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his shoulder.

CHAPTER NINE
    When I awoke the next morning, Roscoe had already gotten up, fixed his own breakfast, left a mess and went out to do his chores.
    I lay there stretching and remembering last night. What had I been so afraid of? He was a mountain of muscle and strength that towered over me. He could break me in two as easily as breaking a twig, but the way he touched me last night was as gentle as a kitten. He had been so gentle, so understanding, so kind and patient. I hated myself for ever being afraid of him. Could I be in love? Is this what love feels like?
    I crawled out of bed feeling a little uncomfortable. After the pleasure I felt last night, a little pain wasn’t going to mess that up.
    I poured water in the bowl, washed off, got dressed and started fixing breakfast for myself. There weren’t any eggs, so I was going to have to face Oscar, if I wanted any for breakfast. I went out to the chicken pen, all the time turning in circles, watching for that cantankerous rooster. He had introduced himself to me on my second day here. He didn’t catch me, but he chased me all the way back to the house, without any eggs.
    Since then, I’ve carried a big stick with me in case he decides to chase me again. I think he knows what that stick is for because he’s steers clear of me when I carry it. Two of the hens weren’t laying, so I only gathered eight eggs. If I could figure out which two, we’d have chicken and dumplings.
    I opened a can of turnips for dinner, cut up pieces of bacon and dropped it in. I had cooked some pan bread a few days ago and still had some left. That would be a pretty good dinner for my new found husband. I was really a wife now, just like I’d always wanted to be.
    Roscoe came in around noon.
    “How’s my sweet Red Rose today? I didn’t want to wake you this morning. I’m sorry about leaving the mess, but I had to hurry out to the south pasture. The fence had a hole in it and the cows were crossing over into the neighbor’s pasture. I had to drive them back on our side and patch the fence. I’m just glad I caught it before all the cows discovered it. How are you feeling?”
    Suddenly, I was shy and felt the heat rising to my face. Why was I feeling shy after last night?
    He leaned down, pulled me against him and kissed me, again I felt weak in the knees. If he hadn’t been holding onto me, I think I would have fallen to the floor.
“I’ve got your dinner ready. Did you have time to talk to the neighbor about a cow?”
    “I’ll do that right after morning chores. Let’s skip dinner and have desert instead.” He pulled me toward the bed.

CHAPTER TEN
    The next day around noon, Roscoe came riding into the yard, pulling a cow behind his horse. It was the most pitiful looking cow, I had ever seen. We were supposed to get milk from this swayback broken down cow?
    I walked out into the yard as he dismounted.
    “Is that the best you could do?”
    “She’s the only one Sam was willing to part with. He claims she was one of his best milkers at one time.”
    “She can hardly stand on her own. She looks as if she’s ready to die.”
    “She just needs rest and good feed. She’ll be fine. He said her name is Florence.” He pulled the rope and she followed him into the barn.
    I followed behind and watched as he put her in a stall and poured a couple of cups of oats into the trough.
    He looked at the cow and then at me, “She’ll be fine, just wait and see. Have you got something for dinner? Or is it too early?”
    “Yes, it’s ready. Are you going hunting afterwards? And how soon before you think we can milk Florence?”
    “I think she should be ready in about a week. Yes, I’m going hunting as soon as I finish eating. Sam’s wife sent over some canned goods in this sack. She said she was looking forward to meeting you. There’s going to be a Fall Festival first of September. She asked if we were gonna be there. I told her we would be. You do wanna go, don’t