by Poppy Flynn
She could barely remember the last time she had slept so well or hadn’t woken up with aches and pains through pretzeling her body into the cramped confines of her small car. Just other examples of things that were often taken for granted. Ellie vowed she would never do such a thing again. There was a lot to be grateful for in life, and sometimes it was the little things, like simple creature comforts, that people forgot to be thankful for.
Mmm… she could wash all her clothes. She bet there was even fabric softener to be used in this rambling old ranch house. The thought of having sweet smelling, properly laundered clothes was enough to have her rolling out of the comfort of her narrow bed.
Listening at the top of the attic stairs, she noted it all seemed quiet and judged it safe to run to the bathroom.
Ellie realized as soon as she hit the second level that it was in fact a lot later than she had imagined. Not having a phone or a watch it was difficult to judge, but the way the sunbeams danced through the windows and lit up the dust motes like tiny sparkles of glitter told her it was well past dawn and her little garret room simply didn’t let in a lot of light.
She washed up with that kind of sinking feeling you get from knowing something’s not quite right, but not being one hundred percent certain. She grasped hold of that tiny nugget of hope that it wasn’t too late for the breakfast she had wanted to wow everyone with this morning.
She felt that hope sinking fast as she found her way back to the kitchen.
There was no sign of anybody at all, but the breakfast dishes were piled up on the work surface next to the sink and a stodgy, unappetizing looking pan of cold oatmeal stood on the table. She poked at it to see if it might be salvageable, but the black bits that flecked into the white stodge gave away that it had likely been burned to the bottom of the pan. Great, that would take some scrubbing.
She searched around and finally found a wall clock, which gave the time as nine thirty. Seriously? She hadn’t slept that late in years! Oh well, there wasn’t much she could do except try to make up for what she couldn’t change. Perhaps a slap-up evening meal was a better idea, anyway.
Smiling to herself, she ran upstairs to find her laundry and rummaged around in the utility room and the bathroom until she’d found anything else that needed to be washed. It wasn’t long before she had the machine going and two other loads sorted and ready.
She also fetched Gran's recipe books and found space on one of the kitchen dresser shelves to keep them on. Then, while she waited for the washer to finish, she leafed through her Gran’s special scrapbook looking for inspiration on what dish might prove to be the way to a cowboy’s heart. She supposed they wouldn’t go for anything too fancy; they’d need good, hearty food to sustain them after a hard day’s work, but she was sure she could come up with better than old-fashioned beef and beans. A quick look in the pantry and the freezer showed there was a lot of both. She supposed the meat was a given, considering this was a cattle ranch.
She decided on Beef Wellington and started on the prep, making her own pate with some liver she’d found and looking to see what vegetables there were to go with it.
She couldn’t help wondering where everyone was. Cody, Syrus and Ezra would obviously be out on the ranch, but where the heck were the sisters and why weren’t they pulling their weight?
During the couple of hours that she’d been in the kitchen, she’d scrubbed the oatmeal pot, loaded the dishwasher, gotten started on most of the washing, even pinned one lot out on the line, and gotten started on the evening meal. And in all that time there hadn’t been the slightest sight nor sound of any of them.
At two o'clock they finally filtered into the kitchen and she did her best to make polite small talk.
“Where have you been this morning? Out on the ranch?”
“What is it to you? Mind your own business.” She thought it was Carly speaking, but wasn’t completely certain which was which when it came to her and Sheri.
Shaking her head, she tried again. “I was just thinking it’s a beautiful day to be outside.”
Someone made a harrumphing noise, and Ellie turned in time to see Sheri - maybe - rolling her eyes.
“Why would any sane person want to be outside in all that dust and pollen! God, it would play havoc with my sinuses.”
“Why on earth would you come to a place like this if you don’t like the environment?” Ellie asked in surprise.
“Because Cora wanted…”
“She’s just teasing you,” Cora interrupted. “You had a beautiful, romantic moonlit walk with Ezra last night, didn’t you?”
Carly then, Ellie thought to herself, filing away the differences between the two so she could tell them apart. She couldn’t help wondering what it was she’d been about to say, though.
“I thought we could eat in the dining room this evening. I’m preparing beef wellington. I could use some help if you’re not busy.”
“Urgh! Dream on!” said Sheri, slouching against the work surface. “I already tried using that damn Aga. It’s a nightmare, there’s no way to cook anything decent on it.”
“You’re just saying that because your baked potatoes weren’t cooked last night,” Carly retorted with a smirk.
“Like you could have done any better.”
“I don’t need to. Once I’m married to Ezra, I’ll persuade him to modernize this excuse for a kitchen into something sleek and sexy and fit for the twenty-first century.”
Ellie looked around the lovely room in alarm. It was just perfect in her mind. Beautiful antique pine cupboards which she guessed had been skillfully handmade with wood from the surrounding Kootenai forest. The butcher’s block and the countertops were aged oak with the shine and patina of years of love. It had been built to last, and nothing modern could ever compare with the quality of what was here now.
“You say that like it might improve your cooking.” Sheri and Carly continued to bicker like a pair of adolescent teenagers. It made her wonder just how old they actually were.
“Personally, I won’t need to cook. Once I’ve got a ring on my finger, I plan to tell Syrus, in no uncertain terms, that he can hire a housekeeper.”
“I think the plan was for them to find wives who would help do the chores,” Ellie said without thinking.
“Well, no one asked you to think now, did they,” Carly snapped, her squabble forgotten. “And you certainly won’t be around for long enough to need an opinion.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Sheri said with a nasty laugh. “Maybe she could stay on as that housekeeper you wanted.”
“Don’t be stupid. I’ll make sure that job goes to some matronly old biddy who none of our men will look twice at.”
“Pfft! Like they’re going to look twice at Ellie, when they’ve got us!”
Ellie gritted her teeth and, stoically ignoring Cora who had a nasty smirk on her face, escaped into the utility room to finish the laundry.
When she came back, they’d finished their lunches and Sheri and Carly had disappeared again.
Turning to Cora, she tried at least to be civil. “I don’t suppose you know where the veggies are kept, do you?”
She was older than the other two, older than Ellie as well, at a guess, and at least seemed to know what she was about. Although that probably made her the one to watch. Sheri and Carly were just young and bitchy, she’d decided. Cora was much more deliberate in her deeds.
“There’s a vegetable garden out back,” Cora told her. “I think mostly everything is picked fresh.”
Ellie eyed the other woman while she dragged a huge sack of flour out of the pantry and decided she was being genuine. It made sense. Maybe she was being unfair in her estimations.
Right now the other woman was stacking the dirty lunch dishes and clearing off the table.
Ellie hefted up the sack of flour. It was open but almost full and took most of her strength to handle it.
At the same second, Cora spun around with the dishes. Both went crashing to the
floor.
“What the…” Ellie screeched as flour spilled and plumed everywhere amid the clatter of dropped cutlery and the shards of broken crockery.
“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there,” Cora apologized quickly.
She didn’t see her? Seriously?
“Look, I…”
Ellie didn’t finish as Cora interrupted.
“I’ll clear up. It was my fault. Go outside and brush yourself down. There’s a basket in the pantry, you could look at the veg patch while you’re out there and I’m dealing with this.”
Ellie took a deep breath. Okay, perhaps it had just been an accident. Cora seemed genuinely remorseful and eager to sort out the huge mess. The entire kitchen was covered in a layer of dust, which would mean the entire room would need to be swept and dusted and more besides. Looking down at herself, she realized she was indeed covered almost from head to foot. In fact, she was amazed that Cora seemed to have gotten off so lightly, since she only sported the lightest smattering on her chic outfit.
Grabbing the basket, Ellie took the other woman at her word and went to find the vegetable garden.
#
Cody, along with Syrus and Ezra, came in for dinner at precisely the time he’d told Cora this morning, took one look at the decimation in the kitchen and damn near walked back out again.
“What the fuck happened in here?” he asked, not even bothering to curb his annoyance. He’d been hoping for a decent lunch after the burned oatmeal fiasco. Maybe advertising for wives hadn’t been the best idea after all.
“Oh, don’t you worry about that,” Cora cooed, directing them to an area at the bottom of the table where it had clearly been hastily cleaned.
“Ellie just had a bit of an accident. I’m afraid she’s a tad clumsy, but don’t worry, the dinner I’m preparing for this evening will more than make up for it.”
Ezra looked around and shook his head. “So, no hot lunch, I take it?” He asked the question they were probably all wondering.
“Well, I’m afraid Ellie’s mishap kinda put paid to that and it will have to be a sandwich instead, but like I said I’m preparing a fabulous beef wellington this evening and it’ll be so good you won’t have a single regret.”
Cody hoped to god she was right about dinner.
“So where is Ellie then?” Syrus asked, looking around with a frown as Cora placed a plated sandwich in front of each of them.
“Oh, I sent her out to the garden to get her out of the way before she caused any more mishaps. I need some nice fresh veggies to go with the dinner I’m making.”
The three of them ate silently, each with their own thoughts, while Cora busied herself picking up the pieces of broken plates. They were just about finished when a pained shriek reached them.
All three jumped up from the table, but Cody gestured his brothers to leave it. “I’ll deal with whatever’s happened now, you two get on with things, or we’ll be working into the night.”
While Syrus and Ezra left, Cody found Cora in the kitchen, crouched among some wicked looking shards with blood seeping from one of her fingers.
Sighing, he helped her up. “Here, let’s get that seen to,” he said softly. He picked his way across to the sink and ran the wound under the tap while Cora’s bottom lip wobbled, and she turned her big blue eyes on him.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just a little nick.”
Cody scrutinized the wound as he dried it with a tissue. She was right, it wasn’t serious, but the mess and now the blood peaked his irritation all over again.
He’d considered that Ellie, out of all three of the girls, had more of an air of practical about her, but it looked like he’d been wrong. And that was a damn shame, since he’d been attracted to her the most. There was something about her that had instantly appealed to him, and he suspected that his brothers both felt the same way.
“You pop up to the bathroom, find the first aid kit and get that covered. Even small cuts need to be protected from infection on an out of the way ranch like this.”
Cora nodded. “I’ll do that before I finish preparing dinner.” But before she did, she launched herself against his chest and his arms instinctively went around her. And that was how Ellie found them when she returned from the garden.
“Oh um…” She stood in the doorway and shuffled from foot to foot, clearly embarrassed at what she obviously perceived as an intimate, private moment.
Cody peeled Cora away from him. “Go and deal with that cut,” he told her before turning to Ellie as she made her way out of the room, cradling her injured hand.
“Clean this goddam mess up,” he said curtly.
“Oh, but Cora…”
“Cora’s cut herself, so now you can sort out your own damn screw-up.”
With that he stomped back outside, stoically ignoring the look of surprised hurt on Ellie’s face. A glower on his own.
A ranch like this was no place for someone who couldn’t knuckle down and muck in.
Perhaps this was a good time for his own penchant for spanking to make itself known to all the women. He had been thinking he’d take it easy on that count, but really, it was probably better that they knew how things were going to proceed right from the start.
The thought cheered him immeasurably. Oh yes. Little Ellie would be feeling the decline of his palm this evening. Maybe that would help get things on track.
For all of them.
Chapter Five
As the rest of the day passed, Ellie tried not to take Cody’s attitude personally, even though it had felt personal. She told herself he was just worried about Cora and annoyed by the mess, and she guessed she couldn’t blame him for that.
She picked up the rest of the crockery and swept as best she could, even though each swipe of the broom puffed another cloud of flour into the air to coat everything all over again. Her included.
She considered trying to find the others to come and help her, but after an initial shout got no reply, she decided it would just be quicker to do it all herself, especially since she didn’t know which rooms were theirs, or even if they were in them. After this morning’s fiasco, she didn’t want anything to delay dinner. This was her time to shine.
Finally, she had made the pastry, assembled the dish and got it into the oven. She had the vegetables prepared; the last of the washing on the line and what was already dry folded into piles. She put away her own clothing and the towels and left the rest in the utility since she didn’t know who it belonged to.
She was just crisping the baby crushed potatoes in the oven and keeping everything else warm when the sisters finally made another appearance.
“Wow, something smells good.” Sheri sniffed appreciatively.
“It certainly does!” Cora agreed. “I’m so sorry I had to bail on you earlier. My hand just bled for so long.” She waggled her bandaged finger in justification and smiled sweetly.
“I tell you what, why don’t you shower quickly before dinner to make up for it? You’re still covered in flour and I’m sure you want to make your best impression after all the effort you’ve gone to today.”
Ellie looked at Cora suspiciously. Why was she being so nice suddenly?
“Well, I was going to lay the big table in the dining room…” she began.
“Oh, I’ll do that for you,” Carly offered. “It’s the least I can do after you’ve spent all day cooking.”
Ellie looked down at herself and had to admit that she could do with cleaning up. Even the end of her braid looked like it had been dip-dyed in white.
“Well okay, I guess, but…”
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Cora said encouragingly. “We’ll take care of it all for you.”
Ellie left the room feeling a little nonplussed and not quite trusting of the turn of events, although she wasn’t sure why.
She stripped off her soiled clothes while she waited for the shower to heat. She’d remembered to bring a change of clothes with her this time, to spe
ed things up, but it still took time to rinse all the flour out of the heavy length of her hair.
Sighing as she let the stresses of the day wash away, she took things at face value. Everything would be much smoother if she got on with the other three girls. So maybe they’d gotten off to a rough start, but they must have been surprised at finding out they had competition, so perhaps it wasn’t so strange after all. It looked like they’d put it all behind them, and if they could do that, then so could she.
Forty minutes later, she made her way back to the kitchen. Not knowing if there was a specific time the men came in for dinner, she’d left her hair damp instead of taking the time to blow dry it and just twisted it into her customary plait.
When she reached the dining room, Ellie stopped short and just stared at the six people in front of her who had already started eating the meal she had slaved over all afternoon. Without even bothering to wait for her, it would seem.
“Ah, there you are at last, Ellie. I served up since I didn’t want anything to go cold after Carly set the table.”
“Dinner’s at six thirty, sharp,” Cody added brusquely. “If you didn’t know that before, you do now.”
Cora gave her what appeared to be a conciliatory shrug, and Ellie opened her mouth to say something, but Cora deftly cut her off.
“Come and sit down and let me serve up for you.” She stood, pointed to a chair and grabbed the remaining plate.
“Sit down and eat your own dinner while it’s hot, Cora,” Cody grumbled. “If she can’t be bothered to be here on time, then she can serve herself.”
“Oh, but…” Cora made as if to argue, but still sat down so meek and compliant that Ellie actually raised an eyebrow.
Sucking in a breath, she made up a plate for herself. So much for the good impression she’d hoped to make with her cooking. Jeez. Talk about a tough crowd.
The rest of the meal mostly happened in strained silence and Ellie couldn’t help feeling like that was her fault, even though she couldn’t, for the life of her, work out why.
