Did her parents really have such little faith in her? “First of all, Uncle Smitty left the ranch to me. In its entirety. You don’t get a say in what I do with it. And it’s not your money, it’s mine. If you’ll recall, he left specific instructions that no one else was to receive any money except for me. I couldn’t give you his money if I wanted to. And secondly, I think I might like the chance to run this ranch. I really do love it out here. I think Montana has a piece of my heart after all of these years. Uncle Smitty and I had some nice times here.”
Her mother threw up her hands in frustration. “Fine. Your father and I will leave you here. When you come home for Christmas, you can tell us how much you’re going to sell it for. You’ll never make it through a winter here, Carrie. You’re used to the warm weather. You’ve only been here when it’s nice. Call us when you come to your senses, and maybe we’ll come back out to help you sell everything.” That said, she grabbed Carrie’s father and walked out the door.
Carrie went to bed that night fired up. After the discussion with her parents, she was determined to hold on to the ranch. Her degree in interior design wasn’t going anywhere, and when she learned what she needed to, she could entrust the running of the ranch to the others. She could hire a bookkeeper to run the office end too. That would leave her with free time to do her interior decorating if she decided to. She would have to go to bigger towns, but she could do that with ease.
~~~~
The next morning brought a chill with it. It was nearing September, and it was hovering right around forty degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily for Carrie, Uncle Smitty had updated the old wood burning fireplace to gas years ago. Since it still reached the seventies and sometimes eighties during the day, it was too early to flip the house thermostat to heat.
She padded into the sun room off the kitchen and flipped on the switch to the fireplace. Just as she was starting the coffee pot, she heard barking coming from outside. Clad in only her white terry bathrobe and puppy dog slippers, Carrie looked out the front door.
There was a beautiful border collie running up the long driveway. She was a joy to watch, frolicking to and fro. Carrie went out onto the porch shivering as she called to the playful dog. “Come here, Sweetie.” She crouched down to doggie level and braced herself for impact. Carrie had always loved animals.
A little way off in the distance, she heard a shrill whistle. The dog immediate stopped in her tracks, about fifty feet from Carrie and sat down. Looking behind her, it seemed as if the dog was waiting for another command.
As Carrie looked in the same direction, she finally saw a huge truck rambling up the driveway. It was obviously a working man’s truck, complete with a shiny silver plated tool box in the bed. The driver stuck his head out the window and gave another whistle accompanied by a scathing reprimand. “You get your tail back to this truck this instant, Mollie!”
Mollie gave Carrie a friendly yip and ran back to her owner. The man stopped the truck and opened his door. Mollie jumped right in and started licking her owner’s face, apparently not intimidated by his reprimand. The man laughed and ruffled the fur on her head. He gently pushed her onto the passenger side of the seat and continued up the drive.
When he reached the parking pad on the side of the house, he stepped out of the truck, with Mollie in tow. “Howdy, Ma’am, I’m Colt Remington, and no, that’s not a joke. Colt for the horse, not the gun. My father likes to think he’s clever.” Taking his hat off, he slowly approached the front porch. When he was two stairs away from reaching the top, he stuck his hand out to Carrie, admiring her puppy slippers. “You must be Carrie. I’m real sorry for you loss, ma’am. I got word of old Smitty’s death more than a week after he died. I was out on a cattle drive or I would have been here to pay my respects at the funeral. We don’t get much cell phone reception when we’re out on the range.”
Carrie took the hand he offered in hers and was a bit startled at the jolt she felt. She wondered if he felt it too. He wasn’t really all that much to look at when she first saw him. He had sandy brown hair, brown eyes and a nose that might be just a tad too big. He was tall though, which she had always found attractive in a man. He had to be close to six and a half feet tall. Even two stairs above him she was eye level with him. It was his smile, she decided. He had dimples on both sides of his face. That was good for him, because he had a pretty decent scar running from his left jaw bone up to the very corner of his left eye.
“Thank you, Colt. I’ll miss the old coot. I was really the only one in the family that got along with him. I think we understood each other. There was a lot more to that man than he let people see.” Carrie suddenly felt the burn of tears behind her eyes. “I have to say, he never mentioned you, but told me you were a ‘right nice son’ in his letter that he left for me. In Smitty speak, that pretty much means he thinks you could hang the moon.” As if Carrie suddenly realized they were still standing outside in the cold air, she gasped. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. Please, let’s go inside. I just made some coffee and was about to make something for breakfast.”
Colt followed her in and told Mollie to stay on the porch. “Oh no, Colt. Mollie is more than welcome to come in. I love dogs. She’s beautiful by the way.”
“She’s not the only one,” Colt mumbled as he let Mollie in.
“Excuse me?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing ma’am. Just admiring the scenery around here. It’s beautiful.”
“Please, drop the ma’am. I appreciate the show of respect, but if we’re going run this ranch together and make a go of this, we should be a bit more casual, don’t you think?” Carrie hoped she didn’t offend him. She knew he was just using his country manners.
“I’m glad to hear you say that. I was told that you didn’t know about that part of Smitty’s deal. I’m glad he told you. I told my Pa that it was mighty underhanded to trick you into marriage just to keep the property.”
Carrie dropped the cup she was getting ready to pour coffee into. “Excuse me? Marriage? I think you’re mistaken, Colt. Smitty’s will simply stated that you would help me learn how to look after the ranch and that I could trust you.”
“No, I have a copy of his will right here. It clearly states that I get half ownership if I agree to marry his great-niece, one Carrie McDermott, within one year of his death. If we don’t marry, I get the ranch and you get his money.” Colt didn’t get this lady. Was she purposefully being obtuse? He thought it was a great deal either way, but seeing her, he was thinking he wanted the girl and the ranch.
“We must have different copies, because mine said nothing about that.”
“Did you actually read the will?” Colt challenged.
“No, but Mr. Bolton explained everything to me. At least I believe he did.” She couldn’t imagine he would have purposefully left that out. He seemed like a very competent attorney.
Colt busted out laughing. “He did it. The old man did it! Oh, you have to see this.” Colt took out his copy of the will and handed it to her.
Carrie quickly glanced at it. “It looks the same as the copy I have.” As she kept flipping through the pages, she came to an addendum.
Mr. Bolton—You have strict instructions to NOT read this part to my niece unless she happens to see it and questions you . I’m bankin’ on the girl just skimmin’ through this legal mumbo jumbo like most sane folks would do. There are some further rules for owning this property and they are as follows:
In order to keep ownership of the ranch, Carrie has to marry Colt Remington within one year of my death. If she don’t, the ranch goes to him, but she keeps the money I have in my investment accounts. They gotta stay married for at least two years to keep these arrangements. The only exceptions to this are if he physically hurts her, cheats on her or abuses her in any other manner. These stipulations (that the right word?) are non-negotiable.
“Holy shit! Oh Geez, excuse my language. I’m sorry, Colt. I did not see that part.” Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? “I, ah, don’t really know wha
t to say to that.”
“Okay. Well, this is a bit awkward. Okay ma’am—err, sorry, Carrie; how about we just take it one day at a time. Is it okay with you if I move into the barn? Me and Mollie, we’d be fine in there. I can teach you the ropes and we can just let nature takes its course, or not. No pressure, no rules. How about it?” Colt would love to settle down and have a family. And he absolutely wanted the ranch, but he wouldn’t want it without the right woman. Carrie seemed nice, and attraction certainly wasn’t an issue. He’d like the chance to see if she could be the one he could build that family with.
Carrie McDermott was an Irish beauty. Reddish blonde hair that curled at the edges around her shoulders, green eyes that radiated kindness and an ass—well, he wouldn’t go there. She carried a bit of extra flesh on her, which he happened to adore. She was plump enough to be nice and curvy but thin enough to be health conscious. He knew a lot of men liked the skinny model types, but he wasn’t one of them. He wanted a girl he could grip that wouldn’t break. He wanted a girl who’d eat steak and potatoes with him.
“This is a bit awkward, but I’m willing to test it out. You seem nice, we’re both single, who knows? For now, let’s just think of it as a business arrangement, okay? I have to say I’m a bit put off about how this all came about, but I’m not saying no. We have a year to see how things work out, right? You and Mollie don’t have to sleep in the barn though. This isn’t the 1800s. There are three other guest rooms in here besides the master that I’ve taken over. There’s no reason we can’t stay in the same house. I would like to keep the marriage stipulation private if you don’t mind.”
“Okay, no problem. If you’re sure about this, then I’ll just go get my stuff. Are you certain you don’t mind a dog in the house?”
“Oh, I’m absolutely certain. As I said before, I love dogs. We could never have one because my mother is allergic. I never understood why Uncle Smitty didn’t have one though. He loved animals, and a dog would have been great company.” She’d asked him once about it, but he just grumbled and said she needed to fix his dinner. She never asked again.
“Actually, Smitty had a bloodhound that used to go everywhere with him. I swear that dog went to the bathroom with him. One year, when Sue, he named her after his late wife, was only about eight years old, she got trampled by his own horses. There was a snake in the field where the horses were grazing and they just went crazy. Sue was with Smitty bringing some of the horses into the center corral when she got trampled. She lasted about two painful days after that and finally gave up. First and last time I ever saw Smitty cry. I worked around here to help him out back then. My dad’s ranch was running on its own about that time so I helped out here. Smitty swore on the day he buried his second Sue that he’d never get another dog or another wife. He never did get another of either.”
Carrie had tears in her eyes over that story. She couldn’t imagine her grumpy old uncle ever loving something so much.
“I think he loved you that much too. There’s no way he would have left anything to his family. We all knew how much he disliked his family. You were really special to him.”
“Thank you for telling me that. You know, I always saw that man in him. He was grumpy, but he was honest and true. My mother always acts happy, but she’ll talk about you as soon as your back is turned. I’ll take Uncle Smitty’s brutal honesty over my mother’s flowery speech anytime.”
Chapter Four
Colt and Mollie were all moved in as dawn broke the following morning. Obviously Colt was used to rancher’s hours, because Carrie was woken by the smell of coffee at six am! Since that morning marked the first day of her ranch training, she climbed out of bed, threw on a sweat suit and headed downstairs. Remembering at the last second that she hadn’t even brushed her hair, she jammed a Tampa Bay Lightning’s cap on her head.
“Good morning, I guess,” Carrie mumbled as she led herself over to the coffee.
Colt gave a chuckle as Mollie got up to give Carrie a morning lick in greeting. “Not a morning gal, huh? Don’t worry, we’ll change that.”
“Do we always have to get up this early? Like, every morning?” Carrie was most certainly not a morning person.
“Nah, you won’t have to, but some of the hands are already outside feeding the horses. There’s not a lot of down time on a ranch. Count your blessings that you only raise horses here. If we ever add cattle to the mix, they’ll be even more work.” Colt had always wanted to branch out into breeding cattle. Most of the ranches around Lincoln were strictly horse ranches. He already knew how to care for heifers and bulls. Adding cattle to the ranch would make it that much more rounded and profitable.
“If we add cattle, won’t we have to get up even earlier?” She was horrified at the thought.
Colt laughed at her facial expression. “Calm down, darlin’. If we ever decided to go that route, we would do plenty of research and hire enough cowhands to handle the cattle. They would be the ones to get up early.” She sure was a cute little filly when she was riled up.
“Oh, sure, of course. So then, why am I up at such an ungodly hour?” If the ranch hands were the ones doing all the work, couldn’t she have stayed in bed for a few more minutes?
“I thought you wanted to learn all about ranching. Well, darlin’, this is part of it. After you understand how everything works and who does what, well then you can do whatever you want. What is it that you want to do with this ranch anyway?”
“Well, I don’t mind mucking out a stall or two now and then, but to be honest, I much prefer riding the horses than cleaning up after them. I thought I’d like to learn the business side of the operation. My degree is in interior design, but that came with a lot of business classes too. It was my understanding that Uncle Smitty kept the books and tracked grain orders and such.” George, the foreman told her he’d keep up with that until she figured out what she wanted to do. He told her that Smitty had been letting him handle the business end for the last couple of months.
“That sounds like a fine idea. How about after we get some breakfast, we find George and see how his schedule is?” Colt loved that she was interested in the business end. He hated that part of the business. He didn’t mind negotiating for animal flesh or the food to feed them, but writing everything down and remembering when to order what? No thank you.
“So what is it that you would like to do on the ranch? Is there anything specific?” Carrie was curious about his experience. Did he mend fences and corrals? Did he oversee the medical care of the horses? Did he scout out new studs and see to their purchase?
“I would say my best skill is breaking horses. I’m the guy who gets them to trust people. Morgans are pretty easy to break. They seem to like people, but you always have to treat each horse like it’ll trample you in the beginning. It’s all about trust. They learn to trust that I won’t hurt them and I learn to trust that they won’t hurt me. It’s a pretty special bond I feel with each horse that finally lets me sit on its back.” There was nowhere he’d rather be than on the back of a horse. Although looking at Carrie in her sweats that were pulled taught across her bottom made him think of somewhere else he’d like to be.
“Okay, so it seems like we have a plan. Let’s get everyone together and tell them what we are going to do. When should we do that? What would the best time be?” Carrie knew there were currently fifteen ranch hands, along with the foreman and twin stable boys that belonged to one of the ranch hands.
“Well, it might be a good idea to host an informal dinner. Do you think it’s possible to get something like that together by, say seven o’clock tonight?” Colt knew that was a lot to ask. That was a lot of people to provide dinner for. Could Carrie even cook? Would she want to? Including him and her, the total would be twenty people plus one dog.
“Feed twenty people by seven o’clock? I can definitely do that. Uncle Smitty has those two huge barbeque grills in the backyard and the double ovens in the kitchen. I may have to cheat and buy some of the side d
ishes though. If I am preparing all of this, we’re going to have to wait until tomorrow for me to start learning about the ranch. Would you have a problem with that?”
“A problem with you cooking for the lot of us? No, darlin’, I sure wouldn’t. I think it’s admirable that you’re willing to do it. I thought we could just call a caterer or something.” Colt didn’t really expect her to cook for twenty people. He hoped she was being truthful and didn’t mind.
“I know this is not the politically correct way to be in this day and age, but I’m not much of a feminist. I like to cook. I like to take care of people. I’m not saying that I’ll never want to have my own career, but for now, I’m content to take care of anything I can here. If that means cooking for twenty people now and then for ranch meetings, I’ll be happy to do it.” Carrie was already running through recipes in her head. She’d just make simple dishes, like pasta salad and baked beans.
“All right then. Thanks, Carrie. The boys will be over the moon for a home-cooked meal. A lot of them are single I believe, but it’s been a while since I’ve been over here. I’m going to go talk to George and make sure we can round everyone up to let them know what time to meet here at the house. If you need anything, try my cell. I shouldn’t be too far out today.” Before he could think twice about what he was doing, he grabbed Carrie’s arms and pulled her into a quick hug. “We’re gonna make this work darlin’. I can feel it, you just wait and see.”
Chapter 5
Carrie had to go shopping, but first she needed to take stock of what was actually in the house. When she opened the pantry, she couldn’t help the smile that broke out on her face. Sitting right in the front was a value size box of double stuffed Oreos. They were Smitty’s favorite. Next to them were half a dozen cans of his other favorite. Spam. That she would not be keeping.
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