Caterina: A Sweet Western Historical Romance Pendleton Petyticoats Book 2 Page 16

  “I see even Hans and Henry are dressed for the occasion.” Aundy excitedly squeezed Garrett’s arm as they drove to town.

  “Nik thought they should look festive, too.” Garrett hoped Nik listened to him when he said the two pups and his pet lamb had to stay at the ranch.

  Li volunteered to keep watch on things at home while the rest of the hands went to Pendleton to join in the community-wide celebration. Uncomfortable around the population in general, the cook said he’d be happy to keep an eye on the sheep and the home place. One of the older hands would stay at the main ranch house of Nash’s Folly.

  “Speaking of Nik, where is he?” Aundy expected the boy to be in the wagon.

  “He wanted to ride with the men, so Dent’s keeping an eye on him.” Garrett remembered what it was like to be Nik’s age - not quite a grown man, but no longer a child. “He’ll be fine.”

  Waving at wagons filled with happy faces as their road converged with others on the edge of town, excitement filled the air at the park where a podium stood off to one side of a newly constructed gazebo and a band played patriotic tunes.

  Garrett helped the women out of the wagon, carried food to the picnic tables, and spread their blankets under a tree in an area where they could watch the ballgame later that afternoon. After giving Aundy a quick kiss on her cheek, he went to move the wagon.

  J.B. and Nora arrived, along with their hired men. Friends and neighbors were soon engaged in friendly chatter, enjoying a carefree day away from their never-ending work to celebrate Independence Day.

  Garrett appeared at Aundy’s side as the mayor began his speech. Caterina couldn’t help but smile at the look that passed between the two when Garrett put his arm around his bride’s shoulders and pulled her back against his chest. He whispered something in her ear that made her cheeks turn pink in a becoming blush.

  “You look mighty fetching today, Miss Campanelli,” a deep voice rumbled near her ear. Caterina turned her head and found herself staring into Kade’s green eyes. With the freckles across his nose and the rascally smile on his lips, he looked like a mischievous boy instead of a revered officer of the law.

  From the top of his Stetson-covered head to his polished boots, she couldn’t help but appreciate the way he looked, all red-blooded man and rugged cowboy.

  “You make a passable appearance today, as well.” Caterina kept her tone even although she gave him a saucy smile.

  “Is that right?” Kade looped Caterina’s hand around his arm as they pretended to listen to the speeches taking place at the podium. They clapped at the appropriate times, but Caterina was much more interested in the little whispered comments Kade made about some of the town’s officials.

  One was so amusing, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing aloud. She must have made some sound, because Aundy raised an eyebrow her direction and shook her head although she tried not to grin.

  Immediately following the speeches, Garrett and Kade insisted on serving the two women from the picnic lunch. Caterina and Aundy settled on the blankets and watched the men attempt to fill plates of food. After a round of good-natured teasing from others in line, they brought heaping plates and the four of them sat together visiting.

  “Remember the year they were going to have a clambake?” Garrett asked Kade with a broad grin.

  Kade nodded his head and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “That was the smelliest mess I’ve ever seen.”

  “What happened?” Caterina asked, wondering why they’d have a clambake in Pendleton. They were a few hundred miles away from the ocean.

  “There were two politicians trying to out-do each other. One of them was a chairman of the Fourth of July celebration that year and decided to have the biggest clambake ever held in Eastern Oregon. It might have been the only clambake planned in Eastern Oregon. He made arrangements to have a train car load of clams delivered the morning of the fourth from the Washington coast,” Kade said. “The other politician got wind of the plans and wired ahead, saying the clams should be delivered the second of July, to ensure they’d arrive in time for the festivities. The problem was that he didn’t think about the clams needing additional ice during the two days the train car sat on the tracks in our hot July weather. When they opened that door…”

  Kade and Garrett both grimaced remembering the smell and the flies that crawled all over the clams.

  “They hauled the train car out to the reservation to give it a proper burial and no one has suggested bringing clams to town again,” Kade said, making both Caterina and Aundy laugh.

  A lively conversation flowed between the four of them until it was time for the ballgame.

  Hastily drawing numbers out of a hat, the men interested in playing divided into two teams. As luck would have it, Garrett ended up on one team while Kade was on the other.

  “It looks like we’ll be cheering for both sides,” Aundy said. Garrett’s team was first up to bat. A few of their hands joined in the game and the two girls clapped when Glen hit a ball into right field and managed to run three bases.

  Garrett was up next. Kade heckled him from his place on second base but cheered loudly when his friend hit a home run.

  Caterina was on her knees, bouncing with excitement when Kade had a turn to bat. When he looked over his shoulder and winked at her, heat filled her cheeks but she smiled and waved at him. Although he didn’t hit a home run, he did get two members of his team across the home plate while he slid into the safety of third base.

  The game went on for a good part of the afternoon, despite the heat, with Kade’s team pulling ahead to win by just a few points. Garrett accepted a hearty round of joshing, then they returned to the picnic blankets where Aundy and Caterina served lemonade and cookies, complimenting the men on how well they played.

  After resting for a while, the two couples wandered around the park, exploring a variety of booths set up just for the day. One of the milliners sold hats at a discount and a candy shop offered samples available for purchase. Kade bought Caterina a chocolate that she quickly stuffed in her mouth before it could melt in the July heat.

  “That was delicious.” Caterina ran her tongue to the corner of her mouth and licked away a bit of chocolate Kade had observed with a great amount of interest. Overheated by his desire to do the same, he turned his attention to Caterina’s broad hat, adorned with blue ribbons and red roses.

  It matched the white confection she wore, accented by the blue sash that made her waist look no bigger than a minute. He wanted to run his fingers over the smooth satiny material and outline each one of the red roses carefully stitched onto the fabric.

  Instead, he patted her hand where it rested in the crook of his arm and smiled as she pointed out a booth one of the Indians set up to sell fried bread. Kade bought a piece they shared. He loved fried bread, especially sweetened with honey or sugar.

  “Oh, that’s good.” Caterina took a bite and looked at the treat in surprise. “Very good. Maybe I’ll have to get the recipe.”

  “Another day.” Kade didn’t want her to think about her restaurant for one day. It was all she talked about since she got back from Portland.

  He knew she worried about exhausting her limited funds before she got the business up and running, but she hadn’t said anything to him. If she did, he’d offer to help her and he knew she didn’t want to accept anyone’s assistance. That was one more thing he admired about her.

  With her looks and personality, she could charm people into doing just about anything she wanted. Instead, she seemed to want to work for what she got.

  He purchased her a few trinkets then they returned to the blankets and ate sandwiches. While women cleaned up the leftovers from the picnic and set out cookies and punch, the band prepared to play.

  Kade kept an eye on the people milling around in the park, making sure the men and boys who were drinking on the sly behaved. One wrong move on their part and he or one of the other deputies would send them on their way.

&
nbsp; Depending on how rowdy the crowd got later that night, he might have to ask Garrett and Aundy to take Caterina home. A handful of revelers would probably get out of hand before the evening ended and he’d have to haul them off to jail to sober up.

  As the notes of the first song started, Kade bowed to Caterina and took her hand, leading her out on the improvised dance floor some of the men assembled earlier in the day.

  “You’re a very good dancer, Deputy Rawlings.” Caterina coyly batted her eyelashes at him, making him grin.

  “And you’re very light on my feet,” Kade teased, knowing, somehow, Caterina would be a graceful dancer.

  They watched both the younger and older Nash couples dancing. Nik waltzed by them with a red-haired girl about his age, grinning broadly as he kept up a lively step. Even Dent twirled by with a widow who ran one of the boarding houses.

  They were on their fourth dance when Kade felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Grant Hill standing behind him.

  “Mind if I cut in?” Grant asked with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

  “Actually, Grant, I do,” Kade said, honestly, although he allowed a smile to curl his lips upward. “But I know I have to share Miss Campanelli with others so have at it.”

  Kade stepped back and groaned when one of the schoolteachers grabbed his arm and attempted to lead him in a dance. Almira Raines and her spinster sister talked non-stop. How their poor brother survived living in the same house with them was beyond Kade’s ability to comprehend. He’d have stuffed his ears with cotton or ran away in the night long ago.

  Before the woman could monopolize him for another dance, he cut in with Garrett and spun Aundy across the dance floor.

  “In need of a legitimate escape?” she asked, looking over his shoulder to see Miss Raines forcing Mitchell Lawry, a local attorney, to dance.

  “How did you guess?” Kade glanced around, noticing Caterina danced with one of the ranch hands.

  “She’s safe with Fred, you know. Any of the hands, actually.” Aundy followed Kade’s gaze.

  “I know,” he said, wondering how many dances he’d have to allow other men to take before he could claim her again.

  As if she could read his mind, Aundy tipped her head toward Garrett’s mother. “If you dance with Nora next and then Mrs. Whitting, you could probably reclaim her without causing the gossiping tongues to wag too freely.”

  Kade nodded his head, trying to keep one eye on Caterina and the other scanning the crowd. When the song ended, he turned Aundy over to Dent and went to claim Nora.

  He danced with Mrs. Whitting and the doctor’s wife then found Caterina fanning herself near the refreshment table, holding a cup of punch.

  Removing it from her hand, he set it on the table and pulled her back toward the dance floor without saying a word.

  The last dance was winding down when he noticed a group of younger men looking fortified by the kind of courage that came from a bottle as they eyed a group of giggling girls.

  Skillfully maneuvering Caterina through the dancers, he apologized for not being able to finish the dance with her, leaving her beside Dent. Quietly walking around the back of the group, he had a little talk with the boys before they did something to wind up in trouble. About that time, gunshots rang out from down the street and one of the other deputies ran off that direction.

  Sternly warning the boys to go home or he’d take them to jail for the night, the youth scattered knowing Kade would make good on his threat.

  He hurried to where Garrett helped Aundy into the wagon and scooped Caterina up in his arms. Before she had time to realize what he was about, he set her on the wagon seat.

  “I’ve got to go, Cat, but I wanted to thank you for a wonderful day,” he said, wishing he could have taken her home.

  “I enjoyed it immensely.” Caterina’s face showed every ounce of disappointment she felt at the way the evening was going to end. She’d hoped Kade would at least try to steal a kiss, but he’d been a perfect gentleman all day.

  “Happy Fourth of July,” he said, then waved and ran off toward downtown.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Waves of heat unlike anything Caterina could ever remember bore down on them in Nora’s kitchen. Although every window in the house was open and the screen door let in a little breeze, the air in the kitchen was stifling.

  It probably didn’t help that the three women had been cooking since before the sun began to rise that morning.

  Wheat harvest officially began at Nash’s Folly with the arrival of a large harvest crew. Li kept watch over things at Garrett and Aundy’s place while the rest of the hands went over to J.B. and Nora’s where they’d start cutting the wheat.

  Aundy and Caterina helped Nora cook. Li made several dishes the previous day and sent them over, along with the food the two girls already prepared.

  Makeshift tables sat beneath the trees in the yard for the noon meal. The women would soon haul water and cookies out to the field to give the men a welcome break from their work.

  Nik, who still hadn’t regained all his strength from his gunshot wound, assisted the women. After dragging a hand-pulled cart to the back porch, Nik helped Caterina and Aundy set the cookies next to a barrel filled with cold well water. He pulled it while they walked with him out to the field where the men worked.

  Chaff from the wheat mixed with dust and thickened the air. Several of the men wore neckerchiefs over their faces to serve as a filter.

  Caterina watched the men and picked out Kade in the group. She knew he worked the previous night and wondered if he’d gotten any sleep at all. As he laughed at something someone said, he didn’t give the appearance of being exhausted.

  When the men spied the cart of refreshments, they stopped working to take a break.

  Garrett started to give Aundy a hug, then thought better of it, covered as he was in chaff. Instead, he leaned over and pecked her cheek, accepting the cookie she held out to him.

  “Thanks, honey. I was wondering when you’d come along so we could take a quick rest. It’s sure hot this morning.” Garrett removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  “Wait until this afternoon,” Kade said as he approached and offered Caterina a smile she realized he reserved just for her. It never failed to make her heart skip a beat or stomach flutter in response. “It’s going to be a real scorcher.”

  “And how many days do you have to do this?” Caterina asked, never before witnessing a wheat harvest.

  “We should be done in a little more than a week, if the weather holds and nothing goes wrong,” Garrett said, nodding his head at Kade. “Good help makes it go faster.”

  “I can only help for a few days. I’ve got to go to The Dalles for a trial and won’t be back until it’s over.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to work you three times as hard while you’re here,” Garrett teased, taking another cookie and a drink of the cool water.

  Kade took the dipper after Garrett and savored the feel of the somewhat cool water sliding down his parched throat. What he really wanted was to dunk his entire head in the barrel, but that wasn’t an option, so he finished his drink and passed the dipper to the next man in line.

  He attempted to ignore the men ogling Caterina as she stood engaged in a lively conversation with Nik and J.B. She was no doubt talking about plans for her restaurant that would open in a few weeks.

  Every spare minute she could find, she worked at the building. Deliveries would soon arrive and she’d paid to have a sign painted on the window that said, “Mariella’s Italian Restaurant.”

  When Kade asked her why she called her restaurant Mariella’s, she said it was in honor of her grandmother, since she was the one who passed on the family recipes Caterina would make.

  Kade smiled as he recalled the way she animatedly talked about her grandmother and mother. He loved listening to her voice and watching her speak with her hands and the expressions on her face as much as her words.

  It was ev
ident she came from a close-knit family and missed them greatly. If the stubborn girl would only tell him the truth, he might be able to help her see them again someday.

  Thoughts of her returning to wherever she came from made an ache start in his chest and creep up to his head. He wouldn’t think about her leaving. He just wouldn’t.

  Besides, the opening of her restaurant created a permanent tie that would keep her in Pendleton. At least he hoped it would.

  Aware of the men returning to work, he tipped his hat to the two women, teased Nik, and then winked at Caterina as she studied him while he walked away.

  “That man is so pomposo,” Caterina said, glaring at Kade’s retreating figure.

  “Let me guess - pompous.” Aundy smiled as she stacked the empty cookie platters in the wagon. Nik took the handle and pulled it back to the house.

  “You’re learning quickly.” Caterina grinned at her friend. “And yes, pompous. That should be his middle name. Or maybe arrogant.”

  “What about handsome or charming?” Aundy teased. Although the girl acted as if she didn’t notice him, she’d observed the way Caterina’s gaze lingered on the deputy while they served the men.

  “Beh.” Caterina flicked her fingers dismissively. “He’s cocky and overbearing.”

  “Hmm.” Aundy walked ahead to talk to Nik, leaving Caterina with her thoughts. Unfortunately, they all seemed centered on Kade. He wore denims with a cotton work shirt and an old hat, but still looked more handsome to her than all the other men combined. He was definitely the tallest and easily appeared the strongest.

  Overhearing him tell Garrett he had to go to The Dalles for a trial, she wondered if he was testifying against someone. He’d hardly been around since the Fourth of July celebration. One of the deputies decided he’d rather farm than keep the peace in town, so Kade worked several extra shifts.

  A few times, he joined them for supper but didn’t linger, having to get back to Pendleton. The two Sundays he’d been able to attend church, he sat by her, but left right after the service.

  The afternoon he’d brought her the spice box and kissed her so ardently at the end of the walk seemed like a distant memory. Loath to admit it, Caterina really missed Kade. She missed his teasing banter and easy smile. She missed smelling his unique, manly scent. She missed the way their fingers twined together when he held her hand and the taste of his kisses.