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the love she felt in her heart for Jake.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8.
     
    Jake was especially happy working in the cornfield picking corn. He had a smile on his face and was singing and whistling while tossing the healthy, full ears into the cart. Jackson was working one row over, and took notice. He quickly became irritated, knowing Jake had taken Ellie on a buggy ride the night before. By Jake’s demeanor, he assumed it had gone better than his buggy ride had been with her, and that made Jackson jealous. How could Ellie want Jake over him? Being Amish didn’t make him a better man. As far as Jackson was concerned, Jake wasn’t much of a man and couldn’t support Ellie the way he could.
    “What are you so happy about, Curly?” Jackson asked, hoping he wouldn’t receive the answer he expected.
    “Oh, I’m sure you know.” Jake said with a sarcastic grin.
    Jackson became even more irritated. He didn’t want to just back down and let Jake win Ellie over. He wanted a way to prove to Ellie and everyone else who the real man was.
    “What would you say to a roping contest, Curly? We’re going to sign up for the roping contest at the county fair next week. Maybe you’d like to compete too, so why not get a little practice in. We could use the two calves since we have to brand them anyway.”
    Jake laughed. He couldn’t be serious, could he? This was something Jake had only ever seen in the movies. He wasn’t sure he could rope cattle, but he accepted Jackson’s challenge, as silly as he thought it was.
    Jake had confidence he had a fair chance of beating Jackson. If for no other reason, than the man was just too full of himself.
    Jake, Jackson and Will led Coal over to the corral to begin their challenge.
    “Some quick rules,” Jackson said. “We’ll each take a turn at roping, and we’ll each get a calf. Whoever finishes the task with the best time is the winner. Will, you let the calf out of the pen so it takes off running, and we’ll set the horse to galloping. Since we don’t have a shoot to come out of, we’ll have to wait until the calf reaches the other side of the corral before we can go after it. Then, we have to rope the head, and then bring the animal down and tie three legs with the small rope—the piggin’ string, and you keep that between your teeth until it’s time to use it. Once the calf is down, you throw your hands up to signal time, and Will stops his watch. Like I said, whoever has the best time, wins. You got all that, Curly?”
    Jake was nervous. It was a lot to remember. He didn’t care much about winning or losing. All he cared about was getting it done without getting hurt or being disqualified, especially seeing as he didn’t know what he was doing.
    Jackson pulled a quarter out of his pocket. “We’ll flip to see who goes first. Heads or tails, Curly?”
    He jutted out his chin. “Heads,” Jake said confidently.
    Jackson tossed the coin up in the air, caught it, and turned it over on the backside of his hand all in one fast motion. When he lifted his hand off the top to reveal the coin, it was tail-up, and Jake let out the breath he’d been holding in, grateful Jackson would go first. At least this way, Jake would have a chance to observe Jackson’s technique and go over the rules one more time in his head.
    Jackson mounted Coal, and rode him up to the pen. The moment Will closed the gate, Coal began to rear up. Jackson could tell that Coal wasn’t going to make things easy on him. The animal had never had a good temperament with him, but he was up to the challenge. He had to win this!
    Taking control of Coal with his left hand, he readied the lariat, waiting for Will to release the calf from the pen. He tightened his grip on Coal as he began to rear up again, but he nearly knocked him from his mount. He yanked Coal’s lead to control him, determined not to let the stubborn horse ruin his chances of winning. When Will released the