An Unlikely Place for Love

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “Isn’t it strange that it almost seems like we do this all the time?” she asked him after she handed him another plate.

  He marveled at her ability to detect his thoughts. He figured he should be intimidated by it but found it comforting instead. He didn’t need to say everything that was on his mind. She understood him very well. He wondered how well she could read him. Kiss me, Kate. Show me you care for me the same way I care for you.

  She took the skillet from the stove and began washing it.

  He forced aside his disappointment. She stood close by him but seemed to focus on washing the skillet. He held the hand towel and got ready to dry the skillet when she was done.

  She turned to him. He expected her to give him the skillet but she had left it in the sink. She looked up at him. His breath caught in his throat and his heart raced nervously in his chest. She bridged the gap between them so that she could wrap her arms around his waist. He dropped the towel and slowly brought his hands up to her arms so he could pull her closer to him. He was very much aware of how her body felt as it pressed against his. Her hair smelled like lilac soap. His hands gently shook as he took her into his arms. It’s been so long since I’ve kissed a woman.

  She closed her eyes and leaned towards him. His breathing was shallow. Despite his feelings of awkwardness since he hadn’t been close to a woman in so long, he closed his eyes and kissed her. Her lips were soft and warm. She responded to him. Georgia had never been so receptive to him. He became aware of his desire for her as their kiss deepened. This feels right. It’s as if she was made for me. Her lips slightly parted. He accepted her invitation and felt as if he were on fire when his tongue met hers. Oh Kate, I could kiss you forever and be content. If this was a foretaste of what he could expect from her, lovemaking was going to be the most amazing experience he would ever have.

  He reluctantly ended the kiss. He held her close and kissed her on the neck. His body was primed for more but he had to stop. They had to be married before he could proceed further. Would she say yes if he asked her at that moment? He wasn’t sure if the timing was right or not. He wished to wait until she knew he had figured out her secret.

  “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he whispered in her ear. He gently let go of her. “Would you like to read the papers?”

  “Maybe later when I’m in the loft. I want to enjoy my time with you.”

  “If you need a shoulder to cry on, I’m here.”

  “I know. Thank you, Chad.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I do like walking along the field with you. The evenings are pretty out here.” She turned to look out the window.

  “Don’t they have evenings like this in Virginia?”

  “It’s different here.” She glanced at the sink as if noticing the dishes in them for the first time. “Oh. I need to finish these first.” As she continued to wash the dishes, she asked, “Are you attached to this place?”

  “No. I can live anywhere and be content.” He would gladly follow her to the moon if she asked him to.

  She seemed happy with his answer.

  Yes, Kate. I will go to Virginia with you. He knew it was just a matter of time before she asked the question. Be patient. Don’t rush it. Give her time to warm up to the idea.

  ***

  The next morning, Billy made his appearance again, so Chad decided he might as well have some fun with it. He couldn’t exactly mess with her as Kate, but it was too tempting to mess with her as Billy. Billy showed up to eat his meal.

  As they ate their meal, he examined her closely in her Billy disguise. She did do a good job of hiding her identity, but it was easy to see she was really a woman, now that he knew the truth.

  “I saw you taking a walk during sunset yesterday,” he lied.

  “What?” She looked startled.

  “You were walking to the river to take another bath. I notice you take a lot of those.”

  “Are you sure you saw me?”

  He hid his amusement since he knew that she couldn’t have been heading out there since she had been with him. “The man was your height and slender. He wore your clothes.” He paused. “Did your brother come back yesterday?”

  “Uh...no.”

  “Well, if it wasn’t you that I saw, who could it have been?”

  She shrugged and quickly finished her meal.

  He waited until she went to the sink to wash her plate and glass before grinning. Now she would be wondering who else was on the property. He finished his meal and joined her at the sink. It was hard to be near her in the kitchen and not recall their kiss.

  “What do you have for me to do today, boss?” she asked. She finished drying her dishes and turned to him.

  “We’re going to give Roger a bath.”

  “Roger’s a big and heavy dog.”

  He noted the uncertainty in her voice. “That’s why he’s perfect for practicing on. If you can hold him, you won’t have any trouble with sheep. You never know if another farmer is going to need you to hold his sheep so he can cut its wool off.”

  “Alright,” she slowly agreed. “Do you want me to get the supplies ready?”

  He couldn’t help but be impressed with her willingness to do the work. She was completely different from Georgia. He nodded. “Yes. They are in the shed. We’ll need a bucket, a sponge, and soap. You will need to fill the bucket with water. Oh, and we’ll need that metal tub in the barn. We’ll wash Roger right in front of the house.”

  “You expect me to bring the tub all the way out here?”

  “It’ll be good exercise for you. You need to build up your upper body strength and this will help that happen.”

  She looked uneasy.

  “Is something wrong?”

  She finally sighed. “No. I’ll get right on it, boss.”

  He watched her as she left the house. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe she was that determined to remain in her Billy disguise. He glanced out the window and saw her enter the shed. She came back out with the supplies and set them in front of the house. Then she walked to the barn. When he was done, he went out to help her with the tub. He knew there was no way she would be able to move it by herself. By the time he reached the barn, he heard her grunting as she struggled to drag the tub across the floor.

  “Billy,” he whispered as he ran over to her. He jumped in front of her.

  She jerked back in surprise.

  “We don’t want to wake Kate,” he softly said. He pointed to the loft. “She’s sleeping, right?”

  She blinked. “Right. I forgot.”

  He hid his smile. “I came here to help you move this tub.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course. I know you can’t move this all by yourself. I thought you were going to wait for me to show up before trying to move it.” He lifted one end and waited for her to lift the other end.

  She looked relieved.

  Once they put the tub on the lawn in front of his house, he helped her fill the tub with water and added the soap.

  “Now comes the hard part,” he said. He let out a loud whistle and called out, “Roger!”

  The dog dutifully came over to him.

  He smiled and patted the dog. “Good boy!” He did like the dog which had proved to be faithful in caring for the sheep.

  She grinned.

  “Did you ever have a dog?”

  “When I was a kid. It was a poodle. My mother adored poodles.” She took a deep breath. “So, what do you want me to do?”

  “Lift him up and put him in the tub.”

  If she had been dressed up as Kate, he would have lifted the dog himself, but since she was Billy, he would let her lift the heavy and big animal. He watched as she wrapped her arms around the dog and tried to drag him to the tub. Roger assumed that she was playing and started licking her face. She cringed.

  “You can do it, Billy,” he encouraged her.

  She attempted to pick him up but he jump
ed up, put his paws on her shoulders and knocked her down. She covered her face with her hands as he tried to lick her face again.

  He chuckled as he pulled the dog off of her. He knew she would want to bathe in the river later on that day. He had to give her credit for trying. “I’ll tell you what,” he began as she stood up and wiped her wet face with the sleeves of her shirt. “I’ll put him in the tub and you hold him down.”

  “Alright,” she agreed.

  He picked the dog up and threw him into the tub. Of course, Roger hated to be bathed and immediately tried to jump out. He was impressed with how quickly she responded. She pushed him back into the tub. He noticed that she had suds and water all over her. He took the sponge and began washing the dog which struggled against her hold on him while trying to play with her at the same time. She was practically laying on him to get him to stay put.

  “You’re doing fine, Billy,” he said.

  She grunted as the dog continued to struggle with her.

  “Good morning, Billy.” Sam laughed. “Having a little trouble there?”

  She didn’t bother to look up at him.

  “Do you need help?” Jeff offered.

  “He’s doing fine,” Chad quickly inserted. “I’m teaching him how to handle sheep.”

  “No offense, Chad, but that is a dog.”

  He rolled his eyes. “If Billy can handle this dog, he can handle sheep.”

  “We’re not cutting more wool, are we?” Sam wondered.

  “No. It’s too soon for them to have their wool cut off again. I’m just toughening him up so he will be able to help out in the future.” He was almost done washing the dog that bounced around haphazardly in the tub.

  “You’re actually giving Roger a bath?” Tim laughed. “Billy, you look so funny.”

  She groaned. “Are you done yet?” she asked Chad.

  “Almost,” he assured her. “Why don’t you three paint the rest of the barn?”

  “Billy, we need to ask you a question about your sister,” Sam said, clearly ignoring Chad.

  Chad hid his irritation.

  “Can you ask it later?” she replied in annoyance. “I’m having some problems here.”

  “Oh, of course. We’ll see you later,” Sam said as the three left.

  Chad shook his head. How did she do it? Everyone liked her. What’s not to like? She’s got a great personality, whether she’s playing herself or someone else.

  Just as he was about to announce that he was done, Roger turned around and knocked her over so she flipped backwards and fell into the tub. Realizing he had his chance, he bolted out of the tub and ran off to the field where the sheep congregated.

  Chad didn’t hide his laughter as she gasped for air while she clumsily struggled to get out of the tub. He reached into the tub and helped her out. She was drenched and looked mortified. “You did better than I thought you would.” He gave her a hearty pat on the back. He caught her when she nearly fell over. “Steady yourself, man. The others are watching.”

  She glanced back at Sam, Tim and Jeff who were laughing hysterically. She tried to straighten her wet clothes.

  “You can’t work like that,” he told her. “You’ll have to take a bath.”

  She gasped and shook her head. “No! I’m fine. It’s sunny out. The clothes will dry.”

  “Oh come on, Billy. Haven’t we been through this before? No one here is interested in seeing you naked.” That was no longer true but he couldn’t let her know that. “But if you are going to insist on being modest, you can take a bath in the house. I’ll get your clothes for you.”

  “No! I’ll get them myself.”

  “That’s right. I don’t want to catch Kate in an uncompromising situation again. That one time was embarrassing enough. While you get your clean clothes, I’ll get the tub in the bathroom filled up for you.”

  She nodded and went to the barn. On her way there, the three men stopped her and started talking to her.

  He tensed but reminded himself that they didn’t know she was really a woman. He dumped the water out of the tub and let the tub sit in the sun to dry. Just as he was able to enter the house, he saw his brother ride up to him on his horse. If he could think of some way to get rid of his brother, he would gladly do so. An idea came to him. Why not ignore the irritating man? He slammed and locked his door so that his brother couldn’t come into the house. He didn’t answer the door when Chris knocked on it. He simply filled up the tub and placed a bar of soap and some towels on the counter next to the bathtub. Then he went out the back door and found Kate walking to the house with some clothes in her hands.

  He motioned to her so she walked to the back of the house.

  “You can come in through here,” he told her. “The front door is locked so no one will come in but you can lock the bathroom door too if you want.”

  She nodded and went into the house.

  He took a roundabout way to the barn and went to the barn to feed the horses. When he got there, he was hid his irritation. Sam, Tim and Jeff were drinking whiskey and talking outside the building. He decided to ignore them too and collected some hay on his pitchfork. It looked like it would be a normal day.

  ***

  As much as Chad tried to avoid his brother, Chris finally tracked him down on his way to ride Reliable out to the field to check on the cattle. He was going to ask Kate, still dressed as Billy, to go with him, but he knew he’d have to deal with Chris sooner or later. Kate and the other three farmhands were painting the barn. At least he knew the men wouldn’t try anything with her while she was in her Billy disguise.

  Chad had just saddled Reliable and got on him when Chris rode his horse into the barn.

  “Your reputation for disappearing is well deserved,” Chris told him.

  “I’m not signing those papers,” he replied. “You’ll just have to make do with half the estate.” He got on Reliable and urged him out of the barn.

  As he expected, Chris followed him. “I won’t leave until you sign them.”

  “You won’t leave until you’ve managed to steal Kate from me.”

  His brother’s horse caught up to his. “I could have her if I wanted her.”

  Chad ignored him.

  Chris continued, “I saw the way you looked at the other men while they fawned all over her during the last two days. You care very much for her.”

  That was before he figured out her secret. Billy was sure that Kate would pick Chad, so he knew what she already thought of him and the other men. Chad shrugged. “Just make sure you get Billy’s approval first. He’s very protective of his sister.”

  “Do you think I’m joking around? I really will take her from you.”

  “I don’t care what threats you make. I will not sign those papers. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best way to honor our mother, especially after you and Father went to great lengths to make sure she couldn’t contact me.” It bothered him that he never got a chance to speak to his mother after he left California. He would have liked to have let her know that he didn’t hold any hard feelings for her, but she would never know that.

  Chris shot him a hard look but didn’t reply as he left the barn.

  Chad took his time in the field and saw that the cattle were doing fine, so he returned Reliable to his stall. It was time to make lunch, so he went to the house. He noticed that Kate was still dressed up as Billy and Sam was helping her finish one side of the barn. Tim and Jeff were working on the other side. Chris had found a ladder and was standing on it while he talked to Kate, though he refused to do any work. He’s probably trying to get a feel for what type of man Kate wants to be with.

  Chad made the usual sandwiches and filled up the glasses with milk. He only made enough for Sam, Tim, Jeff and Kate. His brother could go back to town if he wanted to eat. Chad ate his lunch before they came in to eat theirs. He went out to milk a cow as he did every day at this time and noticed that Chris followed Kate into the house. Sam, Tim and Jeff joined them but wer
en’t glued to her like Chris was.

  When he returned to the house to fill up the glasses, he saw that Chris dominated the conversation.

  “I’m rich, you know,” he bragged. “I have a lot more money than Chad. Kate could do very well with me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you think she’d be impressed with money but money can’t replace a good personality.”

  “Are you saying that I’m boring?”

  “No. I’m saying that when I hear you talk about yourself, I get as bored as a piece of plywood.”

  The other three farmhands chuckled at her play on words.

  “I’ve won four trophies in horse racing. Kate might be interested to see how well I handle a horse since she likes horses so much,” Chris told her.

  “You think that’s impressive? Well, it’s not,” she replied while she rolled her eyes.

  “I’m an excellent rider.”

  “I bet I’m better.”

  Sam’s ears perked up. “You should race each other.”

  She looked at him in interest. “Want to race?”

  Chad watched the scene carefully. His brother had always prided himself on his horse riding. Kate was good on a horse, but was she good enough to beat him?

  “Alright,” Chris agreed. “When do you want to do it?”

  She looked at Chad. “Can I borrow Reliable?”

  “Racing is unnecessary,” Chad replied.

  “Oh come on, Chad,” Tim argued. “Let them have some friendly competition.”

  “We should make it interesting,” Chris slyly stated. “If I win, I get to spend Saturday with Kate.”

  “Chris!” Chad snapped before he had time to stop himself. He was hoping to marry Kate on that day.

  The only indication his brother showed of hearing him was to raise his eyebrows. He kept his focus on Billy.

  Kate glanced at him for a moment but quickly looked back at Chris. “Alright. If I win, you have to spend the day with Lacy.”

  “Billy!” Sam and Tim snapped.

  “What? Lacy’s been dying for a man to spend time with and I can’t think of anyone she deserves more than Chris. They were made for each other.”

  Chad didn’t like this. What if Kate lost?