Alyssa smiled through her tears. “Well, I did tell her I would only be gone four years.”
Rachel kept snapping pictures as the two families were introduced to each other until Tim came over and pulled her hair.
She put down her camera and looked over at him. “What?”
“Hey brat, the gallery needs some more pics, asap. Summer is coming, and the town is already starting to fill up. And there are big holes on the walls where your stuff goes.”
Not a surprise, she’d talked to the art gallery owners before she left and promised to send replacements. “I know. I’ve been working on some; the printer has an order that should arrive any day now.”
“Yeah?” Tim’s eyes lit up.
“Want to see?” She grinned at him.
“Of course, but maybe I should help unload Alyssa’s crap first.”
“I’ll help too, and then we can go to my room to play show and tell.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Sounds good to me and if you weren’t my adopted little sister it would sound like you were inviting me for something else entirely.”
She shuddered dramatically. “Eww, well, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Exactly my thought, let’s get this done, can’t wait to see your etchings.”
She smacked him in the stomach. “Knock it off, pseudo big brother.”
He laughed like a loon which drew everyone’s attention. He grinned. “Let’s get this crap unloaded. I have a date with Rachel.”
The Jeffersons’ all laughed knowing the artists were going to closet themselves away to do their art thing. The Kiplings’ looked confused.
Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Tim works in the art gallery where Rachel sells her work, they’re going to do their creative thing.”
Tim said, “Hey, I sell my work there, too.”
The Jeffersons’ all groaned at the same time. Hank said, “Just start carrying, artist. You can geek out in a minute.”
Beau walked over to Adam, “Could you get the horse settled? While the rest of us carry in Alyssa’s stuff?”
Adam nodded at his brother, glad he had something to do that didn’t force him to interact with the rest of them. He didn’t know why Tim Jefferson’s crack about having a date with Rachel had pissed him off, but it had.
He went over to the mare. “So, you’re Molly, are you?” The horse nodded like she understood. “Well I’m Adam, welcome to the Rockin’ K. I’m going to find you a nice pleasant stall and give you some time to rest after that long journey. Sound good?” Again, the horse nodded, and Adam chuckled.
He led Molly into the barn and found her an empty stall with the rest of the horses. “So, Beau has an old cow named Dolly and Alyssa has you, an…” If she did understand he better not offend. “… a mature horse named Molly. Kinda starting to sound like a match made in heaven. Maybe I was wrong about the two of them.” The horse nodded a third time and then bumped him with her nose.
He laughed. “Fine, I’ll take that as a hint to back off and quit being grumpy about it.” Molly nodded again and whinnied, and Adam decided she agreed with that idea.
He took the halter off and gave her a good brushing. Then he filled the water and food troughs and left the horse. Outside he found Alyssa’s oldest brother Mike unloading the feed and straw from the pickup.
Adam joined him. “You sure you don’t want to take this back? We can feed Alyssa’s horse.”
Mike shook his head. “Nope, we’ve got plenty and it’s a pain to have it in the truck. By the time we drive over for graduation and get back to Washington it’ll be almost two weeks since we loaded it, and that’s too long out in the weather.”
Adam looked at the clear blue sky. “Whatever you want.”
Mike laughed. “I hear you never know about the weather up here in the high country of Colorado.”
Adam nodded. “True, we do have unpredictable weather.” He didn’t want to say anything else, because he didn’t know what all Alyssa had told her family about being caught alone in a late spring blizzard.
He was relieved when Mike started asking him questions about their ranch.
He spent a pleasant time talking with Mike about their respective ranches. The man was knowledgeable and had good insights. Adam took him around to show him their operations near the house, and they compared notes on how they ran things.
Adam said, “If you have time while you’re here we can take some horses out and I can show you around.”
“We aren’t planning to intrude, we booked some rooms in town.”
Adam jerked to a stop. “That’s ridiculous. We’ve got the bunkhouse and four cabins on the property which are prepared for your family to stay in. Or you can all stay in the main house and us guys will take the bunkhouse. Didn’t Alyssa tell you we planned to put you up?”
Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know we have rooms booked.”
“Where?”
“The Singing River Ranch.”
Adam pulled out his phone scrolled through his contacts and selected one.
“Singing River Ranch, how can I help you.”
“Hi Karen, the Jeffersons’ will be staying with us.”
Karen said, “Sure thing, Adam. I thought it was odd when they booked, but I didn’t know what to say, so I took the reservation. Your dad already called to cancel it.”
Adam smirked at Mike. “Yeah, I don’t know where they got that idea either. So, dad already called you?”
“Beau called too, right before you did.”
He laughed and grinned at Mike. “And Beau. You might hear from Emma too, or the twins.”
Karen said, “I don’t have all day to spend my time talking to every Kipling in the family. I have work to do. Can you text the rest of them and let them know they don’t all have to call?”
Darn it, he forgot this was a business transaction. He didn’t want this to be a financial burden on her. “Sure thing. The cancellation isn’t a problem, is it?”
“Nope, never figured you guys would let your soon-to-be in-laws off the ranch. I’m just glad they went there first rather than checking in here,” she said.
He laughed. “You know us too well. Talk to ya later.”
Adam disconnected, sent a text that said, “Karen’s good” and looked at Mike. “Well, now that we have that little issue has been taken care of, do you want a bunk or a cabin?”
Mike shook his head. “I don’t plan to choose. Your parents and mine probably have it all arranged by now.”
And indeed, they had.
Chapter 9
The Jeffersons’ were at the Rockin’ K for two days before Alyssa’s graduation. Adam enjoyed them a lot more than he thought he would. They could almost be the same family, they thought so much alike. Adam spent most of his time with Mike, Alyssa’s oldest brother. They were very close in age and since they were both the oldest sibling of six they had a lot in common.
One afternoon Adam decided to be frank with Mike about his misgivings. “So how do you feel about your sister marrying a man seven years older than she is?”
Mike shrugged. “I didn’t think much about it, Alyssa has always been more mature than her age. It actually would seem odd if she married someone younger, even Chase and Cade seem too young and immature for her. They are what, two or three years younger, than Beau?”
“Two, yes. It just seems like a big age gap. He was in high school when she was in second grade.”
“Well if they had been dating back then, I would have been concerned, but they weren’t. Alyssa was very precocious even at eight years old. Very sensitive and intuitive. She noticed our dad’s attraction to Ellen, even before he did, I think. She said that Ellen and Dad looked at each other differently than they did anyone else. And she was right.”
“She mentioned something like that her first night here.” Maybe he was being over cautious, her brother and father didn’t see anything wrong. And his dad and mom seemed to be happy about the situation. He ap
parently was the only one concerned. Maybe it was him, not them. He’d never had a serious relationship. He’d dated, but nothing was ever serious. He never allowed anyone to get too close and he had to wonder why that was. But not now, so he decided to change the subject. “What made her decide to become a veterinarian?”
Mike gave him a side glance. “She hasn’t mentioned it?”
Adam shook his head. “Not that I know of. At least I’ve never heard anything about it. She did mention she had a story similar to Beau’s. About saving Dolly, when she got clawed up by the big cat that killed her mother. But I’ve never heard it.”
“Alyssa was an animal saver practically from the day she was born. Birds, bugs, even snakes.” Mike shook his head. “When our mother died, she was six and pestered all of us about why the doctors couldn’t save her. We figured she would become a doctor to find a cure. In fact, she and Rachel played with their Barbies like they were the doctors curing them of all kinds of problems. Those poor dolls had more broken legs and arms.” He laughed and shook his head.
Mike continued, “But her bent stayed toward animals, and was solidified when a vet came out to the ranch for an animal that needed medical attention for several days. Since our town is so remote, he stayed at the ranch. She was about ten or maybe eleven, and she followed him around the entire time he was there, asking him question after question. The guy was great with her and answered all of them, he even let her help him as he treated the animal and looked over the rest of the herd. When he left, she talked about being a vet from that day forward and never changed her mind one bit.”
Adam nodded. “Makes sense, she does seem very dedicated for being as young as she is.”
Mike laughed. “Don’t let her age fool you, she’s been an adult, mentally, since she was eight years old.”
Rachel was happy to have Tim around for a few days. Alyssa was always supportive, but she didn’t always get the artistic bent. Tim got it. They talked shop, they looked at her work and he gave her his opinion on some of her newest pictures. They went into town and he was as enamored with the old buildings and false fronts as she was.
She took him by the old photo studio that was for sale and talked in depth about what she would do with it if she had the means. And the desire to stay in Colorado. It was all pipe dreams and wild imaginings, she didn’t plan to stay in Colorado. Her life and her family were in Washington.
“It’s a great location in the middle of this street. I think it would draw foot traffic depending on what you offered,” Tim said.
“I would love to display my art, but I was thinking it might also be fun to have one of those places that have costumes and sell tourists their pictures in the old-fashioned wild west clothes. Of course, that would be mostly a summer thing. But maybe the winter could be spent taking school pictures and family portraits for Christmas cards and the like. If it has a dark room I would love to play in one of those, just because no one takes film anymore and it’s a dying art. That would be a hobby more than anything else. Although restoring old photographs might be fun to learn. Not just uploading them and then using a program to restore them and then print a new copy, lots of people do that and I wouldn’t be averse to it. But what I would find fascinating would be actually taking the original and preserving it.”
“You’ve got lots of ideas. Have you called the number to see what it really has and how much it would cost?”
“No, silly, I’m not staying here.” If she knew more about it, she might want it even more than she already did. No, she didn’t want to call.
He frowned. “Still a phone call can’t hurt you and it would be fun to see what the building has and what the going price is.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to get the real estate person all excited about a potential sale, when there isn’t going to be one.”
“Yeah, but.”
She needed to get him off the subject before he had her calling the number. “Wait, let me show you something else that’s for sale, Mr. Woodworker.”
“Show away.”
They walked down the street to the miniature golf course. He looked at her like she’d lost her mind, until they looked through the fence. When he saw all the wooden designs for each hole his attitude changed.
“Damn, would I like to get my hands on all that and restore it. I hate to see all that work going to ruin.”
“Right?!? I just knew you would feel that way too. I’m not even a woodworker but my fingers still itch to fix it.”
“Right there with you girlfriend, right there with you.”
They looked through every break in the fence that surrounded the course and saw even more fun constructs, than she’d seen the first day. It looked like there were two courses, one that was everything Colorado and one that looked like it was based on the wild west.
Tim sighed. “That would certainly be a fun undertaking, but it’s not really in my realm of expertise. Whittling figurines is not quite the same as restoring those large mechanical constructs.”
“True.” Rachel looked at the sad deserted golf course. “It’s just pitiful to see it sitting there neglected.”
“Yeah.” Tim frowned. “You know Terry has all the tools to do something like that.”
She laughed. “He does, too bad he’s four states and two days away.”
“I’m guessing they wouldn’t transport too well either.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You mean like pulling them up and taking them with you? You aren’t serious, are you? Aren’t you kind of busy with working on the ranch and at the art gallery and keeping up with your own art?”
“Yes, I am, it’s a dumb idea.”
She nodded. “Just like the art gallery.”
He nodded, then sent her a sly look. “But intriguing just the same.”
She had to admit he was right about that, but it was not at all practical. So best not to dwell on it, but she couldn’t stop herself from taking a picture of both numbers, and some others of both businesses.
They just barely made it back to the ranch before dinner. Rachel wondered why it felt so familiar coming back to the ranch. It almost felt like home even though she’d only been there a short time. She decided it was just hunger.
Chapter 10
Adam frowned when Rachel came into the dining room laughing at something Tim had said. The two of them had been gone all day into town. Everyone said they were just friends and hung out because of their mutual artistic bents, but he wasn’t sure he believed that. They looked too cozy for that type of relationship. Her eyes were sparkling with mirth and he was grinning at her with sappy puppy dog eyes. Adam felt like barfing, but his mother would not appreciate that at the dinner table, so he looked around to find something else to focus on.
The Jeffersons’ and the Kiplings’ had melded during the day. The two sets of twins were having an uproarious discussion about twin pranks to pull on teachers and other unsuspecting victims. Emma had let Beth hang out with her and Tony and it looked like Alyssa’s spot as Tony’s favorite had been usurped by her younger sister. Both sets of parents and his grandfather had spent the day riding the land and talking about ranch differences, then cooking up a huge meal for the nineteen of them.
It was all one big happy family it seemed. The dining room table had all the leaves in it and they still had to use a folding table, that the twin sets had commandeered.
Rachel slid into her chair. “I hope we didn’t hold you up.”
His mother smiled at Rachel. “Not at all dear, you’re right on time. Did you and Tim have a pleasant time in town?”
Tim nodded. “We did, it’s a cute little town and we even managed to get the candy order right, I think. Katie helped us with it. She was very supportive.”
Adam noticed the twins perk up at that. Cade grinned. “Katie’s the best. Chase and I have been friends with her forever.”
Tim nodded. “She’s a little cutie, too.”
Rachel elbowed him. “You, sir, are too young for her. Yo
u’re just a baby in her eyes.”
“Am not.”
“Are too. She’s at least three years older,” Rachel said.
“Meh, three years is nothing.”
Chase piped up, “Sounds like cradle robbing to me. Don’t think she’s into younger guys.”
Cade laughed. “Unless it’s Tony.”
Tony clapped his hands “Me, me, me.”
Everyone laughed and started passing the food. But Adam noticed both Chase and Tim looked a little tense.
Rachel elbowed Tim and handed him a bowl of potatoes. She gave him a look that made Tim chuckle and shake his head. Adam wondered what that was all about. Rachel and Tim clearly had secrets, or some kind of intimate communication going on. As Adam filled his plate he wondered why that bothered him. He didn’t think Tim was dangerous or a bad guy, in any way. So why didn’t he want Rachel to spend so much time with him? And why would Adam care if they had secrets? It was a ridiculous reaction. It’s not like it was jealousy or anything like that.
Adam was clearly too old for Rachel, he needed a mature wife that would be able to stand beside him and help shepherd his younger siblings. He was the oldest and that came with a lot of responsibility. He had a duty to make sure all his siblings did well and made sound choices. He’d already tried to warn Beau about marrying a woman so young, but he’d been soundly ignored.
But he wasn’t about to make the same error in judgment. He had to carry the burdens of the first born, and that did not leave room for dalliances with women nearly ten years his junior. It was fine for Beau to be foolish, but Adam did not have that luxury. Of course, he knew all this, so there was no reason for him to dislike the relationship between Tim and Rachel. He needed to remember she was just a girl and treat her like a younger sister. Just like Emma. He looked at Emma and then back at Rachel. Treat them the same? He could certainly do that. Couldn’t he?
Taming Adam_Burlap and Barbed Wire Page 6