The McEllis Boys

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Bethany took a deep breath as she looked in her mirror. This was as good as she got. She had spent an hour getting ready, much longer than the usual five minutes she would normally spend, and still she seemed to be lacking something.

She was wearing her long floral skirt that hung just past her knees and was made of a silky fabric that blew around her legs if the breeze hit her. She had on a light pink v-neck t-shirt that clung to her thin frame and emphasized the tiny bumps on her chest that were her sad excuse for boobs. Suddenly she wished she would have bought a pair of those breast inserts that Helen had held up for her yesterday. At least then she'd have a chest worth looking at while she was dressed.

She had taken the time to put some curl in her long brown hair and had even put make up on her face including foundation, eye shadow and lip gloss. This was as good as she got.

Normally she wouldn't have bothered with doing any of this just to go visit Nicole but if she was going to be seeing Andrew then Bethany wanted to look her best. She realized now that she had been mean to him yesterday but truly the man must realize that lying to someone was also mean? Or maybe things had been different back in 1875 and a man was expected to just tell a woman anything he thought she wanted to hear.

Bethany sighed, grabbed her purse from the table by her bed and then made her way down the hall and the stairs and out onto the porch.

"Where you going?" her papaw Silas asked as he stepped out of the barn and stopped her on her way to her car.

"To Nicole's," she replied honestly. He grunted.

"Them cowboys are at Nicole's."

"I guess you're right," Bethany replied with a shrug. "I hadn't even thought of that," she lied.

Her papaw just shook his head and gave her a stern look, "Then what's all that paint on your face for?" he asked and Bethany blushed beneath the rouge on her cheeks.

"It's called make-up, papaw. All the girls are wearing it nowadays."

"You better use that brain in that pretty little head, girlie," he warned as he clicked his tongue.

Bethany smiled, "You don't have to worry about me, papaw, she promised and he gave her a satisfied grin and walked back toward the barn while Bethany quickly climbed in her car and headed for Nicole's before she could change her mind.

***

Cavanaugh pushed the lawn mower back into the building and stretched out his arms and back. It had felt good to do some real work and earn a sweat after being idle for so long. He pulled off his sweat covered t-shirt and used it to wipe his face clean. He looked over at the truck and realized that Ian was not yet cleaning it. Instead his brother appeared to be asleep in the porch swing.

Cavanaugh rolled his eyes and started toward the house, deciding that he needed a drink to cool off and then he would get started cleaning the truck himself. He would rather be kept busy than simply lay around all day. He hadn't always been like that. He had looked for every excuse in the world to take a day easy back when Leah, Susie and Timothy had been alive because that had given him more time to spend with them.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts and decided that he would go and check on Nicole while he was cooling off. He was sure that he had hurt her this morning and he really didn't want to hurt her.

He was about to walk into the house when Andrew burst out the door, bouncing and fidgeting with every single movement he made, "Is she here yet? Is she here? She should be here soon!" he exclaimed.