A Headstrong Woman(63)

“Mom!” Alexandria’s own eyes widened.

Jonathon summed up the situation in a moment. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Cannon,” he greeted as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Stewart. What a sensible choice of clothing, Alexandria, forgive my surprise.” Shirley had recovered.

“I should have told you,” Alexandria said as she mounted the porch steps.

“You’re an adult and I respect the fact that you’re taking on ranching on your own, you don’t have to explain anything. I would suggest, however, that you tread on the side of caution.”

“I have been, Mom, and I haven’t exactly been on my own. Jonathon has been a great help,” she explained. “Are you coming?” she turned to Jonathon. He nodded and followed her.

“Your dad should be here any time now,” her mother told her as they entered the house. “He had to go to town and I asked him to drop me off here.”

“Stay for dinner?” Alexandria invited.

“I think we will. Michael is joining Carolyn and her family for dinner tonight. They finally set a date,” her mother filled her in.

“When are they getting married?”

“July eight.”

“So soon?”

“Yep.”

“Carolyn, she’s the pastor’s daughter, right?” Jonathon asked the ladies.

“Yes, their one and only,” Anna answered from where she was setting the table. “She’s a vast improvement over the girl he was seeing.”

“Something smells good,” Clay commented as he entered the kitchen. His eyes fell on Alexandria, still dressed for work, and he blanched.

“Don’t you think that Alexandria made a sensible choice of clothing for working on the range?” Shirley’s voice carried an undertone that sounded suspiciously like a warning.

“Yes, yes of course, most sensible,” he said before kissing Alexandria on the cheek. “A bit surprising but sensible.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” Alexandria whispered around tears.

“Nothing to thank me for, sweetheart,” he assured her.

“I’m glad you two stopped by, it saves Jonathon and me a trip to see you,” Alexandria said as she tried to compose herself.

“Why did you need to see us?” her father asked as they sat down at the table.

“You know that several head of cattle have disappeared, well, Tristan told Rusty about a gentleman in Jasper who’s anxious to sell some of his herd. If the two new potential hands work out tomorrow, Jonathon, Lilly, and I are planning on going to look into it. Rusty too, though he’ll go ahead of us.”

“With who as a chaperone?” Anna’s tone was clipped.

“Anna, we’d be on a public train together, then I would be staying with my in-laws, there would hardly be call for a chaperone,” Alexandria informed her sister.

“It wouldn’t look right!” Anna argued.

“Mom, Dad, I wanted your input,” Alexandria ignored her sister. Her mother and father were looking at each other and seemingly communicating without words.

“You and Jonathon work together daily and I happen to trust him to look after you, I think it’ll be okay,” her father finally answered. “As you pointed out, the trip would be in full view of the public.”

“You can’t be serious?” Anna’s eyes were snapping with indignation. “Do you know how that will look? A single lady…”

“Don’t question your father, Anna. Besides, your sister is a widow with a ranch to run and a daughter to rear, not an innocent straight out of school,” Shirley said to her youngest.

Anna’s cheeks flushed at the reminder that she was just that.

“You want to go? Then we could be two single women traveling with a man,” Alexandria’s tone was sharp.

Anna turned a deep shade of scarlet.

Shirley gave her daughters a sharp look and both dropped their gazes to their plates.

Jonathon shifted uncomfortably at the end of the table.

“We could hire a chaperone if you’re worried about it,” Jonathon offered Alexandria.

“I’m not, however, if you are, I’ll dress as a man and pose as your brother,” she proposed.

Jonathon choked on the bite in his mouth and quickly reached for his glass; he took a long gulp before responding.

“Forgive me, Alexandria, not only would you not pass for a man, I would certainly foil that one in no time. I don’t care how you dress or what work you do, you are a lady and I can’t forget that. I think one man helping another on and off the train and holding doors might look a little funny.”