Chapter 18

18

" M y goodness, how she's grown," Claudia said as Ellen walked out of the post office in Sweet Water.

"I know. She's getting heavy," Ellen said, putting an arm of support under Alice, where she hung from the carrier attached to the front of Ellen. It had been almost a month that Travis had been taking care of her. And she really had changed in a noticeable way, losing some of her newborn look and looking more like a chubby little baby.

"How are you?" Claudia said, and Ellen realized that they had never gotten together to chat. She had promised that, but there had been so many things happening that she just hadn't made the time.

"I'm doing well. She was up a lot last night, which means that Travis was up with her, and when I come during the day, I often take her with me whenever I have to go somewhere so that he can have some time to rest."

"That's awfully nice of you," Claudia said, and there didn't seem to be any censure or disappointment in her voice. But Ellen felt like she needed to explain anyway.

"I'm sorry that we never made it to get together. I… I've been pretty busy."

"You don't have to explain. You don't owe me anything. Although, if you ever want to talk, I certainly am willing to listen. I'd like to actually."

"I hope someday that the story can be told. I think that there may be some danger for people if it gets out right now."

"I understand," Claudia said, and she didn't seem the slightest bit offended that she couldn't be privy to the information. After all, Ellen knew that Claudia wouldn't say anything if she asked her not to. But if she told one person, then another, then another, then soon the whole town would know, and there wasn't any point in trying to keep it a secret.

Not that she thought that that was necessarily the right thing to do.

She and Travis hadn't had a chance to talk since the morning that he told her that he loved her for the first time.

It hadn't been that long ago, and Ellen still hadn't come down from the glow that those words and that confession had given her.

And that kiss.

Definitely the glow was most likely from the kiss.

She smiled.

"Well. That's a…very nice smile," Claudia said with a wink.

"Hey, polecat. How are things going out there on Polecat Lane?" Jesper Hansen stepped out of the post office, and Ellen turned to greet him, but his eyes were only for Claudia.

It was no secret in town that Claudia and Jesper never got along. Which was a little bit odd, considering that the Hansen family was well-beloved in town, and Claudia's family, the Clybornes, got along with everyone.

But she supposed that sometimes there were just people who rubbed each other the wrong way.

"Look who got out of the pigsty long enough to go to the post office. I sure hope you took your monthly shower before you did so. Oh, I guess not," Claudia said, her words sweet but her eyes throwing daggers at Jesper as she waved her hand below her nose like there was a stench in the air.

"Sorry, polecat. That smell is from you."

"If that's what you want to think, go ahead. That doesn't make it true," Claudia called to his retreating back.

"Ugh! That man makes me so angry," Claudia whispered to Ellen as she stomped her foot on the sidewalk and crossed her arms over her chest.

Ellen opened her mouth to ask what had happened all of those years ago that had caused such a problem between them. She'd tried to ask before and just had never been able to get the words out. They didn't come any easier this time either, and before she could say anything, a furry head stuck itself between Ellen and Claudia.

"Billy," Ellen said as she put a protective hand around the sleeping Alice, just so Billy's horns didn't accidentally bump her, and petted Billy with her other hand, scratching him on the forehead and down around his cheek to where he loved it under his chin.

"Oh my goodness. Sweet Water is so unique," Claudia said, one hand on Billy and the other scratching Munchy who had come up beside her.

Billy had been chasing Munchy for years, and finally she seemed to have given up, or maybe Billy finally won her over, but for the last few years, they'd been together.

"I know Lark keeps trying to keep these two on her farm, and of course Jeb indulges her, because Jeb indulges Lark with whatever she wants, but he can't seem to stay away from town."

"As I understand it, they'd been fed in town for years. If it were me, I wouldn't want to give that up either."

"I guess that's a good point. And you're right. For a long time, the town took care of them. Billy was known as a matchmaking steer, and Munchy seemed to be his accomplice, although I think the love affair was really between those two."

"I think they're just good friends. They're not romantic partners or anything, they just…love each other."

"Yeah. Like friends do." Although, her friendship blossomed into more. And she couldn't say that she was upset about that. It actually made her smile every time she thought about it. Although, Munchy and Billy would never be anything but friends. Still, a good friendship was a great way to start a relationship of more.

Of course—she eyed Claudia—sometimes enemies could turn into lovers as well.

"I better get back. I parked my car around back, and I left Travis sleeping. He's not going to know where we went, because I forgot to write a note. You know how hard it is to juggle the baby and a baby bag and all of the paraphernalia that you have to take whenever you go out somewhere? Even some place as simple as the post office."

"I have to take your word on that, I have eleven siblings, but I'm one of the younger ones, so I don't have the war stories that the older kids have of taking care of us younger ones."

"You have nieces and nephews, though."

"A couple," Claudia said, and she didn't say anything more.

With losing their parents, and then selling the family farm, and moving to Sweet Water, and trying to get the ranch up and running and making enough money to support all twelve of them, no one in the family had had much time to get married.

Not because folks in Sweet Water hadn't been trying to marry them off. For years, the Peacemakers had been a matchmaking group in Sweet Water, but most of the ladies had finally hung up their hats, or crafting supplies as the case was.

One, June, had moved away.

They waved goodbye to each other, and Ellen walked around the post office, humming softly to herself.

It was true, having a baby was a lot more work than what she had ever figured. But every day, she fell in love with Alice just a little bit more. As far as she knew, Travis hadn't decided for sure what he was going to do about her. The main thing had been to get her settled in and make sure that she was being properly taken care of.

He might have mentioned in passing that he thought that maybe her mother would come back around, but she never had. At least so far.

He could hardly adopt her without her mother's permission. And he couldn't really do much of anything without her giving him at least guardianship rights.

More than that though, Ellen wasn't sure where she and Travis were headed together. Not that it mattered, she'd go wherever he wanted, just…she wanted to talk about it and get things straightened away or at least planned out.

Calling Chewy, who jumped up from where she lay in the shade of the post office, falling into step beside her, she walked around the building and toward her car.

Chewy jumped in and lay down in the back seat while Ellen struggled to figure out the front carrier. Taking Alice out and getting her in her car seat without waking her up was quite an accomplishment and took a little bit of finagling.

As Ellen latched the final buckle of the car seat and straightened, reaching to close the car door, a woman she didn't know jumped in the driver's door.

"Hey! What are you doing?" She was too shocked to move for a moment before she realized that the lady was starting her car.

The tattoos on her neck looked familiar, as well as the dark hair, and the tattoo sleeves on both arms.

"Hey! I know you!"

The lady had the car started and looked back over her shoulder as she yanked it into drive. "Get out my way!"

Maybe it was Ellen's imagination, but the lady paused for just a moment, as she seemed to recognize Ellen, before she slammed her foot down on the gas.

Ellen didn't have time to run around the car. The car started moving, and Ellen did the only thing she could think of. She threw herself in the passenger window which was thankfully down. Her air conditioning didn't work, and her car was such an old clunker that she never thought that anyone would even think about stealing it. Of course, it was Sweet Water, and everyone left their keys in the ignition, especially if they were just going to the post office.

Ellen had never thought anyone in their right mind would try to steal it.

Ellen struggled to get the lower half of her body in the car as the woman shouted at her, "Get out! Get out!"

"Stop," Ellen said, trying to dodge the woman's hand as she stiff-armed Ellen, trying to push her back out the window.

"You're the mother of this baby!" Ellen said, wanting the woman to know she recognized her. Did she steal the car on purpose? Had she been following Ellen around, waiting for the opportunity to take her baby back?

"I didn't mean to take your car!" the woman said, and then she started to sob as she careened around the hardware store, shot out the alley, and bounced into the street, swerving around Billy who stood looking at her, placidly chewing his cud like a carjacking was something that happened every day, and nothing could faze him.

"Pull over. You don't need to take my car. If you need something, I'll help you," Ellen said, feeling like it was obvious, but some people just defied logic. After all, if the woman could take her baby to Travis, and Travis took care of it without saying anything, surely she could ask him for help if she needed a car.

Ellen finally managed to get her feet in the window, although she had to hold on tight as the woman jerked the wheel, taking them down the lane past the diner, then jerking it again to go around the block, coming back out on the main street, and flipping in the opposite direction, screeching the tires as she yanked the wheel, dodging the newly planted trees along the sidewalk and a recycling bin.

Ellen sat up in time to see Billy calmly watching them leave.

The steer hadn't moved a muscle, other than his mouth as he chewed his cud.

He looked just as content as always, and Ellen figured maybe that was what happened with old age. A person got more content to watch and didn't feel the need to get excited about things.

As it was, she was plenty excited.

"Would you please stop?" she said.

"I'll stop if you promise that you get out and I'll never see you again," the woman said.

"You need help. How could I not help you?"

"Because no one helps me." There was bitterness all through her voice.

It made Ellen stop and think. She'd been blessed. She had…not parents, but her uncle had stepped up to be a dad, and the woman he married had treated her like a daughter. She had a family who loved her. And she'd never doubted it. She thought of Travis, who had never felt like he had a family who loved him. Maybe this woman felt the same. She just hadn't had someone like Ford come into her life and help her out.

Or maybe, maybe she just made bad choices. Sometimes a person could only trace their misery back to themselves.

They passed the sale barn at the edge of Sweet Water, and Ellen glanced over at the speedometer. She was going more than eighty miles an hour. Ellen was kind of impressed since she hadn't realized her car could go that fast.

"Would you please be careful? Alice is in the back seat."

"I know. This is just my luck. I have to be the stupidest person in the world. I finally found someone who could take care of my child, do a good job at it, and I have to go and pick the one car that my kid is in. Man, can anyone possibly be stupider than I am?"

"Well, I could maybe give you some stories about some things that I've done that have been pretty dumb, but I don't think I could top this." Ellen didn't figure that there was any point arguing with her. After all, if you're trying to give your kid up, then you hijack a car with your kid in it, yeah. That…pretty much took the cake for shooting yourself in the foot.

"Thank you. You would make a great counselor," the woman said, sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"Thanks. I'm Ellen by the way." She held her hand over, noticing that the woman had slowed down to seventy-five. Or maybe her car was just getting tired.

Ellen prayed a little that she wouldn't take her hand off the wheel to shake, but manners were ingrained, and she couldn't not offer her hand.

"I'm Alaska," the woman said, offering her hand but only taking her eyes off the road for a second. "I'm pretty sure that typical carjacking etiquette does not require me to introduce myself to the car owner and shake her hand. I'll have to check the manual."

Ellen stared at her for a moment. Then she laughed. "You just made a joke."

"Yeah. My sense of humor shows up at the oddest times." The woman rolled her eyes. And that's when Ellen knew that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.