Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) (5 page)

"Christie, how is your
head?" Garrett asked.

She looked up at him with a smile.
"Fine."

"Sure you’re still interested
in the job?"

"I still want the job."
She wouldn’t get far with the money in her pocket. "Other plans can
wait." Did he expect her to back out? "And besides, I feel I owe you
for such a wonderful meal." Pointedly, she let her glance rest on Hannah,
then returned it to Garrett.

"After the doctor's visit, if
he says it's okay, you can start tomorrow." He resumed eating.

"I don't need to go to the
doctor," she said firmly. "I'm fine." Christie put her head down
and concentrated on the last of her mashed potatoes. She had a feeling it was
only a matter of time before Garrett wanted to know more about her plans.
Information should flow both ways, but she wasn’t used to anyone prying into
her business. God knows it had become second nature to guard the truth about
herself and her past. A past she wasn’t particularly proud to claim.

Garrett was frankly amazed at the
amount of food Christie managed to consume, considering her slim build. His
suspicion that she hadn’t had a decent meal in a while might have been on the
mark and that troubled him. Plus, she seemed skittish, given the way she’d
barely stood for Ruth’s examination of the bump on her head.

He was curious about her arrival,
traveling over the road. It just didn’t fit in with his idea of conventional
travel. But then, she didn’t fit his idea of someone traveling alone with
nothing more than a duffel bag. Every instinct told him nothing added up where
she was concerned, and yet her unexpected arrival was similar to something
Judith would have done. Inwardly, Garrett sighed. Again, he was back to
comparing her with Judith.

During dinner he’d considered all
the alternatives as to where she could stay. With two men in the bunkhouse,
staying there was out of the question. There was a room over the main barn, but
right now that was in a major state of overhaul. He should have thought longer
on this when he’d decided to hire her, but given the circumstances, he hadn’t
felt like he’d had a lot of options. There was also the possibility that her
story wouldn’t check out. . ..

In all fairness, if she was
Judith’s sister she had a right to know Hannah. But at what cost?

Garrett studied her, the slim
nose, full lips, blue-veined lids fanned by thick, sooty lashes. Her skin was
light, almost translucent against her dark, dark hair. Judith had been blond
and darker skinned and almost on eye level with him.

"The days are pretty hot
now," Garrett remarked casually to Christie. "I’ll have one of the
girls set you up with a hat."

"Thank you, but I don’t wear
hats."

"I don’t need anyone being
hit by heat stroke. Not only would it be lost time, but I’ll be back to square
one and short on help."

"Of course. And I’m here to
work." She smiled. "So I’ll wear a hat."

"I know you have bingo
tonight, Ruth, so I’ll take care of the dishes." He knew from past
experience that Ruth would grumble for a week if she were late for bingo.

"I do have bingo but Sam has
been kind enough to offer me a ride, so I’m not dependent on Myrtle
tonight."

Sam? His foreman? Garrett hid his
surprise. He couldn’t picture Sam, a man of few words, in a bingo hall with his
tart-tongued housekeeper. Ruth had definite opinions on every topic imaginable
and never hesitated to express those opinions. She’d certainly never held back
sharing her wide and varied opinions with him.

"Hannah needs a bath and I’ll
be glad to see to that before I leave," Ruth added.

Garrett smiled inwardly. Ruth
might be cantankerous, but she loved Hannah like her own granddaughter. In that
respect alone, she was invaluable to him. She doubled as a sitter when he
couldn’t be there to take care of his daughter. Lately, he didn’t know what
type of mischief Hannah might be up to and at times he worried about his
childrearing skills. What if he made some drastic mistake that might ruin her?

"Come on Hannah, time for a
bath." Ruth urged Hannah from her chair.

Hannah rolled her eyes but did as
she was bid.

"Ruth, dinner was
delicious," Christie said.

Ruth acknowledged the compliment with
a slight incline of her head and left the room behind Hannah.

"It’s a good thing I won’t be
here long, I’d put on too much weight in a hurry." Christie sent a smile
in his direction.

Garrett lifted a brow and ran a
quick glance over her. "You’ve got a long way to go before you get
there," he observed dryly, then picked up his plate. Not really
appropriate conversation between employer and employee.

"I can stay in the cabin. I’m
not bothered by dust," she told him firmly.

"It’s only a one room cabin,
and usually the boys stay in there, but they’re out of town on business right
now." He sighed. "If it’s as bad as Ruth thinks it is, I may have to
rethink this."

He carried the plates to the
dishwasher and then leaned against the counter and crossed his arms.

"So, Christie, where are you
headed after stopping here?"

Busy stacking silverware, Christie
looked up with a guarded expression. "Nothing set in stone. Just
traveling. Maybe up north." At his questioning look, she elaborated.
"New York." She chewed her lip, a habit he had noticed before.
"Didn’t Judith ever talk about where she was from?"

"No."

Christie stared at him,
speculation in her eyes. "What would you say if I told you it’s probably
because of the way we grew up? We didn’t have a model childhood."

"I gathered that. Judith
carried a certain wariness about her too, but she didn’t care what people
thought. She didn’t always guard her words. You do."

"Yes."

"You don’t look much alike
either."

Christie stared down at the table.
Finally, she looked up at him. "Judith had a different father, but I don’t
know anything about him. My family was never real forthcoming about Judith. You
were married to her --"

"She wouldn’t talk about
anything related to her past." Garrett looked away from her, feeling the
stiffness in his shoulders and neck. "She insisted what mattered was the
present."

"I’ve often felt the same
way." Christie rose from the table and carried dirty dishes over to the
counter, then leaned back against it.

Garrett stared at the darkening
sky through the kitchen window. "By the time I met Judith, she’d already
been out on her own going on four years."

"She left home and I guess
she never looked back." Christie didn’t blame her. She moved back to the
table, picked up the remaining silverware and carried it to the dishwasher. She
proceeded to wipe the table surface with a damp cloth. "You knew my sister
a long time before you were married?"

"We met when she was nineteen
and then lost touch for a few years. When I got heavy into rodeo we crossed
paths again and started dating." Garrett leaned back against the counter
and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let’s talk about you a minute. Do
you have a job in New York? For some reason you don’t seem like a city girl to
me."

"Upstate New York. I took a
leave of absence. The job will be there if I want it when I return."

"One day you just decided to
come to Kentucky?" His surprise crept into his voice. "It’s strange
to me that you would just up and leave your life one day."

"That’s a simplified version
of it, but that’s what happened." She shrugged.

"Nothing’s that simple. You
seem more complicated than that."

She swept her hair back away from
her face, the gesture an indication of weariness. Her gaze connected with his.
"Haven’t you ever done anything impulsive?"

"Not in a long while."
He told himself he was crazy. He had too much work to be worrying about
Christie’s motives for showing up on his place, but he had to protect Hannah.
Right now she could fill in at the barn. He needed someone . . . she needed
work. Simple. He would be satisfied if she did a decent job in the barns.

"It was time to connect with
my sister. There’s nothing else I can say. Now if you’ll show me that cabin,
I’ll get settled in."

Resolutely, he turned to the door
and Christie followed him outside and across the yard. The small cabin nestled
up against tall evergreens about a hundred yards beyond the house. He pushed
open the door, flicked the light and immediately stepped back as a gray kitten
shot out the door.

"Albert." They both said
it together as the kitten disappeared in a flash. Garrett took one look inside
the cabin, swore, then closed the door.

"Forget it." He leaned
back against the door.

"Come on, it can’t be that
bad."

"I’m going to tear a strip
off whoever left a window open.  And yes, it can be that bad."

Garrett grabbed her shoulders and
turned her back the way they’d come, his expression grim. "You have to
stay in the house." He turned and Christie hurried to keep up and he
ignored her protests as they re-entered the kitchen.

"I’ll show you where you can
take care of your laundry. You’ll have your own room, which is just down the
hallway. It has a small bathroom with a shower. You can get settled and start
work tomorrow."

He moved across the kitchen and
hoisted her duffel bag onto his shoulder. "Are you sure I can't take you
into town to the doctor? I think it would be a really good idea."

"No, I'm fine."

"Follow me." He walked
to the opposite end of the kitchen and entered the walk-in pantry. Garrett
pushed open slatted doors on the right and indicated the washer and dryer
inside. "Laundry room." The washer and dryer sat side-by-side, along
with detergent and other essentials.

He turned and began to squeeze by
Christie, thought better of it and indicated she should go first. Looking
slightly flustered, she walked quickly back into the kitchen.

Garrett led the way back into the
kitchen and then through the open archway into the hallway. "The living
room is through here. There’s a terrace off the living room through the glass
doors." He continued down the corridor. "Bedrooms are at the end of
this corridor."

"Oh, but. . ." Christie
looked quickly into the living room, then hurried after him. "I know you
said housing was limited, but why couldn’t I sleep in one of the bunkhouses, if
you have one."

"I do have one and you can’t
sleep there," he said flatly.

"But I didn’t expect --
"

Garrett dropped the bag inside the
doorway of the spare bedroom and faced her. He knew his voice was hard but
there wasn’t anything he could do about it. "Whatever you might expect or
want, Christie, you can’t share a bunkhouse with my men, as much as they’d
probably enjoy that. The other women who work here all live in town. Right now
there’s nowhere else. Your room isn’t fancy, but you should find it comfortable
and fairly private." Garrett knew he was taking a leap of faith by
allowing her to stay in the house. "There’s no other options."

Christie looked inside the room.
"I’ve been on the road awhile and this looks wonderful." She directed
a smile at him. "Thank you. You’re really very kind."

"No, I’m not," he said,
unaccountably annoyed. "I’m too busy to be kind. I’m responsible for a lot
of people and countless valuable horses. I will be checking you out."

"I expect nothing less."

"What this job means to you
is I expect a fair day’s work." Garrett figured that should set her
straight. He had never been called kind in his life.

"Whatever you say," she
said softly.

Garrett had a sinking sensation as
his gut knotted. Her smile indicated she didn’t believe him. He backed up a
step, questioning the wisdom of letting this woman stay in his house. He also
knew it was done. He never went back on his word.

###

Garrett jerked awake, tension
radiating down his neck as he quickly looked around. Reassured by the sight of
Hannah sound asleep on her white bear rug on the living room floor, he rubbed
his palm over his face, shaking off the remnants of a bad dream. The incident
with Christie and Hannah today must have upset him more than he’d realized. He
hadn’t had a dream about the car accident in six months or better. Judith . . .
her white dress splashed with blood. Her driving had been reckless and she’d
taken chances she shouldn’t have.

Garrett glanced at his wristwatch.
It was way past Hannah’s bedtime. It was his fault she’d gotten into the habit
of staying up late while he went over his paperwork. It was easier than dealing
with her crying fits and temper tantrums. In truth, Garrett had needed to see
her at night in the months following Judith’s accident. It was a way of
reassuring himself that Hannah was okay. Except that now, her late nights were
becoming a problem he had to deal with.

Hannah wore a long pink nightgown,
her favorite color of the moment, and a small heel poked out from beneath the
fabric. Garrett leaned down to brush wisps of baby fine hair back from her
face. He was thankful every day that Hannah had survived the car crash, but he
had to figure out a way to address her behavior problems.

In the beginning it had been easy
to think himself in love with Judith, but the problems from her past had helped
to rip them apart. It hadn’t been all her fault, but he’d been so busy trying
to get his business off the ground it had left little time for Judith and her
demands. Her leaving had almost been a relief, but not her death. Never that.
And now he had to deal with her sister. Somehow, he knew Christie really was
her sister, but he still had to be one hundred percent sure.

"I'm leaving and you're not
stopping me, Garrett!" Judith’s voice echoed in his head. There’d been a
lot of angry words that last day. Too many.