Not His Type

by Shanna Hatfield

  When Anna stopped by a few days later on her way home from the library, Jake was working with one of his yearlings in the corral next to the barn. She walked over to the fence and perched on the top pole, enjoying the way the waning sun set the evening sky off in a blaze of oranges and reds.

  Watching Jake with the horse was like watching poetry in motion, every movement similar to a choreographed dance. She had to remind herself that the life she would soon be beginning with Jake was real, that he was real, not a dream. As he expertly moved around the enclosure with the horse, Anna appreciated, once again, the very manliness of Jake that exuded strength, virility and confidence.

  Jake turned and saw Anna watching him from the fence. Sending her a warm smile, he was thrilled to see her look like a picture of health and wholesomeness - a girl enjoying the spring air and life in general. Seeing her today, no one would know she had brain surgery just seven weeks ago. Other than the little scar behind her ear, there was no evidence of the misery she suffered through prior to having her tumor removed.

  They were truly blessed that Anna was doing so well and her condition was something so easily remedied. Every time he thought about the night he spent praying it wasn’t cancer, it made him want to fall to his knees in gratitude that Anna was alive, healthy and here with him, soon to be his bride.

  Leading the horse to the opposite side of the corral, he tied the lead rope to the fence before walking back to Anna. Sticking one dusty boot on a pole, he placed his hands lightly on Anna’s thighs. Giving her a little squeeze as she leaned down to kiss him, he felt a wave of love sweep over him for this funny, lovely, independent girl.

  “Aren’t you apt to get yourself all dirty out here?” Jake asked, taking in the sight of her face bathed in the glow from the sunset.

  “I’m not worried about it,” Anna said, tugging at her skirt hem, as she perched on the top rail. Climbing up here was perhaps not the best idea she’d ever had. Jake ran his gloved hands down her lap and over her knees, leaving behind a trail of dust on her black pencil skirt.

  Looking at her skirt, Jake realized he was a bit dustier than he thought. “Sorry, Sugar,” he said, brushing at the dust, making it worse instead of better.

  Anna caught his hands and leaned down to kiss him again. “It’s not a problem, fancy boy, just dirt.”

  “Well, in that case,” Jake teased as he grabbed her around the waist and lowered her to the ground in front of him, “you won’t mind this.” He gave her bottom a playful swat, then spun her around to admire the handprint left by the dust.

  Trying to see what he’d done, Anna kept looking over her shoulder. She finally gave up, “You are impossible, Jake Chandler. Positively impossible.”

  Laughing, Jake circled her waist and set her back on the top pole of the fence. “True as that may be, Sugar, I’m all yours.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The day the furniture truck arrived, Anna was incapable of containing her excitement and it spilled out on everyone who had gathered at the house to help move in the furniture. Clay and Callan and the girls were there as well as both sets of parents, Bobbi and Steve, Josh and Jenna, three of Jake’s roommates, Sam and Lisa, Dave and a few other guys with strong backs and a willingness to spend their Saturday helping a friend.

  Callan helped Anna keep everything straight and direct traffic as to where each piece should be placed. By the time they were done, the house looked like a home.

  Anna loved the kitchen best, running her hands over the new appliances, admiring the bar stools that occupied one end of the kitchen counter and the wonderful oak table nestled into the breakfast nook. Callan and Anna were excited to have found swivel chairs covered in a plushy fabric with casters that matched the style of the table. Anna couldn’t think how many times her dad and brother had leaned back in her mother’s kitchen chairs, weakening the back legs as they balanced on them. With these marvelous chairs, they were not only comfortable, but also inviting and functional.

  Anna knew this room would be the heart of their home, a place where they not only shared meals, but would share their lives with each other, friends and family. She counted her blessings once again and found them to be abundant.

  The only dark cloud in her sunny sky was the master bedroom which sat completely empty and untouched. The walls were now painted tan, and a soft, thick neutral carpet covered the floor, but it looked forlorn and neglected compared to the rest of the house.

  As Anna looked into the room and sighed, she began to think Jake would never get around to deciding how he would like to have the room decorated. Why was he being so ornery about this particular room, especially when it was so important to her? She wanted the entire house to look perfect for their wedding day.

  Jake and Callan heard Anna’s sigh as she came out of the master bedroom and shared a secret smile. They already decided they would bring the room to life a week before the wedding. Jake ordered the furniture and accents he wanted for the room weeks ago. Callan had immediately taken the ideas he shared, added some of her own and together they planned a master suite that was going to make Anna’s heart melt every time she walked inside.

  <><><>

  Two weeks before the wedding found Anna and Jake in the backyard frantically trying to finish up the landscaping. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful April morning as they worked to put plants in the ground, spread bark and keep things moving along. Sam and Lisa volunteered to come help them and were just ready to knock at the front door when a commotion in the backyard drew their attention.

  “Anna, you put that down right now,” Jake said, uncharacteristically stern. “I mean it, put it down. Right. Now.”

  They heard Anna’s throaty laughter followed by, “I don’t think so.”

  “Now Sugar,” Jake’s voice changed, sounding as smooth as warm butter. “You just put that down and I’ll forget all about this nonsense.”

  “Don’t you ‘now Sugar’ me you big bully. What’s wrong, fancy boy, afraid I might muss your do?” Anna teased.

  Sam and Lisa hurried around the corner of the house to see Jake standing with his hands out toward Anna as she advanced with a huge wad of mud in her hand. If Sam wasn’t mistaken, there was at least one earthworm caught in the mess, trying to escape. Not that it was slowing Anna down at all. She had grass and twigs stuck in her braid and random clumps appeared to be tumbling out of the neck of her T-shirt as well.

  “What’s going on back here,” Sam hollered, trying to sound gruff, but having a difficult time when he was so entertained by what was taking place.

  “Oh,” Anna said, as she spun around and saw Sam and Lisa watching her. Jake didn’t waste a second in lunging forward and capturing Anna in his arms, her back to his chest, effectively pinning her arms to her sides. What he failed to calculate was that Anna could maneuver enough that she threw the mud up at him, splattering all over the side of his head and into his shirt. Jake let go of her and started jumping around, tugging on his T-shirt as a clump of mud and the worm fell out.

  “Dang it all, woman! What are you trying to do to me?” he shouted, as he wiped off as much mud as he could. By this time, Anna had run over to hide behind Sam, hoping he would provide some protection.

  “See, Sam, I was minding my own business, working away when he dumped a handful of grass and twigs down my neck. I couldn’t just let him get away with it, could I?” Anna asked innocently.

  “Why don’t you tell the rest of the story, Anna?” Jake said, pulling off his gloves and trying to dig mud out of his ear. “Tell Sam how you kept throwing the grass and bark at me every time I turned my back. Why don’t you tell him that?”

  “I don’t know anything about that,” Anna said, standing straight and proper, looking offended that Jake would defame her character in such a manner. “I’m sure it was just your imagination.”

  Jake grabbed up his own handful of mud and started toward Anna. “Well, imagine how cold and goopy and awful this mud is going to feel sliding down
your back.”

  “Jake, you stay away from me. Sam, make him stop,” Anna pleaded, trying to use her brother as a human shield.

  Sam laughed and stepped out of the way. “I’m not getting in the middle of this. I thought you two needed some help working. Maybe we should come back another time when you are in the mood to work and not act like a couple of spoiled brats.”

  Sam took Lisa’s hand and started toward the front yard when he felt a splat of mud against the back of his shirt. Stopping, he turned around to see both Anna and Jake looking innocent.

  “So that’s the way the wind blows,” Sam said, grabbing mud in each hand and throwing it at both of them. Lisa wasn’t sure what happened next, but the four of them were throwing mud and laughing so hard, they all ended up sitting on the grass, covered in mud splats, trying to catch their breath.

  “Well, this is a fine sight. Didn’t anyone teach you kids how to plant shrubs?” Ken asked as he and Sue walked into the backyard. “Susie-Q? I thought you taught our children better than this.”

  “You better hush up, Ken, it looks to me like there is still plenty of mud available for slinging,” Sue said, with a laugh.

  After they got back to work, the six of them made good time in finishing up the backyard plantings, spreading the bark and placing the flat stones Anna had chosen for the walk way to the rose arbor, where the ceremony would take place. Everything was coming together and looking great. Anna couldn’t believe she’d be Mrs. Jake Chandler in just two short weeks.

  <><><>

  The Saturday before the wedding, Sue and Lisa decided to take Anna for a day of shopping and girl time in the city. The decision came after Jake begged them to keep Anna away from the house while he and Callan finished the master bedroom.

  Jake, Clay and Callan spent the evening before rolling paint on the walls while Anna attended a bridal shower hosted by her friends at the library. Bobbi and Steve offered to take the girls for the weekend so Clay and Callan would be free to help Jake as needed.

  Jake wanted even the walls to allude to romance and decided on a Tuscan finish. Callan showed him how, with the help of a split paint tray and roller, to use a warm brown paint along with a soft golden yellow on top of the tan already on the walls to achieve a marbled effect that would emanate both depth and warmth. With the three of them working, the painting was finished in no time and Jake was excited to see how good it looked. If you didn’t know better, it could have passed for a room in a quaint Tuscan villa.

  Early the next morning, Clay and Jake met the furniture truck out front and unloaded the bedroom set. Callan couldn’t stop shaking her head as they brought the beautiful pieces inside. While she and Anna assumed Jake would want the bedroom to be masculine, what he really wanted was for it to be romantic. In all her years of knowing Jake, Callan wouldn’t have guessed it was in him to come up with so many sentimental touches for the bedroom. It just went to prove that love could completely change a person for the better.

  Knowing he would hate a footboard, Jake settled on a massive headboard of honey oak in a traditional old-world style, featuring intricate carvings of vines and swirls. Two carved pineapple finials highlighted each end of the headboard, “for a warm welcome,” Jake informed Callan when she questioned his choice. In the very center at the top of the tall peaked headboard was a large heart surrounded by curlicues and filigrees. Two solid night stands, a large chest of drawers, and a lovely dresser with a carved mirror all matched the headboard.

  Before Jake set up the bed, he had Clay help him add an antique keyhole to the center of the large heart in the headboard. At the time, it made no sense to Clay but before they were done with the room, even he admitted it was wonderful.

  The massive king-sized bed took up residence in the center of the wall across from the entry door. Crisp white sheets were tucked under a soft cream blanket and a fluffy comforter with a cream, chocolate and white damask pattern. Matching throw pillows danced across the bed and a cream chenille throw was draped along one corner.

  Jake and Callan installed a piece of wall art made of dark brown vinyl lettering in a flowing script above the headboard. Taking the poem Anna wrote him for Christmas, Jake used the last four lines and changed the word “he” to “true love.”

  To the hidden places of my heart

  True love held the only key,

  And opened up the door

  By simply loving me.

  “Wow, Jake,” Clay said, making the mental connection between the poem and the heart with the keyhole in the headboard. “That is amazing. If Anna wasn’t already head-over-heels in love with you, this would surely push her over the edge.”

  “Maybe you could take a lesson from your cousin, Clay,” Callan teased, giving her husband a kiss on his cheek. Jake grinned, remembering when he was in college and Clay had enlisted his help in sweeping Callan off her feet for a second time as their marriage recovered from a rocky period. He could more fully appreciate the work Clay and Callan put into their marriage now that he was preparing to make that commitment to Anna. It was something that took constant attention but the benefit was more than worth the effort.

  Glancing around the room, Jake was happy with the results of all the labor he, Clay and Callan put into making this a special place for Anna.

  Billowing white curtains hung from a wrought iron rod high above the French doors leading out to the porch. They were thick enough to provide privacy, but could also be drawn back to let in plenty of light.

  An oval love seat and matching round ottoman Jake found online sat in front of the fireplace. Upholstered in a soft chocolate colored fabric, the two pieces could be slid together to make a completely round couch, or pushed apart with the ottoman serving as a coffee table or foot stool.

  A wrought iron candlestand held five plump cream colored candles on the chest of drawers and two matching individual candle holders stood on either end of the fireplace mantle. The center of the mantle held a carved oak clock and an arrangement of silk flowers filled a vase on the dresser. Beside it sat a framed photograph taken of Jake and Anna at Sam and Lisa’s wedding. It was a candid shot that showed them lost in each other’s eyes and was Jake’s favorite photo.

  Two side chairs, a large woven basket for magazines, a wrought iron floor lamp and a small side table completed the furnishings.

  Cream and chocolate towels carried the bedroom’s colors into the bathroom, where a few more candle accents and a small vase with another cream floral arrangement finished the look.

  On the wall next to the walk-in closet were a few pegs where bathrobes or towels could hang topped by a piece of wall decor featuring art accents of interwoven vine that said:

  Wrap your love around me,

  Entangle me in your charms,

  Weave our hearts together,

  Forever in your arms.

  Callan’s favorite thing in the entire master suite, though, was the painting above the fireplace. When Jake told her about the picture he wished he’d taken of Anna on the backyard swing, Callan referred him to one of her friends who was an artist. In no time at all, she captured on canvas not only the art elements of that day, but also the feeling that Jake wanted to remember. At the bottom of the frame, the painting was titled “Serenity.”

  Everything was finished and looked even better than how Jake pictured it would be. As they took one more look around the room, Callan squeezed Jake’s hand. “It’s perfect, Jake. Absolutely perfect. She is going to love it.”

  “Well, I certainly hope so,” Jake said, locking the french doors and then the bedroom door. “But it’s going to be a challenge to keep her out of there for another week.”

  Clay laughed. “Good luck with that!”

  <><><>

  Two days before the wedding, Anna arrived at The Cottage with a load of her personal belongings in Sam’s truck. Sam and Lisa both helped her pack in boxes. The only things she’d left behind were a few clothes and personal items she’d need before the wedding. She had dug
what few kitchen items she owned out of storage and brought them over when Jake moved in.

  Now she had her books, files, and equipment for her office space as well as boxes of keepsakes that would go into one of the storage closets.

  They decided to start by unloading the boxes and suitcases containing her clothes. Anna asked Sam and Lisa to stick them in the master bedroom. Lisa started in but found the door locked. Anna ran outside and tried the French doors, but they were locked as well. White curtains now hung over the doors, blocking her view into the room and blinds were closed over the windows. Blast that Jake! Now Anna was dying to know what he was hiding. Turning back into the house she nearly collided with him as he came up from the basement.

  “Hey, Sugar,” he said, giving her a warm kiss and swinging her around by the waist as he walked into the kitchen. “I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Sam and Lisa helped me bring my stuff over. I want to put my clothes and things in the bedroom but the door is locked. Could you please open it?”

  Jake grinned at her with one of the smiles he knew left her unable to focus or think clearly. So putting all his effort into it he continued smiling and trailing his fingers up and down her back, enjoying the look of determination on her face be replaced with a look of longing. “No.”

  “Huh? What?” Anna asked, quickly snapping back to reality. “Did you say no?”