Something Borrowed

Chapter 2

"I'm sure you'll be happy, though," Melissa said quickly, as if realizing her mistake. "You're so beautiful, and you seem so nice. He'll be very happy. I'm sure you have no reason to worry."

Amelia was sure she had every reason to worry, but such seemed inappropriate small-talk with the man's sister at their first meeting. She looked around, stumbling easily in a natural change of subject."Where are we going?"

"Just a quick tour of the ranch," Melissa said, waving an arm at the chaos in front of her. "I figured you'd want to stretch your legs. We won't go talk to the hands, yet. They're not always fully decent when there's ladies about, and Josh'll kill me if I bring you around without him there to keep them civil."

She led the way off the road until they stood on level ground some distance down the hill, overlooking the valley below. She spread her arms wide, as if presenting the scene before them.

"Behold the Triple T," she said in a mockingly grandiose tone that, in a stroke of irony, matched perfectly with the genuine awe that Amelia felt. "As you can see, we're no two-bit operation. Daddy inherited this place from his father, so we've had a few years to establish ourselves. We're the second largest ranch in this part of the state. Every year, we produce cattle and horses for the market, as well as milk and eggs for local distribution. Those long buildings you see are where we house the livestock, especially during the winter months when it gets cold. Corrals are primarily used for training and exercising the horses, but are also used for branding and breeding. We have four active fields, but they're used mostly to feed the livestock, not for any cash crop. That one-story over there with the chimney is the bunkhouse, where the ranchhands live, and the building next to it is the kitchen. The cook just feeds the men, though. I do most of the cooking for the main house."

"I can help," Amelia hopped in quickly, eager to find a familiar place in this bizarre new world.

Melissa smiled brightly. "Of course you can! It'll be so good to have company in the kitchen again. Anyway, over there is the chicken coop. There's some boys Josh hired down in town who tend the chickens and collect up the eggs, and they drop off a dozen every morning for us to cook and bake with, as well as fresh milk. We've got four wells scattered across the property. One for the main house, one for the livestock, and two more spread out for the dry seasons."

"Dry seasons?"

"Oh yeah," Melissa said with a grim nod. "We've had a few hard summers but we stay afloat because of the wells. They keep the livestock hardy while every else's dies off. Drought years are difficult, but we usually fetch a profit at the markets just because everyone else does worse."

That seemed awfully brutal to Amelia, but she didn't say anything. She reminded herself that the city had its own brutality. She was hardly ignorant of the unpleasant underside of humanity.

"Is there anything you'd like to see out here, or can I give you a tour of the house?"

The house, Amelia learned shortly thereafter, was no less impressive than the ranch itself. There was a parlor, a sitting room, a dining room, and a kitchen with a cellar entrance and a large stove. There was also a study, but the door was shut and Melissa promised to show it to her when her father and Brent were finished talking.

"He doesn't like to be interrupted," she said.

Up the grand, curving staircase were the bedrooms. A blue-themed "guest room" that looked like it had never been used. A green-themed room with a twin-bed, a cozy window seat, and shelves of books that Melissa proudly declared her own. A massive, austere living space outfitted with a bar and all mahogany furniture which was described as the "master bedroom."

"And this will be your room," Melissa said as she pushed open the final door and tugged Amelia inside. "Just until Josh builds you a house."

Amelia didn't know who Josh was, and as she stepped into the room she forgot to ask. Her new quarters were bigger than Melissa's, smaller than the master bedroom, and a thousand times more impressive than anything she'd ever called her own. There was a window seat like Melissa's, with red cushions that clashed horribly with the thick, light-blue curtains. The bed was obviously two twin-beds pushed together, and there were nightstands with candles on either side. One stand had a small vase filled with wildflowers and wrapped in a wide purple ribbon.

Across from the bed stood two vanities with a water basin between them. Two fresh, cream-colored towels hung on twin hooks above the basin. One vanity was all but empty, but the second held a random assortment of soaps, lotions, perfumes, and hair clips.

"It's not much," Melissa said with a frown, watching Amelia closely as she turned in a small circle, in awe of her good fortune. "This used to be Josh and Brent's room. I tried to fix it up, but Josh only cleared out three days ago so I didn't have much time. We'll go to town this weekend and find some stuff to make it pretty."

The chagrin on her face was in such contrast to Amelia's own amazement that she laughed out loud.

"It's beautiful," she said, brushing her fingers appreciatively over the petals of the wildflowers. "Thank you."

Downstairs, the door opened and a male voice called out.

"Miss Melissa, we've got the bags!"

Melissa pulled Amelia down the stairs, and the next few minutes were a flurry of activity as the young girl directed a small host of men to carry the bags and assorted supplies Brent had purchased up to the bedroom. As quickly as it began, it was over, and Amelia found herself standing in her new room with suitcases and boxes stacked all around her.

"Do you need any help getting unpacked?" Melissa asked, and Amelia shook her head. She had one small carpetbag. Everything else was Brent's. "Okay, then," her new friend said with a smile, wrapping her hand around the doorjamb. "You take some time to get settled. We eat at noon every day, so I'll come get you ten minutes before. My father's very strict about the schedule."

And she was gone.