From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone (5 page)

Chapter Seven

Three days after that hellish first day, Emily moved into Brad’s house.

She slid closed the glass closet door in her new bedroom—the one beside the main bathroom, which was beside Brad’s master bedroom at the top of the stairs. Katy had fallen asleep across her Irish green duvet on her small double bed, clutching her Dora doll and her faded blue baby blanket.

Just this morning
, Emily discovered this house was built by Brad’s grandfather in the 40’s. This three thousand square foot, two story home boasted five large bedrooms. Emily’s room was freshly painted an off-white, with light beige carpeting and a large picture window overlooking the horse paddock and pasture with a lovely view of the distant mountains. Trevor’s room was across the hall. Katy’s was right beside Trevor’s, which left one large bedroom at the end of the hall filled with boxes and furnishings.

When Emily issued notice to her landlord that she was moving, even with the short notice, they’d wished her well. Gina had been true to her word. Gina, Fred, their two teenage boys and what was possibly half the neighborhood packed and moved Emily to the ranch in three days. Katy appeared happy and unruffled, even after the tense first day.

Emily wandered across the hall into Katy’s room. She ran her hand over the floral duvet covering Katy’s white princess bed. The winnie the pooh lamp sat on the nicked night table. She meant to refinish it many times, but life continued to get in the way.

Emily peeked in on Katy who was the vision of a sleeping angel. It had been an exhausting morning and with all the changes this week and now moving to a new house, it was no surprise after she’d rubbed her eyes, Katy’d crawled up on Emily’s bed and fallen asleep. Emily used her fingers to brush back her hair that had slid in front of her eyes. No matter how many times she tied her straight hair back today, it continued to free itself. Now using her fingers, Emily smoothed her hair back and tied it once again into a loose ponytail. She released a heavy sigh as she slumped against the door frame, and an overwhelming sensation smothered her as if she’d just come up for air. All because of this whirlwind change, which resulted in her herculean approach to disassemble and pack up an entire house, start a new job and relocate all within a few days. Most of Emily’s belongings, including the furniture Bob didn’t take, were stored in one of the heated outbuildings behind the barn.

The top stair creaked; she swung around so fast she whacked her elbow on the doorjamb. “Oh.”

“Sorry
. I didn’t mean to scare you. Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, I’m fine.” Her face must have been crimson, standing in the doorway to her bedroom. Why was this bothering her? And why wouldn’t he look away with those intense, dark eyes? Seconds passed before Brad cleared his throat.

“Getting settled in okay?” He shoved his hands in his front pockets, a man who guarded his emotions with a control hard and mechanical. But the flicker of concern shading his eyes was genuine. Emily liked to think she could pick up any sense of falseness from a person. But she couldn’t read this guy. He was too complex.

“I think so.” Emily cleared her throat.

His face brightened when he looked over her head. She turned to see what he found so intriguing. “It’s been a hectic day for us all I think; hopefully she’ll sleep a while.” His smile faded. He was standing really close. Her heart thudded. Could he hear it?

Emily
needed to move but he blocked the way. Swallowing the lump, she tucked the wisps of hair that had, once again, escaped the ponytail behind her ears. She dropped her eyes to the floor, a motion that helped her steady her nerves. Change the subject. “I should start dinner, it’s getting late.”

He brushed his hand on her shoulder. Heat flickered. He pulled back as if he’d been burned. Then his jaw hardened as he stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets again. “Mrs. Haske started something in the crock pot, when she was here this morning to get Trevor, so no need. You finish getting settled.”

Her tongue felt thick and she didn’t trust herself to speak. She nodded.

“I need to go get Trevor.” He hesitated as if needing to say more, but didn’t. He hurried down the stairs.

“Brad, I almost forgot... sorry, do you have a minute?” She cringed at her inability to put together two intelligent words. Did I stammer?

He stopped halfway down and turned back. “Yes, Emily.” How did he do that? Even the sound of her name sounded like music to her ears. When she didn’t respond, he raised his eyebrow to hurry her along. Okay speak girl. “Um, I kind of assumed some things; sorry, what I’m trying to say is I just need to clarify some things.”

He braced his hand against the wall. He appeared to tense as he stood straighter. She was really mucking this up.

“You’re here to look after my boy and cook.” Whoa, she’d need a pair of tweezers to remove the stinger from his sharp clipped tone.

“Oh, I know that. But I wanted to talk about getting groceries and the laundry. I’ll do Trevor’s. And did you want me to do your laundry too? I mean we really didn’t talk about all those details. I just want to know for sure…” Emily let her words drop off at the odd expression on his face. He dropped his hand and glanced away. He chuckled as he walked back up the steps. Emily didn’t know what to do so she backed up until she bumped the wall.

“Lady, you surprise me. And very few do. No, I can do my own laundry, but thank you. You look after the kids and the cooking and I’ll give you money to get groceries, and if you don’t mind doing Trevor’s laundry, I’d really appreciate it. Fair enough?”

“That’s more than fair, Brad. Thank you.”

“Mrs. Haske will come a couple times a week to do the cleaning. If you need help with something, you just need to ask. Sorry I snapped. Okay?”

“Okay.” She smiled at the encouragement.

“I’ve got to go.” He talked as he hurried down the stairs.

Even though the house was warm, Emily crossed her arms and trembled as she stood alone in the silence, listening to his familiar walk, the click of the door and the sound of his truck.

Chapter Eight

Right after breakfast, Emily hustled out the door with Katy, Trevor and a mile long grocery list. Brad, being true to his word, provided her with plenty of cash. She’d made good time through the store, and both Katy and Trevor had been on their best behavior. Except standing in line for more than five minutes became a problem; Trevor wanted out of the cart and tried to climb over himself. He yelled when Emily tried to make him sit. So she lifted him out but he then tried to crawl under the cart and ride on the bottom rack. Emily grabbed his legs and he screamed, his arms flailing. Then he threw his shoe, smacking the cashier dead center in her forehead with a pervading thud—it was one of life’s most horrifically embarrassing frozen moments in time. The grumpy cashier became hostile and called security. It wasn’t just one security guard who showed up but two stern faced, out of shape, middle aged guys who looked like wanna-be cops. While Emily struggled to calm Trevor, who flailed in her arms, and Katy gripped her sleeve whimpering, one of the guards issued her a stern warning to control her child. They didn’t do it nicely and pull her aside; they did it in front of all the other shoppers. And Emily still needed to pay.

By the time she loaded all the groceries in her van, with Trevor and Katy buckled in their car seats both munching on the crackers she’d piled in their laps, her insides were trembling. She worried if, in fact, her picture was now plastered in the store with each cashier with bold black lettering “BEWARE OF THIS CUSTOMER” underneath it.

By the time Emily got home, Mary Haske was already there. While Emily hauled in the groceries, Mary settled the children in front of the television. Mary was a robust seventy-year-old grey haired woman who wore bifocals and had a grandmotherly smile that warmed Emily’s heart.

While Emily put away the groceries, Trevor squealed in a voice sounding exactly like Arthur—the cartoon program blaring to life on the TV. When she peaked around the corner, he was bouncing and swaying in front of the TV. Katy was snuggled with her baby blanket on the sofa.

“Would you join me for a cup of tea, my dear.” Mary filled a yellow flowered teapot with hot water. “Come sit down.”

“Thanks, Mary.”

Mary set a tray with milk and sugar, and carried it to the oak kitchen table that had been freshly scrubbed. “Sit down while you can. You’re going to spend most of the day on your feet, so may as well take advantage of some down time.”

Emily accepted the hot mug of tea but waved off the milk and sugar. “Mrs. Haske
--”

“Mary, please, I insist. Dear Brad, bless his heart, can’t seem to shake the formality. He’s called me that since he could first talk.”

Emily was drawn into the genuine motherly affection of this woman. “Mary, Brad told me you live down the road and he’s known you his whole life.”

“His mom and I are old friends, saw that boy in his diapers. We’re a small community here. You’ll find out. We help out our neighbors. I live down the road on a small ten-acre parcel; it’s all that’s left of the 50 acres Herman sold off to Brad’s daddy. Lived here my whole married life, my Herman, God rest his soul, we were married fifty years when he passed on a few years back. He brought me here from the big city of Spokane. I was a city girl who knew nothing about farming and what it takes to live off the land. He was patient and I cried a lot of tears, packed my bags to leave more times than I can count. I was a silly young thing.” Mary smiled warmly.

Emily turned in her chair, so she could see the kids. Actually, her gut ached as she worried what Trevor would do next. “Oh they’re just fine, your little angel there seems quite comfortable with Trevor.”

“Yes, she’s a good girl.”

Mary wrapped her hands around her mug as if she needed to warm her hands. She gazed into it, as if needing to say something, but couldn’t quite find the words.

“Brad’s real special to me. He owns a lot of land here, Emily, almost five hundred acres. His daddy started buying up the land in these parts when families were approached by developers. He didn’t want a bunch of small acreages and city slickers moving out here. And Brad has stayed true to his daddy’s ways. He’s a farmer, he works the land, raises cattle and hay, has dairy cows
, and he’s one of the few around here who’s stayed away from all those antibiotics and growth hormones. He’s got a good head for business. Smart when the smaller farmers went under. Brad’s expanded until he’s become the largest dairy producer on this side of the peninsula. What I’m saying to you is he’s not good at tending the home. I’m glad he hired you.”

“Thank you, I am too.” They both laughed, but
Mary’s frankness about Brad gave her a deeper insight into the fallibility of this difficult man.

“Now I shouldn’t be telling you this, but Brad and his two brothers were a wild bunch growing up. One night the sheriff showed up with all three of them in the back of his car. His daddy sure was mad. After that, he worked them pretty hard. Said if they had all this free time to get in trouble, well he’d find more productive ways to direct that energy. And boy, did he. All the farm grunt work was done by his boys, all summer. He didn’t need to hire no help that year.” They both laughed at the picture that presented.

“Emily, you know, Brad had quite a time finding someone for this job. It was awful. Women apply, they come out, work a few days, see Trevor and one of his spells and they’d leave. And I can see that same look in your eyes.”

Emily met those wise, glassy eyes straight on. “There is something wrong with that child. In the store today I didn’t know what to do. He went ballistic. Threw his shoe, it hit the cashier and then security was called…” she dropped her face into hands as her stomach pitched, reliving that awful moment.

Mary gripped her forearm. “Brad should have been straight up with you. I’ve seen some things. Taken him to the store and he’d pee in the middle of the food aisle. There’re colors like orange and yellow that he’ll yell and scream if sees them. Even the smell of certain perfumed laundry soaps can send him in tailspin. I don’t know what to tell you, Emily. I just don’t know about these things. In my day, we’d give the child a hard whack on the bottom to straighten him out.”

The knowing look Mary fixed on her confirmed her suspicion of this astute woman. “He doesn’t know anything’s wrong with Trevor, does he?”

Mary threw her hands up. “I raised five young’uns, some kids are high-spirited. But Trevor’s not quite right. Brad may know deep down, but he’s been struggling for a while to just get through day and night.”

Emily couldn’t fight the urge, even though she knew it wasn’t her place to ask. “What about Trevor’s mother, what happened to her, didn’t she help?”

“Nah, that girl Crystal was selfish. A baby didn’t fit her lifestyle. The best thing that ever happened to Brad was the day she left. Hurt him bad and changed him overnight.”

Her mouth ached; she didn’t know how to ask how’d it change him? What was he like before? Those questions remained unspoken, locked inside.

Mary finished her tea, and then got up and rinsed her cup in the freshly scrubbed sink, before putting the cup in the dishwasher. “Keep Brad out of the kitchen. He’s the worst cook and wouldn’t know how to put together a proper meal.”

Emily
had figured that much out. The first day when she went to the cupboards, the fridge and freezer, she saw nothing but prepackaged foods, TV dinners and lots of canned ready-to-go meals. Easy, and absolutely zero nutritional value. Except the one saving grace, two freezers on the back porch filled with homegrown beef.

Mary lingered for a few hours, showing Emily where things were stored in the house. The chicken coop behind the house, where she could collect eggs, normally one of the hired hands would look after it, but in case they got busy, she’d know what to do.

Emily carried Trevor through the twenty-stall horse barn, with individual turnouts, a hot wash rack, separate hay storage, an outdoor riding ring, a poultry barn for meat birds and the dairy barn. There were several other outbuildings Emily had no idea what they were for. There were, what looked to be, hundreds of cattle grazing in the field with calves dogging their mommies. The sky appeared bluer, larger; so did the pristine untouched forest and the picturesque mountains in the background. It was invigorating, and a lot of responsibility for a man to carry. Maybe that’s why Mary showed her around, to give Emily this outside view of how complex a man Brad was. She knew that she’d only skimmed the surface of his life and his responsibilities.