Plots and Pans (21 page)

“Ralph, I think you can help me.” Tucker planted his forearms on the table and leaned closer. “I need someone with a sharp set of eyes to take on … a special project for a little while. Up at the house, so I can’t trust it to just anyone while I’m out all day.”

“The house? To be working near the women while you’re gone?” Ralph’s eyes narrowed in determination, his chest puffed up in pride at being chosen. “You can trust me to look after ’em, all right.”

“Yep.” Tucker thought fast. “It’s late to be starting, but Miss Desta’s wanted a second garden for ages, and with all the upset this year we didn’t do more than earmark a patch of ground. But it needs to be cleared, leveled, plowed under, fertilized, and fenced.”

“I started in the fields early in life so land likes me just fine.” Ralph raised a brow. “But I know it weren’t no garden giving you frowning fits and making you need extra eyes. It’s the part that goes alongside. Yore bothered ’bout not staying near enough to watch the women.”

“Exactly so.” Tucker paused, realizing he might be putting Ralph in a difficult position. His first in command didn’t know Simon Culpepper left Tucker as part owner, and even so, Jess wouldn’t take kindly to being babysat. “Now, Miss Jessalyn’s been gone a long while, but she’s come back raring to take her place at the Bar None. Her brother’s not here to rein her in and show her the ropes, and she doesn’t take kindly to being thwarted.”

Ralph crossed his arms over his massive chest, looking like a warrior of old blocking an invading army. He said nothing, not letting on whether he was amused or disgusted at the thought of playing nursemaid to a grown woman who could fire him at will.

Tucker decided to spell out the worst of it before asking Ralph if he’d take the job. “Keeping an eye on her is more than making sure no one comes up to the house bringing problems—the biggest part is making sure she doesn’t get loose to make her own.”

“Mmmhmmm,” Ralph rumbled, obviously lost in thought. He kept Tucker waiting for a minute before asking, “You want me followin’ her if she leaves? ‘Cuz I’ll tell you, she’ll know in a hot second. I’m a hard man to hide in a forest, much less on the open range.”

“Do your best to keep her busy—we’ll have Miss Desta helping with that. Maybe set them on some baking whenever you need them out of the garden.” Tucker saw Ralph’s shoulders straighten and his eyes gleam with what he now considered the Light of Pies Past.

“Yessir, that’s a fine plan. Not one I woulda thought up, but I’m all for keeping them busy in the kitchen. If it’ll help, I won’t go to the mess hall for meals.” Ralph’s enthusiasm suddenly made Tucker wince. The man obviously never tasted Miss Desta’s cooking.

“I’ll leave that up to you. Head to the mess hall if you need a minute. If you’ve spent your days with women before, it’s been long enough now that you might not remember longing for peace and quiet.” Tucker figured that was fair enough. He’d given Ralph a way to avoid Desta’s dishes without warning him away from the plan.

“Maybe they could chatter like magpies. Miss Jessalyn’s new around here, and there’s lots I don’t know about Miss Desta on account of how it wouldn’t be proper to mingle. I never knew she could whip up desserts like that or it might’ve been harder to stay so standoffish.” The man’s mouth practically started watering, and Tucker knew he had Ralph Runkle over a barrel. “I reckon a man can forgive an awful lot of yammering if ‘n the women follow it up with a li’l bit of baking.”

“Then we’ll tell her one of the perks I promised is something sweet every day until the garden gets done or Mr. Culpepper gets back. What do you say?”

Ralph clapped his hat back on his head, eager to get going. “Not much beyond the obvious—you ain’t gonna hafta ask twice!”

Lord, what am I lookin’ at?
Desta paused, half hidden by the door she’d started to pull open before she caught sight of what was coming her way. She’d backed up and almost slammed the door before stopping herself. Last thing she wanted was for the men to think of her as the door-slamming sort.

Desta peeked around the edge, just to check and make sure she saw two men still heading toward her. She slipped back and softly pressed the door shut, yanking on her apron strings, grabbing a fresh one from its peg, and switching the two while she ran from the kitchen to the front hall. She prayed the whole way.

I know I bin prayin’ for what seems like ages, tellin’ myself You answer in Yore own good time and even then I might not hear what I’m hopin’ for. Even with Simon here, my heart hurt with havin’ so much room to spare, but nothin’ ever got passed down from on high to change it until You brought Jess home. Just a coupla days and that girl’s done me a world of good already. I thank You for it
.

She slid to a stop in front of the big mirror near the window, the one that got all the good light. If she’d wanted to keep close to the kitchen, Desta knew she could just as easily have stepped into the washroom. But it had no window in there, and taking time to light the lamps would’ve been all she could spare.

Desta peered at her reflection, swiftly straightening her collar and tugging a few curls free to soften her forehead and nestle beside her ears. A lick and a prayer smoothed her brows and the frizzles along her crown.

Tensing to start back, she halted and had to put a hand to the wall to keep from falling over. She twisted back to bare her teeth at her reflection, glad to see nothing stuck along the in-betweens. Satisfied but stifling a pang over her vanity, Desta bustled back to the kitchen, finishing her prayer along the way.

And I’m not one to question Yore gifts when You plunk ’em down on my doorstep, but I can’t help but wonder why Yore seein’ fit to set so much in motion all at once? It’s got me downright frazzled. The Bible says we should try and be less like ourselves and more like You, so I’m gonna go ahead and ask right now for a measure of Yore peace to replace my own foolishness! And if ‘n Tucker’s bringing that man here has nothin’ to do with me, I pray You help me keep from feelin’ disappointed. I try not to have hope unless I think Yore leading me that way, but sometimes I get a false start
.

Desta gave a real start when a knock on the door shattered the stillness, even though she’d been expecting it. Putting a hand to her heart in a futile attempt to slow its frantic beating, she measured her pace to the door and took a deep breath before turning the handle. As she pulled it toward her, the opening widened to reveal two figures waiting—much like she’d waited and wondered over one of them for years before finally meeting him a few nights ago.

She sent up one more quick thought, unable to keep from asking.
Lord, please let him be worth all that wasted time!

I
sn’t it a bit late to be digging a garden?” Jess plunked down the bucket of milk she’d fetched from the springhouse and addressed her question to the room at large.

A room much fuller than it had been when she’d left it a few minutes ago. Something struck her as strange, a sort of untraceable tension that told her someone was up to something. She eyed the three people shooting looks at each other and revised her assessment.
They’re
all
up to something. But what can it be?

Whatever their plan, she deduced that it centered around the hulking black man with the blinding smile—Ralph, she remembered from meeting the men with Desta. That night, seeing him sitting down in a dimly lit room, his girth seemed immutably large—and largely immovable. Kind of like a big boulder that’d rolled farther than expected, adding interest to the landscape where it settled.

Now, seeing him standing so close, his sheer size struck her anew. Ralph held his arms tight against his sides and kept his chin tucked low as though trying to fold himself into a normal-sized person—a feat at which he failed extravagantly. The top of his head came within inches of the ceiling, shoulders stretching wide enough to make it seem as though the kitchen were shrinking, the encroaching walls compressing him. But the way he dwarfed Desta meant the kitchen hadn’t diminished. It had been invaded by a giant.

Fee-fi-fo-fum!
Jess recalled the lines from an old nursery tale as she stared at the massive man who wouldn’t meet her gaze. She suppressed a smile as she changed the next line of the tale to suit her thoughts:
Are you an angry giant, or a friendly one?

She noted again the way he tried to squeeze himself into a smaller amount of space than God intended, hunching so the others could speak with him more easily. Jess especially liked the way he smiled and tucked his chin against his chest when he looked at Desta, as though the special effort it took to meet her gaze was worth every uncomfortable second.

Of course, he wouldn’t meet
her
gaze. Nor, come to think of it, did Tucker—though the set of his shoulders didn’t look even remotely sheepish. If anything, Jess noticed a smug curve raising the side of his mouth, as though in satisfaction. Altogether, it looked as though she’d missed an awful lot during the short minutes she’d spent visiting the springhouse. Tucker had brought Ralph up to the house and talked her aunt into some sort of plot.

Jess could tell because Desta looked so nervous. Her aunt didn’t exhibit any single mannerism to indicate anxiety—she fluttered through an entire supply. Jess pursed her lips and took stock of the way her usually calm aunt fidgeted. Toying with the tendrils near her ears, glancing up at Ralph and then away again, as though not wanting to get caught conspiring. Edging her feet closer to the men and farther from Jess in a clear sign of misplaced allegiance. Smoothing the front of her apron—

Wait
. Jess blinked, but the snowy-white linen knotted around her aunt’s waist didn’t change. When Jess left, she had on the stained, worn-in one. They’d just spilled water on the table and she used the bottom of her apron to mop it up, so it looked crinkled and damp. Desta had laughed and told her it didn’t matter because no one who came into her kitchen would give her a hard time about it except maybe Tucker, and that didn’t cause her any concern.

As Jess stood there, trying to figure out when and why she’d made the change, Desta swayed a little. Jess spied the apron strings—not hastily looped in a quick pull-out design for easy removal, but tied in a perfect, jaunty bow. Her aunt half turned so her torso angled toward Ralph, her smile flickering bright before she sent Jess a guilty glance.

And while she looked over at Jess, the smile Ralph sent down to Desta burst into a beaming grin. Suddenly her aunt’s nervous tics made sense. Desta wasn’t just nervous about whatever the trio planned to spring on her niece.
She’s preening
. Jess marveled.
They like each other, but don’t know if the other one is interested!

The whole scene suddenly seemed downright adorable, and Jess had no difficulty plastering a smile on her own face. Whatever plan the three of them had thrown together, it couldn’t be very sound. Not when two of the conspirators were hatching plans of their own. When it came right down to it, she wouldn’t need to worry much about the circling couple—it all came back down to her and Tucker.

“If I’d known I’d find you two here when I got back, I’d have brought more milk.” She nonchalantly crossed the room, passing directly in front of them to put the cheese on the shelf. “Though I expect you’d be just as happy with coffee. Perhaps even more so.”

“Probably, ma’am.” The deep bass of Ralph’s voice rumbled through the room, making Jess wonder if the forks in the drawer were set into motion, vibrating in concert to his low pitch. “Thank you.”

“Let me!” Desta spun on her heels, setting her skirts and snowy apron swirling in a pretty display as she hurried to the stove and started preparing mugs for their unexpected visitors.

“Though no one answered me when I asked about the garden?” She repeated the question, absolutely certain that a vegetable patch was the least of what these three were planning to put in place. “It’s the end of May. Especially after such a dry winter and unpredictable spring, we’ve missed the spring planting. Wouldn’t we do better to try for the second season in July so we reap a late harvest and can manage winter plantings?”

“Oh, believe you me, Miss Jessalyn.” Tucker’s smirk grew. “I wouldn’t let myself lose Ralph’s help for the next couple days without making sure I’ll reap something worthwhile.”

“A couple days?” she repeated, mind snagging on that phrase and Tucker’s assurance that he’d be getting something out of the deal.

“I can move a lotta land when I puts my mind to it and my back into it,” Ralph promised with that easy grin of his. “Grew up working in fields. Started out so early on account of my size, cultivating earth feels almost like catching up with an old friend.”

“Shorely we can offer you better comp’ny than that.” Desta summoned enough bravery to make the offer, but her courage got caught up after that. She kept her eyes fixed on her too-clean apron and missed Ralph’s expression of surprised delight.

“You wouldn’t have to stretch yourself either,” Ralph agreed with touching eagerness. “Whoever invented the description ‘dull as dirt’ must’ve spent time plowing. Mammy always said, ‘Corn grows ears and taters sprout eyes, but ain’t a crop yet that can chitchat.’ ”