Rescue Me (Colorado Blues)
Read Rescue Me (Colorado Blues) Online
Authors: Ann B Harrison
Rescue
Me
A
Colorado Blues Story
Ann
B. Harrison
Text
Copyright © 2015 Ann B. Harrison
All
Rights Reserved
ONE
“You
could do a lot worse you know.”
Rory
Watson listened to his brother speaking, doubt in his mind as he stood at the
fence looking at the shambles that remained of an old ranch cottage. He wondered
if Chance had taken more of a knock to the head than they’d thought when Terror
the bull charged him a few weeks ago.
“It’s
got great bones and I’d have to call that character, the way it’s looking.” He pointed
at the front porch and the elegant lean it had over the doorway, shading the
rotting boards on the porch. “Seriously, it would clean up real good. There’s
plenty of land so you’ll never feel hemmed in. The house is big enough for you
and if you get hitched again and want a whole tribe of kids, you can add on.”
“You
make it sound so easy.” The renovation would no doubt be the easiest part. He
wasn’t about to tell his brother that and start yet another long drawn out
conversation around his deceased wife and lonely existence.
“I
thought you were ready to let go and start living again.” Chance directed his
gaze to the old fence and picked at the petals of the pale pink rose rambling
along the top wire.
“I
am. Or at least I think I am. Some days it feels right, some days not so much.”
He looked at the old house again and pushed open the gate, careful not to let
it fall from its rusty hinges. To lower the risk, he leaned it back against the
rickety picket fence. The path up to the porch was set with old, flat river
stones which he could barely make out among the tall weeds that were once the
front patch of lawn.
He
stepped up onto the porch, and the dry timber moved precariously under his
weight. Rory glanced at his brother, still not convinced. “Needs a heap of
work.”
“Sure
it does. That’s why you’re getting it so damned cheap.” Chance rested his boot
on the top step and leaned on the porch post. “We can all hook in and have
working bees. Have this place looking like new in no time. Besides, it’s not as
if you’re snowed under on your days off, right?”
Rory
turned and glanced at him, surprised at his brother’s optimism. “Right.” He
couldn’t keep the disbelief from his voice. The setting was sure pretty though.
Nestled in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, it’s two hundred acres ran along
the edge of the Fall River, the forest on the opposite bank. The other bonus
was the closeness to town and to Chance’s ranch. Tyson, their younger brother,
lived just down the hill too. He could still commute to work as Estes Park town
sheriff and get away from it all on his own place when he was off duty.
The
old house sat empty for the last twenty odd years and it showed in the cloak of
neglect that shrouded the whole place. The windows were mostly intact, although
a few panes of glass were broken. Paint had peeled from some of the timber
boards, giving the house an unloved look. Down past the house, almost hidden
under a creeper threatening to pull it to the ground, stood an old barn. It
looked sturdy enough on further inspection, as did the stables attached to one
side. He could clean them up easy enough and so long as the roof was safe, he
would be happy. It’d be nice to have his own horse.
There
was a pig pen and a chicken coop, both filled with someone else’s rubbish and
years worth of dead and decayed leaf litter. What appeared to be an old orchard
was knee high in weeds and creepers covering mostly unidentified fruit trees.
Rory’s
shoulders sank at the thought of cleaning the old place up while trying to hold
down his demanding job in town. “I can’t live in that house like that.”
“I
don’t expect you to. Get it fixed up before you move in. It probably needs
rewiring and new plumbing anyway. You have a home with us for as long as you
like; you know that. Hell, if you didn’t stay you know I’d only get an earful from
Callie. She loves having you around. I think she misses her sisters in
Australia more than she lets on.”
“Are
you sure I’m not in the way?” He looked at his brother for any sign of
discontent.
“Of
course not. I wouldn’t care if you stayed there forever, but you said you
wanted your own place, so I figured you might like to see this one.” Chance
stepped up onto the porch and pushed open the door. He ducked his head when a
swallow came flying out. “Sheesh, just about took ten years off my life. Wonder
what other wildlife is living in here?”
“Let
me go first. I’ll do my best to save you from anything wild.” Rory laughed and walked
past his older brother. The inside of the house was dark although they could
make out the different rooms. Old furniture was still piled up along with
scattered rubbish on the floors. It looked as though whoever lived there last
had just picked up their keys and walked out one day.
“This
is going to take some work.”
“Not
like you got much else to do besides work is there? You could always bull doze
it down and start fresh. Be a shame though, there’s bound to be some history
here.”
Rory
glanced back at Chance, his left eyebrow raised in question. He wasn’t quite
ready to let on about the ad he’d placed in the paper looking for a wife. If
Chance could do it and find someone as nice as Callie, there was hope for Rory.
Truth be told, it was the only reason he would contemplate doing something so
stupid. It’d worked like magic for Chance and Callie, it might just work for
him too. He was waiting for someone to answer and then he’d make up his mind
definitely if he was going to go ahead with it. There was always the option to
opt out if he got cold feet.
He’d
watched how Callie and Chance fit together as husband and wife and the hole in
his heart yearned to be filled with that kind of love and laughter again. Being
faithful to his dead wife’s memory could only keep him warm for so long, and
that time was quickly fading away. Rory wanted a flesh and blood wife in his
bed, not a dream or a trip down memory lane.
From
the time he’d met Callie, he’d been impressed with her go forth attitude. Down
on her luck after her parents were killed in a vehicle accident, she’d answered
an advert Chance had placed in a magazine and travelled half way around the
world to marry a man she’d never met.
It
worked for them, it could work for him too if he was half as lucky. He prayed
he was because the time was right for change.
“Come
on, don’t look at me like that. You know you can do this. Might get you out of
the doldrums too. Give you a new purpose in life. Then you could go about
finding yourself a wife.”
***
Gina
Taylor drove toward the small town in Colorado, desperately praying for her gas
not to run out before she could get to the small cottage that was her only hope
of a decent future. Her baby boy, Fisher, slept peacefully in his car seat in
the back of the station wagon with bags piled up around him, chubby little
hands gripped onto his battered toy dog.
It’d
been a long arduous trip from San Francisco to where she was now and one she
didn’t want to make again anytime soon. They’d only stopped for toilet breaks
and food along the drive just to stretch her legs. The two day trip had been
hard, and Gina didn’t have the money for a hotel on the way. She wanted to get
to her destination and see if she’d made the worst decision of her life or by
some slim chance, the very best. It’d been rash to take this man on his word
but she had no choice. Her savings had run dry. The part time job had come to
an end along with her ability to pay rent on the overpriced rooms in the tumbled
down shack she’d called home.
It
was time for drastic measures and this would have to be the most outrageous
thing she’d done ever. Even deciding to have Fisher and bring him up on her own
hadn’t given her such a bad case of nerves as this trip had. Every mile she
covered, Gina changed her mind. Did she do the right thing? Could this be the
worst decision ever? Could she turn around and go back to nothing? She glanced
in the mirror as she heard movement from the back seat. Fisher was stirring
which meant he would need a diaper change and a drink so another stop,
hopefully the last, was on the cards.
They
were just coming into the small town of Estes Park, Colorado, population 10,
541.
Plus the two of us, hopefully if things go to plan.
She was almost
at the address he’d given her. Another half an hour or so and they would come
face to face with their future. It was too late to back out now even if she
could. Gina had made up her mind when she heard him speak over the phone after
making initial contact through the mail, even after the grainy photo he sent
made her heart buzz. He was very good looking and she wondered again why he
would advertise for a wife rather than go the usual dating scene.
There
had to be more to this man than he shared over the phone. The deep rich sound
of his voice lured her into another time and place. One where she felt safe and
secure. As a child, she’d sit for hours listening to her father speak in his
slow deep southern drawl. A voice that could easily lull her to sleep if she was
fretting.
Her
future husband possessed the same voice. How incredibly risky to take on a man
by the sound of that alone. She didn’t know what her father would think of it
if he could see her now. In all reality, if her father was alive, she wouldn’t
be in this position. He would have taken her in as soon as he’d found out her
loser boyfriend was dead and she was pregnant, alone, and with no money. Truth
be told, he would probably have insisted she move back home as soon as she
found out she was pregnant because he would have cared for her unlike the man
who impregnated her.
Gina
pulled the car over at the first safe spot she came to. A small park set back
from the road with a playground and toilets appeared almost empty apart from an
old lady sitting on the bench feeding the birds. Gina stopped the car, got out,
and opened the back door just as her baby blinked his big brown eyes wide and
smiled at her.
“Mama,
up.” Fisher held out his arms and Gina undid the straps releasing the little
boy from his car seat. She hooked him up on her hip and slammed the door before
walking into the park. In a spot of sunshine, she crouched down on the grass
and sat with her son on her lap watching the birds flutter around the old woman
throwing bread crumbs to her feathered friends.
Fisher
stood up and without letting go of his toy dog, tottered over to the birds.
They scattered and flew a short distance to the other side of the old lady. His
face screwed up and he started to cry.
“Here,
you feed them and they’ll come back.” The lady smiled and encouraged him to
take the bread she held out. Gina sat and watched as her son was shown the best
way to feed the noisy sparrows. When he threw the bread the little birds came
back and he squealed in delight. Once the bread was all gone, the birds flew
away, most of them into the trees in the park.
“Thank
you for being so kind to him.” Gina stood and walked to get her baby boy.
“Now
what the world be if kindness disappeared? He’s a cute little thing. You
passing through are you?” Her dark eyes latched onto Gina as she waited for an
answer.
“Uh,
no. Actually I’m moving to town.”
“Well
that’s good to hear. We might see you again, little one.” The old lady ruffled
Fisher’s blond curls and waved a frail hand as she walked away, leaning on a cane
with each step she took.
“Let’s
get you cleaned up, my love, and find our new home.” She scooped her baby up
and hurried back to the car to get a clean diaper and a drink. When they were
done, she clipped him back into the car seat for the final leg of the journey. Gina
checked the address again before turning back onto the road. She glanced at the
businesses as they drove through town. The quaint little shops were all bunched
together with plenty of parking out front. They looked like they were still lost
in another time where the pace of life was easier and less hurried.
The
sheriff’s truck was parked on the corner of the main street. The building sat opposite
a mechanics garage and gas station. She looked at her gas gauge and grimaced. Once
it hit the empty mark, Gina estimated she could travel another ten to fifteen
miles before her car came to a grinding halt. If she kept her speed steady and
didn’t have to stop again, they might just make it.
A
sign post with a lean on it marked the road she had to take and she sucked in a
big breath before turning in. The butterflies in her stomach threatened to rise
up and choke her. What if he was a creepy serial killer type? How was she going
to sleep at night until she got to know what he was like? She should never have
gone along with this crazy idea of mail order brides. So what if statistics
proved that the majority of arranged marriages lasted longer than the heady
rush of love and lust most people gave in to.
She
had no choice but to believe the tales he’d told her over the phone. Desperate
to have a home for herself and her baby, Gina had chosen to accept everything
he said at face value. If she’d asked her boss to use the computer and Google
her prospective husband, he probably would have deducted her wages and that
wasn’t feasible right now
. It will all work out, it has to.
She
glanced in the rear vision mirror and watched as Fisher talked to his dog, the
jumble of words going a short way to soothe her frazzled nerves. It was for the
little cherub in the back seat that she had packed everything they owned into the
station wagon and driven overland to a place she’d never been before to make a
new life.