“I can’t… I can’t think that.” Johnny shook his head, dropping his eyes to the shovel as he turned the dirt over around the new tree and patted it down to hold the tree in place while it spread its roots over the next months and years.
“Why not?” Flo demanded. Johnny thought her voice sounded a little hurt. It made him feel bad but now he couldn’t meet her eyes. “Don’t you see what everyone else sees? She talks to and flirts with men right in front of you. How can you let that go on?”
“She’s just being friendly,” Johnny insisted.
Flo snorted in an unladylike way, shaking her head emphatically. “No, Johnny. She’s not just being friendly. She’s flirting. And you know it.”
Johnny’s chest was hurting with tension. He frowned. “Can we please not talk about her anymore? I don’t like arguing with you.”
“We shouldn’t be arguing about this,” Flo agreed. “I’m sorry. I will back off a little. I didn’t mean to get upset. And I’m not upset with you. I’m upset… with her.”
She let the end of her sentence trail off and sighed.
“I understand,” Johnny said, softly. “But you just don’t see in her what I see.”
This time when their eyes met, neither looked away.
“You’re right about that, Johnny. You are sure right about that.”
Chapter 2
Several days later, Johnny was finishing planting the last of the long row of trees along the North side of the property. He was glad to be almost done. He was tired of planting and some of his other duties had gone undone, which meant he was behind schedule and the work was piling up.
Johnny didn’t have to stress about it too much. His father never rebuked him for anything that was done later than intended. He was glad there hadn’t been any emergencies and that he’d been given almost a week to get the trees planted.
Now that the task was almost finished, he was anxious to be done. He had just two more to plant. The holes would take him several hours and then the day would be getting late. He would have to rush to do the evening chores. And he would only have to do it quickly because he wanted to. He could, in reality, take all the time he needed.
“Looks like you’re almost done there, son.”
Johnny looked up from the hole he was digging to see his father, leaning on a cane, walking toward him. Johnny’s eyes dropped to the cane.
“What’s up, Pa? Why you using a cane? Your leg acting up again?”
John Sr. nodded, also glancing down at the dark cherry wood cane with a marble hand grip. “Yep. Giving me a fit.”
“Then why did you walk all the way out here?” Johnny was concerned. It was a long walk for his father to make over uneven terrain with the possibility of tripping at any moment.
“Needed the exercise. And we haven’t talked in a while. Thought I’d see how you’re doing.”
Johnny thought back on the last few days, realizing that he and his father hadn’t just not spoken, but they hadn’t really seen each other. How was that possible for two people who lived together? The ranch must have been bigger than he thought. But his worry for his father overcame any humorous thoughts.
“You’re right, we haven’t. Where have you been? You haven’t come down to dinner since Monday. Here it is Thursday, and I feel like I haven’t seen you in a year.”
The suggestion brought a grin to his father’s face, making Johnny feel warm inside.
“Well, it hasn’t quite been that long but it does feel like it. Now you know why I decided to get my exercise by coming to see how your progress was going on the trees.” John Sr. scanned the line of trees Johnny had planted. “You have a good eye, Johnny. This line of trees couldn’t be straighter, I don’t think.”
Johnny also studied his work, stepping to the side to look down the line. His father was right. It was very precise. Johnny had a knack for ranch work. It helped that he loved what he was doing. His father always said a man who loved his job would never have an unhappy day at work. Johnny couldn’t be more grateful for the lot God had given him in life.
Now, if he could only share it with Marian…
He shook the thoughts out of his head and glanced in his father’s direction. “They are straight, aren’t they? Thanks, Pa. I’m glad you noticed.”
John Sr. smiled. “You’re welcome, son.” He pulled on the strap to the bag he was carrying over his back and brought it around his front. Johnny’s eyes lit up when they saw the bag. That meant his pa had brought an afternoon snack.
“Aw, what did ya bring, Pa?” he asked with a grin.
His father’s grin didn’t waver. “Only the stuff you like, that’s all. I have fresh, cold tea, should be real refreshing for you. And those cakes and cookies Flo brought over a few days ago. We can eat the rest of those. You feel like taking a break? I know you’re almost done. I’ll wait till you’re finished if you like.”
Johnny ran his eyes over the work he had left and shook his head. “Nah, this will take a few hours. I’ll take a break now.”
The two men walked toward a hollow fallen tree several feet away and sat on it. John Sr. doled out the goods he’d brought and they sat eating in silence for a few minutes.
Johnny wondered what Marian was doing. Ever since he’d talked to Flo about the party on Sunday night and how Marian was while there, he’d been thinking that maybe she was trying to make him jealous. Maybe she just wanted to get him riled up. That could be a good thing and a bad thing. If her intention was to hurt him with it, it was bad. But if she was trying to get more of his attention, that meant her behavior was good.
“I’m missing out!”
Johnny’s eyes darted up to see Flo riding toward them on her horse.
“Here I was coming to get you to play hooky and go on a picnic with me and your father beat me to it. Well done, Mr. Mason,” she laughed as she slid out of the saddle. When she landed, her boots made small puffs of dust clouds lift up in the air.
Flo was like a breath of fresh air every time he saw her.
“Florence,” John Sr. acknowledged her with a nod. He wasn’t smiling but both Flo and Johnny knew he was teasing. “You aren’t supposed to be distracting my son when he’s working. You keep coming by and nothing will get done.”
Flo’s smile never wavered. “I know. I’m terrible. It’s almost as bad as someone else coming with tea and cookies and not offering any to everyone.”
She held out her hand expectantly, her grin still intact.
John Sr. studied her with narrow eyes for only a few seconds before breaking into a grin, lifting the bag and handing it to her.
“There’s not another container of tea but I can go back and get some for you,” he offered.
She shook her head. “Not necessary, Mr. Mason. I brought the stuff for a picnic with Johnny, like I said. But my position has been usurped.”
Johnny lifted his eyebrows, amusement filling his chest. “Usurped? That’s the thousand dollar word right there.”
Flo laughed lightly. “I heard it from one of the men in town and stopped to ask what it meant. I think I used it right.”
John Sr. nodded. “You did. But who would be saying that?”
Flo shrugged, sitting on the hollow log next to Johnny. “I think he must have been foreign. He had some kind of accent. Not Scottish or Irish. I’d recognize those any day of the week. I think he was from England. He was talking business with someone and all I heard was that his position was being usurped. I asked what it meant and he told me.”
“There’s a British person in Hot Springs?” John Sr. asked, a sudden look of concern on his face. It puzzled Johnny but he didn’t mention it. He filed it in his mind to ask about later.
“Yeah,” Flo replied, biting into her cookie and chewing with a thoughtful look on her face.
John Sr. stood up. Johnny looked up at his father. “Pa?”
“I’ve got to get back,” his father answered without hearing the question. “It’s going to take me a bit to get there
. That man might be one of the doctors I asked for help recently. My health…” He shook his head, gazing at the two of them warmly. “It’s just not doing what I want, is it?”
“Do you want a ride on my horse?” Flo asked, jumping up to her feet.
John Sr. lifted one hand and shook his head. “No, dear, I really do need the exercise and I have to think of what I want to tell them. I have… a lot to think about, really. This will do me some good.”
Johnny noticed the flash of concern on Flo’s face.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
John Sr. nodded. “Yes, I’ll be all right. You two have fun playing hooky.”
He turned and hobbled away, leaving a pain in his son’s heart. Johnny shook his head, his eyes saddened by the defective form of his father.
“His health is really declining, Johnny,” Flo said quietly. “I worry about him. I know you have to be, too.”
Johnny hadn’t taken his gaze from his father’s back. “I am. Very much.”
“What are you going to do if something happens to him?”
Johnny’s eyes darted to Flo’s face. He could see the daughterly love she felt for his father on her face.
“I can’t think about that.”
“But you have to,” Flo replied, bluntly. “I… I know you want him to be here for the rest of your life or at least to see you married with children but… that might not happen. You should prepare for that. I know it’s hard. I just want to let you know I’m here for you. If anything happens, I’m right here for you.”
She placed one hand on his arm, tilting her head to the side as she spoke.
He couldn’t look at her. He dropped his gaze to the ground, nodding. “I know, Flo. I… I’m hoping I can marry before he leaves this earth.”
Flo didn’t say anything. He had to look at her to see why. He couldn’t really tell what the look on her face meant.
An idea came to his mind like a flash out of nowhere. Flo had said Marian was only trying to make him jealous. Maybe he should try the same thing with her.
“I… I had a thought just now,” he said, gazing out in the distance as he spoke. His heart jumped a little in his chest. Flo might not like his idea.
“And what is your thought?” she asked, blinking purposefully.
“You said how Marian is always trying to make me jealous, right?”
Flo nodded. Her face turned dark at the mention of Marian.
“Well, maybe you and I could hatch a plot. We could pretend to be courting so that Marian would see how it feels to be the jealous one.”
Flo’s eyes had widened considerably. “What? Courting? You and me? No.” She shook her head. “No, I won’t do that. It would be time-consuming and embarrass me.”
“I’d embarrass you?” Johnny was a little hurt by that.
“Not you. The lying. I don’t do it well.”
“You don’t have any parents to convince. And everyone sees us together all the time anyway. Come on, Flo. Please?”
Chapter 3
Flo was taken aback by the suggestion that they pretend to court. The only thing that would get her would be a whole lot of annoyance. Then again, she didn’t like seeing how Marian treated Johnny. Maybe if she did what he asked and he saw that Marian was unaffected by it, it would convince him what Flo already knew – that Marian was not interested in him.
Marian just wanted the attention. Flo knew from the moment she’d laid eyes on the woman, flirting with every man walking, that she would break Johnny’s heart. At the time, she didn’t know that Johnny was, in fact, enamored with Marian. But it didn’t take long to see it.
Flo often wished she had grown up in Austin or Hot Springs, so she and Johnny could have spent a lot of time together having fun. She would have distracted him from Marian’s wiles. She wouldn’t have let him even have a chance to fall for that woman.
Then again, who was she to come between him and any woman he desired? It wasn’t like she wanted him for herself. She was his friend. Maybe there could have been something between them if he wasn’t already head over heels for Marian.
“Don’t you want to help me out, Flo? You’re my best friend. Don’t you want to help me?”
His voice was gentle, almost pleading but not quite. He wasn’t going to beg her, nor did she want him to. She sighed, shaking her head. “I do want to help you. You know I do. But I just… I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do.”
“Well, since you’re my best friend and we already get along well, what would be the harm in having a good time together? I’ll get my mom’s ring and give it to you. We’ll go to the festival together and just have a good time. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Flo was still uncomfortable with lying to everyone.
“So…” She stopped, a thought crossing her mind. “You know how hard I’ve been working to save money and buy a place of my own, don’t you?”
Johnny raised his eyebrows. She could tell he was surprised by the sudden change of subject. “Of course, you’ve been talking about that since you arrived here. You’ve had trouble because of not enough money.”
Flo nodded. “And because I’m a woman. Banks don’t want to deal with me. But… I saw a plot of land with a small cottage on it that I want to buy. I actually saw it last year and have been thinking about it ever since.”
“No one has bought it yet?”
Flo shook her head. “No, I’m not sure that the owner is actively searching for a buyer. I go and check every week and it still has a sign on it that it’s for sale. It looks like the owner is taking care of the land and not letting it get out of control. But the longer the house sits there unoccupied, the worse it will degenerate.”
“True,” Johnny said thoughtfully.
“So that’s what I’m working on now. And… I don’t know if I have time for anything other than making that money. Someone could buy it out from under me anytime.”
The look of surprise on Johnny’s face doubled. “You know what land you want to buy? Why didn’t you ever mention this to me?” He looked a little hurt. “I would have offered to buy it for you.”
“I want to get it myself,” Flo replied sternly.
“Well, then, help me out with this thing with Marian and I’ll give you the money to buy it. How’s that? Fair trade?”
“You want to pay me to pretend I’m your fiancée?” Flo threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, Johnny, you must be kidding! What a funny thought!”
“I’m serious, Flo. Think about it. Pa and I are not hurting for money. We’re not the wealthiest in Hot Springs; certainly not in Austin, but I have enough saved in my account to give you the money and still have some left over.” He grinned at her over the opening of his canteen as he tipped the tea back into his mouth.
“But I haven’t even told you how much it is. Why, it could be 10,000 dollars.”
Johnny almost choked on his tea. He leaned forward and coughed. Flo slapped him on the back, a grin on her face. When he recovered, the back of one hand against his lips, he looked at her. “10,000 dollars?” he repeated, his voice tight. “I think you’d better pretend to be Marian’s fiancée for that kind of money.”
True Love Leaves no Doubts: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book Page 2
