THE RANCH - CHAPTER 7

The moment Keenan saw Luke’s face he knew something bad must have happened. Riding over to him, he stopped. ‘What’s wrong pal?’

Luke looked over at the cattle grazing, already he felt the heat from the sun hitting him.

‘Dorothy’s pregnant,’ he said with no emotion.

Keenan stared at him. ‘Holy Shit. I guess you did have sex with her after all.’

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

‘So what are you going to do about it, Luke?’

‘What can I do? If it’s my child then I’ll do right by it.’

‘What do you mean? If.’

‘How can I be sure it’s mine?’

‘How far along is she?’

‘Two weeks.’

‘Two weeks ago was the night of the party, the night you spent in bed with her. No way could she have been with anyone since she came to live with you. You know you’re going to have to call Jerry and tell her. It’s one thing to keep your marriage from her but a baby, no way can you keep that a secret.’

‘I know, and I know this will be the end of us. Even if she were to accept this I can’t abandon Dorothy or the baby.’

‘I’m so sorry man but just think, you’re going to be a dad.’

‘Let’s quit work early today and go into town, I could use a few drinks,’ Luke said and took off riding. Keenan right on his tail.

Dorothy was sitting in the living room reading when there was a knock at the door, she got up to answer it. Her breath caught in her throat and she backed up when he pushed his way in.

‘Father, what are you doing here?’

Silvio looked around at the small room, his eyes taking in the old furniture and worn carpet. He obviously wasn’t impressed and flicked a speck of lint form his tailored jacket. ‘This place is a dump.’

Her lips felt dry and she felt sick to her stomach. ‘It’s not that bad,’ she said.

He continued walking around, inspecting each room before stopping and turning to look at her. ‘So is it done?’

Lowering her head she stares at her feet and answers. ‘Yes.’

‘Does he know you’re pregnant?’

‘Yes,’ she answered, her head still down.

He grabbed her chin in his hand and tightened his grip. ‘Look at me when I’m talking to you. Make sure to stick to the plan or I swear to God you’ll regret it.’ Shoving her face away, he let go of her. ‘Word is out that you are married so I’m hosting a party for you in ten days to celebrate your marriage. Make sure you’re there and bring your husband.’

‘He won’t go.’

His eyes turned an evil shade of dark as he glared at her.

‘Make sure he comes. I will not be embarrassed by either one of you.’ He reached into his pocket, took out his wallet and pulled out a few hundreds and threw them at her. ‘Get your hair and nails done and a new dress. You’re starting to look like a dumpy country housewife.’

She watched as he walked out the front door and got into his limousine. Her eyes filled with tears as she got down on her knees to pick up the money. Her chin still stung from the pressure of his hand. How was she going to convince Luke to go to a party at her father’s place when he clearly hated her, more now that she told him about the pregnancy?

This was how Kimberly found Dorothy when she arrived at the ranch, on her knees crying and holding the money. She went over and squatted down next to her, putting her arm around her shoulder and helping her to her shoulder and helping her to her feet. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked as she helped Dorothy over to the sofa. ‘You can trust me, I’m your friend.’

Her breath stuttered as she spoke through her sobs. ‘My, my father was just here.’

‘YOUR FATHER, did he hurt you?’

‘Not really, he scares me more than anything.’

‘He sounds like a horrible man, what kind of a father forces his daughter to marry a complete stranger?’

Dorothy’s hand flew to her mouth and she gasped. ‘Luke told you?’

‘No, Keenan did. I’m your friend and I’ll never tell anyone. Do you want to tell me what he wanted? I don’t mean to pry but it seems to me you need someone to talk to.’ For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why Luke was always saying that Dorothy was spoiled and her tears were fake. These tears were real and so was her fear of her heartless father.

Dorothy sniffed. ‘He was here ordering me to show up at a party he’s hosting and to bring Luke. I know he’ll refuse to go. If we don’t show up my father will make sure we pay, one way or another. He can be very vindictive and cruel. He threw money at me and told me to get my hair and nails done, said I was looking dowdy.’

‘And the mark on your chin, did he do that?’

Touching her chin she nods, fresh tears sprang up and she wiped them away. ‘Father doesn’t like it when someone talks back to him.’

‘Let’s go into kitchen and I’ll make us some tea,’ Kimberly said and helped her up. Dorothy sat down while Kimberly boiled some water and seeing something lying in the corner on the floor went and picked it up. She held up the broken pregnancy stick and turned to look at Dorothy. ‘Are you pregnant?’

Dorothy nods.

Kimberly pours them each some tea and sits down across from her. ‘What did Luke say?’

‘He was furious and as you can see he broke the test in half. He also started to tell me that I ruined any chance of him getting but then he stopped and wouldn’t finish his sentence.’

‘He must have been talking about Jerry.’

‘Jerry, who’s that?’ Dorothy asked as she set down her cup.

‘I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘Please Kimberly, I need to know.’

So she told Dorothy all about Jerry and the promise she and Luke made to each other. ‘But now that you’re pregnant I think that will change. He’s a good man and will be by your side and will do the right thing for his child.’

Dorothy looked at Kimberly. ‘You know this marriage was arranged and yet you are being so nice to me. I really don’t deserve your kindness.’

‘Well, it sounds to me like you had no choice and Luke did it to save his ranch. I’m also your friend.’

‘I’ve never had a girlfriend before, not a real one.’

Kimberly placed her hand over Dorothy’s ‘You have one now.’

‘Luke doesn’t want anyone to know about the baby yet.’

‘I won’t say a word to anyone, I promise. As far as the party goes talk to him if he says no I’ll get Keenan to have a word with him.’

Dorothy smiled. ‘Things are going great between you two right?’

‘Oh yes. We’ve always had a thing for each other but were afraid to say anything. We have you to thank for getting us together. Now I wasn’t you to go lay down and I’ll start dinner, that way when Luke gets home he’ll have a nice hot meal waiting for him. Feeding a man’s belly always softens them up, that’s what my mother always says.’

Feeling tired and worn out she went and laid down on the sofa and within moments was fast asleep.

Luke and Keenan walked in and saw Dorothy asleep in the living room. He was still angry but thanks to the talk with Keenan, gave him, he realized it wasn’t her fault alone, he was just as much to blame. The smell of meat and potatoes drifted from the kitchen so that’s where they headed, leaving her to sleep.

Keenan took Kimberly in his arms, giving her a kiss. ‘You smell good babe.’

She giggled. ‘That’s the food you silly man,’ she said kissing him back until Luke cleared his throat. ‘Oh Hi, Luke, supper’s almost ready so why don’t you go wash up.’

He knew she just wanted to be alone with Keenan so he headed upstairs to wash up, glancing over at Dorothy on his way. Fifteen minutes later he came back down. She was no longer on the sofa but he could hear her voice coming from the kitchen. When he walked in she turned her head and her eyes locked. He looked away and sat with Keenan while the women dished out the food. He would talk about the baby.

The conversation was a wee bit awkward and after the meal was consumed their guests left, leaving them to do the washing up. Luke walked them outside while Dorothy started in on the dishes.

Kimberly turned to Luke before getting into the car. ‘Dorothy is very upset, she had a visitor.’

‘Who?’ Luke asked.

‘Her father and she’s terrified of that man. You also need to take it easy on her about the baby.’

‘She told you?’

‘Not really, I found the test that you broke in half.’

Saying goodbye he went back into the kitchen where she was washing the dishes, he went over and picked up the dish towel and started drying.

‘You don’t have to do that,’ she said, glancing at him.

‘I want to. We have to talk about your situation, the baby that is.’

Her bottom lip quivered. ‘I won’t abort it,’ she said, close to tears.

‘I know. I wasn’t suggesting that. I want you to know that I’m going to take responsibility for it and you aren’t alone, I’ll be by your side through it all. But for now, let’s keep it to ourselves.’

‘Earlier you said I ruined things for you, were you talking about Jerry?’

Letting out a deep breath dropped the dish towel, taking her hand led her over to a chair and had her sit down. Sitting in front of her he frowns. ‘Jerry is or was my girlfriend. She’s been away on an internship for two years. We were going to get back together when she returned. There was talk about us getting married. We had it all planned out. She would get a job in the Cape and we would live here.’

‘The Cape, that’s about a three - hour drive from here. Isn’t that a long drive for her every day to go to work?’

‘Jerry was going to get an apartment and come home on the weekends.’

‘That’s kind of a strange setup. What kind of marriage will that be with her gone all week?’

‘And you don’t think our arrangement is strange? I have to call her and tell her about us. No way will she be able to forgive me so it’s over.’

‘I really am sorry Luke.’

‘Are you?’ he asked, looking into her eyes.

Getting up she walked over to the counter and turned to look at him, resting her back against the cool marble. ‘I know you have no reason to believe me but I am sorry.’

Kimberly tells me your father was here. What did he want?’ He got up and went over to her.

‘He came to invite us to a party, given in our honour.’

‘I’m not going.’

‘Luke we have to.’

‘You can go if you want but I won’t be there.’

‘Please, just do this for me.’

‘What else did he want?’

She pulled out the money her father had given her from her back pocket. ‘He gave me this, said I looked dowdy and ordered me to get my hair and nails done for the party.’

‘Is that all he gave you?’ He said, his finger touching the bruise on her chin. ‘Did he do this to you?’ He saw the tears in her eyes before she looked away, knowing they weren’t fake. ‘Tell me, did he give you this mark?’

‘Yes,’ she sniffed. ‘Why do you care?’

‘I’m from Low veldt and we don’t take kindly to a man putting his hands on a woman in violence.’

She looked at him, a tear clung to her eyelid. ‘If we don’t show up to his party he’ll become very angry and will make us pay. He’s a cruel man and will do whatever he can to make life hard for us.’

‘Why is it so important to him that we show up?’

‘He’s a wealthy man and his reputation is important to him. For years I’ve been and embarrassment to him and he wants to show everyone that I finally settled down and behaving like a lady.’

‘Is that why he forced us to marry?’

‘Partly,’ she replied.

‘What do you mean Partly?’

Biting her bottom lip she realized how close she came to blowing it so she walked away, her back to him. ‘It’s nothing. I’m going to bed and I hope you’ll think about going to the party.’