by Zoe Matthews
She tried not to feel disappointed that Luke was not Alex. She felt like she had gotten to know Alex through his letters even though he had been pretending to be his brother. She wondered if Luke really had written those letters, would she have picked him to marry? He seemed harsh and angry. She felt sure she would have noticed that if he had been the one to write the letters.
She tried not to think of Alex, but she couldn’t help it. He was honestly the best-looking man she had ever seen. All three of the brothers looked similar to each other, but they definitely had their own characteristics and personalities. They all had very dark brown hair and blue eyes. Each of them wore their hair long which touched their shoulders. She could tell they each wore a cowboy hat because of how smooth the top of their hair was when the hats were off in the house. Paul had been clean-shaven, but both Luke and Alex looked like they had not shaved for a few days. Luke, of course, seemed to be mad at the world. Paul seemed to be easy going. She had enjoyed the brief talk she had with him in the kitchen while she was rescuing dinner, but she did not feel anything for him other than what she imagined she would feel for a brother, if she had one.
However, Alex was a different story. For some reason when he looked at her, she felt he was looking deep into her soul, so she tried hard not to look at him. She remembered when she first saw him at the train station, how her heart had skipped a beat and how disappointed she was when she learned he was not Luke. She could not allow herself to feel anything for him. She was not brought here to marry Alex, but to marry Luke, and until that situation was straightened out, she felt she needed to honor that commitment.
CHAPTER 6
Anna did not sleep very well, mainly because of her new circumstances and the fact she was sleeping on a strange bed that was not very clean. Who knew what bugs could be crawling on her in the dark?
She finally got up in the early morning hours and dressed. She went to the kitchen and stood at its entrance and looked around. It was a mess. She knew that with three men living together, things were not going to be spotless, but what she saw went far beyond a little clutter. She had cleaned up a bit the night before, but she had barely scratched the surface. She had washed some dishes, but there had been too many to do, and she felt she needed to care for Sage.
The floor was sticky and grimy. Food had been spilled and had hardened. Who knew how long it had been there. The stove definitely needed a good cleaning. There was a door at one end of the kitchen and she opened it to discover a well-stocked pantry. At least she had many staples to make her meals. She wandered into the room nearby and noted it was almost as dirty as the kitchen. It looked like a living room, but it was obvious some meals had been eaten there. There were various ranch tools lying around among a few outdated newspapers and books that looked to be well read. She already knew how the two bedrooms looked. She would tackle the kitchen first and see how much she could get done.
As she worked, she shook her head at how these men were living with a little girl. Didn’t they know things needed to be clean when a child was around? She thought of what she had seen of the ranch outside and noted that it was clean and well kept. Obviously, the care of the ranch came before the care of the house.
From what she could tell, the ranch house was sturdy and well built. All it needed was a good scrubbing. She had committed to this job and she would do her best so they would not have cause to send her away.
Anna decided she needed to clean the floor first, so that was what she spent the next hour doing. She then started a fire in the stove, vowing to clean the stove later that morning, and started some water for coffee. She made some more biscuits since everyone seemed to like them so much the night before and decided to make some oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. She was sure there was a place that stored meat somewhere, but decided to wait until daylight to find it.
While the biscuits were baking, she started to wash the mound of dishes. Alex and Paul entered the kitchen.
“Coffee,” Paul breathed and gripped a mug she had just finished cleaning. “You made coffee. You can never leave.”
He poured a cup and sipped. “Perfect. Do you know how long it’s been since we have had a good cup of coffee that wasn’t too strong or too weak?”
Meanwhile Alex grabbed a cup that she hadn’t cleaned yet. “I want some.”
“I haven’t washed…” Anna stopped when she saw Alex pour coffee into the used cup. She made a face in disgust at his actions, but she was laughing inside. All this fuss over a simple cup of coffee.
“There isn’t anything floating around in it,” Alex said in wonder after his first sip. “Too bad Luke is missing out.”
“He’s too ornery to care,” Paul commented dryly as he took another sip. “When is breakfast?”
“It won’t be ready for a while,” Anna told him.
Alex clapped his hand on Paul’s shoulder. “We have chores to do anyway, brother.” He turned to Anna. “Will an hour be enough time?”
“Yes, I can have breakfast ready in an hour,” Anna nodded her head. She grinned as Alex poured more coffee into his cup.
“Why don’t you just take the coffee pot with you?” She teased him and Alex laughed with her.
“I think this cup will be enough for now,” he said as he held the cup in one hand and put his cowboy hat on his head with the other.
Anna watched the two brothers leave the kitchen to the outdoors as they continued their jostling around about how good the coffee was, and maybe this was what heaven was like.
She shook her head at their antics and turned to continue washing the dishes, but promised herself she would always make sure there was coffee available in the mornings if that was all she needed to do to make them happy.
A few hours later breakfast was over and both Alex and Paul had left the house to start their workday on the ranch. Alex arranged to come by later in the day and bring Sally to help with the laundry.
Anna had managed to save some breakfast for Sage and now she walked into her room to see if the child was awake. Sage looked up at her from her pillow as she came into the room.
“Hello, Sage,” she greeted the girl. “Did you sleep well?”
Sage nodded shyly at her and hid her face in her pillow. Anna found the shyness interesting since the girl had been quite talkative the night before. Anna sat on the corner of the bed.
“Would you like to get up and get dressed? I have breakfast for you.”
Sage nodded again and lifted her head in interest. She climbed out of the bed and walked to a pile of clothes on the floor in the corner of the room. She pulled out what looked like a men’s shirt and started to remove her nightdress. Anna watched in amazement as the girl slid her arms into the shirt and started to work the buttons.
“Where is the dress you had on last night?” Anna asked carefully, trying to figure out why Sage was putting on a men’s shirt.
“It’s dirty,” Sage answered matter-of-factly as she continued to button the shirt.
“Don’t you have any other dresses?”
“I just have that one. I’ve grown out of my others.”
“So do you wear these shirts a lot?”
The child shook her head. “Only when my dress is dirty.”
Anna tried to keep her face neutral and not show her shock to learn Sage had been wearing men’s shirts regularly. She could see why Sage wore the shirts. The one she had on was like a dress on her, long enough to almost touch the ground. The sleeves were short, but on her, they almost touched her wrist. She pulled the child close to her and helped her with the buttons.
“How about you eat some breakfast, and then later on today we wash your dress.”
Sage smiled an angel grin among her dark brown hair so much like her father’s. “Can I help?”
Anna really didn’t know what washing laundry was going to entail, but felt safe to say, “I am sure I can find something you can help with.”
Sage seemed to have lost her shyness and skipped out of the room
and into the kitchen. Anna quickly gave her the bowl of oatmeal and plate of eggs and biscuits. Paul had brought in a pail of milk and so she poured a cup for the girl.
She continued on the mound of dishes and listened to Sage chatter. She talked about sleeping in the main house, the new chicks in the chicken coop, and maybe her dad would let her keep one as a pet. Talking about her dad made her remember he had left to go move some cows to the mountains, and she hoped he would not get too lonely without her.
She talked about some of the children that lived on the ranch whom she played with some times, including her “very bestest friend,” Aida. She mentioned that she was almost five years old, so was Aida, and she wanted to go to school soon.
Anna learned from Sage that the brothers were planning to build a small school house on a small piece of land of the ranch for the children that lived on the ranch. It was supposed to be done before it snowed again. She was impressed that they obviously felt education was important enough to provide a schoolhouse.
The food disappeared surprisingly fast considering how much Sage was talking. When she was done, Anna had her help clear the table.
Anna had found a large crate full of small blocks of wood of different sizes when she had washed the floor. It had been located in a corner of the kitchen, not near the stove like she would have expected for it to be, to be used as firewood. She had tried to figure out the best way to drag the crate over so it was closer to the stove, but decided to leave it in its place for the time being. Now, Anna watched Sage sit down beside the crate and start stacking the wood in front of her as if she was building a house. Anna quickly realized these blocks had been made for the child to play with.
Anna left Sage with her blocks and continued the dishes. When those were finally finished, she cleaned the windows and took down the drapes to be washed. All the while, Sage continued to talk and Anna learned a lot that morning about a child’s view of ranch life.
At mid-morning, Alex came into the kitchen. “This room looks great,” he exclaimed. “Don’t feel like you have to get everything done all at once. I know this house needs a lot of work.”
Anna smiled but shook her head. “I want to get things cleaned and organized as soon as possible.”
“Sally is outside ready to help you with the laundry,” he told her.
“Miss Blake told me I could help,” Sage insisted as she jumped up, her hands on her hips as if she was ready to argue her case if needed.
“I am sure you can help,” Alex told her. “Why don’t you clean up those blocks?”
“You can invite Sally in,” Anna told Alex and soon a young woman only a few years older than herself was standing in the kitchen. She held a young baby and a small girl was standing beside her.
“Aida!” Sage squealed and ran to grab the other girl’s hand. The two girls started to jump up and down showing their joy at being in each other’s presence and chattered to each other.
“This is Sally. She is married to one of the ranch hands and has been helping with Sage,” Alex introduced the woman. He turned to Sally. “This is our new housekeeper, Miss Anna Blake.”
Anna smiled at the woman and wondered how much she knew of why she was at the ranch. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”
Sally smiled back at her. “Mr. Bridger said you need help with the laundry.”
“Yes, I do,” Anna admitted. “I have never washed clothes before.”
Sally looked surprised at Anna’s comment. “I can help you.”
“I thought I would ask Sally to help you on the days that you do laundry. This way you won’t have so much to do on those days and she can earn some extra money,” Alex told Anna.
“That is a fine idea,” Anna responded, grateful that she would not have to tackle the large job on her own.
“I’ll let you get to it then.” Alex looked at them both, allowing his eyes to settle on Anna’s before leaving the house.
Anna watched him go and stared after him for a few moments until she realized Sally was watching her with a slight grin on her face. Anna turned her attention to the girls. “This must be Aida, Sage’s friend.”
“Yes, this is my daughter. They like to play together when they can,” Sally said.
Anna noticed that the baby Sally held was asleep. “You may put your baby on one of the beds if you would like.”
Sally smiled her agreement and walked back to one of the bedrooms. Anna sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and watched Sage with her friend. The closeness they had reminded her of her friendship with Serena and Katrina. Suddenly she missed them desperately. She felt very sad that she probably would never see them again.
Sally came back into the kitchen and she started to show Anna how to do laundry. She showed Anna the large pans they used to heat water. She then instructed Sage and Aida to go around the house and gather up all the dirty clothes and put them in a pile on the porch. Sally told Anna that the best place to wash clothes was outside since the weather was fairly warm, it being the beginning of June.
Anna decided over the next few hours that washing clothes was going to be her least favorite chore. It was very hot and sweaty work. There were many clothes to be washed and Anna was very grateful Sally was there to help her. She did enjoy getting to know her new friend. She found out that Sally had been living on the ranch in a small home for about two years. Her husband, whom she called Red, was hired by the Bridgers as a hired hand, and had moved up to an assistant foreman a few months ago. Sally enjoyed living on the Big Spring Ranch. She felt it was a great place to raise a family. She talked about the schoolhouse that the men were going to build and was glad there would be a school close by for Aida when she was old enough to go.
The women were so engrossed in the job, that Anna didn’t realize lunch had come and gone. Alex and Paul had gone into the house and made their own meal, feeding Sage and Aida in the process. Sally had stopped a few times to care for her baby boy. When the clothes were finally clean to her satisfaction, Anna draped them on a nearby rope to dry that had been hung for that purpose. By this time, Sally had left with her children in order to make dinner for her own family. Anna finally finished the last shirt right before dusk.
“Oh, I forgot all about making dinner.” She couldn’t believe she had lost track of time and ran into the house to see if she could come up with something, Sage following behind her. She entered the kitchen and saw that Paul was frying onions and potatoes again, but was having much better success in cooking them than Luke had the night before.
“I’m so sorry,” She apologized. “Let me finish…”
“It’s okay, Miss Blake,” Paul said as he continued frying the potatoes. “We have clean clothes. It’s worth it.”
“You can’t get everything done all on one day,” Alex said from one of the kitchen chairs. “We have made dinner for ourselves before. We can do it again.”
Anna sat down and suddenly felt exhausted. She was able to finish all the clothes, but the kitchen was a mess again from the men making their own lunch and dinner. She made a vow to herself to not become so involved in whatever she was doing that she forgot about meals again.
She had been this way all her life. When she got involved in a project, she would focus on it until it was done. This trait of hers had caused a lot of grief with Mrs. Davis, who couldn’t understand why she had a hard time stopping one job in the store to work on another the minute Mrs. Davis wanted her to. Sometimes she was so focused on what she was doing, she was not aware of other things that were going on around her.
This trait about herself had never bothered her before, yet she could see now that she needed to make an effort to make sure Sage was always cared for and meals were ready on time.
CHAPTER 7
During the next few days, Anna was able to get most of the house cleaned. She made sure she kept Sage with her at all times and took many small breaks to read to the child or help her build her own little ranch with her wooden blocks. Sage was able to wear her one
dress and Anna made sure she did not wear any of the men’s shirts again. She stayed on schedule with all the meals, only forgetting lunch one time, but she was able to make something quick for the men, and it was only 30 minutes late.
It was now Sunday and she was glad she had finished the last of the cleaning that needed to be done the evening before. She knew going into town for church was not possible because of how far away it was, but she decided to still take the day off, read out of her Bible, and spend some time with Sage.
At breakfast, she learned that Alex and Paul were not planning to work that day either. Paul was planning to visit a woman he had his eye on who was a daughter of a rancher who lived close by. Alex would stay home to keep an eye on things.
