“No, why?”
“Sit down. This is your first lesson on some of the things you need to learn about working on a ranch.” He emptied the gun, and double-checked it. “This is the way it works. You pull the hammer back like this, and you pull the trigger like so.” He demonstrated. She jumped when the hammer slammed forward after he pulled the trigger. “That’s all there is to it. You aim it like you’re pointing your finger. You try it.”
She was reluctant to try it. “Go ahead. It’s empty.”
She cocked it and pulled the trigger. Had it been loaded, she might have hit the top of the wall, but more likely would have hit the ceiling.
Brett reloaded the gun and handed it to her. “Remember, cock it and pull the trigger.”
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“If he tries to leave the house, shoot him.”
The ridiculousness of his statement finally got through and she smiled at the thought. “Okay, you got it. Which end does the bullet come out?”
“Okay, you win, I don’t want to tangle with Calamity Jane here,” Bart said.
“Good. You can make yourself useful by getting her started on the books,” Brett said.
“I’m almost embarrassed to show you this,” Bart told her. “We keep our records, such as they are, in a journal. We should have been entering our purchases and sales but that was one of the things that fell by the wayside. We did save all of the receipts though. The bankbooks are in there, excepting for the one I had with me. It’s in my saddlebag.
“You can see back where Papa was doing the work and where we started.”
“It looks simple enough,” she said. “Boy, I could use a PC and an Excel spreadsheet about now,”
“I have no idea what you just said,” Bart told her.
“A PC is a computer that does math quicker than a blink of an eye. If I had one, I could enter these in and sort everything and be done with it.”
“Where can we get one of these PC things?”
It won’t be invented for another hundred years,” she laughed as she said it.
“I keep forgetting you’re from the future. So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to arrange them in order and go through them. Then I’ll enter the ones that haven’t been recorded. When did your mother and father pass?”
“November, 1869,” he said.
“Then they’re less than a year behind.”
“You smell good,” he said.
“Thanks, you smell better than you did,” she said. “Now get out of here and let me work. Mrs. Crump is watching for you, and if you go out, she’s going to call me and I’ll come shoot you. Go take a nap or something.”
“Only one day here and you’re already bossy.”
“I’m being paid to work, not talk.”
“What do you charge to talk?” he asked.
“We can do that another time, now scoot.”
When he came back, the floor had little stacks of papers everywhere. “You’ve been busy,” he said.
“Don’t disturb the piles. Each one is a month. Next, I’ll go through and arrange each month by date. After that, I can start entering them in the journal. Do you have an unused journal? If so, I’ll start fresh. If not, I’ll come up with another way.”
“Why don’t you take a break and go for a walk with me? It’ll have to be a short one because I wouldn’t want you to have to carry me back.”
“As big as you are, I don’t think I could even drag you back, but I will take a walk with you. I need the exercise. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“Let’s go down to the creek. It’s in that grove of cottonwood trees,” he said.
“Do you think you can walk that far? Remember, you have to walk back too.”
He snapped his fingers. “Oh shucks, I didn’t think about that part. I can make it. I’m a cowboy.”
They walked slowly down the path toward the trees. He stopped abruptly and put his finger to his mouth in the universal gesture for silence. He put one hand on her shoulder, and turned her slightly and pointed. His voice barely a whisper, he said, “Isn’t that a magnificent buck? The wind is in our face so he won’t catch our scent. He’s big and has at least ten points.”
She could still feel the warmth in her shoulder where it had rested, even after he removed his hand.
The buck stopped, and looked almost straight at them. It was hard to tell whether he had heard the whisper or not, but he went bounding off into the trees followed by a doe.
“They were beautiful,” she said.
“We have quite a few around. There are elk also. We used to hunt them for a little variety in our diet, but we stopped.”
They sat on a rock by the creek. “I’m really glad you decided to take Brett up on his offer. We both hated messing with it.”
“I appreciate the chance. It came at a time I needed it.”
“You’re going to be fine, Anna. You’re stronger than you think, and you’ve faced your share of hurt. I don’t want to see you hurt anymore.”
“It’s sweet of you to say that. I appreciate it. Does the creek have any fish?” she asked.
“I’ve seen a few trout come out of it.”
“Do we have to worry about snakes?”
“Not this time of the year,” he answered. “It’s too cool for them unless it’s a really warm day, and they come out for the warmth of the sun.”
“Snakes sunbathe?”
“What? Oh, I see what you mean. If it’s warm they might come out and lie on a rock or something. They don’t move around too much so it’s easy to get out of their way. They might bite if you stepped on one, but otherwise, probably not.”
“I don’t like snakes. They scare me.”
“Let me just warn you then. There will be a few around the barn. They’re totally harmless, except to rats and mice. They pretty well keep the barn free of them. They aren’t poisonous, so we leave them alone.
“Are you about ready to head back?” he asked.
“Yes, if you are,” she said.
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. They walked back in the direction of the ranch house. He didn’t release her hand, marveling at the soft velvety touch of her skin.
“Thank you,” she said. “I enjoyed that.”
“We’ll have to do it more often.”
Chapter twenty-two
Learning
Bart and Anna…
“Anna, we set up an account for you at the general store,” Bart told her. “It’s yours to use as you wish. You should also use it for any supplies you need in the office.”
“How do you know you can trust me with that responsibility?” she asked.
“When I talk to you, or look at you, I see someone I can trust. If we didn’t think so, you wouldn’t be here.”
“I have a question. One of my college courses was ranch management. It was an elective, and wasn’t financial, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. I did all of the assignments and I did well in the course. I read about the ranches going away from the Texas longhorn breed because the beef was not high quality.”
“It’s done pretty well by us,” Bart said.
“Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just telling you what I learned.
“I’ve got all of the purchase receipts sorted and have begun to get them into the journal. Where do you keep the sales receipts?”
“In the bottom drawer,” he said. “There aren’t nearly as many of them because we sell after a drive and that would be spring and fall.”
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope it’s not on the front of a train,” she said.
* * *
Jack Owens finished his announcements for the coming week with this, “On Sunday next, we are planning a picnic thirty minutes after services. The Ladies Circle will provide lemonade and tea. You are all invited and the ladies ask that you bring a covered dish or dessert. It will be my task to pray for pleasant weather.”
Bart and Anna were sitting on the front porch watching the sun drop behind the mountain. It had been a beautiful fall day and held the promise of a clear night with a full moon.
“Will you be going to the picnic?” Anna asked Bart.
“Oh yes. They are always good. It’s a chance to have different food from what we see every day.”
“I’m glad you’re planning to stay for it,” she said.
She shivered as a slight zephyr of wind blew across the porch. “Want to go in?” he asked.
“Not yet. It’s so nice, I want to enjoy it a little longer.”
He laid his arm across her unresisting shoulder and pulled her closer. She looked into his eyes, and saw a warmth she had not seen before They had never kissed, but she knew he wanted to kiss her. She wanted him to. “Umm, this is nice,” she said, looking into his eyes.
He put his hand under her chin and brought his lips to hers. The first touch of her lips to his sent a course of electricity racing through him.
A breathless whisper escaped her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. “I wanted you to do that,” she murmured.
They remained close. “Where did we go wrong in the beginning? Did I push too hard, or was it just too soon?”
“Neither. I was so unsure about what might happen, and worried about the future. I felt stranded. I didn’t want to admit the world as I knew it had changed.”
“Now?”
“I’m content and at peace with it,” she said. “Of course I miss my parents, but I’ve never felt so much love and giving as I feel now, except from them.”
“Do you have any idea what you are going to do?”
“Other than what I’m doing now? I would like to have a family, children, and a home of my own.”
“I want the same thing,” he said. “What about this home?”
“This is Emma’s home,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the same. It probably sounds selfish of me, because this is a nice home compared to what most others have.”
“I don’t think it’s selfish at all. It’s very understandable.”
“One thing has been puzzling me. You don’t have to say anything, but I’m curious. You went away for a month right after we met. Was I the reason?”
“Not directly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Brett asked me what happened, and I told him. He said I barely knew you and had overstepped the bounds. One thing led to another and we had an argument. He hit me, and I said some things I still regret. I didn’t want it to go any further, so I left. It was the first time since we were little t for something like that. We’re fine now, but I don’t ever want it to happen again.”
“And the other thing? Was that me?”
“Yes. I thought maybe there might be a spark or something there, but you dodged and then ignored me when I asked about seeing you again. It hurt, and I went off to lick my wounds.”
“Don’t get mad, but…”
“There’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there?”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked.
“When someone says something like ‘I shouldn’t do this, but…’ it means they’re going to do it anyway, regardless.”
“I’m sorry. Bart, I truly am.”
“It’s all right, what were you going to ask?”
“It wasn’t important. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“What were you going to ask?”
“I wasn’t going to ask, I was going to say something. I was going to say running from something, or not facing it will not make it go away. I withdrew from everything after the bus accident, and it cost Dad a lot of money for the psychiatrist to help get me return to some semblance of normal.”
“This is nothing compared to what you experienced. I wanted to think things through. If I hadn’t gone away, I would have gotten a lot of advice from Brett and Emma and more feelings could have been hurt. Besides, it was profitable.”
“How so?”
“You’ll find out sooner or later with what you’re doing for us, so I might as well tell you. Brett and Emma know all about it of course, but we’ve gone to great lengths to hide it from others.”
“Hide what? You’ve really gotten my interest up.”
“You can never tell anyone about this. Anyone. Not Letty, Jack or anyone. Before Mama and Papa died, Brett and I went prospecting, but we didn’t find anything. Then they passed, and we were too busy to do any more about it. When I went off the first time, I took a different path, and I found it.”
“”Found what?” Her mouth opened wide. “You don’t mean you found gold?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. Brett and Emma went to Denver and converted it to gold certificates and deposited them in the bank there. While they were gone, I filed claims for us extending all the way to the government land. That’s where I went the second time. I took a lot of gold out. A whole lot. I was starting to feel bad, so I loaded it up and took it to Spring Hill where I opened an account and deposited the certificates. I came back home and passed out in the barn where Curly found me.”
She sat silent for a couple of minutes. “Well, that bothers me. I’m not sure what I should do.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If I show any interest at all, then it makes me look like a cheap money-grubbing girl, and I won’t have that.”
“Now you’re doing the same thing you said I was doing.” He took her by the shoulders, and kissed her. He forced her lips apart and captured her mouth with his.
She returned the kiss with a hunger that almost frightened her, and left her breathless.
“Did that feel like I want you to leave?” he asked.
“No, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t want to rush into anything.”
“Okay. I can live with that. I would like to court you.”
She examined his face. “I think like that idea. Now, what’s next?”
“We get to know each other.”
Chapter twenty-three
The Pain of Love
The picnic…
“Where is everyone?” Letty asked.
“Bart went to the refreshment table. Emma wasn’t feeling well, and they’ll be in later.”
“What’s the matter with Emma?”
“I think she’s expecting. They’re going to see the doctor next week.”
“I guess they’re really happy about that.”
“They’re ecstatic,” Anna said.
“How are things working out for you?”
“It’s good, but I’m running out of something to do. I’m working myself out of a job. I thought there would be a lot more to do. I just about have the books all caught up. After that, it will only need a few hours a month to keep them up, if that. I can’t live off them any more than I could live off you and Jack.”
“We didn’t look at it that way. You were a big help with Carrie and with keeping the church ready.”
“At least I was doing something. Out there, there wouldn’t be anything to do. They have a housekeeper for the cooking and everything.”
“Have you talked to Bart about it?”
“Not yet. I don’t think he’s going to take it too well when I leave.”
“You can come back to our house.”
“That’s not an option for me. I would be just changing locations. The situation would be the same.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Anna. Your pride gets in the way of anyone that tries to help you.”
“I know. You probably think I’m being silly. Most people would be content to accept the generosity of others, but I can’t do that.”
“Can’t or won’t? There’s a difference,” Letty said.
“I’m just not made that way.”
“What’s everyone looking so solemn about?” Bart asked, and handed Anna a glass of tea.
“Nothing, I just told Letty about
Emma not feeling well,” Anna said.
Bart sat on the blanket they had spread on the ground. “There is sure a lot of delicious looking food over there. I think I’m just going to camp by the dessert table.”
* * *
Later that afternoon…
“Letty, I might like to take you up on the offer of coming back for a few nights,” Anna said.
“Why the change of heart?”
“I think I’m falling in love with him. I can’t stay there under those circumstances.”
“Then marry him.”
“He hasn’t asked.”
“Would you say yes?”
“Not yet. I can’t go to him this way. It makes me look cheap and a money grubber going after my boss because of the money. I’m going to go to the school tomorrow and see if they have an opening yet. If they do, then I’ll take a room at the boarding house.”
“Oh for heaven’s sakes. No one is going to think that of you. This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Proverbs tells us Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. You are letting your pride overcome your common sense. The Lord has provided for you and you are turning your back on it. This can lead to no good, Anna.”
Later…
“When do you want to go home?” Bart asked Anna.
“I’m going to spend the night with Letty and Jack,” Anna said.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on. I just want to spend some time with my friends,” she said.
“You’re not telling me the whole story here.”
“Let’s take a walk,” she said.
He tried to take her hand, but she pulled it back. “Don’t do that. I can’t think straight if you do. I… Bart, the books are all caught up. There’s nothing left for me to do. From now on, they can be kept up in an hour a month. I cannot and will not accept your charity.”
So what are you going to do, accept Jack and Letty’s?”
“That’s not fair. I can help take care of Carrie and keep the church clean. At least I’d be doing something. I’m going back to the school tomorrow and formally apply for a teaching job.”
“All of this just because you found out we’re well off?”
Belle of the Ball: A Historic Western Time Travel Romance (An Oregon Trail Time Travel Romance Book 2) Page 9