of the assets ran through her mind, not for the first time.
“Talk to Ward,” she muttered to herself, also something she’d been doing more and more of lately. She still hadn’t mentioned how she felt to her husband. He was one of the foremen here at the ranch, and they didn’t need the money generated by From the Ground Up. In fact, Dot had been donating her monthly salary to the women’s shelter in Three Rivers for the duration of this year.
She stood and rinsed her hands in the hose, then took a long drink of the cold water while Glory babbled, “Ma ma ma ma ma,” at her. Dot dropped the hose on the next section of land that she’d try ridding of weeds and went to sit in the shade with her baby.
“Heya, my darling baby,” she said, picking up the girl and pulling her onto her lap. Glory put a ring in her mouth, which silenced her. “Should we talk to Daddy today? Find out what he thinks about having us here at home all the time?”
Right now, she either took Glory to work with her, as the infant could ride around on deliveries or play in a play pen in her office, or Ward put the girl in a sling and took her with him. There were only rare times he couldn’t have her, and they’d only asked Oakley or Etta to tend to her a few times.
For some reason, Dot wanted her and Ward to manage their child. They’d chosen to have her, and while everyone needed help from time to time, she didn’t want Glory in daycare full time or with one of the ranch wives every single day.
She was a little over seven months old now, and she changed so much in a single day. Dot didn’t want to miss any of her milestones, even the ones as slobbery as getting a new tooth.
“Howdy, Dot,” Holly Ann said from the road, and Dot looked up from her baby’s chubby legs.
“Howdy, Holly Ann.” She’d married another of Ward’s brothers, and Dot sure did like all of the women in the Glover family. She and Ward hosted meals and activities at Bull House for his core siblings, of which he had four, and Dot knew them the best. She was also particularly close to June, who just lived down the road and around the corner at the Ranch House, and Charlie, as they seemed to be the three quieter women in the overall Glover family at Shiloh Ridge Ranch.
Sometimes the three of them got together on their own, each with a single baby now, and they enjoyed brunch without a lot of good-natured bickering or any yelling at all. It was downright peaceful. In fact, June had invited her and Charlie for “afternoon tea” tomorrow, in the hopes that the babies would nap while they had cookies and lemonade in the shade.
Dot couldn’t wait to go, but a flicker of guilt stole through her that Holly Ann hadn’t been invited. She indicated the huge blanket in the shade. “Do you want to sit for a minute?”
“Sure.” Holly Ann pointed for Gun, who came running toward Dot.
“Auntie Dot,” he said. “My cousin be coming.”
She grinned at the little boy. “Which one?”
“Cousin Garrett.”
“My sister is almost here,” Holly Ann said. “Someone was so excited, we couldn’t wait in the house.” She smiled at Gun as she pushed the stroller with her little girl into the shade and knelt beside it. “Weeding?”
“Trying,” Dot said.
“I hire someone to do that for me,” she said as she got to work on unbuckling Pearl Jo.
“Yeah, I know,” Dot said, grinning at her. “Almanzo says he loves coming to work on your lawn.” They laughed together, and Dot knew she didn’t have to take care of the yard at Bull House. She wanted to, and that was why she did it.
“I can’t believe it’s July,” Holly Ann said. “It feels like this year has gone by so fast, doesn’t it?”
“It sure does,” Dot said. Maybe she could ask Holly Ann how she managed to have two kids and keep running Three Cakes. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.” She reached for one of the teething rings Glory had discarded and tried to entertain Pearl Jo with it. The girl didn’t seem terribly interested, and Glory grunted and tried to swipe it.
Holly Ann smiled and gave it to her while Dot tried to organize her thoughts. “Do you ever think about quitting