The Daddy Survey

by Janis Reams Hudson

  The latter was a blatant bribe to pry the girls away from the television. They had gone more than two weeks without getting to watch much TV while they stayed at the café all day with their mother. Now they were trying to make up for lost time, and they adored the big screen.

  Of course, they would much rather be outside playing, but this morning the grass in the backyard was sopping wet, and Emily didn’t want them playing anywhere else. Not that anywhere else was any drier than the yard; the soaking rain that followed the second storm the night before had lasted until nearly sunup. Emily knew, because she had lain awake the rest of the night replaying every word, every gesture, every breath from her time in the kitchen with Sloan.

  During the drive to town Emily enjoyed the countryside, as well as Rose’s commentary.

  “That’s the Wilson place.” Rose pointed to a squat brick house with a huge barn behind it. The barn was easily five times the size of the house. “Of course, we shouldn’t call it that anymore.”

  “Why not?” Emily asked.

  “Because the Wilsons sold out, oh, I guess ten years ago now.”

  “Ten years?” Emily chuckled. “And you still call it by its former owner’s name?”

  “We’re a little slow to change around here. Set in our ways, I guess. Besides,” Rose added. “The Stoklasa place is too hard to say. And we never thought city folks like the Wilsons would stick this long.”

  In the back seat, Janie cocked her head. “Mother, are we city folks?”

  “I guess we are, honey.”

  “Does that mean we won’t stick long?”

  “For us, it does,” Emily said. “We’re only here long enough for me to earn enough money to get the car fixed, remember?”

  “But we like it here.” In the back seat, Libby leaned forward in her seat belt and shoulder harness and complained. “Why do we have to leave?”

  Emily said a silent prayer for patience. “We talked about this when we left Pueblo. You said you understood.”

  “Oh.” Libby sat back in her seat and hung her head. “I forgot.”

  “That’s all right,” Emily told her. “I’m glad you like it at the ranch. But you’ll like it in Fort Smith, too.”

  “Will there be horses and kitties and cows?” Libby asked.

  Emily noticed Rose’s lips twitching. To Libby, Emily said, “When we visit Cousin Brenda, there will be.”

  Libby heaved a huge sigh. “I guess that’s all right, then. If we really have to leave the Cherokee Rose, and Miss Rose and Mr. Sloan and Mr. Caleb and Mr. Justin and Abigail.”

  Emily frowned. “Who is Abigail?”

  “She’s one of the mama kitties in the barn,” Libby said with sudden animation. “She’s a tabby, and she’s got five brand-new baby kittens. Mr. Sloan says we can go see them in a couple of days, once Abigail isn’t so nervous about her new babies.”

  “That was nice of him,” Emily said. “Do I get to go, too?”

  “Aw, Mommy.” Libby snickered. “You’re a grown-up. You get to do whatever you want.”

  Emily and Rose shared a smile of irony.

  If only that were true, Emily thought.

  When they reached the small town of Rose Rock, they went to the drug store first. It would have taken them only a few minutes to make their purchases and check out, except Rose knew everyone, and everyone knew her. Neighbors—which included anyone who lived anywhere in the surrounding three counties, it seemed—stopped to catch up on the latest gossip, whose children and grandchildren were in town for a visit, who was gone on vacation and anything else of possible interest. Last night’s thunderstorm was a big topic, especially for those whom it missed, but who badly needed the rain.

  Emily wondered at Rose’s introducing her by saying she was “helping out for a couple of weeks or so.” Not once did she use the word housekeeper.

  One woman, Sandra, proved bold enough to ask, “Helping out? Doing what?”

  Emily started to answer, to set the record straight.

  Rose beat her to it, saying only, “Oh, a little of this, a little of that. Whatever needs doing, and believe me, plenty needs doing. Did you get much rain at your place?”

  “Not a drop, and I’ll tell you, Jack is fit to be tied. We’re about to dry up and blow away out at our place. If we don’t get rain soon we’ll have to start feeding the hay we’ve stored for next winter now, and have nothing left for winter.” She shook her head in dismay, or perhaps it was disgust. “How’s Earline, by the way?”

  Nothing showed on Rose’s face, but Emily felt a sudden increase in the tension in the air. “She’s fine, just fine. I guess we better get along with our shopping. We promised the girls ice cream after lunch.”

  It wasn’t until they were in the grocery store a half hour later that the reason for Rose’s slight deception became clear. Or, more confused, depending on a person’s outlook.

  As in the drug store, it took them a lot longer to shop than it would have if everyone weren’t so friendly. But finally their basket was filled and they stood in line at the checkout stand.

  According to her name badge, the checker’s name was Sis, and she, too, knew Rose and her grandsons.

  “Did you get rain out at the Cherokee Rose yesterday evening?” Sis asked as she ran their purchases across the scanner.

  “A half inch in under an hour,” Rose reported. “Then a good, steady rain most of the night.”

  Libby sidled up to the counter. “It was a real toad-strangler.”

  Sis let out a boisterous laugh that made heads turn. “I’ll bet it was, little one. And who might you be?”

  “My name’s Libby. This is my sister, Janie, and that’s my mommy.”

  “Well, aren’t you all just cuter than a bug’s ear. Dang these bags.” The ten-pound bag of flour failed repeatedly to trip the scanner. With an exaggerated sigh for the extra work, Sis keyed the information in manually. Without missing a beat, or seemingly drawing a breath, she smiled up at Rose. “Have you heard from Earline?”

  “No, but then I didn’t expect to, at least not this soon.”

  Sis smacked the heel of her hand against her forehead. “What am I thinking? She just left yesterday, so of course you wouldn’t have heard from her. Imagine, working all day out at your house as usual, then going home that night and having those boys turn up on her doorstep, telling her she’s been working too hard and it was time to take a vacation. Next thing you know, she’s gone, the very next day, like she was afraid they’d change their minds.” The big woman laughed again.

  “And to think, that was just yesterday when she left. It was just so sweet of those boys of yours. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anybody sending their housekeeper and her husband and all three grandchildren to Disney World, all expenses paid. And as a complete surprise, with no warning at all. And that was smart on their part, if you ask me. Knowing Earline, she would have balked at taking off and leaving y’all with nobody to keep house for you while she’s gone.”

  Emily stared at the woman’s mouth, watched the words form, heard them hit her ears. Housekeeper. Surprise trip. Yesterday. “Rose?” Sloan hadn’t said anything about them already having a housekeeper. He’d said that his grandmother needed her help.

  “That Sloan,” Rose muttered under her breath.

  “What was that?” Sis asked.

  Rose offered Sis a smile. “Just talking to myself. How are we doing, there?” She gestured toward the groceries still to be scanned. “Don’t forget to bag the cold things separately so we can put them in the ice chest. We’re stopping for lunch, and ice cream,” she added to Janie and Libby, “before we go home.”

  “Ah, a special treat for the little ones. We’ll have you out of here in two shakes, don’t you worry, you cute little things, you.”

  Emily didn’t push for Rose to explain about their housekeeper. She thought she would do better to get her answers from Sloan.

  But she feared she understood. The Chisholms hadn’t needed a housekeeper. Sl
oan had felt sorry for her. That’s why he’d offered her the job.

  It fit with what little she knew of him. He was a nice man, and Brenda’s husband had sung his praises. Helping out a woman in need was something a man like him might do.

  But to take her and two little girls into his home? That was taking charity a bit far.

  Whatever his reasons, she had a sick feeling in her stomach. He hadn’t been truthful with her. What would happen now that she knew the truth?

  Of course, she didn’t know the truth. Not much of it, anyway. She knew only that they hadn’t really needed a housekeeper. So why had he offered her the job? As near as she could tell from what Sis had said, at the same moment Sloan was offering Emily a job as housekeeper, their unsuspecting housekeeper was busy keeping their house.

  What was going on?

  “Come on, Mother.”

  Emily looked down to find Janie waiting for her with a puzzled look. “What?”

  “Come on, we’re going.”

  Looking up, Emily realized that she’d obviously been lost in her own thoughts longer than she’d realized. The groceries were checked, bagged and on their way out the door with Rose and Libby. She took Janie’s hand and rushed after them.

  While the stock boy loaded the groceries into the back of the SUV, following Rose’s instructions about putting the cold items in the ice chest, the woman kept one wary eye on Emily.

  Emily held her peace, what little she could find of it. She knew Rose expected her to ask questions, but her questions were for Sloan. If there was a fight to pick, it would be with him.

  Once again that sick feeling settled in her stomach, the one that told her she might have to buy those bus tickets yet. If the bus even came through Rose Rock, Oklahoma.

  Emily bit her tongue until after supper that evening. When the girls asked if they could go watch Caleb work on her car, she jumped at the chance to have them occupied elsewhere when she cornered Sloan.

  “Can we, Mother?” Janie asked again.

  “That sounds like fun,” Emily told her. “Justin, would you mind taking them down to the garage to see the car?”

  “Ladies.” He bowed to the girls. “It would be my honor.” With a flourish of his arm, he added, “May I escort you?”

  Amid male laughter and little-girl giggles, the three followed Caleb, who had already left the house.

  That left Rose and Sloan, both in the living room.

  Emily hurriedly stacked the supper dishes on the counter and wiped off the table. The rest of the cleanup could wait until after she’d gotten some straight answers.

  She found Rose at the desk with Sloan leaning over her.

  “Sloan, may I have a word with you?”

  Rose looked up at her grandson, then at Emily. “Uh-oh.”

  “Sure.” Sloan straightened and gave his grandmother a frown. Then he looked at Emily. “What’s up?”

  So, Emily thought, Rose had not warned him that Emily had learned that they hadn’t needed a housekeeper. That was interesting.

  “I’ll go upstairs,” Rose offered, “so you two can talk.”

  “That’s all right,” Emily said. “I don’t want to take you away from what you’re doing. Sloan and I can go for a walk.”

  Not waiting to see if he followed, Emily headed for the back door. Outside she turned toward the creek, away from the girls down at the big garage in the opposite direction.

  Sloan walked beside her. “What did you want to talk about?”

  She’d been thinking about this confrontation all afternoon, yet still she didn’t know quite what she wanted to say. Finally, when they reached the swing next to the creek, she stared at the rushing water. What had been a shallow, tame trickle two days earlier was now, since last night’s rain, a two-foot, swift flowing torrent. The collection of wet, muddy debris along the banks showed that the water had been another two feet higher not long ago.

  “Emily?”

  She turned to face the man who had hired her. “Why am I here?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Why did you bring me, us, here to the ranch?”

  Sloan frowned. “What’s this about? I told you, we needed help around the house—”

  “Let me rephrase that before you dig yourself in any deeper. Why did you hire me to be your housekeeper when you already had Earline right here working for you?”

  Surprise, then chagrin and guilt filled his face. “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh.”

  “Who squealed?”

  “Just about everyone in town today, but mainly it was Sis at the grocery store.”

  He let out a long sigh. “Her mouth always did outpace her brain. Look, it’s no big deal.”

  “No big deal? You lied to me.”

  “I never lied,” he protested. “I told you you’d be working for my grandmother, and you are. I told you she hated housework, and she does.”

  “You got me here under false pretenses, and I’d like to know why.”

  Sloan scratched his head. Hiring Emily, bringing her here to the ranch, had seemed like a good thing to do at the time, but she was starting to make him feel as if he’d done something underhanded, and he hadn’t.

  Well, not much, anyway.

  “I only wanted to help,” he confessed. “You were out of options, and nobody should be left in a situation like that.”

  “So you lied to me?”

  “I wanted you to have a choice, stick it out on your own, or come home with me. I knew you wouldn’t come here without the promise of a job.”

  “So you shipped your housekeeper off?”

  Ah, hell. “I called home from Amarillo and had Justin and Caleb send her on vacation. She’s been talking for months about she and her husband wanting to take their grandkids to Disney World. So, we sent them. They get a paid vacation, you get a job and a mechanic. Everybody wins.”

  That was his story, and he was, by God, sticking to it. There was no sense in complicating the situation any more that it already was.

  “What else?” she demanded.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s something else you’re not telling me.”

  “About what?”

  “About why you brought me here.”

  Sloan propped his hands on his hips and met her gaze. Her steady, open gaze that he could not lie to. “Ah, hell.” He stared up at the clear blue sky for a minute, then looked down at the damp ground between his boots. This shouldn’t be so hard, telling a woman he liked her. Why wouldn’t the words form on his tongue?

  “I’m waiting,” she said.

  “Does anybody ever hold out on you?”

  “Not for long, and don’t change the subject. You were about to come clean.”

  He let out a long, slow breath. “All right.” He walked over and turned the tire upside down and around to empty out the standing water. No sense breeding any more mosquitoes than they had to. “I wanted you to come to the ranch so I could spend more time with you.”

  Emily opened her mouth to say something, but he held up his hand to stop her. Which was just as well, since she had no idea what she’d been about to say.

  “No,” he said. “Let me get it all out while I’m on a roll. I wanted to spend more time with you because I’m attracted to you. Which was what I was trying to hide by steering clear of you, for which I apologized last night.”

  She stared up at him without blinking. What had he just said? “You’re attracted to me?”

  He clenched his teeth and nodded.

  “You’re attracted to me.”

  “Well you don’t have to look so damn unhappy about it.”

  “No,” she said, her mind whirling. “No, actually, I think I’m flattered.”

  He snorted in disbelief. “You look scared to death.”

  It was disconcerting, Emily thought, that he could read her so well. She was scared. Confused. At a complete loss.

  “Do you react this way every time a man tells you he’s attracted to you?�
�

  He’d been so kind to her, offering her this job, offering his brother to fix her car. She didn’t know what she and her girls would have done without him. And now he was being honest with her. The least she could do was be honest in return.

  “No. I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s not that.”

  He shifted from one foot to the other, his forehead furrowed. “It’s not what?”

  “You’re right, I am afraid, at least a little.”

  “Because I’m attracted to you? Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was make you afraid of me.”

  She shook her head, frustrated at not being able to find the words to make him understand. “I’m not afraid or offended that you’re attracted to me. I said I was flattered, and I meant that.”

  “Then what is it, Emily?”

  She stared at the tire, wishing it wasn’t still wet. At least swinging on it would give her something to do. “You need to understand that Michael has been the only man in my life. I fell in love with him in first grade, and, miracle of miracles, he fell right back. From that day on there was never anyone else for either of us.”

  “I see.”

  “No,” she said, “I don’t think you do. I haven’t been blind all these years. Now and then I have noticed that a man looked as if he might be attracted to me. But I was so wrapped up in Michael that it really meant nothing to me. It was flattering, of course. I’m not without an ego.”

  “But this time you don’t have Michael to shield you from it?” Sloan asked.

  “It’s not that.” Damn it, why couldn’t she just come out and say it? She took a deep breath, and plunged. “What scares me this time is that I think it might be mutual, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

  Sloan’s pulse beat slow and hard. She had managed to surprise him. He moved two steps closer, but not close enough to pressure her. “What do you want to do about it?”

  She shook her head and moved back a step. “I don’t know. Nothing.”

  “We’ve just admitted we’re attracted to each other and you don’t want to do anything about it?”

  She gave a jerky shrug that spoke of nerves. “I mean, what’s the point? I’m on my way to Fort Smith. I’ll only be here another week or so, just until my car’s fixed and I can pay for it.”