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“James?” Lena asked, prompting me to answer her question.
“I don’t know what I want anymore,” I said. “All of it seems far away when I’m here.”
“But what would you do? Isn’t publishing what you love?”
“Yes, I suppose I do. It’s lost some of the luster for me. Perhaps because I’ve had some successes. Maybe it’s enough. I don’t know.”
“You sound like a lost little boy,” Lena said softly. “Father won’t like it.”
“Your father is getting what he wants. He can’t control my thoughts.”
“Father will control all of us before this is all over.”
We came upon the barn. A light hung over the side door. Delphia and Addie had already gone inside, probably to check on Daisy.
“It smells awful out here.” Lena plugged her nose.
“That’s the smell of the horses and other animals. I love it.” The smell was nostalgic to me. It meant I was with the Barnes family and could let go of the burdens that weighed me down for a few weeks of the year.
“If you don’t like it, you can go back to the house,” Delphia said.
Lena let go of her nose and lifted her chin. “I shall stay with my fiancé.”
Several chickens plucked at the floorboards looking for grain and bugs. Others sat in their roosting nests and gave us wary glances with one eye and then the other. At the other end of the bar, Daisy, safely back in her stall, was fast asleep. Apparently, her escapade had worn her out.
“She’s going to have a litter of babies,” Delphia said. “If we can keep her from poisoning herself.”
Lena leaned over the top of the pen to get a better look. “Is it always so disgusting in there?”
“There’s nothing disgusting about it,” Delphia said. “Did you know pigs are actually quite clean animals?”
A movement on the other side of the barn drew me away from inspecting Daisy. From the shadows came the young man from earlier. He was now wearing a shirt, I noted. Thankfully.
“Hello, Jesse,” Addie said. “Can we help you?” Her tone was cooler than I’d ever heard it. She didn’t like him. Why?
“What brings you out to the barn, Miss Barnes and Miss Barnes?” Jesse asked. He had one of those mouths that lifted more on one side than the other. Unfortunately, his crooked smile did not detract from his good looks. He’d not ceased looking at Delphia, virtually ignoring the rest of us. I should probably warn Alexander there was a predator in the henhouse, so to speak.
I’d keep an eye out myself. If he went near her, he would have to answer to me as well as the other men in this family.
“This is James West,” Delphia said. “And his…friend, Miss Lena Masters.”
“How do you do?” Jesse nodded in our direction.
Lena stepped forward. “My father and I are visiting from New York City. Have you ever heard of it?”
“I’m an American, Miss Masters. I’ve heard of New York City. The state, too.” Jesse adjusted his newsboy hat over his now-dry hair. He had a thick Southern drawl. Maybe Georgia? “You ever heard of Atlanta?”
“Of course,” Lena said in her haughtiest of tones. “I had geography in school. The scene for many a battle during the Civil War, if I recall?”
“Yes, Miss Masters. You Yankees know all about that, I’d bet.”
“I’m well educated, so yes.” Lena scrutinized him through narrow eyes. She’d taken a dislike to him almost immediately, maybe because of his accent. I’d heard her comment to her friends that the young women all sounded “dull and dumb” in the South. “What brings you out to the Wild West?”
He lifted an indolent shoulder. “Can’t say that’s any of your business, Miss Masters.”
Lena’s mouth opened and then shut, then opened again. “Why not? Aren’t you the gardener? Don’t you have to answer a question if a guest asks you?”
“I don’t recall that in the instructions.” Jesse met her gaze, obviously unruffled by Lena or her arrogance, then looked over at Addie and Delphia. “Miss Barnes, is that part of my duties?” He grinned. This man was unafraid of losing his position. Good for him, I thought. At least one person in this barn was in charge of their own destiny.
