Then the calf prices came back, and I was too ashamed to tell you I’d hidden it. So I’ve left it there. Added a little each year. I’m not proud of the secret. But it’s yours.
Count it. It should come to about forty-one thousand.
That’s enough to pay off the note on the north eighty, with some left. I did the math. The place will be clear, and the cows will be yours, and you’ll have a year to decide what you want. Whether you want to stay. I think you’ll stay. But I never asked you, so I’m asking now, in the only way I’ve got.
Ben will want to ranch. Let him, if he’s still of a mind. But don’t let him do it out of guilt. Make him go to school first. Make him see another country. A man should have somewhere to come back from.
