Read Online Cheyenne Mail Order Bride (Mail Order Brides Book 13) by Susan Leigh Carlton - Free Book Online

and I was asking you to travel over fifteen hundred miles to a place you had never heard of. I decided it was a bit too much and that I should be the one to travel.”
    “I can’t believe you’re here. How long did it take?” she asked.
    “I just got here. It took four days,” he said. “The ranch won’t even know I’m gone.”
    “I’m forgetting my manners. Come in, come in and sit down,” she said.
    He followed her into the living room. There were two chairs, a davenport and a table. On the mantle over the fireplace was a faded ambrotype of a serious looking young couple. “Is that you and Christopher?” he asked.
    “Yes, Papa had that taken as our wedding present. It’s the first picture ever taken of me. A lso the only one I should say.”
    “Where’s Chris?” Cal asked.
    “He’s working. I think he’s looking for worms on the cotton. We have to be careful. They can wipe out a field in a day. He stays ahead of it mostly, but he works hard,” she said.
    “I guess it’s like any decent work, hard if you do it right. The cowboys have to be out with the herd in storms because the noise can spook the cattle into a stampede.”
    The sound of the screen door in the kitchen told Jennie Chris had come in. “Chris, come in here. You’re not going to believe this.”
    The strapping young sixteen year old came in; his overalls dirty from the soil he had been working with. “Not going to believe what?” he asked.
    “This is Cal Pierce . Cal, my son Chris. Cal came all of the way from Wyoming to see us,” she said. “He’s the one your Grandpa sent the telegram to.”
    “Sir , we…
    Cal held his hand up. “I would have done the same for my Mama. There’s nothing wrong in a man looking out for his mother. I admire what you did, son.”
    “What are you planning to do here, sir?” Chris asked.
    “ I hope to convince your mother to go back to Cheyenne with me as my wife, I also hope to convince you to go with us.”
    “ What would I do in Cheyenne?” Chris asked.
    “The same thing as we do. Make sure the grass for the  cattle is good, and the cattle are ready for the market.”
    “ Mr. Pierce. How many cattle do you have any way?
    “Our last count had us around 4,500 head after the fall roundup and sale. The Circle CP has around 35 thousand acres after the last purchase. A man can never have too much land in Wyoming, because the growing season is so short.”
    “That’s a lot of cows,” Chris said.
    “Cattle. We milk cows, we sell cattle,” Cal said. “A lot of our cattle get shipped east for processing and to the stores in the big cities. My first herd was made up of cattle I paid four dollars a head for and sold for as much as sixty-two dollars a head. Now, we’re increasing the size of the herd and don’t have to drive them 900 miles.
    “Chris, if you’re worried about me being able to care for your mother, don’t be. The ranch house is large, and less than five years old. It is comfortable. I have fifteen ranch hands and a foreman. I also have a housekeeper.”
    “How long are you going to be here?” Jennie asked.
    “”As long as it takes, or until you tell me I’m wasting my time,” he said.
    Chris said, “I need to do the milking and feed the hogs.”
    “Would you mind if I came with you?” Cal asked.
    “You might get dirty,” Chris said.
    “I’ve been dirty before,” Cal said. “You have water, don’t you?”
    Chris grinned. “Yessir, we have water.”
    In the barn, Chris got hay for the cows, and with a pail and stool, sat down to milk one of the two cows. “Why don’t I milk the other, and we’ll finish up sooner?” Cal asked.
    Chris pointed to a table that had another pail on it. Cal got it and a stool, and began to milk. He quickly saw Cal was no stranger to the task. When they finished, they set the pails on the porch and then took care of the hogs.
    They washed up under the pump that was on the edge of the back porch. “What do you think of my