An Unlikely Place for Love

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “No.” He couldn’t tell if Bob was angry or embarrassed. Bob continued, “I just want to figure out who’s telling me the truth about the woman. Was she a saint or not?”

  “Fine.” He placed his hands on the table and glared at Bob. “You want to know the truth? I’ll tell you. Georgia was very good at disguises. She had a mask for everyone that she wore very well. She even wore it for me when I was courting her. But as soon as we were married, she took it off and I discovered the devil wasn’t living in hell. She was living in my house. She made me miserable and she made others miserable, though they weren’t aware that she was behind their misery. She was extremely clever. If you were to meet her, you would swear that she was the most wonderful person you ever met, despite your amazing ability to perceive the truth about a person you know almost nothing about.”

  Bob nodded. “I understand.”

  Chad examined him. Did Bob actually look relieved?

  “I won’t bring her up again, unless you want to,” Bob responded.

  “I don’t want to remember her at all.”

  Bob took his glass and bowl to the sink and began washing his dishes. “I’ll do yours too, if you want.”

  Chad shook his head. “You don’t have to baby me. I can take care of myself.”

  He shrugged, finished his dishes, said good-night and left. Chad was relieved to see him go. He hoped that Bob really would let the matter of Georgia go. It was bad enough her family and friends kept bringing her up. He didn’t need an outsider to do it too. It would be nice to have one person who didn’t connect him with Georgia.

  I ought to just leave. If he had somewhere to go, he would pack his bags tonight and hand the farm over to her brothers since they made it clear that they wanted it so badly. However, since he had nowhere to go, he stayed put. He sighed and methodically washed his dishes, imagining that he was also washing his past away.

  ***

  The next day, Chad went out to the barn to get Reliable so he could make his rounds and check on the cattle. On his way to the barn, he saw Bob laughing with Tim, Sam and Jeff who made it a point to come out to the farm every work day ever since Bob arrived. He didn’t know why it bothered him that Bob spent so much time talking to them. Bob obviously got along with everyone he came across. They would have loved it if he had married Georgia. Bob would have fit in very well with the family. Chad sighed. Her family never accepted him, even when they first met him. He had hoped that once he moved here to be near her family, she would go back to being the woman he had courted. He didn’t understand it but as soon as he married her, she changed into someone who couldn’t stand to be near him. He didn’t wish to remember her. He would love to get amnesia and forget all about her.

  He wondered what Bob would talk to the three men about. They were gathering eggs from the hens and feeding them. The men liked to hover around Bob who was clearly the leader of the group. As much as Chad hated to admit it, he liked Bob too. Bob was a very likeable person.

  “There are four eggs this morning,” Bob said. “Tim wins the bet today.”

  Chad watched as they handed Tim their money. He frowned and walked over to them. “I don’t condone gambling on my property.”

  The four men looked at him. They seemed to be surprised that Chad was there. Chad felt as invisible as ever.

  “I didn’t realize you had that rule,” Bob replied. “Sorry, boss. It won’t happen again.”

  The other three men chuckled.

  Chad hid his agitation for their obvious dislike for him.

  “We can always bet on other things when I’m in town,” Bob casually remarked. Turning back to Chad, he asked, “What do you need us to do this morning, boss?”

  “You and I will go check on the cattle. Tim and Sam, check on the sheep and Roger. Jeff, you can get the hay together for the horses.”

  They grumbled but went to work.

  Chad led Bob to Reliable while he took Buck and saddled him up.

  Bob saddled Reliable. “Why don’t you take Star?”

  “Because I don’t want to.” He didn’t feel like explaining Georgia’s death. Though he was grateful to the horse, he wouldn’t ride her or let anyone else ride her. He didn’t trust the horse to not kill someone else.

  “I don’t understand you at all.”

  “At least there’s one thing you don’t get about me.”

  Bob finished saddling the horse and jumped on the animal with ease.

  He really is good with a horse. Chad finally finished saddling his horse, brought some rope to hold and got on the animal. He led them out of the barn and into the fields.

  “Why am I going with you today?” Bob wondered.

  “I figured you could learn to lasso. I take it that lassoing cattle is something you need to learn?”

  He nodded. “You’re right. I haven’t done that before.”

  “Then you’re the right choice.”

  “I didn’t think you’d consider taking any of the others out with you.”

  Once again, Bob was right, and it annoyed him. How could Bob be accurate on so many things? He rounded the corner of a field so they approached the beginning of the cattle field.

  Bob cleared his throat. “Sam is talking about brining Lacy out here.”

  Chad cringed. He had purposely told those three not to bring her out to the farm. “Tell them not to.”

  “I can handle myself. I have no inclination to court her. I’ll just make myself unattractive to her.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Don’t let her come out here. Do whatever it is you do to get those three to obey you.” He knew him telling them to keep her away would be pointless if they wanted to fix her up with Bob.

  “Why does it even bother you that she’s coming out?”

  He really didn’t wish to go into this. “I told you that she’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You can’t trust her.”

  “You said that she wanted everything Georgia had. I take it that she made advances at you. Did you give in?”

  He pulled the reins on the horse and stopped so he could glare at Bob.

  Bob quickly stopped Reliable and turned to him in interest. “You almost did,” he whispered.

  “Only because I was drunk and thought she was Georgia. I had no idea she put alcohol in my drink.”

  “What happened?”

  “That entire family is crazy. You can’t trust any of them. You think you’re being smart by doing whatever it takes to fit in with them, but you’re wrong. The best course of action is to have as little to do with them as possible. Keep your distance.”

  “Like you do.”

  “Sometimes you learn the hard way.”

  “What stopped you from having sex with her?”

  Chad was startled by how bluntly Bob asked the question. “That isn’t your concern. What you need to know is that you’re playing with fire. Do you honestly think if you sleep with her and get her pregnant that she or her brothers will let you leave? You’ll be trapped here forever just like I am.”

  Bob laughed as if that was the funniest statement he ever heard. “Believe me, I’m not going to get her pregnant. There’s no danger of that happening.”

  “With all the sleeping around you do, haven’t you ever worried about getting a woman pregnant?”

  He sobered. “The truth is, I haven’t slept with anyone. I’m a virgin.”

  “You’d better be careful. That could easily change. All you need is the right condition and you’ll lose control of the situation.”

  “Like her getting me drunk?”

  He nodded.

  “That’s something else I don’t do. I don’t drink alcohol. Well, I’ve had the occasional glass of wine or champagne, but I only pretend to drink the whisky and beer they’ve been giving me. I’m a grown man. I know how to take care of myself.”

  He shook his head and bitterly laughed. “Just when you think that, they pull something on you. They have plenty of curve balls they can throw your way.”

&nbs
p; “I won’t drink anything when she’s around. Your warning is heeded.” He paused as he looked at the open land. “Why don’t you get out of here if this place is that bad?”

  He sighed. “I have nowhere to go.”

  “So? I didn’t have anywhere to go before I got here. You just pull up your roots and go plant them somewhere else. You used to do accounting. Can’t you do that again?”

  “You don’t understand. All my money is tied up into this land. I don’t have anything but the farm.”

  “Surely, you have some cash lying around.”

  “Not enough to make a fresh start.”

  “Why don’t you sell the farm to that family? They were telling me that it belongs to them anyway.”

  “I tried that but they insist that they don’t owe me any money for it since it really doesn’t belong to me, though the lawyer disagrees with them.”

  Bob frowned. “Do you want to leave?”

  “I just accepted the fact that I would be here for the rest of my life.”

  “I understand.”

  Bob’s soft tone surprised him. Bob almost sounded feminine. Chad stared at him, trying to determine if Bob was who he seemed to be. There was something odd about him.

  Bob cleared his throat and spoke in a masculine voice. “You lost hope. I’m sure if I were in your shoes, I would have lost hope a long time ago too. Fortunately for you, I’m here. You don’t have to be confined to this place. If you want, we could travel together.”

  “I’m not looking to be a hobo. I do like stability.” Chad moved his horse forward and Bob followed suit.

  “Well, if you change your mind, I could always use a friend to travel with.”

  Chad was surprised he was even tempted to accept Bob’s offer. He liked the man. He seemed like he could be a good friend. Instead of answering him, he turned his attention to the cattle. “Come along. I’ll show you how to lasso one.”

  Bob nodded and followed him.

  He handed the farmhand an extra rope. “You make a noose, like this.” He demonstrated how to do the task. He watched as Bob clumsily did the process. He took the rope from him and tested it. “It’ll work, though it’s a little loose.” He handed it back to him.

  Bob sighed.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  Chad decided not to press the issue. Instead, he instructed, “You need to swing the rope above your head. Focus on your target and when you work up the momentum in swinging the rope, let it go. Make sure to aim at your target.” He expertly released the rope with one hand while holding onto it with the other hand. The noose went firmly around the cow’s foot. Chad urged his horse to a trot until he was beside the cow. He let the noose fall off of the cow’s foot. Returning to Bob, he said, “Now, you try it.”

  Bob took a deep breath. He swung the rope well enough and built up enough speed so that when he released it, it got close to the cow.

  “Not bad for the first try.”

  Bob looked pleased by the compliment. He dragged the rope back to him and swung it again. This time, it landed right next to the cow’s foot.

  “You’ll probably get it on the third try,” Chad remarked.

  The third try was the charm.

  “Great! Now pull the cow towards you.”

  Bob struggled to hold onto the rope while urging Reliable to go backwards.

  “Hold on tight,” Chad ordered when he noticed Bob’s rope slipping from him.

  The farmhand gritted his teeth as he braced himself against the weight of the cow. Reliable kept backing up but the cow wasn’t budging.

  Chad shook his head. He knew that Bob was going to fall off the horse before it actually happened. To his surprise, after Bob fell to the ground, the cow suddenly ran off. Since Bob held onto the rope, the cow dragged him along the ground. Chad winced. That had to hurt.

  “Let go of the rope!” Chad yelled as Bob went fumbling around as the cow picked up speed to get away from him.

  Bob either didn’t hear him or was too shocked to obey.

  Chad urged Buck to go forward and quickly swung his rope around the cow’s other foot to stop it from dragging Bob any further along the ground.

  Bob adjusted his hair and hat before he stood up.

  How strange. If it was me, I would be more concerned about my bruises and limbs than my hair. Chad left Bob so he could pull the two ropes off of the cow. When he returned to Bob, he noticed that Bob had managed to get on Reliable again.

  “Apparently, I’m not going to send you out to do this chore,” Chad said as he pulled Buck to a stop.

  Bob wiped his eyes.

  His jaw dropped. Was Bob crying? He hid his disgust at the farmhand’s sensitivity. “Look, it’s not a big deal. We’ve established the fact that you’re weak in the upper body area. I’ll just give you chores that a woman can do.”

  Bob stared at him as if he couldn’t believe his ears.

  “What?” Now Chad was losing patience with the man.

  “Do you really think I can’t handle this job?”

  “You can’t do certain aspects of it. I don’t know what you did for employment before you came here, but it obviously wasn’t physical labor.”

  Bob looked down at the ground as he urged Reliable to go back to the barn.

  “You’re incredibly temperamental for a man,” he called out to the retreating figure. Really, if he didn’t know any better, he would swear Bob was a woman. He shook his head.

  Chapter Five

  Kate couldn’t hold back her tears as she went to the river. She couldn’t go back to face any of the other farmhands until she got the swell of emotions out of her system. It was hard to be tough all the time. She had to constantly act like she didn’t have feelings since men didn’t seem to express anything but disgust, anger or humor. She wanted to bathe but didn’t want to go to the barn to get the soap and towels so she simply sat on Reliable and looked at the river. She allowed herself the freedom to cry. The river was a wonderful place for solitude and peace. The wind blew through the tall grass. At one time, Chad had planted crops in those fields but now they were allowed to go untouched. She wondered why he didn’t plant anymore. Perhaps the animals and repairs took all of his time and attention.

  Why do I care about his opinion? So what if he thinks I’m a sissy? The reality was that she was a woman. Could she be expected to do a man’s work? Didn’t she have bigger problems to deal with? Why did Chad’s opinion matter anyway? If he knew her true identity, would he still be rough with her? Did the people in town have a point when they said he didn’t deserve Georgia? Was Georgia a nice woman after all? Perhaps she had been wrong about Chad. Maybe he wasn’t a good man. She felt foolish for entertaining romantic notions about him.

  She spent an hour crying, not only about how she felt rejected from Chad but also about the loss of her parents. She spent her nights in the loft crying over them. Whenever she could let her defenses down, she allowed herself the freedom to grieve. So far the newspapers didn’t express anything promising. It seemed that Derek and Dave were safe. She prayed that they would be discovered for committing the crime they did. I want to be safe again. It was hard to feel like a fugitive. She recalled the night she witnessed the murders:

  After Derek and Dave realized that she saw them murder her parents, she ran out of town. She had taken her horse through the trees so she lost the two men as they chased her. She knew they intended to kill her too. She managed to lose them and made good time to Richmond where she let her horse loose. She couldn’t afford to be found on her mare. The men knew what horse to look for and though she loved the animal, it wasn’t worth dying over.

  She showed up at the backdoor of her brother’s house and knocked on it. The servant came and let her in. It was late at night, so the servant went to wake her brother, Paul, and his wife, Olivia, who immediately went to see her.

  “Kate, what happened to you?” Paul asked as they stood in the kitchen. “You look like you’ve been through a war.
”

  Her hair and clothes had gotten messed up as tree branches had poked at her on her ride through the forest. She didn’t bother to consider the tears in her dress. She was too scared to care. Surely, the men would search for her at her brothers’ houses. Bob, who was nicknamed Billy and was two years younger than her, lived in the same town that she did, so she didn’t bother stopping by his place. Instead, she opted to go to Paul’s place. Paul was four years younger than her.

  “I can’t explain why I’m here,” she hurriedly told the astonished couple. “I have to get out of this state for awhile.” Until Derek and Dave were arrested, she knew it wasn’t safe for her to be in Virginia.

  “What?” Clearly, Paul wasn’t expecting this.

  She turned to Olivia. “Can we go to your costume shop? I need to disguise myself.”

  “My goodness, Kate. What happened?” Paul looked stunned.

  “I told you that I can’t tell you.” She knew that doing so would only put his life at risk. “You have to trust me.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s terrible,” Olivia noted. “We’ll get dressed and take you to the shop.”

  Paul reluctantly agreed and went to dress in his daytime clothes. Once they were ready, they hastily walked to the shop. Kate’s anxious movements prompted them to hurry.

  “How can I best disguise myself so no one will recognize me?” she asked her sister-in-law.

  “The best way for a woman to hide her identity is to be a man,” Olivia replied. She took out a black beard, a black wig and some male clothes. “This is the wardrobe of a typical western man. You won’t fit in with the wealthy society in these clothes. You’ll be a common man.”

  “That’s even better,” she absentmindedly said as she inspected the loose clothing.

  “You’ll need this glue. It will hold your beard in place no matter how much you sweat or talk. You will need this solvent to get the beard off.”

  “I should leave here in this costume. I need to hop on the first train out of here.”

  She let Olivia help her get dressed. Olivia explained how to use the binding around her chest to press her bosom down so that her chest appeared flat. It was hard to breathe with the binding on but she would rather be uncomfortable than dead. She carefully watched as Olivia put her beard on and set the wig on her head so that it didn’t fall off, even when Olivia tugged on it.