Free Sweet Annie by Cheryl St.john Page A

she'd
landed in.
    By
the time they were dressed and ready to take the wagon into town the next
night, Charmaine's whirlwind chattering and primping had Annie's nerves
frayed. She surveyed the scenery between the ranch and town and took slow calm
breaths, tuning out her cousin's continual stream of girlish talk.
    They
entered Copper Creek and Annie's heart kicked into a frenetic beating. Luke,
dressed in dark trousers and a white shirt and black string tie, met them at
the livery. "Evenin', ladies. Aren't you the prettiest creatures in these
parts?"
    Annie
had borrowed a blue shirtwaist dress from Charmaine. Charmaine thought the
dress was too plain, but that was exactly why Annie loved it. She didn't feel
like a child in the garment.
    "Stay
where you are," he said and climbed up to sit beside Charmaine. "I'll
leave the wagon in the alley while we eat."
    He
drove the horse and wagon to the cafe and assisted the ladies to the door, then
left to move the wagon.
    "Isn't
he charming?" Charmaine asked breathlessly.
    Annie nodded.
    "I
wish Mary Lou could see me," she said. "She's always bragging about
that Nelson boy calling on her."
    "This
isn't exactly calling," Annie dared to mention.
    "Of
course it is," her cousin argued. "He's courting minded."
    "But there are two of
us," Annie reminded her.
    "That
keeps it proper. Watch how outrageously he flirts."
    "He's simply being
nice."
    "No.
He's of an age to be married. Don't be so dull, Annie. When a young man shows
interest in a young lady, it's courting."
    Luke
came toward them and the conversation ended. He led them into the cafe, held
Charmaine's chair while she sat, and moved a chair aside to wheel Annie up
close.
    Noting
the high color in Annie's cheeks, Luke sat between the cousins and glanced from
one to the other.
    Annie
was lovely in a dark-blue dress with a ruffled collar standing up around her
ivory throat. The color set off the red-gold highlights in her curly hair and
brought a sparkle to her eyes. "You look—you both look so pretty."
    Annie
smiled and blushed, and Charmaine thanked him.
    Dora
took their orders and brought the ladies cups of tea and Luke coffee. He
stirred in a spoonful of sugar.
    “Rachel
Maye said she ate at an elegant restaurant when she went to Denver with her
family," Charmaine said. "Have you been to any of those types of
places?"
    "Restaurants,
you mean?" he asked.
    She
nodded.
    "I've
eaten in some nice places. Dora's cookin' is right up there with the best,
though. 'Course it was always just Gil and me cooking for each other, so I'd
probably think anything was good if we didn't fix it."
    "Your
uncle doesn't have a wife?" Annie asked.
    "Guess
he had one once, but she ran off. He never talked about her. I never knew
her—that was before I came here."
    Annie's
gray-green eyes studied him as he spoke, her sincere interest obvious.
"You weren't born here, were you? In Colorado?"
    "No.
I was born in Illinois. My father worked in a newspaper office. My mother died
when I was about six or seven, and my father was killed when I was fourteen.
That's when I came to live with my Uncle Gil."
    "It
must have been awful for you, losing your parents like that," Charmaine
said.
    “My
mother and my younger sister died of whooping cough. After that I sort of took
care of myself when I wasn't in school. I was fortunate that Gil asked me to
come out here. I'd been workin' at the paper, just doing the clean-up jobs, but
when I got to Colorado I discovered how much I loved horses."
    "You
didn't get Wrangler until you moved here then?" Annie asked.
    "Actually
we found him on the way from Illinois," he replied. "We stopped over
at a stage station near Wichita and Gil bought him from a trader for me."
    "A Swedish
Warmblood," she said.
    Luke raised his brows. “You
remembered that?''
    She
nodded and changed the subject. “Your Uncle Gil sounds nice."
    "He is. You'll have to
meet him."
    "I'd like that."
    Charmaine glanced from Luke
to Annie curiously.
    Annie's
face