Lauraine Snelling Read Online Free

His mother would have been truly disappointed in the sarcastic way he’d spoken to Miss Lockwood. One never treated guests with anything but graciousness; that was a cardinal rule of her training of both daughter and sons. No matter how one felt, being polite was not negotiable. And Gretchen was just like their mother. Now she was disappointed in him too. What a great way to ruin a perfectly fine fall day. He had planned to spend the day stripping branches off the downed pine trees to get them ready to run through the saw and make posts for shoring up the cave-in that had happened so many years ago at the mine.
    After nearly losing his life in the cave-in, his father, Ivar, had boarded up the mine and ordered everyone to stay out of it, saying there was no more gold and the mine shafts were unstable. But Ransom kept on believing that in spite of the opinions they’d received from mining experts, there was still gold in that mine. The first step was to clear the debris of the cave-in and fit the tunnels with new supports to prevent a reoccurrence. They had borrowed a steam-run sawmill from a neighbor, and as soon as there was time, the two brothers would saw the downed pine trees into six-by-sixes.
    His mind still on the mine, Ransom unsaddled his horse at the barn and let him loose in the small pasture. The fragrance of baking cinnamon rolls met him on the back porch, where he pulled his boots off at the jack. His mother was indeed rolling out the red carpet for this probable land thief.
    He thought back to the amazing story his mother had told her children the night before. The more he thought about it, although she’d never said so, he wondered if his mother had been in love with Lockwood. The wistfulness in her eyes as she told her story suggested that. Had their father started his heavy drinking when he realized his wife loved another man? That would make many a man start to tip the bottle. He entered the kitchen.
    “So what did she say?” Mavis looked up from rolling pie dough.
    “She said she’d be here soon,” he said, adjusting the thong that held his hair back.
    “Why didn’t you wait for her?”
    “I thought you’d want to know she was coming. Where’s Lucas?”
    “Checking the herd and the fences. Said he’d watch for company. Remember the other night when he returned from town and said he’d seen the woman of his dreams?”
    “Ja, a bit of superlatives from our ladies’ man. I think we’ve heard that before.”
    “I believe the woman he was swooning over was Cassie Lockwood.”
    “Figures. He always goes for the new skirt in town.”
    Mavis looked up from her pie dough. “What burr got under your saddle?”
    “Do you actually believe her story?”
    “I do. No one could make all that up. I’ve seen her copy of the deed. And when she shows you that deed and how it matches the one I have, you will have to believe too. It’s not like she can take the ranch away from us, son. We own half the land and all the improvements. If we need to divide the land, we will still have a fine ranch.”
    “Two hundred acres is not enough to run the number of cattle we have now, let alone allow us to increase the herd.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and propped his haunches against the counter. “I might as well tell you before Gretchen comes home all indignant. I was rude to Miss Lockwood. Gretchen called me on it.” Sipping from his cup, he tried to ignore his mother’s raised eyebrows as she laid the just-rolled top crust over the apple filling in the second pie. “Do you think she’ll stay long?”
    “I hope so. They need to move their wagon closer to here. I thought by the barn for now. They can run their stock in the small pasture until we all decide what to do.”
    “So you are planning on their moving here, no matter how Lucas and I feel?”
    Mavis sighed and slid the two pies into the oven. She shut the heavy oven door with a thud before turning to her son. “Think this through, Ransom.