Marlene left without a guarantee.
Yet she felt better than she had when she arrived.
For the first time, someone with the authority to influence her financial future had listened to her plan instead of dismissing it because it sounded unusual.
By March, the first twenty-acre plot was ready.
It lay south of the ranch house, where the soil was relatively shallow but drained well and wild prickly pear had survived several previous droughts. Marlene had spent weeks walking the land with the notebook, checking slopes, marking existing washes, and comparing the contours against her father's sketches. With help from Elena and a local conservation technician, she adjusted the proposed planting layout so that the work wouldn't obstruct natural drainage or create new erosion problems.
She couldn't afford a large crew.
Most days, she worked alone.
She drove the old pickup to Rosa's nursery for healthy planting material, collected additional cuttings from established plants where she had permission, and kept careful records of each source. She used her remaining equipment to prepare limited planting areas and hired help only for work that required machinery or more labor than she could safely provide.
The first rows looked ridiculous.
At least, they looked ridiculous to anyone who expected green pasture.
There were patches of bare soil, small rock-lined drainage features, rows of newly planted cactus pads, and wide spaces where nothing had yet begun to grow. Marlene knew it would take years before the project resembled the ranch she'd imagined.
But she also knew every mature cactus had to begin somewhere.
On March 22, she was kneeling beside a wooden crate when she heard pickup trucks approaching along the fence.
Three men stepped out.
Wade Haskins.
Roy Mercer.
And Travis Pike.
Wade leaned against the fence, studying the young cactus pads.
For a moment, he didn't speak.
Then he laughed.
"Well, I'll be."
Roy looked toward the rows.
He shook his head.
"What in God's name are you doing, Marlene?"
She remained kneeling.
"Planting."
Wade laughed harder.
"We can see that."
Travis looked toward the crates.
"Cactus?"
Marlene nodded.
"Nopal."
Wade removed his hat and scratched his head.
Then he looked toward the distant hills.
"You're going to plant that stuff on the whole ranch?"
"Eventually, if the trials work."
Roy stared.
"Four hundred sixty acres?"
Marlene nodded.
Wade burst out laughing.
He pointed toward the empty pasture beyond the fence.
"Who plants cactus on four hundred sixty acres of desert?"
The other men chuckled.
Marlene set down her pruning shears.