Page 8 (1/2)

I just can’t walk the path that you tread

Don’t stand between me and what I can be

’Cause you’re Calder born—and Calder bred

3

The house seeie entered it She paused in the foyer, listening to the midafternoon silence A sh heels clicking on the hardwood floors

There was a stack ofto be sorted, ranch correspondence separated from the personal ht suede coat, laying it over the back of a living-roo Beneath it, she wore a classically siave the iht to her petite build and discreetly flattered the ure

One of the envelopes was addressed to iy Her glance flicked curiously to the return address and stayed A quiver of anticipation darted through her when Maggie saas from the Admissions Department of the University of Texas in Austin She nibbled anxiously at her lower lip, wanting to open it and find out if Ty was being accepted for the fall term With all her attention focused on the envelope, she didn’t hear Ruth Haskell come in from the kitchen

“I thought I heard soie I didn’t think you’d be back till later in the afternoon” When Ruth’s voice broke the silence, Maggie turned with aluilty start, the envelope in hand Ruth noticed it and apologized with a nervous quickness that had become a part of her speech pattern “I’m sorry I meant to sort thesoet back to it”

“It doesn’t ie smiled an assurance at the woman, who had once been housekeeper and cook at The Homestead Now she came only occasionally to sit with the newest addition to the Calder faie had to be away

Like so inal drovers who had trailed cattle north from Texas to Montana with the first Calder and had stayed on to help build the ranch It gave the ranch a tradition and a continuity of bonds forged long ago and still re

As Maggie studied the woe Her blond hair had faded to gray, and a network of age lines had withered her face Her gentle blue eyes had lost their sparkle Once Ruth had been on the plump side, but nerves had eaten away until she was thin There was a perpetual tre it worse at some times than others

To those who knew her, as Maggie did, the source of her decline could be traced directly to her son After last summer’s attempt to kill both Ty and herself as part of a wild plot to obtain control of the ranch, Buck Haskell had been tried, convicted, and sentenced to a long prison term In the way of these hard-core western people, his nah Ruth visited hiularly, no one asked about him or even referred to her absences from the ranch It was part of the tradition of this land, the same as when a person died No one s, especially sorrow and grief, were to be kept inside To do otheras to shoeakness

Soht it would help Ruth if she could talk about her son, to bring out in the open the sense of failure and guilt she probably felt, as well as the all-forgiving love of a ie had no compassion at all for her son Because she couldn’t find it in her heart to forgive him, she didn’t mention him

Regretting that she’d let her thoughts take that unpleasant turn, Maggie swung her attention back to the mail and reluctantly set the envelope addressed to Ty apart from the other stacks

“Is Cathleen upstairs taking her afternoon nap?” she asked Ruth, giving her a quick smile