Bearly Christmas

by Becca Fanning

  “That might be a good idea,” her father said smiling. “But you have paperwork to do, don’t you? Maybe Oliver could take him around.”

  “Oliver and I did the paperwork last night, dad. Anyway we wouldn’t want him to get his hair wet now would we?” Jamie said, a sly grin on her lips. To her mind her cousin was ill suited to farm life, having been raised in the city.

  “Play nice with the boys, Hon. I know you’re tougher than all of them, but we need the help okay?” and her father left the room.

  Jamie sighed.

  There was a knock at the front door and she heard voices, then the creak of the wooden panels in the floor as people stepped on them on the way into the living room where she was sitting.

  “And my daughter Jamie has offered to take you round,” her father was saying as he opened the door and stepped into the room. A young man followed. He was almost as tall as her father, with the same broad shoulders and narrow waist her mother had pronounced perfect in a man. His blonde hair was damp and hanging in his eyes, and he had a smile that would make demons of angels. That was another of her mother’s sayings. Jamie felt the bittersweet pang of remembrance and wanting to hide the tears building in her eyes, she stood up.

  She hadn’t realized that she had been sitting for so long. But she couldn’t feel her feet as they touched the ground, and suddenly she landed heavily on her butt on the window seat again.

  “Woah, what did you put in your coffee this morning?” her father asked laughing.

  “Nothing,” she said feeling the blush start, “I’ve been sitting too long is all.” It took two tries, with the horrible sensation of pins and needles in her legs, before Jamie finally stood up and stamped her feet to get some life back in them.

  “Jamie, this is Jesse Crowe. Jesse, this is my daughter Jamie,” her father said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Well I’m pleased to meet you,” Jesse said holding out his right hand for her to shake. Jamie took it and shook it in the most business-like manner she could, while looking into his unusually bright eyes. She had never seen eyes like that before. They looked almost golden.

  “So are you going to take him around or stare at him all day?” her father said.

  “Now Mr. Campbell,” Jesse said smiling, “I’ve been known to have this effect on ladies. Don’t you worry, it wears off.” His self-satisfied grin made Jamie want to slap him.

  “This way,” she said and headed for the front door.

  “You’re not going out in this, are you?” a voice said. It was coming from the stairs to the upper level of the house. Jamie didn’t have to look to know whose voice it was.

  “You’re welcome to come with us, Oliver,” she said as sweetly as she could, which where Oliver was concerned, wasn’t very at all.

  “But it’s raining,” he said coming down the stairs. He was tall, like the rest of her father’s family with the same straight dark hair, high cheek bones and olive skin that Jamie shared with her father. But where her eyes were her mother’s, Oliver had grey eyes, like the sky at that moment. He looked passively at Jesse.

  “Who’s this?”

  “This is Jesse, our new cowhand,” Jamie said.

  Oliver’s face showed surprise, “I thought we had decided we couldn’t afford anyone else, Uncle Ander?”

  Jamie’s father took Oliver by the shoulders and led him away, “We need the help Oliver,” he said. “Since,” he paused and Jamie held her breath willing him not to say it. Saying it over and over made it all the more real, and her mother and brother’s deaths were a wound that was far too fresh to visit. “Come, I’ll make you some coffee,” he finished steering Oliver to the kitchen.

  Jamie let out her breath and handed Jesse a yellow poncho. It was raining lightly at the moment, but it was a long ride out to the cattle, and she didn’t like the idea being soaked to the skin. He took it with a playful bow that made her smile in spite of herself. She took a red poncho and they stepped out into the rain.

  “So who was the wonderful ray of sunshine?” Jesse asked. He had a great voice, Jamie noticed. It was smooth, not too deep and not too high. He matched his long legged gate perfectly to her shorter one, with her being a little ahead of him. He seemed so happy in his skin, as though he knew exactly what his body could and couldn’t do.

  “Oh, that was my cousin Oliver,” Jamie said pulling the face that she always pulled when thinking about her cousin.

  “He doesn’t seem to fit in,” Jesse said flatly. “What’s his problem?”

  “I don’t see how that has anything to do with your duties on the ranch,” Jamie said hotly leading Jesse around the barn to the stables on the far side. The dirt and gravel drive was mostly swamp and mud at the moment. They splashed up water and Jamie was glad of her knee high boots.

  “I’m just trying to get the lay of the land,” Jesse said casually. “You know if we’re gonna work together, we should at least try to get along. You know for the sake of the cows.” He pulled a face at her.

  This sort of behavior made Jamie think the person she was speaking to was an idiot. She was beginning to wonder why her father had hired this man. But looking at him she realized that the face he was pulling was a little funny. So she let the corners of her mouth go up just a smidge. Jesse watched her and shook his head.

  “Tough audience,” he said. “No problem, I’ll bring my ‘A’ game.”

  “If it includes working with cattle, then great,” Jamie said and they ducked into the stable.

  The horses had their heads out staring at them as they walked along the line. Jamie’s horse was called Thorin and he was a young stallion with a chestnut coat, black ankles and a black star on his nose. He whinnied when she came near and pushed her head with his. He was stamping a little, agitated.

  “Okay boy,” she said smiling and rubbing his cheeks and neck in the way he loved.

  “You can take my brother’s horse,” Jamie said, leading Jesse over to the grey stallion her brother had always preferred, “His name is Shadowfax.”

  “That’s unusual,” Jesse said reaching out for the animal.

  Jamie nodded, “Andrew was a ‘Lord of the Rings’ fan. He named both our horses. This is Thorin by the way.”

  Jesse nodded. “Aha, well that explains it then. Good name,” he said to Shadowfax who nibbled his open palm.

  The saddles were arranged in a row along one wall, balanced on a horizontal pole. The blankets were there too, neatly folded in a pile on the bench next to them. Jamie walked over to the blankets and grabbed one.

  “Here you go,” she said turning to look at Jesse who smiled and took it, then froze in place.

  “Don’t move,” he said.

  “What?” Jamie said turning her head to look at the spot that Jesse was fixated on.

  A snake reared up, its head twitching from side to side watching her. Her hand was inches away. Jamie froze, her blood going cold. She began to shake.

  “Hold steady,” Jesse said.

  Out of the corner of her eye Jamie saw him moving slowly around to the right. What was he doing? She tried to keep him in view, but the snake was twitching, eyeing her hand. Jamie concentrated on keeping it as steady as possible. Her muscles began to yell at her that she needed to move them, and panic was backing them in their desire to get as far away from the venomous fangs as possible.

  Jesse moved around behind the snake, inching slowly. The snake seemed to be ignoring him.

  “Okay,” Jesse said softly in a gentle, calm voice that made Jamie want to slap him. “Hold still.”

  It happened in a flash. Jesse was behind the snake now and he reached out and grabbed it’s head just as it darted forward to bite Jamie’s hand. He grabbed the body of the snake as it wriggled and writhed and then marched out of the stable with it.

  Jamie sagged onto the floor and sat there breathing heavily.

  In a couple of minutes Jesse came back into the stable.

  “Are you okay?” he asked going down on his haunches
next to her.

  Jamie managed a nod. “I think so. Man! That scared me!”

  “It would’ve scared anyone. You did well though.”

  “Have you caught a lot of snakes?” she asked.

  He nodded, and offered her a hand pulling her to her feet. “A fair few. It was a Massasauga, they live on the grasslands. They’re usually shy. Must be the weather brought him in.”

  “What did you do with him?” Jamie asked.

  “It’s a protected species, so I found some higher ground and let him go. He won’t bother you.” Jesse said.

  Jamie nodded. “Okay.” She grabbed her saddle and bridle and quickly got Thorin ready for the ride. Jesse did the same, but he shot glances at her and each time she caught him he would smile at her. It was a really nice smile, warm and open. Jamie found herself relaxing a bit. Anyway snakes were part of life on a ranch. She couldn’t prove to her father that she was more than capable of running the farm if she lost it over a little thing like that. So she pulled herself together. She was having to do a lot of that lately.

  The ride out to the cattle was pleasant enough. The rain eased up to the point where it was just a constant fine mist, but the clouds overhead were dark and heavy suggesting strongly that more rain was imminent.

  Jamie had secured the cattle in a field closer to the house than they had been all week. The other fields were closer to the river and the woodland at the foot of the mountains, and she had no desire to lose any cows when the river burst its banks. That was a certainty. This much rain and more to follow, flash floods were practically a given. Luckily the top field was green and much higher than the others so the cattle should be safe.

  “You were right to bring them up here,” Jesse said as though reading her thoughts. “That creek is just about ready to burst free.”

  “I know,” she said smiling. It was great to have someone agree with her for a change. Oliver never agreed about anything. And her father, fair minded man that he was, always gave him as much chance to have his say as she had.

  “Now I like the rain as much as the next man,” Jesse said, “But it’s getting a little torrential out here.”

  And it was. The rain was coming down now, the drops bigger and hitting harder. They rode back to the barn and after Jesse checked for more snakes, they rubbed the horses down.

  Jesse had an ease with the animals. It was as though he had known them all his life. They responded to his touch in a way that they didn’t even respond to Jamie, and she had trained Thorin herself. It was great to see Shadowfax happy again. The horse hadn’t been the same since Andrew died. Jamie cursed herself for thinking about him. Her eyes welled up with tears and she tried to keep her back to Jesse so he wouldn’t see.

  “I reckon your brother must have been a really good guy,” Jesse said gently.

  “I’m sorry?” Jamie said wiping her eyes on her sweater sleeve.

  “This horse misses him,” Jesse said. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with missing people when they’re gone.”

  Jamie nodded. “Yeah.” She bit her lip. The day was proving trying. What with the rain that made her think of her mother, the snake and now Jesse being so nice…

  “How did you know about it?” she asked.

  Jesse shrugged, “Was on the news. The circumstances were…hard to forget.” He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  Jamie shook her head. Then her face crumpled up and she burst into tears. She hadn’t meant to, and heaven knew she didn’t want to cry all the time, but her heart was so full of sadness. Jesse wrapped his big arms around her, and held her while Jamie thought of her mother and her brother.

  After a while the tears dried up on their own and she pulled away from him. Jesse seemed totally unfazed by this, as though girls he’d only just met cried on his shoulder all the time. He looked at her with concern and then smiled.

  “It’ll be better now,” he said with certainty. “So show me the way to the kitchen and I will make you the best cup of coffee you have ever tasted.”

  They made their way over to the house. Jamie could hear her father’s raised voice from across the drive.

  They burst into the house through the back door and stepped into the light and warmth of the kitchen, dripping two puddles on the tiles.

  “Dad, what’s wrong?” Jamie said taking her poncho off and hanging it on a hook by the door with hardly a glance.

  Jesse did the same but stood a little back.

  Ander Campbell his face red, turned and looked at his daughter.

  “It’s the accounts, they don’t add up,” he said halting in his pacing for a moment. “I thought you said you went through them last night?”

  “We did,” Jamie said looking to Oliver for confirmation as he sat at the large wooden table.

  He and his uncle had clearly been going over the bills and receipts for the farm. The table top was covered with paper and her dad’s laptop was open and almost buried in the mess.

  “I think an error has crept in. I know I tripled checked my numbers,” Oliver said. Her heart was pounding. This sort of thing never happened when her mother and Andrew were alive.

  “Wait, what do you mean?” Jamie asked wondering how her mother would handle this. She had always kept the most precise books Jamie had ever seen. Every cent that came in or went out of the farm account was carefully watched and recorded. There were never any discrepancies.

  “I’ve got Joe coming over,” her father said gruffly, “If anyone can find out what happened, its him.”

  Oliver leaned back in his chair, “Are you sure you need to involve him Uncle? We can get to the bottom of it all ourselves. It’s probably just an error, like I said.”

  Jamie couldn’t believe it but she agreed with Oliver. “Dad it’s probably just a mistake. You know things have been a little difficult,” she stopped speaking seeing her father’s face.

  “Joe is coming this afternoon and he will find the error or whatever it is. I have never had a problem with the accounts, and I’m not going to start now. These things start off small and then grow really big, really fast,” he said turning to face Jamie. “Your mother always… she was the one…” He turned on his heel and stormed from the room.

  Jamie let him go. Her father wasn’t one to grieve in public. Her eyes settled on Oliver who lounged on a kitchen chair.

  “Well, if you want to help Jamie you can pull up a chair,” he said. His condescending tone made Jamie’s blood boil.

  She ignored him and stormed back out into the rain.

  In the end Jesse convinced Jamie to get into his truck and go into town with him, instead of mashing her cousin’s face into the wood of the kitchen table. They stopped at the Lemon Drop Café and had a coffee and a piece of pie each. Jamie had to admit that she felt a lot better now.

  “I guess it’s just one of those days,” she said. “Sorry that it’s your first with us. They aren’t all like this.”

  Jesse shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

  They were seated at a small table in the back of the café. It was a quaint place with just about every flat surface covered in frills and doilies, and everything was lemon and white. The décor had never been Jamie’s taste so she’d never come in, thinking it would all be too girly even for her. But there was no denying that the pie was just out of this world.