Read Online A Father's Stake by Mary Anne Wilson - Free Book Online

ever saw.”
    There was no trace of anything in the brown earth an animal could graze on. “But, it’s dead.”
    He exhaled harshly. “Looks that way.” She thought for a moment the cryptic comment was all he was going to say. “This was the way my grandfather found it when he came down from the Rez to make a home here,” Jack said at last. “Dead. Nothing growing. But he worked all this land, building it from nothing, until it was able to support sheep and cattle and his family, all seven kids. He was known for his breeding stock, and this grazing land was the best in the area.”
    His eyes never met hers, but stayed on the land sprawling out ahead of them. “What happened?” she asked.
    His sigh was heavy. “My grandfather turned ninety and hated having to be helped to do anything. As strong as he was all his life, he couldn’t keep this place going, and he wouldn’t accept help. So, he gradually worked less and less land, and concentrated on the breeding part. But that died off, too. He didn’t want anyone to work the land without him there, and we honored his wishes until he was gone. He passed away at ninety-two and the heart just went out of this place.”
    She squinted at the brown expanse, trying to imagine the land lush and green, with livestock grazing on it. The challenge seemed staggering, but she could figure it out.
    “Why didn’t your family get it going again?”
    He closed his eyes for a long moment. “Things happened,” he said in a flat voice. “Life happened.” Then he turned and looked straight at her. “But it has to be brought back.”
    “Of course,” she said, his dark gaze fathomless.
    “Of course,” he echoed.
    “He built the house, didn’t he?”
    “Yes, everything on the land. He did it all with local materials, hauling rocks and stones, cutting the wood, making the adobe blocks.” He pointed off to his right. “That cut in the pine trees was deliberately cleared by him. If you sit at the table in the kitchen, or on the back stoop, or look out the window of the main bedroom, you can see the Rez through that clearing.”
    She followed the direction he pointed but all she saw were the mountains and the foothills at their base. “Can you see it from here?” she asked.
    “Right there. See the top of the foothills, that large green area and the smaller ones running out from it. Those rocks that look like a circle—they’re near the entrance of the Rez.”
    She squinted again in the direction he’d indicated. Although she couldn’t make out buildings, she could see the rock pattern and the greenness beyond it. If there were structures, they fitted seamlessly into the landscape and looked as if they had been there forever.
    “Yes, I see what you’re talking about. That’s where your grandfather came from?”
    “That’s where he was born and generations before him were born. My mother was the only child not born on the Rez. She’s the seventh and only daughter after six sons. Two are still up there, two are in distant places, and the other two are close enough. My mother never left this area. She and my dad built a ranch to the west, three times as big as this. But bigger isn’t always better.”
    The more he talked, the more she felt his undying connection to this place. And it made her uneasy on some level, but as she looked around her, she also knew with certainty that she was supposed to be here. “So, their place is to the west?”
    “Yeah. Come on, and I’ll show you.” He started down into the dead pastures. They walked in silence across the barren ground, the sun starting to heat up. “Watch your step.”
    “I’m okay,” she said. “These shoes are comfortable.”
    “I was talking about snakes, not comfort.”
    She stopped in her tracks, not moving, and Jack had to walk back to where she stood. “Snakes?”
    “They won’t be around too much out here, but you always have to keep your eyes open.”
    Snakes. She’d never even thought about