“Who knows? It’s been ten years. You know Cole was just getting ready to go off to medical school when it happened. Though I don’t understand it, I think that made Alice feel old and I guess she thought it’d be more exciting to be with a fancy lawyer than married to a cattle farmer for the rest of her life.”
“Maybe so, old girl.”
She grinned at him. “Well, I must say I agree with you. It’ll probably be a long time before Jude trusts any woman again.”
“Can’t say as I blame him, but I’m sure glad I don’t have to go looking for a new woman. I’m happy with this gray-headed one I’ve got. I know I can trust her.” Neil hugged Mavis close to him.
“Now, just how do you know that?” She giggled.
“For one thing, she has no ambitions to start a political career, and second, being married to a farmer seems to be fine with her.” Neil let his hand drop and he patted her behind. “Jude may not want to eat lunch with us, but I’m sure getting hungry.”
“Well, come on, old man and I’ll see if I can’t find something you might like to eat.” She reached around and took his hand in hers. “I’ve got to admit I’m kind of glad you’re not in the market for a new woman, either.”
“You got a good reason for that?”
“Sure. I know you. You’re foolish enough to say yes to Minnie Cox’s first invitation and Lord knows I can’t see her and Darlene ever getting along.”
“Mavis, my dear wife of over thirty-three years, I might be as foolish as you say, but there isn’t a man in his right mind that foolish.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek as she moved into the kitchen.
“I’m glad you think like that. Makes me respect you more. Now, why don’t you go wash your hands while I put lunch on the table?”
CHAPTER 2
It was almost five o’clock in the afternoon when Avery “Red” McCaskin stood in the airport in Ashville and waited for the plane to land. He hadn’t seen his Aunt Kay since he was a teenager, but he remembered how much fun she’d been when she’d visited at his house. He realized she wasn’t actually his aunt, but he’d always thought of her as such. His mother and Kay were first cousins, though his mom often said they were as close as sisters.
Kay was the first in the family to go to graduate school after college. He knew she held some kind of doctorate, but he wasn’t sure in what field because she went to a college in the west to achieve it. It was there she met James Littleton, one of her professors and several years her senior. After the marriage, James entered politics and Kay was at his side on his climb up the political ladder. Before he suffered the fatal heart attack a few years back, there were rumors he was being looked at as a serious candidate to run for president. Because of the distance to their southwestern home, his different party affiliation and the couple living between Washington DC and the southwest, the family had seen very little of Kay in the intervening years. For some reason, after Red’s mother died none of them had kept in close touch with her.
It’d floored Red when Kay Littleton called a week ago and asked if she could come for a visit. Of course, he readily agreed. Now he wondered if he’d done the right thing. Darlene was mad at him because of all the demands he’d put on her, the kids were coming down with the early winter sniffles, and he was behind in his work on the farm, but Neil hadn’t complained. Red smiled to himself. He was one lucky guy. His father-in-law had taken him right into the family business and treated him as well as they did their own son. Neil had made no secret that when the time came, Red and Darlene would be the ones to take over the farm. Of course, he knew Devon would be well taken care of, but it was the farm Red loved. Not the money it brought in. Standing there in the airport, Red was anxious. The fact that he’d run his fingers through his thick burnt copper colored hair several times was an indication of his nervousness. If he’d been honest with himself, he would’ve admitted he was as nervous as he’d been on his wedding day. He wondered if it was because he thought that through Aunt Kay, he could recapture some of the motherly love he’d missed since his mother’s death.
He looked around for the hundredth time. The airport was crowded. He decided it was because people were getting a jump on the holiday travel. He’d heard somewhere that Thanksgiving was the busiest travel season of the year and it was coming up next week. He was glad Aunt Key would be here to spend it with them. The speaker came on and the announcer said his aunt’s plane was landing. He took a deep breath and got up to watch for her. She’d told him she would carry a pink carnation. He was thankful she’d said this because the only pictures he had of her was as a young woman. In the few snapshots he had, she was usually with his mother.
The first-class passengers began to disembark. He wondered if she’d be in this group. He didn’t have to wonder long. A small woman in a black pants suit carrying a pink flower in her left hand came into view. She had a laptop and a small purse on one shoulder and in the right hand was a briefcase. There were a stack of papers and a book in the same hand as the flower. He frowned. This couldn’t be her. His aunt would be much older than this woman and she wouldn’t look so professional. He was also sure she wouldn’t be near this pretty.
The woman looked around at the people waiting and her eyes caught Red’s. She smiled and came toward him. “You have to be Red,” she said as she approached him.
“Aunt Kay?” He was startled.
“Hello, nephew.” She reached out and hugged him.
Stunned, he hugged her back. “Welcome,” he muttered.
“Thank you.” She pulled back from him. “Let me look at you. You were about twelve or thirteen the last time I saw you and it’s hard to believe you’re this tall, handsome gentleman standing before me. And look at that beautiful hair.” She reached up and ran her fingers through it. “I’m so glad you inherited your father’s red mane. Your mother was like me, she had mousey hair.”
“You’re still awfully pretty, Aunt Kay,” he blurted.
“Thank you, dear. To hear that warms an old lady’s heart.” She looked around. “Is your family with you?”
He shook his head. “The kids are taking colds, so Darlene decided they should wait at home for us. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s perfectly fine. I don’t blame her for not wanting to bring the children out with colds. Let’s go pick up my luggage and head for Coverton Mills. I can’t wait to meet your wife and children.”
•♥ •
When Jude came in from the barn, he was tired. He and one of his farm hands, Doby Martin, had moved and stacked the hay that was left over from yesterday. It had taken most of the afternoon, and his shoulders ached. Usually, he took his shower when he first came in, but tonight he decided to rest his tired back first.
He got a beer and went to the recliner in his den. There was an unfinished western paperback novel on the table beside his chair and he picked it up. He smiled as he began to read. It amused him to find the outlaw was named Jude.
Thirty minutes later, a streak of lightning flashed across the sky. Jude laid the book aside and looked out the window. He wondered if there was going to be a thunderstorm. If so, it would be unusual in November. He watched for a little while and there were a few more streaks, but in a short time, the storm moved on. The sun was gone and it was dark. He figured he was what people called from “the old school”, because he didn’t like it getting dark before six o’clock. Of course, there was nothing he could do about it. It was getting colder, too, and he wondered if the predicted snow flurries would actually happen, or if it was only going to rain. It’d been a long time since it snowed this early in the year, but it had sure been cold enough. He pulled his recliner into a sitting position and got up.
He flexed his sore back. “I’m feeling my age more every year. Getting old is no fun at all,” he mumbled and ambled to the kitchen.
Jude wasn’t much of a cook, never had been except on the grill, but he’d been doing his own cooking since his housekeeper of over twenty years suffered a stroke
back in the summer. He planned to hire another one, but to date, he hadn’t gotten around to it.
He wondered what he could find to eat tonight and wished he’d put a stew or roast or something in a crock pot this morning. Even soup would’ve been good in this weather, but when he got ready to leave the house he hadn’t thought of fixing anything for later.
Neither did he think of it when he came in at lunch time. He’d eaten a quick ham and cheese sandwich, using what he had left of the boiled ham. Usually what he ate didn’t really matter to him. Occasionally, his body would demand a good steak or other hearty meal, but most of the time anything to fill him up would do.
Opening the refrigerator, he saw the package of cheese he’d tossed back in there at lunch. He decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich. He looked in the cabinet and found a non-stick pan. Putting it on the stove, he plopped a hunk of butter in it and as he turned to get the bread the telephone rang.
Picking up the wall phone beside the sink he said, “Jude Winslow.”
“Jude, it’s Mavis.” Her voice was panicky.
“What’s wrong, Mavis?”
“Our horse barn is on fire. Can you come?”
“I’ll be right there.” Jude put the phone down on the counter, turned off the stove and shoved the pan on a cold burner. Without putting up the butter or cheese, he ran out the end door to the three-car garage area, grabbing his heavy lined work coat from a peg in the mud room. He jumped into his Ford truck and hoped he’d get there in time to help. He knew how quickly a barn could go up in flames.
He reached the Parker farm at the same time as Alex Hargrove. The two men greeted each other on the run as they entered the barn and began pulling the frightened horses out of their stalls and into a nearby pasture. Neil and Red were trying to get a mare to calm down and lead her colt outside.
The women were hooking up hoses and spraying water on the fire. Though they all knew it was a losing battle unless the fire trucks soon arrived, they had to try. As Jude pulled the last horse from the barn and led her to the pasture, he thought he heard the faint sound of sirens. Good. Maybe they can save the barn. He glanced at the women and for an instant wondered who the little woman working with the hoses beside Heather Hargrove was. He didn’t linger on the thought because there were still things which needed to come out of the burning building.
He ran back inside where the other men were struggling to save the equipment. Neil was on the tractor and was driving it out the door. Alex and Red were pulling the saddles and bridles out of the tack room. Jude began grabbing them, two at a time and taking them to safety in the bed of Neil’s pickup truck which was parked, as it always was, in the road to the barn.
A fire engine roared into the drive leading to the barn. It whipped around Neil’s truck and everyone began to move out of the professionals’ way. Jude wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand and wondered how a man could perspire so much in this cold weather. He even felt the dampness around his chest and under his arms. He glanced at his companions and realized they were in the same shape.
Another truck arrived and the women moved back as the fire fighters began unrolling their big hoses. Everyone watched as arcs of water rained down on the roof of the barn.
Jude saw Neil talking to the unfamiliar women and wondered again who this tiny lady was. He couldn’t tell from this distance what her age might be, but as her soft blond hair blew in the breeze, he figured she was young. Probably one of Darlene’s friends. She couldn’t be much older than that. Not many older women had the figure this one did, even if she was little.
He shook his head and looked back at the barn. No matter how soon they got the flames under control, this was going to be a mess. It would take a while to get the inside clean and dry enough for the equipment. It would also take a while to calm the horses enough to get them to feel comfortable in their stalls because of the smoke and burn smell.
“Well, I got the women folks to go to the house,” Neil said as he walked up beside Jude. “Took some doing to get Mavis to leave, but I told her we’d all be tired and hungry and this convinced her to go start cooking,”
Alex joined them. “You have any idea what happened, Neil?”
“It had to be lightning. We heard it hit. Mavis and I were getting ready to fix some supper when it struck.” He shook his head. “The whole farm shook.”
“Looks like they’re going to get it contained rather quickly,” Jude said.
“Lord, I hope so! I don’t want to lose my barn.”
“That’d be a blow to any of us.” Alex was looking at the leaping flames. “I know it’s been hard since we almost lost the house.”
“We all know how that must have stressed you and Heather,” Neil said.
“Heather’s a trooper. I felt bad since we’d only been back from our honeymoon for a week, but she kept saying that nothing mattered as long as the family was safe and we were together. She was right. We’ve managed fine. In fact, I’ve kind of enjoyed living in that little house with her. Makes for a lot togetherness.” He grinned.
“That’s great. It’s always encouraging to be around people who have happy marriages like you and Neil.” Jude looked around. “Speaking of happy marriages, where’s Red? I know he was here earlier.”
“I sent him to the house, too. Darlene’s there with the kids and they’re both getting sick. I told him to go on and take his family home. We’ve done about all we can do except stand here and hope they get it out before it burns beyond repair.”
CHAPTER 3
Almost three hours later, the men trooped into the house. The smell of freshly brewed coffee tempted their noses. Jude hoped he was right and there was country ham somewhere in the kitchen, because he was sure he got a whiff of it.
Mavis greeted them. “You all wash up and we’ll get it on the table for you. I know you’re hungry. Heather said she and Alex haven’t eaten, and I know Neil hasn’t, because we were just putting the food out when the lightning hit. How about you, Jude? I bet you haven’t had anything either.”
“I was getting ready to eat when you called.”
“I figured as much. Now, go wash your hands and come on to the table.”
They lined up and washed in the laundry room off the kitchen. When they got to the family dining area, Jude was happy to see he was right. There was a big platter of fried country ham in the middle of the table. Mavis had also made stacks of pancakes, hash browns, grits, and a big bowl of scrambled eggs.
“I figured it was too late for beans and potatoes so I fixed breakfast food.”
“This looks great.” Alex smiled at her.
“I agree,” Jude said. “You can’t beat country ham no matter what else you have with it.”
“Well, you all start eating and we’ll keep the bowls full.” She bent and took a big pan of biscuits from the oven. Putting them in a basket, she brought them over.
The men began to eat. Jude noticed Heather bring dishes to the table, but he hadn’t seen the strange woman. He guessed she’d gone home. He was about to ask for a coffee refill when a soft voice said, “Hello, there. Would you like more coffee?”
“Sure.” Jude looked up into the most beautiful pair of aqua- marine eyes he’d ever seen. The soft blond hair encircled her head like a halo, and when she leaned down to pour the coffee he could smell lilacs. She was older than he’d first thought.
“Oh, Jude, I don’t think you’ve met Kay Littleton. She’s Red’s aunt. Kay, that’s our good friend and neighbor, Jude Winslow.” Through with the introduction, Mavis turned to the others. “Need more ham?”
“If you have it, we’ll eat it, honey.” Neil grinned at her. Kay was looking at Jude. “Hello, again.”
“Hi.” He wondered why his tongue wasn’t working correctly and if he squeaked on that one small word.
She smiled at him and moved with her coffee pot to Alex. He held his cup for her, as did Neil.
Jude was wracking his brain trying to think of something
clever to say to the lovely creature, but she’d already taken her coffee pot back to the kitchen counter and was refilling it from the coffee maker. Too late. She was out of talking range.
For the first time in his life, Jude felt self-conscious. He knew his shirt was soaked with sweat and he probably smelled like a mule. The stubble on his chin was a mix of gray and brown, and must look awful, because he’d not shaved since early this morning and he hadn’t taken the time to trim his mustache. He’d not bothered to comb his hair when they were washing up and he knew the mixed gray mop was probably sticking in all directions.
He shook his head and stabbed another piece of ham. He might as well enjoy the food. Though he’d been right about her being older than he first thought, the woman was way too classy to be interested in the likes of him. Anyway, she was probably married with half a dozen kids. But where was her husband? Maybe Darlene had been right when she said the man was dead. On the other hand, she hadn’t been right about Red’s aunt. This was no old lady. He reached for his coffee cup and realized it was again about empty.
“Ready for a refill?” There was the soft voice again.
He was too nervous to smile, but he did mumble, “Thank you.”
Mavis came to the table talking on the phone. Jude hadn’t even heard it ring.
Boy, I must be out of it. Get it together man. You were right a while ago. This lady is way out of your league, so act your age. Besides, she may still be too young for you. Wonder how old she is, anyway?
“I know, Red. You just stay put,” Mavis was saying. “We’ll get her home. That’s the least we can do for all the help she has been.” She smiled at Kay. “No, that won’t be necessary. Why, I bet Jude wouldn’t mind dropping her off. It’s on his way home.” Mavis turned to Jude. “Would you drop Kay off at Red’s house when you go home?”
“Sure.” Was Mavis serious? Was he really going to have the pleasure of taking this beautiful woman home?
Second Chance Dreams Page 2
