Give Me Tonight(27)

Russell chuckled. "Don't know why young people have to go makin' up new words. We got all we need."

"Because young people always think they're feelin' things no one has ever felt before," Caroline said rea­sonably. "Thinkin' up new words only makes sense to 'em."

"Adeline, are you going to see Jeff again today?" May's face was warm with motherly interest.

"Well, we'd talked about it."

"I want Adeline to be out with me today," Russell interrupted brusquely.

There was a short silence around the table. Then May spoke with a frown etched on the comers of her mouth, displeasure knitting her brow. "Later you can take Cade—"

"Cade will be in school all day," Russell coun­tered, his jaw set obstinately. "And Adeline and me haven't been ridin' in a long time. She wants to go. Don't you, punkin?"

Addie nodded eagerly. "Yes. It sounds like a fine idea. "

"We'll look over the ranch, see things are bein' done right, won't we, honey?"

She grinned at him. "We sure will."

"Wait." Ben's eyes darkened with annoyance. "The men don't need to have her looking over their shoul­ders and putting in her two cents about what they're doing."

Addie sat up straighter in her chair, looking directly at him. "I won't say a thing to anyone."

"You don't have to," he replied curtly. "Just look­ing at you is going to distract them." He turned to Russell, his voice becoming softer, more persuasive. "We've got a lot of things to do today, and no time to put up with her antics. Most of them get to see a woman seldom enough, Russ, and they can't help star­ing. But to have one right there while they're trying to work, and one that looks like Adeline—it's asking a little much, isn't it?"

Addie frowned, wondering if there had been a com­pliment hidden in there. It was hard to tell. "I'm glad you've got a foreman smart enough to tell us what to do, Daddy," she said, her eyes round. If she'd had Mary Pickford curls, she would have twirled one around her finger.

Russ harrumphed irritably. "No one tells me what to do with my daughter, Ben. She's lookin' over the ranch with me today. "

"By all means." Ben's face was smooth, wiped clean of all emotion.

By the time Addie and Russell arrived at the barn, Ben had already left to organize the ranch hands as they began the projects that would keep them busy all summer. The horses were saddled and ready to go. Russell exchanged a few words with one of the cowboys who had been assigned to do some of the necessary farmwork near the ranch. Someone had to take care of the chickens and gather eggs, harvest alfalfa hay and stack it.

Making hay was a difficult job. It took experience to know when the hay was well-cured, when the color was right, how long it should lie in the swath after being mowed, and when it was dry enough to be stacked. It was drying out in the fields right now, changing color under the bright, hot Texas sun. There was nothing like the sweet smell of well-cured hay. It had a perfume that seemed to saturate the air for miles around.

But the cowboys took little pleasure in such work.

They felt it was beneath their dignity to perform such tasks—why, that was a job for sodbusters, not cow­boys! And since they were merciless in their teasing of each other, the hands who had to do sodbuster work were artfully ridiculed by the other cowpunchers.

While Russell was talking with the ranch hand, Ad­die approached Jessie from the side. " 'Morning, Jes­sie. I see you're not wearing that nasty old sidesaddle today. What a pretty horse you are. Yes, you are." Jessie's head turned in her direction, ears twitching expectantly. "We're not going to have any problems like we did yesterday," Addie continued, reaching a hand in her pocket and pulling out a lump of sugar. "We're making a deal, Jessie—you know what it is­—and this is evidence of my good faith. And believe me, if you live up to your end of the bargain, there's more where this came from."

Jessie bent her head and took the sugar delicately between her lips, looking at her with wary brown eyes. Suddenly she gobbled it and pushed her nose strongly against Addie's midriff, nudging her for more. "I can tell we're going to be good friends," Addie said con­versationally, pulling out another lump and extending it to the horse. Jessie's nose was as soft as velvet as it brushed her palm in search of the sugar. She stroked the side of the mare's neck and showed her the spurless boots she wore. "See, Jessie? Slick-heeled, just for you."

Jessie offered not one twitch of protest as Addie slipped the tip of her boot into the stirrup and hoisted herself up into the saddle. After swinging a leg over the saddle, she arranged her divided skirt and looked at Russell expectantly. He had just finished his con­versation.

"I'm ready."

"Looks like y'are." Russell mounted his horse, a large white gelding named General Cotton, and they rode away from the house, out into the range. "I guess you know your mama wasn't too happy 'bout this," he said, looking like a boy who had just gotten away with a prank.             .

"I don't understand why," she replied, sincerely puzzled. "What could be wrong with me looking over the ranch with you?"