Dad Chose Three Husbands, but His Best Friend Crossed Them Out novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Branding Day

Karin's POV

I was in jeans and boots in four minutes, with the letter in my back pocket.

By the time I got to the yard, eleven Colby trucks had pulled up along the fence.

The neighbors were climbing out of their bedrolls to look.

Janet Colby stepped down from the lead truck in her church cardigan with her handbag over her arm.

Brent got out of the passenger side.

He wore a pressed shirt and a new belt buckle, and he had the careful walk of a man who had started drinking before breakfast.

"Karin, honey," Janet said, and kissed the air near my cheek. "We wouldn't miss it."

"Good morning, Janet."

Amos came to stand beside me and said nothing.

I felt him there the whole morning.

We branded.

Seventy people stood in my father's yard, and by eight the irons were hot and the first calves were down.

The smell of hair and smoke rose over the corral.

The ropers went in on their horses and dragged the calves out by the heels.

My father's brand was a bar over an A.

When they put the iron in my hands, I walked up to the first calf, and the whole yard went quiet.

I set the iron on its hip and counted.

It was the first thing I had ever done on that ranch with nobody's name over mine.

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