softly.
    Maria looked up with teary brown eyes. It was then that Tess noticed how attractive this woman was. She was slim and average height with deep silky brown hair with a few strands of silver running through it. Her high regal cheekbones were her