Ellen O'Connell Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold (p

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."Cord decided he was glad after all that she never seemed to do what he expected.* * *CHAPTER 12THAT NIGHT CORD ASKED IF Frank had mentioned anything about beef."No, why ever would he?" Anne asked."We have a deal.I raise enough ham and bacon for the whole family, and Franksupplies the beef."Anne had asked him about the pigs once when he was bedridden, but he hadn't toldher much.They were anathema to most ranchers, but Cord rather liked them.Liked them enough to disappear every spring and fall when Frank came with men to do thebutchering."So your dear brother just welshes on his part of the deal every time he's angry with you?""Something like that," he admitted grudgingly."I'm tired of nothing but chicken and ham.I'll go see Riley tomorrow."Riley had first worked for Cord's father when they were both young men.He stillworked for Frank, although as age and rheumatism slowed him down, Frank continued to lighten his workload.The next day, Cord tied Keeper in front of the small house where Riley lived beforethe sun was more than a promise.He hoped to catch the old man still warming himself at the stove on the cold winter morning.Sure enough, Riley answered the door, inviting Cord in with a gesture.Small, wiry, and weathered looking, with thin white hair and blue eyes faded from too many years squinting into the sun, Riley was the closest thing to a grandfather Cord had ever known.He had taught Cord to ride and shoot as a boy, and, unlike Frank and Ephraim, didn't always leap to the worst conclusion.Riley sank back down in the chair closest to the stove, examining Cord closely."Heard you finally met somebody tougher than you, boy."Cord tipped his hat back a bit and admitted, "Their guns were tougher.And there were nine of them.""Figured it had to be something like that.Wasn't too smart of you to let them corner you was it?""Nope.Had weeks in bed to contemplate how stupid it was.""It was that bad?"Cord wondered why he could talk to this old man so much more easily than to hisbrothers."Should have died.Was meant to.""Nobody here knows.""Nope.""You really hurt that woman?"Cord met this old friend's eyes steadily.Riley was the first one to ask."I'm not doing her any favor keeping her around, but I never hurt her.""Who marked her like Frank and Eph saw?""Her father and one of the Double M hands.""Boy, you ever think of just telling Frank that? You got any idea how he's feeling?"Cord shrugged."Hardly matters what happened.It matters he's so damned sure I did it - never even asked.Neither did Eph.How the hell you think I feel?"Riley sighed."You telling me to mind my own business?""Yeah, I guess I am.""What did you come for then?""Beef.""Ah, well, that's easy enough isn't it? Suppose I just resume deliveries, so to speak.Am I allowed to ride over and meet this woman?""Sure.You'll like her.More grit than most men."Cord rode home with several thick steaks, feeling better about everything, only to be knocked off balance again.Anne was sorting through the boxes little by little.Yesterday she had been jubilant after discovering one box had books in it.He would be extremely happy about it himself soon she told him, because her cookbook was in with the rest.There were all sorts of wonderful things she could make now but had been unable to remember exact recipes for.As he walked in and put the meat package on the table, she held up a huge piece ofbrown cloth."What do you think of this?""What is it?""Actually, it's men's suiting material.Aunt Clara bought it just before I left Chicago.She had some notion of having a very conservative traveling dress made for me of it.Look, there's lots of it because we got enough for skirts, you see."He didn't see what it had to do with him, and waited warily to find out."What I'm getting at is I haven't been able to think of anything to give you for a Christmas present, and I thought if you'd let me, I'd see if I can make this into a suit.I've only ever worked on parts, of course, but it shouldn't be that hard.The thing is you'd have to put up with a few fittings, so it can't be a surprise, and I couldn't finish it by Christmas anyway, maybe just the trousers." She was looking at him almost shyly, expectation of a rude no written all over her face.Christmas present! The words brought visions of oranges in the toes of red stockings, small wooden horses and soldiers, a saddle specially made for him at ten, and a bridle at eleven.He hadn't given or received anything remotely resembling a present since Mariehad married and left.What would she come up with next? The look on her face made a no utterly impossible."Mm, well, I guess, if you want to, whatever."Christmas present! What did a man give a woman for a Christmas present? He did hisbest to ignore it, but the thought lurked in the back of his mind for days.When he used to go to the main ranch for Christmas with the family what had happened? Surely somebody must have mentioned what Frank gave Judith or Eph gave Martha?He was out in the pastures checking on the stock when the sight of one of the oldermares gave him an idea.Maybe there was a way to solve two problems at once.Cord never knew what happened to him that Christmas [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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