Lead Me Home

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  She continued to get the food on the table along with help from Sarah, who’d recently begun pitching in to serve and clear the lunch meal. It gave her a chance to interact with each of the cowhands and underscored her position as the matriarchal head of the family. Aurelia was constantly impressed by the ways in which the Chance family kept the ranch functioning as a loyal unit.

  As she moved back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room, she thought about Western movies she’d watched in which the cowboys ate whatever came from the chuck wagon, because if they complained, they’d get nothing. Apparently cowboys were both loyal and stoic. If she was the replacement cook, they’d put up with her, even if she’d been badly missing the mark with their meals.

  Well, then, she’d be more open to whatever suggestions Matthew made tonight. But as she glanced across the room at him, she thought about what he might suggest that had nothing to do with food, and she retreated to the kitchen before someone noticed that she was blushing for no good reason.

  Because she’d been so involved with converting the ratatouille to a potato-based dish, she hadn’t had a chance to come up with a creative dessert, either. At the last minute she’d fallen back on another of Mary Lou’s recipes, double chocolate chip brownies.

  She brought those out after she and Sarah had cleared the lunch dishes, and she heard a distinct murmur of approval running through the room like a soft breeze. After she’d delivered a plate of brownies to each table, she walked over to Matthew’s seat, grabbed his water glass and a spoon, and tapped it to get everyone’s attention.

  Matthew glanced up at her, his eyebrows raised.

  She gave him a quick smile and returned to the audience she’d created with the spoon-and-water glass routine. “It’s been brought to my attention that some of you might not be totally happy with the meals I’ve served.”

  At first everyone looked guilty, but then a chorus of protests arose, assuring her that her cooking was great, and they appreciated all her efforts, yada, yada, yada. The comments came mainly from the tables dedicated to the cowhands and the teenagers. The Chance family seemed to be observing the proceedings with interest, but they didn’t take sides.

  Aurelia cut off the protestations by tapping on the glass again. “You’re all sweethearts for trying to make me feel better, but I got the message from the way everyone reacted to Mary Lou’s corn bread and her double chocolate chip brownies.”

  “Well, we do like those brownies,” said Shorty LaBeff. “You’d have to be dead not to go for those.”

  Heads nodded all around the dining room.

  Aurelia took a deep breath. “I can see why the brownies are a favorite. Chocolate is a mood elevator.”

  Danny Lancaster, the cowboy with very big ears, raised a hand. “And I vote we ride that elevator to the top! More chocolate!”

  That got a laugh, but Aurelia tapped her spoon again because she was determined to have her say. “Mary Lou is a wonderful cook, and I don’t blame you for being partial to her recipes. But since you’re stuck with me for another two weeks, that gives you a chance to try some different foods, and personally, I think that’s always a good thing.”

  That seemed to be a new concept, because quite a few of the men looked at her in bewilderment. That made her even more determined to open their minds to unusual dishes. “I propose a compromise. I’ll continue to provide you with interesting entrées, but—”

  “This vegetable stew wasn’t bad,” Frank Delaney piped up. “I can live with stuff like this.”

  Aurelia glanced down at Matthew, who might have been right about the potatoes. He seemed somewhat surprised that she’d taken the offensive today. Good. She didn’t want him to think she was incapable of handling her own issues.

  “So here’s the deal,” she said. “I want to challenge you a bit with the entrées, although I’ll modify them if I decide they’re too off-the-wall, and I’ll stick to Mary Lou’s recipes for dessert.”

  The cheer that went up convinced her that she had, in fact, been torturing them with her innovative meals. But they hadn’t complained, either because they were good sports or because they’d been afraid they’d end up with nothing to eat. That was about to change.

  “From now on, I want you to tell me what you liked and didn’t like about the meals,” she said. “Don’t be shy.”

  “Okay, what were those things that looked like a piece of pine tree stuck crossways in the stew?” Shorty asked. “It didn’t look edible.”

  “It’s rosemary. I used it as a garnish. It flavors the dish but you’re not supposed to eat it.”

  Frank Delaney spoke up. “How are we supposed to know that?”

  “Good point. From now on, I’ll make an announcement about what’s to be eaten and what’s not.”

  Frank nodded. “So we might get some culture while Aurelia’s here. That’s not so bad.”

  “Do we have to eat everything on our plate?” The speaker was one of the teenagers, a tall, slim boy named Jeff.

  Aurelia didn’t know how to answer because she wasn’t sure what sort of rules had been set down for the kids. She looked over at the family table where Sarah’s fiancé Pete Beckett sat. The tall, distinguished-looking philanthropist was underwriting the program, so he should probably be the authority on cleaning or not cleaning one’s plate.

  Pete stood. “No, you don’t have to eat everything. All I ask is that you try everything. Aurelia’s right. You have a chance while she’s here to expand your food horizons, and I advise you to take advantage of it.”

  Aurelia smiled at Pete. She’d always liked him and now she liked him even more. He and Sarah would be a positive force for change in the world, and she felt privileged that she’d come to know both of them.

  The lunch hour was almost over, so she glanced around at those seated at the tables, her customers, as it were. “Any other questions before you grab that last brownie and take off?”

  “Yeah,” said the short boy named Lester. “What’s for dessert tomorrow?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  Lester grinned. “How about more brownies?”

  She could imagine how quickly she’d want to slit her wrists if she had to make double chocolate chip brownies every day. “Sorry, but there won’t be brownies tomorrow. It’ll be something else from Mary Lou’s recipes, but not brownies.”

  Shorty heaved a sigh. “Then we’re safe.”

  When she pinned him with a glance, he held up both hands. “No offense, Aurelia, but the past week has been a menu minefield.”

  She laughed. It was impossible to be upset with a guy like Shorty. “I’m not taking out all the mines, but I promise to alert you as to where they are. Now I know everybody has work to do, so thanks for staying to listen.”

  Chairs scooted back and the dining room began to empty. In the process, several people came up to thank her for meeting the situation head-on.

  Sarah was one of the last. “You have guts,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have had the courage to ask a roomful of people if they liked the food I’d been serving them for a week.”

  “I didn’t know I was going to do it until I started tapping on Matthew’s glass,” Aurelia said. “But now that the subject’s out in the open, I feel a hundred times better. And to give credit where credit is due, I wouldn’t have been thinking along those lines if it weren’t for Matthew.” She glanced around. “Where did he go, anyway?”

  “He took off,” said Emmett, the ranch’s foreman. “He has a surprise brewing with Houdini and one of the teenagers and I gather they need all the extra time they can get this afternoon.”

  “Oh.” Aurelia had hoped to talk with him. In fact, she’d looked forward to the opportunity ever since that searing kiss he’d given her, which had been all too brief but had fueled her fantasies, even so.

  But she shouldn’t be surprised that he was in demand, or that he’d made other friends at the ranch. She could imagine how those teenagers must look up to a
man like Matthew, a man so accomplished and a genuinely nice person on top of that.

  Some day in the future she’d probably point to him during a TV appearance, and she’d tell whoever was around that she’d spent time with Matthew Tredway. And yes, she’d say, he is as incredible as he seems on TV. More incredible, actually. And he has the bluest eyes.

  “Let’s get the last of these dishes into the dishwasher.” Sarah reached for an empty brownie plate.

  “I can do the last little bit, Sarah.” Aurelia glanced around at the empty dining room. “There’s not much left, and I’m sure you and Pete need to take care of details with the teen program.”

  “Actually, we do have some items to go over,” Pete said. “I’m trying to talk Sarah into hiring a housekeeper.”

  “And I say the boys can learn to do housework, the same as I trained my three.” Sarah sounded determined. “Hire a housekeeper and we’ll all get lazy.”

  “I agree the boys should do their share, but this is a huge house and they’re only here for the summer.” Pete looped an arm around Sarah’s shoulders. “I’m selfish. I want you to spend less time cleaning and more time with me.”

  “Now there’s a man after my own heart,” Aurelia said. “I think a housekeeper is a wonderful idea.”

  Sarah looked uncertain. “It’s just that I’ve been caring for this place most of my life, and—”

  “And you don’t think anyone else will do it as well,” Pete said. “They probably won’t, but we’d find the cream of the crop, and you’d train them. And what about the wedding you’re putting on at the end of August for Jack’s half brother Wyatt? Wouldn’t you like help during that time?”

  “I suppose.” Sarah glanced at Aurelia. “You know what? I don’t know if you can get any more time off from the bank, but having you around for that event would be a huge help. Wyatt’s mother and father are sort of…”

  “Snobs,” Pete said.

  “I wasn’t going to say that.”

  “No, but it’s true. If we had a gourmet cook on hand, that would be a nice touch.”

  Aurelia had heard a little of the story from Mary Lou. Jack’s mother Diana had left the ranch when Jack was a toddler and had never returned. But one of her twin sons, only a few years younger than Jack, had. It had made for some tense times, but now Wyatt was accepted by everyone. Whether his mother would be if she came to the wedding was another story.

  “I can check.” Aurelia was pleased to be asked. “But I don’t know if I can get more time off so soon.”

  “Well, let us know,” Sarah said. “And now we’d better go tackle those applications, Pete.”

  That reminded Aurelia of something she’d wondered about. “How do boys get into the program? Last time I was in town somebody wanted to know, and I had no idea.”

  “We take applications from various social-service agencies,” Sarah said. “They have access to kids who are in foster care or in dicey home situations who could use a summer of fun mixed with structure and responsibility. Pete and I have talked about creating a website with online applications for anyone who wants to contact us directly, but we also like the filtering system the agencies provide.”

  Aurelia nodded. “Yeah, with such an awesome program, you could get flooded.” She turned to Pete. “And by the way, thanks for the vote of confidence on my food.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ve only been here for lunch a couple of times since you arrived, and I was impressed by the innovations. I didn’t realize until today that others weren’t as supportive.”

  Sarah wrapped an arm around his waist and looked up at him. “You’ve been busy advocating for the kids.” She turned to Aurelia. “Pete wants to make sure that when these eight boys leave here in August with better coping skills, they also have a better support system than when they came. It won’t matter what happens at the ranch if they get dumped back in the same environment with no lifelines.”

  “That’s a worthy goal. And speaking of those kids, when I came to fill in for Aunt Mary Lou, I didn’t think about the fact I’d be cooking for teenagers. They’d probably rather have pizza and cheeseburgers.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Pete said. “They deserve to have their horizons expanded as much, if not more, than the cowhands. Why not have them look back on this summer and realize it was the first time they’d had gourmet food?”

  “Yes,” Aurelia said, “but if they hate it—”

  “They’re not going to hate it.” Sarah gave her a look that communicated more than she was saying. “Now you have Matthew on your side.”

  That look told Aurelia that Sarah had noticed the sparks between the two of them and she had no objection. Aurelia wouldn’t get in trouble for having a crush on the sexy horse trainer.

  Or, more accurately, she wouldn’t get in trouble with Sarah. She could still create problems for herself if she allowed any thoughts of white lace and promises to dance around in her head. If she became involved with Matthew—and that looked increasingly likely—she had to keep her heart strictly out of it.

  About three hours later, she wondered if that would be possible. She’d walked down to the corral to see if Matthew was indeed riding Houdini as he’d predicted and found that Lester was perched bareback on the black and white Paint. Lester held the knotted reins in one hand, but for extra insurance, he gripped Houdini’s mane with his other as they slowly circled the corral. Matthew had allowed Lester to have the glory of that first ride, and Aurelia’s heart squeezed.

  The smallest of the teens, Lester hadn’t yet found a friend among the other kids. But he’d found a friend in Matthew, and apparently in Houdini, too. Aurelia would bet Lester was now the envy of all seven boys lining the rail. If not for the riding helmet, he would look like a Native American boy who’d just tamed a wild pony.

  The stallion seemed proud to be carrying his small passenger as he moved regally along the fence with his head up and his magnificent white tail sweeping behind him. Matthew stood inside the corral, obviously poised to go to the rescue if necessary. His gaze followed the horse’s every move, although at one point he glanced at Aurelia and gave her a quick smile.

  She smiled back. Befriending Lester and giving him the honor of the first ride on Houdini reinforced what she’d already suspected about Matthew. He liked to help others—both people and animals—succeed. That was a very heartwarming trait.

  “Hey, Lester!” yelled Jeff, the tall thin boy who’d spoken up at lunch. “This is boring! Make him run!”

  “Keep your voice down,” Matthew said. “This is a horse that’s never been ridden, and yet Lester’s doing it after only a few hours of working with him. If you find that boring, you’re welcome to clean out some stalls.”

  “I thought this would be more exciting,” Jeff grumbled. “I want to see him run.”

  Emmett approached the corral from the barn. “Jeff, you’re out of line. Either be quiet or leave the area.”

  When Jeff’s shoulders stiffened, Aurelia crossed her fingers. So far the boys hadn’t had any discipline problems, but Jeff was the most troubled and the one most likely to act out. She hoped he wouldn’t ruin their perfect record today.

  No such luck. Jeff picked up a small rock and threw it at Houdini, hitting him on the rump. The horse bolted, although his ability to run was hampered somewhat by the size of the corral. Still, he was moving fast enough to send Lester flying if he lost his seat.

  From the corner of her eye Aurelia saw Emmett collar Jeff, but her attention was riveted by the drama of the boy, the horse and the man standing in the corral.

  Matthew’s voice rang out, clear and full of confidence. “You’re doing great, Lester. Keep a good hold on that mane. Push your fists down against his neck. That’s it. Sit up straight. Grip with your legs. Terrific!”

  Lester’s face was a pale mask of concentration as he followed Matthew’s directions to the letter. Even from her position outside the corral, Aurelia could see his white-knuckled grasp of Houdini’s mane
. But he stayed on the horse.

  “Looking good,” Matthew said. “Feeling good?”

  Lester gave a short, jerky nod.

  “Just keep doing what you’re doing. Nice straight back, good tight hold on his mane, grip with your legs. We’re going to let him run it out. You’re fine. Beautiful job.” Matthew kept up the positive commentary.

  In his place, Aurelia wondered if she would have been able to speak, or if her voice would have been that steady if she could. She didn’t think so. She also didn’t think Matthew was as calm as he appeared. There was a white line around his mouth that indicated he was controlling his emotions so that he could help Lester.

  The boy needed a steady adult voice to talk him through this adventure so he’d come out of it a hero instead of a casualty. Aurelia kept her attention on the boy, and after a few more circuits, he looked a little less scared. A couple more and he began to smile.

  Matthew must have noticed it, too. “Having some fun, are you?”

  “Yeah! This is cool!”

  “You’re a natural rider, Lester. So you’re feeling good up there?”

  “Yep.”

  “Then let’s help Houdini learn from this. We don’t want him to think he can just take off like that whenever he feels like it. So when he starts to slow down, I want you to squeeze with your legs and cluck with your tongue to make him canter some more. He stops when you say so, not when he wants to. You’re the boss.”

  “Wow. I like that.” Lester sat up even straighter. “And there he goes. Slowing down.”

  “Squeeze with your lower leg and cluck with your tongue.”

  Aurelia heard Lester make a clicking sound with his tongue and Houdini immediately started cantering faster as they circled the corral a few more times.

  “That’s enough,” Matthew said. “Now I want you to stop squeezing his sides and start pulling back on the reins and say whoa. I’m going to step into his line of vision and act like a traffic cop. Ready?”

  With a nod Lester pulled back on the reins and said, “Whoa, Houdini.” Matthew moved into the path Houdini had created and held up both hands, palms forward. “Whoa, Houdini,” Lester repeated. “Whoa, boy.”