When I made my way back to the house, it was a lot more slowly than I'd left it a few minutes
before. Crane was waiting on the porch, leaning against one of the porch columns, waiting for
me. As I came up the first few steps to the porch, I looked up at him.
He looked sad, and I knew he understood how I felt. He and Daniel are real close, too.
I stopped midway up the stairs. "This really sucks," I said.
Crane reached out a hand to me, and when I took it, he pulled me up the remaining stairs.
"Yep," he said. "It really sucks." He gave me a hug, and I hugged him back, wrapping my arms
around his waist.
"Let's go have some breakfast," he said, ushering me into the house. "Or are you going back
to bed?"
"I'll stay up," I said. "I want to go riding."
As we were walking towards the kitchen, I asked him, "Did Adam say something to Miss George?"
"Yeah. He said something," Crane said evasively, and I gave his arm a light punch.
"I'm serious. Evan said he was going to blow the roof off of the school," I said.
"Well, I'm pretty sure the roof was still on when we left, but I won't say that there weren't some
dents and holes put in it. By the time we were done, she knew we were real unhappy about
what happened," Crane told me.
"That was nice of all of you guys, to do that for me," I said, and Crane pulled me to a stop by the kitchen door.
"Nice had nothing to do with it. And we are definitely going to talk about it some more this weekend. You're
not going to have the kind of attitude where you give up," he said firmly.
I shrugged lightly, and Crane frowned at me.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said.
Crane's frown grew more pronounced. "You've never been a quitter, and you're not going to
start now. It doesn't have to be vet school if you don't want to, but you are going to college."
I sighed. "I think I should eat something," I said, using what I was finding to be a convenient excuse.
Whenever I didn't feel like talking or whatever, I'd found that saying I was hungry, or tired,
or not feeling well got me out of a lot. The only bright spot to having diabetes.
"Okay," Crane said, and I turned back towards the kitchen, thinking it had worked again.
Never underestimate Crane, though, because he spoke quietly from behind me, "We will talk
about this again though, young lady."
"Terrific," I muttered with sarcasm, under my breath.
"What did you say?" he asked me, not sounding very tolerant.
I met his gaze. "I said, 'terrific'. It will be terrific to talk about it with you," I said, injecting
a bouncy tone to my voice and hoping he'd believe me.
"Uh huh," Crane said, sounding disbelieving. "Start the coffee."
7
It was just Adam and Crane and I at first, eating our eggs and bacon, when Evan and
Brian came straggling into the kitchen. I sat there eating, not saying much, just listening to
them all talk. Mostly ranch talk, and about what all chores needed to be done that day. Even when
Hannah and Clare came down, followed by a half-asleep looking Guthrie, it still seemed
quiet without Daniel and Red.
"About time you got out of bed, boy," Adam told Guthrie, rubbing his head on his way
past to the coffee pot.
Guthrie ducked his head. "Yeah, yeah," he said.
Clare sighed. "I remember when I used to sleep late, and fritter away my time being lazy." She
yawned tiredly.
"Didn't know what you were missin', until you started living on a ranch, did you?" Adam teased her.
"Nope," Clare said. "I sure didn't."
"Want to go riding with me?" I asked her.
Clare looked wistful. "I'd love to, but I've got class all day. Maybe we could go tomorrow?"
I'd gladly ride every day if I could, so I nodded. "Sure."
Brian leaned forward, looking past Clare and Guthrie, and to me at my end of the table.
"Ridin'?" he asked, his raised eyebrow meant as a reminder to me.
"Yes." I grinned at him. "I already asked Crane."
Crane looked up from his plate of eggs. "Asked me what?"
"If I could go riding after breakfast."
"No, you didn't," Crane denied.
Guthrie snickered. "Maybe she did, and you just forgot, Crane. You are gettin' up there in years. I've
noticed a little gray," Guthrie touched his temple, "right about there on you."
"If you want to live to see your birthday next month, Guthrie, you'd best eat
your breakfast and keep quiet," Crane told him, good-naturedly, and everybody laughed.
After breakfast I helped stack the dishes. I caught Brian's sleeve as he walked past.
"Seriously, Bri, is it alright if I go riding?"
"It's alright. Where you heading to?"
"To the creek. Maybe up the ridge."
"Well, you pay good attention up there. It's likely pretty well washed out from all the rain. If it is, don't go up."
"Okay."
Hannah had been listening to our conversation. "Take some snacks along," she told me.
I nodded, and grabbed an apple and orange from the table. As an afterthought, I snatched
the last piece of bacon from the table, grabbing it at the exact moment Evan was reaching
for it.
"Ladies first," I reminded him.
"But it's no lady. It's just you."
I smiled at him sweetly, and then crunched a bite of bacon in my mouth.
"There's just something about the last piece of bacon," I taunted him. "It tastes extra good."
"Keep it up, and I'll take back the birthday present I bought you," he threatened.
As we went out of the house onto the porch, I gave him a nudge in the ribs.
"What did you get me?"
"I'm not sayin'," Evan said.
"Give me a hint."
"Nothin' doing," he refused.
"Will I like it, or love it?"
"Love it, I reckon. I have real good taste. That's what the ladies all tell me." He grinned at
me, and I rolled my eyes.
"It's getting deep out here," I said, and went to saddle Petra, stashing my fruit in my knapsack,
and tying it over the saddle horn.
I rode to the creek, and went across the most shallow part, letting Petra stop to get a drink
of the cool water. When I rode up near the ridge, I saw that Brian had been right about it being
mostly washed out. I gave it a look, and then decided to pass around it. I let Petra pick her way along the
creek bed, at an unhurried pace. I did a lot of thinking while I rode. I felt sad about Daniel
being gone until probably Thanksgiving at least. And I still wondered about Seth, and what
he wanted, trying to talk to me. But mostly, I thought about my birthday coming up. Sixteen sounded
so grown up. At least more grownup than fifteen did.
I also thought about Miss George, and the talk Crane said we were going to have, although
it seemed to me that he had more lecturing in mind than talking. I sighed, just thinking about it.
When it comes to school, Crane doesn't pull any punches. He thinks it's the most important
thing there is, practically.
I ate my apple as I rode, and tried to gauge the time by looking at the sun overhead. Brian
and Adam are pretty good at guessing the time that way, but I've never been able to
do it. I thought it might be getting close to ten or eleven o'clock.
I crossed the creek at a different spot than usual, and decided to try the ridge at that
point. It didn't look all that bad or washed out as the other side. I found that I had to hang
on tightly as we mounted the ridge, though. Petra struggled with her footing a couple times, and
almost unseated me. It was enough to give my heart a little jolt. Halfway up, I was wishing I hadn't
come this way. Petra was really struggling, and I was worried it might hurt her.
I tried to pull Petra to a halt, which was difficult since she was heading straight upwards. I slipped off her back
as quickly as I could, and struggled in the mud to get in front of her. Holding her reins in my hand, I debated.
Should I keep on going up, leading her, or try to go back down instead? It was a quandary, and I didn't really think
either way was the perfect answer. I was wishing mightily that I'd listened to Brian.
I could hear him now in my head, saying something like, "I don't talk just to hear my own voice, peach. When I say somethin',
you need to listen."
I decided going downhill might be the best choice of the two options. I took Petra's reins firmly in my hand, and started
picking my way down the hill. I lost my own footing several times, and I thought that Petra was going to end up
on top of me. I thought wryly that the headlines would read 'Murphys girl crushed by her own horse on trail she was told
not to take'.
We'd almost made it to the bottom, when I stepped just wrong on a mud-covered rock, and ended up on my backside, sliding
down the rest of the way. I came to a rolling halt at the bottom, and laid there for a minute, staring up at the sky and trying
to get my breath back. I felt sore spots all over where the rocks had jabbed me, and my wrist hurt. I got to my feet slowly,
thinking that all in all, I'd been pretty lucky. I looked at Petra, who was picking her way down cautiously. I took her dangling
reins back in hand, and gave her a quick check over. There was a bleeding cut on her right fetlock, where a jagged rock
must have wounded her. I felt bad. She'd had no choice but to go where I forced her to go. I had nothing to wrap it with, so
I knew I'd have to wait until I got back to the barn. I'd have Evan look at it.
He'd be mad at me, too, for being so dumb, and being the cause of a horse being injured.
I walked most of the way, not wanting to put any more strain on Petra's leg. Finally, I got so tired that I climbed back into
the saddle to ride. Plus, I knew I'd been gone for several hours, and the family would be getting worried, so I needed to
get back faster than walking would allow.
"Sorry, baby," I told Petra, leaning down to hug her neck. "Let's get you home. Evan will fix you up."
I reached the ranch an hour after that, and I didn't have to wait long for family intervention. Guthrie and Evan greeted me
by the pasture fence. "Where you been?" Guthrie asked.
"Having bad luck," I said, sliding off Petra's back.
"You missed lunch," Guthrie said. Then, "How come you're all muddy?"
"Guthrie, stop," I said, irritated.
"Sorrrrreeee," Guthrie said.
Evan gave me a look. "You'd better go on in and eat," he told me. "I'll unsaddle Petra for you."
"She got a cut," I told him, pointing it out to him.
Immediately, Evan's concern switched to Petra, and he became intent, getting low to look at the cut.
"What happened?"
"I think it must have been a rock that did it," I said.
As he used his fingers to gently examine the cut, I asked, "Is it very deep?"
"Not too deep," he said. "Go get me some iodine. I want to clean it out."
"I'll get it," Guthrie offered, and loped off to the barn.
"Unsaddle her," Evan told me, looking Petra over for other cuts.
I loosened the cinch, and pulled the saddle off, going to hoist it over the top of the fence. Evan removed
the saddle blanket, and handed it to me. I held it, watching him as he finished, and straightened up, resting his
arms on Petra's back, to look across at me.
"Where'd you run into rocks like that?" he asked me.
"Up at the ridge," I said. There was no point in evading it, or lying.
"Wasn't it washed out up there?" he asked.
"Yes. Pretty much."
"Then why'd you ride that way?" Evan demanded, looking irritated.
"Dumb decision," I said.
"Yeah. It was," he agreed, as Guthrie walked back with the medicine kit, and a small bucket of water.
I watched as Evan washed the cut gently and put iodine on it, wrapping it in a clean bandage.
"I'll put her away," Evan told me. "Go on in and eat before you get sick."
"Okay."
I started to lift my saddle down from the fence to carry it to the barn, but Guthrie hollered over to me,
"Leave it. I'll do it for ya."
"Thanks, Guth," I said, and trudged toward the house, exhausted. I was feeling dizzy, too, and I knew Evan was
right about me needing to eat as soon as possible.
I went into the house, and it was quiet and peaceful. It smelled good inside, like apple spices. I knew all my brothers were
outside working somewhere, and Clare was still at her class. I thought maybe Hannah was taking a nap. After I took off my muddy
boots at the door, I went into the kitchen and washed my hands, searching thru the refrigerator, and fixing myself a roast beef sandwich,
with tomatoes and lettuce. I took a bite out of it, and was in the process of pouring myself a glass of milk when the back door opened and Brian came in.
"There you are," he said, looking relieved. "I was startin' to get worried about you."
"Sorry," I said, around my bite of beef.
"How'd you get so muddy?" he asked me, surveying my appearance. I knew he hadn't talked to Evan or seen Petra
if he was asking me that.
I looked at him, considering. Lying to Brian has never been a good idea. I would get in worse trouble if I lied to
him and he found out.
"I rolled down part of the ridge," I told him honestly.
"Are you alright?"
I nodded, and he said, "Was it wet and washed out?"
"Yes. It was."
Brian surveyed me seriously for a long moment. I waited, sure that he was going to be angry, and start hollering.
"After you eat all that, you'd better go get cleaned up," he told me.
"Okay, Bri," I said, and he nodded and turned to go back out.
"I don't talk just to hear my own voice, you know," he said, over his shoulder, as the screen door
shut behind him.
I had to smile at his predictability. At least he hadn't hollered at me. I picked up my glass of milk in one hand, my sandwich in the
other, and went upstairs. I went into my bedroom, sitting on my bed and finishing my sandwich. I sifted
thru my dresser for clean clothes, pulling out a pair of worn yellow shorts and a Tweety Bird t-shirt.
After I took a hot shower, and put on my clean clothes, I curled up on my bed, and fell asleep. When I woke up it was
because Guthrie was standing over me, leaning down so close that we were practically eye to eye.
"Boo!" he said, looking disappointed when I didn't even flinch.
"Boo," I said back to him.
"It's time for supper," Guthrie said, straightening back up to his full height.
"Already?"
"You've been asleep for almost three hours," he informed me.
"Wow." I sat up, cross-legged on my bed.
"Come on," he said, and headed out the door towards the stairs.
I sighed, and got to my feet. I wished I could just sleep some more. When I entered the kitchen, everybody else
was already there, setting the food onto the table, and sitting down, all while talking and laughing.
"Hi, sweetie," Hannah greeted me. "I haven't seen you all day. Did you have a good ride?"
"Yeah, it was good," I said, and Evan raised an eyebrow at me across the table.
"I hope you ate something when you got back, since you missed lunch," Hannah continued.
"I did. I made a really big sandwich."
The phone rang, and Evan went to the living room to answer it, returning to say that it was for me.
"It's a guy," he said, to me in passing.
"Is it that Seth punk?" Brian asked, as I left the kitchen.
"I didn't ask," Evan replied, and I went into the living room with a sense of dread.
My 'hello?' was not very enthusiastic.
"Hi. Harlie? This is Tony."
"Oh," I said, and my relief that it was him and not Seth made me sound genuinely glad. "Hi!"
"Hi," he said. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"I'm okay. I was wondering if you'd like to go to the movies tomorrow night. I think Guthrie and Kristin are
going, too. We could double with them, if you'd like to."
"Sure. That sounds fun. I'll have to double-check with Adam, but I think I can go."
"That's great," Tony said, sounding happy. "I'll be over about six tomorrow night, then. Okay?"
"Okay. See you then."
We said goodbye, and I went back to the supper table.
I was met with pointed, questioning looks from every brother except for Guthrie. None of them said anything. They
just looked at me. I knew if I didn't answer their unspoken question, they would put it into words, and start demanding
answers.
"It was Tony," I volunteered.
A collective sigh of relief went around the breakfast table.
"Well, that's good," Hannah said.
"You have a date?" Clare asked.
"Yeah. To the movies tomorrow night," I told her.
"It's supposed to be a good movie," Guthrie interjected.
"Will you all four go together?" Hannah asked then.
I looked to Guthrie, and he nodded. "Yeah. Most likely," he said.
"That's good," Hannah said, again, looking happy.
As we were finishing up the meal, the phone rang again.
"Tony must have forgotten something," I said, scooting my chair back.
"Tell him not to call at supper time," Adam ordered, sounding irritated.
I went into the living room, and picked up the phone receiver again. "Hello?"
"Hello, pretty girl."
I clinched the phone in my hand. "Seth, what do you want?!" I hissed.
"The same thing as before. To talk to you."
"My answer is the same, too. No! Why won't you just leave me alone?!"
"Maybe it's the thrill of the chase," he said, and laughed. I could hear a lot of noise in the background, like you would hear
at a bar or pool hall.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Maybe if you quit runnin' so hard to get away from me, I might lose interest," he said.
To me, he sounded drunk.
"Maybe I'll tell my brothers, and they'll pound you until you lose interest," I said angrily.
"Not a good plan," Seth scoffed. "Any of them except for Guthrie that lay a hand on me, will land in jail so fast
they won't see it comin'."
"You hate my family," I said, almost in a whisper, scared by the chilling tone to his voice.
Seth heard me, even though I spoke so softly. "It's not your family that I want to be friendly with. It's you."
"That is never going to happen!" I said, and slammed the phone down, turning to see Guthrie standing in the living room,
staring at me.
"Why are you yellin' at Tony?" he asked, looking shocked.
"I wasn't-it wasn't Tony," I told him.
Guthrie came over and stood beside me. "Who was it?" he asked, but I thought by the look on his face that he already
knew the answer to his own question.
"Nobody-it's not important-"
Guthrie gripped my shoulders so suddenly I didn't see it coming, and gave me a shake. The shaking wasn't a gentle one.
It hurt.
"Oww, Guth," I said, "Let go!"
"Tell me!"
I tried twisting away, but his hold was too strong.
"You already know the answer!" I yelled, "So why are you asking?!"
Our yelling had caught the attention and the ears of the family, and we were being surrounded.
"What the hell's goin' on?" Brian demanded.
"I'm gonna take care of this once and for all!" Guthrie yelled, and let go as suddenly as he'd grabbed me. He charged past
Brian and Adam and Hannah towards the front door, but Crane caught his arm, pulling him to an abrupt halt.
"Just a minute, Guth," Crane said, "Hold up until we talk."
"No!" Guthrie insisted, "He won't listen no matter who tells him! I'm the only one that can settle it, so that's what I'm gonna
do!"
Adam took Guthrie's other arm, the one that Crane didn't have hold of.
"Calm down," Adam ordered.
"No, damn it!" Guthrie yelled, jerking his arm free from both Adam and Crane. "I'm gonna set that little son of a bitch straight!"
I stood there with my hand pressed against my mouth, watching in horror as Guthrie went seemingly crazy. Guthrie is stubborn at
times, but he's also one of the most laid back people I know. It takes a lot to make him angry. He's also super respectful to
Adam, Crane and Brian, and hardly ever gets mouthy or talks back. That's usually my department.
"You're not going to do anything," Adam said sternly. "At least not right now. And not while you're so pissed off."
"I'll be back," Guthrie kept on. "Don't worry."
Just as I'd starting thinking that Guthrie had a death wish, talking to Adam that way, Adam took hold of his shoulder.
"I said no, Guthrie. You are not leavin' the house. If I have to take your keys, I will."
Guthrie winced a little, and I wondered how hard a grip Adam had on him. I winced a little, too, in sympathy.
"Alright!" Guthrie said, giving in.
"You settle down now, you hear?" Adam told him sternly.
"Yeah," Guthrie said grudgingly.
Taking a look into Adam's tense face, Guthrie amended his answer to a respectful, "Yes, sir."
"It was Seth, I'm guessing," Adam said, and included both Guthrie and I in his question, "What did he say?"
Guthrie looked towards me furiously. "Ask Har," he said, and everybody turned their attention to me.
I felt like a bug being examined under a microscope with all of them focused on me like that. Clare moved up
closer to stand beside me, and I felt her unspoken support.
"He said he wanted to talk to me," I said slowly, "and he said if any of you touched him you'd go to jail-"
"Except for me!" Guthrie piped up, "If I do it, it's just between him and me!" Guthrie subsided at the
fierce glare Adam and Crane and Brian all shot at him.
"Is that all he said?" Brian asked me, with a frown.
"Um, yeah," I said, and Adam sighed.
"This is gettin' ridiculous," he said.
"More than ridiculous," Brian said, sounding furious.
For a couple of moments there was silence in the room. "We'll figure it out," Adam said, looking at Crane and then Brian.
"I need a cup of coffee," Adam said.
"With a shot of whiskey in it?" Crane said, with a grin, and Adam nodded.
"Yep."
"Come on, Guth," Crane said, clamping a hand on Guthrie's shoulder, and steering him towards the kitchen, followed
by Adam and Hannah.
I stood there, with Evan, Brian and Clare.
"Let's have some popcorn and hot chocolate," Clare said brightly, and I recognized her attempt to change the subject.
Nobody moved. Evan and Brian still stood there, just looking at me. Evan was looking thoughtful, Brian angry.
"It's not my fault, Bri," I told him.
"I didn't say that it was," Brian said.
"He also said if I'd stop trying to ditch him, he might lose interest," I volunteered, before I thought it out.
"Little punk," Brian said.
"Maybe if I did talk to him, he would stop-" I began. Unwisely began, as Brian gave me a look that froze me to my spot.
"Harlie Marie, what did I tell you?!"
I realized my mistake. "I just said talk, Brian. Like talk to him, on the phone. I didn't say anything about meeting up-"
"What did I tell you?" he demanded again.
I turned red from embarrassment, wishing Evan and Clare weren't standing there.
"I remember what you told me," I said quietly. "You don't have to remind me."
"You think I won't do it?"
Clare put a hand on Brian's arm. "Brian," she said softly.
It was hard, but I looked him in the eye. "I know you'd do it, Bri." And I did, too. He'd paddled my butt as recently
as last year. There was not a doubt in my mind that he'd do it again.
"Alright, then," he said.
"Let's go have dessert, with everybody else," Clare coaxed, and while I appreciated her support, Brian wasn't budging.
"You go on," Brian told her. "You too, Ev. Harlie and I will be along in a couple of minutes."
Clare looked reluctant, but she went, and Evan followed her, sparing me a look that looked partly sympathetic, and partly
in agreement with Brian.
Left alone with Brian, I sighed, feeling near tears.
"Don't be mad at me, Bri," I said. "Please."
"I'm mad at that punk, not you. But I will be mad at you if you even think about goin' against what we're tellin' you."
"I won't." I gave him a pleading look, and he sighed, running his hand thru his hair.
"Alright."
After another couple of moments, he said, "Let's go have some pie."
I shook my head, feeling tearful.
"Come on, peach."
"I don't want any."
"Okay. Well, you can come and sit with us, at least."
I didn't want to, but Brian gave me no choice, taking my hand to lead me to the kitchen.
The kitchen smelled like fresh coffee, and apples.
Crane was doling out vanilla ice cream to put on top of the pieces of apple pie. Brian found a chair, and sat down, and
Crane set a plate in front of him.
"Sit with me," Brian said, and I knew he was feeling bad for being so rough with me.
I started to shake my head, but he reached out and took my wrist, pulling me down to sit on his knee.
Crane set another plate down, in front of me. "How many scoops, peanut?" he asked me, holding up the ice
cream container.
"No, thanks," I said, shaking my head. "No ice cream. I don't want any pie, either."
"It won't hurt anything, tonight," Clare told me. "As long as it's just every once in awhile, not every day."
She thought I was refusing because I was worried about my diabetes diet. Sweet Clare. She gave me more credit for being
mature than I deserved.
The phone rang again, and everybody jumped. Adam let his fork drop to his plate with a clatter, and stood up.
"I'll answer it," he said grimly.
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I want to thank all my faithful reviewers, like robinangel! and I also want to thank the guest reviewers, I wish I could thank you
personally as well!