by Linda Bridey
“Luke! No! Let him go,” Marcus said. “Whatever happened just let him go and we’ll talk, ok?”
Marty took a swing at Luke and ended up hitting Jack in the eye. Jack then leaped at Marty and Marcus found himself stuck between three men who were trying to kill each other.
An ear-piercing whistle stopped them all cold.
Seth stood at the other end of the cookhouse. “What the hell’s going on here?”
Marcus said, “I’m not sure. I was on my way in here and Jamie went flying past me and I heard a commotion in here.” He pushed at Luke’s shoulders and gained some ground. “Luke, let him go, now! And Marty, you’d better not try anything either.”
Seth said, “That’s right or you’re both fired.”
Luke released Marty and stepped back, but kept giving Marty murderous looks. Seth came over and took Luke’s arm.
“Come with me,” he said in a stern voice.
Luke reluctantly let Seth lead him away and out of the cookhouse. Marcus turned to Marty and said, “What happened?”
Marty just looked at Marcus and then left. Jack had sat down on one of the benches and was holding his face. Marcus sat down by him and said, “Let me see.”
Jack raised his head and Marcus saw that Jack’s eye had begun to bruise and swell. Marcus knew a moment of fury at Marty for hurting his nephew, even if it had been accidental.
“C’mon, Jack. Let’s get you fixed up. We’ll get a cold steak on that and it’ll help with the swelling. Let’s find your pa, and you can tell us what happened.”
Marcus started walking with Jack and the boy seemed a little unsteady. He held Jack around the shoulders and helped him over to Dean’s house.
As they sat sipping tea, Maddie said, “I’m so sorry, Jamie. Marty was completely out of line. I’ve never known him to act that way. He had no right to say that.” Maddie got up and gave her a handkerchief.
Jamie blew her nose and closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself to stop crying.
“It’s ok, Maddie. I bring it on myself, I guess. I like to have fun and joke around and instead of seeing that, people see a promiscuous woman who’s out to have anyone she can. It’s just harmless fun. I’m not hurting anyone and it makes people smile. What’s so wrong with that?” She twisted the handkerchief anxiously. Then she picked up Trouble and hugged him. Holding his warm little body was comforting and he licked her cheek.
Maddie said, “I remember those days. I’m not sure if you know, but Tessa, Claire and I are originally from Pittsburgh and we were very rich. I was the classic debutante and loved parties and balls. I enjoyed dancing with many different men and flirting and just having a good time in general. So I understand what you mean. I flirt with some of the men around here, just having some fun. I don’t do it now so much, with being so far along,” she said, caressing her belly. “In our former social circles, flirting is expected, and those who flirt successfully are quite popular.”
“Then I think I should have been a city girl,” Jamie said. “And the people here don’t call you names or make you feel cheap?”
“No, they don’t. First off, they know that Seth would kill them, secondly it’s like you said; it’s harmless fun.”
Jamie put her cheek against Trouble as more tears began to flow. “Maybe it’s because I play poker and tell dirty jokes.”
Maddie laughed. “Well if that’s the case, they must not like it when Tessa plays because she’s a card player from way back. She always hated the balls and parties and instead went out playing cards and whatever else.”
Jamie’s shoulders shook with sobs as she thought about Luke. He wasn’t going to want to marry her and she’d have no one again. She wasn’t good enough for him. He deserved someone who acted like a lady and who wouldn’t embarrass him.
“I wanted to start over somewhere new and when I saw that ad in the paper, I felt like I had found the perfect way to do it. Luke sounded so wonderful and then I got here and he is wonderful. Why did I think I would be good enough for him?”
“Jamie, you are good enough for him. You’re fun and exciting and very kind. Tessa told me how you’ve helped her with the children since you’ve been here. Please don’t put yourself down like that,” Maddie said.
“All of the women in Walhalla thought I was a tramp, and I guess it’s my fault a little. I know I’m beautiful but I don’t take credit for it. It’s just the way I was born. I’m just lucky, that’s all. I’ve never had much money. My parents lost their business in Texas when I was seventeen and we moved to North Dakota because my uncle offered Daddy a job.”
“Yes, I noticed your southern accent,” Maddie said.
Jamie smiled. “Yeah. I’ve lost some of it. But see, I would flirt and get my way a lot. I learned that at an early age. Both my parents got sick and died. Mama passed from cancer and Daddy had emphysema. I was alone by the time I was twenty and that’s when I married Bobby. My point is that I’ve had to do what I had to in order to survive. So if that meant flirting with some man to get something fixed or whatever, I did it. It never went farther than that.”
Maddie sighed. “It’s not fair that there’s a double standard when it comes to men and women. Take Marcus for example; he flirts with every woman in the county it seems and no one takes offense to it. Why should it be any different with you? Don’t worry– this will get sorted out and I wouldn’t worry about Luke. I think he likes you just the way you are,” Maddie said in a knowing voice.
“Do you really think so?” Jamie said with a little smile.
“I do,” Maddie said. “Let’s go see Tessa and the children. They always make me feel better.”
“Ok,” Jamie said, and followed Maddie.
Dean paced back and forth outside the tack room in the horse barn. He never looked away from Marty, who kept his gaze lowered. Dean’s blue eyes blazed with anger.
“Why would you say such a thing to her?” he finally asked.
Marty shuffled his feet and said, “I thought she was being too forward with Jack. He’s just a kid and might take her seriously.”
Dean said, “Bull! Marcus flirts with all the women around here and there’s never anything said. Not seriously anyway. I’m really disappointed in you, Marty. You disrespected a guest, incited a fight and hit my son.”
Marty looked at Dean. “Aw, Dean, that was just an accident. I was swinging for Luke but Marcus was in the way and threw off my aim.”
“Regardless, you still hit him,” Dean said. “He’s got one hell of a shiner and a headache. Marcus has him lying down.”
“I’m sorry, Dean. I’ll apologize to the boy. He just got caught in the crossfire,” Marty said. He was truly sorry that he’d hit Jack. He loved Jack and would have never hurt him on purpose.
“I don’t have time for this crap!” Dean yelled. “There’s too much to do around here for you to be causing trouble! You’ll apologize to Jamie, too. And you better not say another wrong word about her, either, or I’ll let Luke kill you. Have I made myself clear, Marty?”
Marty nodded. “Yeah, Dean.”
“Good. Now get back to work,” Dean said, and left the barn.
Marty started back to the north pasture to check the fencing. Inside he fumed at Jamie and Luke the whole time he worked.
Chapter Seven
Seth sat with Luke in his bunkhouse. Rather, Seth sat and Luke paced. “Let me go see Jamie, Seth,” Luke said as he looked out the window hoping to see her.
“Not just yet, Luke. I need you to have a completely cool head in case you see Marty again. I don’t want you goin’ to jail. You’ll never get married if you go to jail,” Seth teased him.
“I need to know she’s ok,” Luke said. “I don’t want her to leave. I wouldn’t blame her if she did, though.” Luke slammed a hand into a wall and the place shook.
“Knock that off! Don’t put holes in the walls, you idiot,” Seth said.
“He had no right to say that to her. You know how she is; she was just playing
around. Jack got a kick out of it and so did I,” Luke said. “I can’t work with him, Seth. I’ll kill him.”
Seth chuckled. “Look, I’ve worked with Marty a long time and he’s a good guy. No, he is,” Seth said in response to Luke’s sarcastic noise. “I think maybe he’s a little threatened by you.”
Luke threw him a doubtful look. “By me? Why?”
“Think about it. You’re young, strong and can do a hell of a lot of work in one day. I think he’s worried about losing his job because he’s getting older,” Seth said. “I also think he’s jealous because you have a fine filly now.”
Luke looked bashfully at the floor as he remembered how it felt to kiss Jamie. He smiled. “She calls me Hercules.”
Seth laughed. “Well, who could blame her? It seems like she likes you. At least she likes giving you wedgies, anyway.”
Luke chuckled. “You heard about that, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. I wish I would have seen it,” Seth said.
Luke looked out the window again and saw Jamie walking with Maddie to Dean’s house. He was out the door before Seth could catch him. Luke didn’t run, but he walked fast. His long strides made it possible for him to reach the ladies before they got to the house.
“Jamie, are you ok?” he asked.
“I don’t know, Luke. I guess,” she said. She looked into his beautiful brown eyes and saw concern there. “What you must think of me.”
Maddie decided it was safe to leave Jamie with Luke and went in the house to give them privacy.
Luke motioned for Jamie to join him on the porch swing. They sat and Luke said, “Marty was a complete jerk. I didn’t think anything about you playing around with Jack. It was funny watching him blush.”
Jamie smiled. “Yeah, that was pretty cute. He’s a nice kid, and so responsible.”
“He gets that from Dean. They were all pretty young when my uncle died, and it was up to them to keep this place going. Marcus was younger than Jack at the time. Couple years later, Aunt Catherine died and that was even harder for them.”
“That’s so sad. I know what that’s like. Both my parents and my brother were gone by the time I was twenty,” Jamie said.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Luke said.
“Me, too. Luke, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to marry me. If Marty thinks that kind of thing about me, other people will, too. You can’t kill everyone,” she said with a small smile.
“I don’t care about what other people think,” Luke said.
Jamie became hopeful about his opinion of her. “What do you think?”
Luke got quiet for a moment and then decided to plunge ahead. “You’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. You make me laugh and I like kissing you, a lot.”
Jamie smiled. It made her feel better that he thought good things about her. “I make you laugh, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“And you like kissing me?”
“Uh huh. A lot. Don’t forget that part,” Luke said.
Jamie loved his dimples and would keep making him smile just to see them. “Well, I like kissing you a lot, too.”
“Jamie, don’t look at me like that,” Luke said.
“Like what, Luke?” she said, and batted her eyelashes at him.
“Like that,” Luke said with a laugh.
“Hercules, are you gonna kiss me or what?”
“Right here? I mean, there are people around,” Luke said.
“Right here, right now,” Jamie said. “Just a little one.”
She didn’t give him a chance to think about it. Jamie put a lip lock on Luke and wound her arms around his neck. After that, Luke just went with it and kissed her back. Her lips were so soft and she tasted like whiskey, and he wondered why that should be when it wasn’t even noon. Then she pulled away, but Luke wasn’t ready for her to and brought her back to him for another kiss. Jamie giggled against his mouth.
Someone cleared their throat and they abruptly broke apart. They turned to see Seth standing there with a big smile on his face. “Kids, I wouldn’t care, but if Dean sees he’ll have Luke’s hide. Best get back to work, Luke.”
Luke gave Jamie’s hand a last squeeze and stood up. He grinned at Seth and said, “See I told you Dean was the boss,” and walked away.
“He is not,” Seth called after him. He turned to Jamie. “I guess you got your answer about Luke’s feelings about you.”
“I guess so. Thanks for earlier,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” Seth’s eyes twinkled as he said, “I’ve never seen a woman toss back shots like that and not be tipsy.”
“I can hold my liquor pretty well,” she said. “I don’t usually drink in the morning, though. But it helped. Thanks again.”
“Any time. Well, I better get back at it, too. See ya, Jamie,” Seth said.
“See ya.” Jamie got up and went into the house then.
Her day was spent helping with babies and playing with Mikey. The six-year-old was full of energy as most six-year-olds are. He didn’t want to color or do anything inside, so Jamie took him outside to play. She played tag with him, and hide-and-go-seek. Then they went to see the puppies.
“Pa!” Mikey yelled when he spotted Dean. He ran to his father who picked him up and threw him in the air.
“Oh, holy smokes! Either you’re getting heavier or I’m getting older,” Dean said.
“Some of both, I’d say,” Jamie teased.
Dean looked at her for a moment and said, “Jamie, I’m so sorry about what happened this morning. It won’t happen again,” he promised.
“It’s ok, Dean. It’s not your fault,” Jamie said.
“I don’t tolerate that kind of thing from my employees. I’m sorry he offended you like that,” Dean said.
“Thanks,” Jamie said.
Dean put Mikey down and straightened up. He stretched his back a little. “I agree with you. I think it is some of both. He’s definitely getting bigger and I am getting older. I’m going to be a grandfather soon.”
“What? I was only kidding a few nights ago when I called you that,” Jamie said. “You’re too young to be a grandfather.”
“Well, me and my first wife, Sarah, started when we were young. Real young. We’d just turned eighteen when Sarah and I got married. I had to fight her father like hell to get his permission, but I proved myself to him. I just couldn’t live without her and she felt the same way. We knew what we wanted. It wasn’t long before Sadie came along.”
Jamie said, “Wow.”
“Yeah. We were so happy, though. Sadie was eight when Sarah passed away. Jack was only five,” Dean said. He was finally able to talk about Sarah without feeling crushing grief. He’d let it go when he’d married Tessa. “I married Tessa when Sadie was eleven, almost twelve. She got married last October. I can’t believe it most of the time. It was a shotgun wedding,” Dean said smiling.
Jamie covered her mouth. “Oh, crap.”
“My thoughts exactly at the time, but she married a good boy. Tucker works at the feed mill in town. He’s a hard worker and he’s good to Sadie. It won’t be long until she’s due.”
“Is everyone around here pregnant?” Jamie joked. “Or has just had a baby?”
Dean laughed. “It must be in the water. So that’s the story of how I’m going to be a grandfather. Wanna hear something else funny?”
Jamie nodded.
“I found out that Sadie was pregnant the same night that Tessa had the twins.”
“No!”
“It’s true. I was in shock because we’d just had two babies instead of one, and then our daughter tells me that she’s going to have a baby. I thought about getting plastered that night, but I wouldn’t have done that to Tessa,” he said.
“I can understand why you would think about it,” Jamie said. “It’s amazing that you kept your sanity.”
Dean said, “I’m not sure how though.”
“You’re made of stern stuff,”
Jamie said.
“I guess,” Dean said as he watched Mikey chase the puppies around the barn. He smiled as Mikey caught one and picked it up.
Jamie watched him watch Mikey. She saw the love and pride in his eyes and was moved. She hoped to have a child someday, and hoped it would be soon. Mikey put the puppy down and came over to Jamie. “Is it snack time?” he asked.
Dean laughed. “He sounds just like Jack at that age. Always hungry.”
“Yes, we can have a snack. See you for supper, Dean. And thanks again,” Jamie said, as she took Mikey’s hand and left the barn.
“You did not!” Tessa said to Jamie a week later.
The younger woman was once again helping her with the twins.
“I sure did,” Jamie said as she laid Katie in her bassinette. “Haven’t you ever done that?”
“Done what?” Tessa said.
“Used your feminine wiles to get something you wanted?” Jamie said as she faced Tessa again. She looked around the parlor with the warm hues and shiny wooden floors. Dean and Tessa had a very nice home as did Seth and Maddie. They were completely different styles, each beautiful in their own way.
She thought about the house that she and Luke would build. Jamie had told Tessa that she was going to look for a job the next day because she wanted to help save up money faster so they could build their house sooner. Tessa had asked her how she thought Luke was going to respond to that idea since Luke seemed to be rather traditional. With a laugh, Jamie had told her that she had ways of convincing Luke.
Tessa said, “I’ve considered it, but wasn’t quite sure I could pull it off. Maddie, on the other hand, is good at that.”
“You should try it sometime,” Jamie said, as she went out into the kitchen to put more wood in the stove. She wanted to make them some tea.
Tessa watched her quick, efficient movements as Jamie put the tea pot on the stove and came back in.
“You’re quite good at homemaking,” Tessa said. “I’m sure you were a wonderful wife and will be again.”
