Page 107 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
Please, let this go well for Silas. He’d told me that branding was one of his favorite things to do every year, and he deserved to have the day go smoothly, to have some fun. His nightmares weren’t as bad but he was still having them occasionally. The stress of the ranch still weighed heavily on his shoulders and things with Elliot were still strained.
He needed a good day.
“We couldn’t have asked for better weather.” Olivia joined me with a huge thermos of coffee.
“It’s beautiful.” I took a few deep breaths of the cool May morning air and looked to the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and the sun was shining brightly. By noon, the chill would be gone and it would be the perfect day for outside work. “What else do we need to do?”
“Nothing right this minute.” Olivia smiled and linked her arm through mine. “Let’s go check on the guys.” We walked along the corral’s fence to where Silas and Elliot were greeting the men from the truck. “Those are the Lee brothers,” she said. “Do you remember them? They are quite a bit older than you.”
I s
hook my head. I’d probably be surrounded by unfamiliar faces all day and couldn’t wait for Mom, Jess and Gigi to arrive.
“Morning,” Olivia called to the men.
They all turned and one of the Lee brothers waved. Olivia released my arm and I joined Silas at his side. With an arm around my shoulders, he introduced me to the twin brothers.
“This is my girlfriend, Felicity Cleary.”
We shook hands and one of the brothers asked, “Cleary. You’re the sheriff’s sister?”
I smiled. “That’s me.”
“Speak of the devil, here he comes now.” Silas nodded toward the barn.
I turned and saw Gigi’s SUV park next to my car. The Cleary gang piled out and, with Rowen skipping wildly at my mom’s side, joined our huddle.
“Aunt Lissy!” Rowen screeched, hugging my legs.
I bent to kiss her nose and then leaned over to hug my mom. “Hi,” I said. “How are you today?”
“I’m great.” She smiled and started visiting with Olivia.
Mom had started the drug trial a month ago, and it seemed to be making a small difference. I had been spending afternoons with her instead of evenings, those being reserved for Silas, and I hadn’t seen her have an episode for almost a month. I had my fingers crossed our lucky streak would continue.
“How’s my big man?” I took Ben from Jess’s arms and kissed his chubby cheeks. “Excited to play outside and get dirty?”
“We might have to hose him off before we go home,” Gigi teased. She was as beautiful as ever this morning, her skin glowing and hair shining. It would be just a couple more months until baby girl Cleary joined our family and I couldn’t wait to meet her.
“Choc,” Ben said.
“In a little bit.” I’d definitely won my nephew over but had created a bit of a chocolate-obsessed monster in the process.
After visiting for a while, Elliot declared that there was work to be done and everyone went their separate ways. Gigi and I went back to the house and sat at an outside table, enjoying a morning coffee while the kids played in the yard. In the background, the cows and calves were bellowing.
“So, Jess tried to explain all of this to me last night but I’m still confused as to what’s exactly going to happen,” Gigi said.
“You and me both. I’ve been asking Silas questions for a month and still can’t picture it.”
Last night, the cattle had all been brought into an arena that adjoined the branding corral. Silas and the Lee brothers would ride in and rope the small calves, pulling them into the branding arena. From there, a crew of wrestlers would hold down the calves while Elliot gave them a brand and Gus vaccinated them against common bovine illnesses.
Gigi smirked. “I can’t wait to see Jess wrestling around in the dirt.”
“Silas said that if I wanted to try, I could. And he promised to teach me how to rope this summer. I guess Olivia used to be one of the best ropers around.”
“Seriously?” Gigi asked. “That’s awesome. I hope you try the wrestling thing. I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures of you filthy and gross to use against you one day.”
“Gee. Thanks,” I deadpanned.
