by Zoe Adams
A dust cloud signified an approaching car. Soon, her mother’s Cadillac lurched to a halt in front of the house. An older and miniature version of Susanna’s piercing blue eyes, and wide pink smile greeted them coolly under the deep veranda.
“What are you standing outside for?” her mother asked, without so much as a greeting.
“I missed the prairie wind,” Susanna said and stood up to greet her mother.
They exchanged a half-hearted squeeze that met the basic formalities of a hug. A weathered cheek was offered for a kiss. Susanna continued to be ignored as the prim woman sized up the tall man in front of her.
Susanna still had to introduce her mother to the man she was planning to marry. It was a weird feeling, and she stumbled forward.
“Mother, this is Royce Blackwater. Royce, this is my mother, Linda.” Susanna stood back next to him.
He flashed a big smile as he shook her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Linda.”
Royce had said it with such sincerity that Susanna’s mother checked the single strand of pearls around her throat.
Linda raised her eyebrows and did not even try to conceal her curiosity as she sized him up. “I was wondering when Susanna was going to quit hiding you.”
Royce lowered his gaze conspiratorially to the tiny woman. “Susanna couldn’t hide me in this town, just as much as I can’t hide her from the world.”
Linda’s eyebrows arched before she focused on her daughter. “So you’re back, after abandoning the ranch?”
Susanna froze, and Royce took a visible step closer to his girl.
“No doubt, your boyfriend thinks you are quite a catch, but this is not your ranch,” Linda said.
Susanna wasn’t expecting the surprise party that was giving this uncomfortable reception. She tried not to be offended at the stab in her heart. She knew she didn’t have a heart for money; she had a heart for making things look good and be prosperous. It hurt to think someone would question her motives. It’s not that she didn’t like or need money, she certainly did, however she only made money that was covered in love. She didn’t do harmful or unlawful things to people or animals. She only did things she enjoyed, and this ranch was her love.
Susanna kept her voice reasonably calm. “I’m not a man, so I’ll never inherit this ranch, and I don’t care. My heritage is in my heart, and a deed could never take precedence over making my forefathers proud. Royce doesn’t need this ranch. He likes me just as much without it.”
Susanna stopped mid-thought. She bit her lip at the realization that everyone, including Royce, had received an advantage from her rattlesnake bite.
She looked at him, but was still talking to her mom when she said, “He probably likes me even more without the ranch.”
Susanna had put him on the spot, and this was not the right time for that. She rolled her eyes back toward her mother, but Linda was already walking away. The deck absorbed shockwaves of abuse from the older woman who took short hard steps across it. Susanna followed and stepped into the house. Her small personal things had been packed. Her couch with the large flowers now had a few stains and spills across it.
A dirty and mistreated kitchen of a bachelor greeted her nostrils, and she held her breath. There was only one thing she wanted from this room. She located her great-great grandfather’s coffee cup, and held it carefully. She left through the back, and a slamming screen door did little to ease the aching in her heart.
She walked to the barn. Inside the workshop, shelves were still lined with old and new tools, but shatteringly less organized. Susanna was sad to eye friends to be left behind. She did not feel right about taking anything. She ran a finger along the lathe and vises, before looking at the newer tools she had added. Things were misplaced with the telltale signs of new ownership. Even greasy fingerprints covered walls she had coated with fresh paint.
Susanna walked from the shop with a heavy heart. Her little dry room was really just an old shack. Herbs that had been hung to dry from her last harvest were also missing. Herbs for teas and compressions and feeds were all gone. She looked for her notebooks. There were specific ingredients she had been experimenting with for various animals. It had taken her years to collect the information, and it was all gone. She sucked in her breath when she finally lost her composure. A fiery sensation flooded her face and did much to frighten the people who knew her.
“Where is everything?” Susanna gestured toward the empty shelves.
“This all got cleared out for my office,” Linda said importantly.
“This would never work as an office,” Susanna sniffed. “You should see how much the wind shakes it.”
At this statement, Linda looked slightly confused. “But that doesn’t matter, because we decided to tear everything down and move all the buildings to the little city you built. It is going to be a real city, taxed and everything.”
Susanna was so upset that when she handed the porcelain cup to Royce, her fingers shook. “I see. So where are my belongings?”
She had enunciated every word very carefully. Her mother looked over at the boxes that had been set outside. They had been left uncovered and at the mercy of the elements. Susanna looked up in fear and ran to the discarded heap. She peered into a box and stared in disbelief. Various items had shattered when they had been boxed up. Another box was moldy herbs in a mushy mess.
Susanna nodded and her voice shook. “All right, you win. Sounds like a great idea. Sprawl a city across the prime feeding grounds I just procured for the buffalo. What are you going to do when the power for the fence goes down, and a thousand buffalo stampede through town? Tell mothers their children can’t play outside? Even inside of a house isn’t safe from an attacking behemoth.”
“I never said the ranch didn’t need you,” Linda said defensively.
Linda tried to leave, but Royce held her in place with one finger on the middle of her back. He forced her to watch as the angry tigress searched for something. Susanna was in extreme reserves of self-control, and realized the little shed was about to experience the brunt of the blowup. She couldn’t take any more. She just wanted to leave. She pushed past the little woman roadblock, and a heavily ruffled chair fell with a weak thud.
She did not want to look at Royce for fear of condemnation, but finally did. She saw twisted approval in his eyes, but did not feel better.
She circled the house and saw her truck. She hesitated before looking in. The dusty cab had two inches of mud crusted to the rubber mats. There was an army of cigarette burns along the window. All sorts of misuse of the truck were on display.
“Are you all right?” Royce whispered from behind her.
“Yes.” Susanna slightly slumped, and her shoulder brushed his chest.
He scooped her off her feet, and she melted like butter into his arms.
“Good night, Linda,” Royce said to the sputtering woman who was clearly expecting more of a fight.
Driving down the dark familiar road, Susanna let go of her emotions, slumped in the passenger’s seat. Tears were finally released as she left a piece of her heart on the prairie that had already accepted her sweat and blood.
She tried to compose herself. Her eyes were slowly drying as she tried to detach herself from the homestead. None of that went away, when she recognized they were turning onto the neighbor’s farm.
“The last time I came here, the Johnsons pulled a shotgun on me,” Susanna huffed and slid lower into the seat to allow a little more pout.
Royce wasn’t deterred by her sadness, and he parked the car in quick order.
“You know, it’s strange,” Royce said. “This was the only place available for me to buy. I just had to have it, because I plan on buying every sunset, so I can spend it with you.”
A few ancient trees put their spindly arms to the sky. The setting sun put a yellow veneer on a bright protected gulley.
The land showed clear of the previous decorations of broken down tractors and rusty lawn ornaments. The covet
ed property had not lost its luster, and much had been done to heal the scarred land.
“Come on. Let’s walk around for a little while.” Royce held out his hand for her.
They circled the property in quick order. Susanna didn’t really know what she wanted now, and Royce caught onto her lack of enthusiasm. He pulled her closer as the wind started to pick up with the impending darkness.
They walked a little way from the old driveway, and then they saw the foundation for the new house. It was a silver runway on the flattened hill, and it beckoned them from above.
Royce smiled and tucked Susanna closer to his side. They walked up the silver trail of sidewalk that curved along its passage. Intermittent round steps carried them up to the non-existent front door.
Short bursts of the freshest winds carried Royce’s hopeful voice across the navy blue land. A few planets glowed bravely in the darkening blue sky, and the moon’s hugeness was extreme in the lower region of the sky. It was an unearthly calm night for December. Susanna could sense the impending snow, and remarked on it in her slow Midwestern drawl.
The house existed on the cusp of concrete and carpentry. The lower levels of the home were poured in tons of white concrete, and the earth backfilled around it in an enormous hill.
“The basement is done, the garage is ready to be parked in, and this is the main floor.” Royce smiled at her. “The carpenters will start on the walls next week if the weather stays nice. Do you like the floor?”
Susanna looked down and nodded.
He smiled and said, “The concrete is colored and stamped to look like granite.”
She looked up and smiled back. “I like it. It looks like it’s been here forever.” Standing on the large rectangular slab Susanna tried to visualize its future.
Royce turned her to face him and rubbed her knuckles absently. “I know you had plans to get married in a hotel, but I was hoping we could have the wedding here.”
Susanna hesitated and looked at the plainness of it all. “How would you do it?”
“I’ll bring in a large marquee with lots of white pillars. The tables will go over here, and we will get married over here, with our backs to those distant black hills.” He had started to pace with his excitement. He looked back at Susanna before joining her in two long strides. “And you will be over here on the pedestal of love.” Royce placed her on the workman’s table that was behind her.
His eyes changed as his restraint fell away. He pulled Susanna into his arms and devoured her. The empty foundation was a temple to the gods that was much too close to the stars.
He took his time making her feel better about her future home and wedding site, before showing her the old farmhouse that still stood by the driveway.
“Normally, I would bulldoze all the houses and buildings, but I thought you might like to move them.” Royce opened the front door without a key. “I had them do some slight remodeling, just in case we decided to stay here some nights.” He found the light switch and turned it on.
Susanna laughed. “You call this light remodeling?” She looked around at the brand new house and kissed her husband-to-be. “You thought of everything.”
“It was worth it to see you smile.” Royce squeezed her, and his voice took on a lower timbre. “I didn’t expect you to come home to your ranch like that. I wish I could do something about it. Today I saw a look on your face that I hope I never see again.”
Susanna stepped in closer. She didn’t want to think about it. Not yet, maybe tomorrow it would seem less sad.
“It’s all right, Royce. I knew I was only the caretaker, so I want you to do nothing about it.” She looked up to him and smiled. “I need you for more important things.”
He nodded and looked around the room. “I think we should sleep here tonight.”
As always, Susanna couldn’t argue with his logic.
***
The next day, the forecast was for heavy snows. Susanna knew what that meant, and she was always prepared. Well, she used to be. She looked around the house that had received an expensive if not slightly generic facelift.
All the appliances were shiny and high-end. Expensive tiles and countertops were of complimentary white stone. Faucets, sinks, and cupboards were black, and it made the kitchen seem larger than it was.
She peered into a cupboard, and a set of plates she had liked in Paris were already stacked neatly. She gasped and held one up excitedly. “They’re already here.”
Royce looked up from his cell phone and smiled. “I am glad you like your china. I made sure you got a couple sets. It looks like the snow is already here as well. Maybe we should go into town for some things.”
Susanna went from being happy and grateful to groaning. “I miss my old house. It’s stocked for Armageddon. We’re going to need a generator and everything.”
Royce looked up, deep concern on his face. “You think the power might go out?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Susanna flounced around to the next cupboard. “At least all the pots and pans are here. We need food and supplies to last at least a week.”
Royce stood up. “You are so honest and optimistic at the same time.”
“It won’t be that bad,” she teased.
As it turned out, it was that bad. They had enough time to go into town at a mad rush and try to get back as soon as possible. There were already six inches of snow on the ground when they took the groceries into the house. They barely got the front door shut when the wind began to blow.
Frozen crystals of winter had been seeping through the powder blue sky all day. They were whipped into a blizzard that blighted the whole tri-state area. Visibility was completely obliterated as the wind and negative chills blanketed the land into isolation.
The communities that bordered the Black Hills and Hogback Mountains were seasoned veterans of the cold. The service industry never rested, because harsh winter updates meant bigger business demand. Roads were constantly plowed open, and they left driveways to dig themselves out of the residual trail that the snow pushers left behind.
The highways through the prairie were cut off from the world by snowdrifts forming in hours. All said and done, it was the quickest accumulation of snow in over fifty years, and the weathered cities reluctantly froze up.
Royce and Susanna hunkered down on the prairie. It was the first time they were truly alone without bodyguards or assistants for longer than a few hours, and the homey space away from business gave the couple another realm of closeness. After two days of constant snowfall, the sky showed blue, but the temperature was still well below zero. Susanna knew the itches of cabin fever.
She stared out the window at the blue on top of white panorama.
Royce walked up and put his arms around her. “What are you thinking about?” he asked, smelling her hair.
“Buffalo,” Susanna said simply. “I can’t hide it very well, can I? Being a rancher is a hard habit to break.”
“You don’t have any habits that should be broken,” Royce said patiently.
She turned her head slightly and kissed his whiskered chin. “You do.”
He laughed, “I do?”
“Yes, you do.” Susanna chuckled. “You don’t like me to do anything without you.”
He held onto her tighter. “How can you complain about that?”
Susanna didn’t know if she would, should, or could complain to the captain. “All the same, I would like to go over to the ranch and check the livestock.” Susanna had an independent streak, and she wondered if it would ever dissipate. She wasn’t used to asking permission, and telling someone where she was going was a little out of the way. Royce was holding her tightly to the point of discomfort. She took a deep breath as she remembered what it was like to share a life with someone. Things had changed, and Royce was a good match for her. She shook off the old independent Susanna, and let Royce hold on.
“I’m coming with you then.” He turned her around. “If you get stuck in a snowbank, I
’ll have to keep you warm while you shovel us out.”
They both laughed at his reference to her toughness. Susanna could laugh with Royce, but if anyone else came to her with those expectations, she would tell them what they could do with a shovel. But Susanna had a different style; she was an honest cake with polite frosting. Once you got past the sweet politeness, the honesty was said with real sugar, and too much of it could cause life changing habits, either good or bad.
Chapter 18
A Christmas Surprise
Seven days before Christmas the prairie got a heat wave. For consecutive days the temperature lingered about ten degrees above freezing. Roads were given back over to transportation, and five foot drifts turned into temporary ponds of standing water.
Susanna and Royce’s quiet country estate was overtaken by wedding planners and assistants. A troop of RVs and mobile offices were set up in a field across from their house. They had circled the wagons into a utilitarian cause of producing an over-the-top wedding, and Royce had never been busier. There were so many people who had known him his whole life. They had been waiting for this day with probably more excitement than Royce. These were people who catered to him, and kept his perimeter safe.
When he had given it thought in the past, he had considered himself extremely lucky. There were times when his friends had gone above and beyond the call of duty to protect his bachelor lifestyle. It was something that was done with forethought, as it had grown into an expectation.
He didn’t mind putting his scientific work on hold. He was a rich man who didn’t need to work, per se. His career path and family interests were luckily entwined. He had succeeded enough to shine in the critical eye of the science field, but that was just a front for being born with a silver spoon.
Currently, he was kept very busy studying and cataloging Susanna. He knew he wouldn’t be much good in the lab anyway. It was dangerous to think about a woman so much, when he should be focused on the success of his crest in other ways.