The doctor said she’d be fine. That her throat would hurt for a few days, but her lungs didn’t appear to be damaged. If she was still having problems in a week, come back and see him. She hadn’t bothered with the pain killers. Maybe later if she had trouble sleeping. A hot toddy would taste good. The honey and lemon would soothe her throat, and the whiskey would calm her nerves. Her mother always swore by a hot toddy for a sore throat.
She left the bedroom and walked to the kitchen, wearing old sweat pants and hooded sweat shirt that Rosemary had brought that morning. The house was all one level. The great room was in the middle and bedrooms and all purpose rooms were on either end. Her room was on the end with Opal’s and two other guest rooms. Jake’s room, the office, a study and a sewing room were on the other side. As she walked through the great room she couldn’t help but visualize it with new area rugs, drapes, and furniture.
She found Jake and Opal sitting at the kitchen table, having a drink and talking. Jake stood and smiled.
“You look better,” he said.
“Were you able to rest?” asked Opal.
“I couldn’t. I’m too keyed up. I was wondering if I could make a hot toddy for my throat.”
Opal jumped up. “You bet. I’ll put water on to boil and get you a big mug. I have fresh lemons and our own honey, of course. That is just the thing you need for your throat. Sit down. I’ll fix it for you.”
Jake stood and held out the kitchen chair beside him, and she sank into it. He touched her hair. “I sure am glad there wasn’t permanent damage.”
Fiona smiled. “You and me both. What do you make of all this?”
He sat down again. “Opal and I were talking about it. I think it is linked to whoever is stealing our cows.”
“Why would someone burn my house down over your cows?”
“To create a diversion. You know that valley I took you to yesterday? We moved some of the cows there last week. I wanted to check on them. That’s the reason we went. I didn’t think anyone could get a truck in there. Then again they might be using horses and loading the cows somewhere else. I sent Sweet and Glory out to check on them this morning. They haven’t gotten back yet. If we are missing more cows, it might be because your house burned while the rustlers went in and hauled them off.”
“Unbelievable. So I lose my house because someone is stealing cows?”
Jake nodded.
“That hardly seems fair,” she said.
The tea kettle whistled, and Opal fixed Fiona’s drink.
“We’re hoping, of course, that we are wrong about the cows. But then that wouldn’t solve the mystery of why your house burned.”
“This is discouraging,” said Fiona.
“You need rest,” Jake said. “Doctor’s orders. Everything looks more discouraging when you’re tired.”
“Yes,” said Opal. “Your outlook will be much better when you feel better.”
“I can’t get the smell of smoke out of my nose,” said Fiona. “I can’t get the sound of the fire and the roar of it out of my head. My mind keeps playing the fire scene over and over.”
“Here’s your toddy,” said Opal. “A few of these and your outlook will improve immensely.”
“Thank you. You both have been so kind. I hope I’m not the cause of this.”
“It’s not your fault, so don’t think like that,” said Jake. “Have you heard from your friend?”
“Olympia? No, I haven’t. She said she’d be here tomorrow, but she’s notoriously unreliable. Her driving here from Portland might take several days. She has a terrible sense of direction, but she does love to drive. She could end up on the Pacific coast. I’ll give her a call. Maybe tomorrow.”
“She is more than welcome to stay here,” said Opal. “We have plenty of room.”
“I was going to call that cute B & B in town and see if they have a room. She loves to do stuff like that. I’ll call them tomorrow.”
“No, really,” said Opal, “I insist. She should stay here. It will do you a world of good to have a friend at a time like this.”
“She’s one of my closest friends,” said Fiona, “but she is best served in small doses. When we travel, I make sure we have separate rooms so I can have a break from her non-stop talking. You may regret having her as a guest.”
“We have enough work to do that we aren’t around most of the time,” said Opal. “You two can have the run of the place.” She put down her whiskey and water and looked Fiona dead in the eye. “Fiona, don’t think you have to stay. If you want to leave, I won’t fault you for it. The decorating job can wait. It has waited this long. You and your friend should visit and sightsee and have a good time. You can come back another time.”
Fiona savored the toddy and felt its soothing warmth in her throat. She looked from Opal to Jake and back. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but sitting here talking to you, I realize a deal is a deal and I said I would do your house, so I will. I appreciate your concern, Opal. Working on your house will give me something to do and think about besides all that has happened. At the same time, I don’t want to cause you any more problems. Something strange is going on, and I don’t know what to do about that. If you think I should leave because I’m a problem, I’ll go.”
“You aren’t a problem,” said Jake. “You don’t have to go. You stay here with us so I can keep an eye on you.”
“No,” said Opal. “You aren’t a problem. It’s just I’m worried what could happen to you, if you stay. I’ll fix you another toddy while you think about it.”
Fiona could feel Opal’s concern. She knew Jake would protect her, if he could. After all, he had saved her life. If Jake was right and someone had burned the bunkhouse as diversion then she wasn’t the problem. She didn’t have another job lined up until the fall, figuring she would spend the summer out here. Olympia was coming. Jake was very attentive. But the main reason she didn’t want to go was that she was more than a little curious to find out what was going on with the bones, the rustlers, and the fire. Things were getting complicated.
Jake rose and found another tall one for himself in the refrigerator, opened it, brought it back to the table and sat again facing Fiona. They looked at each other.
Fiona smiled. “You got your way, Jake. I’ve come to stay in the big house.”
He returned the smile. “Then you’ll stay.”
“I’ll stay till Olympia comes. That will give me time to rest up, think things over, and see what transpires.”
Fiona spent the better part of the next day resting in bed. Opal checked on her from time to time. Jake looked in that evening to make sure she was still alive. She lay curled up in deep sleep, a light cover thrown over her. Her legs lay bare and beautiful. Jake didn’t linger. It was too hard on his hormones to watch Fiona Marlowe in bed. He closed the door as quietly as he had opened it.
Ruben Sweet and Mortimer Glory had brought bad news when they had finally ridden in after dark the night before. More cows and calves were missing.
“We counted three times,” said Sweet. “We figure five pair are missing. We rode up and down the canyons and ridges. No sign of them. But we found traces of tracks.”
“How did they get it in there?” said Jake. He was beyond baffled. He had thought it over long and hard about a safe place for the herd.
“You know the old cattle lane that passes the east side of the valley?”
“That’s way, way off and you have to navigate that rock strewn canyon.”
“Near as we can figure that’s what they did, because there were signs of horses and cattle going that way. We didn’t follow it to the end. We thought we should come back to report in.”