Everyone at the table laughed and Richard teased Fo, "As pretty as she is, if you never noticed, Fo, that doesn't say much for your eyesight."
Fo nodded at Chase. "Maybe I was just keeping her a secret from old Romeo here."
Chase gave Charlie another come on look. "Well, the secret is out, cuz. I have just fallen deeply in love."
Sweetly, Charlie asked, "As masculine as you are, Chase, I'm sure that would make me like the hundred and forty-sixth love. Am I right?"
Chase smiled suggestively. "Maybe."
Just as sweetly, Charlie replied, "Then I'd really rather just die an old maid, but thank you anyway." The adults around the table laughed uproariously, and even the little kids joined in as Charlie said, "It was nice to meet you all."
Fo pulled her back toward the front door, but Richard stopped them. "Fo, you'll take her to the south guest house, won't you?" Fo nodded. "Let Madge know if there's anything you need and check with Luke when he comes in to find out where she wants to work." He turned back to Charlie. "It's so good to finally meet you, Charlie. Fo has talked about you for years. I'm sure you'll love it here. Make yourself at home."
As they went back out to the drive, Fo said, "See? I told you my Uncle is the nicest guy in the world. He truly is that cool all the time."
She shook her head. "How did he end up with such a wife?"
"She's actually the third one. Chase and Luke's mom died of cancer when they were about eight and nine. She was a wonderful, sweet, kind, smart, strong woman. Then he married Tuckett's mom and didn't do so hot on the second one. She took off somewhere and then he married this third one. She's very pretty, but he would be the first to admit he made a terrible mistake. Still, he does the best he can to be a good dad. Sometimes he's just in way over his head with the ranch and Tuckett and the little ones and especially Chase. I imagine Chase gives Uncle Richard more trouble than all the rest of them put together. It's just a good thing he has Luke to hold everything together."
"Then Luke isn't like Chase?"
Fo chuckled. "No. Luke is nothing like Chase. Come on. I'll take you to your house."
"I'm to have a whole guest house? I thought I'd have a room or something."
"You get the whole house, but it's pretty small. It's actually an eighteen eighties homestead cabin that's been renovated. You'll love it. You'll feel like you’re in True Grit or something. And around this crazy place, you'll be grateful for the privacy and peace sometimes. It's on the very edge of the compound and no one will bother you."
"Where do you live?"
He nodded at a set of long log buildings off to one side as he drove past. "I live in the left bunk house with Luke. The other bunkhouse has a handful of guys and then there are a couple of houses down the road a ways where some more guys live. The married hands live in houses of their own over east of here."
"Where does Madge stay? And Chase?"
"They both live right in the main house."
"Why is Luke in the bunkhouse and Chase in the main house?"
"I'm not sure. My guess would be because Uncle Richard wants to know what Chase is up to as much as possible, but I don't know. At any rate, I'll bet Chase drives Luke crazy and he moved out here to preserve his sanity. He's pretty quiet living."
"And Chase isn't?"
Fo turned to Charlie. "Chase is pretty self explanatory. I'm sure you've figured that out. They're all supposedly members of the Church, but Chase never went on a mission and you've already seen what kind of a saint Angela is. Although, over time she does grow on you a little. She’s smart. Amazingly smart. And she has a pretty laugh.
“I won't say anything about Chase except to say he's ridiculously concerned with Chase and only Chase. His life’s work is body building and then sharing that physique with women at a part time job in at a health spa in Whitefish. And honestly, I think he does that just so that my uncle doesn’t boot his fanny out of here.”
He gave her an apologetic smile and continued, “For the most part, the Langstons are wonderful people and I think we'll have a good experience here. Just don't believe everything Chase tells you. He's been known to tell people what they want to hear."
"And Luke?"
"Luke is as easy to figure out as Chase or even more so. He's just the other side of the spectrum. He served a mission to France. He’s absolutely bulletproof, selfless, and works the ranch like a machine. I'd trust him with my life."
Fo pulled up to a small cabin that was maybe twenty four by twenty four with a porch than ran the length of the front and a view all the way across the valley to the south. Charlie loved it on sight.
She was pleasantly surprised when she got inside to realize that quaint though it was, it was furnished luxuriously and had every modern convenience hidden away within its rustic ambience. It consisted of a bedroom, bathroom and combined living room and kitchen, with a loft over the bedroom half. The kitchen cabinets and appliances were all faced with barn wood and the counters were some kind of dull gray green stone that just fit the rustic tone of the room.
She smiled as she touched the little button that dispensed crushed ice from the refrigerator door. What would the pioneer women have done for something like that in the eighteen eighties? A fieldstone fireplace and hearth filled one end of the room, and a hook hung down from the inside with a small cast iron cauldron suspended from it as if waiting for her to start making a homesteader’s dinner at any moment. She felt as if she should be wearing a prairie dress and high button boots as she stood there.
The Taco Rocket was already parked out front beside Fo's SUV, and he'd brought her other bags in and set them neatly beside the queen size antique bed covered with a handmade patchwork quilt. She wandered into the bathroom and found the most unusual fixtures she'd ever seen. The sink was an old-fashioned enamel washbasin, and she wasn't sure, but the bathtub appeared to be a galvanized water trough like she'd seen in the corrals at historic museums. On closer inspection, she realized it contained a luxurious tub fitted with whirlpool jets and the barn wood cupboard next to it housed a towel warmer.
She turned to Fo. "Check this out. It's like the Ritz Carlton gone pioneer. This is incredible! Who came up with all this, do you suppose?"
"I don't know, but whoever did it went to a lot of trouble to make it luxurious without ruining the feel of the original cabin."
The log ladder drew her and she climbed up far enough to poke her head over the rim of the loft and look around. It had a simple barn wood floor over log joists and contained only a set of handcrafted twin beds, a bedside table and a single rocking chair under the window. The beds were covered in the same patchwork quilts as the bed below, and she was willing to bet the rain on the tin roof would sound just as it had a hundred and thirty years ago. She let out a contented sigh as she climbed back down. This little log cabin had a peace about it that was like a thick down comforter to her soul. She mentally compared it to her parents’ huge brick Tudor that stood on its perfectly manicured estate lawn back in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Fo laughed and seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "It's slightly different from the Dr. Evans' estate back east, huh?"
Shaking her head, she said, "Just a little. It's day and night from your parents’ estate as well. How did your family and your Uncle's family end up so opposite?"
"My mother couldn't wait to get out of Montana when she was a teenager. She left the second she graduated from high school and has never looked back. She still can't understand why I like to come out here all the time. She thinks Montana is positively still in the Dark Ages."
Looking around, Charlie mused quietly, "Sometimes there's a lot to be said for the Dark Ages. I've only been here for half an hour and my ulcer is healing by the minute." She set a suitcase up on the antique farmhouse table and began to sort through it and unpack. "What do you suppose Luke will want me to do around here?"
Blandly, Fo replied, "I suggested roping and branding cows at four-thirty in the morning, but he looked a b
it skeptical. He'll probably ask you to help in the office or the herb farm office. It's a girl thing, you know. Keep your hands clean."
Charlie cracked right up, and Fo had the wherewithal to look sheepish as he said, "All right, all right. So I'm the clean-handed one of the two of us. That's why I'm interning at the hospital, thank you very much, and you're the ranch hand. Still, I know you. You're going to love it here."
"I already do. Thank you for talking into coming here instead of going home. I would have been positively miserable.” She put out a hand to clarify. “But I do love my parents. I swear I do. Don’t get me wrong. This is just much more comfortable." She pulled her hair back up into its knot and resecured it with the pencil. "Go rope and brand something while I unpack and I'll come find you in a while when I'm done."
He answered her with a ridiculously deep, "Yes, Ma'am.", doffed an invisible Stetson and disappeared out the heavy plank door. With another contented sigh, Charlie sat down in the wooden rocker beside the fireplace and absentmindedly pushed it lazily with one foot. This was going to be a great summer. She could feel it in her bones.
Chapter 2
Luken Langston pulled his pick up truck into the parking spot in front of the bunkhouse and shut off the engine in the lavender gray light of dusk. Opening the door and stepping out, he stretched his tired back and reached back in for his leather work gloves and the rope that lay coiled on the seat. He slapped the rope against his dusty pant legs and boots and breathed deeply of the evening smell of river bottom and beef cows. To some that may have been a questionable smell, but to him it was home in its purest essence and he loved it.
His stomach growled and he wondered if there was any real food in the bunkhouse fridge, or if he'd have to either settle for junk, or head back up to the main house before crashing tonight. He'd been up since four thirty that morning and was too tired to go for food, even though he'd skipped dinner. Maybe there was some fruit left, or some milk. Fo lived on milk, so there should be some. Or maybe that was backward. His boots sounded loud on the wooden porch boards as he mounted the two steps.
He tossed the rope onto one of the hooks inside the door of the bunkhouse, threw the gloves onto the shelf above it and reached to unbuckle his chaps. Hanging them beside the rope on the hooks, he pulled his shirt off over his head in one single motion. He dumped it into the laundry hamper next to his bunk as he kicked out of his boots and spurs, grabbed clean clothes from a drawer and headed for the shower. Thirty seconds later, he decided a hot shower was the greatest invention known to man and resolved to sleep right there under the pounding, steamy spray. This had to be the purest form of heaven.
The need to sleep there cooled with the last of the hot water and he got out, dried off, and wrapped the towel around his hips as he stood at the sink to shave. The aftershave he slapped on helped to wake him up enough that he decided he would go in search of real food, even if he had to go up to the house. It had been a grueling evening. He usually let the hands have Sundays off except for the barest minimum of feeding chores, but this afternoon he'd had a whole herd of heifers go through a break in the fence and get into a grain field. It had been a pain rounding them all back up, moving them alone, and then repairing the fence. The field would never been the same, at least not this year.
Slipping on a clean pair of jeans, he walked out of the bathroom, shirtless and bare footed. He was half way to the fridge when there came a light knock and then the bunkhouse door opened. A beautiful stranger with blonde curls and long legs stepped inside and called out for Fo. She didn't see Luke there in the half-light and came in several more steps, calling as she came and then abruptly pulled up when she finally saw him. Both of them were speechless for a second and then she stammered, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know there was anyone else in here. Please forgive me." She turned toward the door and he stopped her.
"No. You're fine. I just didn't expect company. I'm sure Fo is around here somewhere." He glanced down at his bare chest. "Excuse me, would you? I'll just go get dressed while you find him." He grabbed shirt and headed back into the recently vacated bathroom while she stood there looking at him without making a sound.
He shut the door behind him and stared into the steamy mirror for just a second, stunned. Who in the world was the heart stopping beauty who had just walked into the bunkhouse? Fo hadn't mentioned any girls stopping by that he could remember. Luke had never seen her before and even as tired as he was, she had jolted him like a bolt of lightning. He had to take a second and remind himself that he was engaged to be married and that she was with Fo anyway.
Pulling on his shirt, he was almost hesitant to go back out. Hearing Fo's voice outside the bathroom door helped. Luke went back out and headed for his bunk, but got sidetracked by the plate Fo carried and the marvelous smells emanating from it. Food was the only thing right now that could make him partially forget the stunning woman who had just walked in on him.
Fo brought the plate over to him. "I saw your truck and assumed you hadn't had any dinner. Are you hungry?"
"Ravenous. You’re a saint. Thank you. There was just a girl in here looking for you." Luke put the plate on the table and turned back to get a fork.
"She found me. I guess you two have met then."
Luke looked around and saw that the girl was now seated on the cowhide couch across the room. "Uh, sort of. I'm Luke. Luke Langston." He stepped over to shake her hand. "And you are?"
"You haven't met then?" Fo glanced back and forth between them for a minute.
Slightly embarrassed, the girl admitted, "I actually walked in just as he was getting out of the shower. I sort of walked in on him half dressed unintentionally." She turned to Luke. "Sorry about that. I'm Charlie. Fo's friend from Connecticut, and school. I flew in this evening from Utah."
Luke turned to Fo in surprise. "Charlie is a girl? Your friend Charlie for all these years is a girl?"
Fo laughed at him. "Does she look like a girl to you? I would think it would be obvious, but maybe I'm just more discerning. Where have you been? Has your ox been in the mire this evening?"
Running a hand through his damp hair, Luke sat at the table while Fo sprawled onto the other end of the couch. "More like heifers in the spring wheat. A whole herd of them went on vacation tonight."
"Will it make them sick?"
He shook his head, "We'll know that in about three hours. I'm hoping not, but we'll see. Anthony’s going to check on them. Thanks for dinner." He glanced up. "I still can't believe Charlie is a girl. You've been friends since you were like two haven't you?"
"I think we were seven. Well, I was seven. She was eight. She's way older than me, but we were in the same grade."
"Six months is not way older, thank you, Forest Eldridge. Plus, you've needed wisdom all these years. My superior maturity has kept you out of a lot of trouble."
Luke looked from one to the other of them as Fo retorted, "You have it backwards, Chuck. My superior immaturity has kept you entertained all this time."
She laughed. "That is probably true. You saved me from always being squished by the tough old bird. What kind of thing is superior immaturity? That sounds markedly suspect to me."
"I didn't call her old. I just said tough. Don't make it worse than it was."
Charlie laughed again. "If I'm ever mad at you, I'm going to tell her you said that. You will be banished from her perpetual worship forever!"
“No way. She adores me because I’ve taken such good care of you all these years.”
Luke just sat quietly eating his dinner as they bantered back and forth. Finally, he asked, "Who did you call a tough old bird, Fo?"
Fo looked guilty and Charlie giggled as he admitted, "Her mother. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, I promise. And she is tough. The toughest. It's a good thing she does adore me. I've had to save Charlie her whole life. Momma Evans is a touch militant."
"A touch?" Charlie laughed again. "That has to be the understatement of the century." She turned to Luke. "My mother
is a wonderful, Christian woman. Just a very strong one. Very in-charge. She’s positively driven. I'm kind of a wimp about dealing with her sometimes. That's why I'm in Montana instead of Connecticut right now. Speaking of being here, your dad told me to ask you where you wanted me to go to work tomorrow."
He shook his head. "You're a girl."
She smiled. "I know that. I've been this way for twenty three years now."
Fo whacked her teasingly. "Quit being a smart aleck. He's tired. He's been getting the oxen out of the spring wheat mire all night. Give him a break."
Luke smiled quietly and then said, "No, I just expected a guy. A wimpy, city slicker guy like Fo. I've been trying to figure out where I needed a wimp and now I have to find a place for a girl." He smiled again.
"Careful Luke, she's practically engaged to an attorney named Elroy. You could be sued for sexist comments like that."
Luke gave her that same mellow smile. "Elroy? You’re marrying a guy named Elroy?"
Fo laughed and teased, "Elroy the divorce litigator. Who marries a divorce attorney? That’s gotta be the stupidest thing ever."
Luke looked surprised. "You're marrying a divorce attorney?
Charlie gave Fo a disgusted look. "No! I am not marrying an attorney of any kind. Stop it, Forest. He's going to think I'm a nut." She turned back to Luke. "Is finding a place for a girl going to be a problem? Because I can look somewhere else if it is."
He shook his head. "No. It's not a problem. I just don't dare put you into a bunch of guys. Work would come to a grinding halt I expect. We don't typically have ranch hands that look like you."
Charlie sat upright. "I don't know the first thing about being a ranch hand Luke, but I've certainly never been accused of not doing my fair share of the work."
Fo laughed. "I don't think that's what he's inferring, Charlie. It's the other guys who would quit working to see a pretty girl. I think he was giving you a compliment in a round about way."
"Oh." She made a perfect circle with her lips. "Well. I really doubt I would have enough of an effect on men to be a problem, Luke. But I'll be happy to do whatever you'd like me to try."
The Outer Edge of Heaven Page 2