Her Heart's Desire (7 page)

As a last minute decision, she stepped
back in the entryway and examined her reflection in the mirror. Her
hair was pulled back into a stylish bun, and several strands of
blond hair curled nicely against her face. Her broach rested on the
high-neck collar of her light blue dress which swished at her
ankles. She pinched her cheeks to bring more color to them, though
her time in the kitchen probably made them rosy enough as it was.
But a little bit more couldn’t hurt. She took another deep breath
and smiled. There. This was as good as she was going to
get.

She turned back to the front door and
heard someone snicker. She looked at Joel who stood in the hallway
and crossed his arms. “You’re not doing this to make Ethel Mae take
an interest in Rick Jaimeson. You’re doing this because you want
him for yourself.”

She bit her tongue so she wouldn’t
tell the little weasel what he could do with his observation. Right
now she was in a precarious position. Her little brother just found
out what she hoped he wouldn’t, and if she wasn’t careful, he’d be
sure to slip in snide little comments during supper to embarrass
her. Deciding to play it nice, she clasped her hands in front of
her and smiled. “You know, Joel, Ma made enough cherry pies where
you can get one more slice than anyone else. I’ll see to it you get
it if you pretend you didn’t just see me by the mirror over
there.”

He grimaced. “You don’t play
fair.”

“
I’m not interested in
playing fair. I’m interested in keeping you quiet. So what do you
say? Mum’s the word?”

Looking as if he was in unbelievable
pain, he squeaked out a “Alright” and, shoulders slumped, headed
for the kitchen.

She closed her eyes and prayed her
tactic worked. Opening them, she put on her best smile and headed
out the front door.

Chapter Five

During the supper, Sally’s gaze kept
darting between Joel and Tom to see if Joel would send any secret
messages to his older brother, but Joel seemed to be on his best
behavior. Allowing herself to relax a bit, she focused on the
conversation. Her father was currently telling Rick about the
planting season.

Sitting beside her, Rick asked, “You
plant corn and beans then?”

“
Yes. We alternate crops on
the land, though,” her father replied as she took a bite of
meatloaf and checked Joel who was drinking milk. “One year, we’ll
plant corn on one section of land and the next, we’ll plant beans
on it.”

Rick took a forkful of mashed potatoes
and lifted it toward his mouth. “What’s the benefit to doing it
that way?”

Her father answered his question as
Rick ate the food, but Sally had heard it all before and tuned it
out. She wondered if this was boring Rick. She didn’t want Rick to
be bored because if he was, he might not come back. Taking her eyes
off of Joel, she turned her attention to Rick who was nodding and
smiling. She tried to determine if he was just being polite or if
he was really interested in the conversation.

“
Enough about me,” her
father said. “Sally tells us you’re a judge.”

Wiping his mouth with the cloth napkin
that had been in his lap, he nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ve been working
at the courthouse for two months now.”

“
How do you like it?” her
mother spoke up, suddenly taking an interest in the
conversation.

Sally hid her smile. Her mother had
heard enough of farm talk as well and welcomed the change in topic.
As Rick answered her mother, Sally ate more food. She caught Joel
snickering, but he wasn’t looking at her or Rick. Narrowing her
eyes, she realized that Tom was in his direct vision. Then Tom’s
gaze shifted Sally’s way, and Sally decided Joel wouldn’t be having
the extra slice of pie.

She should have known. Joel wouldn’t
be able to control himself. As soon as he realized Sally was sweet
on Rick, he just couldn’t resist telling Tom. Sure, he tried. But
he was only nine, and apparently nine-year-olds had only a smidgen
of restraint. Plus, he was a brother, and brothers were more
difficult to live with than sisters. Well, except for David. David
did a good job of minding his own business. Even now, he was paying
attention to his meal instead of eyeing her and Rick the way Joel
and Tom were. Alright. So not all brothers were bad. Why couldn’t
all brothers be like him?

“
I hope you’re finding that
folk out here are nice to newcomers,” her father said after Rick
told them about leaving Vermont to work in Omaha.

Rick picked up his glass of lemonade.
“I am. The people here are great. They go out of their way to help
others. Sally’s been one of the nicest people I’ve met so
far.”

At the mention of her name, Sally’s
face flushed. Joel raised his eyebrows and snickered as he looked
at Tom who gave Joel a knowing look back. Jenny, who sat across
from Sally, noticed the exchange between Joel and Tom. She looked
over at Sally and shot her a silent message of sympathy. So, Jenny
knew that Joel and Tom were onto her and were trying their best not
to come out and say anything while their parents were in the room.
Sally could only pray they’d have to run off to do evening chores
as soon as supper was over. The last thing she needed was for them
to embarrass her while she talked to Rick in the parlor or on the
porch.

“
Sally’s never had trouble
making friends,” her mother said. “Why, when she was a little girl,
she’d go up to strangers, say her name, and ask them who they were.
She’s good at remembering names and knowing who’s who,
too.”

Sally wasn’t sure what to think of the
endorsement her mother just gave her but knew her mother meant well
so she gave her a smile to express her thanks.

“
I wish I could say that
was my strength,” Rick began as he glanced in Sally’s direction,
“but I’m afraid I’m too shy to ever do that.”

With a shrug, Sally said, “A stranger
is a friend you haven’t met yet.”

“
You have a gift I don’t.”
Rick got the last piece of meatloaf on his plate with his fork.
“It’s an admirable trait.” Shifting his gaze from her father to her
mother, he added, “I appreciate everything Sally’s done to welcome
me to Omaha.”

Tom wiggled his eyebrows at Sally.
Rolling her eyes, she decided to ignore him. Finally, her mother
went to get dessert and Sally offered to help her. She didn’t want
to leave Rick’s side, but she was tired of all the “subtle” hints
Joel and Tom kept giving her now that they knew she fancied
Rick.

While she and her mother were in the
kitchen, she whispered, “What do you think of Rick?”

The older woman chuckled. “He’s a very
nice man.”

“
And handsome, too. Don’t
you think?”

“
Yes, he is
attractive.”

“
And smart.”

Amused, her mother shook her head.
“You really do like him, don’t you?”

Her eyebrows furrowed, Sally asked,
“Is it that obvious? Do you think Rick knows? Joel knows. He
figured it out before Rick got here, and now Tom knows because Joel
kept giving him not-so-subtle looks during the meal.”

“
I don’t know if Rick
knows, but yes, I’ve noticed what Joel and Tom are doing. I plan to
send them out to do the evening chores so they shouldn’t bother you
and Rick.”

With a sigh of relief, Sally hugged
her mother. “You understand me so well.”

“
When I was your age, I had
to contend with a younger brother who acted like Tom and
Joel.”

“
As much as I feel sorry
for what you went through, I’m glad you did so that you understand
me.”

Giggling, her mother handed her some
plates with pie on them. “Here you go.”

Sally took the pies to the dining
room, followed shortly by her mother. When she sat next to Rick,
Joel motioned to his plate which didn’t have an extra slice of pie
on it, so she mouthed, “You told Tom.”

He rolled his eyes but settled for his
one slice when their mother shot him a warning look.

Satisfied, she turned to her slice and
glanced at David who got the two slices since he was the only
brother who hadn’t given her any grief.

After the meal was over, her mother
nodded to Joel and Tom. “You two go on and help your father with
the evening chores.”

Grunting, Joel asked, “But what about
Dave?”

“
Dave can go out and ride
his horse,” she replied.

“
Ride his horse?” Joel
glanced at a surprised David and shook his head. “You mean, he gets
to have fun?”

“
Yes. Now don’t argue with
me, young man. You’ve been finding excuses to get out of working
all day. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. It’ll do you good to put
your nose to the grindstone.”

“
Well, I didn’t slack off
today,” Tom argued.

“
You can make sure Joel
does his work,” she replied.

Tom grimaced. “What? Why are you
punishing me? I have better things to do than make sure he cleans
out the stalls.”

“
Would you rather be the
one cleaning them?” their father spoke up.

Shoulders slumped, he shook his
head.

“
Good. That settles it.”
Their mother stood up and started collecting the dishes. “Jenny,
you’ll help me, and Sally, go on and show Rick the land. He’s never
been on a farm and might like a tour.”

“
That would be nice,” Rick
said, turning his attention to Sally.

Avoiding eye contact with Joel and
Tom, Sally got up with Rick and led him out of the dining room.
What a relief it was to be away from those two! Now she didn’t have
to wonder if they’d slip in some comment about how she wanted to
marry Rick. Once she and Rick stepped out the front door, she
cleared her throat. “What do you want to see first?”

“
I don’t know. What is the
most interesting thing to see?”

The porch swing where we
can sit and watch the sunset and you can enjoy the evening with me,
as you said you wanted to when we were at Ethel Mae’s.
But they’d only been pretending so he could make
Ethel Mae jealous, so it wouldn’t do to suggest such a
thing.

Turning her attention to the barn,
Sally was about to propose they see it before her brothers could go
out there. As she opened her mouth to speak, Joel burst out the
front door, holding something she was sure belonged to Tom.
Shooting Rick a pointed look as Joel ran behind the house, she
said, “That was Joel stealing something of Tom’s.”

At that moment, Tom rushed out the
door. “You just wait, Joel! When I get my hands on you, I’m going
to—” He glanced at them and chuckled. “Kids.” Then he darted down
the porch steps.

“
I think I’m beginning to
understand what you mean about your brothers when we were at Ethel
Mae’s,” Rick said, humor in his voice.

Relieved he had a sense of humor, she
relaxed. “Yes, they do this to each other all the time. It’s like
they can’t help themselves.”

“
I notice your other
brother—David, is it?—doesn’t seem to join in their
fun.”

Thinking it odd he referred to Tom and
Joel’s antics as “fun”, she said, “David’s always been more
serious.” Which she actually preferred since he didn’t bother her.
“I should add that I call him David. Everyone else calls him Dave.
We had a race and I won, so I get to call him David. I like the
name David more than Dave, though everyone else prefers Dave. Dave
likes it better because he says it sounds better.”

“
Oh, then I should call him
Dave because I didn’t win the race.”

“
Well, you could challenge
him to a race and hope you’ll win. He’s only fourteen. I’m sure
you’ll win.”

He chuckled. “As tempting as that is,
I gave up my racing days before I came to Omaha.”

She smiled and motioned to
the barn. “Want to see it? Besides the hen house and storage shed,
I’m afraid it’s the most interesting thing we have, unless you like
to look at the land around us.”
Then we
could sit on the porch swing because that’s where we can get the
best view.

“
I’d like to see the
barn.”

For a moment, she wondered if he’d
want to sit with her if she was Ethel Mae but reminded herself
that, in time, he would suggest they sit and look out at the land
together. Of course, then he’d slip his arms around her shoulders
and draw her close. And though he’d start by looking at the land,
his attention would soon go to her, and only her. He’d tell her how
glad he was to be with her instead of Ethel Mae and then he’d kiss
her. She sighed. She could almost feel his lips on hers.

“
Sally?”

Blinking, she turned her attention
back to Rick who was watching her.

“
I’m sorry. What did you
say?” she asked.

He pointed to the barn. “I said I’d
like to see the barn first.”

“
Oh, oh yes!” Her cheeks
growing warm from embarrassment, she headed down the porch steps
with him. She could only pray he didn’t know what had been going
through her mind. “It’s right this way.”

With a chuckle, he said, “I kind of
figured that.”