Page 60 of Texas Glory
Cordelia was at a loss for words. She couldn’t recall her father teaching her much of anything except her place within a man’s world, a place she had never questioned until she had discovered that it didn’t fit very well within her husband’s world. “I know how to keep a promise,” she finally admitted. “I suppose it’s the same thing.”
He nodded. “Then I need you to give me a promise.”
“What sort of promise?”
He drew his horse to a halt. She did the same. Removing his hat, he captured her gaze.
“I want you to promise that if something should happen to me you won’t give my land to your brothers.”
“What would happen to you?”
“Anything could happen to a man out here. I just don’t want your brothers to benefit from my death.”
His death? The words echoed through her mind, through her heart. “Why would you die?”
His lips curved into a slight smile. “I’m not planning to. I just want your word that if we have a son, you’ll hold on to the land for him.”
“And if we don’t have a son?”
“Then hold on to the land for yourself or sell it. Just don’t give it to your brothers.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do with the land,” she confessed.
He looked toward the distant horizon. “Give me your word that you won’t give the land to your brothers, and I’ll teach you how to manage it.”
She swept her gaze over the land. He was entrusting her with his legacy. She realized that if something did happen to him, she would need to know how to manage the ranch so she could teach their son. She glanced at him as he steadfastly watched her. “I could destroy everything you’ve built.”
“If I thought there was the slightest chance in hell of that happening, I wouldn’t have made the offer.”
The force of his words slammed into her. He trusted her with the empire he had built, trusted her to honor her word, just as she had vowed to honor him.
He was giving her the opportunity to level the shaky foundation upon which they had begun to build their marriage. “I give you my word.”
A slow smile spread beneath his mustache. “Good.”
In the days that followed, she came to know his men and their respective jobs. She had assumed that they simply watched the cattle. She could not have been more wrong. Men constantly rode the fence line, mending the cut or broken wire, replacing posts. The mill rider visited the windmills to grease the bearings and repair anything that had broken. Bog riders searched for cattle that had become tangled in the brush or trapped in mud. The numerous types of riders and their various tasks astounded her.
It seemed everything always needed to be checked and checked again: the fence, the windmills, the cattle, the water supply, the grazing land. Decisions had to be made as to when and where to move the cattle.
By the end of the week, Cordelia was overwhelmed with the knowledge she had attained.
She also had a greater respect and understanding of her husband and his achievements.
Dallas pounded the nail into the floorboard. This Sunday was turning out to be much the same as last Sunday.
He worked on the loft while his brothers lollygagged. He was surprised they’d managed to get the walls put in on the first floor.
He heard the deep rumble of laughter, followed by the gentler giggles. Against his better judgment, he unfolded his body and carefully walked across the beams until he got to the edge of the second floor. He leaned against the open frame.
Cordelia stood at one end of the yard. Everyone else was positioned in different places. She turned her back to them, and everyone moved up. Houston took one big step and stopped. Amelia took three tiny steps. Maggie skipped and fell to her knees. Austin ran.
Cordelia spun around. Austin staggered to a stop. She pointed a finger at him. “I saw you running.”
“The heck you did!” he yelled while everyone else laughed.
She wagged her finger at him. “Go back to the beginning.”
He stomped to a rope stretched along the ground several yards away from Cordelia. Cordelia pivoted, giving them her back, and everyone started moving again.
