Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment in the Panhandle of Texas .Palo Duro is the second largest canyon in the United States
Sophie pointed to a large, spreading cottonwood standing like a lonely sentinel atop a knoll in the vastness of the prairie. “Oh, let’s forget about it for now and not let that miserable Tom Mott spoil a perfectly nice day. There’s a spring over there by those trees and some flat rocks. It’s a good picnic place. That’s where we’ll stop for lunch,” she said.
This was welcome news. Breakfast happened a long time ago and being in the open air gave me an appetite. I gingerly dismounted and clung to the saddle horn until I was sure I could walk.
Mom laughed. “I think you could be called a tenderfoot, Darcy.”
She was already standing with Sophie under the cottonwood, helping spread our lunch on the flat-topped gray rock. How had she dismounted so quickly and walked with no assistance after that ride?
“It’s not my feet that are tender,” I said. “Aren’t you even just a little bit stiff?”
“No more than usual. At my age, I get used to a few aches and pains; not like you youngsters who just haven’t been around as long.”
Following Sophie’s lead, I tethered Mint to a scrub bush and hobbled over to join them.
“Your cook knows how to put together a meal”!” I said as I bit into a roast beef sandwich.
Sophie shaded her eyes with her hand and looked into the distance. “Uh-oh,” she said. “Here comes trouble.”
A horseman topped a ridge and trotted in our direction. Reining in, he rested his arms on the saddle horn and leaned toward us.
Sophie got to her feet and faced him. “Tom Mott, what are you doing out here?”
The man sitting astride his beautiful bay horse seemed to be perfectly at home in the saddle. Looking up, I met a pair of the most hostile hazel eyes I had ever seen. So, this was Tom Mott, Andrea’s first husband.
The second Darcy and Flora cozy mystery, Grave Shift.
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