Thankful for the Cowboy

by Mary Connealy

  He spoke to Niall, “Sorry, I stepped in your way.”

  Lauren thought the lie was glib and false.

  “I should have been more careful.” Niall removed his own coat and hung it beside Tommy’s.

  He showed no sign of doubting Tommy’s easy lie.

  Lauren noticed at that moment she still had her coat on. She tore it off and tossed it quickly and quietly across the seat of a chair. Then she got to work on supper.

  “So, you’ve finished the windmill, then?” Her voice sounded over-hardy and she clamped her mouth shut.

  “You should see it, Ma.” Niall filled in an awkward silence between Lauren and Tommy. Lauren was certainly struggling for every word, so she appreciated Niall’s love of progress. He wanted to tell her every detail.

  Tommy fetched her coat and hung it with the others while Niall talked about the wind pushing the windmill blades and water pouring out into the pond. His voice almost shook with delight and Lauren felt her spirits lifting to the point she could forget that she’d almost kissed Tommy.

  Focusing on the thought of water gushing up from the ground, she kept her cheeks from blushing bright pink.

  Lauren put dinner together, Niall and Tommy working at her side.

  By the time Niall was done talking, the rest of the family arrived and Niall had to tell about the windmill all over again.

  Listening without having to talk suited Lauren right to the bone.

  Chapter Five

  Tom made a point of not going near Lauren again. Oh, he was working with her every day.

  But not alone with her

  And that took some doing. He worked side-by-side with her on his soddy for a week. That meant they were together from can see to can’t see every day.

  But not alone with her

  Lauren and he had taken on the finer work of building, both having a good knack.

  So he had to admit he was somewhat alone with her.

  Niall and Duncan seemed to enjoy taking turns with the sod busting plow, so much that they got ahead and the youngsters started building a barn, cut into another nearby sandhill.

  Today, Rory and Megan had thrown in with the older boys and did the work they’d gotten familiar with, stacking sod.

  In fact, this left Tom and Lauren very much alone.

  Except for a solid door between them that Tom, doing nothing but holding it in place, imagined throwing aside so he could get his hands on Lauren.

  Which he wanted to do so badly that his hands holding that door, almost crushed the saplings into splinters.

  He was a man working sixteen-hour days at back breaking work who slept like the dead for eight more hours and that left him…with just plain too dad-blasted much time on his hands.

  Tom didn’t crush the door, wood was too rare. But he stood there, daydreaming while he held it. A panel of split logs, little more than saplings, bound together with cross-pieces fastened by wooden pegs and now being hinged to the door frame with leather straps.

  “We’re nearly done.” Lauren spoke through the door. She seemed a sight more comfortable with him when a door or a child stood between them.

  “I wish you weren’t going to have dirt floors,” she said lightly. Talking just as if they hadn’t almost shared a kiss near a week ago.

  “Dougal and I found the money to buy some lumber after about ten years out here, to put down a floor.”

  He sure as certain didn’t want to talk about her husband. “There’s no lumber anywhere, save for your little windbreak?” Tom asked, but knew it was true. He’d driven miles and miles and miles to find his claim. He’d seen the hills, bare of woods and covered with grass for himself.

  “Have you noticed how tall they’re getting? Still small but growing fast.” Lauren’s voice was bright with excitement. “And even more, look around them, baby trees are sprouting up around the base of their trunks. I always, every spring, keep my eyes open for new baby trees and move them, spread the windbreak. To get the wood for this door, I drove to the Niobrara River and found them. But even near the river, they tend to be small and not plentiful. I’ll go again in the spring and dig up baby trees for you. They need tending when they’re young, but once their roots sink deep enough to hold the soil, they grow well.”

  “Given time, I’ll grow my own lumber.” Tommy tried to get excited about that. He tried to talk about construction. Talk about planting. Talk about anything but that almost kiss.

  “It’d take a powerful set of years to grow lumber,” she said. “Right now, I’m thinking of shade. Long before a tree has got a fat trunk suited for building, it’ll cast some shade. These are mostly cottonwood trees. They spring up fast.”

  “And by fast you mean thirty years instead of fifty like an oak?”

  Lauren laughed quietly. “Maybe a little faster than that, but you’re right. With trees, fast is still slow.” Her laughter was soft and almost husky. He was being scraped a little raw just from listening to it.

  “If I plant trees beside the windmills, they’ll have a dependable way to get a steady drink of water. But by the pond, we’ll have to figure out a way to keep the cows from trampling them.”

  Tom liked handling the cattle. He found he was comfortable on horseback and had a knack, much of it taught by Niall who was an expert, for heading the herd in the direction he chose, bunching them, sitting his horse with ease.

  He inhaled deeply of the crisp fall air. October was ending. November coming soon.

  The month of Thanksgiving. And he had much to be thankful for this year.

  “I’m a rich man, Lauren.”

  There was a moment of silence and it struck Tom that he’d sounded boastful. Quick as a rat up a drainpipe, he added, “I mean, I own a fair stretch of land—or I will once I’ve put my back into working it for a few years. What a wonder that is, to own so much, to build my own house. To have cows around my own pond. Back in Scotland, with the Laird the true owner of the land, I had no chance to build something of my own. All I could do was my work, and for that I needed to travel, cut off from family and any chance of a home.”

  “I know what you mean. We stand here building a door, and it’s plain. But it’s the door to your own home. We both now own a house made of grass and dirt. Our own grass and dirt. A house can be built without it costing us anything we don’t have. I feel the same. I’m a rich woman.” She fell silent.

  Probably thinking of her husband. And how much richer she’d be if he was alive.

  Which made Tom fierce to talk about something else.

  “Let me see if the door swings.” He could see from this side, the three hinges were in place. It occurred to him that she was done and just staying in there so he couldn’t see her. Touch her.

  He wanted to growl at her. Yes, he’d been avoiding her to the extent possible. He didn’t know much about women and he knew even less about kissing one. It all seemed mighty scary to him. But the more she avoided him, the less scared he was. And anyway, why was she avoiding him? He respected a woman’s grief, but her husband was dead and gone. It was hard to know how long a woman took to turn her thoughts to another man. But he was impatient for her to do it and do it now. And why not him? He was, as she’d just admitted, a rich man. Rich in grass and dirt and water. With fifteen cows. Far more than his da had ever owned after a lifetime of hard work.

  Of course, she’d barely seen a man since she’d been widowed. So maybe she wasn’t avoiding him because she didn’t like him.

  Maybe she was scared, too.

  “I’ve put most of my cash money into the parts for the windmills.”

  She swung wide the door, faced him and said, “And you’ve gotten none of your investment back with me.”

  Tom cocked his head. “It’s a barter and a good one. A house for a well. I’d say I got the better of the two of us.”

  Lauren gave a small shrug. “It’s all in how you look at it, Tom. I’m in desperate need of water for my cattle.”

  He liked the name Tom comin
g from her lips. “And I’m in desperate need of a house.”

  “Yes, but sod is free, all of your house is free.”

  “Free does me no good if I don’t know how to stack it properly.” With a grin, he added, “I’m not sure it counts as free when it takes long hours of back breaking work.”

  Lauren met his eyes fully for the first time all week. “But the pump for the well, the lumber and fans for it, those are specific things I don’t know where to buy nor what to do with the parts. We’ve got a well by the house. A hand dug well and we can drop in a bucket and fill it, and draw it up. It’s not hard to get a few buckets of water a day. But we could never keep the cattle watered with that. My herd was in danger of dying this winter.” She patted him lightly on the chest. “And now they won’t, because of you. To me what I’m getting from our bargain is well worth the work we’ve done on your house. I want you to know I don’t feel it was an unequal deal. Just the opposite in fact.”

  “It’s glad I am, you’re feelin’ that way, Lauren.” He looked past her to the rough little soddy. “I’d like to order some wood for a floor, too.”

  “Lumber is dear. And shipping it in takes time.”

  Nodding, Tom said, “It’s for later. For now, we’ll be grateful for the roof over our dirt floor. If I have to choose between the two, I’ll gladly give up on the floor. We’ll get through the winter…together.” That word stopped him. Together. It hung in the air as if they were together in ways more deeply felt than intended.

  Lauren looked at her toes and knotted her fingers together. He knew because he was watching her close.

  She cleared her throat. “You’ve built close enough to us that you can come for a meal as often as you like. Every day if you’ve a mind.”

  “I’m obliged, Lauren.” Tom tugged his wide-brimmed hat and that drew her eyes and he was glad they were back on him. “We’re learning the way of cooking here. Buffalo chips for a fire. Never thought I’d get over the shock of that, but we settled in to all kinds of new things on the wagon train, then the drive north from Omaha. I know how to skin and gut a rabbit or turkey but I caught them with snares. I haven’t hunted much bigger game, like deer. I know how to use my rifle but I haven’t had a chance to go hunting out here, yet.”

  “Niall and Duncan want to take you hunting. I used to hunt with Dougal or sometimes leave the youngsters with him and go out myself. I can provide for my family.”

  “I’ve a rifle and I’m a fine shot.”

  “There are plenty of deer and you’ll find antelope at times. There used to be buffalo on this grass but that’s only talk. I’ve never seen one.”

  Tom’s eyes sparked. “There had to be buffalo to leave all those chips. A buffalo, what a wonder that would be.”

  They stood facing each other. Tom felt the draw between them. It shocked him, all that he felt for her. He’d spent years learning his craft and no woman had ever made him consider turning aside from his work to chase after her.

  And now here stood pretty Lauren Drummond. A woman who knew sayings from the old country, the same ones he knew.

  He took a step forward and she stepped back, they did it twice more and Tom swung the door shut so they were in a dark little cave of a house.

  Speaking with a roughened voice, he said, “You called me Tom.”

  With a curious tilt of her head, she said, “Did you mind? I didn’t think of it. I won’t—”

  “I liked it.” He interrupted her fumbling apology. “Tommy, well, Thomas is my name and proud of it. Da’s name. But folks called him Tom and me Tommy when I was a boy until I headed off to make my fortune. Once I was on my own, folks always called me Tom. But I got home and Megan called me Tommy, learned from my folks, and it’s been only us for so long I’ve grown used to it.”

  He reached an uncertain hand to rest on her arm and they stood there, locked together in a way Tom couldn’t exactly understand.

  “I’d be glad to call you Tom.”

  “I find I like hearing a name more suited to a grown up, especially from the lips of a grown woman.”

  Then he leaned closer, bent down. And he was sure she leaned closer, stretched up.

  And he kissed her.

  This kiss was what had nearly happened to them a week ago. It had sent her running then. Him, too.

  Or running as far as two folks could who were near each other all the time.

  This time, she didn’t run.

  And no one slammed a door into him…for far too long.

  This time they were really alone.

  When they eased apart, Tom said, “You’re a fine woman, Lauren.”

  Her closed eyes blinked open. The red lashes, long as dreams, fluttered a bit before she focused eyes that seemed a bit dazed.

  Looking somewhat sad, she said, “I’m a woman who never stops running. I’ve got children older than your sister.”

  He nodded silently for a time. Then frowned.

  Lauren reached up and ran a hand across his brow. “You’re worried about something.”

  “We’re both busy. But my da used to say, ‘If you don’t take time, time will take you.’ I’ve a powerful yen to spend more time with you, but I’m not sure how that would work. Right now, all of us together in one cabin. Soon, you in your cabin with three sons. Me in mine with a sister. Work till we drop, and up before the sun, running hard all day. Winter coming on. I suspect we could take my wagon and go out for a ride—if we hurry before it gets too cold. But I have a load to bear with the windmill parts.”

  “The two of us with a heavily loaded wagon, driving around a sand hill to hide from all the children.”

  He smiled then. The frown forgotten. “We’ll think of something.”

  Lauren frowned. “I’ve thought of something. My beloved Dougal. I feel as if I’m betraying him so soon after he died.”

  “You said it’s been half a year.”

  “Yes, and that isn’t long enough. We can’t do this again.”

  Tom dragged her tight into his arms and kissed her hard.

  Her arms were around his neck, hanging on for dear life.

  When the kiss ended, finally, he drew his hands out of her lush red hair and looked down at her swollen lips curved in a sweet smile. Then her eyes, heavy-lidded and beautiful beyond reason, flickered open.

  It was true he was innocent of woman, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have some good ideas of what to do with one.

  Thinking of it made him a little dizzy.

  It made him think of things like running for a preacher. With a woman who’d just said she was betraying her husband then joined in with a passionate kiss.

  Her slumbering eyes went wide and he saw pure horror in her expression.

  She was still in love with her dead husband. Before he said or did something even more stupid, he opened the door. She as good as ran out and he let her go. And for a moment he stood and watched after her.

  He couldn’t look away. Finally, he swung the door shut just to put it back between them. He could finally blink.

  Then he stood in the dark and tried to remember what he was supposed to be doing, and where he was, and his name.

  Chapter Six

  Tom’s house was finished.

  Lauren had come back early and Megan came along and helped cook. One by one as their day’s work finished the others straggled in.

  While Lauren worked alongside Megan, the sunny, always-smiling Megan had grown quiet. Lauren wondered why but it was soon made clear.

  “Will we be staying here for the night, Tommy?” Megan didn’t sound eager to leave, not even close. Megan worked briskly setting the table with tin plates. Lauren served up a venison stew. Tom was capable in the kitchen and mashed potatoes Lauren had left from her garden.

  Lauren hid her smile at the doubt in Megan’s voice. The girl wanted to stay on with the Drummonds and that was that.

  “You have to spend six months living in your home out of a year, starting from the day you filed. If you wanted
to, you could stay with us through the winter. Then move to your home come spring.”

  Lauren could have bit her tongue when she heard those words coming out of her mouth.

  She didn’t want Tom staying here all winter.

  No, that wasn’t true. She wanted it too much.

  Megan’s eyes lit up. “We could live here all winter?”

  Dismayed, Lauren nodded as they got the food on the table and sat down to the meal. They prayed quietly as usual. When she lifted her head, she looked straight at Tom at the far end of the table. Not very far. It was a small house. Too small.

  The thought of sharing her life with a man was too appealing. That surprised her because she’d thought she was well settled here with her sons. A comfortably aging widow who’d live to care for her sons. Her life all planned and laid out.

  And now she found a man who interested her. It was frankly a shocking change she wished she’d never stumbled over, because it complicated everything.

  They passed the food and filled their plates as she thought of how much she liked to keep things simple.

  To be with Tom, truly be with him, she’d need to…well, he’d need to live in his own home to prove up on his claim. But her boys, even though they were very capable lads, needed her here. And there wasn’t room for all of them to move into Tom and Megan’s house. Maybe they could add on rooms…several more rooms.

  Large sod houses usually collapsed though.

  So, they had to keep to their own homes.

  Maybe after five years, Lauren’s boys would be adults, mostly. And Tom’s homestead would be proved up. Then they might think of…of…Lauren stumbled over the word marriage. Certainly, no such word had been spoken.

  But when a grown-up man started in to kissing a grown-up woman…well, a beginning was what it was, and this kind of beginning ended in marriage between two people of honor.

  Not definitely, not every beginning led there. But often it did. And if they couldn’t make a marriage work then they shouldn’t begin at all. Simple as that.