Cowboys Heart of Stone

Zadie had cleared the kitchen table so that the guys could eat, and a pot of coffee and cups sat on the table. When the guys came down, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel.

She went over to the table, sat down with the boys, and poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Okay, guys, we need to have a talk. It took me over two hours to clean the oven and the stovetop. It’s going to take me the rest of the night to clean this kitchen.

The rest of the house will probably take me the next two or three days. So we have to set some ground rules.

“The first rule is when you come in from outside, you will remove your boots at the door. When you are done eating, you will scrape the leftover food into the trash and put your plates and cups in the sink.

“No more throwing your clothes all over the furniture and on the floor. Your dirty clothes will be placed in the hamper along with the towels that you use.

“Your empty beer bottles will be placed back in the case on the porch. But I have to ask you all something: How in the world did you get this place so bad?”

“Well, none of us really know how to clean. And we put in such long hours working on the ranch that we’re tired when we come home.

“All we want to do is eat and have a couple of beers before going to bed,” Lee answered for all of them.

She let out a sigh. They were all looking at her with wide eyes. “All right, I guess I can understand that, what with you being young and single.

“I’ll get this place looking good, but you all have to do your part too. I don’t expect you to cook and clean, that’s my job. But I do expect you to follow the few little simple rules that I’ve laid out. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rory said, and the others nodded their heads.

She gave them all a big smile. “Thank you. We’ll start with the new rules tomorrow after I get everything cleaned up.”

“Can we grab a beer and go outside now?” Cody asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes, go on.” When they walked out carrying bottles of beer, she sat there and finished her coffee, smiling. Even though they were twenty years old, they were like little boys in so many ways.

It had her wondering what happened to their parents and how young they were when they lost them. But she didn’t want to pry and figured that eventually, they would tell her on their own.

By the time she had the kitchen spotless, the guys had gone to bed, and she was exhausted.

Tomorrow, she would have to tackle the rest of the house, but for now, all she wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed.

She also knew that she would have to get up at the crack of dawn to make them their breakfast and coffee.

Going to the bedroom they gave her, she stripped down and got under the shower.

Having seen some men’s clothing in the closet and in the other dresser, not to mention a razor, shaving cream, and a toothbrush in the bathrooms, she knew that one of the boys must have given up their room for her.

It felt as though she had just gone to sleep when it was time to get up; the sun was not even up yet.

Throwing on some clothes, she went downstairs and started the coffee and breakfast. She had just finished making the scrambled eggs, bacon, and coffee when she heard their footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Morning, guys. Breakfast is ready, so sit down.”

“Wow, it smells delicious and this coffee, it’s never been this good before,” Rory said as he took a sip of his coffee.

She couldn’t help but smile as she watched them gobble up the food she had made and finish the pot of coffee.

“Brock is missing out on some really good food and the kitchen looks fantastic,” Lee piped up.

She turned to look at him. “Who is Brock?”

All three guys got to their feet, grabbing their plates, and since there was no food left on them, all they had to do was put them in the sink.

“Sorry, we got to get going, see you later,” Rory said as he ushered his two brothers out.

She found it really odd that they rushed out the way they did when she asked them who Brock was, but then she figured he must be a close friend of theirs.

She spent the whole day cleaning, starting with the downstairs bathroom.

She gasped when she saw the mess; the tub and sink were filthy, and clothes were lying all over the floor, along with wet towels.

It took a little over an hour to get the bathroom spotless; taking all the dirty clothes and towels to the washing machine, she threw them in.

Once that room was clean, she got started in the living room; it was a very large room with two couches, three easy-boy chairs, and a large flat-screen TV.

Except for the dust and the clothes lying around, it wasn’t that bad, and it didn’t take more than an hour to get it clean.

Before tackling the other rooms, she put a pot roast in the oven with some tiny potatoes and vegetables.

She was told that the guys usually came home for lunch, but this particular day, they had to move some of the cattle to a different area and wouldn’t be home until suppertime.

By the time the guys got home, she was sore and so tired. She still had the laundry room to clean up and the laundry to finish, but she decided she’d had enough for today and would finish it tomorrow.

When the three guys walked into the kitchen wearing their boots, she cleared her throat. “Guys, what did I tell you about your boots?”

“Oops, sorry,” they said, going back into the porch. They removed their boots before coming back in.

After dishing out their food, she sat down with them to eat. “So how did your day go?”

“It went okay, but it sure was a long day. Ma’am, this pot roast is delicious. Usually, we just open up a can of beans and chop up some hotdogs in it with some bread. None of us can cook worth a darn.”

She smiled back at them. “Thank you, I’m glad you like it but please, call me Zadie. I hope you like apple pie ’cause I made one for dessert.”

When they were done eating, she was very pleased to see that each one of them took their empty plates over to the sink.

“Zadie, we’re going to the bar tonight for a couple of drinks, would you like to come with us?” Cody asked before going upstairs to change.

“Thank you so much for the invitation, but I still got so much work to do and I’m a little tired, so maybe another time.”

After they left, she finished up the dishes, finished the laundry, and put their clean clothes on top of their dressers in the bedrooms.

She then went downstairs, poured herself a cup of tea, and went to sit down in the living room.

Turning on the TV, she sat there, but her attention went to the pictures on the mantelpiece. Getting up, she went to look at them.

There was a photo of an older couple and three little boys around the age of four that she figured were the triplets.

She knew it had to be the boys’ parents, but there was another boy in the photo; he looked to be around twelve or thirteen.

All kinds of thoughts went through her head. Maybe their parents were dead, perhaps an accident of some kind, and maybe this other boy was their brother who might have been with them.

As much as she was curious, she really didn’t have the heart to bring it up in case it was something they didn’t want to talk about. For now, she would leave it be and hoped that someday she would know the truth.

***

For two days, Zadie had cooked and cleaned until the whole house was spotless. And with the guys doing their part, it made her job a little bit easier so she could relax.

It got to the point where she couldn’t keep her eyes open for another minute, so she went upstairs and got ready for bed.

She was even too tired to take a shower and decided she would take one in the morning; she didn’t even bother to put on a nightgown.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light and slept right through the night.

***

It was late when Brock rode up to the ranch house. He was hot, tired, and hungry. He got off his horse and removed the saddle.

Then he made sure the horse had something to drink and eat before putting him in the barn and heading inside the house.

The moment he walked in the door, he was shocked to find that the place was absolutely spotless. Not a thing was out of place.

He headed into the kitchen to grab a beer and maybe something to eat but stopped when he got to the door. He looked around the small kitchen and couldn’t believe his eyes.

It, too, was spotless. Even the fridge and stove were shiny. “The boys did really good hiring a housekeeper,” he said to himself as he opened the fridge and took out a beer. He then saw the leftover pot roast.

He took it out, put some on a plate, and heated it in the microwave. When he was done eating, he put his plate in the sink.

It was something he always did, even though his brothers were the opposite and would just leave them lying around anywhere.

As tired as he was, instead of going up to bed, he took his beer outside and sat on the porch. His brothers’ horses were gone, so he knew they were still at the bar.

One thing he had to say about his brothers was that no matter how much they drank or how late they stayed out, they always got up and went to work.

They weren’t expecting him to be home until tomorrow or the day after, but he’d found a buyer for the cattle as soon as he got to the auction. He finished his beer and headed inside and up the stairs to his bedroom.

When he got there, he didn’t bother to turn on the light. He had a night light in the bathroom, and it was just enough light for him to find his way there. Going in, he closed the door behind him and stripped out of his clothes.

Seeing the clothes hamper, he dumped his dirty clothes into it, turned on the water to the shower, and stepped inside.

Oh yes, he was tired beyond words. It had been a long trip there and back. All the way home, he was angry at the thought of what the place would look like when he got there.

It was always a mess, but with him being gone, it would sure be worse.

But as soon as he walked into the house, it put him in a better mood when he saw how clean the place was, and he was actually proud of the triplets for hiring someone who knew what they were doing.

It wasn’t often that his brothers did something right, but whenever they did, he always made a point of letting them know that they did a good job.

He couldn’t wait to find out who they had hired. It was something he should have done himself a long time ago.

There were plenty of women in town that had offered, older women who were retired and had nothing to do, but he always turned them down.

He just didn’t like the thought of someone coming into their home. He liked his privacy, but it got to the point now where he couldn’t stand the mess any longer.

He dried off and threw the towel over the rack to dry, then turned the light off. Then he got into bed naked. Where his bed was situated was dark, and he never even noticed there was somebody under the covers.

He always slept on the same side, and it was a king-size bed. Laying on his side with his back to the other person, he closed his eyes, and within minutes, he was fast asleep, unaware of what was waiting for him in the morning.