CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE ROSE LADY
She met the group of old hands at the stable at four, with a van full of hot muffins and coffee. After arriving in the highlands, she pulled out more coffee along with eggs, bacon and a half-ton of potatoes. All was gone in minutes. Then the first group rode out to locate larger groups of cattle.
Jake hung back, strutting his six foot two height around, as he was just waiting to be told where he was going to be needed the most. His walnut colored hair flaring from under the large hat. He’d even gone so far as to buy a leather jacket with the fringe across his chest, to impress the rugged old hands, Jim had arranged to help. Unfortunately they saw right through his city slicker veneer, and when he just couldn't bring himself to get on a horse, Jim pulled his fat from the fire by saying he was only there to assist her.
"Like that little lady needs help." a tall lanky hand called, as he jumped his horse the way cowboys in the movies do. "I'll bet she could handle a few hundred hungry cowboys, single handed...Of course I'd like to see how she treats just one in bed." While she was listening, she didn't even bother to react to that comment, although she did take every word as a compliment.
The sun was just starting to peek its nippy nose over the mountains, when Jim and the last of the odd hands, pulled up stake. She was busy at the side of the van, washing dishes, when he strutted around the side, and sweep her up into his arms.
"Have a good day dear." his words fell with a bit of humor, as he planted a kiss on her forehead. The shocked look on her face was met with a wink, meaning he would explain it later. Then he too, mounted the black mare like someone trying out for a part in the movies.
"He does things like that a lot, doesn't he?" Jakes voice caught her off guard.
"He's a kidder." She responded not removing her eyes from the direction, he rode.
"What he did was just make sure those other guy's don't lay a hand on you."
"What?" she turned to look back at his green eyes.
"He just marked you, as taken. You would’ve had to overhear the conversation, taking place around the fire to understand."
"He marked me, so the others would leave me alone?" she wasn't sure if she liked the thought of his marking her, it sounded like something a dog did to his territory.
"He's okay – I like him." Was Jake's only response as he treaded off towards the horse left behind for him? "Now show me how to get on this beast."
"Jake, I can't" she waved her hand to tap the cast, she was still totting around. "But I can tell you how to do it. Just give me a minute to finish these dishes."
Once the last of the metal tins, were dried she hobbled over, to where he’d taken a seat on a flat rock. After leading Rosie out to where he could see, she wasn't an ill spirited animal, she hoped she could talk him through a mounting. Oh, he managed to get up. He just didn't want to be there, and came down nearly as fast.
"Jake she's not going to hurt you."
"How do you know, she might decide to find a fence?"
"She's a good girl." She used the words to stroke the smooth hair of the chestnut colored horse's nose "I just know she wouldn't hurt you. Dang it Jake, Jim taught me to ride on this horse. She's just a sweetheart."
"No," he proclaimed heading for his truck. "I don't need to prove anything to you."
"You're right you don't, but I need help with lunch and dinner just the same." her plea was met with an abrupt stop.
"Alright, I can do that."
Jim had said that bologna sandwiches would do for lunch, but chilly was required for dinner, so she got that started. In addition, a good supply of wood would need to be dragged down to keep the fire going. After managing to start the chili, and making lunch just in time for the guys to come back. Emma knew it was time to talk to Jake.
"I want to know what you said to Mike to get him to come down here." There she’d said it, blunt and right to the point.
"I didn't say a thing, and I'm not here to help Sam take this place away from you." he responded, standing to meet her glare.
"Look I'm not really accusing you. I just want to know who it was. Someone had to have said something."
"Ask his grandmother." he tossed the rest of his sandwich into the fire.
"She’s –” She cut off the word “dead” before it rolled from her lips, because she wasn't sure she was. "I don't know where to get a hold of her."
"Well she's the only one that knew what to say."
"What did she say? I mean did you see her?"
"Not really. Damn it Em. You know better then ask me this."
She knew she was treading on thin ice, her grandmother had taught them all too well, about ease dropping. "I have to know." she took a seat on the blanket and crossed her legs before her.
"Shit..." he passed around her. “I knew I shouldn't have been listening, but well...since you left, it's not been the same.” he looked down at her "You know," She didn't respond, so he continued. "I came home early one day, and well... they were in the kitchen talking" he was flexing his hand, as if he’d a ball in it. "I knew I should’ve announced myself, but they were talking about this place and..." he walked off towards the truck "I listened. I was afraid he was going to leave and not tell Me." he turned around and shot back at her. "If he’d done that...I couldn't pay the rent myself...I had to know what he was going to do."
"Alright, Jake I get the picture."
"No you don't. You and Beth took off and—"
"I told you, you could move down right from the start."
"But Mike didn't think it was going work. How was I to know that you knew what you were doing?"
His words bit at her self-respect. "Why don't you guys think I have a brain?" she asked pulling herself to her feet. "Why don't you ever give me credit for being able to take care of myself?"
"You sure proved us wrong, didn't you?" He sheepishly whispered, almost too low for her to hear, through her racing brain. "I mean look what you've done with this place." he spoke a bit louder. She reached for a stick to stir the fire, wondering if he was just trying to appease her ego. "So what did his grandmother say?" She asked returning the conversation to the original subject.
"I didn't listen for long – but she said that no matter what he wanted, he had to be here with you."
"Why?" She searched his eyes, to see if he was telling the truth.
"I don't know. She said something about the light and dark." her confusion showed. "I don't know, honestly." he through his hands up. "She said it had to do with the light and dark." he looked as if he were a child being called down for telling a fib. "Really Em, She didn't say anything else." he stopped abruptly then added "No. Wait a minute – she said something about peace on earth. I thought she was quoting the bible." He was telling her the truth, even if he was ringing his hands.
"So what did she look like, I mean was she nice."
"I don't know. I didn't interrupt them. I was just on my way up the steps." He paced back and forth, as if she had him under a magnifying glass. "She wore some awful cologne though."
"What kind of cologne."
"It smelled like roses, really strong roses."
Emma had to back off the questioning, even though she’d several that were running through her head. She remembered all too well, the way her answers seem to come. She couldn't risk the chance that he couldn't answer the question. "Come on, we've got to get the rolls from the house." she changed the subject by heading for the Van.
"What's it mean – I mean the smell of roses?" he wasn't ready to let it drop. "Rob said that, that night you smelled rose's up at that house, but that no one else could smell it."
"It meant that I could smell roses, Kit could too."
If she hadn't been so preoccupied thinking about the rose lady. She might have realized the sky had turned dark and over cast. Meaning a storm was approaching, but the strange little lady kept running through her mind. Maybe she really was Mike's grandmother, or maybe Jake had just called her that because of her age, but he never saw her, how did he know how old the lady was?
That question kept reappearing in her thought repeatedly, as she peeled the potatoes for potato pancakes. When she thought she might go mad if she didn't ask the question, she posed it as best as she could to Jake.
"Why did you think, it was his grandmother?"
"What?"
"The rose lady—I mean the lady that smelled like roses. How did you know it was his grandmother, if you didn't meet her?"
"The way she spoke to him." he answered looking back down for another potato. "She was taking about his Mom, said that she told him the story when he was a kid...No" he looked back up at her "She said his mother had to have told him the story when he was a kid. And he agreed that she had." The questions his response had conjured up in her head were best left alone. "Hmmm..." was her only response, as she stepped to the fire to stir it up again.
Cattle had been herded in to the small valley, just below them all day. Off and on, she caught a glimpse of Jim riding high in the saddle, bringing up the rear, but he never stopped in, not even for his afternoon coffee. As the last twinkling of light speed from the sky, a brisk wind developed, and the undeniable scent of snow filled her nostrils. Even the horses could tell it was coming, if she’d been wise, she would’ve not just started the van, and drove it back to the house.
Jim hadn't come in yet, so there was no way she was going to leave, without trying to explain first. She watched as the heavy clouds dropped over the valley below, sucking everything, that it came in touch with, into a white curtain. As did the rest of the group, all but Jim and two other men had come down. One of the men said she should head for home, but her reply was – she’s in this to the end. However, she did break camp. By gathering everything up, and seeing to it that they were all properly stored away. Even when the snow whirled about her head, causing her hair to be whipped into her face, she didn't give up until she had it all put in its rightful spot. Then and only then, did she slide into the driver side of the van, and start the engine.
Still Jim hadn't come in, or perhaps he had and was sitting in one of the other trucks, she couldn't tell. The snow was coming down to fast. Gripping the wheel so hard, that her knuckles had gone white, she began to wonder if the others even cared. Several of them had joined her in the van, but they were now engrossed in a game of poker, and paid little mind to the storm going on outside.
It wasn't until the tall lanky man, the rest called Dusty, slide into the passenger seat. That she realized the laughter had stopped.
"He knows this land, like the back of his hand." He declared, laying a hand on her shaking knee.
"And who's not supposed to be in my seat." the door flew open, and Jim covered with snow, was pushing him out of his way. The others had climbed into their own trucks. "Damn it Girl, what in the Hell are you still doing here?"
"We tried to get her to leave." a voice rose from the back. "But you got yourself a keeper there Jim. She told us where to get off. And I'll be damned if she didn't weather that cold as good as the rest of us."
She couldn't tell from his tone, if he was still mad at her or not. She didn't care one way or the other, all she cared about was that he wasn't out in the cold, any longer. Pushing the Indian blanket from herself, she handed it to him, along with the thermos. "I'm a big girl and it's just a little snow."
"Like I said, real hell cat on wheels," Dusty stated through a stained toothy grin
"Well, I guess I'll just have to put some of that fire out," she looked back at him "Someday." he finished.
"How dare you." she spit out the words. "I—" she stopped short, remembering how badly she’d just been worried.
"You what – Can take care of you? And haven't you learned not to dare me yet?"
Despite the kidding she was taking from the back seat, she bit her lip and said, "I'm glad you made it back okay."
"I told her, you’re an old hand at this stuff, but from the knuckle's – I don't think she believed me." Dusty again spoke for the back.
Jim's expression changed and the arch in his back dropped, but the look in his eye was just as cool towards her. Within the next hour, she wished she’d gone home when told. Not because of anything, he said or did, but because of the amount of snow that was coming down. When a storm drops six inches in an hour, it's a storm to be reckoned with. When the depth reached eight, Dusty declared they had better make a run for it.
"Shit Jim, we've pulled a herd down in more snow then this."
"Yeah, and lost half of it too."
"I can't afford to get stuck in here." Someone else said from further back. "I’ve got cows of my own out there."
"And just what are we going to do with her?" Jim waved his hand in Emma’s direction.
Oh boy, he’d done it now, she thought as she felt the small of her back arch up in response. "What the Hell do you mean?" she declared, "What are you going to do with me. I'll go out of here the same way you do."
"Woe, Girl." Jim pressed her back into her seat. "I just meant you can't ride with a leg in a cast." He added with a half-witted grin, "Besides we didn't bring enough horses for you to ride out of here."
If it hadn't been for the way he lifted his hand before grinning over at her, and then tenderly stroked her shoulder, she would’ve been out that door, showing him who could ride with a cast.
"She'll just ride double with one of us. Me I'll take her with me." Dusty volunteered, Jim raised a bow, considering the proposal “Fine – but she'll ride with me."
As they all piled out of the van, and let the others know what the plan was, she felt the tip of how cold the ride home was going to be. Snow squished into her cast, from the opening at her toes, sliding back in to the van, she pulled on the woolen sock she’d brought with her, Just in case it got a bit nippy before she could drive back to the house after dark.
There snuggled down in the far back seat was Jake, she’d forgot all about him, and more over she’d forgot about his fear. There was no way she was going to get him on a horse, not even if his life depended on it, and it just might have. Catching Jim's attention while he spoke to the others in the blinding snow she waved him to her side, where he swooped in to haul her up. Realizing his intention, she stepped back and allowed his mighty arm to swish pass. She was trying his patients, for when he dismounted and took her by the hand his grip was almost bruising.
"What am I going to do with you," he chuckled.
"Leave me here."
"Not on your life." He snapped, swirling her in to meet his chest. "You’re going with me."
"Jake," she declared "I forgot about Jake."
Even if he hadn't witness the helpless scene of Jake refusing to get on Rosie—she had. Her pleading eyes said that she wasn't doing this to irate him, but to save face for Jake. "Dusty, we're not going with." He called over her head. "Get in there tonight, tell them where we are." he released her, but only long enough for her to turn and see Dusty's face as Jim called out his commands. "Damn it. Get Wes to put that helicopter up in the morning. Tell him Emma's here – he’ll do it."
"Shit how'd I know I wouldn't get to wrap my arms around that little hell cat of yours." Dusty remarked shaking the snow from his hat. "What about the boy's?"
"They'll stay."
"But Dad" Jimmy's voice cut through the freezing air.
"Jim you can't."
"They'll stay." Jim insisted, "They don't know these hills that well, wouldn't want to have to pull them from the drift in the morning." He finished, by handing his reins to Dusty. "See to it that she gets bedded down for the night." Jimmy and Kit did the same with their horses, before slipping into the horse trailer.
While he watched as the group headed out without them, she climbed back into the van. Kit's eyes had been filled with disappointment, but if Jim said they were a bit too wet behind the ears to do it, he meant it. Jake settled back into his little corner at the back of van, and apologetically said, "Em I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I probably would’ve kept the horse off balance any way." She responded sliding onto the second seat, since the first had been removed to make room for the food earlier in the day.
When Jim open the door and let a great gust of wind and snow in, she realized just how cold she really was, even the tips of her toes were freezing. Of course, it hadn't helped matters, to walk around in the snow with just a stocking over her cast. The rolled sleeping bag he threw her way appeared to be the answer.
Quickly she pulled it apart and thrust her numb toes in first. Jake did the same directly behind her. Jim just leaned him nap sack against the van wall, for a pillow and casually spread the heavier covering across him on the floor, in front of her. Tipping his hat down across his face, he whispered a good night and the darkened van fell silent.
Before too long Jake's steady snore filled the air, Jim hadn't moved since he said good night. Her toes still were freezing and she just couldn't figure out how to keep her cast on the thin seat and still feel comfortable. Finally, she sat up and pulled the soaked sock from her foot, something she should’ve done sooner. Jim stirred and pulled his transistor from his pocket, unplugging the earphones, so that the oldies overrode Jake's snoring.
She’d slept by herself for so long, without the aid of either, that the sound was bond to keep her awake all night. Being sandwiched between the two didn't help matters. So as she sat there rubbing her cold toes, she tried to figure out what to tell Mike, when he had to send help out for them in the morning. He’d said she shouldn't get involved, reminded her that it was Jim's job, and that Jim was fully capable of doing it without her, but no – she had to come along. Now, thanks partly to her and the cast, Jim and the boys were stuck in the middle of a blizzard.
As she watched his chest rise and fall, rhythmically to each slumbering breath, she wished that she’d listened. He probably was upset with her too, although he had a different way of showing it, she’d learned that his silence bit just as hard, as Mike's roar.
The snow was coming down even harder now, she could only tell by the rate it piled up on the hood. Entrenched in thought, about how cold the night was going to get, she didn't realize Jim wasn't asleep, until he pushed up his hat, to look at her and folded back his sleeping bag, as an open invitation to join him. How could she resist the extra warmth, she surely didn't need to be asked twice. Quickly she moved to the floor next to him, he then securely wrapped her up with both bags.
"Warmer?" he asked snuggling down so the back of her head rested against his chest, and he was able to completely wrap his arm around her waist.
"Are you mad at me?"
“It’s not your fault Jake’s afraid of horses?”
"Are the boy's alright back there?"
"Their more concerned about the girls, worrying about them, then the snow." he replied, nuzzling his nose into her hair.
"Where were you, when I was eighteen." she asked melancholy.
"Right in front of your nose." he answered briskly.
"No you weren't."
"Yes, I was. But you could only see Bobby."
Bobby, she thought, she’d known only one Bobby in her entire life – The boy who lived across from her Grandfather's home in Meadow. Recognizing the name, she tried to sit up, but he held her firmly in place.
"Bobby Harris?" she questioned any way
"The one and only"
"How do you know him? I mean…”
"Bobby and I are cousins. When did I meet you? Hum, do you want to know about the first time or the last?"
She couldn't believe her ears. How could she have meet this man, and not remembered it? He had to be pulling her leg. "No, we had never met till the morning I drove into the valley." she was sure of herself.
"You mean to tell me, that you don't remember going horseback riding, with Mr. Wells." She did. How could she forget the horse, which made her afraid to get back on one, until he taught her how to ride? "Remember." he went on "He put you on that horse and the first thing it did was head for the fence. Damn, you screamed and jumped around, but you never pulled the reins, till he’d brushed you up against the barbwire."
"You weren't there." she racked her brain to remember but it was no good. She couldn't have been much over six maybe eight, when that happened.
"Oh, yes I was. I grabbed the horse right after he brushed the fence, I couldn't believe how brave you were. You didn't swear and you didn't cry, you just got down, thanked Mr. Well's and ran off home."
"Yeah right, with a scare that still shows." she had to admit, that he had to have been there. There was no way he could’ve known how she acted, if he hadn't.
“Or there was the time you came over for some milk, with Beth. Uncle Frank, kidded with her about attaching the machine up to her, and you blow up. Standing right up to his face and called him a chauvinistic pig."
"Jim..." she remembered the incident, but not him.
"You were about twelve or thirteen, and boy did you have guts. Uncle Frank was known for taking out any one that spoke back... and may have even kicked your butt, but Bob and I stopped him." She remembers the guy was mean...but his face still didn't ring a bell.
"But of course," a small chuckle slipped from the back of his throat, "there was the time, that a sweet little city girl, with raven colored eyes, drove into town, scooped up my heart, and drove away." she was beginning to feel guilty for not remembering.
"Don't tell me you don't remember the trip to Fillmore, you took with me and Bobby." That she remembered, or at least the trip.
"Were you?"
"The CRAZY Jack Ass, that couldn't Drive." he proclaimed, as if he was proud of it.
"No!"
"I bitched the minute Bobby said we were going to do Mr. West a favor and kept it up, right till you stepped out the door in that mini skirt. Your hair was nearly longer then it was." boy did she remember that day. "I never said a thing about helping Mr. West after that."
"Seems to me that you’re forgetting the best part of the story." she interrupted.
"No I'm not. I opened that truck door and watched love climb in next to me."
"I hated that skirt, but Grandpa always said a girl should wear skirts, so that weekend I did. He let me wear my jeans after then."
"No doubt – when you were sitting between Bobby and me, I was beginning to wonder, where it went when you sat down."
"Above my butt"
"You said it, not me." He said with a chuckle
"Why do you think I raised such a fuss, when you started to drive so crazy? I kept bouncing all over the place and the last place I wanted to end up was on Bobby's lap."
"That was the last place I wanted you too." he readjusted to snuggle her a bit closer. "You had smelt so good sitting there next to me on the way into town, and when we sandwiched you between us, in that booth, at Wanda's place, you kept rubbing my foot with yours," He paused, as if to clarify the picture he’d painted in his head. "But" he went on “When you went to the restroom, Bobby through me the keys, to the truck and I knew what he had in mind. Therefore, after, he got you giggling and then put his hand on your leg—. Shit I had to do something."
“At seventy miles an hour" she asked
"Look." he insisted, "I knew where the turn off was. I mean it's not like you would’ve been the first—" he broke for a deep breath "anyway I also knew that Fred would be waiting about a mile this side of it. I wasn't about to make that turn."
"So you drew the cop's attention." Here she’d thought, that boy was crazy, all these years. When in reality he was just trying to preserve her virginity.
"I was planning on coming back to see you later that night and explaining. But when Fred dragged me home, dad went thru the roof – I didn't sit for a week."
"Oh Jim, I'm sorry.” she didn't know what to say, so silence gripped the two of them again. At least she was warm, and she knew he’d loved her since that fateful day.
"Do you ever wonder, what it might be like, if Fred wouldn't have been there?" she finally asked.
"Yeah, Bobby would’ve killed me for not making the turn off."
"No, I mean if I hadn't thought you were crazy."
In less than a heartbeat, he’d slide her off his chest, and pinned her to the floor of the van. Staring down into her eyes he said, "Isn't he taking care of you?" He could’ve meant a hundred things, like watching over her, reminding her to do things, thanking her for doing things, helping her with the house, but he didn't mean any of those. How was she to admit that her own husband hadn't touched her in over six months? She knew the separation had been a trying one, but when he moved down, it was as if he left some of the better parts in Salt Lake, mainly his love for her. Not once in the time he’d been back, had he even passionately held her. His touch, when he had to touch her, was cold.
When she delayed answering, he slid his warm hand under the wool sweater and across the silky skin of her stomach, coming to rest at the valley between her breasts. When she didn't resist, he continued on to gently stroke the arousal zone around the nipple. She’d crossed the safety boundary there was no turning back. As he tipped his head to smoother her lips, the song Suspicious Minds, broke the airwaves. As swiftly as possible, he pulled his hand from her blouse, and whirled to turn off the radio. She’d heard too much already, rolling to her other side, she masked her face with her hands, and weep silent tears.
He only rolled up against her, laying a hand on her shoulder and buried his face into her shoulder blade. He was trembling with a long overdue wanting, She’d let it go too far, she should’ve stopped it right from the start. He was going to think she was leading him on, and maybe she’d been, but they both knew it wasn't right. "Please," he whispered through trembling lips pressed tightly to her back, "Please just let me hold you – keep you warm – I promise.”
His voice made her heart ache, she’d had time to catch her breath, and regain her shield of protection. Allowing him to hold her wasn't going to be a problem, any longer. She knew once he promised, that he wouldn't try again, so she curled up against his chest and went to sleep, but not before he’d repeated the question. "He isn't taking care of you is he?"
She never uttered a word. A simple rocking of her head let him know his assumptions were correct. To which he softly kissed her on the top of the head.
The moment Jake brushed up against her foot she shot to sitting position. "Don't move you look so warm.” Jake continued on, pushing the door open. “Nature calls.” She couldn't believe her eyes. The eight inches of snow had grown to well over two feet. When he slammed the door, the snow that fell from the window, was the only spot to look out of their warm enclave. Jim swung his arm under her arm and across her chest to pull her down next to him.
"Jim," she insisted, but to no avail, his grip was stronger than she was. "The snow"
"I now, I've watched it come down all night. Along with you toss and turn." He answered pulling the bag up around her again. "I never realized, how badly I tormented you, till you started to cry about five this morning, calling out Mike's name several time, as you pushed my hands from you."
"Jim, I was just dreaming."
“Yeah, of the hell I keep dragging you through, every time I make demands on you."
She couldn't even remember the dream. She hadn't wanted to dream, since before the ball, when she—No. She wasn't going to start thinking about that again. Every time she thought of how she’d slipped into the past, something strange happened. "Just lay with me till they come." He tightened his arm across her chest, "I promise. I won't torment you any longer."
"You can't do that–" he stopped her, by pressing his fingers to her lips. "No" she turned to have her say. "I need you."
"Damn it girl, why is it the only one around here that knows you have spunk, is me"
She relaxed her back and eased herself back against his chest.
"Oh, I don't want you to stop. I just wished you'd show it, to the others. I was afraid that they had broken that spirit of yours." She drew a long cleansing breath and collected her thoughts. As he went on to tell her, how meek she’d appeared that first day. "It's that spirit, I love. I loved it right from the first time I met you. When you didn't cry, you had a look of eat nails but you didn't even say that. You just thanked him and walked off."
"Jim you can't leave me alone to run this place."
"Who said anything about leaving?" He turned her to look down at her concerned face. "I said that I’d back off, and stop tormenting you. I have no plans of being too far. When you’re ready, you'll know where to find me. You won’t have to tell me twice, once is all I need to find my way to your bed.”
She released a sigh of relief, as she dropped her chin to his chest. She’d already admitted that she and Mike were running a loveless marriage. What would it hurt to tell him how she really felt?
"Jim,"
"You don't have to say anything." he insisted, "I just want to hold you. I may never get this chance again, please."
She longed for so much more but this would have to do. Snuggled close to him