Triple Creek Ranch - Part 32

Hello Faithful Friday Fiction Fans,
It's cloudy here and cold. Yesterday it was in the 30s all day and cloudy. No snow. I wish :) but Dad needs to work on some roofs, so . . . Maybe we'll get snow later.

This week was rather busy. Or at least we had extra things going on.
On Saturday it was so nice out that I got to go walk with my best friends. That was great! We hadn't walked since before Thanksgiving!
Sunday we had a small group for church since several families were either sick or had people sick and one family was out of town.
It was great to have a normal Monday and I got a lot done! I like those kinds of days.
Tuesday was Salsa day here. My sis-in-law and the kids came over late morning and helped us make and can 13 quarts of salsa. I know, for those of you who have larger families or can in larger quantities, we hardly made any. Just remember it's for a family of four. :)
On Wednesday we went to Connie's to take some things, but decided once we arrived, not to bother. You see, Connie's is going out of business. We had been planning to stop our booth since it just wasn't worth it any longer and then got a phone call saying they had to close. Anyway, we discovered about 1/2 of the booths were either cleared out or being cleared out.
Then Wednesday evening we babysat the kiddos over here along with Sweet-Pea, J-J and Sweet-Heart.  It was a lively but fun evening. What else to you have when you have a 10 month old, a 1 1/2, an almost 2, an almost 3, a 3, a nearly 5 and a 6 year old? :D
Yesterday afternoon Dad took S and me in the truck to pack up our stuff at Connie's. We're now out and have stuff we have to sort through here.
Today we clean house and then this afternoon I'm going with my best friends to go buy shoes for BF1's wedding in May.

I've have been writing some. Mostly on "Project 12" this week. I'm trying to get the first story finished. Then I can go back to TCR and Dr. Morgan and other short stories. At least until I have to get the next story written for "Project 12."

Christian, I must commend your bravery! It seems as though the games I created were too much of a challenge for the rest of my readers for no one has played them. Or if they did, they didn't admit their status on the blog. :) But thank you, Christian for playing! And here is the story you requested. I hope you enjoy it.

Part 32

    He smiled in the dark at his own thinking. If Hardrich couldn’t run the ranch for a few days without Norman in the fields too, he would have to change a lot since he saw him a few hours ago. “I’ll stay here at least tomorrow and see how things go,” he decided. Then he turned over, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

    “Come, Miss Orlena.” Mrs. O’Connor entered the room to find Orlena awake. “The doctor said you were to be getting up this morning and breakfast will be ready in ten minutes.” She had bustled about as she spoke and opened the curtains so that the light of the early morning would enter.
    “Oh, I can’t get up this morning, Mrs. O’Connor,” Orlena objected, trying to look pitiful. “Perhaps by this afternoon I’ll have enough strength to get up for a time. I’ll sleep a little longer and then you or Jenelle can bring my breakfast.”
    “We’ll do no such thing.” Mrs. O’Connor turned to the bed and pulled the sheet off.
    “How dare you!” exclaimed Orlena, bouncing upright and glaring, seeming to forget in her anger that she was “still weak and sickly.”
    “The sheet needs washing. Your clothes are on the chair. You’d best be putting them on, for Norman and Jenelle will be waiting for us.”
    “Us?” Orlena repeated. “I will eat in the dining room, and you will eat in the kitchen. I refuse to eat with hired help.”
    “You won’t be eating anywhere unless you get dressed,” Mrs. O’Connor replied calmly.
    Orlena moved over to the chair. “You’ll have to help me get dressed, Mrs. O’Connor, or I’ll never be ready in time and then Norman will be angry at me.” She whimpered like a child afraid of his own shadow, but Mrs. O’Connor wasn’t deceived.
    “What you need, Child, is some sensible clothes you can dress yourself in without keeping your brother waiting.”
    The dress was soon on and Orlena sat down before her mirror and held out her brush to Mrs. O’Connor. “Now fix my hair,” she ordered. “Remember, I should have fourteen curls.”
    But Mrs. O’Connor was not going to cater to the young tyrant any longer. “Tis not likely I’ll be doing your hair for ye,” she exclaimed, letting her Irish tongue speak with it’s old lilt.  “I didn’t come to play nurse maid to ye when yer old enough to be doin’ it yerself. Tis time I was down helpin’ Mrs. Mavrich with the breakfast entirely!” And without so much as a by your leave, Mrs. O’Connor disappeared from the room.
    “How . . . how . . . how dare you!” Orlena spluttered. “Mrs. O’Connor!” she hollered. “You come back here this minute. Do you hear me?” She flung open her room door and shouted as she had never done even in her grandmother’s house. There she would have rung for another servant and then, when her grandmother was present, she would have pouted, whined, complained or cried until the one who had displeased her had been properly punished. “Mrs. O’Connor!” Never had the housekeeper dared to ignore her wishes before. She would speak to Norman about her.
    Leaning over the railing, staring down the stairs, Orlena was about to shout again when the door below opened and her brother appeared.
    “Good morning, Orlena,” Norman looked up to greet her pleasantly.
    For a brief moment, Orlena remained standing and stared down. Then she remembered what she was going to tell him and ordered, “Send Mrs. O’Connor to my room at once!”
    Norman’s eyebrows raised. “That wasn’t exactly a pleasant morning greeting,” he remarked, adding, “Mrs. O’Connor is busy helping Jenelle get breakfast on the table and I’m afraid can’t come now. Is there anything I can do?”
    Orlena glared down at him. “No!” she snapped and started to storm back to her room.
    “Breakfast will be in five minutes, Orlena,” Norman called after her.
    The sound of her door slamming was her only reply.
    “Hmm,” Norman scratched his head. “I wonder if she will come down this morning for breakfast? She certainly isn’t still sick in bed.” Shaking his head, he returned to the dining room to stand by the window and drum his fingers on the sill. “This could be an interesting day,” he mused.

    And so the day started. Orlena did come down for breakfast with a hurt look on her face and complained to her brother in a teary voice about Mrs. O’Connor’s rudeness.
    His only response was, “We don’t always get things our own way. Pass the butter, please, Orlena.”
    Orlena passed it, muttering under her breath.

    To Jenelle’s surprise Norman remained about the house all day. Not always inside, but being only out in the barn or in one of the outbuildings, he was often stepping inside for something. As for Mrs. O’Connor, Jenelle’s worries about her fitting in were wasted, for before the day was over Mrs. O’Connor felt like one of the family.
    “She fits in better than Orlena has yet,” Jenelle sighed to herself as she latched the chicken coop and prepared to follow her new housekeeper and Orlena back to the house.
    Norman, coming from the barn, fell into step beside his wife. “Have you explained the care of the chickens to Mrs. O’Connor and Orlena?”
    Jenelle nodded.
    “Good. Orlena,” he called, lengthening his stride a bit to catch up with his sister, “starting tomorrow the care of the chickens will be your responsibility.”
    Stopping short and wheeling around, Orlena stared at her brother. Surely he was joking! He didn’t really think that the granddaughter of Mrs. Marshall Mavrich would take care of chickens, did he? One look at his face, however, told her that he was not teasing. “I have nothing suitable to wear for such a despicable job,” she told him haughtily.
    If Orlena thought her lack of proper clothing would deter her brother and make him change his mind, she was sadly mistaken.

Have you any questions or comments?