Chapter 9

I lay beside Lisa Marie until I was certain she was sound asleep, then I carefully got out of bed and slipped out of the bedroom so I didn't disturb her. After virtually tiptoing downstairs, I picked up the telephone and called home. First, I tried to get through to Pam and Joe to let them know about Lisa-Marie, but there was no answer there, so I dialled Mom and Dad's number.

"Hi Mom, it's Tom." I said when she answered. "How is the weather down there on the flatlands?"

"Oh Tom, it's a good thing you called, I was worried. I hope you and Lisa-Marie have stayed on your farm. The radio is warning people to stay off of the roads." She answered.

"Oh, I hadn't heard the warning about the roads yet, but I haven't been listening to the radio for a while. We're fine and we aren't going to try to drive down to school today." I was thinking fast. "I was trying to get through to Pam earlier and there was no answer, do you know what's going on?"

"Oh, they're over here helping us. The storm blew over part of the wind break down at the main cattle pens and we were all out there moving the cattle to the smaller pens for protection." She explained. "You're lucky you caught me, I was only in the house to get some supplies to treat a cow that got injured by flying debris. We're missing your help right now."

"Sorry I'm not there to help and I won't hold you up, but perhaps you could get Pam to call me later?"

"Certainly. Is it something important?"

"Nothing that won't wait Mom, and nothing earth shattering either. I think I should talk to Pam before saying anything to anyone else though."

"All right, be secretive then." She sighed. "Now I should run, I can call you later if you want."

"Okay Mom, that's fine. Bye for now."

I hung up the phone and then pulled out my wallet and dug out the card for the car salesman I had talked to during the week. I looked at it and hesitated about calling him to warn him that I probably wouldn't make the appointment we had made for the next evening, then decided to wait. After all the storm might blow out overnight, then I could probably make it through to the school the next day and still meet with him and his cohorts.

"That's a very deep frown." Fran said quietly, making me jump.

"Oh, I didn't see you come up behind me." I laughed to relieve my own embarrassment for reacting. "I was just trying to let people know that I don't think I'm going anywhere today."

"Good idea." She nodded. "I wouldn't have disturbed you, but I was wondering if Lisa-Marie was resting easily."

"Yes, it only took moments before she seemed to drop right into a sound sleep."

"That's good. I'm making up a few small packets of herbs in the kitchen, each one just enough for an individual cup of tea. The idea being that if she awakens and is upset during the night, all that anyone would need to do would be to boil water and steep the herbs." She smiled. "I was just checking the immediate results of how she was doing before I went ahead with the idea since each individual person reacts differently to any kind of treatment."

"Are you saying that something could have gone wrong?" I frowned.

"Oh no, I wouldn't expect that, but it doesn't hurt to check that I made the right choices for the herbs that will help her to feel better."

"Sorry, I guess my worrying isn't helping matters, is it."

"I doubt if you can help worrying." She chuckled softly, then to my surprise she hugged me.

"I think it's your nature to worry about your friends and lovers." She murmured softly in my ear as her body moulded to mine.

I suppose I mumbled something, and she chuckled again. I could hardly believe that a woman who was almost sixty could make me react as she did and I knew she must be feeling my arousal. In the position we were in, there was no way I could hide the swelling of the erection that her body brought on. She moved slightly, then as she started to pull away her lips brushed mine for an instant.

"Be good." She laughed softly. "I'm your sweet little old auntie remember? Besides I'm far too old to join your harem, although your reaction is very complimentary for an old woman like me."

Perhaps I blushed, because she broke into soft laughter and then patted me on the shoulder gently.

"All right Tiger, I'll quit teasing. Let's go to the kitchen and make up those packages of herbs." She laughed again.

With Andy and me to help, she made up several different small packages of prepared herbs, enough for a week for Lisa-Marie, but also enough for both Andy and me. When Andy and I questioned her about that, she laughed knowingly.

"I thought you'd ask. What I would like is to have you try these for a week or two. There's certainly nothing in them to harm you and I'd like you to have you see if you get any benefit from them."

"Do you see problems that we're having that we don't notice?" Andy asked.

"Well, Tom is worried about several things that he can't change himself, so it's needless worry and I've given him herbs that will help him to relax, but still think straight. Then too since he's going to be going to school, I've given him one packet for each day that will help him overcome his loneliness and sexual frustration at night to let him sleep easily."

"Oh, I see." Andy giggled. "Well, what about me? What do I need?"

"Well, since you're pregnant, I've mixed a mild treatment that should prevent morning sickness, as well as one to calm and relax your tensions. Then too, since you've just gone through a bad breakup, I've added another herb that's supposed to help prevent heartache."

"You can forget that one." Andy laughed almost viciously. "Maybe you should add one to calm my anger though. If I caught that son of a bitch right now, I'd kick him where it hurts. It's a good thing he won't be around."

"Well, it should help with that too." Fran smiled.

After that brief explanation about each of our individual packets of herbs, she began to talk about the various herbs, explaining what each one was and what it was supposed to do. She even had some small booklets tucked into one corner of her basket that explained the same things in detail, so she gave both Andy and me a copy.

Anything further she was going to say was interrupted when I happened to look out the kitchen window and saw Willy walking up the road. I glanced at my watch and realising it was almost chore time, I decided I'd go help him. I was heading for the door to put on my cold weather clothes when the phone rang, so I answered that on the way.

It was Pam wanting to know why I'd wanted her to call. I spoke to her for several minutes trying to explain about Lisa-Marie. At first Pam sounded quite worried, but when I mentioned that Fran was with us and had started to treat Lisa-Marie with herbs, she seemed to calm down. I didn't realise it, but I'm sure they knew each other, because once I'd mentioned Fran's name, Pam wanted to talk to her. Using the chores and her desire to talk to Fran as an excuse, I said my goodbye's and passed the phone to Fran, then went to get dressed so I could go help Willy.

It was cold outside and even after walking the short distance to the barn, I was glad to get out of the wind and the cold.

"Hey Will, need some help?"

"Oh! Hi Tom. I think I can handle it easily enough, but I won't turn down the company." He grinned at me. "I see you've got a visitor."

"Yeah, Fran Lowther." I grinned back. "It was your sister's idea."

"What?"

"It's a long story, but to make it short, Lisa-Marie has a hard time with her periods and she's been taking drugs to help. Andy was telling me that Fran Lowther could help her with herbs. Since I'm all for using natural methods of medication if possible, Andy and I drove down to see Fran and she followed us back here."

"Umm, do you know about the rumours about Mrs. Lowther and Silas?" He looked at me like he was about to tell me bad news.

"Yes." I laughed. "Actually, I know the truth, not the rumour, directly from the horse's mouth. If you want to know about it, just ask Fran, she's not at all bashful about talking about that. Now, I have a tidbit of news for you, do you know where Fred is?"

"No!" He dropped the bale of hay he was carrying and spun to face me. "Where is the prick?"

"Toronto." I grinned.

"Toronto? How the hell did he get the money to go to Toronto? And, why the hell would he go there?"

"Well, from what I heard, he tried to talk Fran's sons into hiding him down at her place. They didn't like that idea, instead they took him to a bar and took up a collection to get travelling money for Fred. Then they bought his ticket, put him on a plane, and warned him that if he came back, he'd be sorry."

Willy's face went from a deep scowl to a frown, then a grin as he chuckled, a malicious sounding chuckle. He looked at me for a few seconds and his face changed to a neutral look.

"Did you talk to the boys?" He asked quietly.

"No, they hadn't gotten back from the airport." I shook my head negatively. "Why?"

"Oh, I just wondered." His smile took on a knowing look. "You haven't met Mrs. Lowther's sons, have you?"

"No, I don't think so, why?"

"Well, you'd remember if you did." He chuckled maliciously again. "Some people seem to think those boys aren't all human, or at least not civilized."

"Fran's sons? You've got to be kidding me." I stared at him in bewilderment. "I can't believe that after meeting Fran Lowther."

"Oh, they really are great guys, but they look a little wild." He chuckled, still talking as he carried on with the chores. "First off, they're huge, about six foot six, maybe more, and they both have muscles like Atlas. Then too, neither of them shaves or gets a regular haircut. They look like cavemen."

"I take it you think Fred might have been intimidated?" I grinned.

"Oh, Yeah!" He laughed viciously. "On top of that, they can be a bit rough. If they wanted to put the fear of God into Fred, they probably did a very good job of it. I couldn't possibly think of a better pair to escort him out of town, even if I'd have liked to have been along."

"Well, I'm glad he's gone too. The only thing that worries me is the idea that he's been sent somewhere where no one suspects him of being a bastard."

"Yeah, there is that." Willy nodded. "Of course the only reason he got away with what he did here was because he was a sneaky little prick. I think a big city like Toronto would have a lot of those anyway, so people would be on the lookout for guys like him."

"I guess." I sighed, then thought about the idea of living in a city. "I suppose I'm a country boy, but I'm glad it wasn't me. I'd hate to live there."

"Well about now, I'll bet Fred is wishing he didn't live there either." Willy grinned as he gathered the last of the eggs from the chickens. "Just think what he must feel like. He's got limited finances, he's in a strange city and he's got no friends to lean on. He's going to have a rough time because he's a country boy too and he doesn't know his way around."

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm glad it's not my worry. Anyway, to change the subject, Andy isn't going to be staying alone this week. Fran doesn't want Lisa-Marie to go to school until she gets those drugs out of her system and she wants to keep an eye on her, so both of them will be here along with Andy."

"Okay, then they're going to be wanting milk and eggs. I'll leave these here and talk to them about what they want me to leave each day." He nodded. "You aren't planning on trying to drive to school tonight are you, not in this damn blizzard?"

"Nope, but I'm hoping the blizzard blows out and a snowplow goes by sometime tomorrow to clear the roads. If I can, I need to be in the city by tomorrow night. I've got a deal going on to try to sell my car and get a pickup truck. On top of that, I don't want to lose any more class time than I have to."

"You're selling the car? Why, what's wrong with the pickup truck that Silas bought a couple of years ago?"

"What pickup truck?" I stared at him in surprise. "I didn't know he had anything except that old two-ton truck."

"Uh, after he gave you the car, he bought a pickup." Willy looked at me strangely. "I thought you knew."