by Holla Dean
Seth walked back to his truck and warmed his hands with the heat coming out of the vents. Miss I Don’t Need Any Help stood at the back of her SUV watching him.
Is she just too stupid to get in her car? Her lips are blue, her nose is a shiny red, her pants are soaked through from all the falls she had into the snow, and she’s just standing there watching me.
*****
Julie finally got in her car and turned her heat on full blast. She felt like a block of ice. Her toes were so cold they hurt and she wondered if they were frost-bitten. When she tried to bend her toes, it was very painful.
With some relief, she looked up when the cowboy in the truck pulled out from behind her and got in front. What he said made sense. It would be much easier to follow in his tire tracks.
She didn’t know what had gotten into her that she didn’t accept his offer of help. All she could think of was that after so many attempts to accomplish each step of the tire change, she felt she had to finish the job herself. That was it, and she felt damn proud of herself for getting that tire changed without any help. Considering she’d never changed a tire in her life, she felt she did a pretty damn fine job of it.
But that stupid jerk had spanked her! How dare he?
Looking up, she saw he was getting pretty far ahead of her. While she didn’t want anything else to do with him, she felt safer when he was nearby. She was sure it was just because of the wide open space. Putting the car in gear, she followed in his tracks.
It took about fifteen minutes to get to the entrance to the ranch and Julie was relieved she recognized it. She hadn’t been here since she was eighteen—ten years ago—and wasn’t sure how things might have changed.
He turned in and she wondered how he’d known where she was going. Sighing, she wished he’d just go on his way. Parking next to him in front of the single level ranch house, she got out and ran to the front door, excited about seeing Gramps.
“Hey, were the hell do you think you’re going?” Seth called out after her.
“To see my grandpa.” Julie hollered back over her shoulder at the same time as she knocked on the door. “You can go now, thanks for letting me follow your tracks here.”
Instead of leaving, he walked up the few steps to the porch until he was next to her.
“This is where you were headed?”
“Yeah, obviously you knew that since you led me right here.”
He shook his head and said, “No, I didn’t know that. I assumed you would just stay on the road and keep going to wherever. This is where I was coming.”
“You’re coming to my grandpa’s ranch? Why?”
“Jason Fallon is your grandfather? You’re the granddaughter he’s expecting?”
“Yes, but who are you?”
“Seth Berrett. I own the ranch to the south of here.”
He reached past her, turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
“Jason? It’s Seth and I’ve got a little surprise for you,” he called out.
“You can’t just walk into someone’s house!” Julie hissed at him. But she stepped inside to get out of the cold.
“Grandpa, its Julie! Where are you?”
There was no response and she asked Seth where her grandfather could be.
“I don’t know. I came over to chop some wood for him in case the power went out in the coming storm. He didn’t answer when I called, so I was just coming over when I ran into you and your flat tire. I’ll check the barn, he might be there.”
“I’m coming with you,” she followed him out, putting her mittens on again. She would love to be rid of Seth, especially after he’d had the nerve to give her that spanking, but she had to find Gramps first.
The barn was at least a hundred feet away from the house and her face felt the icy snowflakes striking her skin like millions of pinpricks. Seth went to the end of the porch and picked up the end of a coiled rope before heading for the barn.
“What’s that for?” Julie asked.
“So we can find our way back to the house if the storm suddenly gets worse. I’ll tie this end to a big ring in the barn door.”
“It won’t get so bad that quickly, will it?”
“It can, and even if it doesn’t get that bad right now, it could be handy tomorrow. Better safe than sorry.”
Julie thought he was overreacting; she could see the barn just fine even with the heavy snow coming down. He tied the end of the rope to the ring, and opened one of the barn doors.
“Jason?” Seth called out. “You in here?”
They heard a faint noise coming from the tack room at the other end of the barn. Julie ran to see if her grandfather was all right. Seth was right behind her when she found Jason sprawled on the floor with a saddle blanket he’d dragged over himself to keep warm.
“Gramps! What happened? Did you fall?” Julie ran to his side.
His eyes lit up momentarily with happiness before the pain came back into them. “I’m glad you’re finally here, Julie. But I thought it would be a few days yet till you arrived.”
“Me too, Gramps. I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s get you back to the house.”
Jason saw Seth just then and said, “I don’t think I can walk.”
“Oh, no!” Julie cried out. “Can we get an ambulance out here?”
“No need for that, honey,” Jason said. “Nothing’s broken, I think I’m just too weak to make it back to the house.”
“I’ll carry you,” Seth said and moved to pick up the frail old man.
“Damn it, I don’t want to be carried!”
“But Gramps, how else will we get you to the house?”
“Just help me up and let me lean on you two. I think I can shuffle to the house with a little support.”
“All right,” Julie looked at Seth with a question in her eyes asking if that would work.
“We’ll give it a try,” he told Jason. Stepping over to him, he tossed aside the saddle blanket and put his hands under Jason’s armpits. He jerked his head to tell Julie to get to the side of him.
“When I get him up high enough, stick your shoulder under his arm and I’ll do the same on this side.”
Julie nodded that she understood and a minute later, Gramps was on his feet with the support of Julie and Seth.
“How you doin’, Jason?” Seth asked.
“I’m okay, let’s get moving.”
Seth carefully guided them out of the tack room, through the barn, and out the door. Thankfully, the house was still visible and they wouldn’t need the rope. The going was slow, and Jason gasped in pain a few times.
When Julie looked at Seth helplessly, he made up his mind the old man was just going to have to deal with being carried. Scooping his arms under Jason’s knees, Seth picked him up and in a few long strides was at the door Julie had run ahead to open.
Seth set Jason down in his big recliner and Julie hurried to do what she could to make him comfortable. Slipping his coat off, she asked, “What happened out there? You fell, didn’t you?”
“It was more of a dizzy spell, I think. I didn’t really fall, just sort of slid to the ground.”
“What made you dizzy?” Julie’s voice was full of worry.
Jason patted her hand and said, “We’ll talk about it later. I’m tired now and just want to warm up.”
“I’ll make you some hot cocoa right away.”
“That’ll be good. Even better if you add a shot of rum to it.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
She went to the kitchen and found the cocoa in the pantry. She noticed the appliances had all been replaced since the last time she’d been here—which was nearly ten years ago when Gram had died. There were a few other changes as well.
While waiting for the milk to heat, she looked out the kitchen window and saw Seth chopping wood. She didn’t remember him so that meant the neighbors sold their ranch and Seth was the new owner. When did that happen? Gramps hadn’t mentioned it in any of his emails or whe
n they had Skyped.
Feeling guilty for not coming to visit for so long, she wondered what else he hadn’t mentioned. She stirred the cocoa into the milk, added some sugar, and then took it off the flame just before it came to a boil. After adding the rum, she went back in the living room where Gramps was dozing in his chair.
“Here’s your cocoa,” she gently said, torn between letting him nap and waking him to drink his cocoa while it was hot.
“Ah, good. Thank you, Julie.”
He took a sip and then asked her to sit down. “There’s a few things I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay, but first I want to know if you’re okay. Why did you get dizzy and fall?”
“We’ll get to it. For now, I need you to listen.”
With the ringing of the axe splitting the wood out back, Julie sat quietly trying not to cry as Gramps told her what was happening. He had cancer. It had spread throughout his body and he didn’t have much time left. There was a good chance he wouldn’t see the next month. His time was coming to an end.
“Then you should be in the hospital!” Julie cried out.
“No, there’s nothing they can do. I want to die here—on this ranch, in my home.”
“But Gramps—”
“Now hush, and let me finish,” Jason interrupted her protest.
He went on to tell her how Seth had bought the ranch to the south about six years earlier and what a good, helpful neighbor he’d been. With Jason unable to do as much riding in recent years, he was about to sell off his entire herd of cattle and possibly put the ranch up for sale.
“You hadn’t been out here in so long, I didn’t think you were interested in the ranch. When you talked about coming to help me run the place last year, it put my mind to thinking. I’ve worked out an arrangement with Seth, where we’ve combined our herds so he and his hands have been taking care of my herd along with his. But, honey, this ranch can’t be run by you alone so I thought I’d have to sell it. Seth wanted to buy it, but I couldn’t in good conscience sell it to him unless I knew you didn’t want it. When you brought it up last year, I talked to Seth.”
Julie was confused. Did Gramps want to sell to Seth? He wasn’t making himself clear—at least not to her. What arrangement could he have worked out with Seth?
“Seth has been helping me for the last five or six years and he’s expecting payment in a reduced price for the ranch. Now that you want the ranch, I think I have a way for both of you to be happy.”
“Gramps, I’m not understanding what you’re saying here.”
He smiled at her and said, “I want the ranch to stay in the family. Since you’re my only family, that means I want you to have the ranch. But I owe Seth a debt for helping me these past years while I’ve been sick. So I want you to marry Seth. That way the ranch stays in the family and I can repay Seth.”
“No! No way.” Julie shook her head back and forth. “I don’t even know him, how can I marry him?”
“You’ll get to know each other. You’ll work together and I know the way you both love the ranch, you’ll grow to love one another.”
Had her grandfather gone senile? There was no way she’d even consider marrying a complete stranger. Certainly not one who took the liberty of bending her over the bumper of her car and spanking her. Okay, it hadn’t been much more than a few swats and those were given over the padding of her jeans and heavy parka. But still, it showed what kind of man he was, and there was no way she was getting involved with a man who spanked grown women.
“Close your mouth, honey, before a fly flies in. You’ve got to understand this is the best way for things to all come together.”
“Gramps, I can’t marry that man,” Julie said once she was able to speak again.
“Give me one reason why not.”
“Because I don’t know him and…and…and he spanked me!”
“Oh, pshaw! You’ll get to know him and I spanked your Gram’s bottom more than once in the fifty years we were married.”
“What? You spanked Gram?” Julie couldn’t believe she’d heard him correctly.
“When she needed it, yes.” Jason paused a moment and then said, “Honey, just tell me you’ll think about it. Don’t make up your mind right away. I’m not gonna die today, so you have a little time to see if this is something you can do for me.”
“Oh, don’t try guilting me into it, Gramps. You know I’d do anything for you, but this is a whole different sort of thing you’re asking.”
“I’m tired. Go unpack or something now and let me have a nap.”
Julie put a soft throw over him and tucked it in at his sides. She looked out the window and didn’t see Seth still chopping wood, so she put on her boots, parka, and mittens and went out to the barn to find him.
Chapter Three
Seth was stacking the chopped wood near the door on the back porch when he saw Julie trudging through the snow towards the barn. He knew Jason had most likely told her of his plan and now she was probably looking for him to tell him she wouldn’t marry him if he was the last man alive on earth.
Based on her shrewish behavior when he’d stopped to help her with her flat tire, he wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to get hooked up with her either. Then again, taming the little spitfire might prove to be quite enjoyable. He was looking forward to spanking her ass without any clothes to protect her.
Shaking his head as if to get those thoughts out of his mind, he knew they needed to talk about Jason’s will and try to figure out how to deal with the demands he had set forth in that will.
He finished stacking the wood and then went to the barn where he found her talking gently to an old mare.
“Julie, I think we should talk.”
“I agree. I came in here looking for you to do just that but got sidetracked by Buttercup here. She was my first horse.” Julie held out a small green crab apple and the old horse gently took it from her open palm.
“I guess Jason spoke to you about his plan?”
“He did, and I can tell you right now that I have no intention of marrying anyone, certainly not you. This ranch is my birthright and I have no intention of sharing it with you or anyone else. We’ll have to come to some other agreement so you can be compensated for the help you’ve given my grandfather.”
Seth couldn’t help but wonder what sort of bug had crawled up her ass that she already hated him when all he had done was stop to help her with her flat tire. He had given her that little spanking, but with all the clothes she had on, he doubted it made any kind of impact at all.
“I’m not exactly ready to run to the altar with you either, sweetheart. Especially after the way you snapped my head off when all I wanted to do was help you.”
Julie gave a defeated sigh and said, “I suppose I owe you an apology for that, but I was just so frustrated and determined to finish the job. I had worked really hard and I felt I was close to being done, so I wanted to finish it myself. Which I did, and now I can say I’ve changed a tire all by myself.”
Seth scratched his head and replied, “I could understand that at almost any time, but not when there’s a blizzard brewing and getting to shelter is the number one priority.”
“I was so focused on reading the instructions and getting the tire changed that I didn’t even notice how bad the snow was becoming.”
“Well then let’s put that incident behind us and talk about your grandfather’s scheme. Do you have any suggestions as to how we can work this out?”
“I don’t, other than trying to make him see reason. Besides, I’m not really ready to put the fact that you spanked me behind us. And I can tell you it doesn’t help when I get home and discover that the asshole neighbor is trying to steal my inheritance.”
“Hey, I’m not an asshole and I’m not trying to steal anything. Your grandfather has been ill for as long as I’ve known him. I’ve done nothing but help him out and he’s the one that suggested that my payment be the opportunity to purchase this ranch at a reduc
ed price. You haven’t even bothered to come and visit him in damn near ten years. How was I, or Jason for that matter, to know that you would suddenly decide you want the ranch? And one more thing, you had that spanking coming and you know it.”
Ignoring his remark about her having had the spanking coming, she said, “If he’s been sick that long, how come he never mentioned it to me?”
“Because he didn’t want to worry you. He knew you were busy and from everything you’ve ever told him, you supposedly love your exciting life hopping from one catastrophe to another.”
Her job as an adjuster with the catastrophic division of a major insurer had kept her busy. A hurricane in Florida, sudden floods in the mid-west, tornadoes in Oklahoma, and mud slides in California—there was always another catastrophe to hurry to. And when she did have a little down time, she usually went to a hot vacation spot with her friends. She always thought she’d visit the ranch at the next vacation, but it just never happened and ten years had passed in what felt like no time at all. She had to admit that it had been pure selfishness on her part.
For some stupid reason she must have expected Gramps to live forever. Now, at the mention of how long it had been since she’d been to the ranch, Julie had the grace to look chagrined. “I didn’t mean to stay away so long, the time just flew by. We e-mailed almost every day and Skyped once a week or so. He always said everything was fine and when I thought he looked tired or like he was maybe coming down with something, he assured me he was all right and I guess I just chalked it up to age.”
“So now, after being gone all these years, you decided you wanted to come back and claim your inheritance?”
“No! I wasn’t even thinking about my inheritance. My exciting job turned out to be more tiring than exciting and Gramps always said the ranch would be mine if I wanted it. I was ready for a change and this is where I wanted to be.”
“So now what? How do we work this out? Or do I just chalk up six years of taking care of Jason’s cattle to no reason other than out of the goodness of my heart?”
“I don’t know. Just give me some time to think about it. I’m going to go unpack and take a nap. I’m pretty much exhausted from the drive.”
