Calder Born, Calder Bred by Janet Dailey

Author:Janet Dailey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books

17

The feedlot was under construction at the site on the north range. Its grain silos had been erected; much of the conveyor equipment for mechanized feeding was installed. Fences were going up, dividing the cattle yard into lots. The chugging, revving engine of the posthole digger filled the afternoon, forcing men to raise their voices to be heard above it.

Stake trucks lumbered over the ground, loaded with fence-posts that were rolled off the back of the truck at regular intervals. More workers were following behind the posthole digger, righting the poles in the ground and tamping them solid. Adding to the racket was the pounding of hammers, nailing the board rails.

Standing back by the parked vehicles, Chase observed it all. His hands were thrust into the pockets of his open jacket and his head was drawn back in quiet satisfaction. Ty was amongst all those workers, supervising the project he had designed and organized.

“What do you think?” Maggie was at his side.

“I think there’s no set time when a boy becomes a man. Some never do.” He paused. “You know, it’s hard for a father to recognize when that time has come for his son. You get so wrapped up in trying to handle everything for him, thinking you have to carry the whole load ’cause he can’t cope with it, that you don’t see he can.” There was a faintly sad smile on his face when he paused. “Ty isn’t a boy anymore, Maggie. And it’s got nothing to do with age or size.”

“No,” she agreed, feeling a tugging inside at his words when she had expected him to comment on the way the work was progressing on this new operation. But Ty had been Chase’s work—his project—teaching him, training him, trying to instill in him all the values Chase held important.

He put an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to his side, his voice growing tight. “I always thought he had to do things my way, but he can’t. He’s going to be a better man than I am.”

“Chase.” There was so much she wanted to say, but she couldn’t find the words to describe her feelings. She was proud of him for the man he was, and she felt a deep and abiding love for this proud husband of hers.

“Do you know what people will start saying when I walk down the street now?” He looked down at her, faintly smiling.” ’There goes Ty Calder’s old man.’”

“No, you’ll always be Chase Calder,” she insisted, but there was a part of her that knew he was right. The time would come, but not for a long while yet.

When she looked back to the scene, Ty was coming toward them, moving with that long, easy gait of his. He stopped once to direct a load of fence rails to a particular section of the yard, then came on. Chase let his arm slide off her shoulders and squared around to face his son, for the first time man to man.

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