Chapter 15 #3
“You’re much better at this than our hens would be.
” He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and swiped at the milk dripping off her head.
“It’s all in who you compare yourself to.
From now on, if you’re feeling like you’re bad at something, pick the chickens to compare yourself to, ’cuz you’ll come out of that contest feeling brilliant. ”
“So you’ll let me keep doing it?”
Red hesitated. “For a fact, my ma milked the cows up to the day I was born, or so I’ve been told.”
“Then it must be all right.”
Red shrugged. “I s’pect. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Red’s eyes got an intent look that made Cassie think back to the day he’d kissed her.
His gaze went to her lips for an instant.
Was there was still milk on her face? But if her face was dirty, she didn’t want him noticing.
Besides, she had to focus on her real goal—protecting one of her beloved chores.
Turning quickly back to Rosie before Red changed his mind, she crouched down and wedged her head into Rosie’s flank. Locking her knees tight around the bucket, Cassie went back to work and got a few more cups of milk out of the little cow.
Red stayed nearby. Then, when Cassie was done, he went to let Rosie out in the pasture, and Cassie went back to the house.
Yes, Rosie and Buck and Harriet liked her. But none of that mattered a bit because Red didn’t like her. Oh, he was nice as could be to her. But he’d never come close to grabbing her and kissing her again as he had last Sunday.
What had she done wrong?
Saturday at noon, Red prayed with an unusual fervency over the dinner, asking for God’s leading about whether they should go to town or not.
He must have gotten an answer because he got up from the table as soon as he was done eating.
“I want to check the cattle. Then I’ll do evening chores early while you clean up in here. ”
“Let me see to Rosie and the other livestock, Red. I did it fine for the last two days, didn’t I?”
Red paused, tilted his head, and flattened his mouth. He was so sweet to her, always wanting to be on hand in case she needed help. He was letting her do nearly every chore she considered hers now, but the man did like to hover. She was surprised when he gave a quick jerk of his head in agreement.
“Milk Rosie, feed Harriet and the chickens. There might be a few eggs by now. Don’t water anything. I don’t want you lifting those heavy pails. And you can’t go to the stream yet with Rosie. Leave that for me.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“C–a–s–s?” Red drew her name out until it was nearly three full syllables. “Promise me.”
Cass almost smiled even though she was pretty frustrated. He was getting to know she had a knack for not lying while she let him believe something that wasn’t quite true. That had worked well on Griff. “All right. I promise.”
“I’ll be back before you’re done with everything, anyway. And Cass…” He waited until he had her full attention.
“Yes, Red?”
“Be careful of Harriet.”
“Yes, Red.”
He headed for the door, then stopped and turned around. “And don’t let Rosie kick you. Remember if you push hard…”
“With my head against her flank,” Cassie said his familiar instructions, “she can’t get any force behind her kick.” She nodded. “Yes, Red. I’ll remember.”
Red gave one approving jerk of his head, reached for his hat, and put it on. “And don’t leave any gates open. None. Remember the inner and outer gate for the chickens, and for heaven’s sake, don’t open Harriet’s?—”
“No gates,” Cassie interrupted, then realized how rude she’d been to cut him off like that. “I won’t forget, Red.”
Red hesitated. No doubt he was thinking up something new to be worried about. He reached for the door latch, then dropped his hand. “And if anything goes wrong, or something comes up that we haven’t talked about, don’t try and figure out what you should do. Just wait…”
Cassie stood beside the table with her hands folded in front of her. “I’ll just quit. I’ll leave anything I’m not sure about to you.”
This time, Red got the door open, but he turned back. and his face was really grim. Cassie had a feeling this warning was more important than the others, and maybe it was the cause of all the others.
“If anyone should ride up…well, it’s always a good idea to be careful.”
“Anyone? You mean like Belle might come over again?” Cassie had enjoyed her visit with the strange woman.
“I was thinking…Wade…” Red’s voice died away.
Clearly, he’d been recollecting Wade and his threats and wasn’t sure if he should worry her about it. She’d been thinking about Wade, too, and not wanting to worry Red about it. “Wade? You think he’ll come?”
“I don’t know, Cass.” Then Red said gravely, “I think he might. Sometime.”
She hadn’t wanted to tell Red this because he already watched over her so, but almost against her will, she said, “He used to show up at Griff’s house when Griff went to town.
I—he never did anything but talk, but I knew it was deliberate, him coming out when I was alone the way he did.
He must have been watching. Except Griff had a routine, so maybe Wade just knew Griff went to town every Wednesday. ”
Red’s brow furrowed, and he dragged his hat off his head and clutched the brim.
Cassie didn’t like to be the one to put worry lines in Red’s face. She liked his face very much the way it was.