Tracie Peterson - [Land of the Lone Star 03] Read Online Free PDF Page A

hard once you get a feel for it.”
    Tyler and the other men nodded. Newt frowned. “It doesn’t look all that easy. I thought for sure you were gonna hit your head on that fence.”
    “I have before,” Andy admitted, “but that’s why you gotta practice. When you ain’t workin’, you need to be practicin’.”
    “The boy’s got that right,” Grubbs said as the other men nodded. Tyler turned away lest his smile cause the greenhorn to question the validity of their statements. He’d seen this trick played on more than one new man. It was just the boys’ way of having some good-natured fun, and God knew that by the time they reached Abilene, they’d all be in need of diversion.

3
    C arissa sat down for the first time that day and decided a bit of rest was in order. She’d risen at five that morning and now seven hours later was more than ready for a bite of lunch. She looked at Gloria, who was happily playing with a collection of wooden thread spools that Laura had been saving.
    “Are you hungry?” Carissa asked, kneeling down beside her daughter.
    “I want cookies,” Gloria said, immediately putting the spools aside.
    “How about some soup and bread first, and then cookies?”
    Gloria frowned and looked at Carissa in a most serious manner. “I like cookies.”
    Carissa smiled and pushed back the child’s blond ringlets. “I do, too, but the soup is hot and ready for us to eat. Let’s just have a little and then we can have cookies. Come on.” She got to her feet and lifted Gloria in her arms.
    Brandon and Laura had taken Daniel to town for his first real pair of shoes, so Carissa and Gloria enjoyed a bowl of vegetable soup from the big pot of it Carissa had put together that morning. Laura had promised to return as soon as possible, so Carissa had busied herself with baking and cooking most of the morning.
    “Cookies now, Mama?”
    She looked at her daughter and nodded. “Yes. We can have cookies now. Why don’t we take them outside? It’s so nice, and you can play before nap time.”
    “Don’t want a nap, Mama. I’m not tired.” The blue-eyed angel looked up at Carissa as if expecting a reprieve.
    “Well, you may not be tired, but I am. I want you to take a nap for me. But first, we play. Go find your ball.”
    Gloria scampered off, and Carissa went to the cookie jar. Choosing four sugar cookies, Carissa wrapped them in a towel and tucked them in her pocket just as Gloria returned clutching a gray-black ball as if it might get away from her.
    Carissa led Gloria outside and down the porch steps. “Let’s play over here,” she suggested, leading Gloria farther away from the house in case the ball managed to get out of control. The last thing Carissa wanted to do was clean up a broken window.
    They rolled the ball back and forth at first; then Gloria decided it was time to start throwing. She was awkward at best, and Carissa couldn’t help but laugh. She chased down the ball and gave a weak toss to her daughter. Gloria tried to catch it, but got scared and backed away. The heavy rubber ball fell with a bit of a thud and landed near the child’s feet.
    “Please, I want cookies now,” she said, looking first at the ball and then back to her mother.
    “I do, too.” Carissa pulled a cookie for each of them from the towel in her pocket. “Here you go.”
    Gloria clapped her hands and then took the cookie. “What do you say?” Gloria asked.
    Carissa had to laugh. She’d been trying her best to teach Gloria the necessities of saying please and thank you , but the child always managed to turn it around when it came time to offer thanks.
    “Thank you,” she said, nevertheless. “When someone gives you something . . . you say thank you .”
    Gloria nodded and started to run back to where she’d left the ball. Carissa called out, “Gloria, what do you say?”
    It sounded as though a sigh passed from the child’s lips. “Thank you.” Her statement suggested that she was well aware