Love Comes Dearly

By Xlibris US

Amanda Fletcher finds herself pregnant during the last semester of college. Her college boyfriend abandons her before his son is born. Her mother cares for the baby while she travels throughout the States to find meaning to her life.
She realizes that she is needed at home and hitchhikes her way back to Amarillo. She stops at a stock tank on a ranch in Western Oklahoma to get water and a bath. She encounters the owner, who rescues her from a curious calf and shows her what a normal life on a working ranch is like and what life could be between people who love each other.
Their difficulties run the gamut of an allergic reaction, protecting the herd from feral dogs and an unwanted, powerful great-grandfather; helping a wounded veteran who is still fighting his war battles; finding out what they want from each other; and finding a way to blend two very different families.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499069167

Book preview

Prologue

Amanda’s mother answered the phone after the first ring.

Amanda, are you OK? You haven’t called in a while. I was worried.

Yeah, Mom, I’m okay. Just working hard. I got this good job. It pays well, and I’m working double shifts as often as possible. I’ve got some money to send to you, probably by Saturday. How is Davis? Has he been in any trouble lately?

Your son is just fine honey. He sure misses you. He remembers your black hair and stares at every lady who has black hair. He’s got a puppy now, and hasn’t found a name for him yet. I can hardly keep up with them. The neighbor’s little girl comes over when she gets out of school and plays with him. She’s teaching him some of his letters. They’re so cute together.

Honey, it’s been over three years. Aren’t you ready to come home? Gray would want you to get on with your life wouldn’t he?

Don’t know and don’t care Mom. We deserved better. The only good thing that came out of that was Davis.

You’re missing the best part of his life you know? Honey, please come home, for me and Davis.

I’m almost ready Mom. Just a little bit more money, and I’ll be heading back. Well, gotta go Mom. My shift starts in fifteen minutes and I’ve got to get into my uniform. Kiss Davis for me. Love you.

She gently put the phone back on its cradle. Yeah, she thought and I’ve got to get my act together too. She’s right I do miss them both. I’ll start working my way back to Amarillo after I get paid. She stared at her reflection in the tiny mirror of her current room. Her large gray eyes picked up the blue of her uniform. I look as sad as I feel right now.

One

Amanda Fletcher finally got her paycheck. She figured her half would last for a month. She sent the other half of the money to her mom and quit her job. The owner of the restaurant knew she was hitch- hiking and he gave her more money than she earned with her last paycheck.

He was a sweetie and reminded her a little of her father. He offered to take her to the next town on her journey, but she knew he was needed at the restaurant, and declined his offer.

She worked her way through small towns, medium sized towns, avoiding the larger towns if she could. She accepted rides from families or women, never with truck drivers, or single men.

A family gave her a ride outside Atlanta, Georgia and dropped her off somewhere near Little Rock, Arkansas. They had two children, a boy about four and an infant girl. The boy captured her heart. He was so sweet offering her some of his snacks and asking her if she wanted to use his pillow to take a nap.

She knew her mom was right. She was missing the best part of Davis’s life. She was glad she was already headed in that direction. She was sorry to see the family go, but they turned north. She thanked them for the ride, and tucked a couple of twenty dollar bills in little Danny’s small backpack.

She worked her way around Little Rock and continued on her journey. She walked a lot of the way finding an acceptable stride with her walking stick in hand. She only accepted a few rides. She stopped in McAlester to work for a few days to replenish her supplies. She asked to see a map of Oklahoma and mapped a route across it so she could go around the larger towns. She committed the route to memory and continued walking.

She stopped at a truck stop to work a few days while a large weather system moved through the state. The truck stop was extremely busy because many travelers decided to wait out the pop-up storms. That was okay with her, it meant more tips.

She bought a few supplies at the truck stop and the other waitresses gave her their tips when they learned she was going home. Amanda walked away with tears in her eyes.

It took her longer than she figured to get through the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area. It was bigger than she thought, and going around seemed to take forever, not to mention all the people offering to give her rides. She took a few of them, with women or families. When the people found out she was heading home, they too wanted to contribute something to help ease her journey.

She enjoyed the secondary roads, especially during the spring. The air was much better than in the cities of course, and there were all kinds of animals, both wildlife and domestic who were curious at her intrusion into their domain.

Several times intermittent rains caught her without shelter. She just unfolded her poncho, and found a comparably dry place to sit until it quit. Then when the sun came out, the humidity was so thick she could hardly breathe.

The further west she went the dryer things became. She filled her water bottle every time she had the opportunity to do so. Finally the farm and ranch houses were so far apart she resorted once again to the tried and true method. She used the stock tanks.

Most of the stock tanks in Western Oklahoma used windmills or something similar to draw up water from deep beneath the earth. She had long ago figured out the method of releasing certain pipes using a small pipe wrench, then fill her canteen, and reattach the pipe.

She found such a windmill, but it was further off the road than she liked. She needed the water though, so she crossed through the cattle gate by the mailbox. She felt safe. She knew that eventually a berry bull would come to check her out. There was a mailbox, so somewhere down the road there had be a house.

She reached the stock tank and sat down to rest before she filled the canteen. The windmill was built using four legs of heavy angle iron held together with crosspieces that created a ladder of sorts and angled up to a wooden platform at the top. The platform supported the head holding the fan blades that turned with the wind. Pipes rose out of the ground and were attached to the working parts of the head. This one had some loose blades and it squeaked intermittently in a tooth grinding way.

She sat in the shade of the platform while she studied the arrangement of pipes that filled the tank.

She glanced up when she felt eyes on her. I knew it! There’s the berry bull. Every pasture that had bulls sported at least one "berry bull’. The bulls were overly curious about everything in their domain. Some even chased intruders completely out of the pastures to protect their harem of cows.

He was a dandy. The beautiful brown eyes were focused intently on her. His black hide was sleek and shiny in the sunshine. She could almost read his mind. Are you dangerous? Are you going to harm my ladies and children? He paced back and forth from the side of the windmill tower where it fit closely to the side of the tank, all the way around to the opposite side.

His harem gathered around the tower and tank with their babies. They each took a turn smelling her then moved slightly away.

Well, I might as well do a bit of laundry until you guys get bored. She opened her back pack and took out her few under clothing. She washed them with a bit of soap and hung them on the cross supports of the tower. She did the same with her threadbare jeans. She left her top on as it almost covered her butt. She didn’t feel comfortable being totally naked in the open.

She wrapped her small green towel around her waist and prepared to sit back down. Over the lowing of the cattle she heard the unmistakable sounds of a truck horn, honking its way through the herd of cattle surrounding her.

A yearling calf decided the pale green towel looked a lot like food, so it grabbed the edge and gave a tug. Amanda couldn’t catch it, and the startled calf quickly back away, still holding the towel in its mouth.

She quickly grabbed her pack and held it in front of herself, and faced the beat up farm truck that had stopped just beside the tower.

Two

The driver let the dust settle as he studied her through the cracked windshield. Amanda wished she was anywhere but where she stood right now. She knew her face must be flaming red.

The door opened and the longest pair of denim clad legs she’d ever seen ending with dusty brown boots slowly eased to the ground. A once bright sky blue t-shirt was filled with hard muscles. And in between the tooled leather belt and the worn cowboy hat was the most gorgeous man she had seen.

His deeply tanned face was shadowed by the hat. He tipped it back a little. The eyes, oh my God, they’re like chips of blue sapphires. And they were looking her up and down. And was that… yes it was, he has dimples almost as deep as mine and Davis’s.

Pete Knox, couldn’t remember if there had ever been someone like her using their stock pond to wash their clothing. He appreciated the view, lovely, quite lovely even hiding behind a well used backpack. Her cap of black curls made him want to twirl one of them around his finger. Hmm, looks like she could use a bath, a washing machine and quite possibly a good meal.

He removed his hat and his damp almost black hair fell, clinging to his well shaped head then fell below his ears, to brush his shirt collar. The hair moved gently in the hot vagrant breeze. The squealing of the windmill caused his gaze to focus upward and he frowned.

He slowly closed in on the calf that had her towel, and gently worked it out of the calf’s mouth. Aww come on junior, you don’t want to embarrass the lady do you? Let’s give her back the towel and I’ll give you some cubes.

Beauregard, he commented to the bull, if you’ve finished assessing her why don’t you take the ladies over to the shade and let the younguns take their nap. He held out her towel and politely turned his head and watched the bull take one last sniff and walked to the grove of trees he had indicated.

The cows and calves joined him and the younguns laid down for a nap.

You sure have a way with the animals, commented Amanda.

You might say that, but we try to get along, real peaceful like. His bright eyes pierced her and she was suddenly aware that he still held the towel in his hand extended toward her.

She snatched it out of his hands and he politely turned around again after he heard the backpack hit the ground. He waited a few moments more and slowly turned around.

He saw that she had washed her clothes and asked if she needed a dryer? Your pretty things might get dry in an hour, but the jeans will take much longer. We’ve got a dryer at the house you can use.

I’m sorry I intruded, but I needed water and I thought… He wasn’t paying attention to her, he was gazing up at the still squeaking windmill.

Excuse me ma’am, but I need to stop that racket. I can hardly hear you. I’m going to climb up there to fix it. You might want to move away. With this contraption, repairs of any kind usually bring down a bunch of rust and dirt. You can wait in the pickup if you like.

She nodded and waited until he turned to get his tool belt from the truck bed. She scooted out from under the windmill and quickly opened the passenger side and hopped in. She hissed as she just as quickly hopped out again, boy was that seat hot!

You might want to use that shirt to sit on. The truck’s been sitting in the sun all day. His voice was slow, deep, and oh so sexy. Her arms tingled at the sound.

Ya think! she grumbled, spreading out the shirt.

Three

He climbed the tower and used a screwdriver to tighten the fan blades. One was out of alignment and he straightened it. He pulled out a small oil can to anoint the moving parts. He gave a gentle spin to the head and it slowly went around, but thankfully it no longer squeaked. He then gave it a hefty spin and still no squeak. He climbed down and replaced his tool belt in the truck.

He gathered her wet clothing and placed them on the back seat of the truck. He folded himself back into the truck and turned slightly to face her.

He stuck out his hand and said, The name’s Pete, Pete Knox. And you are? He waited his dimples in full display.

I’m, uh, Amanda Fletcher, and gingerly shook his hand. He was one of only a few males in more than three years who had been this close to her. Surprisingly she wasn’t worried. And she usually worried when men got this close.

Well Amanda Fletcher, let’s go to the house. He stopped when he saw the panic in her face. Hey, hey it’s okay. My mom and dad are at the house. They’ve been lonely since my sister took her two hellcats back home. They won’t bite either. Beautiful eyes. They were a soft light gray, surrounded by thick black as sin eyelashes matching her short black extremely curly hair.

He talked almost non-stop all the way to the house. The house was a beautiful old fashioned ranch house. It had a porch that wrapped around three sides. On the front porch were two rocking chairs and an oversized swing. Huge trees shaded parts of the house, but didn’t block the view from the second story. The outbuildings were not painted the traditional red, but a faded sky blue. The house was painted a creamy soft yellow.

Flowers grew riotously in the flower beds and she could see a clothes line sporting towels and sheets moving in the fitful hot breeze. An older man sat in one of the rockers watching them curiously.

Pete opened her car door and helped her out. He took her backpack and wet clothes and carried them to the porch.

Good grief Pete, couldn’t you at least wait until she was dressed? The older man had eyes like Pete’s, chips of blue sapphires. His face was deeply tanned with generous laugh lines very much in evidence. His hair was a mix of light brown and silver.

Mom? called Pete. Would you come here a minute? He turned to Amanda and said, You’ll like Mom, she’s partial to girls. The woman who opened the door was not quite as tall as Amanda and very slim. Her more pepper-than-salt hair was braided and wound around her head. No way was she a shy woman. She sparkled with life and even she had dimples.

She had well developed arm muscles, perhaps from helping with the ranch as well as taking care of the house. My goodness, where did you find her?

Oh, Beauregard was trying to get her to join his harem. They laughed and Amanda just smiled a small smile. Mom, Amanda needs to use the washer and dryer. Beauregard and I, uh, well we interrupted her wash day.

Well come on girl, let’s get you properly dressed. You’ll be giving my men ideas dressed as you are.

She laughed and winked at her.

Thank you Mrs. Knox. I appreciate your hospitality

Now, just call me Rebecca, or Becca as Charlie there calls me. And no Pete, you can’t call me Becca!

Pete grinned and winked at Amanda. I still try to sneak it in once in a while, drives her nuts.

Oh God, he’s killing me with those dimples! She smiled.

Rebecca led the way to a bathroom near the kitchen. The laundry room was across the hall. Why don’t you take a good hot bath while your clothes are washing? I think I’ve got some duds you can wear. Wait here. She left and returned quickly with a soft pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt. She also had a new pair of panties, but no bra.

I’m sorry honey, but I’m afraid one of my bras would fall off of you.

Amanda ducked her head as she heard Charlie snicker. She didn’t see him give Pete a poke in the ribs.

Rebecca pulled out shampoo, soap, towels and a new hairbrush, and placed them on the generous vanity in the large, attractive bathroom decorated in soft blue and lemon yellow. Just throw the clothes you want washed in the hallway. Pete or I will stick them in the washer for you.

We’ll be ready to eat dinner in about thirty minutes or so. We’ll wait on you, take your time, and she pulled the door shut.

Amanda didn’t move for a minute then she mentally shook herself. They sure are a nice family. She had just finished taking the rest of her clothes off when the door slowly began to open. She jumped and snatched her towel off the floor.

She heard Rebecca shout, Pete! You need to fix the bathroom door, again, it still won’t stay shut.

She heard Pete coming down the hall and quickly stepped away from the door. She watched as Pete’s hand and arm slowly reached in, and pulled the door shut. He gave it a sharp tug and she heard the tumbler click.

And he’s nice as well. I don’t know if Gray… and she stopped. Strange. She expected the pain to hit her like it always did at the mention of his name. This time it was merely an ache in her heart and mind.

She quickly showered loving the feel of warm water and scented soap sliding across her body. She put shampoo on her hands and quickly worked it through her short curls. She had always worn her hair long, curling nicely almost down to her waist. She gave it up though when she found out how hard it was to keep it clean while hiking across the nation.

She admitted to liking her short black curls, but still, sometimes, she wished it was long again. Gray liked to run his hands through her curls. She waited, and still no pain, just an ache.

Was it because she had decided to return home? Or because she was healing?

Four

She dressed in the clothing provided her and was pleased that they were a reasonable fit. She laughed over the pink t-shirt. On the front was a picture of Maxine, the old lady sometimes depicted on computer