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That’s not good, is it?”
    “No, it isn’t. Do you have any idea what your financial situation is?” he asked.
    “No, I guess I don’t. After the roundup, Caleb deposited the proceeds from the sale in the bank. Other than that, the only thing left was to buy supplies. He took care of that too,” she said.
    “Where were the cattle sold?” he asked.
    She brightened. “I do know that,” she said. “He drove them to the pens at the rail head and sold them.”
    “Did Sam have anything to do with that?” he asked.
    “No, I don’t think so. Sam pretty much told the hands what to do, while Caleb did everything else.”
    “Did Caleb learn from his father?”
    “A lot. But both Caleb and I graduated from Montana State, so he got a lot of his knowledge from there,” she said.
    “Would you like for me to look at the books?” he asked.
    “Yes, I would like that. Caleb has… had a small office down the hall,” she said.
    She led the way to the small office. It didn’t appear to have been used in some time. “Is it okay if I rummage around and figure out the system?”
    “You can do that?” she asked.
    “Yes, that was all part of my education, and my job with the 4 th US,” he said.
    “Then go ahead. I’m going to spend some time with Jared,” she said.
    “Before you do that, would you ask Sam to come in here, please?” The rest of the morning was spent in the office, with Sam. He was still sitting at the desk, going over the ledger when he sensed her presence, and felt her hand on the back of the chair, her fingers touching his shoulder. The warmth of her fingers gave him a tingling sensation that ran down his back.
    “Are you making any sense of it?” she asked.
    “Yes. Your husband had a very efficient system. It’s all pretty clear to me,” he said.
    “When you bought supplies, did you keep any record of what you bought?” he asked.
    “Just the receipts Silas gave me,” she said. “They’re in the kitchen. I’ll get them.” She returned with a box of papers, and handed it to him.
    “I’ll get these entered into the books. Will it be all right if I took them to the bunkhouse?” he asked.
    “Why don’t you work in here?” she asked.
    “I won’t disturb you?” he asked.
    “No, it will be nice having the company.
    After he talked to Sam, he had a good idea of the routine of driving the cattle to market, and negotiating a price for the herd.
    He surprised Emma when he said, “I’d like to accompany you to church this week,” he said.
    “I would like that,” she responded.
    It had been his practice to have one of the hands ride into town with her as a guard, but on this occasion, he took the responsibility himself. Jeb took her hand and helped her up onto the wagon seat. He lifted Jared up and into the wagon, where he sat on the quilt she had placed in the bed of the wagon. He took the reins, clucked to the horses and they headed into Helena.

A Change
    “What’s your opinion of the state of the ranch, now that you’ve seen the books, the herd, and the range?” she asked.
    “I think we’re in pretty good shape, depending on the market for the fall roundup,” he said. He paused before going on. “If, and there are a few if’s, we have a good breeding season, and if the winter isn’t too severe, then spring should give us a nice increase in the herd size. Some good rain would help the grass come back after the overgrazing now that we’ve moved the herd.”
    “You certainly came along at the right time. Based on what you’ve accomplished since you got here, I hate to think where we might have been,” she said. “By the way, I asked Case and Zebulon about having open range. They both said it’s not going to be long before it’s a thing of the past. They said we’re going to need fencing to keep the cattle in and the squatters out.”
    “I like Montana, but I haven’t experienced a winter yet, Jeb said. “So, I’m not sure what to expect. We will need to get to