Under the Open Sky (Montana Heritage Series)

by Michelle Maness

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  Amanda woke the next morning to a beautiful cerulean sky. The storms of the night before had since moved on and left everything fresh and new. Her father hadn’t lectured her quite as severely as she had feared; he had seemed more relieved that she was okay than anything. She had, none the less, spent the evening avoiding both her father and her brother and had taken refuge instead in the pages of a new book. This morning she felt restless, as though she needed to somehow break free of the monotony of another day spent meandering around the ranch. It was after breakfast that a rescue arrived.

  “Hey, Jenny, what brings you here?” Amanda asked with a wide smile as she bounded down the front porch steps.

  “I was bored and thought I would come see you. I also brought a few things I thought your brother might want,” she lifted a box she had tucked under one arm.

  “Come on in,” Amanda invited as she led the way into the house.

  “Is someone here?” Naomi, wiping her hands on her apron, came from the kitchen.

  “Naomi, this is Jenny Brown, Angela’s younger sister. Jenny, my Aunt Naomi.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Miss. Jennings,” Jenny offered politely.

  “Nice to meet you, dear, I’m sorry about your sister. Is there anything I can get you girls?”

  “No thanks, Aunt Naomi, we’re just going up stairs,” Amanda kissed her aunt’s cheek before leading Jenny to her brother’s room. “I’ll leave the box here; Trent and Cade are working on the fence line,” Amanda explained.

  “I like your house,” Jenny commented as she followed Amanda across the hall and into her room.

  “Thanks, my great, great, great, great grandfather built it for his wife and their family. There’s an old cabin on the property that was their first home.”

  “Wow. My family’s only been here for two generations.” Jenny was wandering around the room, picking up items and glancing at them before setting them back down.

  “My Daddy says the land is in our blood at this point,” Amanda sank on to the edge of her bed and watched her friend.

  “I can see why. Our land is nice but yours is breathtaking,” Jenny turned to lean against Amanda’s desk and offered a smile.

  “You want a tour of it, well, not all of it, but the best parts. I can saddle a couple of horses and we can go riding.”

  “Sure,” Jenny, her smile widening, shrugged.

  Amanda changed her shoes, checked on the weather, she wasn’t anxious of a repeat of the day before, and led Jenny to the barn.

  “Hey, Benjamin, Jenny and I are going to ride around through the north pasture and swing by the cabin then loop around the south boundary; I checked the weather,” she informed the foreman.

  “You girls be careful,” he nodded.

  “You can ride Buttermilk, she’s a sweetheart and a smooth ride,” Amanda led the cream colored mare from her stall. Jenny helped her saddle Buttermilk and then Dandelion before they mounted and rode out

  “My Dad won’t let me ride by myself. Not after I got turned around and lost one day,” Jenny admitted. “Angela was the better horsewoman.”

  “I scared everyone yesterday,” Amanda admitted and shared her adventure with the older girl. “Fortunately, my father was so relieved that I was okay that he didn’t come down on me too hard.”

  “Your dad seems like a nice man; well, at least to hear you talk. My dad is so over protective it isn’t funny.”

  “Don’t think mine isn’t,” Amanda laughed. She led Jenny to the cabin and gave her a tour before they continued their ride, making a wide loop back toward the barn. They topped a rise and found Trent and Cade hard at work on a damaged fence, their shirts long since abandoned.

  Beside Amanda, Jenny sighed and leaned forward as she pulled her mount to a stop. “I am telling you, Mandy, those two are temptation walking.”

  Amanda grinned; she was shaking her head. “Trouble is what they are. Come on,” Amanda urged her horse in the men’s direction. Trent and Cade stopped their work and watched them approach.

  “Did you let someone know where you’re going?” Trent demanded as soon as Amanda came within hearing.

  “I did and I checked the weather,” she assured him.

  “Good,” he nodded. “How are you, Jenny?”

  “I’m fine; you?” she offered with a smile.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You have a windmill well; Daddy has been talking about putting one in,” Jenny noted as she dismounted. “Does it work well?” Jenny, her head cocked with interest, waited.

  “Come on and I’ll show you,” Trent nodded in the windmill’s direction. Amanda watched them leave before turning her attention to Cade.

  “How are you today, Cade?” she greeted.

  “Good. You not going to follow?”

  “No, I know how the windmill works as if I cared or like she does,” Amanda grinned down at him.

  “Didn’t think she did,” Cade admitted his smile wide. “You two really seem to have hit off.”

  “We have.”

  “I’m with your brother, I don’t know if that’s a good thing,” Cade leaned against the farm truck and crossed his arms.

  “Why not?” Amanda challenged.

  “She’s a little wild and you don’t need any encouragement,” Cade’s eyes were lit with mischief and his smile crooked.

  Amanda sighed inwardly.

  “Do you amuse yourself?” Amanda demanded.

  “Sometimes.”

  “Humph,” Amanda grunted as she swung to the ground. “I’m sure you are my brother’s voice of reason and he yours,” she offered with a saccharine smile.

  “Of course,” Cade, his smile saying differently, nodded. Trent and Jenny were moving back their way and Amanda found herself watching them with a sad smile.

  “She likes him doesn’t she?” Cade’s voice was sad.

  “Yeah.”

  “He sees her…”

  “As Angie’s little sister and is reminded of what he lost when he sees her; I know. It’s good that he’s leaving.”

  “You don’t miss much do you, Manny?” Cade was studying her.

  “Not much,” she admitted.

  “She’ll find someone this coming school year and forget all about him,” Cade predicted.

  “She’d settle for you,” Amanda teased and watched his surprised gaze meet hers.

  “Yeah, okay then; like I said she’ll meet someone.” Cade, grabbing his gloves and yanking them back on, pushed off the truck.

  Amanda was laughing now.

  “You don’t think she’s pretty?”

  “She’s young. Too young; that’s what I think.”

  “Sorry, Cade, I don’t think she’s seriously interested; she just admitted that she thinks you’re…good looking,” Amanda opted not to use the word hot as she almost had. She was afraid that she would somehow give away that she shared the sentiment.

  “Good looking? I don’t see Jenny using a word that mild,” Cade guessed correctly. “I’m going to miss you, Manny; you never fail to amuse me or shock me as the case may be.”

  “I’ll miss you too,” she admitted.

  “Thanks for explaining the well to me,” Jenny was saying as she and Trent neared.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “We should let these two get back to work,” Amanda suggested.

  “I guess we should,” Jenny agreed.

  Amanda swung easily into Dandelion’s saddle and watched as Jenny struggled to make it up on the uneven terrain. Trent finally had to give her a hand up for her to mount.

  “I guess I should ride more often,” Jenny’s cheeks were stained pink.

  “See you at dinner, Trent; probably you too, Cade,” Amanda called as she tugged Dandelion’s reigns and urged her forward. She didn’t wait for their response or Jenny’s parting, letting her friend catch up with her a moment later.

  “Dang those two are fun to look at!” Jenny announced
as she brought her mount up beside Amanda’s.

  Ten

  Amanda and Jenny sat on Amanda’s bed, a magazine open to an article about a new actor and the new movie they had seen the night before. They had already changed into their pajamas, both wearing tank tops and sleep pants.

  “He’s alright, but he isn’t as cute as your brother and Cade,” Jenny finally announced.

  “I can’t say I actually think about my brother that way,” Amanda’s nose crinkled at the thought.

  “I would hope not,” Jenny stood and moved to look out the window onto the yard below. “It looks like they have Cade’s things loaded,” she noted.

  Trent and Cade were leaving for college the next morning, though Amanda was trying not to think on it too much. That was why she had invited Jenny to stay the night.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to stand having Trent gone,” Amanda announced miserably. “And I’ll miss Cade too,” she added.

  “They’ll be back,” Jenny reminded her.

  “I know,” Amanda sighed. “Me and Trent fight, more so lately than usual, but I’ve never been away from him for more than a week at a time.”

  “I think it will be good for him to get away. Maybe he’ll finally be able to move on,” Jenny mused as she rejoined Amanda on the bed.

  “And if he comes back engaged? Will you still be happy?” Amanda asked pointedly. Jenny never made more than passing comments about how cute Trent was but Amanda knew she had feelings for him.

  “No, yes,” Jenny shrugged. “I’m too young for him now, I know that, but more than anything I want to see him happy.”

  “Me too,” Amanda nodded. Her brother hadn’t been truly happy since Angie’s death. The sound of boots on the stairs prompted both girls to glance toward the door and hallway beyond.

  “Let’s take them their things,” Amanda suggested as she jumped up and grabbed the boxes she and Jenny had put together. Jenny trailed Amanda across the hall where Amanda knocked and waited for her brother to give her permission to enter.

  “What do you want, pest?” Trent was grinning as he opened the door.

  “We have something for you two if you’ll be nice,” she returned as she entered the room and flopped down on her brother’s spare bed. Her parents had been convinced that Amanda would be another boy and had decorated Trent’s room accordingly; no one had bothered to redecorate after her mother died.

  “So what do you have for us?” Trent crossed his arms and watched his sister with interest. Jenny, eyeing the room curiously, seated herself beside Amanda.

  “Here you go,” Amanda stood to hand one small box to her brother and the other to Cade where he sat at her brother’s desk, his sock feet propped on top. “There’s stationary, envelopes, stamps, some pictures of home, cookies, though I’m sure those will be gone before you ever get there; just stuff like that,” Amanda informed them.

  “Thanks, pest,” her brother was looking over the pictures and smiling.

  “Thanks, Manny; I don’t exactly have anyone to write but thanks,” Cade looked rather amused.

  “I was rather hoping you would write me back,” Amanda plopped her hands on her hips and surveyed him.

  He looked slightly taken back and then nodded.

  “If you write; I’ll write back.”

  “Good,” Amanda seated herself back on the bed and glanced around at the open boxes that sat scattered through the room. Trent had all his clothing packed, she knew because she had sat on his bed and watched him pack it the day before, but he was still gathering personal items he wanted to take.

  “What’s left?” Amanda queried as her brother grabbed a couple of photo frames and added them to an open box.

  “Not much. I’m about ready to tape up the boxes and load them,” he admitted.

  Amanda sighed and grabbed the pillow from the bed before stopping and frowning at it.

  “Where did you get this pillow?”

  “That’s mine,” Cade informed her.

  “Oh, well I’m borrowing it,” Amanda stretched out on her belly and wrapped her arms around the pillow before laying her head on it. She watched her brother tape up a box and found herself fighting tears.

  “I don’t want you two to leave; it makes me depressed just thinking about it,” Amanda’s words were slurred from her cheek being pressed against the pillow.

  “You’re such a drama queen, Mandy,” Trent accused.

  “I’m going to miss you,” Amanda countered.

  “I’ll miss you too, pest,” Trent’s own voice sounded suspiciously blue. He taped two more boxes and then stacked them.

  “Mind helping?” he shot at Cade.

  “Nope,” Cade put his feet back on the floor and pulled his boots on. The two soon disappeared out the door, boxes balanced in their arms.

  Taking Trent’s absence as an opportunity to move around the room, Jenny stood and started studying the remaining photos and various items he hadn’t packed.

  “You look ready to cry,” Jenny noted.

  “I feel ready to cry,” Amanda admitted.

  “I’m sorry, Mandy, I know this is hard for you,” Jenny’s gaze was sympathetic.

  “I don’t like being left behind,” Amanda offered on a sigh.

  “Me either,” Jenny’s eyes misted.

  “I’m sorry, Jenny, here I am griping when my brother will be back and your sister won’t,” Amanda offered sincerely.

  “Both are hard, just in different ways,” Jenny forced a shrug and wiped impatiently at her eyes.

  “Yours is worse,” Amanda countered.

  “What we’re going to have a competition over it?” Jenny offered a genuine smile.

  “No,” Amanda smiled back. “I’m so glad we became friends, Jenny; I don’t know how I would deal with this alone.”

  “Me either,” Jenny returned as she made her way back to the bed and seated herself. “Maybe we’ll have some classes together.”

  “I hope so,” Amanda responded. Due to the way their birthdays fell the two were in the same grade despite their age difference.

  “You two still in here,” Trent teased as he reentered the room.

  “Yes, I have to aggravate you while I can,” Amanda offered.

  “At least you’re honest,” he collapsed onto his own bed.

  “What time are you two leaving in the morning?” Jenny queried.

  “We’re hoping no later than seven.”

  “Can’t I stow away in your luggage?” Amanda joked.

  “Then you would be missing Dad, Naomi, and your friends.

  “I think I would miss them less,” she predicted. “Maybe,” she added on further reflection.

  “You would be homesick before I even finished unpacking,” Trent predicted.

  “Yeah, I guess I would,” she acknowledged.

  “It’ll be me and you leaving in a couple of years,” Jenny reminded Amanda. Trent looked so startled at her words that Jenny and Amanda both started laughing.

  “Shit, Jenny; did you have to say that?” Trent looked downright irritable.

  “Sorry,” she offered unrepentantly.

  “You two stay out of trouble, you hear me?” Trent ordered them gruffly.

  “We’ll do our best,” Jenny offered sweetly.

  “Don’t you get my sister in trouble,” Trent warned.

  “Excuse me, you take that back and don’t talk to my friend that way!” Amanda protested.

  “You two are dangerous together!” Trent persisted.

  “We promise to try and stay out of trouble if you two promise to try and stay out of trouble,” Jenny, her eyes twinkling, proposed.

  “Here’s the deal. One of you always has to be the voice of reason for one another and one of us will always be the voice of reason for one another,” Amanda offered. She watched her brother exchange a glance with a smiling Cade.

  “Well? Take it or leave it?” Amanda waited for her brother to respond.

  “I think you laid a nice trap for us,
Trent,” Cade accused.

  “Deal,” Trent finally muttered.

  “I think you and I should room at college,” Jenny suggested to Amanda. Amanda lifted her head from the pillow to peer at her friend.

  “That’s a good idea,” she agreed before she laid her head back down to find Cade watching her. Wishing she could read his mind, she held his gaze.

  “I don’t know, Cade, what do you think? Deal or no deal, can we trust these two together?” Trent turned to his friend.

  Cade shifted his gaze to Trent and smiled.

  “I think they both like pushing your buttons is what I think.”

  Jenny engaged Trent in a series of questions about his upcoming classes and Amanda closed her eyes as she let their voices roll over her. Too soon she would only hear her brother’s voice on the phone and holidays. Amanda became aware of Cade’s cologne clinging to his pillow and sniffed appreciatively. It was a spicy masculine scent and she had, without even realizing it, come to recognize it as Cade’s.

  “You falling asleep over there, Pest?”

  “No. Just relaxing and filing this memory away for after you two are gone,” she admitted.

  “Well aren’t you sappy?” Trent shot at her.

  Amanda opened one eye to glare at her brother. “Better than mean,” she offered.

  Trent grinned a moment, his gaze affectionate as it rested on his sister. His expression turned serious, his brow furrowing.

  “All teasing and joking aside, Amanda, I want you to be careful and I want you to really think things through before you leap. You’ll be…dating before long and…”

  “Trent! What do you think I’m going to do? You think one night I’m going to go to town announce I’m bored and ask if anyone wants my virginity? Good grief; I’ve already told you that the idea of sleeping around for no good reason creeps me out!” Amanda was now glaring at her brother with both eyes.

  “It’s not you I worry about so much,” Trent snapped in return. “I’m worried that some horny prick is going to start pressuring you girls to do things you don’t want to do!”