“You ate woman-cooked food at the end of the cattle drive.” Trace didn’t know why he was correcting Utah. He agreed. It was a mighty fine sound.
They were hustling when they walked into the house and smelled heaven.
Utah poked Trace in the back so hard he almost stumbled forward. But no words or pokes were needed, at least not between the men.
But words were definitely needed for the women.
“You made ham and potatoes.” Trace could barely hold himself back from diving into the food. “This looks delicious. Better than any food that has ever appeared on this ranch.”
Which wasn’t much of a compliment considering Trace’s cooking skills. He needed a better compliment.
He washed up, then was afraid his dash toward the food was flat-out embarrassing, but he couldn’t stop himself.
Gwen set the biscuits on the small table. Everyone would need to take a plate and sit on the beds. Trace figured he’d better give Gwen and Deb and the little ones his bed to sit on. They needed to build furniture. Funny, he’d never had such a thought until now.
Hoofbeats thundered outside. Adam was back. It’d taken him just over six hours and that was close to a record.
Trace should have gone out to help, but he had a plateful of food and honestly he just could not make himself put it down. And the flattery from Utah, not to mention from him, almost drowned out the sound of a rider, so he decided to pretend like he hadn’t heard anything.
He and Utah all sat on the bed farthest from the women. It seemed proper. He really did need more furniture. Of course, the cabin he was building needed walls and a roof even more, so he had to get that finished first.
Trace saw one plate left, and Gwen was chopping food up on it in such small bites he figured it was for the children. No plate for Adam, then, and none for the women who’d made the feast.
Eating fast, and he didn’t mind doing that one bit, Trace cleared his plate and went to the sink to wash it up for Adam.
“I’ll do the dishes.” Deb came and for a second looked to be preparing to wrestle him for the plate. He kinda hoped she would.
But she saw him smile at her, and he had no idea what was in that smile, but she backed up and crossed her arms, tapping her toe. Then she sniffed at him and turned back to the hearth, dropped to her knees, and started working over the fire.
Adam swung the door open. Trace saw his horse and the packhorse just outside the door. Both had a full load on their backs. They didn’t need many supplies; they’d just stocked up in Sacramento.
“Help me unpack the—” He froze like he was underwater in January in Lake Tahoe as Deb rose from the fireplace. “Is . . . is that . . . ? Ma’am . . . Miss Deb, is that . . . pie?”
Deb turned, pie in hand—absolutely a pie.
Trace gripped his clean dripping-wet plate, unwilling now to let Adam use it for his meal.
“I’d say the meal was a success.” Gwen chuckled a bit, then broke out laughing.
“I’m glad Adam had the sense to mention he bought a few more plates. I thought there might be a fistfight.” Deb looked at Gwen’s pink cheeks and suspected hers were a match. She and Gwen didn’t look much alike, but they both blushed at similar things.
And this wasn’t even a blush—it was delight. “Feeding those men made me feel better than anything I’ve ever done. Far better than the time I wrote that story about the burned-down general store, and folks came in and there was a building day and money donated to restock their shelves. And that made me feel very good.”
“And look at the fabric.” Gwen nodded at the stack in all colors and fabrics teetering on one of the beds. “We need to hem some flannel for diapers as soon as we can.”
Gwen rocked Ronnie by standing up and swaying. There was certainly no such thing as a rocking chair. Deb worked quietly shaping bread loaves so that Gwen could get the boy settled. Maddie Sue had crawled into bed and gone to sleep without a fuss. The children were exhausted after yesterday’s long ride. They’d slept well through the night and looked to be settling in for a good nap.
Deb finished with the loaves as Gwen lay Ronnie down to sleep in his own bed. The boy tended to kick in his sleep, and both children slept better if they were apart.
The chopping went on. Gwen went to the door and opened it a few inches. “They’ve started on the walls, Deb. I can see where the cabin will be. I can’t believe they’re building a cabin for us.”
Deb washed the flour off her hands and took the towel with her to the door to peek out. She enjoyed the sight of hardworking men for a few more minutes. There was a nice stack of logs, but more trees were being felled. Adam was out of sight, his ax ringing out at a steady pace.
“Let’s get the supplies Adam bought stowed and see about more diapers, then turn our attention to supper.”
“I’m going to have to make both of us a dress,” Gwen said. “We have to have at least one change of clothes. We honestly need nightgowns, too.”
“I sent enough money along to pay for this cloth, though I didn’t expect to get quite so much. We can use it for ourselves. I had one extra dress for Maddie Sue and a pair of overalls for Ronnie, but they need more than that.”
“Where’d you get them?” Gwen asked.
“I’d stuck them in my satchel earlier when we were walking through those woods. I often keep
