Chapter Seventeen
ELLY
THE SOUND of Sloane and Hallie laughing in the kitchen float out to the hall when I get to the bottom of the stairs. As I get closer, the laughing gets harder and I hear Mason’s name. The genuine happiness behind the laughter brings a smile to my face as I step into the kitchen.
“Yes! Opal said she had to hide the desserts or he would sneak into the kitchen and eat them as soon as her back was turned. She says’s he was the biggest handful, I’m hoping ours is as ornery as he was.
” Sloane slides her hand over her flat belly as she sprays the island with some kind of homemade cleaner and wipes it down.
Hallie pokes her head out of the pantry, a clipboard in her hand and a smile on her face, "You say that now, but just wait, my brother was super ornery and there were so many visits to urgent care for sprains, breaks, things stuck in his ear or nose… You name it, he did it."
"Well, I never had siblings in the house, and I want to experience what a big family feels like." Sloane's dreamy look drifts to the wall across from her.
Noticing the slight red rim of her eyes, I remember that Mason and his friend Jax were leaving for work this morning. I read in the family bio that two of the brothers are military, but I didn’t realize they were that kind of military.
The kind of military which gets a personal helicopter pickup at their home so they can go save the day. When I overheard Mason and Jax talking yesterday about flying out, I was surprised to hear the words in-and-out recovery mission.
My knowledge of military rankings and branches is mostly limited to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, and that’s only because of the commercials I saw on TV growing up.
It wasn’t until I got hooked on the show Echo 3 by accident that I found out the four branches I know about are only the tip of a very large iceberg.
Denying I was a little impressed would be a lie.
Sloane’s gaze lands on me, and her face brightens. "Elly! You missed breakfast."
My face turns pink because I didn't expect anyone to call me out and I didn't think of an excuse. I start to straighten the four bar stools under the lip of the island one at a time so they are the same distance away from each other.
I can’t very well say, after Marley walked in on me and Gray gazing into each other’s eyes, I was worried about being in the same room with both of them.
Instead, I clear my throat and nod. "Oh, well, I had a bit of a headache when I woke up this morning, so I thought I would stay in bed for a little longer." It sounds lame, but it came out before I could think of anything else.
Wanting to shift the attention off of me, I say, “So, what are you guys doing today?”
Hallie sets her clipboard on the counter and drags the trash can out from under the counter. “Well, today would be laundry day, but,” she shrugs her shoulders, “no washer and dryer.”
“Well, I’m about to go stir crazy, so I am at your disposal.” I squat into a sort-of curtsy, getting a laugh out of them.
The rest of the day flies by. I was put in charge of deep cleaning the library and, if I got done with that early enough, I’m supposed to move to the dining room next.
The library is even more fascinating than I had originally thought, on one wall is books that seem to be bent more toward men, like farming, fence building, lots of books about horses, business management, and some computer books mixed in with fiction books.
What is most interesting are the many books about Cherokee history, the Trail of Tears, and the Cherokee involvement during the Civil War. But when I saw the leather bound journals that look so old sitting together on one shelf, my fingers were itching to pull them out and look at them.
After already snooping through Breanna’s stuff this morning, I am feeling like a grade-A big-ass snooper when I look over my shoulder to make sure I don’t see anyone in the hallway. Of the five journals, I pull out one from the middle and randomly open it to a page.
October 26, 1888
While out hunting for turkey today, I saw her again. Her garb was what you would see one of the natives wear in the wild. The buffalo skin wrapped across her shoulders was thick, but her long hair, black and shiny as a raven, fell down her back in a beautiful curtain.
She didn’t run this time, but held my eyes captive just long enough to make me want to follow her when she looked away and silently disappeared into the foliage.
She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I find myself spending more time on the west side of my property to try and position myself in a way that I might bump into her.
Perhaps I could pay her family a visit, a neighborly visit, and befriend her. I will take some of the beef from my smoke shed as an offering of friendship to the family.
I read a couple more entries about the landscape and the quiet of the woods while he was hunting before I heard boots on the hardwood.
“Find something interesting?” Gray’s deep voice pulls me out of the forest with the beautiful woman with black hair and the man hunting that my mind has gone to while reading the words and I almost drop the journal.
Fumbling to keep the journal in my hands after I nearly jump out of my skin, I swing around to face him. “Hell’s bells! I didn’t even hear you come in here.” I’m breathless, like I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
For the first time, I see humor light his eyes and he is even more handsome as one side of his mouth tips up. “What’s got you so entranced?”
Feeling a little sheepish since I don’t know if I crossed a line, I lift the journal. “I was dusting and found these journals, they look so old and my curiosity got the best of me. I hope that’s okay.”
His eyes dip to the journal in my hand and slide to the shelf with my discarded duster. He takes a step closer and looks at the front of the journal, sending the scent of smoke, sandalwood, and musky man into my nose and my skin heats even more.
His smile gets even bigger, and he nods. “Sure, just be careful with them, they were my great-grandfather’s times three.”
I turn and reluctantly put it back. “I only read a couple of entries before you practically scared me out of my skin, but it sounds fascinating.”
His eyes hold mine and he nods again. “It is. When I got sick with the chicken pocks when I was twelve, I read every one of them. Some of his handwriting is nearly chicken scratch, but they were so interesting I couldn’t stop. He had a good life on his own terms.”
“So the woman he saw in the woods with the raven hair, what happened?”
“He married her. As my mom would say, ‘he fell ass over heels in love’. It was one of my mom’s favorite stories.” The humor leaves his face and his eyes move to the bookshelf on the other side of the room. “Most of her books and my grandmother’s books are over there.”
So the history of the Harlow Ranch is in this room. My gaze moves to the other shelf, which holds pretty books with gold scroll on the binders and colorful covers.
I feel his eyes on me and when I look back at him, the air around me shifts and my heart skips a beat, he is studying my face. “What?” The question is nearly a whisper.
He looks at me for another moment, our eyes locking, before he shakes his head. “I need to get back to work.” And with that, he turns and leaves the room. The door to the office across the hall quietly shuts.
I realize I’m holding my breath and I let the air out in one big whoosh. What was that? The butterflies in my stomach are still fluttering as I look toward the doorway that’s now empty.
He smiled at me. A real smile. And why do I feel so happy about it?
After finishing the library, I find Sloane in the dining room cleaning the china in the big hutch. Her long black hair is pulled into a ponytail and hangs between her narrow shoulder blades. She looks over her shoulder and gives me a smile.
“I don’t know why I am cleaning these, we just had them out for the holidays and everything is still clean.” She shakes her head and chuckles. “For some reason, the power being out makes everything so quiet and it kind of starts to get on my nerves. I feel like I need to keep moving.”
The absence of a washer and dryer, central heating, and all the other humming background noises that become a normal part of life are gone, and it is eerily quiet. I nod. “I know what you mean, like the quiet will swallow you up?”
She looks at me with a scrunched nose. “Yeah! It does feel that way.”
Holding my arms out to my sides, I ask, “I’ve finished the library, what should I do next?”
“You want to do the silverware?” She points to an open drawer filled with cutlery in the hutch.
“Sure.” I grab the cloth and pull the slatted wooden container out of the drawer and set it on the table.
We work in silence for a few minutes before I try to act casual when I ask a question that’s been floating around in my mind. “So, where is Lainey Rai’s mom?”
Sloane looks at me before she glances out the window to the stables and then to the hallway. When her eyes come back to me, she pauses before she says, “Sarah died in a car crash six years ago.”
The muscles in my shoulders go slack as goosebumps erupt on the back of my neck and skitter down my arms. My hands fall limp onto to my legs, still holding the spoon I’m wiping.
“Oh, how horrible,” I whisper. I try to imagine what it would feel like to lose someone you love so much, but I can’t.
The closest I can come to is trying to imagine my life without Thal.
Just the thought makes it hard to breathe.
Still looking around for anyone who might overhear, Sloane continues wiping. “I wasn’t here back then, but Opal told me it was one of the few worst times for the family.”
My head jerks up. “What were the others?”
“When Mrs. Harlow died after having Breanna. Opal said Mr. Harlow stepped right up and raised all the kids on his own, with her help and Gray, Mason and Marley.”