The Home & Family Pt. 02

Luke sighed at the memories, then continued, "Being there wasn't so bad. At least not most days. Of course, just when you thought you had all your hopes and dreams under control, there would be some damn holiday or birthday come up. Then it was impossible to miss the fact that you were an unwanted reject. Oh, we got presents, but the only thing we really wanted was a family. And we never got that."

Dakota didn't immediately comment on Luke's story. She continued to lay on his chest for a few more minutes. Then, instead of the sympathetic pity that he so often got when others found out about his childhood, Dakota simply said, "Did you all go to school at the Home?"

This time, Luke's laugh held no humor. He answered, "No, we went to school in town. With all the normal kids with normal families. Well, at least with all the kids with families - I'm not sure they were all that normal. No, school is how I managed to meet up with Wiley Stone. Wiley was two years older than me, but he was always a bit on the small side. Why he chose me, when I was already bigger than him in first grade, I'll never know. But he seemed to find me particularly easy to bait. He would call me a "Home" boy - back before being a home boy was cool - and then he'd taunt me with any failings he could come up with."

"By the time we were in high school, Wiley had eaten dirt in every playground we ever frequented together. But he still hadn't had enough. When he found out who I invited to the senior prom, he sent the girl a dozen roses and professed his undying love, along with a diamond tennis bracelet. The flake went to the prom with him. And he gloated for weeks. When he found out that I was looking to go to college, he went so far as to try to buy off a few of the members of the scholarship committee at the Home. My grades and sports activities precluded them being able to have any legitimate grounds to refuse me, but I have often wondered just how close he came to winning that round. Guys like Wiley made life really hard."

"Anyway, the jest of this whole story is that when you were living at the Home, you never got to forget for long that you didn't belong. If you managed to delude yourself and forget just where you called home, somebody like Wiley was there to remind you. The Home helped make me who I am, but I sure wouldn't wish that kind of lonely childhood on my worst enemy - even Wiley Stone."

Dakota hadn't interrupted Luke during the rest of his story. Still laying on his chest with her eyes focused on his feet, Dakota said, "Sounds like Wiley hasn't changed much over the years. Maybe I should try making him eat dirt and see how he likes it. Maybe he has developed a taste for it over the years."

Luke laughed quietly, "I'm sure he doesn't like it any more than the taste of gunpowder. I can't believe you shot at him!'

Dakota laughed along with him. He was surprised to realize how much he enjoyed sharing an intimate, personal joke with another person. It was something he hadn't done often in his life and it felt really good.

"Do you ever think about adopting any of the kids from the Home?" Dakota asked.

Luke sighed, "Yeah, I think about it. I wish I could . . . I'd love to save them all from that soul deep loneliness. But Ms. Lily is wonderful. She keeps the kids busy and tries to make it as family-like as possible. I guess I was just an overly sensitive kid."

After a few moments of silence, Luke figured it was his turn to get to ask a question. He brushed his fingers through Dakota's hair and raised her face toward his, so he could look into her eyes. "So tell me about Dakota Matthew's childhood."

Luke saw Dakota's grimace before she could hide it. Luke raised a questioning eyebrow at her and waited for her to start her story. Apparently realizing that she wasn't going to get out of it, Dakota mimicked Luke's reaction when she had asked him - she took a deep breath and started.

Dakota said, "Well, I was born out west, in Wyoming. My mom is from here in the mountains. When she was a teenager she had gone to a rodeo over in Asheville and one of the riders swept her off her feet. She packed up her bags and went home with him. Of course, he forgot to mention that he already had a wife and child in his home - his wife and child. So, here mom tells everyone here that she is going out West to marry this rodeo champ and he turns out to be a real chump. He even married my mom along the road toward Wyoming. But, when they got to Wyoming and mom found out that he was planning on just keeping them both as wives, she once again packed her bags and left. She was too embarrassed to come home, though. Even when I returned a few years ago, people around here thought she stayed married to my dad. No one here knew what had really happened."

"Mom stayed out west and found a job. I grew up on a ranch where my mom worked as the cook. The owner of the ranch fell in love with my mom. When I was about seven, he managed to convince her to marry him. Just days before the wedding, my dad showed up and tried to take mom back home with him, by force. The owner protested and things got ugly. In the end, the owner filled my dad full of lead. Even though my father didn't die, the owner ended up spending the next 10 years in prison for attempted murder. But my mom waited for him. She ran the ranch and made ends meet during all that time."

"Mom didn't have a lot of time to pay me attention. So, I ended up hanging out with the other kids on the ranch. We kind of raised ourselves, while our parents did what they had to do to keep the ranch going. I ended up marrying Robert, who was one of the other ranch hand's son. We had known each other our whole lives. It wasn't love at first sight, it was just the next logical step for us. We had just gotten married when my stepdad finally got out of prison and married my mom. The four of us lived on the ranch together for a few years. In fact, my folks are still living on the ranch and loving every minute of it. But that wasn't the way my marriage worked out. Robert and I were married for 14 years before we found out that he had cancer. He didn't live very long after that."

When Dakota paused, Luke hesitated before asking a question that he was sure she had heard a lot. But, finally, he said, "Dakota, fourteen years is a long time. Why didn't ya'll have children?"

Dakota smiled at Luke, but he noticed that it didn't reach her eyes. She lowered her eyes and began, "We had married so young. I miscarried during our second year of marriage, then Robert decided we needed to wait. Robert said that between 30 and 35 would be a good time to have kids. After he turned 30, he had a few more things he wanted to do before we settled down. So we travelled to countries he had always wanted to visit, bought our home in the suburbs and started a retirement account. Then, on his 33rd birthday, he announced that it was time to start our family. I threw away my birth control pills and two days later we found out that he had stage three cancer."

"We focused all of our energy on trying to find a way to fight his cancer. We both agreed that we would wait until he had beat the cancer before we started our family. We wanted to be able to focus solely on our baby and not be torn between fighting the cancer and enjoying our child. In the end, Robert lived less than a year after we first found out about his cancer. So, I was left without a husband, without a child and without a direction in my life. When I found out that I had actually inherited a piece of land here, from some distant uncle, I was thrilled. It was the opportunity I needed to break away from a lot of painful memories and start over."

"Of course, I hadn't realized that I had never been on my own before. I had married Robert right out of high school and we had lived on the ranch with my mom for the first few years of our marriage. Then we had moved out, but not far away. And Robert was always there. When he died and I moved here, it was like having all the growing pains hit me at once. I had thought that I might start dating and remarry, but after dealing with men like Wiley, I just couldn't bring myself to even try. Anyway, the truth is, I'm a lot more comfortable around guys like Hank and Marshall, who are happily married and would never even notice that I was a woman, much less an available woman. I don't have to worry about being evaluated and found lacking when the men are just friends."

While she had been talking, Dakota had been snuggled up to Luke's side, playing with the hair on his chest and not looking him in the eye. Luke was glad that she wasn't looking at his face, because he wasn't sure what emotions were showing on it. Dakota's story touched him deeply. It was filled with lots of living - and both good and bad memories.

Luke admired the fact that Dakota had been strong enough to leave Wyoming and come to a place she had never been before, in order to take control of her life. In face, the more Luke knew about Dakota, he found that he admired her for a lot of things. He just wished he knew what to say to convince her that she really should consider dating again. She had a lot to offer and Luke knew that there must be some man out there who would be a perfect fit for her. He resolved to make a point of convincing her of that this week-end.

But for right now, Dakota was in bed, beside him and he wanted to play the part of the man who was a perfect fit for her. He tilted her face up to his and said, "I think that's about all the personal sharing that I can handle for one night. I hate to admit it, but I'm exhausted. I think the strain of the auction was more than I had bargained for. And I really hadn't intended to get bought by a woman who was into mud wrestling!"

Dakota laughed and reached up to kiss him on the tip of his nose, once more. Luke was shocked, again, at the sensations that her simple act caused him to experience. He couldn't remember a time in his whole life where he had felt more like a loved little boy than he had today. He grudgingly admitted to himself that there was something about Dakota that filled an empty space deep in his heart. He sincerely hoped that, by the end of the week-end, he had gotten that spot filled so he would be able to walk away from Dakota like he was supposed to do. He might want to continue being her friend, but that was all he was willing to allow Dakota to be to him. Luke had always prided himself on not needing anyone else to make him happy and he wasn't about to start needing someone now - especially not someone who made his world shake with a simple kiss on the nose.

Dakota rolled over onto her other side and Luke spooned up to her back. Luke mentally pushed his worries away. With his arms around her, he reached around to kiss her on the cheek and whisper good night in her ear. Within minutes, her rhythmic breathing told him that she had been as tired as he was. With the sweet sound of her soft snores filling up his mind, he drifted off into dreams of a future filled with peace - something Luke had never felt before.

Chapter Nine

Before Luke opened his eyes the next morning, his senses were assaulted by the woman in bed with him. Her scent surrounded him, her flesh caressed him and her breathing calmed him. But, most of all, presence excited him. Without really waking up, Dakota snuggled closer to his body and he felt how well she fit against him. He sighed in contentment. Luke knew that it wouldn't take many mornings to get used to waking up with this woman.

A few minutes later, Dakota did wake up fully. With a growl, Luke pulled Dakota as close as possible to his body. Then he nuzzled her hair and whispered, "Good morning, beautiful."

She murmured, "Good morning to you, too, handsome."

Luke asked, "Do we really have to get out of bed this morning? Couldn't we just spend the day here? I have something I'd love to show you." With that comment, Luke lightly ground his erection into her backside. Dakota giggled, then jumped out of the bed and ran for the bathroom. Luke sighed when, a moment later, he heard the shower. He knew that he would have the opportunity to make love to Dakota today, he just wished it would be sooner than later.

After breakfast with Hank and Andrea, Luke and Dakota headed to the stables. As promised, Andrea had packed a picnic basket for them. Luke carried it and Dakota carried their water bottles and bathing suits. She had assured Luke that they would find a lake to swim in later in the day. Marshall had the horses ready and, within minutes, Dakota was leading Luke off the property of the bed and breakfast.

Luke had assumed that they would be sticking to trails around the general area, but Dakota pointed her horse west and motioned for Luke to follow. When the trail widened, Luke rode up beside her to question where they were going. Dakota just laughed and promised to surprise him. The trail narrowed and Luke was, once again, forced to fall behind.

They rode for over an hour before Dakota pulled her horse to a halt. Again, Luke guided his horse beside her's. She had stopped on a grassy overlook. The view of the valley before them was spectacular. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Then Dakota pointed to a small cabin in the corner of the clearing. "That's where we are headed." Then she spurred her horse into a trot, headed in the direction she had pointed.

When they came up to the cabin, Luke wondered who owned it. When Dakota pulled a key out of her pocket and opened the door, he figured that it must belong to Hank and Andrea. He got off of his horse and tied the reins to the hitching post out front and followed Dakota inside.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Dakota said.

Luke looked at her in surprise. "This is yours?" he asked.

Dakota smiled happily and said, "This is the property that I was telling you about inheriting. It seems that it is so far up here in the mountains that no one wanted the responsibility to take care of it. So I have spent my week-ends up here for about a year now, fixing it up and doing basic repairs. I'm pretty pleased with it."

Luke looked around at the little house. It was a one room log cabin, with no electricity or running water. He had noticed a hand pump out front. There was a old fashioned pot bellied stove sitting over in one corner. Near it was a tall pantry for food, a table with chairs, and a basin for a sink. But the most impressive thing in the cabin was the huge, hand carved bed. Dakota had covered it with a colorful quilt and added bunches of pillows, making it look like a floating cloud of comfort. In fact, the whole room exuded a feeling of comfort.

"You've got a really nice place here," Luke said. He asked, "Are you finished working on it, or is there more to do?"

Dakota looked around the room before she answered. "I have a few things left. I want to bring new windows up, but that's going to take some work. You can get here by jeep, but the road is really rough. My next goal is actually to work on the road. I have contacted a few contractors in the area to find out about filling in the potholes and smoothing out the bumps. I don't want to make it too easy, though, because I really don't want people coming up here without my permission. But it would be nice to be able to get supplies up here without having to use a horse and sleigh or risk losing my transmission."

Luke nodded as he thought about the work that she had already done. It was evident that she was multi-talented from the variety of new items he could see in the room. There were artistic things, like the quilt and a few wall hangings, but there was also evidence of someone recently caulking the existing windows, patching the mud in between the logs of the walls and even replacing the pantry doors. All without electricity or power tools. Luke was impressed.

Dakota stepped outside and grabbed the picnic basket. She brought it back in and began unpacking it on the table. As she worked, she said, "Andrea and Hank have been up here for a few week-ends, by themselves. When they don't have guests at the bed and breakfast, they like to get away. This place is rustic enough to be a challenge, but it is also comfortable enough to enjoy."

Pointing to one of the wall hangings, Dakota continued, "That is one of Marshall's masterpieces. I made the one to the right and the quilt on the bed. Sarah Hytree did the hope chest over in the corner."

Luke wandered around the room looking at each piece. When he got to the hope chest, he stopped in shock. He was so excited by the piece that he tried to talk while he was trying to swallow and the result was an unexpected coughing fit. Dakota stared at him like he was crazy as he coughed and pointed, trying to talk, but only managing to cough worse. Finally, Dakota took him one of the water bottles and offered him a sip. When he got his cough under control, he put his hands on her shoulders and shook her lightly. "The chest! The chest! Did you say that Sarah did it?"

Dakota nodded her head and slowly said, "Yes, Sarah Hytree did it. She made the whole chest and added the top design with wood burning."

Luke was practically jumping up and down. "I know - wood burning using the old fashioned stone tipped tool - not the new fangled metal ones."

With her brow knitted in confusion, Dakota again said, "Yes."

By now, Luke had given up all semblance of hiding his excitement. He was beside himself. He said, "James has a trunk. He made it for Joy before they were married. It is the exact same design - I'd swear to it. When I asked him where it came from, he said that it had come out of his heart. Sarah has got to be James' twin. I just know it!"

Dakota finally understood and together they examined the design and talked about how great it would be for both Sarah and James to find one another if it were true. It had been years since Luke had thought seriously about how nice it would be to have a family. But as he and Dakota discussed the possibility for James and Sarah, he realized how much he still longed for that connection. He didn't voice his heartache, but he wasn't very surprised when Dakota seemed to sense it and quietly sat, holding his hand.

After a while, they sat down at the dining table and began eating their lunch. Their discussion lightened considerably. Luke told Dakota stories about some of the kids and families that he worked with. He was careful to choose ones with happy or funny endings, rather than the ones where he went home at night and stared mindlessly at his TV, wishing he could change the world. Dakota, for her part, told him about growing up on a ranch, learning how to rope a steer and winning the blue ribbon with the very first bull that she ever raised and took to show. Before they realized it, lunch was gone and they were both yawning.

"That's what we get for eating turkey!" Luke said.

Dakota looked at him questioningly. Luke sighed contentedly then said, "Turkey has some kind of chemical in it that triggers sleep in humans. That's why we all end up sleeping Thanksgiving afternoon away!"

"Well, I have a great idea and an even better bed!" Dakota said. With a playful leer, she added, "Race you to it!"

The room wasn't that large and before Dakota managed to reach the bed, Luke had lifted her up from behind and thrown her gently onto it. Then he jumped up on the bed with her. Dakota raised up on her elbow to look at Luke. She said, "First one to sleep wins!"

Luke reached down and pulled the extra quilt up over them and snuggled Dakota to his side. The next few hours were spent in quiet sleep.

Luke was awaken by the feel of Dakota rubbing his chest with her hands. She was lightly touching his nipples, then pinching them softly. As she stroked him, Dakota had her legs wrapped around Luke's leg and was grinding her hips into him. Luke could only handle her ministrations for a few minutes before he had to respond. He rubbed his hands up and down her sides and felt her shiver at his touch. Then he slid one hand between them to cup her breast. Dakota responded by grinding her hips into his even harder. Luke chuckled at her eager love making. She was a passionate woman - his little cuddly doll.