Heath was up before the sun was even a promise in the sky. Shrugging into his clothes, he headed out to the corral. He'd seen posts on the side of the barn and gathered them up. The Stewart ladies had treated him well, especially given his slightly disreputable arrival. If he were staying, the roof would be priority on his list of repairs. At least he could repair the corral before he headed out.
BVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVLily was not sure what woke her. Normally an early riser, she had overslept her normal early morning wake up time. The blond in the barn was to blame. She had spent a fitful night thinking about how he made her feel. Every time she pictured the shirtless cowboy in the candlelight, Lily's heart raced. She tried to chalk it up to simple lust. But the moment she said that to herself, she recalled his gentleness with Rose and his sweet, crooked smile.
But he was leaving in the morning. Make that now, she thought with some regret. Maybe his leaving was the sound that had woke her up. Suddenly, the thought panicked her. Lily grabbed a robe and wrapped it around herself. She wasn't sure what her intentions were from one moment to the next, damn it, she needed to know if he was…
He's still here! Lowering a new post in the ground was the solid manifestation of her evening's dreams. He looked up and waved and suddenly she was grateful that there was a whole lot of ground between them and not much light yet. Lily was sure that Barkley would have seen the look of relief on her face a moment ago, and the red stain of embarrassment that tinged her cheeks.
"Breakfast will be ready within the hour."
Barkley sketched an affirmative wave with barely an interruption in his work.
Lily whipped into the cabin and stood for a long moment leaning against the inside wall her hand pressed against her heart to still it's racing beat. Eyes closed, she was lost in thought. Suddenly she saw surprised out of her wits.
"He's been working at that corral fencing for the better part of an hour."
"Agnes!" Lily cried as she looked up. There sitting at the table nursing a cup of coffee was her mother-in-law. "You nearly made me jump outta my skin. You should know better than to sneak up on a person like that."
"Sneaking, honey?" Agnes favored the young woman with a knowing grin. "I was sitting right here when a small whirlwind flew by and right out the door."
Lily couldn't believe that she could get more embarrassed, except that her cheeks were so hot she was sure that she could fry the morning's eggs on them.
"Maybe I was a bit preoccupied."
Agnes favored the young woman she thought of as daughter with a knowing smile. "Maybe, indeed."
Recognizing an argument that she couldn't win, Lily set about wrestling up a breakfast for the four of them.
About 20 minutes later, fresh biscuits shared the table with ham, eggs and grits. Really, they wouldn't have made as much for themselves for breakfast. It had been a long time since she had cooked up a breakfast for a man in the house. It felt good and reminded her of happy times when they had been a family. Rose was already up and playing with one of her dolls when her mother had gone to get her dressed. Curious about the stranger, Rose barely had her dress over her head when she announced that she would tell Mr. Heath that breakfast was ready. Lily's hesitation only gave Rose the moment she needed to dash out of the house.
"Mister Heath! Mister Heath!"
Chubby legs running for all they were worth, Heath saw a tiny brunette whirlwind heading in his direction.
Holding his hands to his left as if holding a cape.
"Uh, oh. Looks like I'm being charged." Flourishing the imaginary cape, Heath continued. "Ha, toro!"
A big grin spread on the four-year-olds face. She stopped halfway to the cowboy and put both hands to her head and stuck out her index fingers to simulate horns. Waggling chubby little fingers at the cowboy, Rose pawed the ground once and then took off after the cowboy that stood his ground, waving his invisible cape.
With Rose just a few feet away from him, Heath realized that she had no intention of running through his cape. He braced himself for the appropriate response to a getting gored by a charging bull – that weighs about 45 lbs.
Little "horns" connected with his thigh just above the knee. Heath bellowed an exaggerated howl of pain and toppled backward, careful to grab the "bull" under her arms and tuck her onto his chest.
Lily heard the blond cowboys cry and ran to the door, fearful that something had happened to Rose or Hearth. What she saw was the two laying in the dirt. She almost launched herself out the door when she heard Rose's high-pitched giggle. She paused just inside the doorway to watch.
Laying inelegantly across the cowboy's chest, Rose put fingers up to her head one more time and "gored" the Heath again.
Heath laughed and said, "Hey, watch it now 'lil bit – I'm ticklish there you know. Not to mention, bulls are 'sposed to go after the cape."
"I'm smarter than some dumb bull."
"Hmmm – I'm beginning to see that. Must run in the family."
Heath stood up, holding the little girl, which to her delight, he tucked onto his hip.
Lily knew she should be outraged at watching this stranger carrying her daughter like a sack of flour on his hip, but as she saw the little girl kick her feet behind the cowboy and stretch out her arms in front like she was flying. Her heart felt a pain at thinking how Rose's father had missed out on so many moments like this. Rose didn't know what she had missed growing up without a father. But it was painfully obvious to Lily that Rose instinctively had found a way to fill the void.
"OK. So you're telling me that your mother invited me to breakfast, not for breakfast. I don't think she'd planned for a mad bull to mow me down in front of your house."
Rose only giggled some more. "I'm not mad."
"I'm really happy you came to visit Mister Heath."
Heath shook his head, thinking that his intentions had not started out as - a visit. But the visit with the ladies of the Steward family had allowed him a reprieve from the dark thoughts that had driven him to their doorstep in the first place. He'd already started to regret that he would be back on the path to that reality again within the hour.
"What do you have there, Mr. Barkley?"
Startled out of his reverie, Heath looked up to see Lily looking as bright this morning as the flower she was named after.
"Well now, that story would take some telling. Let's just say that the rangeland 'round here is safer now that this rogue bull I have here has been corralled."
"Do you think I should be cooking up some Rosie steak with our eggs, Mr. Barkley?"
Rose started to squirm in Heath's arms.
"You can't eat me, mama!"
"She's right you know Miz Stewart. I smell bacon. Don't think steak goes with bacon even if its 'Rosie' steak. Maybe we can save the steak for dinner?"
Heath put the little one in front of her mama and gave her one last tickle on the ribs. The giggling girl ran into the house.
"You'll have to catch me first, Mister Heath!"
Heath laughed and called after Rose. "I'm too weak from hunger right now lil' bit. Why don't we have a truce and eat some breakfast?"
Lily led the cowboy into the house and to the table that for a long time had not sported a fourth table setting. Looking around, Heath could see that Lily and Agnes had made themselves a comfortable home. He sat down at the table and found a plate piled up and placed immediately in front of him. For a time no one spoke as they enjoyed breakfast. It was Agnes who finally broke the silence.
"You've made quite a bit of progress on the corral, young man."
"Yep"
"It'll take a couple of days to finish."
"I wanted to fix the worst parts for you. It should hold up until you hire someone to complete the repairs."
"You miss my meaning, boy. Do you often start things that you don't finish?"
Heath looked up from his food to see Agnes pinning him back with her forthright gaze. "No ma'am. I've made a habit of seeing things through all my life."
"Well than, what's stopping you from finishing off the corral."
Heath nearly choked on the eggs that he had just forked into his mouth.
"I was under the impression that my invitation here expired this morning."
"Well now that's true for the saddle tramp, minus the saddle I might add, that drifted in here yesterday. But I'm talking to a potential ranch hand and handyman. So what's your answer?"
"Agnes!" Lily lifted up her napkin to hide the smile at her mother-in-law's forthright manner.
Rose looked from her mother to her grandmother in hopeful glee. When they both smiled at her, she turned a pleading gaze at the blond cowboy.
"Say you'll stay Mr. Heath. Please!"
For a moment, Heath pondered the trouble that he knew was dogging his trail. But what could it hurt to stay here just for a few days?
"Sure, why not? I can get that roof fixed up for you while I'm at it."
All three of the Stewart women were happy with this change of events for their own reasons.
Another on the trail of another one of the Barkley brothers would have delighted in this turn of events as it played right into his plans. In any case, it was about time to close in on his prey and get deliver on the promise that he had made to both of the Barkley brothers.
TBC…Ok, I had to set up a reason for Heath to stay in one place for a little while so sorry to all of you that may think that this has been a little thin on the action, not to mention our buddy Nick. Next chappie is all about Nick when he finally meets up with the real Rawlston - as bad as we know he can be.