Chapter 1
We finally arrived in Kansas and it felt off the whole car ride. I sighed as Chance got out of the car and greeted some people that looked literally nothing like him. I suddenly felt myself questioning if this was actually Chance’s family. I looked around and saw nothing but open fields, some with beans about the height of my knees and others with some form of livestock in them. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. I looked at the house as Chance talked with an older, balding man in whispers. This house was a decent two story house that looked like it was built in the earlier 1900′s by hand. There were barns across the driveway and behind where our car was parked there was a building that looked more like a modern day garage. The balding man glanced at me and nodded at Chance.
“Come on out,” Chance says while grabbing bags from the backseat. I looked at him in confusion before getting out. The balding man looked me over.
“Name is Ryland, but my nieces just call me RyRy,” he offers his hand and I shake it while looking over the shorter man with facial hair and a ball cap on.
“My name is Jessica,” I tell him before looking around the place. There was a clothing line just off the side of the house and horseshoe pits next to it and a few yards behind it. Ryland smiles at me.
“I don’t live here, I actually live in town, but if you ever need anything my number is on the fridge and there is a home phone,” he explains. Who actually has a home phone these days? I smile and nod my gratitude.
“So if you don’t live here, then who does?” I ask him as I look up at the house that now seems to tower over me.
“We’ll you’re about to meet them. A bunch of people live here actually. This is the house I grew up in. If you come inside I’ll introduce you to my family.” I smile and look at Chance who is already going up the six steps to the modern looking door. I sigh and follow Ryland inside.
A woman that looks to be around her late eighties and early ninety’s comes into the kitchen area that I can see from the front room. In the front room there is a washing tub- like sink, a washer and dryer, guns in cabinets, a closet, and a deep freezer, along with an area to put your shoes. I kindly take my shoes off like Ryland and follow him into the kitchen. In the kitchen there is a table in the middle, two fridge on either side and a long wrap around beautiful counter that connects to the sink, which is next to an older looking stove and oven. The older woman turns around and gives me a kind smile that sort of reminds me of a kitten.
“Hello dear, my name is Patricia, but everyone around here just calls me Aunt Pat.” I look over the older woman and watch how fast she moves for seeming to have a slight limp. I smile at her.
“My name is Jessica, but my friends call me Baby J, or just Jess,” she gives me another one of her smiles before moving around me to what looks like a dining area with a couch behind it, up against the window. In the corner is a decorative stove older than the woman that looks like it hasn’t been used since far before Ryland was born. I continue to follow her into a living room and see a man in one of the two chairs.
“My name is Justin, I am Pat’s son and Rayburn’s brother,” I smile and nod at him as I see that he stays sitting. He has one shoe that is made to be longer than the other, as to make his uneven legs even.
“My name is Jessica,” I tell him kindly from the doorway. He gives me a tight lipped smile. I look over to Ryland who is standing behind me and follow him upstairs.
“You’re lucky that you came on a Sunday. Josey and Lynn usually don’t work much on Sunday’s so they should be up in their rooms,” I follow Ryland up a tight and steep staircase and he takes an immediate right into a room. I look inside the room and see there are two king sized beds pushed against the walls on opposite sides with a huge gap between the two and nightstands next to either bed. I look on the bed near the closet on the other side of the room and see a woman in her mid to late thirties sitting on the bed, reading an older looking chapter book.
“Hey, who’s this Rayburn?” she asks as she puts down the book and crawls out of the bed. She looks very skinny and built as she stands about two inches shorter than me.
“Hi, my name is Jessica,” I say to her as she looks me over.
“Name’s Josey,” she says with a slight nod. I nod and then Ryland pulls me out of the room.
“You’ll be staying with Josey and Chance will be staying downstairs on the pull out couch,” he explains as I follow him around a right turn around the other side of the staircase. In the immediate room on the left of the staircase there is a study with a small library worth of books in it. We continue down the hallway to a room on the right and he knocks on the door. The door swings open to a woman slightly older than Ryland with bright blonde hair and glasses open the door.
“Is this her?” she asks in a beautiful voice and looks me over in a non-judgmental way.
“Jessica,” I tell her and she smiles.
“I’m Layne. I am in charge of making sure you are taken care of and that you help out while you are here,” she says with a slight smile.
“Thank you for taking me in,” I tell her honestly. She looks at me strangely.
“I am not taking you in, sweetie. You are here to help the farm and work for it while you are here,” she says with a laugh. I give her a confused smile. Oh boy. Chance never mentioned farm work. I have no idea what I would even do or how to help.
