“You sure did, wife of mine.” Uncle Emmett reached over and squeezed her aunt’s hand.
Their eyes held and never moved even when Jed added, “I’ll third that.” Jed forked a bite every bit again as big as the one she’d just taken. And of all things, the man winked mischievously at her when he did. That meant only one thing.... He’d noticed the huge bite she’d taken.
Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she looked down at her plate. This time the bite she took was much, much smaller. She looked up at Jed and a grin shifted his lips. Feeling somewhat ornery, she forked another huge piece and shoved it into her mouth, not even caring that some of it stuck to her lips. A deep chuckle came from Jed. He forked an even bigger bite. Then she did, then he did, until the cake was gone and chocolate and cream covered their lips.
Sunny glanced at her aunt and uncle. They were so engrossed with each other that they didn’t notice the fun between her and Jed. It felt right nice feeling like a kid again.
Everyone finished their dessert. Jed and Uncle Emmett retired to the rocking chairs, Sunny and Aunt Minnie cleared the table and did the dishes and then joined them around the fireplace.
“I meant to ask you earlier, precious, how was your first day on the job? My, that sounds strange. You shouldn’t be working for us.”
“Yes, I should.” Sunny smiled. “And it was, um, interesting.”
“Oh. How so?” Aunt Minnie asked.
She told about the runaway team, the guys teasing her about being short, which everyone laughed at but her. She tried to find the humor in it. Truly she did. But after hearing short jokes most of her life, she’d grown to detest them. Mostly the ones when they said she couldn’t do something because she was so small. A lot of the times they weren’t joking and she knew it. Well, she might be little, something she’d inherited from her mother’s side of the family, but she was strong. She had to be.
“Anyone up for a game of dominoes?” Uncle Emmett asked.
“Sure am.” She and Jed answered at the same time.
“Great. You wanna join us, sugar?” Uncle Emmett asked Aunt Minnie.
“No. You go on ahead. I don’t feel like it tonight. I’ll just sit here by the fire, where it’s nice and warm, while you’re over there, wishing you were here, warming your feet like me,” she drew out dramatically and winked at him.
“Well, I have news for you, woman. I’m bringing the table over here,” Uncle Emmett said, and he and Jed went to get it.
Sunny never tired of watching the fun interaction between her aunt and uncle. Once again it reminded her of her own parents. Sunny’s heart took a sad turn thinking about them. She sure did miss her ma and pa.
“You all right, precious?” Aunt Minnie laid her warm hand on Sunny’s arm.
Sunny glanced down at it. How many times had her own mother done that very same thing?
“You thinking about your ma, honey?”
Sunny nodded. “How’d you know?”
“It’s been ten years since I’ve seen my own mama. Sometimes I miss her so bad I can hardly stand it. Someday I hope to go back to Scandinavia for a visit. Emmett says it’s too far to travel, but do you know what my mama would say to that?”
Sunny shook her head.
“There’s no road too far where love takes you. She’s right, you know.”
“Who’s right?” Uncle Emmett set his side of the bulky table behind the rocking chairs.
“We were talking about my mama.”
“What brought that up?” Uncle Emmett opened the drawer, pulled out a box of dominoes and set them on the table.
“Nothing.” Tears filled her aunt’s voice. “Excuse me.” She pushed herself off the rocker and headed to her bedroom. Uncle Emmett excused himself and followed her.
“I didn’t mean to upset her.” Sunny stared at her lap, feeling slimier than uncooked liver for making her aunt so sad.
“You didn’t.” Jed stepped between the two rockers, sat down and looked at her. “Every now and again, she gets like this.”
“I understand. Sometimes just thinking about my ma gets to me, too.” Sunny peered over at him. “Is your ma alive? If so, does she live around here?” She’d asked about his kin before but each time they’d been interrupted before he’d had a chance to answer.
Once again his eyes clouded over with hurt or frustration or both, she wasn’t sure.
He drew in a long breath. “Yes, they live in Denver.”
“Denver ain’t that far. You’re lucky you can still go and see your parents. There’s no railroad or any road that can take me to where mine are at.” Her eyes fell to her lap again and she struggled to not cry in front of Jed. Crying in front of people was something she’d never been comfortable with.
* * *
Jed could tell Sunny was hurting and trying not to show it. He wished he could pull her into his arms and comfort her, make all her hurt go away, but holding her wasn’t an option. Sunny thought he was lucky. Well, he wasn’t, but she didn’t know that. If her parents were anything like Minnie and Emmett, he could see why she’d think that.
But neither one of his parents were.
Mother ignored him, always had. Her devotion and love was spent on her first- and last-born sons. Neither of which he was.
Being the middle son Jed had always pretty much been left out. He wasn’t anything like either one of his brothers. They were both rich and successful like his parents.
Oh, he could be successful, too, if he wanted to sit around all day long in his father’s office doing paperwork and being criticized and compared to Daniel and Sebastian. Nothing could induce him to endure either one of those things.
Cooped up in an office would kill him, of that he was certain. He loved the outdoors. Loved ranching. He just hoped when he bought his own spread, with his own money, that his father would finally be proud of him, too.
“You ready to play dominoes?” Sunny asked, more chipper than he knew she felt. Her eyes said it all, that’s how he knew.
“Sure.”
They stood. Jed turned her chair around, waited until she was seated, then grabbed his and placed it on the opposite side of the table from her.
Once the dominoes were sorted, they started to play. Sunny concentrated hard each time it was her turn.
After one of her turns, out of the blue she asked, “What were you and Uncle Emmett talking about so seriously earlier?”
Jed frowned. “What are you talking about? When?”
“When I fetched you two for dinner. I heard Uncle Emmett say he was concerned.”
“Oh. That.” Jed looked up from his dominoes and his eyes snagged on hers. “He spotted mountain-lion tracks up on the north ridge. He’s concerned about them killing more of his yearlings.”
“More?”
“Uh-huh. He found a dead one this morning.”
She set her domino down and looked him square in the eye. “After we get done feeding tomorrow, how about you and I track and shoot it before it gets any more of Uncle Emmett’s cattle?”
Jed’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “That’s no job for a lady. As little as you are, that mountain lion might mistake you for his next meal.” The instant his teasing words left his mouth, he realized what he’d just said and done, and his gaze flew to hers. “Sunny...”
Her lips pursed and her big eyes were narrowed into thin slats.
He held up his hand. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“That’s right. You weren’t.” She shot upward and even with her standing and him still sitting, her face was barely inches above his. “Well, let me tell you something, Jedidiah Cooper. Don’t let my size fool you. I aim to prove to you and everyone else here that I’m more than able to hunt down that mountain lion. I’ve been hunting for years. And I’m quite good at it, too. Now if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to bed. I have a mountain lion to catch in the morning.” She spun around and stormed toward her bedroom.
He hadn’t meant to make her mad and felt terri
ble that he had. But she’d caught him off guard. He’d had no clue that the woman hunted. Hopefully she wasn’t foolish enough to go hunting that thing alone just to prove a point to everyone.
Uncertainty cut deep into his belly. As stubborn and determined as she was, she just might. Whatever Jed did, he needed to make sure he was up before her tomorrow morning and that she didn’t go hunting alone. That was never a wise thing to do, especially when going after something as dangerous as a hungry predator.
* * *
The next morning Sunny dressed in her pa’s woolen pants. She didn’t want her bulky woolen skirt and undergarments hindering her today while she hunted down that mountain lion. She’d show Jedidiah just how capable she was. Course, he had no way of knowing she’d shot a few in her lifetime already. Still it angered her that he thought she couldn’t. No, that wasn’t true. It didn’t anger her, it hurt her. His comments last night hurt her even more. She’d thought he was different, but she was wrong. He was just like everyone else. That’s all right. When the time came, it would make leaving here that much easier.
She headed into the kitchen. Aunt Minnie wasn’t up yet, no one was. Course it was only four-thirty. Mornings had always been special to her. Quiet and peaceful-like. She stoked the fire in the woodstove and fireplace, and extended her hands toward the heat of the burning pine. When her fingers finally got warm, she sat in her chair and picked up the Bible on the nearby round table.
Finished with her daily reading, she put a pot of coffee on, fried up a mess of bacon and scrambled a dozen eggs.
“You’re up early.”
Sunny’s heart slammed into her ribs, and she whirled toward the sound of Jed’s voice. “You scared me.”
“So I noticed.” He chuckled. Pulling out a chair, he shifted it around, straddled the seat with his long legs and rested his arms on the back of it, facing her.
“You’re up early.” Sunny turned back to scrambling the eggs.
“Funny. I just said the same thing to you.”
“You did, didn’t you?”
“Uh-huh. Do you always get up this early?”
She shifted until she could see his face but kept scrambling away at the eggs. “No. But I’ve always been an early riser. My pa used to say I got up so early that the rooster waited on me to let him know when it was time to wake everyone else up.”
Jed chuckled again, then the noise in the kitchen went quiet for several seconds, and the only sound was the scraping of the spoon in the skillet.
“Sunny, about last night. I really am sorry for teasing you.”
Sunny looked at his face and saw true remorse there. Maybe he wasn’t like everyone else after all. No one else had ever apologized. “Apology accepted.” She shook her finger at him. “Just don’t let it happen again.” She sent him a sassy, playful smile.
“I won’t. I won’t. Trust me.” He laughed and she joined him.
“I thought I heard voices in here.” Aunt Minnie walked into the kitchen, adjusting her hairpins as she did. “Are those your pa’s pants?”
Sunny glanced down at the brown pants in question, then over at Jedidiah, whose eyes were taking in the length of them. “Yup. Thought they’d be a whole lot warmer and easier to work in than my skirt today.”
“What’s so special about today?” Aunt Minnie glanced into the pan of eggs, then raised the cloth off the bacon. “Looks like you have breakfast all ready, precious. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Sunny dumped the eggs into the bowl she had ready for them. Hoping her aunt would forget her question, she turned to place them on the table, but paused. Jed was now standing in front of the fireplace with his back to her. Why had he left in such a hurry? She shrugged and set the eggs on the table.
Uncle Emmett walked into the room. “Morning.”
Everyone said morning back.
“Breakfast is ready, sweetie pie. Sunny made it.”
Uncle Emmett kissed Sunny on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “Your aunt had a restless night. She’s pretty worn out this morning. So thank you for helping her.” He went and sat down at the table.
Sunny insisted her aunt join him while she laid the food on the table.
Grace was said and they started to eat.
“You weren’t planning on going by yourself today, were you?” Jed asked, biting off a chunk of bacon and chewing it.
“Going where by yourself?” Uncle Emmett stopped buttering his roll and looked over at Sunny.
“Sunny’s going after that mountain lion today.” Jed scooped up a forkful of eggs and continued as if nothing was amiss.
Sunny kicked Jedidiah under the table.
“Ow-w.” He leaned down, narrowing his eyes at her, and, judging by his movement, rubbing his shin.
“No need for you to do that, Sunshine. The boys and me’ll go.”
Sunny shot a glaring look at Jedidiah before turning in her chair and facing her uncle. “I’d like to go along, too. You know Pa took me hunting with him all the time and taught me to shoot real good.” She gave him that pleading look, the one he couldn’t refuse, but it was important to her to be the one to take down the animal.
His eyes softened.
She had him. He’d always been a sucker for both her and her pa.
“All right, Sunshine. You can come with us.”
Sunny jumped up and threw her arms around her uncle’s neck and kissed his cheek. She raced to the door and slid her foot into one of her snow boots.
“Hold on there, girl. We ain’t leaving yet. We haven’t even eaten.”
“Oh. Right.” She yanked her boot off and raced back to the table and started gobbling her food down.
“Slow down, girl. You’ll make yourself sick.”
Sunny raised her eyes up from her plate and glanced at her uncle, then over at Jed.
One of his brows quirked and amusement danced in his eyes.
Heat rushed into Sunny’s cheeks, knowing her cheeks were puffed out with an overload of food. Again.
“A little anxious, are we?” Jedidiah asked before he laughed and everyone at the table joined him.
She smiled the best she could with a mouthful of scrambled eggs. She chewed fast and swallowed. “Yup. I am.” She shoved the last of her food in her mouth. “You ready?”
“Guess so.” Jed picked up his coffee cup, gulped what was left in a few swallows and stood.
“Wait for me, you two.” Emmett stood, holding his coffee cup and gulping its contents, too. He kissed Aunt Minnie and followed them to the mudroom where they all dressed for the cold and grabbed their rifles before heading outside.
Chapter Six
Three days went by and they still hadn’t been able to go after that lion. One thing after another kept going wrong. Broken sled boards, broken harnesses and an unusual amount of broken barbed-wire fence all conspired to keep them off the mountain. The mangled fence was probably due to the yearlings trying to get away from the lion. Last night it had snowed again, making tracking the animal easier.
Today they would try again. Jed hoped so anyway. That animal had to be caught, and soon.
Bitter cold sucked the air out of Jed’s lungs the instant he stepped outside.
“Brrr.” Sunny pulled her bandanna over her mouth and drew the collar of her coat closer around her neck, and Jed did the same, hoping it would help as a barrier against the cold. “It’s even colder today than yesterday.” Sunny wiggled and shifted about like a worm, trying to get warm no doubt.
“That’s for sure,” Emmett added as he stomped through the snow beside them. “I think we’ll forget tracking that lion again today, Sunshine. It’s just too cold for you to go traipsing about the woods.”
“The cold never stopped me before.”
He shook his head and chuckled. “See what I mean, Jed?”
“Sure do.” Jed laughed but secretly he admired the woman. She had nerves of steel and a spine to match.
“Tell you what. I’ll do the chores around here. Yo
u and Jed go feed on the upper meadow today and the boys can feed on the lower. If it’s warmed up any after we’ve finished, we’ll go track that lion then. Fair enough?” Emmett asked.
Sunny’s eyes went from the color of molasses to rich brown honey. “Fair enough.”
“If you don’t give Jed here too hard a time, I’ll even let you have first shot at it.”
“Me?” She pointed to herself. “Give someone a hard time?”
“Yes, Sunshine. You. You put the S in sassy.”
“Uncle Emmett!”
He winked at her and grinned.
Down at the barn they leaned their rifles against the wall and fed the team. Minutes later, they had them readied.
“I’ll drive today.”
“Don’t trust me, huh?” Sunny’s eyes held only mischief.
“Nope.” He winked at her and immediately realized he shouldn’t have done that now or earlier. Both were done in fun, but he couldn’t afford to give her or Emmett the wrong idea.
They jumped on the sled, and Jed unwrapped the lines. On the way to the haystack, he asked, “You done much hunting?”
“Enough.”
“Just what does ‘enough’ mean? Are you any good at it?”
“Yup.”
“Think you can kill that mountain lion?”
“Yup.”
“You seem pretty confident.”
“Yup.”
Jed laughed. “Is that all you can say?”
“Yup.”
Even though her mouth and nose were covered with a blue-and-white bandanna with little squirrelly design things on it, he knew she was smiling by the crinkles around her eyes.
“Did you have mountain lions on your ranch?”
The crinkles disappeared. “A few. Had a few bobcats and lynxes, too.”
“What’s your place like anyway?”
She turned toward him, draping her arm over the rack and leaning her side against it. “It’s wonderful. Our barn and corrals are every inch again as big as Uncle Emmett’s. Our house isn’t as large, though. Pa wanted to add on to it, but Ma said it was a waste of money, having to buy fixings and furnishings to fill it and all. So Pa used the money he’d set aside for it to build up the herd.”
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