Chapter 50: Chapter 50

There was a fire going well away from the long row of tables set together behind the house, and over it a pig was roasting. It was a huge beast of a creature, but Hope imagined there’d have to be plenty of sides to feed a dozen famished men. She hoped her little contribution would be enough.

Caroline had one large basket over each arm, the scent of pie wafting from them. Hope’s stomach rumbled despite the large breakfast she’d fixed herself. It seemed like there would be plenty of pie if nothing else.

“Caroline! You’re here!” a tall woman with long red hair proclaimed, walking over with her arms open. “It’s so nice to see you!” She managed to hug Caroline without disrupting the baskets and then insisted on taking one. Then, turning to Hope she said, “You must be Miss Tucker. I’m Melissa Coy. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Please, call me Hope.” Melissa embraced her as well, as if they were long lost friends, and Hope felt very welcomed at her home.

“Come on over! We were just setting up the tables. I’ll introduce you to everyone, Hope.”

There were about a half a dozen other women standing near the tables, the others up near the house or out in the yard. They spreading table cloths or discussing where to set the food items in the baskets. Hope could hear them talking about what needed to stay inside until it was closer to time to eat and what they could go ahead and set out. “As soon as Delia gets here, we’ll have another table,” an older woman with graying hair said before they seemed to notice they had company.

“Caroline!” one of the women shouted. “It’s nice to see you. And is this the schoolteacher? Miss Tucker?”

“Hope, please,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear so that maybe she wouldn’t have to keep saying it.

“It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Evelynn Driggs. Welcome, welcome!”

“Evelynn is pastor Maxwell’s wife,” Caroline explained, setting her basket down near a row of others. She reached for Hope’s, which she handed off, and she set that down, too, as Hope shook Evelynn’s hand.

“We are so excited to have you,” the pastor’s wife said, patting her hand. “Welcome to Texas.”

“Thank you, kindly. Everyone has been very nice so far.”

Melissa stepped over. “This is Rita Koontz.” Hope shook hands with the older woman who’d had her back to her. “And this is Beth Holloway and her sister Tabitha.”

“How do you do?” Hope said to the sisters who were polite and waved but didn’t come around the tables that stood between them.

“And this is my cousin Anna. Have the two of you met?” Melissa said, gesturing to the other woman who was standing near the end of the row of tables.

Hope was confused at first as she studied the woman. She was quite pretty with blonde hair and blue eyes, though she was a bit curvy. For some reason, she felt as if she should know who she was.

“We haven’t met yet.” Anna’s smile seemed forced. “It’s nice to finally meet you, though. Brady has mentioned you a few times. How do you like living with his folks?”

It suddenly dawned on her who this woman was—Brady’s fiancée. She remembered now that Mrs. Howard had mentioned Anna and Melissa were cousins. But then, she hadn’t expected to see her here. Brady had spoken so viciously about Judah, it was a wonder he could stand to be on the same premises. Hope’s head swiveled to the area of the yard where the sound of hammering was coming from. There he was—Brady’s large form would’ve been difficult to miss even amidst what appeared to be nearly two dozen other men. He wasn’t paying her any mind, though. But as Hope returned her attention to Anna, her eyes flickered past Judah’s familiar face. He had noticed her. Hope’s breath caught in her throat.

Somehow she managed to push past the barrier. “It is so nice to finally meet you, Anna. Brady told me all about you. You’re just as pretty as he mentioned.”

Anna laughed. “Now, I know you’re just bein’ polite.”

“No, he did say so,” Hope insisted, wondering why she would say such a thing. The other women looked uncomfortable and continued with whatever tasks they’d been working on before Hope came over. Anna waved her off, like her statement didn’t matter, but Hope distinctly remembered Brady’s comment about his fiancée. He had said she was “purty” enough and that she was nice. Though she did remember some other comment—something about her not being the same as she had been when they’d first met or something like that.

Hope spotted Ginny across the yard, sitting underneath a tree with another little girl, a book open on each of their laps. “Would you mind if I went and said hello to Ginny before I help?” she asked Caroline, thinking she’d meet the other ladies later.

“Please do,” the mother replied. “She’ll be so happy to see you.”

Hope crossed the yard, getting to within a few feet before Ginny hopped up with excitement. Opening her arms, Hope leaned down and wrapped her up. “How are you?”

“Miss Tucker! You came! I’m so excited to see you!”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the enthusiasm. “I’m so happy to see you, Ginny. And this is your friend Liza?” The other girl, with dark hair and a smile with a gap in the middle top, nodded. Hope was glad she remembered her name. She’d learned so many all of a sudden, it was difficult to keep everyone straight. “It’s lovely to meet you, Liza.”

Liza smiled, but didn’t answer, and Hope assumed she must just be shy.

“We are reading Little Women,” Ginny explained. “Can you read with us for a few minutes?”

Hope glanced back over to the table and saw the women were greeting a few newcomers. She wasn’t too excited about meeting anyone else right now. “Certainly,” she said, smoothing out her skirt and sitting down with the girls. “But just for a few minutes.” She didn’t want to be an impolite guest either.

After a chapter, Hope decided it was time to go rejoin the other women. The other table had arrived so she helped set it up, spreading out white tablecloths that made the disjointed tables seem more like one massive piece of furniture. The plates didn’t all match, many of them likely brought from other women who had come to help, but no one cared, and Hope helped set those out, too.

Hope noticed some tension between Melissa and Anna as the women went about getting everything ready for the hungry men. Everyone else was friendly and welcoming, and both ladies were nice enough to the rest of the women, but whenever they spoke to each other, there was certainly something there. Hope imagined it had something to do with Melissa and her husband being friendly toward the Pembrokes, or more specifically, Judah, but she couldn’t make that assertion, and she certainly couldn’t ask. Despite the strain between the families, Hope felt a part of the group and could see herself fitting in just fine with these ladies if future plans ever called for her to rejoin them.

There was a slight breeze, and it threatened to blow the napkins off of the table, so Hope and Anna set about tucking them underneath plates. Shouting from the job site caught her attention, and Hope looked over her shoulder, certain that the booming voice she heard belonged to Brady.

“He sure is loud, ain’t he?” Anna said with a small smile on her face. “I think he’d rather be workin’ on his own farm today.”

Hope glanced over her shoulder, wondering why they were here, then. It looked like Brady and Judah might be having an argument, though Brady was gesturing wildly with each statement he made, and Judah was standing calmly, seeming to listen rationally. Hope wondered where the foreman was. Didn’t every barn raising have a dedicated foreman?

“He likes you, you know?”

Hope turned back to Anna, unsure of who she meant. “What’s that?”

“Brady. He might’ve been all gruff the other day when he had to help you from the train station. But he’s fond of you.”

“Oh.” Of course she meant Brady. Who else could she have meant? “I have a feelin’ he’s mostly bark and no bite, but he did speak highly of you.”

Once again, Anna let out a chuckle, like there was some sort of joke Hope wasn’t privy to. “Miss Tucker...”

“Hope.”

“Right, Hope.” Anna tucked the last napkin in and stood up taller. “Look over there and see how many men there are.” Hope turned and faced the barn again. There were at least twenty, probably more she couldn’t see. She shifted back around to face Anna. “And how many women are there?”

“Not nearly as many.”

“Right,” she said again. “And most of these women are married. So... Brady got this idea in his head when he was a little boy, ‘bout George’s age, I reckon, that he wasn’t gonna be the one with no wife.”

Hope remembered Brady had said something to her about that. “You don’t think he....” She wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence.

“It ain’t like he don’t love me. I’m sure he does. But it ain’t like some of the others. Like Melissa and her husband Horace.”

Glancing back over her shoulder, Hope wondered if most of the other men were unwed. She had noticed a disproportionate amount of single men around town, but she imagined that was just because their wives were home. Thinking that the West was mostly populated by single men was one thing. But McKinney hadn’t turned out to be the outlaw-ridden town she’d expected, so why would that aspect be the same?

“Listen, honey, you’re a beautiful woman,” Anna said, stepping in close where only Hope could hear. “There’s plenty of menfolk over there who’d like to take you for a twirl on the dance floor once that barn’s up. I just hope my Brady ain’t one of ‘em.”

Both of Hope’s eyebrows shot up. “I assure you, I have no interest in Mr. Howard.”

“I know you don’t. That don’t mean he ain’t got no interest in you. Don’t worry—I ain’t angry at you over bein’ purtier than me or havin’ a more attractive figure. I’m just tellin’ you to be careful, miss schoolteacher.” Anna pursed her lips together and strode away, leaving Hope with more questions than answers.

“You all right, Hope?” Caroline’s voice called Hope back to the table.

“I’m fine, thank you.” She wasn’t quite sure it was true, nor did she think the warning was just about Brady Howard and the number of single men for that matter. Hadn’t Doc mentioned Anna had made it known she thought Judah Lawless was good looking before she found out his past—or at least the rumors about him? Was that yet another warning about her students’ uncle?