She knew her aunt meant to take her own advice, but others at the table probably thought she was simply being reprimanded for rudeness. In a way, she was.
She tilted her head. “Again, I beg your pardon.”
Through the rest of the meal, she concentrated on her food and kept her eyes on her plate. Aunt Edwina didn’t speak again either.
Amelia answered questions about the trip and chatted more than Charity had known her to since they’d met in Chicago when Amelia boarded their train car.
Logan asked her the same question. “Why are you making this trip?”
“My late husband and I lived with his parents,” Amelia answered. “When he died, I was given a hundred dollars and told I was not welcome to remain there. My parents had passed on, so I’m going to visit my brother in Salem until I can decide how to earn my way.”
Kevin laid his fork and knife on his plate. “That’s downright cold-hearted. How long after your husband’s funeral were you there?”
Amelia explained, “When visitors left the day of the funeral, they told me that I would have to leave and gave me a week to make arrangements. Although my husband and I had lived in their house, I’d never felt welcome. Obviously, I wasn’t.”
Logan asked, “What kind of jobs are you considering, Mrs. Douglas?”
“The only thing I can think of is to open a hat shop that also sells gloves and such. I’ve made my own hats for years. I’d have to find a community where there wasn’t already such a store or a place large enough to support two.”
Jenny reached for a piece of bread. “There’s not one in Sweetwater Springs. The Cobbs have one or two hats at their mercantile, but no one likes doing business there if they can avoid them.”
Logan grimaced. “That’s the truth, but they’re the only store around. Too far to Crenshaw or Morgan’s Crossing.”
After dessert, Charity stood. “Amelia and I plan to wash up everything so you can get off your feet, Jenny.”
Aunt Edwina sat as if unable to decide what to do or say.
Jenny came to her aid. “I’ll get the mending and your aunt and I can sit here and visit with you while we work.”
Apparently, her aunt didn’t understand what Jenny meant until she handed Aunt Edwina a shirt and a button box. “The needle is in the box in the spool. We can’t be too particular about thread colors as I don’t have much to choose from.”
Aunt Edwina blinked but checked the shirt and box. “I see a button that matches. I’m not sure I can thread the needle, though.”
Jenny grabbed the spool from her. “I’ll do that for you. We’ll have to share scissors. I’ll patch this pair of pants Logan tore on a wire.”
Aunt Edwina took the needle and tied a knot in the thread. “I’ll do my best. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.”
Jenny picked up the pair of Logan’s pants. “Cowboys don’t care about pretty. They want to be able to button their clothes.”
Charity washed and Amelia dried until Charity thought her hands were permanently pickled. The soap was stronger than anything she’d ever used and left her hands red and stinging. She could hardly wait to get to her room and apply skin cream.
Aunt Edwina moved closer to the lantern. “Dark thread on a dark shirt is hard to manage at night.”
“You may have to wait until a sunny day to do that one.” Jenny reached into a basket. “Here’s a light-colored shirt to work on.”
Aunt Edwina cut the black thread and laid the garment aside. “I’ll have to change thread. Would you rethread this needle for me?”
Jenny shook her head. “No, keep going. I’m out of white thread unless the boys got some today.”
When Aunt Edwina stared at her, Jenny huffed. “Oh, I’ll check, but interruptions like this just slow things down.” She got up and sorted through a small box of the supplies the men had brought. When she found a spool of white thread, she tossed it to Edwina.
Aunt Edwina sniffed. “My mother always said ‘If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well’ and I agree with that sentiment. I’m sure Mr. Murdoch wouldn’t begrudge you a selection of thread colors.”
“Never asked him. When he hired me, he said keep expenses to a minimum and I’ve been doing that ever since.”
Charity took the needle from her aunt and threaded it with white thread. “How long have you worked here?”
“Almost twenty years, ever since….” Jenny stopped.
Aunt Edwina asked, “Ever since what?”
“Ever since I came here is all.” Jenny bent her head over her mending. “You other two can help with mending as well. There’s never an end to it.”
Charity picked up the dark shirt. “I’ll finish this.”
Amelia chose a chambray shirt. “This basket is for six men?”
“They don’t have many clothes, especially the cowboys, and need them back fast. That’s why the hurry.”
Charity held up her selection. “This black shirt has a tear. Do you have cloth to back a three-corner tear?”
Jenny gestured to the basket. “Dig to the bottom and you’ll find rags good enough to reuse. Others I take for cleaning and mopping.”
Charity found a small square of dark cloth the right size. “You know where we’re from. Tell us about yourself, Jenny.”
“Me? Not much to tell. Left home other side of Sweetwater Springs in answer to Mr. Kevin’s asking me to work for him and been here ever since. Reckon I’ll be here ’til I’m too old to work anymore.” She nodded at a closed door. “I love my room off the kitchen yonder. All my own and no one else ever sets foot in it. First time I ever had anything just for me.”
Charity held up her patch to examine. “I’m glad you do. Everyone needs a place that’s private.”
“Reckon that’s why I never married. A cowboy once asked me but I’d have had to share everything then.”
Amelia smiled at her. “If you love him, that won’t matter. And, he’ll share everything of his with you, too.”
Jenny paused. “Huh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Guess I never loved no one except my ma and pa. They had too many young ’uns for their little cabin. I sure don’t want a passel of kids I can’t afford to feed.”
Aunt Edwina’s face held sorrow. “There are worse things than too many children, aren’t there, Charity?”
Jenny shook her head. “I can’t think of none unless it’s a man who beats his woman. Pa never did that.”
Charity suddenly noticed they had an audience.
Mr. Murdoch stood with his hands in his pockets. “Time to turn in. Morning comes early.”
She folded the shirt she’d repaired neatly and left it on the table. “Aunt Edwina, let me help you up the stairs.”
Her aunt folded the shirt she’d mended. “Gladly. Hand me my walking stick.”
Charity helped her aunt rise.
Her aunt was still stiff and moved slowly. “You men go ahead. We don’t want to keep you.”
Mr. Murdoch said, “All right, we’ll see you in the morning.”
The three men pounded up the stairs.
Charity asked, “Is there an alarm bell or gong? How will we know when to get up?”
Jenny stacked the mended clothing at the end of the table. “I’ll send someone to knock on your door.”
Amelia walked behind Charity and Aunt Edwina. “I won’t have trouble falling asleep tonight.”
Aunt Edwina complained, “My arthritis pains me enough I may not sleep a wink.”
At the head of the stairs, Charity turned her aunt toward the right door. “I saw stones at the edge of the hearth in your room, Aunt. I’ll put them at your knees and hips to warm your bones. Perhaps that will help.”
Her aunt glanced at her. “Sometimes I almost think you’re with me because you like me, Charity. Then I remember you have no choice.”
Charity hugged her aunt’s shoulders. “I do like you, even when you’re fussy. And, of course I have a choice, Aunt. Everyone has a choice about their beha
vior. I’m so happy you’ve chosen to be more companionable to our hosts.”
Chapter Four
Pounding on her door woke Charity from a sound sleep.
She recognized Logan’s voice. “Time to get up, sleepyheads. Breakfast in fifteen minutes.”
Charity threw back the cover. “How can I get both me and my aunt ready in that length of time?”
Amelia stretched with a yawn. “I’m sure you’ll manage. I’m not sure I will. I’d love to curl back up under the cover for a few more hours.”
Charity hurriedly dressed and did her ablutions then rushed to her aunt’s room.
Aunt Edwina was sluggish. “Couldn’t I have my breakfast in bed? Look, there’s not even daylight coming in the window.”
“They don’t do breakfast in bed here, Aunt. We’re lucky we get meals and a bed. Let’s don’t push our luck.”
“Stop hurrying me. I’m in my fifties and not a young girl to flit about the room.”
“I’m trying to help, Aunt. I suspect if we’re late, we get no food and that includes coffee.”
Her aunt’s movements became livelier. “I desperately need a cup of coffee. Wouldn’t a nice china cup be lovely?”
She turned her aunt to fasten her dress. Thank goodness she’d talked her out of wearing a corset while they were here. “Another time, another place. For now, let’s give thanks for the mug.”
They arrived in the kitchen as everyone sat for the meal. Charity seated her aunt and then herself.
Aunt Edwina asked, “May I have a napkin today?”
Everyone stared at Edwina as if she’d grown a second head.
Charity braced herself and thought, here it comes. We’ll be in the barn or confined to our rooms.
Jenny stood and stomped to a drawer in the hutch. “If you don’t mind washing the thing, here you go.” She tossed it at Edwina.
Charity rose and looked in the same drawer and chose two. She gave one to Amelia then resumed her seat.
“La ti da,” Logan mumbled.
Charity glared at him. “I heard that, Logan Murdoch. Using a napkin wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Never hurt me not to use one either.”
She decided to smile sweetly. “If you haven’t tried dining properly, how do you know which you prefer?”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Who says I haven’t dined ‘properly’, Miss Kelso?”
Sean nudged him. “Good one, Logan.”
The cowboys were silent but grinning.
Still smiling as if her mouth were frozen in place, she said, “Once again, I must beg your pardon, Mr. Logan Murdoch.”
The patriarch slapped his palm against the table. “You two stop jawing at each other and pass the food. I’m hungry and we’ve got chores.”
After the meal, the men donned coats, scarves, hats, and gloves then started for the door. When they opened it to leave, a blast of freezing air whipped into the kitchen.
Amelia rubbed her arms and shivered. “How can they work in that weather?”
Jenny wasn’t fazed. “It’s hard but they’re used to the cold. Hasn’t thawed since the snow began the middle of November. Some things on a ranch have to be tended to whether you’re in the mood or not.”
Charity looked out the window. “How can they even find the barn?”
Jenny piled up the leftovers and set them on the shelf above the range. “There’s a cable from the house to the barn and one from the house to the bunkhouse and the bunkhouse to the barn. If you were to go out, you’d have to hold on to the cable real tight. People have frozen to death only a few feet from their door.”
Aunt Edwina shook her head. “Why do people live in a place like this?”
“Oh, it’s real nice from the March thaw through the first of November. You never seen such blue sky or beautiful mountains in the distance. And the wildflowers are everywhere. If I could paint, I’d sure have plenty to work with.”
Aunt Edwina said, “But why did they come here in the first place? What tempted them to abandon their home and go to the middle of nowhere?”
“My pa came for free land. He couldn’t make a go of it on his own, though, so now he works for a man who could. There’s free range for cattle, though Mr. Kevin says most ranchers are running too many head an acre nowadays. He’s fenced off his share. There’s good clean air, which Pa and Ma said there wasn’t where they came from.”
Aunt Edwina tapped her chin with her fingers. “I see, much the reasons my son went to Oregon. Fortunately for him, the weather there is more temperate than here. Reggie has a fine job and has recently married.”
Jenny nodded. “That’s nice. Have you met his wife?”
Aunt Edwina’s expression changed to fretful. “No, but Reggie said she agreed I could come stay with them for a little while.”
Charity paused with her hands in soapy water. “I thought you were moving there, Aunt. What will you do after the ‘little while’ has passed?”
Aunt Edwina folded her napkin precisely and laid it where it would be in place for the next meal. “I hope they’ll ask me to stay, of course. After all, I am his mother and only living parent. Surely he won’t turn me out.”
Jenny stared at her. “Not many new wives want their mother-in-law living with them. You’d best not count on staying.”
Aunt Edwina stared at Jenny. “But… I’m his mother.”
“That ain’t as powerful as a wife’s claim. Remember in the Bible where it says ‘a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave only unto his wife’. I think that means the wife is more important than his parents.”
Her aunt bristled. “What about the commandment to honor your father and mother?”
Jenny shook her head, pursed her lips, and stood thinking for a minute. “I don’t rightly know which would take first call. Reckon Reverend Norton at Sweetwater Springs could answer that, but I can’t.”
By the time Charity and Amelia had the kitchen cleaned from breakfast, Jenny had started in on the mid-day meal. “Dinner is served at noon in times like this when the men are close. During the summer, sometimes they can’t come to the house during the day and stay out ’til dark.”
Charity put away a stack of plates. “What can they do in this weather?”
“There’re the horses and milk cows and chickens and pigs to tend, stalls to muck, fresh hay to put down. Weather like this, they have to stay in the barn or the house.”
“When the snow stops, what will they be able to do?” Amelia asked.
“If the weather’s clear, they’ll take loads of hay out to look for cows. Mr. Kevin is one of the few ranchers who grow hay to put by for winter. Him and Mr. Carter, the Kincaids, Mr. Pickens, and a few others. Good thing they did. For the winter, Mr. Kevin, the boys, and the hands drove a lot of their cattle up into the pasture closest to the house.”
Great. She’d be stuck with Logan staring at her and finding fault. And more chances for Aunt Edwina or her to make the Murdoch men angry.
Maybe Hell had frozen over.
The Murdoch men came inside as Charity came down the stairs from fetching a clean handkerchief for her aunt.
Logan said, “Ornery old cow.”
Charity gave Edwina her hanky and stomped toward him. “Mr. Logan, may I speak to you privately?”
Surprise showed on his face. “Uh, sure. Guess we can go into the office.”
He led the way to a room she hadn’t seen, obviously where the ranch records were kept. “Will this do, Miss Kelso?”
She closed the door behind them. “Logan Murdoch, you have your nerve calling my aunt names. For your information, she’s had a horrible life and no one, not her selfish parents, not her cheating husband, not even her son ever loved her. And, that includes my father, who’s her younger brother.”
He stood looking poleaxed. “I never said—”
She stabbed at his chest with her forefinger. “I heard what you said. You called her an ornery old cow. She may be difficult sometimes, but if you knew
everything about her you’d understand and be patient and forgiving. You can make fun of me all you want, emphasizing that I’m Miss and not Mrs., but you treat her with the respect someone her age deserves.”
He moved her hand away from his chest and leaned into her face. “You might try practicing some of the charity you’re named for and at least give me a chance to defend myself. I was talking about our cow. In case you haven’t noticed, I have milk all over my legs and boots because she knocked against the pail.”
Heat rushed to Charity’s cheeks. She stepped back. “Oh.”
He stood with his hands on his hips. “That’s a good comeback, Miss Kelso.”
She sensed a blush’s heat spreading across her face and neck. “Once again, I must ask your pardon.”
“When you’re angry, sparks fly from those big blue eyes. Reckon I’m lucky I wasn’t set on fire.” He closed the short distance between them and he brushed a hand gently along her cheek.
She knew he was going to kiss her but stood frozen in place. He tilted her head up to meet his and pressed his lips on hers. She thought he would withdraw then, but his arms were around her, pulling her closer. As if they had minds of their own, her arms encircled him.
When they broke apart, he stared at her with a horrified expression. “Damn.”
With the realization she’d cooperated in the kiss and even enjoyed it, horror shot through her. “My stars.”
She took a deep breath and left the office.
When she was back in the kitchen, her aunt asked. “You were in high dudgeon over something. What was that all about?”
She refused to meet anyone’s eyes. “I misunderstood something Logan said but I’m fine now. Everything’s fine. Just fine.”
Sean strolled toward the office. She closed her eyes, hoping Logan didn’t share how much a fool she’d made of herself. Laughter from the other part of the house reached her ears. If only she could sink into the floor and disappear.
The brothers came into the kitchen with Sean chuckling and his hand on Logan’s shoulder. Logan wore a dazed expression. The brothers stood talking low.
When dinner was ready to serve, Jenny stepped onto the porch and rang the triangle that announced dinner. She returned blowing on her hands. “Snow’s so cold my hands almost froze to the metal.”
Montana Sky: Murdoch's Bride (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Loving A Rancher Book 3) Page 3
