Chapter 7
The next morning, Cade was instantly awake when he found he was not alone.
Turning his head, he saw Tessa sleeping on her side facing away from him and the memories of the previous night and earlier that morning came to him.
He was about to reach for her when he noticed the brightness of the room and the absence of rain falling.
He was normally up just before sunrise. Running his hands over his face, he groaned softly, disappointed that he was going to have to get up.
There were chores to be done. He loved being a rancher, but today was one of those rare days that he would have gladly wished for a job with bankers’ hours.
He tried to be quiet as he got out of bed, but his movements woke Tessa.
“Good morning, Cade,” she said sleepily.
“Mornin’.”
“What time is it?” She sat up, pulling the sheet with her to cover herself.
“I think it’s around eight or so.” Cade gathered his clothes from the floor, went over to his dresser, and poured water into the bowl from the pitcher that sat next to it.
“I need to get up.” She moved to the side of the bed. “What are you about to do?”
“I need to go check on the animals.”
“Before you go can you show me where the bathroom is?”
“Bathroom?”
“Yeah, the toilet.”
“The privy is just out back.”
“The privy? What’s a privy?”
“An outhouse. You did ask where the toilet is. It’s out back.”
“You don’t have an indoor toilet?”
“No. But there’s a chamber pot under the bed in the other room. My mother uses it when she comes to visit. If you want, I’ll get it for you.”
Tessa followed Cade into the other room and watched him pull the pot out from under the bed. He removed the lid to show her it was both empty and clean.
“Here you go. I’m going to go outside and then I’ll come back in and make coffee and breakfast if you want.”
“Thanks. Coffee will be fine.” Tessa took the pot from him and watched him as he left the room. No indoor toilets? This place sure does take its reenactments seriously. Thank goodness for the chamber pot, because she did not want to use the outhouse.
After using the pot, a first for her, she checked to see if her clothes were dry.
They were wrinkled, but completely dry. Cade brought her a towel and filled the bowl on her dresser with warm water from the stove’s reservoir.
After quickly washing up as best she could, still wearing her nightgown, she went into the kitchen in search of a cup of coffee.
Silence surrounded them as they waited for the coffee to be ready. Tessa wondered if Cade might be having second thoughts about the previous night. Rather than dance around the issue, she decided to address it directly.
“Do you want to talk about last night?” Tessa asked, watching Cade closely to gauge his reaction to her question.
“Do you?” he countered.
“I think we should.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t want you to have any regrets.” Tessa hoped that he didn’t.
“Do you have any?”
“Not a one.”
“Good. Because if you did, I would feel obligated to apologize. And if I were to do that, I’d be lying. There is nothing that happened last night that I didn’t want. I’ve never been a liar and don’t plan to start now.” Cade had enjoyed making love to Tessa and hoped it was the same for her.
“A man who knows what he wants. I like that.”
Tessa wrapped her arms around Cade’s neck and rose up to kiss him.
He met her halfway, choosing not to remember he had to help her get back to her friends or that he had work to do.
He reached down and gathered up her nightgown, intent on touching her silky-smooth skin.
Just as he made contact, he heard the back door open.
“Did the storm cause you to sleep …-” Joel, Cade’s foreman and best friend, came to a halt just as he stepped inside, shocked at the sight of Cade kissing a woman.
Cade reluctantly pulled away from Tessa, and turned to face his friend, who was grinning from ear to ear. He heard Tessa laugh softly before giving Joel a little wave as she quickly went into the bedroom.
“Mornin’, Joel. Care for some coffee?”
Cade knew his friend was curious about what he’d just seen, but he didn’t want to have that conversation with him just yet.
He was still processing what happened between him and Tessa.
He’d been truthful when he told her he had no guilt.
Being with her had him feeling more alive than he’d felt in years.
“Sure.” Joel watched Cade closely, waiting to see if he would say something about what he’d just seen. Instead, he remained silent as he poured coffee and handed him a cup.
“Nothing to say?”
“When we were out riding the fence line yesterday, you never mentioned the reason you were in such a hurry to get home was because you were expecting company.”
“That’s because I wasn’t. If you recall, we were both rushing to get home because we were trying to beat the storm.”
“Who is she? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before. I’m sure I would have remembered her if I had.”
“She’s not from around here. She got lost and somehow ended up on my porch. Which reminds me, you’ll have to get started without me this morning because I need to take her into town.
“Whoever she is, maybe y’all should keep in touch. Whatever she did to you last night, must have been something else. You’ve got a glow about you I haven’t seen in a while.”
Joel smirked. He knew what had transpired between Cade and the mystery woman and he was glad it happened.
The death of his wife and son had almost killed his friend, and he’d pretty much just been drifting along since.
From the looks of him that morning, those days were behind him, and he was finally moving on.
Tessa finished dressing and went back into the kitchen. Cade smiled as he handed her a cup of coffee.
“Don’t worry, I watered it down a bit.”
“Thanks.” She blew on it briefly before taking a sip.
“Tessa, this is Joel. He’s my best friend and the foreman here. Joel, this is Tessa.”
“Nice to meet you, Joel.”
Tessa smiled and Joel was captivated by her.
Beautiful brown skin, warm hazel eyes, and lush lips that looked kissable and soft.
Cade was a lucky man. When he first saw her, he thought she might be an Indian, but he now saw that she was Black.
There weren’t many Black families in the area.
A wrangler and blacksmith Cade had hired last year, worked on the Double C.
and they lived there with their families.
Cade, Joel and his wife often shared meals with them.
They’d not mentioned having a visitor. He wondered where she came from.
“Nice to meet you too, Miss Tessa. And may I say you have a lovely smile.”
“That’s sweet of you to say. Thank you.” She handed her cup to Cade. “I know you have a lot to do today, so we should probably get going.”
“You’re right. I should be back in a little over an hour, Joel.
” Cade knew she had to leave, but that still didn’t stop the twinge of sadness he felt.
She would go back to her home, and he’d come back to the ranch.
He hadn’t known her long, but he would miss her.
Not just for the way she made him feel, but that she was genuinely sweet.
“Okay, I’ll see you when you get back. Take care, Miss Tessa.” Joel left out the back door, heading for the barn.