by Pat Ballard
A small group had gathered with guitars, a banjo, and a fiddle, and was playing bluegrass music. Nella liked the music okay, but the songs seemed sad, and she couldn’t listen to it long without feeling depressed. She knew, though, that some people thought the music had a happy sound.
What amazed her most was how well Sam fit in with this group. He seemed as relaxed, and maybe more so, with these rural people as he did with his business peers at the company party in Hawaii. As she watched him he looked up and caught her eyes on him. He smiled and winked at her and continued conversing with the guys gathered around him.
“It’s good to see Sam happy.” Amy had come up beside Nella, and had seen the look that had just passed between them. “It’s so obvious he’s happy with you, and I’m sorry, but he just never seemed happy with Vanessa. She was a hard woman to like. I never could figure out why Sam married her.”
Nella was speculating on an answer, but none was needed as Amy continued. “Nella, I can’t remember when I’ve had so many compliments! Thanks again. I’ll always love you for helping me come to my senses today.”
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Tommy was trying to talk over the hubbub of the crowd. Slowly everyone quieted down and listened to him.
“We’ve got a table over here with all the hotdog fixin’s. We’ve got sticks cut that you can use to roast your wieners, so come on, let’s feed our faces, then we’ll have some real fun on the hay ride.”
“Do you know how to do this?” Sam was at her side with three sticks in his hand.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” she said, looking skeptically at the sticks he was holding. Someone had apparently just cut some twigs off of trees for this purpose.
Susie came up with Jake, and Sam took his hand and told Nella to follow him. He led them to the table, where they got three wieners. He showed Nella and Jake how to put a wiener on a stick, and they found an empty spot beside the bonfire. He showed her how to hold her wiener in the fire so it would cook, turning it slowly so it didn’t burn in one place. Then he helped Jake hold and turn his.
Nella was amazed at how good the hotdogs tasted, cooked this way.
Tommy and Amy came over and sat with Sam and Nella while they ate their meal. Nella was amused at Tommy’s attentiveness to Amy. He was openly flirting with his wife, and she was enjoying every moment of it.
Chapter 8
“Okay, everyone,” Tommy called above the voices, “everybody who wants to go on this hay ride, mount up!”
He indicated two wagons of hay behind him. Nella had wondered how all these people could possibly get on one wagon, but Tommy had connected two wagons, each stacked with baled hay. At least it was baled and not loose, making it easier to sit on without sliding off. To Nella’s astonishment a pair of horses was hooked to the wagons, not a tractor, as she had expected.
“Horses?” she asked Sam, who was standing beside her with Jake, who was anxious to get on the hay.
“Yeah, this is a real hay ride,” Sam said roguishly.
“Could I have everyone’s attention, please?” Tommy was again trying to talk. People stopped climbing up onto the hay to hear what he wanted to say.
“I think since Nella is our newest addition to the group—” Suddenly Nella remembered Amy’s warnings. “—that she should drive the horses.”
“Yeah!” Everyone cheered the suggestion.
Nella waited patiently until the cheering had quieted down before saying, “Oh, I don’t really think so.” Determination sounded in every word.
“But you have to,” Tommy insisted, and the group cheered again, agreeing with him.
Nella couldn’t help but believe it was a set-up. “Look, people, I know nothing about hay rides, and even less about horses. Trust me, you don’t want your lives in my hands.”
Sam placed his arm around Nella’s shoulders and whispered, “The horses know the route we’ll be taking. They’ve done this enough to do it if no one was guiding them. All you have to do is hold the reins, and they’ll do the rest.”
The only thing Nella knew about horses was what she had seen on the western movies she used to watch with her father, and she was sure that didn’t qualify her to actually deal with live horses, especially when so many people were involved. She knew horses were fairly easy to spook. What if something frightened one of them and they ran away like in the movies? The thought caused her to shake her head.
“No, Sam, I—” But he stopped her with a finger on her lips.
“Come on, be a good sport,” he whispered. “Tommy’s having a blast with this. He doesn’t believe you’ll do it, and he’s enjoying making you squirm. Show him what spunk you have. I’ll stay close to you in case something happens, which it won’t.”
Nella looked deep into Sam’s eyes. For some reason he really wanted her to do this, although she couldn’t for the life of her understand why. But if it meant that much to Sam, she’ surely give it a try.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Nella asked the eagerly awaiting group. “Let’s go!” And she climbed up into the wagon’s seat.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” Tommy swore. “I didn’t think she’d do it. No one else has ever taken my baiting seriously before.”
“I dare say you’ve never met anyone like Nella before, friend,” Sam assured him. “You go sit back there by your wife. I’ll sit here and help guide these mules.”
“Mules, hell, you know this is the finest pair of working horses in this county,” Tommy bragged as he plopped down beside Amy.
The hay had been arranged on one of the wagons to form a deep square section for the smaller children to sit in so they wouldn’t fall off. Everyone else perched wherever they could find a spot.
Sam took the reins in his hands and reached around Nella’s shoulders with one arm. Then, placing the reins in her hands, he showed her how to hold them to guide the horses. “See—” he was so close his breath fanned her hair. “If you want to go right, you gently pull the rein in your right hand. To go left, you pull to the left. You don’t have to pull hard, just tug enough so the horses know what you want from them. Now, if you’re just letting them walk straight, you just hold the reins loosely like this, and if you want to stop, you pull back just enough for them to feel the bit in their mouths, and they’ll respond.”
Sam turned the reins over to her, but didn’t move away. She didn’t mind, though, because she’d quickly hand him the reins if anything went wrong, and the closer he was, the better. Although his thigh pressing against hers was more distracting than she wanted to admit.
Once the horses were in motion down the old road and they had gotten away from the lights of the house, Nella realized that the moon was full and bright. They really didn’t need any kind of light to see where they were going. The night was beautiful. The light breeze that fanned her hair was cool, but not enough to chill, and the sky was so clear it seemed as if she could see a million stars. Nella breathed in the fresh, sweet smell of the hay, and the pleasant night scents that surrounded them.
The people on the hay behind them were laughing and telling stories. Someone had brought along a harmonica and was playing a happy melody.
“How often do they do this?” Nella asked, turning to Sam.
“Usually someone in the community has a gathering about once a month. It helps keep everyone in the community close to each other.” He held her gaze with his. The moonlight caught and glinted off his eyes.
“Okay, you two newlyweds don’t get mushy up there and spook the horses,” someone yelled.
Sam smiled. “You know, they do expect us to show some kind of affection for each other. They’re all back there being romantic in this beautiful moonlight, and they’ve all been married longer than we have. I think I might need to kiss you. Just for their sake, of course.” The smile on his face was teasing. He was deliberately trying to intimidate her.
“I think maybe you should,” she said, determined not to be outdone, but not really believing he
’d kiss her.
But Sam, accepting the challenge, lifted his hand from the back of the wagon seat and buried it in her thick, luxurious hair. He tilted her head slightly back and toward him, and slowly lowered his lips to hers.
Caught off guard, Nella’s hand holding the reins gave a quick, jerking motion, causing the horses to come to an abrupt stop.
Several people almost fell off the hay because of the sudden stop, and began yelling, “What’s going on?” When they discovered Sam and Nella they all started whistling and giving wolf calls.
“Atta boy, Sam,” someone yelled.
Slowly releasing Nella, Sam cleared his throat and took the reins from her. He quietly clucked to the horses. They started back in motion, instantly. Someone started singing an old song, and everyone joined in.
“What happened back there?” Nella asked.
“I kissed you.” Sam’s voice was teasing again.
“No, not that!” Nella scolded. “Why did the horses stop so suddenly?”
“You apparently jerked back on the reins, and to a horse that means stop, remember?” Sam reminded her of the lesson he had given earlier.
“Oh.” She knew that. She just didn’t realize she’d jerked the reins when Sam kissed her.
Sam handed the reins back to her, but Nella pushed his hand away. “That’s okay, you can do it now. No telling what I might make those horses do next.”
But Sam took her hand and placed the reins in it.
“When I decide to kiss you again, I’ll warn you not to make any sudden moves.”
Nella knew Sam was teasing her, but her already racing pulse quickened even more, especially since he had said “when,” not “if,” he decided to kiss her again.
The horses plodded along at a slow, steady pace. Some of the people in back of them were singing, some were talking, and some just sat enjoying the night, the company, and the moonlight.
In a little while, Tommy said, “Okay, Sam, you know what the spot ahead is, and you know what the tradition is. You do remember, don’t you?”
“I remember, Tommy,” Sam assured his friend, and as the wagons drew close to a huge boulder beside the road, he reached over and took the reins from Nella. As they got even with the boulder, Sam stopped the horses.
“See the formation at the top of the boulder? It looks like two people kissing. This has become known as Kissing Boulder, and it has been the tradition of lovers down through the years to always stop here and kiss when they pass by. It’s supposed to bring them good luck. It’s also the tradition of all of Tommy’s hayrides to stop the hay wagons and all the lovers on the ride kiss each other. And I think all of our friends back there are waiting for us to set the example.” Sam placed a hand on each side of Nella’s face and lowered his lips to hers. The kiss was long and probing and gentle, causing Nella’s entire body to dissolve into limp pulp.
“Sam, Nella, look at this,” Tommy called.
Jake and the McCoys’ youngest daughter, Sarah, were locked in an embrace and busy kissing. They stopped when everyone started laughing at them.
“Hey, maybe we’ll be in-laws some day,” Amy suggested.
Sam started the horses, but this time he held onto the reins.
Nella’s heart was pounding in her chest, and she felt as if she might hyperventilate, she was breathing so hard. Sam’s kiss had been very passionate and real. The cool air burned her hot, flushed skin. She had to calm down before Sam noticed.
As Sam watched the moonlight play off the horses’ backs, he wondered what had possessed him to kiss Nella like he had. He could still feel her soft lips yielding to his, and he felt a hunger to taste more. This moonlight was having a strange effect on him tonight, for sure.
The horses rounded another curve and the McCoy farmhouse lay before them.
“How did we do that, without making any turns?” Nella asked, thoroughly puzzled, as Sam stopped the horses in front of the house.
Sam laughed. “Tommy has a utility road that circles his farm. That way, he can check his fencerows as he drives, and he doesn’t have to walk them out. It’s the lazy man’s way.”
“It’s the smart man’s way,” interjected Tommy, who had just come up behind them.
Soon everyone said good night, and left for home.
“Come on in and let’s have some coffee and talk some more. It’s still early.” Tommy had his arm around Amy’s shoulders.
“We’ll make the kids a pallet in the living room and let Jake sleep with them if it’s okay. That’ll give you the whole room to yourselves.” Amy was busy making sleeping arrangements.
“Sure,” Sam agreed, again before Nella could come up with a reason to protest. “Jake is having such a good time with your children.”
And Jake really was having a wonderful time. Nella had hardly seen him since they’d arrived here. To her surprise, she actually missed having him underfoot all the time.
After the kids were settled on the living room floor “camping out,” as they were pretending to do, the two couples gathered around the dining room table with their cups of coffee.
Nella listened to the three friends reminisce about their high school days. They laughed at stories they remembered. Sam asked about people in the area he hadn’t heard from in years. Nella was amazed at the insight she gained about Sam just from listening to them talk.
They talked for hours. Finally Tommy looked at the clock and yawned and stretched. “People, it’s one thirty. If we plan to get up in the morning, we’d better go to bed.”
Nella had been dreading this moment all night. How would Sam handle the situation? How would she handle it? She’d soon find out. Maybe there’d be twin beds in the room.
The children had long been asleep, and the house was quiet.
“Sam, you know where the guest room is. You slept there before when you and—” Tommy stopped, knowing he had talked himself into a corner. Embarrassment washed over his face.
“It’s okay, Tommy,” Nella assured him. “I do know Sam was married before. Don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks for understanding my big mouth,” he murmured.
They all said good night, and Nella followed Sam to a closed door across from the living room. He walked into the room and switched on the light.
The room was large, like the bedroom upstairs, but this one contained a bedroom suite with a king-size bed.
Nella was disappointed that they didn’t find twin beds in the room, but a king-size was better than a regular full-size bed would have been.
“Pretty impressive for a guest room,” Nella observed, trying to keep the relief from her voice. At least they wouldn’t have to spend the night trying to avoid touching each other.
“Tommy and Amy bought this for themselves, then didn’t like it because it was too big, so they went back to a queen-size and put this one in here,” Sam explained.
There were two rocking chairs in the room. The decor was country, and the bed was covered in a beautiful, hand-stitched quilt. The room was relaxing and comforting, but Nella didn’t feel relaxed or comfortable. She was about to spend the night in the same bed with Sam, and she had nothing to sleep in.
This was not a good situation. She could ask Amy for something, but that would look odd, since most married couples wouldn’t mind sleeping nude with their mate, at least occasionally.
“I can’t believe you let us get into this situation, Sam!” Nella said, turning on him.
“It’s okay, Nella. It’s a big bed. Trust me, you won’t even know I’m there. Now I’ll just jump in the bathroom first, then you can take as long as you like.” He went directly to the adjoining bathroom, where Nella could hear him stirring around.
Suddenly she felt irritation at Sam for allowing them to be in this situation, and for being so nonchalant about it. It stood to reason, though, if he weren’t attracted to her that it wouldn’t bother him to sleep in the same bed with her, even if she were naked. Maybe she would put him to the test. She ought to just
strip down and be waiting under the covers for him and see if he would even notice. He—
“Amy usually keeps extra sleeping apparel in some of those drawers for unexpected overnight guests, if you want to check it out,” Sam said, sticking his head around the door from the bathroom, a toothbrush in his mouth. “Oh, and there are toothbrushes in here if you want one. Unused, of course.” He grinned around the toothbrush that hung precariously from his mouth.
Relief flooded Nella as she went to the chest of drawers to look for something to sleep in. The McCoys sure knew how to make a person feel welcome in their home.
She pulled out a drawer that contained women’s nightgowns and pajamas. The items weren’t new, but they were clean and smelled fresh. She found a pink nightgown she thought would fit her fairly well.
Finally Sam came from the bathroom. “Your turn,” he said, and sat on the bed and started taking off his shoes.
Nella was impressed with the bathroom. Everything a person could need was in easy reach. The thought of a shower suddenly seemed inviting to her. Maybe if she took time to shower, Sam would have the light off and be asleep when she went back to the bedroom.
She finished her shower and dried off. She slipped into the gown she had chosen, and was dismayed to find that it fit everywhere except her breasts. The bodice barely covered half her breasts, and even worse, the snug fit had a “push up” effect. Oh, well, some women went to parties with clothes on that fit like this. Surely she could sleep in the gown for one night in a dark room.
She turned the bathroom light off and quietly opened the door a little to peek into the bedroom. Thank goodness, the light was out, so Sam must be in bed, and hopefully asleep.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized Sam had opened the bedroom curtains, and moonlight flooded the room. Under more normal circumstances, she would have reveled in the moonlight, but tonight she would rather have done without it.
