The Boss Lady's Man

{Chapter} 10

{Chapter 10}

“Just look at that hair, Toni. Beauty at its finest” Katie giggled and held up her brush in victory.

Toni stared at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her black curls had been wound up on top of her head and a few stray, shorter curls hung loosely around her face and teased her blushing cheeks. If it weren’t for her obviously too-tan skin and the annoying spray of freckles on her nose, she would have looked like… a woman.

Katie placed a Cherokee Rose on the left side of her head and Toni smiled at herself. For the first time, she was happy with how she looked.

“I’m… I’m perty,” she said in disbelief.

“What did I tell you? You’ll have heads turning for miles around. I hear people all the time say to me ‘the way to a man‘s heart is through his stomach, or his ears, or his nose’ one man even told me that it was through his feet. That‘s a long story, though, so I won‘t bore you with it. You know what I say to all that? Hogwash. Everybody with sense knows that the way to a man’s heart is through his eyes” Katie grinned. “Now look at what I found on the porch this morning.”

Katie pulled out a big spray of wildflowers that had nearly every kind of flower Texas had to offer in it.

A Claret Cup Cactus, some Dayflowers, Bog-white violets, Butterfly Peas, Bishop’s weed, and so many others that she didn’t think she could even name them all.

“Who in the world would leave you such a big bunch of wildflowers?” Toni asked.

“They’re for you,” Katie said.

“Who from?”

“I dunno. There’s a note on them,” Katie said, handing her the small envelope.

Toni broke the seal and drew out a small card.

“Are they from Erik? Oh, I knew he loved you” Katie giggled.

Toni’s heart sank. “They’re from that Mr. Downs. Guess this is his way of accepting my apology.”

She plucked a flower from the bouquet, a Wine cup, and stuck her nose in it to cover up her disappointment. She was actually hoping that Erik would have sent her flowers.

Why was that?

The man was annoying. He took forever to break a horse. He had this lopsided grin thing going on. He was one of the Bible thumpers and probably thought that she was the most sinful person that ever lived. Being a Christian, he was probably judging her all of the time, shaking his head in disapproval.

Now, who does that sound like, Toni?

Toni froze. It sounded just like her. She was always judging Erik and Wade just because they believed in God, so why didn’t they have the right to judge her?

Because their Bible tells them not to, that’s why. They have no idea what I’ve been through in my life.

Toni closed her eyes. She didn’t know what they had been through, either. Erik said that his father left after his little sister was born. Did the man desert his family?

Nothing can compare to what you went through.

Toni put a stop to the argument within herself before she started remembering things she had tried so hard to forget.

“Oh well, maybe the old coot has some good in him yet” Kate said.

A yell came from outside, and Toni jumped up, looking out of the windows.