An Unlikely Place for Love

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An Unlikely Place for Love Page 30

by Ruth Ann Nordin

“Yes. She wore a green shirt yesterday. It really went well with her blond hair. She’s a very pretty woman.”

  “She didn’t wear green. She wore a blue shirt.”

  He thought about it for a moment. “No. It was definitely green. It was the color of the grass in front of the house.”

  She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. She had worn a blue shirt. She was sure of it...wasn’t she?

  “Anyway, I better get started on washing those horses. You’re going to take care of the seed and fertilizer, right?”

  “Uh...yes. I will.” At least, she remembered that task that loomed before her. She quickly finished the rest of the meal and washed her dishes. “I’ll use the wheelbarrow.”

  “What a great idea!”

  “What?” Again, she was startled.

  “The wheelbarrow is a great idea. It’s practical. You’ll get much further if you use it. You’re an excellent problem solver.” He patted her so hard on the back that she nearly fell into the sink. “Be careful. You don’t want to get water all over you and have to take another bath.”

  She did remember taking the bath. “I took a bath after helping you give Roger a bath in the metal tub, right?”

  “Yes.”

  She was relieved she recalled that.

  “Anyway, I’ll see you in a little bit. Go ahead and take care of those seeds and that fertilizer,” he stated.

  She nodded and did as he said. She went directly to the shed and found that even placing one bag of the fertilizer into the wheelbarrow was a daunting task. She would pick it up and fall backwards as she struggled to put it in the wheelbarrow. She finally managed to put one in and decided to push the wheelbarrow to see if she could handle pushing it along the grass. She decided she could add another bag and did so.

  Once she was ready to take it to the vegetable garden, she saw Lacy riding on a horse next to Sam, Tim and Jeff. She groaned. Why did they keep bringing Lacy out there? She would have to put a stop to this nonsense. She knew her chances of getting any work done with Lacy hovering around her would be slim to none.

  Why is she here?

  She groaned and lifted the handles on the wheelbarrow. It was more difficult to push the thing than she anticipated, so she had to struggle to maintain her balance while wheeling it up the small incline in the yard. She gritted her teeth when she realized Roger had come running up to her and was barking and trying to play with her. Ever since she helped give the dog a bath the day before, he had been practically glued to her side when she was in her Billy disguise.

  “Shoo, Roger,” she told the animal. “We can play later.”

  The dog was relentless. He ran in front of the wheelbarrow and jumped into it. The sudden change in weight caused her to lose her balance. She fell sideways and landed on the ground. The dog jumped on top of her and licked her face.

  Gross! I’ll have to take another bath for sure. She didn’t like having dog slobber all over her.

  Sam and Lacy walked over to her.

  Sam was laughing. “I see that Roger can’t get enough of you.”

  Apparently, neither can Lacy.

  “Maybe I should hang out with the sheep since he isn’t doing his job,” Kate replied. “I don’t understand why he suddenly likes me as much as he does.”

  “Dogs are very perceptive when it comes to a person’s character. He knows you’re a good man.”

  She sighed and pushed the heavy animal off of her. She stood up and smoothed her clothes as best as she could. “I need to take these bags of seed and fertilizer over to the vegetable garden.” She tried to pick up one of the bags but Roger kept jumping on top of it. She was beginning to get irritated.

  “It looks like you could use some help,” Sam commented. He easily picked up the bag and threw it into the wheelbarrow. “I can take that for you too.”

  “Thanks.” She was relieved to be rid of that duty. It was tougher than it sounded when Chad presented the idea to her. Why was he so insistent that she do the harder chores?

  “I made some muffins for you,” Lacy said as she presented a plate of blueberry muffins to her.

  She reluctantly took them. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.” Really, you didn’t have to do it.

  “Oh, I don’t mind. I like doing stuff for you.”

  Since being intentionally repulsive wasn’t working, Kate didn’t even bother pursuing that angle. She could only hope her plan at the bar that night would work. She hated the thought of going to the bar in town but was desperate to get the woman off of her back. At least, the bar didn’t include a whorehouse.

  Tim and Jeff walked over to them.

  “Lacy is a great cook,” Tim bragged. “These muffins are just a foretaste of what you can expect if you decide to marry her.”

  Kate smiled but inwardly cringed. “No woman can hold me down. How many times do I have to say that?”

  “I don’t mind a man who plays hard to get,” Lacy said.

  “I’m not playing. I mean it.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “What are we doing today, men?” Kate turned to Tim and Jeff. “I still like to do a hard day’s work.”

  “We figured that we’d fill in for your chores so that you can spend time with Lacy,” Tim said.

  Kate was afraid of that. “I don’t think the boss will be happy with that.”

  “He’ll be fine. Let us deal with him.”

  She already knew that Chad would go along with it just to get them off his back. She had to admit that he was right. She should have kept her distance instead of trying so hard to fit in with their group. This was another curve ball they had thrown her way.

  “Do you want to eat one?” Lacy pointed to the muffins on her plate.

  “Maybe later. I just had a big breakfast.” She tried to decide where to put the muffins. “I suppose I should take them into the house.”

  Roger darted in front of her so she tripped on him. She fell over him and the plate of muffins tumbled to the ground with her. The dog eagerly ate the muffins.

  “You bad dog!” Lacy screamed and slapped him on the nose.

  Roger looked back at her and growled.

  She stood back, startled.

  Roger barked at her.

  She uneasily stepped back.

  Kate suddenly felt a kinship with the animal. Suddenly an idea came to her. “Let’s give him a bath!”

  Lacy looked uncertain.

  “Oh come on. It’ll be fun.” Before Lacy could protest, Kate ran to get the water and soap for the metal tub that was still sitting in front of the house. This time, Lacy could hold the animal.

  ***

  By lunch, Lacy left the farm because she got wet from holding the dog in the tub and needed to change clothes. “I had no idea that the dog was so rambunctious,” Kate lied to her before she left. She breathed a sigh of relief to have the woman leave. Lacy was unbearable. She had to go through with her plan that night or Lacy would never leave her alone. Even if she really was a man, she wouldn’t choose to spend her time with the woman. She was much too clingy.

  She finally got to change into her Kate clothes after lunch. She made up a lame excuse about Billy taking a bath in the river after the ordeal with Roger and the tub. She noticed that the farmhands politely said hello to her but left her alone when she was dressed as Kate. The whole disgusted with sex thing worked like a charm. She wished she had thought of it sooner.

  She found Chad planting seeds in his garden.

  He glanced up and smiled. “It’s nice to see you. I’d take you in my arms and kiss you but my hands are dirty.”

  “Do you want some help?” she offered.

  “No. I don’t want you to get messy.”

  “I should do something. I can’t just sit idly by every day while everyone else works.” She knelt next to him.

  He raised an eyebrow. “I seriously doubt that Sam, Tim and Jeff are working. Most likely, they are sitting around and groaning about the bet your brother made. They’re
worried that Lacy will end up with Chris tomorrow afternoon.”

  He was right. She had overheard them talking about that on her way to see him. He really did pick up on things that were going on around him with surprising accuracy. She wondered if he ever questioned why she and Billy were never in the same place at the same time.

  “You missed the entertainment earlier,” he continued as he raked the dirt over the spot where he just planted a seed. “Billy had Lacy hold Roger down while he washed him. It was funny.”

  “It’s too bad I didn’t see it. Anyway, I’m sorry I wasn’t up this morning to meet you at breakfast.”

  He glanced at her as he dug another hole. “Were you planning to see me this morning?”

  She blinked. “Well, didn’t I promise I was going to?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t recall that conversation.”

  “You don’t?”

  “You always sleep in late because you stay up reading. That is correct, isn’t it?”

  She hesitated to answer. Was she starting to forget simple details? Did hay affect memory after all?

  He stopped what he was doing and studied her. “Are you feeling alright?”

  “I think so,” she slowly replied. How could she forget parts of her conversations with him? It didn’t make sense.

  “Well, I’m sure you probably had a dream where you were supposed to meet me for breakfast. Sometimes that kind of thing happens.”

  She bit her lower lip. “There’s nothing wrong with the hay in the barn, is there?”

  “That’s an unusual question.”

  She shrugged. “Is it? Billy told me something about a man named Burton Myer. Do you know anything about him?”

  “Burton Myer? The old man who has amnesia? He lives with his daughter and her husband. You can ask one of the other townsfolk about him.”

  “He got amnesia?”

  Was Chad trying not to laugh? She couldn’t tell for sure because he was planting another seed, so he wasn’t looking directly at her.

  Chad cleared his throat. “Yes. It was strange. One day, he knew everything and the next, he began to forget little pieces of information. Before long, he didn’t remember anything. The doctor searched for a cure but none could be found. A case like that hadn’t been reported before, so they named the disease the Myer Syndrome. Hopefully, no one else will be affected.”

  She didn’t like the sound of this. “Were you going to ask me a question?”

  He looked over at her. “I don’t think so. I can’t recall mentioning it. Did I tell you I needed to ask you something?”

  Suddenly, she didn’t feel well. She shook her head. “No.”

  He turned his full attention to her. “Are you feeling alright? You look flushed.”

  “Maybe I should lay down.”

  “That’s a good idea. The hay in the loft will make for a nice mattress while you sleep.”

  The thought of sleeping on hay seemed like a dangerous one. “I’ll go for a walk. Maybe it’ll help if I get some fresh air and stay out of the barn for awhile.”

  “Alright. I’ll see you later.”

  She nodded and went for a walk.

  ***

  Later that night after she said goodnight to Chad, she dressed up as Billy and went to the bar in town on Reliable. She took along a dress and the red wig she had bought. She hoped that after this night, she would be able to spread enough rumors about her to dissuade Lacy from further pursuing her Billy character. She didn’t relish the thought of going to the bar but she had to show Lacy’s family that “Billy” wasn’t a respectable man worthy of their little sister. She tied Reliable to a post. The costume for the crazy woman was safely hidden in the sack beside the saddle.

  She entered the bar, pretending to be happy that she was there. At least, the women were decently dressed, so that was far better than the saloon she had gone to the previous weekend.

  Tim and Jeff waved to her as soon as they saw her.

  She nodded to them but walked to the bar. The place was full of cigar smoke and beer. Some music played in the background and there was a dance floor for some couples to dance on. She bought a bottle of beer and went to the table where Tim and Jeff sat. “Where’s Sam at? Don’t you all hang out together all the time?”

  “He decided not to join us tonight,” Tim said. “He helped Burton Myer deliver the colt earlier tonight, so he’s exhausted.”

  “Burton Myer? Didn’t he get amnesia?”

  The two men glanced at her as if she lost her mind.

  “Amnesia? No,” Jeff replied. “Who told you he had amnesia?”

  “Chad did,” she said, confused. “He said that Burton started forgetting things after he slept around the hay in his barn. Then he got a disease called the Myer Syndrome that no one had ever heard of before. Now he can’t remember anything.”

  They laughed.

  “There’s no such thing as a Myer Syndrome,” Tim responded between fits of giggles.

  “Chad said it was caused by the hay. He said that hay can affect someone’s memory,” she insisted.

  They continued to laugh so hard that their beer splashed out of their bottles.

  “He’s pulling your leg, Billy,” Jeff assured her. “There’s no such thing as hay affecting memory. I can’t believe you’re so gullible as to believe that.”

  “Who knew that Chad had a sense of humor?” Tim added.

  She frowned. Did Chad make it up? Why would he do that?

  “I have an idea,” Jeff spoke up. “Let’s talk to Burton. He just came in here. Burton!” He waved the old man over.

  Burton nodded and sat beside him. “Hello, Jeff. Hello, Tim.” He turned to her. “You must be Billy Ingram. I heard a lot about you. Apparently, you’re swift on a horse and a regular hero. Chad Walker is lucky to have you working out there.”

  “You’re Burton Myer?” she asked.

  “The one and only.”

  “You won’t believe this one.” Jeff explained the situation to Burton.

  Burton chuckled. “He fooled you with that, did he? I haven’t heard him making a joke for the longest time.”

  “We’ll get you a drink,” Tim offered. “Do you want one, Billy?”

  She shook her head. “This is one is still full.” She motioned to her beer.

  Jeff left with Tim.

  Burton turned to her. “I heard you’ve been a hard worker out there and saved a boy’s life.”

  “I do what I can,” she replied. She forced aside her shock that Chad had intentionally lied to her about the hay and made up things that she really had not said or done after all. She focused on the man in front of her.

  “Chad is a good man. Between you and me, he was too good for Georgia. I know that a lot of people believed she was a good woman but she wasn’t. A woman can do one of two things to a man. She can lift him up to great heights or drag him down to great depths. That woman tore him apart, and her family went right along with it. I stick to myself most of the time but when they come by, I make it a point to be friendly. Trust me, son, you don’t want to mess with them. Just go along with them and you’ll stay out of trouble. They have a lot of relatives who stick together regardless of the situation. Sometimes loyalty is blind.”

  “I had figured as much.” She thought it was nice of Burton to warn her about them.

  Burton continued, “I hear that Chad came into town on Wednesday. Wilma Jensen, who owns the mercantile in town, said he looked happier than he had since he first moved here. She mentioned that he bought a wedding ring. Has he proposed to your sister yet?”

  She had to stop herself from smiling. He bought her a ring while he was in town on Wednesday? “No, not yet,” she answered.

  “I’m sure he’s waiting for the right moment. Now that I hear he’s telling you that crazy fib about Myer Syndrome, I can tell that he’s doing much better. I guess having your sister around has done him a lot of good.”

  Jeff and Tim returned to give them Burton’s bottle.r />
  “I was just telling Billy that Chad is doing good to concoct that silly joke about me having amnesia,” Burton said. “I see Milly over there. I’m going to dance the night away.”

  “Will you be at the fairgrounds tomorrow?” Jeff asked him as he stood up. “Billy here is going to race Chad’s brother. Both claim to be the best horse racers.”

  “Really? That might be interesting. Maybe I’ll make an appearance. But I might get caught up working with the new colt. Nice meeting you Billy.” He tipped his hat and left.

  Kate tipped her hat and turned back to Tim and Jeff.

  “We’re glad you made the trip in here tonight,” Jeff told her. “There are plenty of women to dance with.”

  “It is a good place to meet honorable women,” Tim agreed.

  “That’s a great idea!” she cheered. Thankfully, the women were actually treated decently here. “I want to dance with some lovely ladies. Are there any available women here?”

  Jeff nodded to the blond with shoulder-length straight hair who was sitting by herself at the bar. She was drinking water.

  “She is good looking,” she stated, hoping she looked intensely interested in the woman. “If you will excuse me, I’m going to mingle around a little bit.”

  She took her beer and casually went up to the bar where the young blond was sitting. She found an empty cup, and when she was sure no one was looking, she poured half of the beer into it before approaching the woman.

  “Howdy, ma’am,” Kate greeted as she tipped her hat. “What is a pretty lady like you doing here all by yourself?”

  The blond turned to her. “You’re Billy Ingram, correct?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry. I don’t remember your name.”

  “Kelly Martin. We danced at the potluck last Saturday.”

  “I remember dancing with you. You were one of the best dancers there. I really liked the floral pattern you had on your bow. I have often looked for such a pattern back home but couldn’t find anything like it.”

  “Oh. Well, I made it myself. I sew my own clothes.”

  “Really? That’s amazing. You have a real gift for making clothes. You should open up a dress shop or make clothes for other women in town. You would make a fortune.”

  She blushed. “Do you really think so?”

 

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