Chapter 46

Carla, Jessica, Fred and the men that Dave and Evie had assigned to help on the farm, all worked until dark Saturday night. As they finished for the day, Fred asked everyone to park their equipment at the edge of the back yard.

The three waved to the people as they left, then Fred turned to Carla. "As soon as we get caught up with this harvest, we need to get an outlet put out here for the pressure washer and the steam cleaner. Uh, and the air compressor, too. It'll be easer to knock a little dirt off on a regular basis, instead of letting it build up on all this nice new equipment. After the barn and equipment building are rebuilt, we can move everything there, of course."

"Yeah, we used the washer fairly regularly, before those bastards burned everything we had," Carla said. "It was in the shed at the end of the barn. Come on, you look tired. Let's get inside. You can watch TV or take a shower while Jessica and I get some supper going."

"That's sounds inviting, but while you're doing that, I'm going to take the hose to all this stuff."

Carla turned back to him. "You don't have to do that now..."

"Ah, it won't take more than a half hour. I want to knock the trash and dirt off while it will come off pretty easy. I'll be with you in a little while," he said going over to the hose.

Giving in, "Okay, hardhead," she laughed. "We'll get our man some food on the table." Realizing what she said, and wondering if she had insulted Fred, she took Jessica's arm, and walked toward the house.

When they were out of earshot, she glanced at her daughter, "Well, I..."

"Was that a Freudian slip there, Mom?" Jessica interrupted, laughing. "Is he our man, now?"

Carla chuckled. "I guess I really stuck my foot in my mouth, huh?"

"I don't know," Jessica said as they mounted the short flight of steps to the back door, "it sounded pretty good to me."

They stopped and Jessica turned to her daughter. "He is a nice man. He's really busted his butt for us. Not to say anything about spending all that money on our horses. We'll pay him back, of course, when we make some money. I still can't believe he spent that much on us. Surely he wouldn't do that just to ... well, you know."

"Mom, if he's doing that to get some pussy, he could surely do better than the two of us. He could buy some high-priced call-girl for a month for what he paid for the horses."

"Yeah, I know. Maybe he's just missing his wife so much that he did that for us. Heck, I don't know. And don't be crude."

"Oh, Mom. Don't tell me you're getting irritable just because we've worked twelve hours straight," she laughed.

Sighing, Carla said, "Come on. Let's fix our man some supper. I need some food in me, too. I'm so tired that I'm not thinking straight."

A little later, Jessica went out to get the mail. When she came back in, she pushed two big boxes through the front door into the living room. "Mom, did you order anything?" she asked pushing the boxes in off the porch. Then answering her own question when she saw the name on the label, she said, "Oh, these belong to Fred. They're from Western Wear down the road. I guess they must have delivered them. There's not a label from FedEx or UPS. Just the Western Wear sticker and Fred's name."

Carla walked into the living room, eyeing the boxes. "Diana probably had them delivered. Fred is going to crap himself when he sees all this. She must have bought out the store," she finished, laughing. Turning toward the hall, she said, "Watch the beans that I'm warming up. I'm going to take a quick shower, then you can. When I get back, I'll start his steak."

Fred came in the back a few minutes later to find the women in the kitchen. "Get yourself a quick shower," Carla said, "I'm putting your steak on. It'll be ready when you are."

Fred laughed as he headed for his room, "I'm darned sure ready for it," he said over his shoulder. "I'm starved and I'm not going to even think about a diet tonight."

When he returned a few minutes later, he asked, "What's with the boxes in the living room?"

"They're yours," Jessica said, smiling. "They're from Western Wear down the road. We figure that Diana made a sizable dent in the store's inventory."

"Western Wear?" Fred said. "Surely that's not all western stuff."

"You're in Colorado, now Georgia Boy," Carla said, putting a plate in front of Fred with a big steak on it. "Nobody will look at you twice if you're wearing jeans, a western shirt, a Stetson and boots. Heck most of the farmers and ranchers in the area will think you're a tourist if you aren't."

When the food was all on the table and the women were in their places, Fred bowed his head for a moment. Jessica and her mother glanced at each other. "If you want to do that aloud," Carla said, "we certainly have no objection."

Fred picked up his knife and attacked his meat. "Uh, thanks. But it would probably embarrass me to death. I don't know if I'd even know what to say."

The three ate in silence for a time, then Fred took a drink of his coke and looked at the women. "I've had a lot of time to think while I was running that combine. The first day, I thought about Brenda just about all day. I remember her voice so clearly that sometimes it's as if she's talking to me." Fred swallowed hard to keep his voice from cracking. "It's as if she is encouraging me to do this," he said, looking quickly down at his plate, then cutting several pieces of meat to give himself time to blink away the tears, fooling no one.

"Fred, we know," Carla said, putting her hand on his for a moment. "We still miss Sam as much as we ever did. Always will, I guess. Sometimes Jessica and I just look at each other and burst into tears. I would have loved to have met Brenda. It's obvious that she was a good woman, and a good wife."

"Crap, I still can't believe it happened. It should have been my fat ass. How could she have a heart attack?"

"I know. We feel the same way about Sam. He watched his diet, worked hard, seemed to be in perfect health until the cancer started bothering him. It was hard to accept that he had cancer then — still is. Let alone that he's not going to come through that back door in the next minute."

Fred put some more beans and potatoes on his plate. Jessica handed him the gravy. "For western gals, you two sure know how to cook southern food," Fred tried to kid.

"Steak, beans, creamed potatoes and gravy are western food," Carla laughed. "Who're you kidding? They're staples around here. We work for a living. We need something to stick to our ribs."

Fred, his voice under control now with their little jokes, caught the women's eyes for a second. "Jeff has been good to me. The whole bunch of them have. Extremely good. But, well ... When we're done with the harvest and the other things that we've got going, I hope that you will let me help out a little every now and then. Somehow I've been almost ... at peace for the first time today, since Brenda died. I'm enjoying the work, and well ... being with you two..."

Jessica got up and hugged him, then startling all three of them, she leaned over and kissed him. "You don't have to go anywhere, so you don't have to worry about coming back. Mom and I want you here," she said, turning to look at her mother. Seeing her mother nod, she continued, "We like having a man around. And you fit the bill just fine."

Embarrassed, Fred returned to eating as Jessica went back to her chair, looking at her mother.

"I spent a good bit of time on the phone with Jeff, then the Thompsons. I need to visit them tomorrow afternoon. But if the deal does go through, we'll have another eight hundred acres of farm, effectively doubling what we have now. Even with the automation, Jessica and I can't handle both farms by ourselves. We want to have you to help us, but ... more than that, we want you to be here because you're our friend. Maybe the friendship will help ease all of our sorrows. You're always welcome here, Fred."

Looking at her daughter, she continued, "Jessica and I have already discussed getting rid of the hospital bed in the other bedroom. It's way past time. We'll put the bedroom furniture back in there as soon as we get a chance. It will make a nice room for you."

Fred put his knife and fork on his empty plate and pushed back a little from the table. "I think I would like that."

The women smiled at him, all three people wondering what was going to happen.

Frank and Margaret had decided to go into Winter Park to eat out, the couple insisting that Bill and Kathy go with them. Frank winked at Jeff as he left through the back door. Shortly, Evie, Dave and Linda, all dressed for the festival, loaded their instruments into Dave's Escalade. The Matthews clan relaxed in the living room watching the SUV on the security system as the vehicle wound down the drive.

"You know that Frank and Margaret did that to give us some time alone," Diana said.

"Yeah," Arlene said, and there's no use in wasting it." Getting up, she kicked off her shoes, jerked down her shorts and panties, and as she stepped out of them, pulled her top up along with her bra. Flipping the lever to bring Jeff to an almost upright position on the recliner, she straddled him, holding her top and bra out of the way. She guided an already dripping nipple to his mouth with the other hand as she settled onto his lap. "Suck, Daddy. It's been too long. My sister-wives help me, and I also use the breast pump, but it's not the same. Suck my milk, Husband."

It was hard to see Jeff's smile past the breast stuck in his mouth, but everyone knew the smile was there, anyway.