Unspoken Pleasure

I told him that was a risk I was willing to take. He asked me if I had any experience working on a ranch. I was honest and told him that I had spent a few summers on my uncles place in Texas, but I wasn’t a cowboy. He put his hand out and we shook on our agreement. He told me to call him Bill and I introduced myself. We walked back into the diner where his wife sat waiting.

“Colleen, this is Carson Jones. He’s going to be working for us, if he can handle it,” Bill said.

Colleen rose from her chair and held her hand out. I took it in mine. “It’s very nice to meet you, Carson,” she said. Her voice was clear with perhaps a lingering hint of an Irish accent. Like her husband she was trim and fit. She was a very pretty woman.Property © 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs….” I realized Bill hadn’t told me his last name.

“Buckman. The last name is Buckman. But you just call me Colleen. Don’t really have much use for formality in this part of the country.” I instantly liked this lovely lady.

Bill told me that I could follow them back to the ranch. Before leaving town he pulled up to a general store and got out and I joined him.

“I thought you might want to pick up some clothes suitable for ranch work,” he said.

“Yeah, your right. I don’t think what I brought with me would last long,” I replied grateful that he had the forethought to think of this.

I followed him in where he was warmly greeted by the store owner. It was obvious that Bill was a regular customer. Forty minutes later I had enough jeans and work shirts for a week as well as a coat and a pair of western style riding boots. It was enough to get by for now.

From the general store it was close to a twenty five mile drive to the main gate which was arched over with the name Rocking B Ranch on it. That was his brand, a rocking B. It was another mile of private road to the main house. Their two story house stood on a rise. It was well maintained and looked to be freshly painted. Behind the house I could see a barn and several out buildings.

The pickup they drove was partly filled with sacks of groceries and I reckoned this was probably their weekly trip into town for supplies. I pulled up behind them and filled my arms with the bags and followed the Buckmans into the kitchen. Two trips and we had the truck unloaded.

Bill told me to drive around back and he would would show me where I could bunk down. I pulled around and saw him standing in front of a small cabin. When I got out he said I could use this cabin and he pointed to a similar one a few yards away and told me that one was used by Sam. He said Sam was out making the rounds and I would meet him later.

Bill waited while I unloaded my bags. The cabin had one large room that had a bed along one wall and a table with two chairs. In one corner was a pot belly wood stove. There was also a bathroom with a single stall shower. It wasn’t fancy but it was clean. It would do for now as a suitable place to stay and hopefully avoid being found by Janice.

When I went back outside Bill was sitting in his pickup and told me to hop in. He took me for a ride around the ranch. He had almost six thousand acres of which five thousand were pretty flat and made for good grazing. There was a couple hundred acres sectioned off that he grew winter feed on. The back section of the ranch was hilly and covered by forest. Farther on I could see mountains from which a stream flowed cutting through the property. He said this area was only traversable on horseback.

I learned that he used to have three full time hands but times had been rough and Sam was the only one left. He had been working on the ranch for going on thirty years. During round up when they selected stock to take to market he did hire extra help. It was five o’clock when he dropped me off at the little cabin.

“Oh, by the way. I noticed you carry in a lap top. I’ve got a satellite connection with a router so you can access the internet wirelessly. Supper is in the main house and we normally eat at six,” he said before pulling away.

It took me less than thirty minutes to have my stuff put away. That left me time to boot up my computer. Just as Bill had said, I was able to make a wireless connection. I checked my e-mail real quick. I had set up a new account and there was one e-mail from Jake. He had said if he had any news about Janice he would let me know. Apparently she had reported me missing to the police and they were investigating my disappearance. That gave something to think about. Jake was the only one that I had actually told I was leaving and even he didn’t know where I was going as at the time I didn’t either. I had mailed my resignation to my former employer but hadn’t actually told them in person that I was leaving.

Just before six I walked over to the main house and knocked on the kitchen door. Bill called out for me to come on in. I stepped inside and saw Colleen putting the food on the table. Bill was standing to one side talking to a man that I assumed was Sam. Bill motioned me over.

“Sam, this is Carson, the new hand I was telling you about. At least for today. We’ll see how he feels about it tomorrow after a days work,” Bill said with a broad grin. “Carson, this here’s Sam.”

Sam gave me a beaming smile and stuck out his hand. He was a big man. At least six foot three and like Bill, looked like he had worked hard all his life. He appeared to be about the same age as Bill. One other thing, he was African American.

I shook his hand and could feel the strength in his grip. “Well, young man, lets hope you like it here. I could use the help,” he said.

I guess at twenty eight I was about half his age so he considered me to be young. “I plan to give it my best shot,” I replied.

Just then Colleen told us to sit down as supper was ready. Bill and his wife sat at opposite ends of the table which left Sam and I to sit between them across from each other. On the table was a large platter of pork chops, a big bowl of mashed potatoes and another with fresh green beans. There was also a plate stacked with obviously home made biscuits.

“We don’t eat fancy here, Carson,” Colleen said. “But there’s plenty and it’s filling.”

My mouth was watering. “It looks great,” I replied. The food was passed around and our plates were filled. It looked delicious and was. Colleen was a good cook. As we ate I asked Bill if he had been here all his life.

“Yep. My grandfather started this ranch and passed it on to my father. Now it belongs to me and Colleen.” Bill paused as if in thought. “Although when I was younger I wasn’t so sure she was going to be a part of it. I had to fight off every man in three counties to get her.” Bill looked at his wife and I could see the depths of his love for her in his eyes.

“Now, Bill. You know you’re the only man I ever had eyes for. I just had to make sure that you wanted me enough,” Colleen said.

“My wife has been responsible for the three happiest days of my life. The day she agreed to marry me, the day she did marry me and the day she gave birth to our daughter Caitlin,” Bill said. I hadn’t seen any sign of a daughter and Colleen must have read my look of curiosity.

“Our daughter is away right now. Caitlin is finishing her doctorates degree in Veterinary Sciences at South Dakota State. She has only been able to get home for the holidays and we are anxiously waiting for her to come back home with her degree. She’s supposed to be home in a couple of months,” Colleen said.

“It’ll be nice to have a vet in the family. Should could down on some of the expenses,” Bill added with a grin.

After dinner I tried to help clear the dishes but Colleen told me that that was her job and shooed me away. Bill told me that breakfast was at five thirty and we started to work at six. As Sam and I were leaving I noticed a copy of today’s New York Times on the counter. Bill must have picked it up when he was in town. I asked him if I could borrow the front page and he said sure. Once we were out of the house I asked Sam if he could step into my cabin for a minute. We went inside and I took out my digital camera and showed him how use it. I had him take a close up of me holding front page of the news paper up. I could tell he was curious about why I wanted this picture but he didn’t ask. He did ask if I had an alarm clock and I assured him I did. He told me he would see me in the morning and left.