Wife Wanted in Dry Creek

“There’s a bulletin board over there that has some jobs listed on it.” Conrad pointed to the far wall. “It’s mostly cleaning houses, but you might find something to do until you get a more regular job.”

Just then a beam of morning light made its way through the frost on the window and settled on Conrad’s head, gradually showing up the sprinkling of golden strands in his brown hair. Now that was the kind of diffused light she’d wanted for her photographs. She didn’t know why she wasn’t rushing to get her camera. The longer she looked at Conrad the more of a glow he had. And his green eyes were filled with the mossy colors found in a backwoods pond. Even his skin was taking on a rosier hue. The faint roughness of whiskers on his cheeks and the set of his jaw made him look rugged and strong.

It was unusual that sunlight would make that much difference. He was almost handsome.

“You didn’t get into your wife’s shampoo, did you?” Katrina asked before she thought about it. “Your hair sparkles.”

“There’s no wife. I got some grease on my head working under that tractor.” He nodded to the piece of equipment standing in his garage. “My aunt Edith made up something with lemon juice and other things to get it out. I smelled like fruit pie for days.”

So, he was single. “Well, it works. Your hair is great.”

Then she remembered she shouldn’t be asking any man if he was single. Not until she knew whether or not her cancer was coming back. She didn’t need a repeat of the scene with her boyfriend when he decided being with someone who was sick was not sufficiently entertaining to keep him by her side.

Conrad’s face eased up a fraction. “Thanks. If you need anything, just let me know.”

He seemed to mean it which surprised her enough that she considered telling him all her troubles just to see if he was like her ex-boyfriend. It wasn’t easy to tell someone, though.

She hadn’t even told Leanne about the cancer. At first, she hadn’t wanted to worry her and then, when the surgery was all over, she didn’t know how to say the words. Maybe later, when Leanne wasn’t so worried about her marriage, she’d tell her then. If she waited a few months, she’d know more anyway. By then she hoped to be closer to her sister, too.

“Is it getting warmer in here?” Conrad asked.

She nodded.

He was looking at her again with concern, only this time he didn’t seem to be worried that she was going to fall apart. “My uncle is coming over.”

“That’s nice.”

“Well,” he said without much enthusiasm. “He won’t stay long.”

They were both silent for a minute.

“He’ll probably ask if you ever had your picture taken for a calendar.”

Katrina swallowed. “Oh. So you did notice?”

The director for the ad had kept pressing her to feel the despair of that woman caught in a never-ending drought. Finally, Katrina had let her emotions go.

Conrad nodded.

“Well, it was a mistake.” When Katrina saw the final picture, she was appalled. The camera had caught her emotions too well. “I never thought about all those people looking at me. All month long. It’s strange.”

“I can understand that,” he said.

He stood and looked over her shoulder at the tractor.

“I didn’t mean I don’t like people to look at me in person.” She wondered how neurotic he thought she was.

“Oh.” He looked back at her. This time he smiled. “Good.”

He shuffled his feet. “If you need anything, let me know.”

“I could use some juice,” Katrina said. Every time she saw that calendar she got thirsty. “For the boys when they wake up. They’ve been sleeping a long time. Is there a place I can get some?”

“There’s a vending machine in the back.” He motioned to the far corner of the garage. “It has some boxes of apple juice. If you need some quarters, let me know.”

She looked and saw the bright blue machine with the red stripes along the rear wall of his shop.

“I’ve got plenty of change in my purse,” Katrina said. She’d left her purse in the car and when she turned in that direction she saw a small head in the window.

“Looks like they’re waking up,” Conrad said as he followed her gaze and waved at Ryan. “Do they sleep in the car like this often?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t taken them anywhere before.”

His face went white. “But they’re yours, right?”

She shook her head. “They’re used to the car, though. They probably sleep in it all the time so they’re fine.”

He was silent. Maybe even stunned. He certainly didn’t have that friendly expression on his face anymore.

Just then she heard the side door open to the garage. She looked up and a gray-haired man stepped inside holding a coffee cup. Short and a little stout, he had a red shirt on his back and his hair was puffed up around him like he’d been in a windstorm. Even his cheeks were rosy.

“Maybe you should go back and get another cup,” Conrad said to the old man as he stood in the doorway with the cup held out. “Tell Elmer he might be right about everything. That’s ev-ery-thing.”

Conrad’s voice was funny. Each word was spoken clearly before the other word came out of his mouth. Maybe his uncle had trouble hearing.

“Oh,” the old man said as he looked into the garage like he was trying to find something.

Through the open door, Katrina could see that the sky was darker than when she’d seen it last. It was probably going to rain or snow before long. There were no more beams of sunlight sneaking through.

“Let me just give the coffee to your friend here. No point in taking it back,” the older man said as he stepped into the garage and looked straight at Katrina. “Hello. I’m Charley Nelson.”

She moved closer to save him some steps. It was brave of him to meet new people when he obviously had challenges.

“Let—me—help—you,” she said carefully and a bit louder than Conrad. Then she reached out to take the cup. “Thank you for bringing me some coffee. I’m Katrina Britton.”

The older man seemed startled, but he gave her the cup. Then he stood there grinning.

Conrad spoke up then. “It seems the boys aren’t hers. I’m guessing the car might not be, either.”

She turned and saw he looked upset.

“Well, not everyone has children,” she protested. She didn’t know what business that was of Conrad’s. And who cared about the car? “That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy being around someone else’s children. I was just taking them for a ride.”

The old man must have agreed, because he didn’t even talk about children when he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know if you liked cream or sugar so I just brought it black.”

He probably hadn’t heard Conrad, she concluded. The poor man. It must be hard to carry on a conversation.

“Black—is—fine,” she said loudly and took the cup. Then she pointed to her ear. “I—understand.”

That seemed to delight him.

“My uncle Charley hears fine,” Conrad said from behind her. “He’s just being stubborn.”

“How can you say that? He brought me coffee in a beautiful mug.” She looked down at the red cup she held. It had a white heart and a winged figure. “Why it’s a cupid mug!”

“Love is always in the air around here.” The older man stepped closer to her, still grinning.

“Love isn’t all that’s in the air,” Conrad muttered. He didn’t sound too happy. “Bonnie and Clyde were in love. That didn’t mean you’d want them to come to your town. Or take your children for rides in your car.”

Katrina took a sip of the coffee. It was good and strong.

“We’re known for our love matches in this town,” Charley continued, not looking at his nephew. “We even have a stop sign that’s shaped like a heart up the road a bit. It got bent like that years ago when a couple of teenagers—one of them my son, actually—had an accident while they were eloping. It’s our main tourist attraction.”

“We don’t have any tourists,” Conrad protested.

Katrina certainly could believe that. “You need to put on Shakespearean plays or something. Or build a water park. They’re popular.”

“We’re a good, decent town. That should be enough,” Conrad said.

Then it struck her. She turned to the old man. “You have a stop sign shaped like a heart?”

“Well, half a heart,” he admitted. “It’s where the fender of my old pickup hit it.”

She set her cup of coffee on the roof of her sister’s car.

“That’d be perfect.” She used her hands to try and picture that sign. Maybe she wasn’t out of the running to supply photos for that Romance Across America calendar after all. She’d already used most of her savings hiring those models for the photos she’d sent. She’d had beautiful blonde women and men with teeth so white they gleamed. But maybe she could find a couple of models that would work for some kind of future payment. She had her camera in the trunk. She had film. If she could get strong enough natural daylight, she’d have a chance.

“Do you have any blondes here?” she continued. “You know, young women in their twenties who’d like to take a chance at modeling. Pretty, of course, and curvy—”

Well, maybe not too many curves, she thought. Her boyfriend had been swayed by the curves of one of the models as much as he had been by Katrina’s surgery. She’d only had a partial mastectomy, but he said it made him uncomfortable. The young blonde, on the other hand, apparently made him very comfortable.

“Curvy? Why?” Conrad sounded bewildered.

She eyed him skeptically.

“I want to take some pictures. I guess the main thing is that the models have fresh faces and lots of heart,” she finally said. “They need to look sincere when they pretend to be in love. I often tell my models to think of food when they’re trying to look smitten.”

Uncle Charley’s face brightened. “That’s a tip we can all live by. I love my wife’s cooking. Especially her sour cream raisin pie. Every time Edith bakes it, I fall in love with her all over again.”

Just then there was the sound of a siren in the distance. Katrina saw Conrad’s jaw tighten.

“Elmer called in the number before I left,” the older man said with a quick look at her. “I didn’t wait to hear what the sheriff said, but I guess they matched since he’s here.”

“Sheriff?” Katrina asked. “What’s wrong?”

Conrad knew there was no need to go over and open the door. Sheriff Carl Wall would find his way into the garage. His uncle had just been making sure the woman stayed here, Conrad concluded. That made sense, thankfully.

Meanwhile, the woman had moved closer to the car so Conrad stepped around to block her. He didn’t know who those two boys were, but he didn’t want her to use them as hostages.

Suddenly, it occurred to him. “They’re not drugged, are they?”

“Who?” The woman turned bewildered eyes to him.

“The boys.”

He wondered if she would play the innocent until the end. He’d sure been fooled by her. He’d never tell anyone, but after seeing her tears he had been planning to put a new muffler on that old car of hers and not charge her a dime. Wouldn’t that have been something?

The door to the garage opened and Sheriff Wall stepped inside. He pushed his worn Stetson back so he could see from beneath the brim. He was a solid man and he didn’t put up with much nonsense from people. He got his hair cut by Tracy in Miles City, too, so underneath his hat he was neatly, but conservatively, trimmed.

“Conrad,” the sheriff said with a nod. Then he turned his head slightly and nodded again, “Charley.”

He looked at Katrina. “Ma’am.”

The sheriff had a gray wool jacket over his uniform and Conrad realized he was relieved the man hadn’t come in with his guns drawn. Catching a car thief would be high excitement for the sheriff, but he seemed to be taking it in stride.

“What do we have here?” the sheriff asked in a mild voice as he stepped behind the car so he could see the license plate.

“I’m sure the plates are current,” Katrina said. “They have the sticker on them for this year.”

If Katrina had stolen that car, she was good. Conrad had to give her that. She sounded like a concerned motorist. But the sheriff needed to know everything wasn’t the way it looked.

“She’s got two boys in the backseat,” Conrad said. “She doesn’t know them.”

“I didn’t say I don’t know them,” Katrina protested. “I said they’re not mine.”

“So you’re not married?” Charley asked.

“What difference does it make?” she asked in surprise. “A woman doesn’t need a husband to drive a car.”

Charley just beamed, his wrinkled face all scrunched up with a smile. Conrad knew what his uncle was thinking and he didn’t like it.

“So is she the thief?” Conrad decided it was time to bring everyone back down to earth.

“Well, it is a bit early to be making accusations,” the sheriff said. He walked around the car and looked in the windows.

“What’s going on here?” Katrina demanded.

The sheriff shrugged. “We’ll know soon. I have a call in to the officials on the Crowe reservation. They take care of their own problems. I don’t have jurisdiction there. I’m just looking into this as a professional courtesy.”

“What problems?” Katrina asked. “Is something wrong with Leanne?”

Conrad looked over and saw two heads staring out of the car. “Both boys are up now.”

“Well, why don’t I have a little chat with them and see what they say,” the sheriff said as he turned to look in the car windows. Then he turned back to Conrad. “It might be best if you took the young lady into your office while I talk to the boys.”

Conrad nodded. “Makes sense.”

“And make sure she doesn’t make any phone calls,” the sheriff added. “She might be working with someone.”

“I’m not working with anyone,” Katrina protested. “I mean, I didn’t do anything either so I don’t need a partner.”

The sheriff grunted and looked at Charley. “Why don’t you go with them, too?”

Conrad could see that Katrina wanted to protest, but she didn’t. Instead, she walked ahead of him with her head held high and that long hair of hers swinging again like she was some princess. Her back was straight with indignation.

And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Uncle Charley leaned over and whispered, “Did you hear that? She’s single.”

Conrad muttered low enough that only Charley could hear. “Give it up. We’ve got trouble enough.”

He couldn’t stop watching her, though. Her high heels didn’t even wobble as she marched across the concrete floor. Which was more than he could say for his heart. He supposed it was only natural that, after he’d looked at that calendar a hundred times over the past week, he would feel some warmth for the woman in the picture. He had sense enough to know that had nothing to do with real life though. This woman could be a criminal.

The three of them had no sooner stepped into his office than Katrina turned on them.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she demanded. Her hands were on her hips and the color was high on her face.

Conrad didn’t figure it was the time to say she looked magnificent.

His uncle wasn’t so sensitive. “My!”

Fortunately, the older man didn’t elaborate, but Conrad recognized the appreciation anyway.

“The sheriff got a call,” Conrad answered. He figured she deserved to know. “The car you’re driving was reported stolen.”

“That car belongs to my sister. She lent it to me so I could go out scouting around for places that look romantic.”

“You mean like our stop sign?” Conrad asked in astonishment.

Uncle Charley just stood there looking like a cat who’d found a bowl of cream. “Romance?”

“If you must know, I’m hoping to become a professional photographer. I took some shots for a calendar called Romance Across America. I am—well, was—looking for locations for photo shoots this morning.”

The fire went out of her as she spoke.

“That’s the job you lost?” Conrad asked softly.

She nodded. “I’m thinking I could make another pitch for it, but I’ve already sent them my best work so I don’t know. They said my pictures lacked heart.”

“What do they know?” Conrad said without thinking. He wasn’t ready to champion this woman. True, something about her tugged at him. But he had sense enough to know that she would break his heart if he let himself get involved with her.

“So you’re a professional photographer?” Uncle Charley asked. “That’s why you wanted someone to stand by our heart sign?”

Katrina nodded.

“Then young lady, that makes you an answer to prayer,” he said with satisfaction in his voice.

“What?” Conrad almost swallowed his tongue. Here he was trying to be sensible and his uncle was diving off the deep end. Surely, there had to be a limit to what his relatives would do in pursuit of a bride for him. “I’m sure you don’t mean—”

“No, she’s an answer to prayer.” Uncle Charley was adamant. He turned to Katrina. “My wife, Edith, has been praying up a storm asking God to send us a photographer to take some pictures for the church directory. She’s set on us having photos now that the church in Miles City has them. She says we need to keep up with the times.”

“The church directory?” Conrad was so relieved he didn’t care that he sounded like a simple-minded parrot.

“I don’t really—” Katrina stammered. “That is, I mean, I really should keep looking for more—well, other work. I used to be a secretary. I suppose I could do that again.”

Conrad saw all the life leave her face.

“We’ve got money to pay for the directory pictures,” Uncle Charley said.

“I don’t work for churches,” Katrina said. “I don’t even go inside them.”

Conrad could hear the bitterness in her voice. He expected his uncle to concede defeat. There might be a prayer request in the church bulletin asking for a wife for him, but no one would suggest he marry a woman who wasn’t at peace with God. That would be unending trouble. Instead of dropping the subject, though, his uncle got a thoughtful look on his face.

“I’ll help you find a blonde for that picture you want of the heart sign,” the older man bargained. “All you have to do is help my wife set up the directory. Give her some pointers. Maybe take a few photos for starters. And you’ve got yourself a model.”

“But I—”

“You don’t need to set foot inside the church if you don’t want. And I’ll get you the best-looking blonde in Dry Creek.”

“Really?” Katrina asked. Her face glowed. “That heart sign is perfect.”

Conrad didn’t know how a post of rusted metal could move a woman from despair to happiness, but it sure looked like one had.

Uncle Charley nodded. “It’s a deal then.”

Conrad’s heart sank. He loved his uncle and didn’t want to see him get hurt. But no good could come from being so friendly to a woman who showed up in a stolen car. He’d make sure the church didn’t give her any advance money in the hopes she would take the directory job.

The woman walked over to the window. “Can I see the sign from here?”

“Just look down the road to your left as far as you can see,” Uncle Charley told her.

“I see that garden gnome,” she said without glancing back at them. She was quiet for a second. “Then the church. You know your church could use a steeple.”

“We’re looking into it,” Charley said. “It takes money, though. And we have the directory to do. We’re a small church.”

She turned back. “I’m not taking all those pictures. Just so you know. I’m willing to get your wife started and do a few for examples, but that’s it.”

Charley nodded and she turned back to the window.

“I don’t see it,” Katrina said.

“You’re looking in the right direction. It’s farther down,” his uncle answered.

She moved her head, straining even more to locate it.

Conrad started to wonder if she wasn’t trying to figure the fastest way out of town instead of looking for that sign. Or maybe she was just searching for a place to hide. If so, it’d be difficult. Most of the houses had fences around them, but all of them were see-through bars or wire so they wouldn’t conceal much. There weren’t any leaves on any of the bushes so she couldn’t hide in the shrubbery, either.

“The doors are all locked around here,” he said. That was an exaggeration. Granted, most of the front doors would be because no one wanted to track the mud and snow of early spring into their living rooms. But the back doors would be unlocked. That’s where the rugs and boots were kept. He’d hate to have anyone come up against a car thief just because they didn’t know one was in town, though.

Katrina turned to look at him in puzzlement. “I don’t need doors for the photos. Just the sign.”

Conrad grunted. She sure seemed innocent. “I’m just saying.”

She gave him a look and turned back to the window.

By now he figured he didn’t have to worry about being drawn into her web. The expression on her face said she wasn’t planning to cozy up to him anytime soon, either. Well, he supposed it was for the best.

He took a few steps farther away from her.

His uncle walked over and leaned closer to him. “You could be a little nicer. She might be your calendar lady.”

His uncle’s voice was low and Katrina couldn’t hear them.

“She is the calendar lady,” Conrad said.

“Really? Then that means—”

“It means nothing. I was joking when I said what I did. There’s no miracle answer to prayer going on here.”

“But—”

Conrad ignored his uncle. “The fact is, I’ve been thinking I should ask Tracy at the Quick Clip in Miles City out to dinner.”

“Really? Linda at the diner said you two might make a couple.”

Conrad nodded. He was glad to see someone else had some sense. “We’d be comfortable together.”

“Comfortable?” Uncle Charley exclaimed with a frown.

Katrina turned around and looked at them in puzzlement.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Conrad said to her and she went back to her window Then he turned to his uncle and said in a low voice, “Yes. Safe and comfortable.”

They were both silent for a minute.

“It’s my fault you’re willing to settle for that,” Uncle Charley said, his voice upset. “I should have paid more attention to you when your mother died. I didn’t know your father was so wrapped up in his grief he wasn’t even home most of the time.”

“We got by.”

“Yes, but—”

“I do okay,” Conrad said. He could hardly even talk about those days after his mother died. Some things were just better left unsaid. There was no undoing what happened anyway.

The older man nodded and started to walk away.

Conrad didn’t mean to upset his uncle. The man was only trying to help him out.

Just then it struck him. “Why, you don’t even know any young blondes to use in the picture of that sign. How are you going to find a model?”

His uncle winked at him. “I figure that’s your department.”

“My—” Conrad was speechless. How was he supposed to find a pretty blonde willing to pose by an old stop sign?

No one said anything for a moment.

“It could be she’s innocent,” his uncle finally added with a nod toward the window. “Just like she says. I’d hate to think we treated her unfairly in Dry Creek if she is. God wants us to do better than that.”

Conrad didn’t have a chance to answer because just then Katrina stepped back from the window. She was beaming.

“I think I saw it,” she said.

Conrad sighed. His uncle was right. He needed to see that she was given the benefit of the doubt. If for no other reason than that she was still his customer. He’d built his business on doing everything he could for his customers. Usually, that didn’t include standing beside them as they were arrested, of course, but he would do what he could. Besides, seeing her with her face lit up touched him somehow. No wonder he’d been willing to put a two-hundred-dollar muffler on her car and not charge her for it. The woman was a wonder. Well, either that or a very good actress. He wished he knew which it was.