Montana Sky

done.”
    “The second part doesn’t seem quite fair. She wouldn’t know the difference between a Winchester and a posthole digger.”
    “I’ll have to teach her,” was Nate’s comment as he scanned figures. “Things all right around here otherwise?”
    “Well enough.” Unable to sit, Will pushed away from the desk. “From what I can tell, the men are convinced that whoever killed Pickles is long gone. The police haven’t been able to prove any different. No signs, no weapon, no motive.”
    “Is that what you think?” Ben asked her.
    She met his eyes. “That’s what I want to think. And that’s what I’ll have to think. It’s been three weeks.”
    “That doesn’t mean you should let your guard down,” Ben murmured, and she inclined her head.
    “I’ve no intention of letting my guard down. In any area.”
    “Everything here looks in perfect order to me.” Nate passed the record book to Ben. “All things considered, you’ve had a good year.”
    “I expect the next will be even better.” She paused. She didn’t clear her throat, but she wanted to. “I’m going to be sowing natural grasses come spring. That was something Pa and I disagreed on, but I figure there’s a reason for what grows native to this area, so we’re going back to it.”
    Intrigued, Ben flicked a glance at her. He’d never known her to talk about change when it came to Mercy. “We did that at Three Rocks more than five years ago, with good results.”
    She looked at Ben again. “I know it. And once we’re reseeding, we’ll be rotating more often. No more than three weeks per pasture.” Pacing now, she didn’t notice that Ben set the book aside to study her. “I’m not as concerned as Pa was with producing the biggest cattle. Just the best. Past few years we’ve had a lot of trouble at birthing time with oversized calves. It might change the profit ratio at first, but I’m thinking long term.”
    She opened the thermos she’d left on the desk and poured coffee, though it was no more than lukewarm by now. “I’ve talked to Wood about the cropland. He’s had some ideas about it that Pa wasn’t keen on. But I think it’s worth some experimenting. We’ve got a little more than six hundred acres cultivated for small grains, and I’m going to give Wood control of them. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t, but Mercy can carry some experimentation for a year or two. He wants to build a silo. We’ll ferment our own alfalfa.”
    She shrugged. She knew what some would say about the changes, and her interest in crops and silos and her other plans to ask Adam to increase the string of horses: She was forgetting the cattle, forgetting that Mercy had been pure for generations.
    But she wasn’t forgetting anything. She was looking ahead.
    She set her cup down. “Do either of you, in your supervisory capacity, have a problem with my plans?”
    “Can’t say that I do.” Nate rose. “But then, I’m not a cattleman. I think I’ll go on down and see if there’s pie, leave you two to discuss this.”
    “Well?” Willa demanded when she faced Ben alone.
    “Well,” he echoed, and picked up her cup. “Damn, Will, that’s cold.” He winced as he swallowed it down. “And stale.”
    “I didn’t ask your opinion on the coffee.”
    He stayed where he was, sitting on the edge of the desk,and leveled his eyes to hers. “Where’d all these ideas come from?”
    “I’ve got a brain, don’t I? And an opinion.”
    “True enough. I’ve never heard you talk about changing so much as a blade of grass around here. It’s curious.”
    “There wasn’t any point talking about it. He wasn’t interested in what I thought or had to say. I’ve done some studying up,” she added, and stuck her hands in her pockets. “Maybe I didn’t go to college like you, but I’m not stupid.”
    “I never thought you were. And I never knew you wanted to go to college.”
    “It doesn’t matter.” With a sigh, she walked to the window and stared out. Storm’s coming, she thought. Those first pretty flecks of white were only the beginning. “What matters is now, and tomorrow and next year. Winter’s planning time. Figuring-things-out time. I’m starting to plan, that’s all.” She went stiff when his hands came down on her shoulders.
    “Easy. I’m not going to jump you.” He turned her to face him. “If it matters, I think you’re on the mark.”
    It did matter, and that was a surprise in itself. “I hope you’re