Lonestar Calling is my own idea, however, any and all characters from the other Lonestar books are owned by Colleen Coble. This story was inspired by Carrie Underwood's 'Cowboy Casanova', but the song itself is not in here. ^^ Thank you for reading!
"Allie, are you sure it's okay?" the strawberry-blonde woman asked.
"Of course!" Mrs. Bailey responded,"Rick has always said how he wishes things were like in the old days, when the whole community would come together for a barn-raising!"
"And just among us,"whispered Gracie Wayne,"I think the boys only came for the food."
Then Shannon MacGowen chimed in,"No, they are having too much fun showing off to us to be worried about food!"
All four women laughed as they set up the picnic tables with food. The men and women of little Bluebird had come out into the middle of nowhere to help Alys build a house. Allie, Shannon, and Gracie had convinced their husbands, who had told other people. Alys could see now why her grandfather had told stories of barn-raising with such glee when she was a child. In any case, Alys was grateful that she had such wonderful neighbors.
"Alys, where's Ben?" asked Shannon.
"Hmm? Oh, Rick took him back to town to pick up some special rods,"Alys grimaced,"Don't even ask. I have no idea what I am going to do with that boy,"she sighed. The pain of losing his father was hard for both of them, and even more so since the boy was now technically an orphan.
"I wouldn't know what to do if anything happened to Michael," Gracie said quietly.
"How is he enjoying America?" Allie bubbled, trying to turn the talk to lighter things.
"Oh, it's not that different from England. But I think the culture shock hit him pretty hard,"Alys giggled,"Yesterday, he told me that he wished that people would stop talking to him, because he gets headaches trying to 'translate what they are saying into comprehensive English'."
The women laughed. Several of the men stopped their work and turned at the sound. Just then, Jack MacGowen walked up behind their little group and said loudly,"If you ladies have time to socialize, and laugh at who-knows-what, then you have time to help us build a house!"
Shannon looked up at her husband with obvious teasing in her eyes,"Oh, hello, dear. We were just about to; but, you know, we do have all this food to set up,"she looked around and her friends nodded sadly,"I'm afraid there's simply no time for us to play house with you. Not when there's all this work to do."
Jack sighed, playing along,"In that case, I think we will have to stop our 'play' and help you to get rid of all this food,"he nodded sagely,"And then you will have time to play with us."
"Oh, if you must,"Allie said,"Go and get the children, and we'll make them wash up."
Jack called break to the other men, then he and Michael went to gather the kids. After each child was scrubbed thoroughly, everyone stood around the long picnic tables, waiting for Grady to pray.
"Dear Father, we come to you today to asking you to bless this meal. Please help us to finish the house, so that Alys and Benjamin can move into it-,"he started.
"Amen!"shouted Rick from the place where everyone had parked. He and Ben made their way across the yard and washed their hands before taking their places with family.
"So, like I was saying, help us to finish the house. And please hold back any storms, for while they are beautiful, they would hinder our project. We pray for your guidance, and that the Murphy's life will be happy here. Amen!"
'Amen!' was heard all across the almost-empty expanse, a melody rang out, ranging from the tiny squeak of Shannon's Jack Jr. to the loud, cheerful timbre of Michael's voice.
"Let's eat, everyone!"someone shouted.