Something Borrowed

Chapter 40

Amelia

To her immense relief, the drama of Brent's first week home all but died after the fight. He didn't come back out to the house, and he made no further attempts to get her alone on Sundays. Her husband fell quickly back into his usual steady good humor, albeit more pensive than usual. She caught him multiple times, paused in the middle of some chore, staring into the distance and so deep in thought he startled when she said his name. Nonetheless, he never mentioned her leaving again.

Amelia knew from Melissa that Brent hadn't lied about his fortune. Men had begun breaking ground on the 'palace' as Josh called it, and three of Brent's business associates had come to call at the ranch. Melissa said her father had turned into a different man, foregoing his morning drink and dressing in his finest suit to greet the newcomers. Melissa herself was unimpressed with the "oily" easterners, but she said their meeting with Brent and Mr. Tucker had lasted nearly three hours, followed by an hour-long tour of the ranch complex.

The whole affair made Amelia nervous. She was glad, in a distant sort of way, for Brent's success and she respected that he'd sought to bring the fruits of his good fortune back to his family. She cared for Melissa and Josh, and she had come to love the ranch. Of course she wanted it to grow. But when she asked Josh about the meeting, he only shook his head. "Wasn't invited," he said succinctly, and she let the conversation whither because she could see in his eyes that it bothered him.

It bothered her too, though, and not only because it hurt him. Josh knew the ranch. He knew the horses, the men, and the cattle. He knew the books and he knew the markets. Locals, who were familiar with the Tucker family, came calling at Amelia's little house more often than they visited Mr. Tucker's place. If there were decisions to be made about the Tuckers' ranch, Josh needed to make them. Not Owen Tucker and certainly not Brent.

A few days later, after stewing in nerves and indignation, she had brought it up once more and that conversation had been equally short-- "I tried, Ames."

Aside from her vague anxiety about the ranch, those weeks were pleasant. Fall had passed by in a blink and plunged them into the flurries and frosts of early winter. Christmas was approaching, and it was likely the first of its kind that Rebecca would remember so Amelia wanted it to be special. The first Thursday of December, she wheedle Josh into hitching up the sled and riding into the woods to find a tree. It took them ten minutes to ride out and two hours to select a tree. Amelia wanted one that was short enough to fit inside the house but wide and full and sturdy for decorations. Josh wanted one that was tall and narrow so it wouldn't take up so much room. Rebecca fell immediately and madly in love with squattest, scraggliest tree she saw. 

"Don't know why I bothered to hook up the sled," Josh grumbled on the way back, glancing over his shoulder at the pitiful little tree in the back. "I could have just carried it."

Amelia laughed, keeping a hand on Rebecca who was standing backwards on the bench, gazing in adoration at her selection. "I think Reb could have carried it," she laughed.

Back at the house, Amelia peeled her daughter out of her snow-crusted clothes while Josh brought the tree in and set it up in the corner of the sitting room. When she joined him, she found him standing back, staring at his handiwork with his head cocked to the side and his hands on his hips. He glanced at her and shook his head, lips pressed together in a frown. "I've turned it all the way around twice," he said despairingly. "It doesn't have a good side. It's bad all the way around."

"Hmm. Well you're a man. You just don't have a knack for this kind of thing. Let me try."

Several times, she darted forward, turning the tree this way and that in its stand and fluffing the branches before hurrying back to observe her efforts at Josh's side. Each attempt somehow made it worse, and by the time she gave up they had both descended into hysterics. Josh was bent double, hands on his knees, gasping for breath as he heckled her.