Chapter 16
“Marta, where have you been, the cafeteria is almost closed. Hurry and get your dinner, we’ll save you a seat.” Darcy told her and watched her go and get her tray and come and sit down beside them. “Now, tell us where you’ve been.”
“I was in the commons…Grady came to see me. He’s been out on assignment and couldn’t come any sooner and he wanted to explain to me in person.
He also wanted to apologize for not writing to me.
He came to Sheridan to see me but missed me.
He arrived the very day I left. We missed each other.
But he couldn’t catch up to me, he only had twenty-four hours, and he had to be back.
He just arrived back. He looked terrible and wonderful.
He hadn’t shaved, his hair was too long, and he was dusty from his ride to Denver, but he couldn’t wait to see me any longer.
The problem was that he couldn’t hug or kiss me in the commons, and we couldn’t leave until September when I graduate.
He is going to come back each time he comes in to get a new assignment, and I hope he will start to write me again.
It wasn’t enough to hold his hand.” Marta told them and began eating the cold food in front of her.
“How romantic, and we missed it!” Darcy told them and then hugged her friend.
“I’m happy for you, Marta. You didn’t like that he stopped writing to you.
I’m glad you found out why and that he apologized to you.
I want to see this paragon who has you wrapped around his little finger. Does his brother look like him?”
“No, they were adopted by Nimrod and Kyra when they were little. They stuck together in an orphanage but weren’t any blood kin.
Grady and Brody are huge and over six feet tall.
Marley their sister, is tiny and small boned.
But she is amazing! She just had triplets, if you can believe it and she can shoot like Brody and Grady can, skin a deer and cut it up for the smoke house, use a bow and arrow, a knife, and even a sling shot!
One of the first things Grady had to learn to do was use a slingshot.
He shot rabbits and saved their skins until he had enough to trade in on his first rifle.
I know that Kyra his mother made so much rabbit stew to get sick of it, but they did it for Grady.
There are no boy chores or girl chores in their household…
if it needs done, they just do it. Grady can make bread or wash clothes as good as his mother can, and Marley can milk a cow or go and shoot game as well as any of the boys can.
They are an amazing family. I can’t wait until you meet them.
” Marta told them and grinned at the astonished look on their faces.
“Is Carson’s family like Grady’s?” Darcy asked her.
“Yes, and no. They arrived after Grady, Marley, and Brody had been adopted into Kyra and Nimrod’s family.
But Grady was only about seven, Marley about six, and Brody was only about four.
The Thatcher boys were older. There were three of them, too.
Cooper was the oldest, he was eleven, Carson was nine, and Carter was seven.
They couldn’t believe all that the younger Harper kids could do.
They talked Kyra into teaching them how to be as self-sufficient as their own kids were.
It was a really busy summer for them all.
She taught them to use a slingshot, bow and arrows…
but they had to make them first, a gun, ride a pony, skin a deer, or take a wild hen, turkey, deer, or goose, and make it ready to put into the smoke house after they had shot it.
She also made sure that before they rode over to the Harper house, they had already helped their mother in her garden, put up grass into the loft of their barn, cleaned the barn for their father, and chopped wood for a few hours.
All of that had to be done or she wouldn’t work with them for four hours each day.
” Marta told them and saw them listen in amazement.
“How did Kyra know so much about staying alive in Wyoming?” Lynn asked her wondering if she would teach her, too.
“Kyra is the daughter of a Navaho chief. When Nimrod bought the land from the United States government, he also went to the Navaho Indians who also lived there. He bought and paid the Indians for the land. This impressed the Indians; he wasn’t trying to steal their land like so many other white settlers.
He made friends with them. The chief gave him his youngest daughter in marriage as a sign of their peace.
At first Kyra and Nimrod were just friends, but after a time they did actually fall in love.
I love both of them. They are wonderful people and were great parents to Grady, Marley, and Brody.
They just had twins. Kyra thought she was going through the change of life and found out she was pregnant with twins.
They were born right before Christmas. She named them Max and Mac.
She and Nimrod are loving the chance to start all over again with babies.
” Marta told them and found it was getting easier to say that the babies were Kyra’s and not hers.
“You’re kidding! I sure don’t want babies when I’m that old. I want my kids when I’m young and can chase after them easily. I’m glad that they love taking care of them, but I’m also glad that they had the babies and not me.” Lynn told them and Darcy agreed. Marta chose not to say a word.
Brody was finding it fun to write to Lynn.
She was funny when telling him about teacher’s college and what they were doing.
He liked hearing about what Marta was doing and hearing that she was at the top of their class.
She was smart and nice, and everyone loved her.
Brody was wondering if he would ever get a chance to meet her.
Carson had come over and told them that he was writing to one of Marta’s friends.
Brody told him that he was too. They exchanged information.
Carson was really interested in Darcy and thinking of going to Denver to see her.
There were so few women in Sheridan that he wasn’t going to let this chance escape him to meet one that had fallen in his lap.
He was encouraging Brody to go with him.
He didn’t want to wait until they graduated from teacher college to meet them and then find out they were getting jobs far away.
The more Brody thought about it, the more he was inclined to go with him.
He talked it over with his father and mother.
“I think you should go and meet her. She might be all wrong for you, or she might be perfect for you. I agree with Carson, there is a shortage of women in the territory. If you find one that you like, you need to make a move. You said you really like getting her letters, that’s a good first step.
Marta wouldn’t have introduced you to her if she didn’t think that the two of you weren’t pretty well matched for each other.
I’d go and just meet her. You have nothing to lose.
If it works out, great. If not, you had a good trip and found out now.
” Nimrod told him and went to burp Mac on his shoulder.
“I agree with your father. Now is a good time to take off. It’s a slow time for you and Nimrod in the fields; in another month you’ll be planting and I’ll need help with the garden.
I’ll have Mattie to help me, but you know that you’ll be meeting yourself coming and going with all that’s going on around the ranch…
baby animals giving birth, fields to plant, the garden…
not to mention that we’ll need to start chopping wood again.
Go, you need a break from the ranch anyway.
” Kyra told him and smiled as she burped Max on her shoulder.
She was so happy with the babies to take care of.
“All right, I’ll tell Carson that I’ll go with him. But we won’t be gone long. It’ll be good to see Marta anyway. Her letters are nice, but I want to make sure that she’s happy and where she wants to be.” Brody told them and went to pack. He and Carson were going to leave as soon as possible.
Marta received a telegram telling her that Carson and Brody would be coming to see her, Lynn, and Darcy in two days. They wanted to meet the women they had been writing to. Marta laughed and Lynn and Darcy went crazy!
“What do you mean they’re coming to meet us? Look at my hair! I can’t do a thing with it…I don’t want Brody taking a look at me and turning around and running back to Sheridan as fast as he can go! What am I going to do?” Lynn asked her almost in tears.
“You…look at me! I have more freckles than a frog has warts! Carson will make a U-turn as soon as he walks through that door! I’m doomed and just when I got a fellow who liked writing to me, too!” Darcy told them both.
“You’ll be fine. Brody and Carson are not artificial fellows, or I wouldn’t have introduced them to you and had you start writing to them.
Lynn, we’ll put some aloe on your hair, and it will be nice and soft.
Darcy, I happen to know that Carson likes freckles.
But we will put a light powder on your face to make you feel better.
How is that?” Marta told them and they both nodded.
They were still very nervous to meet the two men when the message came to come down and meet them two days later.
They were dressed in their best dresses that complimented their coloring.
They let Marta help them choose which ones to wear…
Lynn was in a soft yellow dress. With her auburn hair, she looked beautiful.
Darcy was in a pale pink dress…her dark brown hair with all her freckles made her look lovely.
Marta was satisfied that they both looked great.
She walked in front of them to let both Brody and Carson know that these were her friends.
Brody was dressed in twill pants and a nice plaid wool shirt.
He looked great with his auburn hair. Carson was dressed in a similar style.
They were both over six feet tall and made all the other men in the commons look small by comparison.
They both broke out in a smile when they saw Marta.
She walked to them and hugged them both.
“It’s good to see you both. Let me introduce my friends to you. Brody, this is Lynn, and Carson, this is Darcy. They are my best friends…you’d better treat them right or I will come home and shoot you both.”
Brody stood there and looked at Lynn. He reached out and took her hand. “Wow! Marta told me that you were nice and wonderful, she failed to tell me that you were so pretty…I never realized how pretty a red head could be. You simply take my breath away.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m not disappointed with how you look either, Brody. You are bigger than life, and I can’t believe how broad your shoulders are. You make me feel small…I like that feeling. It’s real nice to meet you in person.” Lynn told him and blushed becomingly.
Carson just stood there and held Darcy’s hand.
He swallowed. “Darcy…I can’t take in how beautiful you are…
I figure that you got a lot of men beating down your door to court you.
I sure hope I can wedge my foot in there to make you let me court you, too.
Lord, woman, you take my breath away just looking at you, and to realize that you’re smart, too, makes it even better. ”
“I’m glad, Carson. I was afraid that you’d take one look at me and run for the hills. I’ve got too many freckles, and they’ve been the bane of my existence my whole life.” Darcy told him and blushed.
“I like freckles…someday, I’d like to kiss every single one of your freckles, if you’d let me that is.” Carson told her and then he blushed. He didn’t want her to think he was being forward.
Darcy squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you like freckles, Carson…maybe someday, I’ll let you kiss all my freckles.” She told him and then had to hide her face with both her hands.
“Damn, I hope that day is real soon, Darcy. You just take my heart and make it hammer so fast just looking at you. If I were to kiss you or hold you in my arms, I fear it would become a railroad train and go wild.” Carson told her and stepped back in and took her hand back again.
Marta cleared her throat. She was glad that her friends and Carson and Brody were getting along so well.
“I’m glad that you are all getting along so well.
I’m going to go and study in my room. Say hi to the family for me.
I’m real glad that you are all getting along so well.
” She told them and quietly left them to talk quietly among themselves.
They nodded and her friends grinned at her.
They really liked the two men and loved that they finally met them.