An Unlikely Place for Love

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “I know excellent clothes when I see them.”

  She shot Kate a curious look. “I must admit that it’s strange for a man to take such an interest in women’s clothing.”

  “Oh, uh...” Kate suddenly realized that she had momentarily slipped out of character. She had to quickly redeem herself as Billy. “My sister, Kate, is always looking for beautiful but practical clothes.”

  Fortunately, the woman bought it for she nodded.

  “So, what are you doing in a bar? You seem like a nice woman. Don’t you have lots of men trying to court you?”

  “I’m here to find someone. I don’t do well with men. I get shy.”

  “Really? You’re doing fine with me.”

  “There’s something about you that makes it easy for me to talk.”

  It’s probably the fact that I’m a woman. “Would you like to dance?”

  She nodded.

  Kate turned to Jeff and Tim and winked at them.

  They looked impressed, which was what she was hoping for. Now she had it established that she could easily pick up women. As she danced with Kelly, she learned that Kelly was actually a nice woman who made it a point to go to the bar with her two brothers who watched out for her.

  Kate looked around the bar and saw that Todd was there. He sat by himself. What in the world was he doing? He should have been asking women to dance. How did he expect to find a wife if he didn’t take the steps to find her? She had to admit that Todd was a nice man.

  “You know, Kelly,” she began after a couple of songs, “I will only be in town for a short time, but do know Todd?”

  Kelly looked over at Todd. She blushed. “He is good looking.”

  “And he’s looking to settle down. He was telling me that he wants a nice woman who values family and farm living. Mind if I introduce you two?” Todd obviously needed help in meeting women.

  “I don’t know him very well but he seems like a good person. I would like to meet him.”

  Kate led her over to Todd. “Why aren’t you hanging out with Jeff and Tim?” she asked him.

  Todd glanced over at her. He had barely touched his drink. He shrugged. “I’m not in the mood. Sometimes I like to be away from them.”

  She nodded. Todd really didn’t belong with their group anyway. “I wanted you to meet Kelly Martin. Her brothers, Jason and Brian are over there.”

  “I know Jason,” Todd said. “He’s a good man. I didn’t realize you were already grown up,” he told Kelly.

  “I turned twenty-three on Monday,” Kelly replied.

  “Where have you been hiding?”

  She laughed. “I’ve been at my parents’ farm helping them.”

  “She was at the potluck last Saturday,” Kate added.

  Todd had been too shy to dance. He had stuck with his friends. “I did see you there but I didn’t realize you were of courting age yet.”

  “I have an idea. You two should dance and get to know each other.”

  “I’d like that,” he agreed. “Would you like to dance?”

  Kelly smiled and accepted his offer to dance.

  Kate felt good with getting two people together who seemed to be well matched. If Todd got to hang out with Kelly’s brothers more often, he would finally have a group of good people around him. Todd wasn’t a bad man. He just needed a better set of friends. Kate made sure that Jeff saw her go towards the outhouse. Now she had an alibi as to where Billy would be when Lois showed up. Lois was the name of the redheaded woman she would become. She hid in the outhouse and quickly got dressed as the woman. She took off her black wig and beard and threw her redheaded wig on. She took out her pocket mirror and examined her reflection. Good. She looked just like another woman.

  She hid Billy’s outfit in the sack and entered the bar, looking upset. She stomped up to the bar and slapped her hand on the table. “Where is that lying piece of scum named Billy Ingram?” she yelled, making sure everyone could hear her.

  The bartender looked at her, startled. “May I help you, Miss...”

  “It’s Mrs. Billy Ingram,” she loudly announced. “My first name is Lois. Is Billy here?”

  “He was dancing on the floor over there just a few moments ago. I didn’t catch where he went.”

  She let out a low growl. “Just you wait until I get my hands on you, Billy.” She took an empty beer bottle and smashed it on the bar so that it broke in half. “I’m going to kill him!” She turned to face the group of astonished people. “I don’t see him.” Her nostrils flared and she scowled.

  “Um, are you sure you’re looking for the right person?” Jeff stood up and walked over to her.

  “He’s got black hair, a beard, and is almost six feet tall.”

  “That sounds like Billy alright.”

  “You’ve seen him?” She grabbed his collar and shook him. “Where is he? I’m going to kill him!”

  “Whoa, whoa!” Tim ran up to her and gently removed her hands from Jeff’s shirt. “I’m sure we can figure things out.”

  “What is there to figure out? The lying scumbag left me. He courted me, married me and suddenly left. I’m going to take him back home. He can’t go loving women and leaving them behind.”

  “He never mentioned you.”

  She gasped and forced a couple of tears to fall from her eyes. “I can’t believe he won’t even acknowledge me.”

  “Well, he’s not here right now. He went to the outhouse.”

  “Great! I’m going to cut his manhood off.”

  The men in the bar cringed.

  She raced to the front door.

  Jeff and Tim stopped her.

  “You know, I don’t think he’s there anymore,” Jeff said. “He probably headed on out. He’s such a free spirit. You can’t hold him down.”

  She hadn’t expected this. “What?” She didn’t hide her shock.

  “Well, he was talking about heading out to Oregon. He might be on his way there as we speak.”

  She couldn’t believe it. They were actually lying for Billy. They really do like him. She grunted and stabbed the wall with the sharp end of the broken bottle. “If I find out that you’re lying to me, I’ll come after you and teach you a lesson you won’t ever forget.”

  Jeff smiled at her. “You’ve got a lot of spunk. I like you. Maybe you should divorce him and be with me.”

  “I don’t know. Billy’s so amazing. I find it hard to believe any other man can match up.” She figured she might as well increase their approval of Billy if they were going to stick up for him. “But if I catch him with another woman, I’ll rip her eyes out and feed them to her!” Hopefully, that would get Lacy to back off if the fact that Billy left his wife didn’t work. She opened the door to the bar and looked back at them. “I better not find him with another woman!” Then she turned and slammed the door on her way out.

  She quickly ran so they wouldn’t be able to track her down. She went to the sack she hid behind a tree and went into the outhouse where she changed into her Billy disguise. Once she was dressed as Billy, she hid her sack with Reliable and casually entered the bar.

  “Billy!” Tim and Jeff called out to her.

  “Did you marry a gorgeous redhead?” Jeff asked.

  She blanched. “Lois found me?” she gasped.

  “So it’s true? You really are married?”

  “She’s unbearable. I’m telling you. She’s psycho. You get involved with a woman like that and you wish you were dead. I got to get out of here before she returns. You didn’t tell her I was staying at Chad Walker’s place, did you?”

  “No way. We’re on your side. We told her we didn’t know where you were. Us men have to stick together.”

  She hid her irritation. Instead, she said, “I can’t risk being found. I’ll see you all later.” She bolted out of the bar and jumped up on Reliable. As she rode him out to the farm, she shook her head in bewilderment. That didn’t go as she had hoped. Tim and Jeff were supposed to turn Billy over to Lois in outright disgu
st that he would dare leave his wife. Instead they lied for him. She didn’t understand men at all.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The next morning, Chad went out to the barn to collect eggs for breakfast and saw Kate anxiously looking down from the loft at him.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, immediately concerned.

  Her blue eyes were wide and she looked bewildered. “Where am I?”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I woke up in this strange place and I can’t remember how I got here. It’s...it’s as if I should be here but I can’t remember why.”

  “What?”

  She climbed down the ladder. He was shocked to see her wearing Billy’s clothes but she had her long wavy blond hair flowing gently down her back and she wasn’t wearing a beard. She was Kate dressed in men’s clothing and her shirt wasn’t tucked in nor were her breasts pressed down with binding. She ran over to him and wrung her hands, as if she were greatly distressed. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m wearing these clothes and I’m in this unfamiliar place. I just don’t know anything. Who am I? Who are you? What am I doing here? Are we married?”

  He could only stare at her.

  “Are you my husband?” She put her hands on his arms and drew closer to him. She was so close to him that their lips were almost touching. “Do we love each other?”

  He wasn’t sure what was going on but being close to her made him forget about everything except for how wonderful she was. “I do love you, Kate,” he whispered. He pulled her closer so he could kiss her but she quickly backed away.

  “Kate? Is that my name?”

  What was going on? Was she being serious? He decided to test her. “Yes. Your name is Kate Walker. You’re my wife and we have three children: Chad Jr., Nathan, and Irene. You fell asleep in bed with me but came out here in the middle of the night. You were sleepwalking again. You said you wanted to ride good old Deniable over here.” He patted Reliable.

  “Reliable,” she absentmindedly corrected him.

  He smiled at her. “Kate, isn’t it time you told me your secret?”

  She caught herself and smiled in return. “Alright. You got me. So there is no Myer Syndrome. How long have you known that I’m also Billy?”

  “Since Wednesday when I read the newspapers. I know you’re Kate Tanner.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He shrugged. “I was having too much fun messing with you.”

  “So you were intentionally telling me things that I didn’t really say or do.”

  “I couldn’t resist.”

  “You’re sneaky.”

  “But I do love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Then come back over here and let me kiss you.”

  She pretended to think about it. “Maybe you should catch me.”

  He couldn’t resist a challenge like that. He caught her just as she reached the barn door and kissed her. “How did you find out I was messing with you about the Myer Syndrome? Did you figure it out?”

  “You’re not going to like it when I tell you how I discovered it.”

  He felt tension form between his shoulders. “Alright. You’ve prepared me.”

  “Last night, I went to the bar in town.”

  “You what?” Chad shouted the question.

  She appeared startled by his response. “Now, just hear me out. I’m alright. No one did anything to me.” She waited for him to speak but when he didn’t say anything, she nodded and continued. “I was desperate to get Lacy off my back. That woman is relentless.”

  “I could help you with that.”

  “How?”

  He thought for a long, hard moment.

  “It’s too late for me to ignore her, and I’ve done everything I can to dissuade her but she’s like a dog who doesn’t know when it’s time to go home. Nothing I was doing was working. So I went to the bar, dressed as Billy, and made an appearance in front of Jeff and Tim. Then I excused myself to go to the outhouse and changed into another disguise as a woman with red hair whose name is Lois. Lois is Billy’s jilted wife who threatened physical harm on any other woman who would make advances at him.”

  Chad could only stare at her with a mixture of shock and anger. What was she doing, going to a bar by herself? “You could have been harmed,” he finally replied.

  “But I wasn’t.” She lightly kissed him.

  “I don’t believe this. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have gone with you to make sure you were alright.”

  “No one was going to mess with Billy because he was a man. As for Lois, I was holding a broken beer bottle and threatening all kinds of violence while I waved it around. Who’d want to mess with a lunatic woman?” She kissed him again, this time deepening it as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Besides, I didn’t know you knew I was Billy.”

  “Kate, you have to be careful,” he whispered. Despite his protests, his resolve was weakening. She was so warm and affectionate. It was a refreshing change after years of being with Georgia. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her with all the passion he kept beneath the surface of his cool exterior.

  “It serves you right anyway for all that Myer Syndrome talk. I’m glad I went to the bar because I ran into Burton Myer while I was there. Do you know, I was actually starting to believe that the hay in the loft was making me forget things?”

  Chad hid his grin. He hadn’t realized that he actually fooled her into believing it. “Alright,” he gave in. “We’re even. But don’t you ever do anything like that in the future. I can’t have you risking yourself like that again.”

  “I won’t,” she promised him.

  He felt better. “So are you going through with the race today?”

  “Of course. I’ve beaten everyone I’ve raced.”

  “You didn’t beat me.”

  She considered his comment. “You’re right. I forgot we raced.”

  “Let me race instead.”

  “You don’t think I can win?”

  “I know I’m faster than you. That means I’ll have a better chance.” When she was ready to protest, he continued, “He’s my brother. Let me deal with him.”

  “You’re right. I was just upset that he’s using me to make you jealous so you’ll sign over your inheritance.”

  “I know. No one likes to be used.” Chad noticed someone riding onto his property. He recognized the blond haired man. Turning to her, he asked, “Is that really Paul?”

  She followed his gaze. “Billy!” Kate greeted and ran over to hug him as he got off the horse.

  Chad walked over to them.

  “Chad knows that I was pretending to be Billy Ingram,” she told her brother. Turning back to Chad, she explained, “I do have a brother named Paul but he’s still in Virginia. This is the real Billy.”

  Billy looked at her in disgust. “My goodness, Kate. What are you wearing?”

  “Don’t you recognize my Billy costume?”

  “Yes but you need to be wearing a dress or a skirt when you look like a woman.”

  “No one else is around. Who’s going to care?” She looked at Chad. “You’ll have to forgive my brother. He’s stuck up on societal expectations. Sometimes he’s rather snobbish.”

  Billy pretended to be amused.

  Chad realized that Kate was close to Billy, so it made sense that she would choose his name for her male disguise. Not only were they close but they shared a good-natured and easy going relationship.

  “Does he know why you’re here?” he asked Kate.

  “Yes,” she responded. “He knows I’m Kate Tanner and that I saw our parents get murdered.”

  “Alright.” He turned to Chad. “Since you are updated on everything, I will tell both of you what I discovered. Kate, you were right. Senator Rich is behind the murders. You should know that the Senator is searching for you. Now that Derek Robin and Dave Reinhart are behind bars, he’s promising them life in prison instead of death if they don’t link h
im with the murders. Apparently, he paid them to kill our father. Our mother wasn’t supposed to be killed but she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. They thought she was staying at her friend’s house to help out with a sick child but Mother decided to stay home at the last minute.”

  “And when she heard the men coming after Father, she came downstairs to see what was going on. They couldn’t let her live to tell the police what happened.”

  “Then they saw you but you got away.”

  She nodded. “That’s what happened.” She paused. “How did you find out all of this?”

  “I overheard him talking to another man in his cabin outside of Ethan Rich National Park. I also got some pictures which I gave to Detective Walter.”

  “Did you get enough evidence to convict him?”

  “I’m not sure. I got a chance to look at his payroll, and he has a lot of influential people working under him. Not everyone is above taking a bribe to overlook justice. For the time being, your best bet is to continue to hide out here.”

  “Did Ethan say anything about figuring out where I am?”

  “No. I think you’re safe here.”

  She looked relieved.

  “The good news is that there is a good case for Derek Robin being one of the killers,” Billy said. “Walter found one of his buttons under the sofa in the parlor. Those buttons are one of a kind. They have his initials on them. Anyway, since our parents had nothing to do with Chief Robin, the button looks damaging.”

  “What about Dave Reinhart?”

  “The detective is looking into the connection between Dave, Derek and Ethan. It’s all in the paper back home. Apparently, there’s quite a few past articles that tie the three men together. That library employee of yours does a good job of making connections.”

  “Sue just started working at the library five months ago but shows incredible promise.” She glanced at Chad. “I cannot stay here once it’s safe for me to return. Owning the library isn’t the only thing I do back in Virginia.”

  “I know and I’ve already taken that into consideration,” Chad assured her.

  “Does anyone else know that you’re playing two people?” Billy asked.