The Mistaken Heiress

by Shelba Shelton Nivens

  A sudden movement beside the old house halted his singing and his movement. He stopped just outside the tree line and squinted in the bright sunlight as a blue shape darted around the corner of the house. When he heard a car start, he took off in a run toward the sound.

  He reached the front porch in time to watch a small blue sedan chew its way up the old driveway. Through the rear window, he caught a glimpse of flowing red hair. Smiling, he shook his head. What in the world would she do next? His next thought surprised him: I can’t wait to find out.

  Chapter 3

  Kate sat on a back doorstep staring at the woods across the garden patch. She took another nibble of her turkey sandwich.

  “I’ll get it back,” she said to the fat brown wren watching from the bottom of the steps. “Some way, I’ll get it back.”

  She tossed a pinch of the sandwich to the chirping bird and returned her gaze to the woods. What had the intruder cut with the saw he was carrying this morning? What did he plan to do with the place? How much would he fight to keep it?

  Despite her musings about his evil intentions, he hadn’t appeared much of a threat sprawled on the ground in that ridiculous Garfield T-shirt.

  She smiled, thinking about it—until she recalled the way he towered over her when he stood.

  “But he doesn’t intimidate me with those broad shoulders and that condescending smile.”

  The bird cocked its head to one side and stared at her as if to say, Sure he doesn’t.

  “Well, he doesn’t. And I won’t run away from him again.”

  She tossed the remainder of the sandwich to the bird and jumped to her feet.

  “‘It is you who is trespassing. But you’re welcome to walk in my woods,’” she muttered, mocking his words. “As though I need his permission to walk on my property.”

  She would walk where she’d always walked, whenever she pleased. She’d just keep away from him, not because she was afraid of him but because she couldn’t stand the sight of him.

  However, it was as though an unseen magnet drew her to his camp. Easing near an opening in the brush, she bent and peered between the leaves at his empty campsite.

  * * *

  “Aha! Do we have a spy here?”

  Kate jumped and whirled round. And almost fell into the arms of the big, bearded stranger.

  “I am not spying. I was...out walking—where I have every right to walk and...”

  He grinned. “And decided to stop by my camp for a little visit.” With a deep bow, he swept out an arm to grant her entry through the break in the trees and underbrush. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

  She hesitated only a moment before preceding him into the camp area. She’d hang around for a while and see if she could find out exactly what he was up to here in her woods.

  He stood two of the short, fat logs on end. “Have a seat and make yourself comfortable while I pour us some tea.”

  Kate balanced herself on one of the makeshift stools and watched as the man poked his head inside his tiny tent and pulled out a couple of colorful mugs. After setting the mugs on a crudely built picnic table, he took a jug from an ice chest beside the tent, poured amber-colored liquid into each cup and handed her the red one.

  He placed the jug back in the chest and turned to her. “Drink up,” he said, raising his blue cup in salute.

  Kate shot him a sour look and waited while he straddled a log stool and balanced his tall frame on it. Wrapping his long, brown fingers around his mug, he smiled at her.

  Kate felt herself blush when she realized she had been checking for a wedding ring. He might have pulled it off while he worked.

  But it was nothing to her one way or the other.

  She ducked her head and took a sip of tea to calm the sensation in the pit of her stomach.

  “A penny,” he said, leaning toward her.

  She jumped. “Huh?”

  He chuckled. “A penny for your thoughts, as the old saying goes. Football? Boyfriend? School?” He stretched out his long, jeans-clad legs and leaned back against a tree.

  “I don’t like football. I don’t have a boyfriend. And I’m not leaving here and going back to school as long as you’re taking up residence on my land.”

  He studied her. “I think your mother told me you attend university? Your senior year?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “What else did my mother tell you about me?”

  “Why? Is there something she should have told me?”

  He said it in a teasing way, but she didn’t find the situation humorous. “Not unless it was to say I won’t sit still while she sells our family’s land out from under me!”

  He arched an eyebrow, drained his cup and then looked at her again. “So, you’re not a schoolgirl. Just a lady of leisure, then?”

  She shrugged. “Actually, I’m not much of anything.”

  He crossed his arms over his denim-covered chest, his empty mug dangling from one finger. “Yes, I suppose we all feel that way at times. But we’re really worth quite a lot. Have you ever thought about all the planning that went into bringing us into existence?”

  “Planning? Huh. Someone may have planned for you. But my parents wanted a boy when I was born. They already had their perfect little girl.”

  He didn’t bat an eye. “I’m not speaking of the plans our parents make. They really don’t have much of a say in what we’ll be when we’re born. I’m thinking of something the Psalmist said.”

  “Yes, I know. ‘You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’”

  Kate didn’t mean to sound sarcastic quoting Scripture. But he was so...irritating!

  “Beautiful, isn’t it, knowing we were carefully designed. For instance, your red hair didn’t just happen—nor did my big nose....”

  “You don’t have a big nose.”

  She felt her cheeks grow hot again. What made her say such a thing? It didn’t matter to her whether he had a nice nose—which he had—or one as big as Texas. All she wanted was to get him off her land. And as quickly as possible.

  He grinned, whether at her words or her pink cheeks, she didn’t know. And really didn’t care.

  “‘All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’” He was quoting more Scripture at her. “God planned a wonderful life for each of us.”

  There was that Scripture staring her in the face, again.

  She glanced around the clearing, then up at the bright leafy canopy spread above them. “I can see why you would think so. I used to believe the same thing. But it seems all my dreams—and my beautiful life—died when you showed up.”

  “God knows the plans He has for us, even when we don’t. Plans to prosper us, to give us hope and a future.”

  He spoke gently, and that irritated her even more. “I know that verse, too. So, if you’re preaching at me, please don’t.”

  Her thoughts from this morning, about him being a member of a blood-sacrificing cult, flitted through her mind. But she dismissed them. He was more likely some overly zealous religious nut. “Who are you anyway?”

  A smile lit his eyes and tugged at the corners of his mouth. He reached up and smoothed the dark growth below his finely shaped lips, then touched the ax propped against the tree beside him. “Me? Why, I’m just a lonely woodchopper, ma’am, craving a little conversation—and maybe a drop of human kindness?”

  Kate hopped to her feet, overturning her makeshift stool. “Well, don’t expect kindness from me. And you had best stop chopping trees until you find out whose land you’re chopping on.”

  Her words wiped the smile from his face. “Would you care to walk the land lines with me and show me where your property lies?”

  He stood as thou
gh ready to begin stepping off boundaries.

  “No, I—” Flustered, she realized she didn’t know exactly where any of the property lines were. All of her life, she had been free to roam wherever she pleased in the wooded area belonging to her family and their neighbors.

  “You can show me the ground you were supposed to have, and I can show you what we purchased from your family and Mr. Atkins.”

  “You bought land from Mr. Atkins, too?” What was the man planning to do with so much land?

  “The old fields over there.” He nodded toward the west. “That’s where we’ll have gardens and barns for the horses.”

  “Horses? We will have gardens and horses? Who is we?”

  * * *

  He studied her as she glared at him. The golden specks in her eyes sparkled. Evidently she had not spoken to anyone about him since yesterday. It was obvious no one had told her anything about the land deal.

  “I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself.”

  She whirled away from him, crossing her arms as though warding off his answer. “It doesn’t matter to me in the least who you are. You won’t be around here much longer.”

  He could tell by her stance that she was waiting for him to tell her anyway.

  But he didn’t. He could be just as stubborn as she. “Look, do you have time to walk over the property with me?” He smiled at her.

  She turned back to him, subdued. “It’s beginning to look as though time may be all I do have—now.”

  He discarded the smile. “Shall we go for that walk, then?”

  She shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

  He smiled. She was likely thinking she’d stick around long enough to discover what he was doing here and how she might find a way to claim the place. And what harm would it do to let her try?

  Meantime, he’d learn more about her, what she was thinking and what she was likely to attempt.

  She walked silently behind him along a narrow trail beaten through the trees by rabbits, deer and dogs. The forest was quiet; the only sound was the crunch of their shoes on dry leaves.

  When they reached an area where hardwood trees and heavy underbrush gave way to pines, he dropped back to walk beside her. Their shoes made soft, squeaky sounds on the thick layer of pine needles, sending up a pleasing, pungent aroma as it crushed beneath their feet.

  Still neither of them spoke.

  He touched her arm lightly. She didn’t protest but stopped as he pointed at a spot on the straw-covered ground just ahead of them.

  A gray squirrel sat on his haunches gnawing contentedly on a pine cone, seemingly unaware of the humans standing motionless only a few feet from him. But when a second squirrel ran down the trunk of a nearby tree, the first ceased chewing and dropped the cone to chase the intruder away. Like she wanted to do.

  The squirrels ran up a tall pine. Branches dipped and swayed as one chased the other down one limb and then another. Then the tiny feet of the pursuer slipped on a limb. Hanging by only his forefeet, he swung underneath until he could regain his footing.

  Kate watched with him, laughing softly, before they began walking again.

  “They come into camp and play like that sometimes. Here, this way.” He took her elbow to steer her onto an old logging road.

  When Kate glanced at him he didn’t drop his hand. Her lips tightened, but she didn’t pull away.

  Birds darted about overhead and in and out of trees on each side of them as they walked. Other small creatures, startled by the noise of their footsteps, scurried through the leaves at the edge of the track and into the undergrowth. A break in the trees made by the old road bed let in sunlight and warmed their shoulders and backs. They simultaneously slowed their pace, letting the sun beat down on them.

  As they rounded a bend, the roadway narrowed to a path between towering pines, ancient oaks and hickory trees. Limbs overlapped above the path, blocking out most of the sunlight and creating a tunnel effect.

  “Reminds you of a great cathedral, doesn’t it?” he asked in hushed tones. Kate nodded, and after a moment they began silently walking again.

  * * *

  Moving beneath the canopy of trees, her spirit was oddly in agreement with his. The beauty of the forest was weaving peace about him, too.

  A loud chirping broke through her reverie and she glanced up, searching for its source. If a casual observer heard it without seeing the small creature, he might think the sound only the twitter of a bird. But Kate recognized it at once.

  “It’s a big bird up there someplace.” He glanced up at the tree limb over their heads and stopped.

  “No.” She stopped with him and pointed into the branches. “It’s a squirrel. I’ve heard them enough to know. See...” The small gray-and-white creature sat on a limb near the trunk of the tree, watching them down below.

  He smiled down at her. “You’re a real woodland nymph, aren’t you?”

  She gave him a wry smile and continued walking. He followed.

  As they emerged from the trees, he pointed at a small rocky knoll off the beaten path. “Let’s go up over that hill. We can see out across the pastureland from there.”

  She tensed and glared at him.

  “I’m telling you something you already know, aren’t I?”

  * * *

  Her demeanor changed from hostile to sadness. “When I was a child, that area was covered in trees, too. The Johnson family owned it. Their ancestors settled it.”

  “As your ancestors settled this land?”

  “Yes. Doesn’t your family own land someplace?”

  Her anger was back. Maybe he should let her get used to things a little at a time. “Not anymore. Interstates took it. It was just outside Atlanta. My dad’s a retired minister. He and Mom bought another house, but need more room. They take care of several homeless boys.”

  “Is there not room for just one more?”

  He frowned. “One more?”

  “You. Isn’t there room for you among the other homeless boys?”

  He couldn’t help laughing. A sharp wit and a sharp tongue. “Actually, a housing development is taking it.”

  “So you come here to take mine.”

  Refusing to get into another argument, he turned from her and pushed aside the limbs of a prickly bush for her to pass. He took her elbow to help guide her through the briars and brush.

  * * *

  Kate knocked his hand away and trudged up the rocky hill in front of him, making her way around briars and boulders. When she slipped, he reached out to steady her but quickly took his hand away. Regaining her footing, she marched onward.

  A lone tree stood at the top of the hill. A shortleaf pine. When they reached it, they dropped down below its spindly branches. As their weight crushed sun-warmed pine needles, its warm tangy aroma rose to greet their nostrils.

  He sighed and stretched out on his back, resting his head on interlaced fingers. His dark hair, damp and curling from the heat of exertion, brushed lightly against her arm, and something squeezed within her stomach. She caught a deep breath and moved slightly away from him.

  He gazed up at the sky and asked lazily, “See that stallion up there?”

  “Stallion? Where?”

  “Right up there.” He pointed at a bank of cumulus clouds. “Next to the lady in the ballroom gown.”

  Kate laughed despite herself. “My cousin Charlotte and I used to pick out shapes in the clouds when we were kids.”

  “Well, let’s see how good you are at it now. See if you can find a canoe and a—a canoe with a dog—no! It’s an elephant. A canoe with an elephant in it. Come on! Quick! Before it changes.”

  She laughed again and stretched out on her back on the bed of soft pine needles. But not close enough to touch him.

  Gazing
upward, her eyes picked out the cloud she thought he was referring to. “Right there!” She pointed, jubilant. “Just to the right of that—that pig.”

  “Pig? I don’t see a pig. Yes, I guess that could be a pig. And look! One leg just floated away.”

  They laughed together.

  “Okay. Let’s see a—” He squinted, concentrating on the sky. “Let’s see you find a—a porpoise jumping for a minnow. Come on! Quick.” He turned to her, laughter in his voice. “It’s beginning to—” His voice trailed off. She felt him studying her.

  She didn’t answer. The fun had suddenly gone out of the game.

  * * *

  “What have you found?” He spoke softly. He didn’t want to send her off into another one of her quicksilver, angry moods. But he didn’t want her going catatonic on him, either. “What do you see up there now?”

  “Ink spots!” She pushed herself to a sitting position and turned on him. “You sound like a shrink. ‘Look at the pretty spots, Katerina. What do you see in this one? How about that one over there?’”

  In one swift movement she jumped to her feet and went running back down the hill in the direction from which they had come. Just before he caught up to her, her foot slid across a stone and she fell sprawling, facedown.

  He squatted beside her and reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

  “Go away and leave me alone.” She buried her face in her arms.

  He rocked back on his heels and waited for her to calm down. After a minute, when she kept lying there, he touched her shoulder. “Will you at least let me help you up?”

  “No.”

  “If you’re not hurt, get up and let’s go.”

  She raised a tear-streaked face. “Just go away.”

  “It’s not that simple. Nothing in real life is, you know.” He didn’t mean to sound so harsh. He softened his tone. “Here, let me help you up.”

  “No! Don’t touch me. I can get up by myself.”

  He stood and watched as she slowly lifted herself to her feet and began brushing at her jeans. When she winced, he reached out and took both her hands in his. She tried to pull away, as he knew she would, but he turned her palms up to examine them.