The Widows Choice by Hildie McQueen Page A

became too warm and Mary Ellen got to her feet fanning her face with both hands.  "It's too hot in here. I'm going to get a bit of fresh air before cleaning up." The three people at the table barely glanced up from their meal as she made her way outside.
    The soft chirps of cricket's song filled the air along with the sounds of an owl hooting in the distance as Mary Ellen made her way down the worn path.  She'd circle the house as was her usual routine. It gave her an opportunity to not only get fresh air and exercise, but clear her mind as well. Deep in thought she almost screamed when a figure appeared before her, coming from between two trees.
    A chuckle stuck in her throat at almost walking up to Jerrick relieving himself.  "I'm sorry... you startled me.  I thought you'd be at the bunkhouse by now."
    His light hair shimmered in the twilight, his hazel eyes seeming to darken when meeting hers.  "Doin' a bit of walkin' myself.  Ate too much of your delicious cookin'.
    When his lips curved, she had to force herself to look away. "I'm glad you enjoyed it.  One of my favorite things to do is cook and bake."
    "It will be hard to leave.  A man can get used to eating like this every day." His voice held a gruff edge, while at the same time his Texan accent softening the tones.
    She wasn't sure what the appropriate response was, so she changed the subject.  The one thing she wasn't ready to think about.  The day he'd leave.  "It's a beautiful night, isn't it? I just love this time just after sunset."
    Jerrick wasn't fooled for an instant, by the twinkle in his eyes.  "Yes, ma'am, it is." He held out his arm.  "How about I walk with you?"
    Butterflies tumbled in her stomach. The idea of walking in the moonlight with him as foreign as walking on water.  She couldn't stop her eyes from widening at his coming closer before she assumed her usual casual air as she tended to do when he was near.  "Yes, of course.  That would be lovely."
    No sooner did she slip her hand through his arm did she become a tongue-tied imbecile.  Not one thought, even worse did any word, form in her mind.  Every sense except touch disappeared.  The warmth under her hand sent a trail of heat straight into her chest.  Her breath quickened and she hoped not to embarrass herself by fainting or stumbling at the lack of oxygen to her brain.
    "Montana is very different from Texas.  The trees taller, the grass greener.  Not to mention the mountains," Jerrick told her, his voice soft, yet deep at the same time.  "But at night, when I look up at the sky, it doesn't seem so very far."
    "Why did you leave?  Sounds like you miss home."
    He inhaled and let it out slowly.  "I do at times wonder why I left.  I suppose it's that I have nothing to hold me there. No one to return to.  Its where I grew up, but not where I belong."
    Mary Ellen understood.  She'd moved to live with Charlie and Daniel after all her siblings married, leaving her to care for their mother, their father long since gone.  After her mother died, although she had sisters, nieces and nephews, it was not enough to keep her in Billings. 
    She had felt a strange stirring to go and find her own destiny.  "I came here to start again, to see what other possibilities were available to me.  But unlike you, at times, I wonder if I should have remained in Billings.  I should be helping my siblings look after their broods."
    "So you are the only one not married then?" He stopped and looked to her, his gaze moving over her face.  At once Mary Ellen wished it were darker so he'd not see the coloring of her cheeks.
    "I am the one who never married.  Four of us.  Two brothers and one sister, all married with children now."
    He guided her to continue walking and they rounded the front of the house walking beside the fencing.  Finally she began to relax, her breathing returning to normal.  Jerrick patted her hand with his free one and she wondered if it was meant to say he understood why