Coming Home to Aurelius 10

Alex grinned at Bertha over the kitchen island as she rubbed her tummy, "I feel drowsy early in the morning now that you've stuffed me so much!"

Bertha, not seeing anything funny in the situation grumbled, " You got arrested last night child, you must've been hungry. AND WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? SNEAKING OUT AT NIGHT??"

Hurrying over to the agitated lady, who was like family, Alexis wrapped her arms around Bertha, taking in the smell of fresh bread and lemon, "We were just having some fun! And we weren't arrested, we were merely escorted. Please don't be mad!"

Laughing at Alex's wheedling tone, Bertha smacked Alex's bottom lightly with her spatuala, " Get on with whatever it is you have to do you little charmer! As if I could ever stay angry with you long enough!"

Winking at Joe, who'd seen the humor in the situation, but had been sporting a stoic expression out of respect for his tiny wife, Alex made her way to the library to get on with her journey through her Uncle's journals. For some reason, she took the longer way, ambling through the house. She felt a sense of well-being as she padded along the house. Her uncle had been rich, but the ranch looked like what a ranch should be, not a trace of artifice, not shabby either. trailing her fingers along a mantelpiece, she traced the contours of a tiny glass horse. While a vague sense of panic did arise, she squelched it, reminding herself of the conversations she'd had with Oscar about her fears. Her Uncle's journals had helped too. His recollections of his horses (although his ranch was mainly a cattle ranch, his first love was horses) had fostered or re-established at least a mental comfort for Alex that the animals weren't actually to be feared. Tucking her feet under her, and flipping the journal open to the relevant page, Alexis settled down to read, her last thought, a vague question, of what Oscar was up to right then.
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Oscar grinned at the man standing next to him, " You're drooling my friend. But this is mine, go get some of your own."

Luke laughed at Oscar, his eyes bright, " You sure so have a wonderful spread. I might've considered buying my own, but my life's in the city. And besides. after this accident, there's no chance in hell that I'd be able to get much done on a ranch. And what's the point of owning a ranch if you actually don't lend a hand in working on it?"

Oscar made a shrewd guess, " You have previous ranching experience don't you?"

Luke nodded solemnly, "My family was originally a farming family in Wyoming. We had a good bit of land with a couple of thousand head of cattle," his jaw clenched as though it was a painful subject, " But my father, married a much younger woman five years after our mother died. And he left her everything. My father wasn't cold in his grave fifteen minutes before my brother and I were out on out ears."

Oscar's expression didn't change, " That woman must be cursing her judgement now. Had she held onto the two of you, she'd have been step mommy to two of the richest Americans."

Luke let out a strangled shout of laughter having never looked at the turn of events from that point of view, "Maybe I'll send her a Christmas card this year with a couple of dollars stuck in it."

Their repertoire was interrupted by the sound of an engine. Turning, the two men watched as Anna jumped out of the pick-up truck and pulled out a hamper and trudged towards them. Oscar sneaked a look at Luke's face, which was for most part bland, but his eyes were eating Anna up. He glanced back at Anna who only had eyes for Luke even though she was glaring openly at him. Re-arranging his features into disinterest, Oscar watched Luke move forward to take the basket from Anna who promptly tried to jerk it away from him in a show of independence. Ignoring him, she turned to Oscar, "How's Alex? Did you giver her a hard time last night?"
Shoving his hands into his pockets Oscar laughed, " We kissed and made up."
Luke noticed that Anna was twisting her wrists because the weight of the hamper was hurting them, he moved forward decidedly, " Give me the hamper Anna, you'll hurt yourself,"

In the slight tussle that ensued, Luke easily managed to get the hamper out of Anna's hands despite the weakness from his injuries and put it down on the ground. As he straightened, his eyes slightly feverish, Anna's eyes dropped to where his coat had parted and she let out a scream, " LUKE, you're bleeding!"
All traces of animosity forgotten, Anna closed the distance between the two of them and touched the wet, red patch on his shirt, tears streaming down her eyes.
Oscar rolled his eyes at the scene. He knew enough about injuries having worked at a ranch and he knew it was probably a problem with Luke's stiches which could be easily fixed. He shepherded Luke who inspite of the pain, looked as if he had the world in his arms and Anna who was weeping as though her heart was going to break into the pick-up, so that he could drive them to the local hospital.
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Alexis burst into the waiting room, "What happened? Is it serious? Where's Anna?"

Oscar rose from his perch on the uncomfortable plastic seat and pressed a finger to his lips as he drew her to the glass door that allowed them to look into the room where Luke had been put.

The sight that met Alex's eyes made her let out an "Aawww!" of delight. Luke was sitting on the hospital bed, with Anna sitting on his safe side, his arm firmly holding her to him as she fed him bite-sized pieces of chicken.

Oscar pulled her away and murmured," He's really cashing in on his injury by letting her treat him as if he's helpless."

Alex grinned up at him," But atleast the mild panic his accident caused made them face upto their feelings. But what I don't understand is, why did he hold out on her for so long?"

Oscar ighed his expression serious," Sweetheart, he's a lot older than her. They might've worked around that, but his injuries and scars from the accident were pretty extensive. I spoke to Jonathan on the phone when I called him to inform him about his brother and he told me that Luke tried to push Anna away because he thought she deserved someone younger and whole."

Alex frowned," That's nuts! He loves her, she loves him. That's all you really need."

Oscar let out a mock sigh, " I'll buy you a manual on cave-man tendencies. He was trying to PROTECT her. It was an act of love. But Jonathan did boast that his egging them on to coming here for 'recovery' di the trick,"

At that moment, the door to the ward opened, and Anna poked her head out, a little red cheeked, " Hey, why don't you guys come in ? Luke and I have something to tell you!"

Alex waltzed in with Oscar behind her and she burst into song just as she crossed the threshold, " Going to the chapel
And we're gonna get married
Going to the chapel
And we're gonna get married

Gee I really love you
And we're gonna get married
Going to the chapel of looooooooooooooove!!!!!!"

Anna stammered, blushing, " How'd you know?"

Alex said seriously, "ESP"

Oscar covered her mouth with his big hand and explained, " Glass doors,"

Luke started to chuckle, but stopped with a grimace almost immediately as his jerky movements hurt his stitches.

Oscar and Alexis laughed as Anna immediately started fussing around like a hen.
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Dinner at the Lanes' residence was a boisterous affair.

When everyone finally quieted to do full justice to the cherry pie, Anna father took advantage of the silence and lamented, "It's not fair to the girl's father you know. I didn't get the chance to pull out my shotgun. I didn't get a chance to set a PI on Luke's trail............"

Laughter drowned out the rest of his speech. No one complained when Luke and Anna stole out into the garden. The men then went to the living room to smke, while Alex commandeered the women into the morning room to discuss the wedding plans. Anna had suggested a quick civil wedding given Luke's health, but the bridegroom had growled at the suggestion and told his mother-in-law that he wanted a white wedding. Alex finally managed to convince everyone that the wedding shold take place at Aurelius and was soon making phone calls to New York to enlist the help of one of her friends who was an extremely successful wedding planner.