Help Wanted: WIFE (Santa Rita Series) (2 page)

Cole stood up and clapped his Stetson back on his head. “Sorry, Cherry Lynn. I’m kinda prone to jumping up and deciding I know what ought to be done before I’m real sure what the question is. Try to hold back on that, but it’s just natural to me to run fix something, even if I don’t know it’s broke. To me, a cat’s something to keep down the mice in the barn, and that’s all there is to ’em. While it sounds kinda strange to me, I see you set a store by that cat. And if you’d come all this way just to go home because you couldn’t stay without her, I gotta respect your thinking. If you’re willing to give this arrangement a chance, I’m willing to overlook one cat. You’d keep her in your room?”

“I will. You’ll never even know she’s around.” Cherilyn exhaled the breath she was holding. “I’ll even forget Reb left his autograph all over my dress.”

“Let’s head back up to the ranch and see if the fellas left us anything in the kitchen. I haven’t had supper either.”

****

Cherilyn hadn’t slept long, but she’d slept deeply that night. Cole said the fellas got up early and were working as soon as the sun was up, so she’d set her alarm to rise before they did. One of Cole’s requirements had been an accomplished cook; Cherilyn knew she could hold her own in the kitchen. She quickly pulled on a plain blue skirt and blouse and left Arabella curled on the wide windowsill, with one huge paw dangling over the edge, her russet fur tickled by the pre-dawn breeze. Pattering into the kitchen in her slippers, Cherilyn located the percolator and got coffee started. The pantry needed some reorganization, but she found her way around it. Soon biscuits were in the oven, sending their own fragrance through the morning. Sausages sizzled and gravy browned as she rounded up two jars of preserves. The back door opened and a youngster with the coltish limbs of awkward adolescence ambled in, rubbing eyes still sticky with sleep.

“Bet you’re Uncle Cole’s Cherry, ain’t you?”

“And I’ll bet you’re Nathan, the nephew. I’ll also bet you’re hungry.”

He grinned, a lopsided grin that lit his face and gave charm to freckles and a snub nose. “Right. It’s Nate, and I’m starving.” He started for the table. “Is it ready?”

“Ready when you’ve washed your face, pulled the snarls out of your hair, and put on a shirt. I don’t serve breakfast to half-dressed young men.”

Nathan looked down at his naked torso, the ragged jeans below, and his bare feet. “That’s an awful lot to ask before a fella even has his coffee.”

Cherilyn didn’t answer, just cracked eggs into the blue bowl and whipped them to a froth. She lifted the pan of biscuits from the oven and put them to one side. The sausage sizzled as she turned it.

“Aw, shucks, Cherry, I’m hungry, real hungry. Abe cooked steak last night, and it was tougher than my boots. And I think he mashed pea gravel in with the taters. Nothing there to give a fella anything to hang on to all night.”

“Even more reason to hurry up and get yourself ready to eat.” She poured the eggs into the pan and turned down the flame under them. “Go on, now. Food tastes better hot than cold.”

Shaking his head at the peculiarities of women, Nathan trudged back to the screened porch beyond the kitchen. As the screen door slammed behind him, she heard the low rumble of the other men coming. Uncle Abe, well into his seventies, Cole had told her, showed his age in a weathered face and the wrinkles creasing his cheeks, though he’d kept a full head of hair. The widowed brother Davis was an older version of Cole, with hair a bit darker and eyes not quite as blue. Cole followed the other two into the room, but while he made sketchy introductions, the others were more interested in the mugs next to the burbling coffeepot.

“Cherry, I didn’t hardly think you’d be up this early on the first morning.” He snagged a mug for himself and poured.

“I’m an early bird myself. I like to get a good start on the day, and I thought I’d better see right off what all the Witherspoon men looked like. You gentlemen find hot biscuits with sausage and gravy all right with scrambled eggs?”

By the cleaned plates and empty cups left on the table, Cherilyn felt fairly certain her first meal in the Witherspoon house was a success. Not that the men took much time over it. From the conversation, she understood they were anxious to get along with the day’s work before the heat became intense.

“When will you be back for lunch?” she asked as Cole started for the door.

“Don’t usually come back too early, Cherry. We try to work through till the heat gets too much and come in about mid afternoon. We’ll eat something, and we’ll rest till the heat dies down. Go back out in the cooler part of late afternoon. Come home when the sun goes down and it gets too dark to work.” He gathered up thick leather work gloves and a straw hat. “Now, don’t wear yourself out. Not being used to this kind of life, you’d do yourself a favor to work into it gradual-like.”

Cherilyn clenched her teeth but said nothing as Cole followed his brother out the door. He looked back over his shoulder. “Oh, I told Nate to come to the house and be some help to you after he takes care of his chores in the barn. He’s a pretty good hand, for a kid, if you keep after him. He’ll be around most of the day.”

Stacking up dishes and filling the big sink with soapy water, Cherilyn muffled a half-amused and half-annoyed set of replies. “I’m not going to wear out or break down, Cole Witherspoon. You said you wanted a wife. And I want a family, even if it’s only you and your brother, nephew, and uncle. You said you think two people can build a life together on a practical basis. Let’s see if you’re right.”

She finished the dishes and was measuring flour when the screen door behind her squeaked. Nathan sauntered in. “Cole said I was to help you, Cherry. What in particular am I supposed to do?”

She turned to see resentment flushing his thin cheeks. She suspected he took offense at being stuck with “woman’s work” while the men went off to various parts of the ranch.

“Do you know how to peel apples?”

“Peel apples? Heck, I guess so. Why?”

“I’ve got meals to think about so you men will have something ready to eat. You might find apple pie to your liking. If you could handle peeling the apples for me, I believe I could promise a couple of pies for dinner.”

Nathan’s face lit up and a hint of mischief tilted his grin. “If you promised me first half of one pie, I reckon I could just about manage that.”

Leaving Nate to the apples, Cherilyn finished her pastry dough and applied herself to planning some meals in advance. If she could have something cool prepared for the men when they came in, it would give them longer to rest in the heat of the day. And what to do about dinner? She scanned the shelves for ideas.

“Say…” Nate interrupted her thoughts. “Say, Cherry, are you and Uncle Cole really gonna tie the knot? Get married, I mean? Just like that? No courtin’ and spoonin’ and what-all?”

She glanced across the room to where Nate was munching one apple and halfway peeling another. She pointed at the pile of apples that still awaited his attention. “When you need to know your uncle’s business, I guess he’ll tell you. Meanwhile, those apples aren’t peeling themselves.” He resumed peeling. She studied the roll of hills framed by the window behind him. “Would there be a reliable fishing hole somewhere on the place? One where the fish just beg to get caught?”

That sudden grin lit his face again. “A fishing hole? You bet!” The grin widened. “Do you wanna go fishin’, Cherry? You know
how
to catch a fish?”

Cherilyn smiled in return. “I’ve caught a few in my time. When I was teaching school, on the last day of class, we’d have a picnic and go fishing for our supper.” She tied on the big apron she’d found hanging in the pantry. “But I can’t go today. I have two pies to do, and I think somebody will be hungry pretty soon. Seems to me a nice mess of fish with cornbread and potato salad would go pretty well with apple pie. If there was someone willing to make a trip down to a special, never-fail fishing hole. After he finished peeling the apples, of course.”

“Reckon I can take care of both those chores for you, Cherry.” He applied himself to the apples for a moment. “Kinda think it would be a good thing, you and Uncle Cole tying that knot. Might make life around here more interesting. And we’d eat a whole lot better.”

****

Cherilyn put a cold lunch and a pitcher of sweet tea out for the men, spread a clean dishtowel over the meal, and slipped away for a cool shower and shampoo. With the big windows open to catch any breeze and the ceiling and attic fans churning, the house wasn’t uncomfortable in the Texas summer, but she was glad to leave the kitchen. She pin-curled her short ash-blond hair and, while it dried, took time for a little rest herself. Arabella reminded her someone else needed lunch. Cherilyn filled the empty food bowl and brushed out Arabella’s thick fur. As the brush smoothed her silken coat, the cat stretched her full, impressive length, nose to end of tail all forty-eight inches of it, and waved a plumy tail around Cherilyn’s ankles.

“Now, you’re all pretty again.” Cherilyn put the brush aside. “Pretty enough to impress our men, but I guess you’d better stay away from them till they learn to appreciate you. They’re good men, and they’re men you can count on, I think, but not much given to our girlish ways.” She bent over to scratch the tufted ears. “They’re about ready to go back to work, so I can stay away from the kitchen for a while. Let’s see if I can mend the damage your friend Reb did to my dress last night. You might sit in the living room with me till the boys come home.” Cherilyn ran a comb through her hair, buttoned a cool cotton housedress up the front, and picked up the frilly heap of pink and white from the bed. The mud stains had washed out with the soaking she’d given the dress, but she wasn’t sure how she could repair the perforations Reb’s toenails had made.

Arabella found a suitable spot for bathing on the deep sill of the front window and applied her tongue to the tufts of fur between her toes. Cherilyn spread the dress over her knees and examined the pulled fabric. It wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. A little pink embroidery over the weakened threads, copying the rosebuds that trellised down the front, might save it.

“It’s funny,” she said to the cat, who twitched one ear and appeared to be listening. “Cole can’t quite get the idea that the ‘ch’ in my name is pronounced like ‘sh’ in shoe, so when he says my name, it comes out ‘Cherry Lynn’ instead of ‘Sher-a-lyn.’ But somehow I’ve begun to like Cherry Lynn, or just Cherry. A new name for the new life ahead.” She looked again at the cat, who had lost interest and resumed grooming. “And you mind your manners, my girl, so we have a chance to make this venture work. Cole’s a handsome man, and though he’s a bit set in his ways—he and the rest of the men in the house—I believe he has a good heart and an agile mind. Men and women have begun with less than we have and made it work.” Brave words, Cherilyn knew, but they helped her look ahead with more conviction.

Bent over her needlework in concentration, she didn’t hear Cole approach, a few minutes later, until he spoke. “The chicken was real good, Cherry. And your biscuits are as tasty cold as they were this morning when they were hot. You finding everything you need? I didn’t see Nate around. He helping you some?”

“He’s been a big help. Right now he’s gone fishing. He said he knew just the place to catch them, and I thought fish would be good for dinner tonight.”

“Your suggestion, or did he just ramble off? He’s got to do his part around here. No slacking, and you tell me if he does.”

“Cole, I asked him to go. And he’s pulled his share of the load this morning.”

“Well, if you say so.” She looked up from her work to see him staring at Arabella. “That’s the biggest damn cat I ever saw. You sure she’s not a wildcat out of the woods somewhere?”

Never thought he might come in here and see her!
Cherilyn put her mending aside and gathered the cat into her arms. “Maine Coon cats are huge, but they’re just big babies, sweet natured and placid. Well, they can be fierce if they feel threatened, I suppose. They’re pretty much a one-person cat and sometimes protective about the person they’re close to, but for the most part they’re mild-mannered creatures.” The big cat draped herself over Cherilyn’s shoulder as she stroked the thick red-orange fur.

Cole reached out to touch the cat. “Maine Coon, huh? Got a pelt like a coon, too.” Arabella stuck out her pink tongue and swiped his finger. He drew back. “Think she’d bite?”

“Not unless she thought you’d hurt her…or me. But when she licks like that, it means she likes you. Hear her purring? She’s happy.”

Cole shook his head. “Biggest damn cat in the county, I guess. Big as a bobcat.” He picked up his hat. “Just came in to say I appreciate the dinner. It was real good. The others have gone along, and I’ve got to get back out there. Rain last night washed a half dozen fence posts loose, and the fence is hanging down. We’ll all be in for supper ’long about dark-thirty. That fish sounds like a good idea.”

The afternoon was gone before Cherilyn knew it, and the men appeared for supper just after dark. Davis, generally silent and distant, offered to “put the kitchen to rights” after dinner and co-opted Nate into helping. At Cole’s invitation, Cherilyn took a tall glass of sweet tea and joined him on the porch to admire the full moon rising above the hills.

“I can’t believe your brother took over kitchen duty tonight. He’s so quiet you forget he’s around. It was thoughtful of him.”

Cole settled on the wide porch rail and leaned against the corner post. “Davis doesn’t talk much, never did, and he’s been even quieter since Sylvie died, but he’s good to have on your side. Always sees more than he appears to. I think he saw you were maybe a little wrung out from the day.”

“No, it was a good day. I won’t have any trouble sleeping, but it’s a good kind of tired.”

A little way down the hill Cherilyn could see Uncle Abe coming toward them. “Maybe your uncle would like to sit out here and have a glass of tea with us. Should I get one for him?”