A New Life Read online

  Her voice rang out hollow in the huge building with no answer other than a rustle in the back.

  She couldn’t see much beyond the dust motes swirling in the sunlight at the entrance. Smells of hay, leather and animal mingled into a surprisingly agreeable odor. She’d expected the disgusting scent of manure. Travis probably kept his barn cleaner than he did his kitchen. She smiled and took another step forward.

  “James Ray Burris, come here this instant.” If he didn’t obey her mother-means-business voice, he’d have something to worry about. So would she.

  The rustling in the back intensified before small footfalls sounded on the wooden floor. Jamie scattered the drifting dust motes with bits of flying hay as his small hands brushed his hair and clothes. “Hey, Momma, can we stay here?”

  His brown eyes sparkled like she hadn’t seen in a long time. Pink tinted his cheeks under streaks of dirt, and a wide smile set easily on his lips.

  She laughed as the urge to scold him vanished. “Looks like you’re having fun. I want you to stay out of the way, though, Jamie. This is a working ranch. That means there are dangers here we don’t even know about. It isn’t like our old home in the city.”

  “I know. I like it here lots better.” Jamie followed her down the drive and into the house for cleaning supplies. “Did you see the horses? They got lots. I couldn’t find a dog, though. Don’t they have one?”

  He was still talking about the ranch when they carried their load of supplies into the cabin. “There’s a cat in the barn that gots new babies. Elliott showed me ’em. He’s real nice.”

  “Whoa, who’s Elliott?” Kimberly set the bucket down by the bathroom door and turned toward her son.

  “A cowboy. He works here.” His big, brown eyes shone. “Him and the kitties and a bunch of horses is all I saw. They got lots of horses, Momma. Can I ride sometime?”

  His question brought a sudden hitch in her heartbeat. “Ride? You mean ride a horse? They’re too big.”

  Jamie bent over laughing. “That’s funny.”

  Her hands landed on her hips. “I don’t think it’s funny at all. You can get hurt on an animal that’s ten times your size. Maybe twenty times.”

  “But they gotta be big to ride.” His laughter slowed to a wide grin, and he looked up at her with big eyes. “Please, Momma. The kittens are little so they ride on my shoulders, but I want to ride a horse. What good’s living on a ranch if ya can’t ride a horse?”

  “Okay.” She held up her hand when he started to jump in place and clap. “No, I didn’t mean okay, you can ride. I was going to say, this conversation has gone on long enough. We’ll talk about horseback riding later. Right now I need to get the cabin halfway clean so we can spend the night here, and you’re going to help.”

  “Aw, Momma.” He ducked his head.

  She knelt in front of him and held his shoulders so he looked into her eyes. “Listen, Jamie, we’re here now, and we’ll probably stay at least through the summer. Let’s make the most of this experience. Maybe later you’ll get to ride a horse, just not today. All right?”

  At his slow nod, she went on. “Today, I’ve got a lot of work to do. We can’t stay in a mouse nest and a spider’s den, can we?”

  He looked around the room as if only now seeing it and moved his head back and forth. "What do I gotta do?”

  She gave him a quick squeeze. “That’s my good boy. Thank you, Jamie.”

  He grinned as she stood and pointed to the sofa against the wall. “There’s a single bed in the other room, so unless you want to sleep cramped up against me, that’s your bed.”

  “I better take the sofa, huh, Momma?”

  She nodded. “The way you flop around in your sleep, I think so. Right now, we’ll concentrate on the floor, so I need you to help me move the sofa against the boxes over there. After we get this side clean, we’ll move everything and clean that side. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”

  Jamie gave her a solemn look and shook his head. “No, but I guess a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

  “Where did you hear that expression?” Kimberly was afraid to laugh at her little boy who looked so serious. She knew he’d rather be outside playing, but she wanted him where she could keep an eye on him.

  “That’s what Elliott said after he showed me the kitties. He said he’d rather stay and play with us, but he couldn’t.”

  “Oh, I see.” She allowed a smile then. If Elliott kept his expressions as harmless as that, they’d be all right. She didn’t want Jamie picking up rough language. This move could turn out to be as bad a mistake as her marriage had been. Or it might be the best thing she’d ever done. So much depended on Travis, but she couldn’t think of that now. She shoved the sofa across the tile-covered cement floor and let Jamie think he helped.

  Lord, You promised to be with us always. Thank You for that. Still, I have a few problems here.

  Jamie loves the newness and adventure of living on a ranch, but he’s never known anything except the city. And there’s Travis. He thinks I’m here alone. What will he do when he finds out Jamie’s here? What will he do when I tell him who Jamie is? Lord, please don’t leave us alone—ever.

  More than an hour later no evidence of mice or spiders remained, and the subtle scent of pine freshened the rooms. Jamie’s sofa bed had been thoroughly beaten and vacuumed, as had the bed in her room. Kimberly smiled with satisfaction, knowing she would do a deeper cleaning when she had time. “Now we’ll be able to sleep here tonight. I’ll put my own sheets on the twin bed.”

  “They’re my sheets.” Jamie corrected her.

  She laughed. “I know. Guess I’d better get your permission. My king-sized sheets won’t fit this little bed. Do you mind if I use yours, Jamie?”

  “It’s okay, I don’t care.” He looked at the sofa. “Are we gonna put some on that?”

  Kimberly picked up a folded sheet she’d taken from one of the boxes and placed it on the end of the sofa. “Yes, I’ll do that later before you go to bed. We only need the top sheet.”

  She took the other sheet set into her bedroom and Jamie helped her make the bed. As soon as they finished, he looked up with hopeful eyes. “Can I go outside now?”

  She glanced out the window at the main house. She’d spent two hours brushing the surface dust from this tiny cabin. How much work waited next door? More than she could afford to ignore. She sighed. Jamie wouldn’t like her answer.

  “I’d like to say yes, but Jamie, there’ll be time for outdoors later. I promise. You’ve had a good time playing already today. I don’t know the situation here. Where you can and can’t go.”

  “Elliott let me stay in the barn.”

  “I know, but Mr. Graham might not want you running free. I don’t think he even knows you’re here. Besides, I need your help right now.” She motioned toward a dresser and chest of drawers, which was the only furniture other than the bed in her tiny bedroom. “We’re going to have to share drawer space. I want you to choose one side of the dresser, unpack your things, and put them inside. Can you do that while I go to the main house and see what I can find to cook for supper?”

  He scowled at the floor and mumbled, “I s’pose so.”

  “Good, I knew I could count on you.” She gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, Jamie. After you have all your things unpacked, you may go outside. But I want you by the house.” She stepped to the door and opened it, motioning him to her side.

  “See the first window beside the door?” She pointed to the back of Travis’s house and waited for Jamie’s nod. “That’s the window above the sink in the kitchen. I should be able to check on you from there if you stay where you can always see that window. Is that fair enough?”

  “There’s nothing to play with there.”

  “Come and get me. We’ll borrow a kitten from the barn. Surely that won’t hurt anything.”

  “Really?” His eyes lit up.

  “Yes, really, but you have to unpack first.” Unpacking and playing
with a kitten would occupy him for the next couple of hours. Then they could eat and she wouldn’t have to keep him from Travis.

  Kimberly moved back into the cabin, gathering up cleaning supplies to return.

  Jamie followed. “How long ’til supper anyhow? Maybe Mr. Graham don’t want me here.”

  Kimberly had started rolling the vacuum cleaner toward the door and stopped with it halfway there. She hated that Jamie felt so insecure. She turned to hug her little boy. “How could anyone not want you? He just doesn’t know you yet, but he will. As soon as the time’s right to introduce you.” She laughed to ease the tension. “A man is usually easier to get along with right after he’s eaten a good meal.”

  “He’ll like your cooking, Momma. It’s good.” This earned him another hug.

  She straightened and smiled at him. “I’m trusting you, Jamie, to do what I’ve asked. I don’t know what more I can do. If you aren’t at the main house within an hour, I’ll come looking for you. I can see the cabin from the back door, so you should be fine.”

  With Jamie’s promise to obey, Kimberly headed across the drive. This time when she crossed Travis’s wide back porch that stretched the length of the house, she didn’t knock, but instead, opened the door and let herself in. She stood for a moment, listening to the loud ticking of a clock on the kitchen wall. Where was his grandmother? Should she go looking for the woman or let her find her? Why hadn’t Travis stayed around long enough to introduce them?

  Annoyance drew her eyebrows together. She took in the grimy kitchen and shook her head. She turned to the utility room to unload cleaning supplies, and stepped back into the kitchen to the sink. Travis’s dishwater had grown cold. Doing his dishes would be a good place to start her work.

  While she ran hot water in the sink, she watched the cabin and thought of what she could fix for supper that would be easy and quick. What would his grandmother want? The pantry was well stocked, as was the freezer. Someone had separated and labeled several packages of steaks, roasts, and ground meat. She took three pounds of hamburger and set them in cold water to thaw.

  The men would like chili. She could make cornbread to go with it and maybe a couple of chocolate cream pies. After grabbing instant pudding from the pantry, she returned to the sink.

  While she finished the dishes, she glanced at the stovetop covered with grease and grime. What did the oven look like? If she hadn’t already promised Travis a tasty meal, she’d wait until another day to make pies. She set the last dish in the drainer, wiped her hands, and reached for the oven door.

  “Well, not as bad as I expected.” She looked at the relatively clean interior. “I guess the men don’t bake. Probably fry everything.”

  “That was my guess.” A female voice spoke.

  Kimberly slammed the oven door and swung around. An older woman, trim and healthy looking in blue jeans and western shirt, stood inside the café doors leading to the dining room. She had a smile on her face.

  “Sorry, it was not my intention to startle you.” She stepped closer. With her right arm covered in a cast, she offered her left hand. “I’m Linda Good, the invalid grandma. You must be the housekeeper my grandson has been expecting.” She smiled as she grasped Kimberly’s hand in a left handshake. “Travis asked Brent to send a widow to be a companion to me. He wanted an unattached, mature woman. You don’t look the part.”

  This delightful woman was Travis Graham’s ill grandmother? Her firm handshake denied the need to be taken care of. Kimberly smiled. “Thank you, Mrs. Good. Sometimes I feel older than twenty-five, but maybe my husband’s death aged me.”

  Travis’s grandmother nodded. “That would do it, although I guessed you at no more than twenty. And please call me Linda.” Before Kimberly could respond, she went on. “Have you met Travis? I know he’s been expecting you. He wasn’t rude to you, was he?”

  Kimberly laughed. “Oh, no. He simply explained what he wanted, helped me unload at the cabin, and left.”

  “Good.” Linda gave a quick nod. “Maybe all that preaching on manners I did when he was a kid helped. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good boy. Got a good heart that’s been trampled far too many times. That’s why I’m here.”

  She pointed to her right arm nestled in a sling. “I fell and broke my arm, so he insisted I come to stay until it’s healed. At least through the summer, he said. I figured, why not? With a little help from the Almighty, maybe I can get my grandson back into church.”

  Kimberly thought Travis had always attended church. Why had he stopped? She would like to ask questions, but decided to let her curiosity rest until later. She cleaned the stovetop. “I thought I’d fix chili for the men tonight. Do you need anything special?”

  Linda waved her hand past her face as if fanning Kimberly’s words away. “Oh, heavens, no. I love chili. The spicier, the better. Now, don’t you start coddling me.” She pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. “Travis thinks I’m as fragile as a fine piece of china just because I’m seventy years old. That’s ancient for a boy not yet thirty, you know. I’ve been taking it easy since I banged up my arm, and it isn’t hurting like it was.”

  “That’s good.”

  Kimberly started the hamburger cooking over low heat. She set the oven temperature and turned it on, then found ingredients for piecrust. She almost forgot Linda was there as she alternated between the pies and the chili. She took the browned crusts from the oven and set them aside then took a large bowl from the dish drainer and started making cornbread.

  Travis said fix a lot and make it basic. She could only hope her idea of a lot was the same as his. Until she’d seen the leftovers, she wouldn’t know. She poured pudding in the cooled crusts then stirred the bubbling chili before sliding the pies into the refrigerator to cool.

  “You work quickly.” Linda drew her attention. “It’s obvious you’re no stranger to a kitchen.”

  Kimberly opened the cornbread mixes and added eggs. “I love to cook.”

  A frown touched Linda’s brow. “What will you do after this summer? Or did Travis change his mind about the job being for the summer only?”

  Kimberly added milk and butter and stirred the cornbread then poured it into a large pan unsure how to answer Travis’s grandmother.

  “You do plan to stay through the summer, don’t you?” She repeated the question as if it were important.

  Kimberly nodded. “That’s what I agreed to. Through fall roundup. After that, I don’t know.” She glanced up in time to see her answer bring a spark to Linda’s eyes. Uncertain what the older woman was thinking, she opened the oven and slid the cornbread inside.

  “I’m getting a bit tired.” Linda stood. “I believe I’ll go to my room and read until we eat. I’m really glad I got to meet you. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”

  “I intend to try.” Kimberly smiled and watched Travis’s grandmother walk from the room. She’d said she was seventy, but she could easily pass for ten years younger. Her hair, still dark brown, was streaked with gray. She wore it in an attractive cut that barely brushed her collar and turned under at the ends. She seemed to have a gentle, loving heart. Especially where her grandson was concerned. She wanted him in church.

  Kimberly glanced out the window as she walked past the sink and saw Jamie playing under the tree with a kitten. No, two, three kittens. The stinker had gotten the kittens from the barn by himself. He was happier than she’d seen him in years, and that’s all that mattered. He’d better stay happy, too. Maternal instinct to protect her child rose within her as she thought of Travis. He could add to Jamie’s insecurities or banish them altogether. So much depended on this first meeting after they ate. Fear of what Travis might do kept her tense through the rest of her preparations. This might very well be her last supper on the Circle G Ranch.

  Chapter Three

  A few minutes before six, Kimberly stood in front of the stove stirring the large pot of chili. She turned to look out the kitchen window at the cabin. No sign of
Jamie. Her little boy could take longer than anyone she knew changing his shirt and washing his hands. He’d been so dirty he looked like he’d been rolling in dirt instead of playing with kittens in the grass.

  While she watched, a man stepped out of the barn and headed toward the house. Her heart jumped to her throat in spite of her resolve to stay calm.

  She turned back to the stove.

  A cowboy took his hat off as he stepped inside. “Evenin’, Ma’am. I’m Elliott. Been lookin’ forward to supper ever since I met your son out by the barn. You got a real cute kid.”

  “Thank you.” She glanced out before he closed the door. No one else was there. “Um, do you mind. . .I mean, please don’t mention . . .”

  His eyebrows raised. “About your boy? Why’s that, Ma’am?”

  Oh dear. She’d done it now. Could he hear her heart pounding or see guilt in her eyes? She looked from the café doors to the window outside. Anywhere except at him. “Um, it’s just M-Mr. Graham hasn’t met him yet.”

  “Ahh,” he drew the word out and grinned. “Gotcha. Don’t worry, he’ll take to the kid right quick.”

  He had no idea how she hoped and prayed Travis would do more than take to Jamie. Her little boy needed a loving father he could look up to who wouldn’t let him down.

  She turned the stove off and flashed a grateful smile toward Elliott. “Thank you.”

  Before he could do more than nod in reply, another man shuffled through the door, sniffing the air as he came. “Mmmm. Ma’am, I’ve been dreaming of this moment all afternoon, ever since Elliott said we got a new cook. I’m Jason.”

  A third man shoved him from behind. “Yeah, couldn’t get any work out of him for all the talk of food.” He stopped and sniffed the air just as the first man had done. When his gaze landed on Kimberly, he jerked his cowboy hat from his head, revealing curly red hair. “Then again, can’t say as I blame him.”

  He sniffed again. “There’s something missing here.” He sniffed yet again and snapped his fingers. “Oh, yeah, the smell of burnt meat. Not much smells worse than that, Ma’am. Sure am glad to have you here.” He stepped forward and nodded his head. “I’m Red. I mean that’s what the fellows call me. Must have something to do with my hair.” He grinned. “I don’t mind, but if you prefer, you can call me Cletus. That’s my real name. Cletus Jones.”