That storm turned out to be the only one of consequence for the season. While the ranch certainly could have used the moisture the spring snows would have brought with them, Henry was happy to be dry and relatively warm during calving season, which began almost as soon as the storm passed. It was then Henry remembered why he had liked the cattle business in the first place. There was something about seeing all those red babies with white faces running and playing amongst the patches of dwindling white snow and green grass that was beginning to sprout that brought an uncontrollable smile to his face and lightness to his heart. This was what he would miss after his time with the cattle was over. Since he had another month-and-a-half left out on the line, that time would be coming to a close very soon.

As for Jessie, her winter was only slightly easier. She had her guests and employees to talk with during the day, but she missed her conversations with Henry at night. It would be years before she would realize that it had been the memory of those nightly conversations that caused her to start rethinking her priorities. But for now, it was simply something she wrestled with when she tried to get to sleep.

Not long after Henry left, Jessie began lying awake at night, going over the feeling she had gotten, and now was missing, when it had just been her, Henry and the horses on the ranch. Everything she loved or cared about had been right there, and she was now beginning to understand after all these years, that perhaps it was really all she needed. As much as she tried—and she tried a lot—she couldn’t remember a time when she had been happier.

While there was no question that she was good at the guest ranch business, for the first time since she took it over she began to see it wasn’t really her business. It was her father’s. When he died, she continued in his footsteps and never gave any thought as to why she was doing it. But she was now. Having spent an entire summer doing what she wanted to do, with the person she wanted to do it with, had given her new eyes. Those eyes only got sharper as the guest season wore on. Dealing with the daily, and sometimes hourly issues that arose on the ranch, whether with guests, employees or both, she began to realize she was spending a lot of time doing something she really didn’t want to be doing.

About midway through the season, she began looking at the idea of having this season be her last. After all, she didn’t need to run the place as a guest ranch, because money wasn’t really an issue for her. The ranch itself had been free and clear since before her father passed away. She had enough funds in the bank so that if she didn’t earn another dollar for the next five years she could still live comfortably, and on top of that, the money she currently earned by training and selling horses sustained her throughout the year. The more she thought about it, the more using the ranch solely as a training and breeding facility intrigued her.