by Poppy Flynn
Just like there was nothing left for her here in Nowheresville, Washington State. She was currently homeless in a rundown town on the edge of Centralia where another boarded-up building popped up with each month that passed. Where unemployment was twice the national average and where crime was rising right along with it.
She had no family, no friends, no home, no job and, right now, no future. It might reek of desperation, but responding to that ad could give her all of those things. She had a little money and her car. Montana was only a few days’ drive away and if things really didn’t pan out, then she could move on easily enough. That was her plan, at least. The way she saw it, she might as well travel to somewhere that had more opportunities. It might not be Montana in the long run; that might just prove to be a stop along the way. But at least it provided some sort of direction.
Carting her laptop along with her and praying she’d managed to charge it enough to still have some battery life, Ellie headed for the cafe. Today she might just treat herself to breakfast if things were looking up. She’d missed dinner the day before, she thought, justifying the expense in her mind.
She went through her usual daily routine and set up her laptop as she waited for her cheese and bacon omelet to be served. Ellie held her breath as she delved into her emails to see if there was a response. When she found one, she hardly dared to look.
She took a bracing gulp from the coffee cup which had already been filled and stared at the listing for long seconds before she steeled herself to read the reply.
And that’s how, two hours later, she found herself driving away from Washington State and on her way to a potential new life in the wilds of Northern Montana.
She had fueled her car and checked the oil and water. She filled not one, but two-gallon bottles; one with drinking water and the other for anything else. She’d visited the grocery store and stocked up on a couple of boxes of cereal bars, a large multipack of chips, a bag of apples and a block of cheese with some crackers to put it on. She’d stop where she could, but it always payed to be prepared. She’d even taken the precaution of finding room for a gallon of gas in her trunk, even though the smell made her slightly nauseas. She didn’t want to risk running out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.
She felt surprisingly little as the town grew smaller in her rear-view mirror. It may have been her home for the most part of fifteen years, but there was nothing left there for her now. Only the pain of everything that had been taken from her.
It was time to move on and find her new beginning. She didn’t expect a fairy tale or anything like that, although she couldn’t deny some kind of reasonably happy ending would be nice, but right now she’d settle for just a change in her luck.
And really, what at the heck had she been thinking, looking for a job in a strip club? She deserved a spanking for that little stunt.
The thought came out of nowhere and Ellie gave a full body shiver as the idea took hold and grew teeth. It was one of her deepest, darkest fantasies. Maybe it was because there hadn’t been a strong alpha male figure in her life since her father died, but Ellie longed for someone who cared enough to hold her accountable. She read books and daydreamed about what it would be like to have her clothes stripped off, or to be on the receiving end of a demand that she strip herself. She wondered what it would feel like to be pulled across a man’s knee and physically held in place; to feel the flat of his hand connect with her buttocks and the heat of that care spreading out over her skin. And then afterwards to be held tight and cherished like she was the most important person in the world. She couldn’t help wondering if the cowboys she was about to meet were the spanking kind. They always seemed to be in books and even movies.
‘Easy girl! You’d better stop thinking about them like that or you’ll never be able to look them in the eye when you meet them!’
It took her two days to drive to Libby in Lincoln County. That was as far as she could manage without some kind of help with the directions she’d been given. From here she knew she had to drive approximately halfway to a small outpost called Yaak, but then things got confusing. The email had said something about a weekly bus and somebody meeting her, but since she had her car she hadn’t considered any of that applied to her.
Stopping at the gas station, Ellie decided the people here must surely be familiar with the Carson brothers, since this was the closest town and there was only one place to get fuel.
She stared at the grizzled old owner in complete confusion five minutes later.
“Don’t rightly know how you’re fixin’ on getting out to the Carson place l’il lady,” he said as he frowned at her car and ran his hand down an impressively bushy beard.
“Umm… I just need those directions, and then I’m going to drive,” she explained for what was, the second time now.
“Well, that there’s the problem, you see. The Triple C ranch is located in one of them there roadless areas right on up near Lawrence Mountain, on the edge of South Fork Big Creek. That’s wilderness territory, ma’am. You can’t just go drivin’ all over.”
Ellie shook her head. “I don’t understand. How am I supposed to get there then? How does anyone get there?”
“Well, you can drive maybe twenty miles up Pipe Creek Road, but then you have to take the off-road trails. You gotta know ‘em well though or you’ll end up lost in the Kootenai Forest.”
He eyed her small runaround and pursed his lips. At least she thought that’s what he was doing underneath all that facial hair. “Thing is missy, even if you found the way, that there little vehicle ain’t gonna be no good to you. Gotta be an off-roader to make that trip.”
As he said it he gestured towards a rugged, dust covered jeep with oversized wheels that had just pulled up to the pump next to hers. It made her car look like a kiddie toy.
She tried a different tactic. “Okay, Um, thank you. Ah… Mr. Carson said something about a bus?”
The old man nodded. “Bus travels every Monday.”
“But it’s only Friday.” Ellie blinked at him with wide eyes and stated the obvious. “I can’t wait three days!”
The man who had been filling the jeep came in to pay, so Ellie moved to one side while she considered the dilemma, not really listening to anything that was being said.
“Hey, Tono, the little lady’s fixin’ to get out to the Triple C, ain’t you headin’ over there?”
“That I am.” The guy, who looked like he was of Native American descent, nodded and turned to look at her. His smile was friendly, and Ellie immediately felt at ease with him.
“I’m Tono Wolf,” he said easily, offering his hand. “Cody told me they were expecting company.”
“Just saying how she ain’t gonna be driving that itty-bitty car o’ hers up that way.”
The newcomer looked at the old man and then out at the forecourt, before settling his gaze back on her again, with a frown.
“Abe’s right, I’m afraid. That little thing wouldn’t handle the off-road tracks, even if you followed me up there to avoid getting lost. But as it happens, I do have to call in on the Carson’s to check on a horse. If you don’t mind riding with a stranger, I could give you a ride?”
He looked at her with steady eyes, almost black in their darkness. He was a nice-looking guy, older with a steady maturity, but Ellie knew that meant nothing.
“Tono, here, is the local vet’nary,” Abe told her, as if that made all the difference. And maybe it helped to know he was a professional.
“You don’t mind?” she asked him uncertainly as she turned over the options in her mind. She didn’t dare splurge on the cost of a motel and sleeping in her car would be a lot more difficult in such a small place. She certainly didn’t want word getting back to the Carson brothers that one of their potential wives was nothing more than a desperate vagrant. That could really kill her chances of settling here. Still, there were other considerations too.
‘My car… if I go with you, what shall I do with it?” She decided
to put the foremost issue out there.
Tono pursed his lips as he looked at her. ‘How long you planning to stay?” he asked.
“Umm… I don’t know just yet,” she told him honestly.
He looked back out to the forecourt again. “Well, I guess you could park it up at my place until you know where you’re at. What do you think?”
It was a generous offer, and Abe was a witness to it all. He knew where she was going, who with and where her car would be. That surely had to provide her with a small amount of protection should anything happen to her. Not that anyone would care, she reminded herself.
Ellie sighed. Heck, she’d come this far on a wing and a prayer. Might as well go all the way.
“That’s very kind of you.” She smiled, genuinely at him. “Thank you.”
“If you follow me to my place, we can get your vehicle parked up and set off straight after.”
They said their goodbye’s to Abe, and it was less than thirty minutes later that she found herself on the last leg of what she considered a life-changing trip.
Tono proved to be the perfect gentleman. They chatted easily, and he didn’t ask any awkward questions about her visit. Ellie found she liked him a lot.
“I know the ranch is off grid,” she confided as they bumped along a sparse track, barely discernible from the rest of the surrounding land. “But I wasn’t quite prepared for this level of ‘off-road’.
“Will that be a problem for you?” Tono asked, giving her a slight sideways look.
“No, not at all,” Ellie said with confidence. “I’m a complete homebody. Nothing I like better than cooking and taking care of everybody. I’m not much for bright lights and the big city.”
“You know much about ranch life?”
“Of course!” She wondered how much he knew about the Carson brothers’ plan to advertise for wives. “I was born and raised on a ranch in Idaho.”
They’d been driving for an hour before the ranch came into sight. Half the journey by road and half by the vague tracks, mostly through the forest. The final fifteen minutes of the scenery opened up and Tono told her they were on Triple C land. In the distance she could see mountains and more trees. A small sigh slipped past her lips. It was beautiful.
She had yet to meet the men who lived here and didn’t know what they might be like, although Tono seemed to have a certain respect for them which was reassuring. All three were in their thirties and the rest remained to be seen, but Ellie could already imagine making a place like this her home. She could feel the resonance of the landscape calling to her soul already.
Tono helped her with the luggage she had brought with her and dropped her bags inside the open porch way, but a quick knock on the door got no reply.
Tono scratched his head and checked his wristwatch. “This time of day they’ll most probably be out doing chores.”
It was clear he didn’t know quite what to do with her, and Ellie felt acutely awkward herself, too. She tried to make light of the situation, though.
“Perhaps I could tag along while you check on the mare?” She asked hopefully.
Tono smiled. “Certainly, wouldn’t say no to the company. We might find Cody or Syrus, they both knew I was visiting this afternoon.”
The barn smelled of fresh hay and horse, and dust motes danced in the streams of sunlight that bled through the doors and skylights. A wave of nostalgia swept through her as it reminded her of her childhood.
“Hey girl. Aren’t you a beauty,” Ellie crooned to the chestnut mare with a neat white flash between her eyes. According to the brass nameplate on the lower part of the stable door, she was aptly named ‘Blaze’.
Ellie stroked and nuzzled with her while Tono performed his checkup. When he’d finished, he was wreathed in smiles and clapped her on the shoulder.
“Thanks, Ellie. You obviously have a knack with horses. This is Blaze’s first foal, so she’s skittish. You really helped soothe her.”
“That you Tono?” A deep voice called from the doorway. Ellie had the impression of broad shoulders and an impressive height, but that was all she could make out from the silhouette which stood against the late afternoon sun.
“Hey Cody.” Tono sauntered towards the other man and Ellie followed behind him, suddenly feeling unaccountably shy.
“You got yourself an assistant?” The cowboy in the doorway asked, looking her over. The shyness turned to embarrassment.
Tono frowned and looked from Cody to her. Then he shrugged and said, “Actually, I brought Ellie up here to see you guys. She didn’t realize she wasn’t going to get here in her own car.”
The brother called Cody stilled and stared at her for a couple of seconds, and Ellie could feel Tono gearing up to say something. Maybe offer to take her back again, since this man was giving the impression that she wasn’t supposed to be there.
“Um, Ezreal, er… invited me,” Ellie stammered self-consciously. Even close up she couldn’t read his face since the brim of his black stetson was pulled low over his eyes, but what might have been a generous mouth was pulled into a thin line.
The tension seemed to escalate to breaking point. It swirled through the air like it might snap at any moment. Then Cody relaxed his shoulders and nodded like it was nothing. “Of course,” he said with a completely neutral tone. “I told Tono we were expecting company this week. Ezra just forgot to mention to me and Syrus that you were arriving today. We were expecting to meet the bus.”
Ellie breathed a sigh a relief. “I drove from Washington State. I didn’t really understand about the bus, but luckily I ran into Tono while I was trying to get directions.”
Cody gave a short, sharp nod and turned on the heel of his battered cowboy boots. “Well, we better get you settled and let him know you’re here. Thanks, Tono. I assume everything’s okay with Blaze?”
The two talked horses for a few minutes and Ellie waited politely until they were done before saying a genuine, grateful goodbye to the vet.
Cody Carson seemed somewhat grim as he led her back to the house, stopping to collect her baggage on the way.
“Is this all you have with you?” he asked cursorily.
Ellie just nodded, her heart sinking a little. This man sure as heck didn’t seem too pleased to see her, and the fact that the brother she’d spoken to hadn’t mentioned her arrival to the others didn’t bode well either. She hated that she’d only just arrived and already seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot.
“I’m afraid your arrival makes things slightly awkward, Miss…? “
“Ellie. Please call me Ellie.”
“Well, Ellie, there seems to have been a bit of a miscommunication somewhere along the line.” He paused in a boot room to remove his coat and footwear, and Ellie did the same.
“I don’t understand,” she said as she followed him into a large country dining kitchen. Except, unless they had a sister she didn’t know about, the problem stared her in the face as soon as she walked through the door and the quiet chatter which had preceded her came to a halt as five additional pairs of eyes stared back at her.
The silence seemed to stretch around them all for far too long.
“Umm… Hi, I’m Ellie.” She finally took it upon herself to break it. The trio of other girls looked nonplussed. They were like three peas in a pod, each one of them blonde, blue-eyed, petite and perfect. They also did not bear even the remotest resemblance to the three brothers who each sported brown hair ranging between a streaky caramel and a rich mahogany. She couldn’t tell for sure, with two of them sat at the table, but she got the impression they were just as tall as their brother, who stood a good head above her own five foot ten.
As she spoke, each of the women seemed to sway proprietorially towards one of the men. One even popped out of her chair and wound herself around Cody, fluttering her eyelashes at him. She made Ellie feel plain and gangly, and she was grateful when Cody unwound himself and gestured for the girl to sit back down again, which she did with a notic
eable pout which still somehow looked cute.
“So, Ezra, did you forget to tell us something?” Cody queried and Ellie’s heart sank. She had already guessed what was coming.
Ezra, the brother with the sun-bleached brown hair and the darkest eyes of the three, had the grace to look a little sheepish.
“Well, not exactly. I did message back and forth with Ellie, here, but that was before Syrus told me that all three sisters were coming along.”
He looked at Ellie apologetically. “I did email and suggest you cancelled your trip up here…” He trailed off, clearly uncertain what else to say.
Heat swept across Ellie’s cheekbones. Oh jeez, he’d told her not to come & now she looked like a gatecrasher at a private party, never mind a fifth wheel.
Tiredness and disappointment hit her. “I’m sorry, I’ve just driven across three states and I couldn’t check my emails.” She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth in an attempt to quell the desperation which threatened to wash over her.
“Well, you’re here now, so we’ll just make the best of the situation.” It was the other brother who spoke. He had medium brown hair, a shade somewhere in between his two brothers, and expressive whisky colored eyes that held a smile. The process of elimination said he must be Syrus. She smiled back at him gratefully.
“Here, sit down, it’s obviously been a rough couple of days. We’re about to eat and there’s plenty to go around.” This from Ezra who seemed to be trying to make up for his mistake.
“Oh, but then there won’t be the makings for the lunch bags I planned for tomorrow,” one of the blonde’s sulked. She backtracked quickly when two of the brothers frowned at her clear lack of empathy, but realizing that she was upsetting things that were already set in place just made Ellie feel worse.