Aundy (Pendleton Petticoats #1)(25)
Author: Shanna Hatfield

“Seeds?” Nik asked as he stood next to Aundy. It took a great effort on his part not to jump off one foot to the other in his excitement at having new clothes.

“For the garden. We need to get it planted soon,” Aundy said, lifting the lid on a jar of lemon drops and motioning for Nik to take one. His eyes twinkled as he fished out two pieces, and held one out to her. She was going to refuse, then decided she wasn’t quite yet grown up enough that she’d turn down candy. The two of them popped the candy in their mouth, enjoying the sweet treat.

“Please add two lemon drops to the bill, Mr. Johnson.”

“Absolutely, Mrs. Erickson,” the man said with a grin, tucking Aundy’s seeds into one of the boxes while Aundy handed Nik his new cap and he settled it on his head with a wide smile.

Aundy paid her bill while Nik carried their purchases out to the buggy and then asked Mr. Johnson to have someone phone the ranch when her order for Nik’s school supplies arrived.

“Have a wonderful day, Mrs. Erickson,” Mr. Johnson called as she followed Nik out the door. Aundy was looking at a plow on display outside the store when a bump to her side nearly knocked her into the street. She would have fallen, had she not caught herself on a post.

“Might want to watch yourself, Miz. Erickson,” Marvin Tooley said, sneering at her. His hand flexed into a fist and he took a menacing step toward her, reaching out and grabbing her upper arm in a vise-like grip. “No telling what might happen if you let your guard down.”

Narrowing her gaze at the man while yanking her arm out of his grasp, Nik approached her side with a frightened look on his face. Marvin growled and stalked into the store.

“Who is that man?”

“No one to worry about,” Aundy said, taking Nik’s arm and directing him down the boardwalk. Although she’d been considering the purchase of a small gun, Marvin had just made up her mind.

Entering a store that sold both new and used merchandise, Aundy left Nik browsing through a section of musical instruments while she went straight to the proprietor behind the counter.

“I’d like to purchase the gun in the window,” she said, pointing to a display in a glass case by the front door.

“A gun?” the man asked, shocked that a woman would march into his store and want to buy a gun.

“Yes, that small one in the case by the door,” Aundy said, walking to the case and pointing to the one she wanted.

Reluctantly the man took out the gun and handed it to her.

“That’s a Baby Hammerless pocket revolver,” the man said, pointing out the gun’s lack of a visible hammer.

Aundy liked the light feel of it in her hand as well as the lovely pearl grips. It would fit perfectly in her reticule or a pocket. She was warming to the idea of having a gun on hand if she needed some protection without having to carry a bigger weapon.

From her lessons with Garrett, she knew to open the chamber and check to make sure there weren’t any bullets inside. Holding up the gun, she asked the storeowner to give her details about how it worked. He answered her questions and told her the gun was only a few years old, having had one previous owner.

“What happened to the owner?” she asked balancing the gun in her palm.

“Got shot.”

That bit of information, unsettling as it was, didn’t deter Aundy’s determination to purchase the weapon. The proprietor started to ring up the sale, but Aundy asked him for several boxes of cartridges. While he retrieved them from the back room, she walked over to where Nik was gazing fondly at a display of harmonicas.

“Do you play?”

“No,” Nik said quietly.

Aundy wondered who in his past had played. From the wistful expression on his face, it had to have been someone he cared about greatly. The boy seemed to whistle and hum all the time, so she wondered if he’d appreciate his own instrument.

“What harmonica would you recommend to a new student?” Aundy asked the storeowner when he came back with her cartridges. He pointed out what he thought was the best model and Aundy added it to her purchases.

“You can’t buy me the harmonica, too,” Nik whispered to Aundy as they walked toward the counter.

“Yes, I can,” Aundy said, patting Nik on the back, much like she would a small child. “Just promise you’ll play it for me some winter evening when I’m bored out of my mind and tired of the snow. I’ve heard the winters out here are dreadful.”

“They can be bad,” Nik said, his eyes fastened on the shiny new harmonica in his hands. “I’ll promise to play for you any time you want.”

“Very well, then,” Aundy said, putting the gun in her reticule and picking up the cartridges. Turning to the proprietor, she gave him a polite smile and tipped her head. “Thank you, sir. Have a lovely day.”

After talking Nik into eating lunch with her at a restaurant, they headed out of town toward home. Aundy drove while Nik played the harmonica. With a natural musical talent, he was already starting to play a tune instead of just making random noise.

“You’ll be an expert at playing that thing in no time,” Aundy said as she stopped the buggy on the side of the house so it would be easier to carry her purchases in the kitchen door.

Nik shoved the harmonica in his pocket and began lugging in the loaded boxes. Aundy held the door for Nik to carry in the last one when she heard the distinctive jingle of harness and walked around the side of the house to see Nora stopping her buggy with Li Hong beside her.

“Nora! What a surprise,” Aundy said, hurrying over to give the woman a hug as she got out of the buggy. Li Hong stepped down and bowed at her then glanced over to see Nik approach.

“Nora, Li Hong, this is my shepherd, Nikola Zorian Gandiaga. We call him Nik,” Aundy said, putting a hand on Nik’s arm.

“Hello,” Nik said, doffing his hat to Nora and reaching to shake Li Hong’s hand. When the man bowed at him, Nik grinned and bowed back.

“I better get back to the sheep. Lem will be tired of watching them,” Nik said, hurrying to the buggy and taking it to the barn.

“What brings you two out today?” Aundy asked, looping her arm around Nora’s and motioning Li to follow them up the porch steps.

“I wanted to see your sheep and Li thinks he is ready to begin his duties as cook, so I brought him over to see your place and make sure that’s what he really wants to do,” Nora said, looking over her shoulder at Li.

“I ready to cook. Make good food,” Li said, grinning at both women.

“Why don’t we plan on you starting in the morning, then?” Aundy said, leading the way into her house. “Please, have a seat and I’ll be back with some tea.”

Nora and Aundy visited with Li making occasional comments to their chatter while they drank tea and ate cookies.

Dent came to the house, set to ask Aundy what she thought she was doing buying a gun to carry in her reticule, when he saw the Nash’s buggy parked out front. Coming in the back door, he held his hat in his hand as he walked in the front room.

Surprised to see a Chinese man drinking tea with Aundy and Mrs. Nash, he smiled in greeting.

“Afternoon,” Dent said, tipping his head toward Nora.

“Hello, Dent,” Nora said, sending him a friendly smile. “How does this day find you?”

“Well enough. I can’t complain about a thing,” Dent said, grinning at Nora. “How’s J.B.?”

“He improves every day. By the end of summer, Doc thinks he’ll be back in the saddle and up to his old tricks,” Nora said, a look of relief on her face that her husband was getting well.

“That’s wonderful news,” Dent said, happy to hear his friend would make a full recovery. For a while, no one knew if J.B. would ever walk again. “Tell him I said hello.”

“I’ll do that, but you should come visit him one of these days. He’d love to play a game of checkers with you,” Nora said, knowing how much J.B. and Dent enjoyed their checker rivalry.

“If my slave-driving employer ever gives me a day off, I might just do that,” Dent said, winking at Aundy.

Not bothered in the least by his teasing, Aundy turned to Li. “Dent, this is Li Hong. He’s been staying with the Nash’s while he recuperated from an unfortunate accident, but he is going to stay with us as a cook, on a trial basis. He says he’s feeling well enough to get started. I thought he could begin by making breakfast tomorrow.”

After the sheep incident, Aundy made sure she discussed hiring Li as a cook with Dent. He agreed to have the man fill the position on a trial basis.

“Works for me,” Dent said, nodding his head in approval. Turning to the Chinese man, with his long braid and odd manner of dress, Dent offered him a welcoming smile. “I can take you out and show you the bunkhouse and where you’ll be doing the cooking.”

“Okay, Mr. Dent,” Li said, getting to his feet. Turning to Aundy, he bowed to her and thanked her for the tea, then thanked Nora for her hospitality and care.

“Just call me Dent, no mister,” the foreman said as he opened the front door and walked out with Li.

Aundy heard Li tell Dent to call him Li or Hong, no mister.

“I think they’ll get along fine,” Nora whispered as they watched the older cowboy and the younger Chinese man walk across the front yard and toward the bunkhouse.

“I hope Li works out,” Aundy said, sitting back and taking a sip of her tea. Cooking for the bunch of men while trying to keep up with everything else reminded her of the frantic days she put in before moving to Pendleton. They left her weary and exhausted, which wasn’t all bad. That way she didn’t stay awake at night worrying about who wanted to harm her sheep or dreaming about Garrett.

Thinking about Garrett, with his mother sitting across from her chatting about a new quilt pattern she saw in a magazine, made her cheeks blush.

“Are you feeling well, honey? You look a little flushed,” Nora said, leaning over and putting a hand on Aundy’s forehead.

“I’m fine, just a little warm,” Aundy said, sipping her tea to try to hide her embarrassment. She was saved from having to explain herself when a knock sounded on her door. She wondered who was visiting now.

Rising from her seat, she opened the door to see Ashton Monroe smiling broadly and dressed impeccably.

“Ashton,” Aundy said, opening the door wider to allow him entry. “I didn’t expect a visit from you today. I thought you were out of town.”

“I just returned and thought I’d stop to say hello on my way home,” Ashton said, not smiling quite as broadly when he saw Nora sipping tea.

“Mrs. Nash, you’re looking lovely as always,” Ashton said, taking her hand in his, exhibiting manners befitting a fine gentleman.

“Thank you, Ashton. Been out of town again?” Nora asked, keeping her voice even although her eyes had lost the warmth they held earlier when she and Aundy were visiting.

“Yes, ma’am. Business, you know,” Ashton said, sitting down and accepting the cup of tea Aundy poured for him along with a cookie. Aundy’s stylish outfit caught his attention and he watched her for a moment before he felt Nora’s glare.

“My, but you are a busy man,” Nora said dryly although Ashton didn’t notice.

He soaked up the comment like praise and puffed out his chest. Aundy thought he looked a little like the peacocks she’d seen in Chicago. “A busy man is a successful man,” Ashton said, setting down his cup of tea and clearing his throat.

“It is serendipitous to find you here, Mrs. Nash,” Ashton said, speaking to Nora while his gaze lingered on Aundy.

Although he would never consider her beautiful, she was quite striking and fashionable when she chose to be. He hated seeing the plain dresses she tended to wear around the farm. Considering the smart ensemble she had on, he had to assume she’d either been calling or to town. “I would like to invite all of you, along with Mrs. Erickson, to be my dinner guests Friday evening. I haven’t entertained company at Dogwood Corners for far too long. Won’t you please join me?”

The last thing Nora wanted to do was force J.B. and Garrett to eat dinner with the pompous Ashton Monroe, but if he was trying to be neighborly, she didn’t feel she could refuse. “That’s a lovely invitation, Ashton. We’d be happy to join you, if Mrs. Erickson is of a mind to go, of course.”

“Of course,” Aundy echoed, wondering what Nora was thinking. Busy with so much work on the farm, Aundy didn’t really want to make time to go to Ashton’s, especially when he did behave somewhat arrogantly if he had an audience. Not looking forward to the evening, she did like the thought of finally seeing his home. “May we bring something?”

“No. Just your lovely faces,” Ashton said, getting to his feet and picking up his hat. “I might turn it into a regular dinner party. Let’s plan on six that evening to dine.”

“We’ll be there,” Nora said, watching as he kissed Aundy’s hand on his way out the door. Unless Nora was completely mistaken, Garrett was falling in love with Aundy. It might prove to be quite interesting to have him watch Ashton slobber all over her hand a few times Friday evening. Interesting, indeed.

“I better get back to J.B. and think about putting supper on the table,” Nora said getting to her feet and walking toward the door. “Let me know how things go with Li Hong. Garrett has tried to get him to talk about who beat him, but he won’t say a thing. I don’t know who he’s protecting, but I certainly wish he’d tell us. No one should be allowed to treat another human that way and get away with it.”

“I agree,” Aundy said, walking Nora out to her buggy. “Maybe he’ll talk to someone here once he settles in. I just hope he’s as good a cook as he claims. I’m more than ready to let him take over.”