Watching Step ride off, Adam stared disconsolate then, with a heave of his shoulders, stood. Refreshing his coffee, he walked to the porch, plopping down in his favorite wicker chair and setting the steaming cup on a companion table. Irritably, he shook his head, not understanding the aloneness he felt. All around, fruits of his labor blossomed anchored by the 5PL ranch, widely known and respected not just local but across the West as a top notch outfit. Named from the family initials with Sis and Jeremy’s last name Levebre, it was managed by Step for the business end of doings and for the cattle piece by their foreman Dave Camp who Adam redeemed after a string of disastrous ranching efforts in New Mexico. Together with partners and friends sharing work and thinking, the five kin had transformed this empty corner of Colorado into a sprawling enterprise.
Six general stores were booming sprouting from one he staked Troy Cleary to start using funds Pike earned fighting off thieves chasing Old Man, two grandchildren, two burros and three bags of high grade gold around a mountain*. Freight hauling launched by Adam’s close relations with Spanish Dons in New Mexico was being expertly managed by Dane Hesseldorn, one of few men who understood what Adam faced in the early years of the town while a sawmill set on the East River of 5PL land designed by him was shipping sawed plank lumber to towns springing up across the Territory without a minute of attention from the youngest Pike.