“Like?” Rachael prompted.
“Hiking. Fishing. Boating. Horseback riding. Gardening. Dozens of things.”
“Cool,” Michael said.
“Great. We’ve become the Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. Literally,” Rachael joked.
“Something like that. This will be good for you kids. You’ve been very spoiled by an easy beach lifestyle. I’m not saying life will be hard, just different. But a good different.”
Rachael could see from her mother’s eyes she was lost somewhere in another place and time. She was smiling. Rachael suddenly realized it was the first time she’d seen her mother truly happy in a long time. Somehow Rachael sensed this lifestyle they were returning to was really the lifestyle her mother preferred.
How long has this trouble with the company really been going on? How long have Mom and Dad known about the trouble and kept it from us all? How much pain and stress has Mom already endured in secret?
Rachael decided in that moment she wouldn’t add to their stress. Her sadness would be her own. Her parents had enough to deal with already.
They rode in silence for the remaining half hour until their mother announced, “We’re here.”
3
AS THE BENZ PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY, Rachael stared at a closed gate and a heavily forested dirt road blocking everything else beyond it from view. Where was the house? She didn’t remember this part of the experience. Row upon row of pine trees, planted in a perfect criss-cross pattern, lined either side of the dirt road as far as the eye could see.
“I don’t remember the pine trees. Are they new?” Rachael asked.
“They were only saplings the last time we visited about eight years ago. This particular type of pine grows very quickly. Your Aunt Margaret wanted more privacy from the road, so a friend who is a tree farmer planted these.”
“They are very pretty.”
“Would you mind opening the gate?” her mother said in Michael’s general direction. “Leave it open until I drive through and then close it behind us. Make sure to chain it back like you find it. If Aunt Margaret has any animals loose, we wouldn’t want any of them to get out and get hit on the main road.”
“Okay.” Michael jumped out of the car.
They pulled through the gate, and Michael carefully chained the gate back as he’d found it. After he got back into the backseat, they continued down the long dirt driveway. After about fifty yards the pine trees gave way to a large, open green lawn with a beautiful red brick home at its center. The home was much larger than Rachael remembered, with a long, open ranch-style porch along the front. The pillars were red brick on the bottom third and became tapered white columns as they continued up to the roofline. A red brick staircase led from a walkway up to the porch with wrought-iron rails on either side. Four large white rocking chairs adorned the porch, two on either side of the front door. Each set had a small matching wrought-iron table between them.
The house had a very happy feeling about it. Rachael could tell the people who lived here had been happy and hoped she too would find happiness during her stay. As they pulled into the driveway in front of the garage, Rachael’s mother honked the horn. Aunt Margaret came running outside, still wearing an apron with I’m the gourmet in bold letters across the front.
That was one thing Rachael had never forgotten—Aunt Margaret’s cooking. While Aunt Margaret and her mother were from the same family, their cooking styles differed greatly. Rachael’s mom cooked a variety of cuisines, including Italian, Chinese, and Indian food. Aunt Margaret stuck to traditional Southern foods. Of course she made the occasional spaghetti and meatballs or lasagna—who didn’t? But she didn’t venture too far outside of the proverbial “box.” That by no means meant Aunt Margaret’s food was boring or bland, though. Her meals were delectable and also very fattening. She cooked with real butter and extra heavy whipping cream. She still deep-fried some of her vegetables—in bacon grease, no less! While it all tasted incredible, Rachael feared she’d gain a lot of extra pounds while here.
Hmmm…let’s look on the bright side. Maybe I’ll gain some boobs too.
Her mother had always told her they were made of fat and if you wanted to have any at all, you needed a little fat in your diet. Well, she knew from past experience that fattening, rich foods would be in no short supply here!
Rachael’s mom leaped out and practically ran to hug Margaret. The two sisters stood in a silent embrace for a little while until Michael burst into their hug. Then Rachael joined in the hug too.
“Let me get a good look at you.” Aunt Margaret stepped back and made quite the production about looking both Michael and Rachael over. “Hmmm, turn around. Okay, again.”
Both Michael and Rachael started laughing.
“Well, Michael, I’d say you’ve grown three inches since I saw you at Christmas last year. And Rachael, I think maybe you have stopped growing. We need to feed you some more, girl!” Aunt Margaret teased.
“I know. I’m trying to gain some curves.”
Rachael wasn’t bothered by her aunt’s teasing. It was true. She hadn’t grown since Christmas dinner last year. It had been eight years since they last visited Aunt Margaret’s home, but Aunt Margaret did a much better job than they did of visiting. She didn’t have any children and had never married. Aunt Margaret never missed a holiday or family event at the Harte household in Palm Beach. Rachael had grown up so closely with her aunt she felt she could share anything with her. Now that they had arrived, Rachael knew this would be a more comforting experience than she could have imagined possible.
Everyone was busy chatting when the moving truck cleared the pine-lined drive and pulled up as closely as possible to the house. Rachael assumed the drivers had stopped for lunch in between.
“Come on inside quickly and see your rooms, kids,” Aunt Margaret said. “That way you’ll know where to send the movers with the boxes.”
The house was large with wood floors throughout. From the foyer Rachael could see a large dining room to the right and a sitting room to the left. Continuing through an open archway, they entered a family room with large windows overlooking the barn and back pastures. To the right was the kitchen, which had an adjoining swinging door to the dining room on the other side. A long bar shared the same wall separating the kitchen and dining room, with hinged shutter doors that opened and closed, making it possible to use the bar as a serving station for holidays or large dinner parties.
Next they turned left and walked through the family room, then down a long hall leading to the five bedrooms. Everything was exactly as Rachael had remembered it.
Aunt Margaret informed them the first bedroom they stopped at was Michael’s. The next was Rachael’s. There was a bathroom in between.
Great, Rachael thought. I’ll be sharing a bathroom with the little pisser. Why is it that guys can’t always get it in the toilet where it belongs? Rachael sighed. She knew she’d be investing in gloves and a lot of cleaning wipes.
Just then her aunt interrupted her thoughts. “Why don’t you both go in and check out your rooms? I think you’ll be happy with the changes I’ve made to them for you.” She turned and walked back outside to help her sister with instructions for the movers.
Rachael walked into her room. Wow! The room had a beautiful four-post full-sized bed with matching dresser and nightstand. There was a desk in the corner with a new laptop and also a new stereo system on her dresser. The walk-in closet was the size of a small room. When Rachael opened the double doors, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Inside was a cedar-lined closet complete with a wall just for shoes. It would hold fifty pairs! There were built-in drawers and even a built-in jewelry box. Even her closet back home in Palm Beach wasn’t this nice.
A thought struck. So for how long did Mom and Dad know this might be a possibility? For how long did they contemplate and discuss the details?
She frowned. A little more time to say good-bye to my friends might have been nice…but on the
other hand maybe not. It could have been ugly. People could have been rude and even hurtful. No, it’s better this way.
Rachael’s heart jumped when she heard Michael cheering and screaming in the next room. She cut through the bathroom to his room to see what his excitement was all about. When she entered his room, he was nowhere to be found. The room, like hers, had a nice new bed—a huge race car. It even had matching red dressers and an armoire. When she opened the armoire, Rachael could see it was obviously meant to hold his hanging wardrobe.
Then what’s the closet for? Rachael opened the door. Holy crap!
Inside Michael’s large walk-in closet was a mini-theater complete with leather loveseat, large flat screen, and surround sound. The walls were even sound-proofed! It was every guy’s dream. A large built-in shelf apparently housed every type of video-gaming system imaginable. Fifty new games—all unopened—were arranged in alphabetical order.
Michael was standing, mouth agape, staring at the games. “These are all new. Ones I’ve been wanting but hadn’t gotten yet.”
“Wow! Aunt Margaret went all-out on our rooms.”
“What’s yours like?” Michael asked.
“About as extreme, but totally for a girl. Huge dream walk-in closet, cedar-lined with an enormous shoe rack. And a new laptop and stereo system.” Rachael paused. “Let’s go thank her. She’s probably wondering what we think.”
“Good idea!”
Rachael and Michael bounded outside, found Aunt Margaret, and each gave her a huge hug.
Aunt Margaret beamed. “Go thank your mom too. She’s the one who told me what you would each like.”
Both Rachael and Michael yelled, “Thanks, Mom!” in unison.
Her mom held two signs—one labeled Rachael and one labeled Michael—in bold lettering. “Here,” she said, giving them each one. “Go tape these on your doors. The boxes are marked, and the movers are about to start bringing them inside.”
Rachael and Michael disappeared back inside and posted their signs.
Michael stayed inside to try out his new gaming systems. Rachael decided to go for a walk and check the place out. Try to settle in a bit. She told her mother and Aunt Margaret where she was headed and disappeared behind the house.
She inhaled deeply of the fresh air as she walked toward the barn, where she’d loved to play as a child. It was still painted red in the traditional fashion with large closing doors on either end. Since she already knew what the barn held, she decided to explore further to the pastures behind it.
When she reached the black board fences that enclosed the pastures, she climbed easily over the top rail. As she walked in the pasture, she wondered, Is it hotter here? Sure, it was summer, and the west coast Florida heat was intense this time of year, but it felt warmer than back home.
As she strolled, she picked Florida wildflowers. Yellow Black-eyed Susans, Bushy Asters, which resembled small white daisies with yellow centers, White Milkweed, and Yellow Buttons were her favorites. Her Aunt Margaret was a fantastic gardener and could answer any questions about native plants. When she’d spent the summer here eight years ago, Aunt Margaret had taught her a lot about wildflowers. Rachael had never forgotten.
As Rachael continued exploring, she came to another black board fence and climbed over the top rail of that as well. When she reached a line of oak trees, a creek gurgled in the distance. It couldn’t be far, if she could hear it.
In less than two minutes she found the creek. It was beautiful and the water so crystal clear she could see all the way to the clean, white sand bottom. But, no matter how thirsty she was, and how inviting the water looked, she knew better than to drink it. Though the water was moving at a brisk pace, it didn’t appear to be more than waist deep. Squinting further downstream, she saw a shallow crossing.
It’s so freakin’ hot. I just want to cool off. A glance around told Rachael she was alone. Why not? I’m only trying to settle into my new surroundings and all. After all, I’m a country girl now. I need to become one with nature.
Rachael made her way down to the crossing and looked both ways. There was no one for miles. She listened closely and heard nothing. What was there to lose? Besides, it wasn’t like Mom or her aunt or her brother had never seen her in her underwear before.
Rachael decided to go for it. She stripped down to her panties and sports bra and carefully waded in. The water was very refreshing, and it was only waist deep. She walked to where the creek got a little deeper and stood there enjoying the caress of cool liquid on her skin. She could feel the minnows nibbling at her toes so she decided to wade back into shallower water near the crossing to try to catch a minnow.
She’d been standing in the knee-deep water for thirty minutes or so, trying to catch minnows, when she heard it.
A soft “Ahem.” A clearing of the throat from behind her.
Rachael screamed and whirled around.
Nothing could have prepared her for the sight of the rugged cowboy in front of her. He was tall…or was it just because he was way up there, sitting on that saddle on his horse? His green eyes were vivid, his hair a rich, dark brown, and his lips full but very masculine. He had a very strong jaw line with a cleft in his chin. He looked to be about her age.
“Hi, ma’am. I didn’t mean to startle you and all, but it would seem you are trespassing,” he said in a Southern accent.
“Trespassing?” Rachael suddenly became aware her clothes were several yards back downstream, and there she was, standing in the creek in only a sports bra and a pair of low-rise bikini underwear.
“Yes. Trespassing. And as it would appear you were not illegally hunting or picking shrooms, well then I can let you go and not press any charges. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll ride back and get your clothes.”
When he rode back up, he swung down out of the saddle and walked over, handing Rachael her shorts and tank top. “You may want to put these on, Miss…?” He paused, waiting for her to fill in the blank.
“Rachael Harte.”
“Miss Harte. Because in about five minutes I will be driving about two hundred head of cattle across this creek at just this spot with about five other cowboys. Trust me, you don’t want to meet all of us dressed as you are now. You’ll never live it down.”
“And you are?” Rachael asked.
“Travis Baxter. Do you ride, Miss Harte?”
“No. Not really.” She stepped into her shorts and pulled on her tank top.
“Well, as I see it, you have two choices. You can either find a safe place to stand a short distance away, where you won’t be frightened,” Travis said with a teasing grin, “or you can ride with me.”
“Frightened? Of what?” Then, as Rachael spoke the words, she spotted the herd of cattle headed straight toward them. There were a lot of them, and none appeared gentle. Thin, short-haired dogs circled them, barking. Rachael was afraid she’d get run over. “I’ll ride,” she said quickly.
Travis lifted her easily into the saddle, then quickly mounted behind her.
A gentleman in his early fifties rode over to them. “So what do we have here?”
“A trespasser, Dad. Would you like to press charges?” Travis asked him with a wink.
“No. Not this time. We’ll let her go, but next time she might not get off so easy. We may make her work off her time in the barn,” his father answered. Then, in the general direction of the remaining four cowboys, he said, “Let’s get moving, boys.” With that he rode toward the back of the herd.
Rachael and Travis rode on the left side of the cattle, applying gentle pressure to any of the cows that strayed outside of the bunch. Between the cows lowing and the dogs barking and the cracking of the whip, there was no room for any conversation.
So this is a cattle drive! It’s incredible. I’m now Annie Oakley!
They all crossed the creek. Once on the other side the cattle broke and ran. Rachael could hear one cowboy, Travis’s father, yelling commands to the dogs: “Get ahead, girls. Get ahead.”
The dogs sprang into action and raced ahead of the herd, stopping them. Once the cows were stopped, he gave another command: “Way around, girls. Way around. Talk to ’em, girls.”
The dogs obviously knew their jobs. They began circling the herd, holding them in a circular formation. The “talk to ’em” part apparently meant to bark as they circled the herd.
“We’re going to hold them here for a minute while Dad looks at them and decides what he wants to do,” Travis said in Rachael’s ear. Then in the direction of his father he said, “Hey, Dad, I’m going to run Rachael home. Meet you at the pens.”
Run Rachael home? She was only two minutes into her first cattle drive, and she was being taken home? She wanted to go to the pens too…whatever that meant.
But before she could protest, Travis’s father called out to her, “Give your Aunt Margaret my best, Rachael.”
Travis whispered in her ear, “Hold on tightly.”
And with that announcement they were loping across the creek and back across the pasture the way Rachael had come earlier. She hadn’t realized how far she had traveled. If she had been paying any attention at all, she should have realized when she crossed the second black board fence that she had trespassed onto Travis’s family’s ranch.
Travis got to a corner gate, swung down, and opened it. He was back in the saddle behind her a moment later and rode her straight up to the fence behind the barn.
When they stopped Rachael asked, “So you knew who I was?”
“Sure did. As soon as you said your name.”
He swung down and reached up to lift Rachael out of the saddle. Seeing as she had no idea how to get down on her own, she had to let him.
Redneck Debutante Page 3