Colorado Courtship

by Cheryl St. John

  “Sit here, precious.” Her aunt scooted one of the four rocking chairs in front of the fireplace closer to the roaring blaze. “Take off them wet boots so your feet can warm up. I’ll go get you something hot to drink.” Before Sunny could object to being waited on, Aunt Minnie was halfway into the kitchen.

  She turned and stared at the flames. Their dancing settled her nerves, and she gave a short prayer of thanks that God had seen her safely through the blizzard.

  “Jed, you get on over there, too. I’ll bring you and Sunny something warm to sip. Dinner’s on the stove. As soon as your uncle gets in here, we’ll eat.”

  Sunny shifted in her chair, wanting to see their faces instead of having her back to them. The other way just somehow seemed rude.

  “Where’s he at?” Wrinkles lined Jedidiah’s handsome face.

  “He went to the woodshed to get more wood. I think he’s afraid we’ll get snowed in and not have enough. You know how he is.” Her aunt sighed.

  Sunny glanced at the overflowing wood box.

  “I’ll go help him.” Jedidiah turned and headed toward the back door.

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” Aunt Minnie grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a light shove toward the fire. “You just get your hide right over there and sit yourself down.”

  Uncertainty tumbled across his face like an uprooted sagebrush in a windstorm.

  “Go on now. Do as I say.” She pushed him in Sunny’s direction again.

  Their eyes connected and he lifted one shoulder.

  Sunny shrugged back at him. She faced the fireplace and tugged on the strings holding the legs of her split skirt closed.

  Jedidiah pulled one of the rockers closer to the fire and sat down next to her. Lye soap and leather brushed up her nose when he did.

  Still leaned over undoing her fastenings, she glanced over at him only to find him staring at the bottom of her legs. His attention slid from there to her eyes.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” He nodded to her strings.

  “It helps keep the snow out. My pa taught me that.”

  “Interesting.”

  She finished untying and pulled her boots off.

  Jedidiah already had his off and was settled all cozylike into his chair.

  Tiny red sparks flew like exploding fireworks as the flames licked the sap in the pine logs. Not caring if the sparks hit her feet, she sat back in her chair and raised them toward the blazing fire. Warmth seeped through her stockings and she sighed deep and long.

  “Feels that good, huh?”

  Without looking at him, she replied, “Sure does. My feet are freezing.”

  “I’m sure they are. How long you been out in that storm anyway?”

  “About an hour into my ride down here the snow hit. Wasn’t bad when I left.”

  “That’s Kremmling for you.”

  They laughed together. Anyone who lived in Kremmling, Colorado, knew that to be true. Sunshine one minute, snow the next.

  She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her aunt couldn’t hear what she was about to say. She leaned toward him and whispered, “Aunt Minnie always order you about like that?”

  His firm masculine lips and the corners of his eyes curled upward. “Uh-huh. All the time. Truth is, she treats me more like a son than a hired hand.”

  Sunny leaned back in her chair. “Aunt Min always wanted a whole houseful of children. She lost several babies, you know?”

  He shook his head. “No. I didn’t know. That’s too bad. She would have been a great mother. Your aunt and uncle are wonderful, God-fearing folks.”

  “They sure are. I only wish we could’ve visited them more often. But every time we’d tried to, something would go wrong. If it wasn’t the cows taking sick or tearing down fences, it was something else. Then my ma took sick and wasn’t well enough to travel anymore.”

  “How long was she sick?”

  “Five years.”

  “Five years?” His rich honey eyebrows rose. “What was wrong with her?”

  “She had emphysema and died back in ’95. Can’t believe she’s been gone three years already.”

  “And your pa?”

  “He died the beginning of November.” A long, slow breath slid from her lungs and she swallowed hard to fight back the heart-wrenching emotions swelling up in her. She hadn’t talked much about her folks with anyone. While it felt kind of nice, it was strange at the same time. After all, Jed was a complete stranger to her.

  “Sorry to hear about your loss. If you don’t mind me asking, how did he die?”

  “From Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Got it from a tick, you know?”

  He nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. I know. Knew a few who died from it myself.”

  “Of course you’d know that.” Her eyes darted upward. “Anyone who lives in this neck of the woods long enough would. How long you lived here anyways?”

  “Here at your uncle’s place three years now. I was born and raised in Colorado.”

  “Whereabouts?”

  “Denver.”

  “How’d you end up here?”

  “I met your uncle at a stockyard down in Denver. We hit it off, and he asked me if I’d be interested in coming to work for him. Best decision I ever made, too.”

  “Your kin still live there?”

  His bluebird-colored eyes clouded over, and he shifted slightly in the chair.

  “Here you go.” Aunt Minnie stepped up beside Jedidiah and handed each of them a cup of steaming brew.

  “Thank you,” they said at the same time, and both sat up straighter in their chairs to accept the mugs.

  Aunt Minnie sat in the rocking chair on the other side of Sunny and crossed her legs toward her niece. “How was your trip down here, precious?”

  “Long.”

  The three of them shared a laugh.

  “Did you run into any trouble?”

  She never got to answer that question because the back door flew open, and Uncle Emmett stepped inside with his arms loaded with firewood.

  Jedidiah leaped out of his chair and rushed to help.

  “Hello, Uncle Emmett.” The love she felt for her pa’s only brother flowed through her voice. Uncle Emmett resembled Pa in looks and in personality. Seeing him sent a fresh round of grief forking into her heart. But she wasn’t much one for crying in front of people. The tears she’d already shed over her pa and ma were enough to flood the Colorado River banks. A slight exaggeration but it sure felt like it at times, and she wasn’t about to let them start flowing now. They might never stop.

  The need to feel her uncle’s arms around her about now pressed in on her. She started to rise, but her aunt stopped her. “Oh, no, you don’t. You just sit there, young lady. He’ll come to greet you in a minute. Won’t you, sweetie pie?” Aunt Minnie looked over at her husband.

  “Yes, ma’am. I sure will.” He winked at his wife.

  Sunny always envied the closeness her aunt and uncle had. Same with her ma and pa. Someday she hoped to have a marriage just like both of theirs. That is, if she could ever get over her fear of being used again.

  Her attention drifted to Jedidiah and to his hair that was the color of summer wheat, his wide-girthed back as he stacked the wood he took from Uncle’s arms, his stout legs, narrow waist and slightly bowed legs. She had to admit he’d caught her attention from the moment she’d laid eyes on him. If he was near as fine a person on the inside as he was on the outside, then he’d make a fine husband. Husband? What was she doing thinking about him like that and getting all moon-eyed over some man she didn’t even know? Hadn’t she learned anything from her last episode with a man?

  Still, he must be a good man or her aunt and uncle wouldn’t have him living under their roof and be treating him like a son. Didn’t matter to her none, though. Her main concern right now was getting her family’s ranch up and running again. Marriage would have to wait. That is, if she even married. She wasn’t sure she could ever trust another man, especiall
y after the last one who’d wanted to court her. Good thing she’d overheard that slimy snake Duke Graham telling her pa’s workers he didn’t care anything about her, he just wanted to get his hands on her ranch.

  Well, he hadn’t. And she wouldn’t be fooled like that again. Even with someone as tempting as Jedidiah Cooper.

  * * *

  Jed wished Emmett hadn’t asked him to keep his eyes on Sunny. Oh, he wanted to keep his eyes on her, all right, and that was the problem. He’d never been so attracted or drawn to a woman before. Especially one he’d just met. Perhaps it stemmed from all the great things he’d heard about her from Emmett and Minnie since he’d arrived here three years ago. He felt as if he knew her as well as they did, and once again that was a problem.

  He wasn’t sure how he was going to handle spending so much time around the spirited cowgirl and keep from falling for her. She was a refreshing switch from the women he’d known back in Denver. They wanted to be coddled and kept; Sunny clearly could take care of herself. That intrigued him more than he wanted to admit, or more than it should.

  Emmett’s warning about no one wooing his niece hammered into Jed’s head about the time his heart took a trip he really shouldn’t have been taking. God, help me to honor my boss. Show me how to be friendly to Sunny, how to keep an eye on her and how to not lose my heart to her.

  “Something wrong?” Emmett’s voice broke into his unyielding thoughts.

  Jed looked at the man he respected. Icicles clung to his moustache and beard, and concerned green eyes gazed back at him.

  “No, sir.” He swallowed back the lie. Everything wasn’t all right, but he would make sure it would be. Even if it took every bit of willpower and energy he possessed. Which where Sunny was concerned didn’t seem like much at the moment. How could someone he had just met get to him so quickly?

  Emmett frowned, then nodded. After his arms were empty of wood, he hung up his coat and hat and headed toward Sunny. His niece rose and threw her arms around him. The top of her head barely reached the man’s barrel chest.

  “Brrr. You’re cold.” She shivered but didn’t move away.

  “You let her go, you ornery old bear.” Minnie popped him playfully on the arm.

  “Oh. So you wanna get rough, do you?” Emmett swung around, grabbed Minnie around the waist and buried his wet, partially icicled moustache and beard into her face. She squealed and wriggled, but Jed knew she loved the attention.

  Jed wondered what it would be like to have a wife like that—one who loved him unconditionally, no matter what he looked or smelled like after a hard day’s work.

  When he got his own spread, then and only then would he consider finding a wife. His father’s words ran through his mind. Why can’t you be more like your brothers, boy? Just look at Daniel and all he’s accomplished. He’s a big-time lawyer back East with a beautiful wife and a growing family, and he can support them in the style they deserve. Same with Sebastian. He lives right up the street in a mansion bigger than ours, even, and he’s part owner of one of the largest railroad companies in these here parts. His father went on and on about his older brother and his younger one, as well. Jed had heard it all a million times.

  Being the middle brother, Jed was often overlooked. Every time his father gave him that lecture, Jed felt smaller and smaller and less significant in his father’s eyes. His father had a way of making him feel like that.

  Well, Jed was no city boy. Working in an office would kill him. Ranching was in his heart. He just hoped when he bought his own ranch and built it up to as fine a spread as what Emmett had here that maybe, just maybe, his father would be as proud of him as he was of his brothers. Just why that mattered to Jed exactly, he didn’t know or understand, but gaining his father’s approval meant more to him than anything else.

  “Dinner’s getting cold.” Minnie’s giggling drew Jed’s attention away from his miserable thoughts.

  Emmett stopped tickling Minnie but his arms still held her as he glanced over at the stove. “So it is.” He kissed her.

  Having witnessed their playfulness and affection often, Jed was used to it by now. How did their niece feel about it? He shifted his focus onto Sunny, who gazed at them with a smile of contentment on her face.

  She sure was a pretty little thing.

  As if she sensed him looking at her, her attention drifted to him, but quickly he looked away before she could capture his gaze. He would not let Emmett down. The man who’d been nothing but kind to him deserved no less.

  “Let’s eat, woman. I’m starved. What about you, Jed?” Emmett let his wife go, waiting for Jed’s answer.

  “Uh-huh. Sure am.” His belly had been rumbling for some time now.

  Within minutes they were sitting at the table. Roasted beef and rich brown-gravy aromas lingered in the air.

  “Aren’t the ranch hands joining us?” Sunny asked.

  “No. They take their meals in the bunkhouse now. Sam Marsh does the cooking for them,” Minnie informed Sunny.

  “You remember Sam, don’t you, Sunshine?” Uncle Emmett forked a thick slice of roast beef and set it on his plate.

  “Sure do. How’s his leg doing?”

  “Not bad. He’s slow getting around. But he likes keeping the bunkhouse clean and doing the cooking. Truth is, I think he enjoys it more than ranch work. That way, he never has to get out in the cold other than for supplies now and again. It’s the perfect job for him.”

  “It sure was nice of you to give him a job, Uncle Emmett. And me, too.” Love and gratefulness overcame her sweet face.

  Emmett set his fork down and rested his hand on top of hers. “You know you don’t have to do this, Sunshine. I told you I’d help you.”

  “I know you did. And I appreciate that. But it’s something I need to do for myself. Everyone out here thinks because I’m a woman and because I’m small that I can’t make the ranch work, but I know I can.”

  “I have no doubt about that, Sunshine. You are definitely your pa’s daughter.” Pride mixed with melancholy filled his words. He cleared his throat, lifted his hand from hers and reached for the mashed potatoes, plopping a huge dollop onto his plate and topping it off with a pool of rich brown gravy.

  Sunny’s eyes glistened and her dark lashes settled against her rosy cheeks.

  “I’m sure sorry we couldn’t make it to Bobby’s funeral. If that blizzard hadn’t come in, we would have, but the storm never let up for days. Then there was so much snow there was no way we could make it up the mountain.”

  “That’s okay, Uncle Emmett. I understand and I’m sure Pa did, too.”

  The room grew quiet for several long minutes until the sound of Sunny clearing her voice broke the silence. “You never answered me earlier, Jedidiah, about whether or not you had kinfolk in Denver.” Her brown eyes touched on his. Gone was the sheen of tears.

  “Jedidiah?” Minnie glanced at him, then Sunny. “Don’t know anyone who calls Jed that.”

  Neither did he. Only thing was, it didn’t sound condescending at all coming from her, but more musical than anything. Even respectful. He liked that. “Only one who does is my father. Everyone else calls me Jed.”

  She smiled a smile befitting her name. “Jed it is, then. If that’s all right with you?”

  “Uh-huh. Sure is,” he answered, dropping his gaze to where he was cutting his meat. Lands, she was easy on the eyes.

  During dinner he had a hard time keeping his attention off Sunny. She was definitely one beautiful woman, from what he could tell, both inside and out. Any man would have trouble not staring at her. No wonder Emmett had warned his men beforehand about wooing her. The man had reason to be concerned.

  When dinner was over, Jed was glad because he would no longer be sitting across from Sunny and trying to keep his mind off her.

  He and Emmett headed to the rocking chairs in front of the flickering fire.

  The ladies served them peach cobbler with sweetened whipped cream drizzled over it, then joined them
by the hearth. Orange, red and blue flames sent a glow about the shadowy room. The wind whistled and howled outside, swirling the snow and splattering it against the window. If it weren’t for the chinking in between the logs keeping the wind out, the room would be freezing cold, of that he was certain.

  Warmth, excellent company and a full belly relaxed Jed.

  Must have Sunny, too, because her mouth stretched into a wide yawn. “Sorry,” she said with sleepy eyes. “I know it’s early and I hope you don’t mind, but I’m ready to head to bed now.”

  “No one minds, precious. And even if they did, they’ll just have to deal with their disappointment, won’t you, fellas?” Aunt Minnie looked at Jed and then her husband.

  “Yes. Yes, we will.” Emmett nodded, his face filled with amusement.

  Jed just smiled.

  When Sunny rose, he and Emmett did, too. “What time do we start in the morning?” she asked.

  “We—” Emmett looked over at Jed “—start about seven. You—” he pointed to her “—need to catch up on your rest.”

  With no warning she planted her fists on her hips. “Now, Uncle Emmett, I came here to work, not sleep. Remember? So I’ll be ready before seven, and you’d better have a nice long list of chores for me to do by then.” No disrespect filled her words, only a determination. The same one filling her brown eyes.

  “See what I told you, Jed?” With the two women sandwiched between them, Emmett peered over the top of Sunny’s head at him.

  “Uh-huh. She is a stubborn little thing,” Jed agreed, amused by the display.

  “Stubborn? You told him I was stubborn?” Her head yanked Emmett’s direction and those wide eyes of hers were even wider.

  “Sure did, Sunshine. Amongst other things.” Emmett smiled.

  “Other things? Like what?” Her small calloused hands knotted at her tiny waist.

  “Let’s see. I told him you were stubborn, ornery, willful, determined and at times sassy. That your heart was bigger than this here ranch and that under all that toughness is a real sweetheart. But mostly I told him that you are one fine rancher.”

  Her hands slipped from her sides, her eyes softened with wonder and her lips curled upward. “I can live with that. You’re forgiven.” She stepped around her aunt and kissed Emmett’s cheek.