Dear Miss Cucinotta

by Kit Morgan

  “It was fun,” C.J. gave Rufi’s hand a squeeze. “Wasn’t it?”

  Rufi’s cheeks grew hot.

  Charity winked. “Yes, I’m sure it was.”

  Oh lovely, Rufi thought. Thank Heaven Charity was on her side.

  “Still, you shoulda come back sooner,” Benjamin said. “Ain’t proper for ya two to be out there so long by yourselves.”

  “Well, we’re here now,” C.J. said then turned to the Cooke women. “Any pie left?”

  “There’s always pie,” Belle said as she joined them. “Follow me.”

  Without releasing Rufi’s hand, C.J. followed her to the table on the other side of the tree. As soon as the others were out of sight, Rufi pulled it out of his. “What are you doing?”

  “What do you think?”

  She looked at her hand.

  “Rufi, did you think I was joking?” he said quietly. “I want to court you.” He drew closer as Belle busied herself with the pies. “Don’t you?”

  She swallowed hard and looked at him. “I want to … but … “

  “No buts. We can make this work.”

  “How?”

  “Trust me.” He took her hand again, running his thumb over her knuckles. She didn’t feel any tingle up her spine this time, just warmth filling her. He wanted this. But she still couldn’t see how it could be done. He had nothing to his name. And Calvin and the rest of the family would never approve.

  They ate their pie in silence and waited for the others to return. Benjamin had calmed down, but he’d made it clear they’d hold “court” when Calvin and the rest got back. Weavers stuck together, and they’d stick together in this. If they agreed C.J. wasn’t fit for her, that would be that. They’d drag her home and she’d never see him again. Or so they thought. She had to decide what to do if that happened – fight or give in. And she had to make sure C.J. knew what the stakes were. “C.J., I have to tell you something …”

  Bella marched around the tree and spotted them. “Eccoti! Dove sei stato?”

  C.J. glanced between the sisters. “What did she say?”

  “Where have you been, we looked all over for you.” Rufi turned to Bella. “We found Melvale’s bird.”

  Bella stopped. “You did? È magnifico! But where is it now?”

  Rufi took a quick bite of pie and swallowed. “With Melvale. And he’s with the MacDonalds.”

  “Such exciting news,” she said. “But you were alone?”

  C.J. was about to speak when Calvin showed up, nostrils flaring like an angry bull. “Rufi, where were ya? Yer sister and I looked everywhere!”

  “They found the bird!” Bella said happily, then narrowed her eyes at C.J. “But that is still no excuse to be out in the woods so long!”

  C.J. tried again. “Mrs. Weaver, I can explain –”

  “That’s what they all say,” Calvin grabbed Rufi’s arm and pulled her away, then got in front of C.J. “Can ya tell me ya were a perfect gentleman?”

  C.J. glanced at Rufi and back. “No. I kissed her.”

  Calvin gasped. “Ya did what?!”

  C.J. shrugged. “I kissed her. Several times, in fact. I’m not going to lie.”

  That was enough for Calvin. He drew his fist back and swung.

  C.J. deftly moved out of the way. “In fact,” he went on. “I’d like to speak to you about …”

  With a growl Calvin swung again. “Ya kissed her!”

  C.J. avoided another roundhouse right. “As I was saying … I’d like t–“

  “Yer no gentleman!” Calvin tried a left cross, missed again.

  “Calvin, stop it!” Rufi cried, but to no avail. Then again, Calvin was swinging to no avail as well. C.J. bobbed and weaved, dodging every blow.

  “Dagnabit!” Calvin growled. “Hold still!”

  C.J. did – and punched Calvin right in the nose.

  “Ow!” Calvin groaned, touched his nose and pulled his hand away covered in blood. He swung again with his other hand, and with the same results.

  “What in tarnation are you doing?” Benjamin asked as he hurried over. He watched the two a moment, then laughed. “Need any help, brother?”

  “He won’d,” … whiff … “hold” … whiff, whiff … “sdill!”

  “Calvin!” Charity said as she approached. “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?” Benjamin asked with a grin. “He’s trying to beat the tar out of C.J. But he can’t manage it. And it looks like C.J. broke his nose.”

  “Shuddub, Ben!” Calvin said, then took a left to the jaw.

  “Ooh, that had to hurt.” Benjamin got a little closer. “Mind explainin’ why yer tryin’ to hit him?”

  “He kissed Rufi!” Calvin delivered an upper cut and finally made contact, but only grazed C.J.’s ear. C.J. replied with a punch to Calvin’s left eye.

  “I say, what’s this?” Harrison asked as the remaining Weavers and Cookes surrounded the two men.

  “Looks like a fight,” Duncan observed.

  “C.J. kissed Rufi,” Bella explained. “Several times, he says. If not for Calvin, I would be in there teaching that man a lesson.”

  Colin snorted. “I say, but you’d be a fearsome sight, Mrs. Weaver. However, a bloody nose and black eye would be most unbecoming on you. Your husband wears them well, though.”

  “Too well,” she said, her hands on her hips. “Calvin Weaver, stop this nonsense!”

  “He kissed her!” he shot back. “He abmidded id!”

  “And you’ll notice she’s not objecting to it?” Charity clarified.

  Rufi burned with embarrassment at this point. She’d been so fascinated by C.J.’s skill, she’d forgotten the fight was about her. But he was still amazing. Weavers were known to pulverize a man easily. But not this man, her man … she sensed he was fighting for her and doing his best not to hurt Calvin too much.

  Calvin took another swing, missed once more and stopped to rest, his hands on his knees. “Where in tarnation did ya …” He spat out some blood. “… learn to fight like that?”

  C.J., eyes still fixed on him, smiled. “It doesn’t matter. What does is that I’m in love with Rufi and we’re courting!”

  Rufi froze. “In … in love?”

  He looked at her. “Yes, why else would I kiss you?”

  Smack! Calvin caught him with a right hook to land him in the dirt. “Finally.” He shook out his fists.

  “C.J.!” Rufi cried as she ran to C.J.’s side. “You bully!” she yelled at Calvin.

  “Bully? I was defendin’ yer honor!”

  “I let him kiss me! Don’t you think I can defend my own honor?”

  Calvin stared at her open-mouthed.

  “Looks like we done missed out on something, Ma,” Harlan commented as they joined them.

  “I’m not sure I want to know what.” Ma slowly approached Rufi and C.J. “What’s the matter, child?”

  Rufi looked at her, tears in her eyes. “He kissed me.” She looked at Calvin. “And I liked it! Is there anything wrong with that?”

  “Depends on why he kissed you,” Ma said gently as she stared at C.J..

  “Because he’s in love with me.”

  “That’s what I said,” C.J. agreed, rubbing his temple where Calvin had finally made contact.

  Ma bent over C.J.. “Calvin, you dealt him a good one. Be glad he didn’t return it. Someone bring me a glass of water.”

  “Right away, Ma,” Charity said.

  “Is he going to be all right?” Belle asked.

  “Yeah, he’ll live,” Ma said. “But he’s gonna have a bruise.”

  “You’re lucky he didn’t beat you to a pulp,” Duncan told Calvin.

  “What are ya talkin’ ‘bout? I got him!”

  “Only because he let his guard down. I’ve seen men fight like this. He’s trained, Mr. Weaver. If he’d wanted to, he would have knocked you cold.”

  Calvin gaped at him. “What? Ya sayin’ he was toyin’ with me?”

  Duncan looked a
t C.J. “You were, weren’t you?”

  “Well … I didn’t want to really hurt one of Rufi’s relatives. Just get him to back down and listen.” C.J. grimaced. “And yes, I was trained. Boxing team at university. My coach would’ve been quite sore at me for being distracted like that.”

  Rufi cradled his head in her lap. “You poor thing. C.J. …”

  He smiled up at her. “Oh, I’ll live.”

  She kissed his forehead.

  Calvin took a threatening step toward them. “We’ll have none of that, young lady!”

  “Oh, go away,” Rufi snarled.

  Calvin was about to respond, but Ma stepped between them and put a wet cloth over his eye, which now was nearly swollen shut. “Calvin, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,” she scolded as she began wiping blood off his lips and chin.

  “Ma! I was tryin’ to defend Rufi’s honor! Why do none of ya understand that?”

  “We do understand, old chap,” Harrison said. “But perhaps you should have heard them out first?”

  “Anyone can see they’re in love,” Colin added.

  “In love!” Calvin cried. All of the Weavers echoed him in rapid succession.

  “Are you?” Ma asked Rufi.

  She stared at the older woman. “I … I think so …”

  “That’s ‘nough for me,” Calvin said before she could finish. “Ma, Harlan, I think it’s time we went home.” He looked at Rufi. “That means you too, whether ya like it or not.

  Chapter Twenty

  Rufi spent the trip back to town glaring at Calvin. He hadn’t even let C.J. get a word in edgewise before ushering her to the wagons and ordering her to stay there. Bella stood with her as they waited for the rest of the family to pack up, thank the Cookes and join them. She hadn’t seen C.J. since.

  “Are you all right?” Charity whispered next to her.

  “No,” Rufi growled. She knew this would happen, knew they would tell her no. C.J. wasn’t good enough for them. But then, no one would be. She was destined to stay on the farm, herding children until she dropped if they had their way, a slave in everything but name. When they left town, her hope of another life would be left behind with C.J.

  Was she in love with him? Possibly. She was attracted to him, admired him, felt protected and safe when she was with him. She hadn’t allowed herself to be any of those things before now. What was the difference between that and being in love, exactly?

  “They’ll come around,” Charity said. “In time, Rufi. Just give them time.”

  “No, they won’t.” Rufi’s eyes misted with tears. “I doubt Calvin will allow me to even say goodbye.”

  “Don’t be too hard on him. He loves you – that’s why he acted the way he did.”

  Rufi rolled her eyes and frowned. “He loves having someone to mind his kids. And he acted like an idiot. At least C.J. admitted he kissed me.”

  Charity sighed. “Please forgive Calvin. I’m sure he feels terrible.”

  “Then he can tell me himself. Ask my forgiveness too.” She crossed her arms. “Poor C.J.” Poor me …

  “Your Mr. Branson certainly can box. He held his own very nicely.”

  “Box? What is this, box?”

  “Fight scientifically” she said. “I knew some men who boxed once – our neighbor’s sons where I grew up. They learned in college too.”

  “Good for them,” she said flatly. “C.J. only hit him because he was defending himself – and me. He tried to talk to him, tell him what happened, but Calvin wouldn’t listen.” She glared at Calvin’s back, Bella at his side on the wagon seat. They were in the wagon in front of theirs, well out of earshot. Benjamin was in the back of their wagon with her and Charity, snoring softly, Truly asleep in his lap. Sebastian sat snuggled next to him with heavy-lidded eyes. Once Truly and Sebastian woke, they’d be her responsibility again – for years to come, no doubt.

  “Talk to Calvin tomorrow after he’s had a chance to calm down,” Charity suggested softly. “I think he’s angry now because, well, he knows you’re angry with him.”

  “I’m glad he knows.”

  “But don’t you see how silly that is?” Charity asked. “You two can’t stay angry at each other forever.”

  “Why not?” Rufi looked away again. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She wanted to see C.J., tell him … what? Goodbye? Take me away with you? Either one seemed impossible.

  When it came down to it, she needed to figure out how she felt about him. Did she really love him? Given time, she was sure she could. She smiled just thinking about it. Maybe she did already. It wasn’t like anyone had given her a checklist so she could tell …

  Charity watched her a moment. “What are you thinking?”

  Rufi shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “Something.”

  She looked at Charity. She might as well ask. “What does it feel like to be in love?”

  Charity smiled. “I was wondering when you’d ask.” She smiled. “It can be different for everyone. I didn’t realize I was in love with Benjamin for a while. Even when I did, I feared he could never love me.”

  Rufi’s gaze was drawn to Sebastian. She knew Charity’s story – becoming a mail-order bride because she’d been raped and her family had sent her away to avoid the scandal, then marrying Benjamin not knowing she was already pregnant. When they found out, Benjamin was livid, though not with her – he was also already in love with his new bride. Everything worked out in the end, but it was rough getting there. “I wasn’t waiting to fall in love, though. I wanted to.”

  “What do you mean?” Charity asked.

  “I was … looking to fall in love. To find a man to marry. To …”

  “To get out of being everyone’s governess at the farm?” Charity said, one eyebrow up.

  “Yes … that was part of it. Even with so many people around, so much family, it’s still very lonely. Does that make sense?”

  Charity mused on that. “It does make sense, actually.”

  “And when I met Mr. Melvale, I thought he would be nice to fall in love with.”

  Charity giggled. “If I wasn’t married I might be tempted too. Even Grandma Waller likes him.”

  “She says he smells like cookies,” Rufi giggled. She took one look at Calvin up ahead and frowned again.

  “With nutmeg. I heard,” Charity said.

  Rufi sighed. “When C.J. and I were alone together looking for Clyde, I … I wondered what it would be like to be in love with such a man.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re curious. It’s normal.”

  “And then I let him kiss me.” Rufi blushed. “I liked it, very much. And I began to see him differently.”

  “He was suddenly more handsome? Not as annoying?” Charity teased.

  Rufi smiled. “He was never annoying. But yes.”

  Charity smiled back. “You choose whom you want to marry, Rufi. The family will come around in time.”

  “C.J. wants to court me.”

  “Oh, well, that’s …”

  “Impossible?”

  “I was going to say ‘good’.”

  “What are ya two yappin’ ‘bout?” Benjamin asked, opening one sleepy eye.

  “Nothing.” Charity turned back to Rufi. “We’ll talk about this later,” she whispered. “With Bella and Ma. We’ll leave the fighting men out of it for now.”

  But there it was – talk about it with the family. That conversation might be short – would be if Bella had her way. Ma and Charity would stand up for her, but how far? Rufi said no more, instead glaring at Calvin some more. She’d have to decide what to do. How could she see C.J. again? What if Calvin and Bella forbade it? But she was eighteen …

  Rufi sat up. That’s right, she was of age! She could do what she wanted. She stared at Calvin and Bella and smiled. She’d rather have their approval, but if they withheld it, there was nothing they could legally do to stop her!

  “Son, you got quite the bump,” Cyrus commented. They
were headed back to town after helping the Cookes clean up – which also put some distance between them and the Weavers. “Best see if Doc Drake’s got something he can give ya for it.”

  “Too late for that,” C.J. said, rubbing the egg on his temple. “Cold compresses are as good as it gets, I’m afraid. I’ve dealt with this before.”

  “I didn’t see the entire fight,” Cyrus confessed. “But anyone that can get in a few good licks against the likes of Calvin Weaver deserves a medal.”

  C.J. frowned. “Mr. Weaver can throw a punch, that’s true. But he’s not trained. It’s a good thing I boxed all through college.”

  “Light heavyweight intercollegiate champ, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, junior year. How did you know?”

  “Your grandfather may have mentioned it in his letters.” Cyrus smiled. “What are you going to do?”

  “He’s going to marry the girl,” Polly said from the back. “Aren’t you?”

  C.J. twisted around to look at her, and winced. “That’s debatable at this point, but I do want to.”

  “Just like that?” Cyrus said. “Don’t you want to get to know her better?”

  “I know her well enough. She’s who I want.”

  Cyrus shook his head. “Well, can’t say I blame you. She’s a very pretty gal, and fiery too. I fell in love with Polly right off.”

  “Yes, you told me,” C.J. faced front again.

  “You plan to fight for her?”

  C.J. looked at Cyrus and smiled. “Haven’t I already proven that?”

  “Against possibly all the Weavers?”

  “If I must.”

  “Then son, we’d better let Doc Drake know. Maybe Doc Waller too. You may have been college light heavyweight champ, but Calvin and Benjamin Weaver are heavyweight country boys and so are their brothers. Four against one, maybe five if Harlan gets ornery – they get in a few good punches and you could be done for.”

  “I don’t want to have another go with my fists if I can help it, Cyrus. There’s more than one way to win a fight like this.”

  “Just what are you planning, young man?” Polly asked from behind him.

  C.J. smiled as he turned again. “I plan to propose, what else?” He faced front again. “My biggest battle will be getting Miss Cucinotta to say yes. And from the look of it, I’ll have to move quickly.”