Chapter Eleven
O n Tuesday the following week, Becket was late again for breakfast. When their mom had still lived on the ranch, they’d always had meals together at her house, which was now Hayden and Laura’s house.
With a great cook like Isabella—the wife of Ricardo, one of the ranch hands—preparing all the meals, it hadn’t been difficult to persuade them to share meals at the homestead.
They’d continued the tradition even after their mom had moved to a house in town.
It gave them time to connect and also talk about work.
Since last Monday, he’d seen Ellie every day.
On the nights she stayed with him, she usually left for work early in the morning.
Initially he’d reckoned they’d only see one another over the weekend, but at the end of each day, no matter how tired he was, he found himself driving into town to either take her to dinner or to fetch her to stay with him.
As soon as she fell asleep, he slipped away to check on his emails and post his illustrations. As a result, he didn’t sleep very much. Emails. There had been another email from June Kincaid, but he’d deleted it again. Of course it was a scam, he was simply going to ignore it.
“So when will Ellie be joining us for breakfast?” Willow asked.
Becket grinned as he pulled out a chair. “So that you can all pester her? I don’t think so.”
“You’ve never before brought a woman home,” Hayden remarked.
Nodding, Becket helped himself to breakfast. “I’ve never before met someone like Ellie.”
Willow touched his hand. “Ellie’s a friend. If you want to move on, tell her. Please don’t let her find out only when she sees you with someone else.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Becket said.
“Mom says Gloria is moving out of her house this weekend,” Willow said. “And although Ellie is still waiting for all the paperwork, she’s going to move into the house the weekend after. But you surely know that?”
Surprised, Becket looked at his sister.
“You didn’t know? Don’t you two talk? No,” Willow stopped him with a hand. “Please don’t answer that, I don’t want to know.”
“We talk.” He frowned, trying to remember whether they’d spoken about her purchase of the house at all, but nothing came to mind. Talking was not on his mind when he was with Ellie.
Why wouldn’t she tell him she was moving into her house? Okay, they hadn’t really talked since last Monday when he’d brought her home, but she could’ve said something.
As everyone got up to leave the breakfast table, Willow pulled him to the side. “Have you told Ellie about ET Beck?”
“She knows I doodle,” he said.
Willow shook her head. “Telling her you’re doodling and telling her about your art are two different things.
Especially now that she has become part of your daily posts on Instagram.
You should tell her. Sooner or later, someone is going to figure out the connection.
It’s better if Ellie hears it from you.”
“You coming, Becket?” Hayden called from outside.
“Coming!” he shouted.
“And tell Hayden. He deserves to know.”
Fed up, Becket strode out of the house. Telling Hayden would just complicate matters. The same with Ellie. He would like to know, though, why she hadn’t told him she was moving into the house she’d bought.
*
It was mid-morning before Ellie had time to sit down with a cup of tea.
Slowly she exhaled. The last week with Becket had been wild and wonderful and heartbreaking.
They didn’t talk, they hardly ate or slept, they simply couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.
Every time she touched Becket, or he touched her, they ended up in bed.
Pressing her hand against her chest, she willed her heart to slow down.
At this rate, she might just end up hyperventilating.
She was frustrated and tired from lack of sleep and irritated with herself for worrying when Becket was going to tell he her was moving on.
At some point he was going stop showing up, she’d accepted that. The question was, when?
She hated feeling like this, but she also didn’t want to be the one who ended things if there was a chance she could be with him for one more day.
Dropping her head in her hands, she groaned out loud.
Pathetic. She knew that. Wasn’t she supposed to be an independent, single spinster, happily living her life with a cat?
And what had happened to the idea of getting a cat?
She was moving into Gloria’s house the following weekend; she should talk to Cooper about the cat he’d mentioned.
The cat tree scratching post with activity center she’d bought in Bozeman had already been delivered.
Because Gloria was graciously letting her move into the house before all the paperwork was finalized, Ellie had offered to get someone to clean the house.
The house was almost perfect as it was, but she wanted her bedroom walls repainted.
She’d found someone to do the job and was very pleased with herself for organizing it all on her own.
For the first time in her life, she could create her own space the way she liked it. She couldn’t wait to move in and make the house her own. Everything had to be ready before the movers delivered all the stuff that had been in storage in Phoenix, though.
She had a house. It wasn’t quite in her name yet, but soon it would be.
The last week had been so busy. Between staying with Becket most evenings, organizing movers and painters, and running the shop, she had little time for anything else.
She’d spoken to Rose over the phone, but she hadn’t been to see her.
It was Tuesday which meant it was book club night, but there hadn’t been time to read North and South again as she’d wanted to. Which reminded her, she had to let Becket know she couldn’t see him tonight. Taking out her phone she texted him quickly.
And maybe she could stop by Laura’s house and ask Rose if she wanted to join their discussion tonight.
It was six weeks since Rose’s arrival in Marietta.
At some point she would have to leave the house.
Asking her to join them on a book club night where she would know everybody, might just be a way to get their friend to leave the house for once.
*
Irritated, Becket checked Ellie’s message again.
Book club tonight.
What the hell did that mean? She didn’t want to see him? He’d been trying to call her for the last five minutes to find out what time they’d be finished. Why wasn’t she answering his call? He had to see her. Yes, he wanted to ask her about the house, but he mostly just needed to be with her.
Turning his horse around, Becket joined Hayden and one of their neighbors.
Hayden had asked if Becket would join him this afternoon when he showed the neighbor the results of their grazing system.
In their part of the world, Hayden had taken the lead and had embraced a new grazing system with the goal of avoiding over-grazing by using methods that mimicked the patterns of wild migrating herds.
It had been an uphill battle to get other ranchers to see the benefits, but every rancher his brother could convince of the advantages of the new system was a win for him.
He caught Hayden’s last words. “It means the animals stay packed closely together for protection and they eat the vegetation to partial level, rather than all the way to the ground. They disturb the soil lightly with their hooves, which mixes their manure and urine into the topsoil, and then they move on to another paddock or pasture.”
As the neighbor nodded in agreement, Cooper joined them.
“This way, grazing animals actually improve the condition of the soil rather than damaging it, and a significant amount of carbon can be sequestered because the land is always kept covered and the roots and soil microbiome are nourished and left mostly undisturbed.”
Nodding, the neighbor rubbed his face. “I don’t think I understand everything you’re saying, but I can see how beautiful the soil is. That’s why I’m here.”
As Becket followed them, he lost track of the conversation.
He loved this ranch, loved the work, but he’d never been as passionate about ranching as Hayden was.
His thoughts were back with Ellie. Just the idea that he wouldn’t be able to see her tonight had him tied up in knots.
He couldn’t wait a whole day before he saw her. There had to be another way.
He’d call Willow.
*
“A prevailing theme in North and South seems to be misconceptions,” Laura was saying. “Individuals make assumptions about each other purely based on past biases or experiences, without making sure they have the complete picture.”
“It reminded me of Lizzie and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice , don’t you think?” Arlene said. “In North and South , Margaret and John Thornton also make snap judgments about the motivation and character of each other. This of course, leads to more conflict between them.”
“Margaret is such a snob in the beginning of the story,” Annie said. “But okay, I understand it had a lot to do with the way they did things in ‘the South’.”
“Whereas Mr. Thornton judges Margaret’s character after a single meeting,” Riley said.
“I couldn’t help thinking of how I’d put Mitch in the ‘grumpy brother’ box when I first met him, when he was simply trying to protect his sisters.
Of course, I didn’t want to see that; it took me a while to realize he’s a protector. ”
“Like my Becket,” Arlene sighed. “He feels deeply but instead of showing the world who he really is, he hides behind this whole other persona. Don’t you agree, Ellie?”
Ellie had been lost in thought when the mention of Becket’s name intruded on her thoughts about him.
“You’ve been spending time with him,” Arlene said. “Don’t you agree?”
Her face flaming, Ellie covered her cheeks with her hands. “I’m still not used to everyone knowing everything about me.”