by Amelia Rose
******
Mitch followed Moira into the house. Everyone was already at the table. Well, everyone except Andrew, who still wasn’t back from wherever it was he’d gone. He noticed that there were two noticeably empty chairs – right next to each other. He was fairly certain that wasn’t a coincidence after his conversation with Billy the previous night. Still, he washed his hands in the sink and sat down at the table.
Throughout the breakfast, dishes of food and conversation were passed around the table naturally. He looked around, awed at what he was witnessing. There was easy banter between the siblings and good food too. He could see the love they all had for one another. What he was witnessing were the things his dreams, and the O’Connors, were made of. He made sure to keep his mouth full so he wouldn’t talk and get kicked from the group. Plus, Grannie’s food was too good to let go to waste. The woman made food better than Paula Dean – although it probably had as much grease and butter.
Once breakfast was done, he went to help Grannie start cleaning up the kitchen. It was how he’d been taught in the foster homes he stayed in; clean up after yourself.Just as he went to start washing up some of the dishes, Miss Elaine scolded him. “What are you doing, Mitch? I have that. Go on out and do what you are hired you to do.”
He looked down, embarrassed. “Sorry, ma’am. I was just doing what I thought was proper.”
She laughed as she swatted him on the arm. “What’s proper is making sure the animals are well taken care of. If you start taking my job over, they might put me to pasture too.”
He chuckled. “For some reason, I highly doubt that, Miss Elaine.”
She shook her head. “Go on now. And might I make a suggestion? I know Moira is going to be checking some of the stock today in the further pastures. Why don’t you go with her? I know Billy was thinking about going with her but he has other things to do. Still, it’s something that’s better done in pairs.”
He nodded. It was obvious the old woman was playing matchmaker but he wouldn’t look the figurative gift horse in the mouth. He didn’t say anything else as he went out to the barn to find Moira.
When he found her, she was saddling Caliber. Billy was still saddling up a mare to ride out on. He looked between the two of them before speaking.
“Hey, Moira, would you mind if I ride out with you instead of Billy? Miss Elaine said he had some other things to do.”
She shrugged but he noticed the smile on her face. “That’d be nice. We gotta make sure we’re in for noon meal, though. I don’t think Granny will let me have a picnic too. Plus, as much as you piled back, I think it boosted her confidence. I don’t see her letting you from the table until we go back to school in the fall.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think that’d be all bad. Still, if lunch is around noon, we need to get going to get most of the first paddock done.”
Billy grinned, patting him on the shoulder. “Thanks, Mitch. It lets me get other things done that I need to… like sleeping in the hammock.”
He shook his head but laughed as he climbed on the horse. He and Moira walked the horses from the barn. Once they were a distance from the house, she broke the horses into a nice steady canter to warm them up. She obviously knew what she was doing and he loved watching her with the horses. The way she moved on them showed how much she cared about them. This was especially true of her bond with Caliber. If she was that close to an animal, she must be really gentle with humans.
Chapter Seven
The whole ride out, Moira stayed quiet. The fields at sunrise were some of the only times she felt peaceful. This was especially true as she sat on the back of her favorite horse. She was so calm, she’d nearly forgotten about the man on the horse behind her. Well, until he brought the mare up next to her and Caliber.
When she looked over, he grinned. She couldn’t help but return the gesture as she spoke quietly.
“I love it out here in the morning. It’s so peaceful. I used to ride Caliber out here during the early morning to draw as the sun was coming up. I miss drawing for fun more. With all my design classes, I don’t have as much time as I’d like for fun drawings.”
He looked at her inquisitively. “What kind of other things do you draw?”
She shrugged. “Mainly landscapes. Once in a while, I do a portrait or two.”
She had no intention of telling him that all her most recent sketches were portraits – of him.
He, unwittingly, had other plans. “Can I see some of them sometime?”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
Thinking to herself, she watched the sun come over the tree line. Maybe I can convince everyone to have a bonfire tonight. I can use the pictures of him as kindling to get the fire started. No one will be the wiser.
******
A bit later, they found the back herd of cows. Once she had ascertained that all was well with them, she began to walk the horses to some of the trees in the back. She’d have to tell Daddy that the herd needed to be moved soon. They were beginning to trample the grass. The last thing they needed was having them turn it into a muck bin. Dirty, muddy steers, with no food, wasn’t a good idea.
After finding a nice tree, she dismounted from Caliber and sat under the tree with her back against the trunk. The breeze of a May morning really was the remedy for a lot of what ailed her. She hadn’t realized how much she missed having the sounds of the cows and horses around her, with the rustling leaves and grass. Mitch had come to lean against the trunk too and after a few minutes, he spoke quietly.
“It’s beautiful out here. I can’t believe you don’t want to move home when you finish school next spring.”
She shrugged. “I just need something bigger. More than that, I need to feel like I’m not constantly under a microscope. I can’t do that at the ranch.”
He nodded. “I guess I can respect that. Still, it seems almost like it’d be pleasant not being invisible.”
She laughed. “Until you learn something about your personal business from someone else,” she said. “All through high school, people called me a lesbian snob behind my back because I didn’t sleep around. I was just so worried about getting pregnant. If that’d happened, I’d never have left town. Wouldn’t have been able to.”
Mitch’s laugh was warm in her ears. “You must have been quite the commodity for them to start those kinds of rumors.”
“Yeah, something like that. So, tell me about your life growing up.”
******
When Moira asked Mitch about his childhood, all the joy of the morning drained from him. How would he tell her that he’d grown up in the system because his mom had been a drug addled bum? She wasn’t a prostitute but she had schizophrenia.
Like many schizophrenics, as he’d come to learn later, his mother had an intense paranoia associated with doctors, the system, and her meds. So, she self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. He’d been four when it landed him in the system. Some strangers had seen her strung out, with him playing on a swing nearby, screaming and cursing at someone they couldn’t see. They’d called the police. Apparently, that’s when they saw how bad it was.
They’d put him in what was supposed to be a temporary foster family. His mother, he learned when he turned eighteen, would’ve been able to get him back if she’d been able to stabilize herself. Unfortunately, for both of them, that’d never happened.
He spent his childhood going in and out of group homes and hospitals as he was shuffled from foster family to foster family. She would still keep track of him. The one thing she did right. In fact, she’d make sure she kept up on the supervised visits and always brought some kind of present for him around his birthday and Christmas – even if it was just a toy, and later, a book, from the dollar store or thrift shop. He knew she loved him as best she could but for the family courts, it wasn’t enough.
The last time he’d seen her was his high school graduation. She was proud of him but it was obvious from her disheveled clothes and dirty appearance that she
was in one of her homeless stages. He was both embarrassed and proud to have her there that day. He didn’t know which feeling was worse.
Instead of telling Moira any of this, he shrugged. “I grew up in Austin. Didn’t know much but the city limits until I turned eighteen.”
“Any brothers or sisters?”
He shook his head. As far as he knew, or was concerned, he was an only child.
“So what’d your parents do for a living?”He gave a partial truth. “Well, I never knew my dad. My mom did a little bit of this and that growing up.”
She nodded. “Where does your mom live?”
This he could answer truthfully. “In Austin.”
“So why do you stay on campus?”
He shrugged. “It’s easier to concentrate when you live by yourself.”
She nodded again.
They sat in companionable silence for a little while. Finally, Moira looked at him.
Her voice was quiet and full of a huskiness he wasn’t used to. Sure, he’d heard the tone of voice when his other friends were getting picked up but he’d never heard it for himself.
Propping on her knees, she looked into his eyes. “Can I kiss you?”
He felt his eyes pop from his skull. She was asking him if she could kiss him? Was the sky blue? Of course. Because he’d lost his voice, he only nodded.
When she leaned in, she kissed him gently, her tongue snaking between his lips.
After a few minutes of kissing, she leaned back again. When she sat on her own backside, next to him, she whispered. “I wasn’t joking last night when I told my brother I’d never been with anyone.”
He couldn’t help his response. His head whipped towards her. “What?”
She laughed. “Don’t act so surprised. There are such things as twenty one year old virgins. The only thing I lied about was how many people I had clamoring for my belt buckle. There hasn’t been any since I went to the city.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Just like I find it hard to believe you’re still single too.”
He shrugged. Not so hard for him to believe. “Not many worthwhile prospects.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Not many or none?”
“There were none but now, I’m finding there’s only one on the radar.”She smiled. “Who would that be?”
Making a joke, he leaned back in the grass. “Well, of course I’m talking about Grannie. You’ve had that woman’s food.”
She laughed, her head going back in amusement. “Of course. I should’ve known. I guess we should start heading back. We need to get to the house by lunch. Do you want to do this every day you aren’t with Billy?”
As they climbed into the saddles, he answered. “Yeah. That would be fantastic. I would love it. This has been peaceful.”
Chapter Eight
Moira loved the next two weeks. Her and Mitch went along together every day. She was happy Red and Grannie were working with Billy and her other siblings to allow for the time.
One day, they were sitting outside under her tree out back. They had just moved the set of cows to a new pasture. She’d taken to bringing a blanket for them to sit on. What made this day different was that she brought her sketch pad and some pencils. She was so relaxed and wanted to draw for fun.
As they sat under the tree, she looked to Mitch. “Can I draw you?”
She smiled as his head snapped up in surprise. “What?”
“I want the chance to draw a portrait. I don’t get to do them often.”
She watched him evaluate the idea. She wondered what he would say. She hoped he gave her a legitimate reason to stare at him and draw.
Finally, he nodded. “On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You show me your portfolio later on. Preferably on the front porch swing with some of Grannie Elaine’s sweet tea after we eat.”
Her laugh came easy. “Sure. You know, I have to say, I think she likes having you at the table. The last couple weeks, I’ve noticed her watching you eat.”
He laughed. “Whatever it takes to get my butt in front of one of her plates. If she wants to count each chew, I’ll help her.”
She laughed, opening her pad. “Okay. Tonight after dinner, you can see them all.”
He nodded, leaning back on his elbows. The shadows of the shade tree fell easily across his face and shoulders. She enjoyed seeing the way the sun hit his muscled arms. She didn’t say anything as she began drawing. She didn’t have to work hard to get into a groove.
Before she realized it, she had the picture finished. She looked down, purposely smudging a few of the lines to create some of the shadows from the tree. Finally, she sighed at the complete picture. When she saw her hands, she laughed at how covered in lead they were.
Meeting Mitchell’s eyes, she asked bashfully. “Would you like to see this one first?”
He nodded, holding his hand out for the pad of paper. “Please.”
She nodded, handing it over. She really hoped he liked it.
******
When Mitchell took the pad of paper from Moira, he didn’t know what to expect. Whatever it was, the picture wasn’t that. It was beautiful. So beautiful that he wouldn’t have thought it him if he didn’t stare at the same face in the mirror every morning. He didn’t know how she’d made him look so good. He looked happy, relaxed… almost handsome. He shook his head as he looked at it.
“How do you do this, Moira?”
She brought her shoulders up. “I don’t know. I just draw what I see.”
His laugh started in his belly. “Isn’t that a nice pile of crap. I’ve never looked that good.”
She shook her head. “You’ve never looked anything less. I draw what I see.”
“Then I think we need to make you an appointment at the eye doctor before we go back to school.”
She smiled. Her stunning smile always left him sort of breathless. She crawled over to him, taking the sketch pad from his hand. He wasn’t sure what to expect when she set the pad down and straddled his legs.
She caressed his cheek before kissing his lips. Over the two previous weeks, they’d had some clandestine make-out sessions but they’d never done anything else. In fact, he’d never made it past second base. After a couple moments, she broke their kiss and looked into his eyes. Her normally bright eyes were glazed, her cheeks flushed.
Taking her hands down his chest, she asked him a very simple question, where the meaning was between the words. “Can I show you how beautiful I think you are?”
He nodded as she dipped in for another kiss. Before he knew it, he was rounding past second and third, heading toward home plate.
******
Moira smiled to herself as her head rested on Mitchell’s bare chest. She hadn’t expected to lose her virginity to someone she’d known less than a month, much less in the middle of a cow pasture, but she felt like she’d known him so much longer than what regular time can measure.
After making love to him underneath her favorite tree on the property, she wondered how much of what she was feeling was based on how long she’d been staring at him. She wondered if more was based on him being her first. The third option was scarier than the other two together. She wondered if the feelings were something else, something deeper. Was she truly falling in love with her Corn Silk Boy, who she’d been staring after less than a month previously?She ran her fingers gently over his chest. “I think we need to head back in.”
He nodded as they sat up. He couldn’t look her in the eye. Shit, she thought to herself. Was I that bad?
She watched him pull his shirt over his head and was as powerless to stop the words as the delta during spring floods. “Did I do something wrong?”
His arms stopped arranging his shirt as he looked up. “Why on Earth would you ask me that?”
She looked at her hands. “Because you can’t look me in the eye now. I.. I just want to make sure I didn’t mess anything up.”
He shook his head, a soft lopsided smile creeping over his face. She liked that smile. He held his arms open as he gestured for her to come over with his arms.
Once she was embraced, he tucked his mouth next to her ear. “You did nothing wrong. First, you drew a beautiful picture of me… that I still think is someone else… and then you were willing to be with me. You did everything right. It’s me.”
She snaked her arms around his chest, keeping her eyes averted so she wouldn’t ruin the stream of conversation. “What do you mean?”
She felt him tense slightly. “I… I wanted to be more for you the first time.”
“What do you mean, Mitch? It was perfect.”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly a marathon runner. And I felt dumber than a pile of bricks. I guess that’s what happens when a guy’s a virgin.”
Her head whipped up and she saw his face go crimson. “You’re a virgin, Mitchell?”He nodded, looking down again, the red of his face deepening. She held his face until he looked at her.
When he finally did, she whispered. “Thank God, and thank you. That means a lot knowing I won’t just be another notch in your belt.”
She couldn’t help but smile when his eyes widened. She had to hug him tighter when he began shaking his head hard.
After a second, she felt his hand stroke through her hair as he spoke in a whisper. “You wouldn’t ever be anything like that. I’d much prefer the notch to be on my heart.”
She sighed. Little did he know, that was the perfect thing to say.
Chapter Nine
Mitch woke up before dawn on the Fourth of July. Red had told the crew, via his oldest son, Andrew, who was back from whatever mysterious place he’d disappeared to, that everyone would have the day off their major tasks. They only had to feed and groom the horses. They’d made sure they had jostled some of the other work around so most of the day could be spent lounging around.
Miss Elaine had thought to have a picnic for all the hired hands and that was what she planned to do. She’d lined up the fixings for a proper pit barbeque with some of the cattle from the previous year. She also had a couple whole pigs in there too.
