Posted November 30, 2020 | Clara Redmond-Lutz | With: Charlie, Arabella, Brendan

Clara complimented the other couple, Arabella took that and ran with it, gushing over her dance partner and then giving him a kiss on top of it! Rather bold thing to do in public. My goodness, they had only met a few minutes earlier, had they not? Though taken aback, Clara kept her mouth shut. At least the younger girl returned the compliment then.

"Thank you," Clara nodded.

The two young men then began a bit of conversation.

"You must be new to these parts as I don't recollect seeing you around," Charlie declared.

"Pretty new. Been at the Evergreen spread since August," Brendan held out his hand to shake. "Brendan Connolly."

Now the bad blood between the rival ranches was already well known, though perhaps these two were oblivious to it. Clara waited, she would soon find out just how much they were aware of the ongoing situation.

Posted November 30, 2020 | Arabella Mudd

"Nah, I'm Baptist," he said in answer to her question about his religious leanings. The thought crossed his mind a second later that he should have asked what Bridget was, but it was too late for that.

Arabella went to say “YUK!!” but managed to change it at the last second to “Yu k…an bet your life that you’d be welcome at the Church on Sundays, then!” and patted his arm. “We got Methodists like me, an Presbyterians and Lutherans and Episcopalians and oh, what’s that thing Hayseed said he was? Oh, that’s it, Moravian Brotherhood! Did you ever hear of such a cockamamy religion? So, yep, even Baptists is welcome.” She assured him “And I play the harmonium and everybody always says how pretty and lovely it sounds.”

They were approaching Clara and her partner, and Clara complimented Arabella and Brendan with a...was that a smile? It was. He felt a sudden stab of envy at whoever this man was who could make Clara smile.

And then Arabella was gushing over him, saying how well he had danced and what a gentleman he had been. Take that, Clara, he thought vaguely, while hunching his shoulders a little bit at Arabella's overdone praise and...she kissed him!?

He blinked and drew back a little bit, but thankfully Arabella had moved on to introducing Clara's partner...or partway introducing him. Wentworth? Wasn't that the name of the folks who ran the Lost Lake Ranch?

"You must be new to these parts as I don't recollect seeing you around," Wentworth said.

Arabella was still hanging on to Brendan’s arm, and on some odd level, it was partly protective. Not him protecting her, but her protecting him: emanating a message of ‘Hey, look at me liking this feller, so you be nice to him too!’ But the moment of any possible crisis seemed to pass, and as Brendan reached to shake hands with Charlie, she slipped her own hand out and left him free of her encumbering presence.

"Pretty new. Been at the Evergreen spread since August." He held out his hand to shake. "Brendan Connolly."

So far so good. Arabella glanced at Clara. Gosh she looked pretty in her bustle and ringlets, and here she was in this plain old gingham gown and her hair any old way. Still, even looking like Annie off the Pickle Boat, she’d got to dance two out of two dances so far; and those with a couple of the most handsome men in the place, AND she’d just spotted someone else whom she had gotten to promise her a spin on the dance floor during the previous week of pre-dance excitement.

She was getting antsy about the next dance starting, so unless Charlie asked her, which she sincerely doubted he would, she would soon run and tab her next victim.

Posted November 30, 2020 | Jonah Danforth

“Well, as tempting as that sounds, it’s better than two hundred miles by any means possible. Like four days each way. Maybe we can interest some of the locals to form a, ah, ah, community theater,” Was her response. “Not the same, granted, but what fun, especially come next winter when there’s so little for everyone to do.”

"I can just imagine," Jonah chuckled, "the casting would be quite entertaining! There are so many characters in this town, we'd have quite the ensemble!" Shaking his head, he laughed. "I agree it would be entertaining, but not quite what I was referring to."

Well, he'd chosen to hide himself away in this back-water place, and now wasn't the time to be wanting to stray, and besides, Leah Steelegrave was anything but back-water, and well worth staying around for.

She smiled at him, “Without the upcoming Women’s League Tea, the possibility of the Town Council taking up the matter.” She laid her gloved hand over his, “Honestly, Jonah, I’d much rather be in Helena or Boseman or anywhere but here dreading what’s coming. We would have a time of it, I promise you that. Maybe when this is all passed us we should go.”

"Of course." Smiling, he placed a hand over hers, giving it a light squeeze. "I know this is difficult for you, but I can't imagine anyone more suited to the task." Then he raised an eyebrow and added, "And I suspect you relish the challenge, especially considering your opponents!"

Posted November 30, 2020 | Adelaide Chapel

After the dance with Mike, Addy looked around for Jay, noticing that he was on the dance floor with a pretty, very young lady, and he seemed to be having a good time...at least so that Addy wasn't going to interrupt them, and instead, she headed for Speed, who was across the room. On the way, she grabbed a couple of cookies, and handed one to him.

"Here, looks like ya could use a cookie." Grinning, she started munching on hers. "Wanted ya ta know that me an' Weedy'll be movin' into that little house around th' corner from th' barn just as soon as I get ta th' bank. It's a real nice place, I appreciate th' help with all that."

Posted November 30, 2020 | Emeline Pike

"Lovely to meet you. I'm Jay Ryker."

"Mister Ryker." Smiling, Emeline nodded. "We met in Whitefish, you helped us free an elderly lady who was trapped in the hotel." Certainly, he recalled that! "I'm glad to see you are still around town. I own the Lickskillet Cafe, please, come by whenever you like, no charge...you deserve it for helping us when you had good cause not to."

He was a good man, and if Addy Chappel approved of him, that just sealed the deal!

The young man turned his attention back to Bridget, convincing Emeline all the more that he had a good soul, to pay attention to the stumbling young woman.

"So you've been well and even made it to a dance. I'm glad I could be of service." Jay offered Bridget a smile, then took a cookie.

"Have you tried that leg out on the dance floor?"

"What about you, Mr. Pike?" Emeline took Barnabas' hand, shall we join them?"

Posted December 1, 2020 | Charlie Wentworth | With: Clara, Brendan and Arabella

"Pretty new. Been at the Evergreen spread since August." He held out his hand to shake. "Brendan Connolly."

Charlie raised an eyebrow at the mention of Evergreen. He knew about the bad blood between the Steelgraves and the Thorntons. There were so many different stories going around about the feud that it was hard to keep up with them all. Ordinarily, he would be wary of anyone who work for the rival ranch but this was a social occasion and it wouldn't be a good idea to start anything especially considering the bet the Lost Lake boys had going.

Instead, Charlie just shook the man's hand, "Nice to meet you. I'm Charlie Wentworth. I work at Lost Lake."

He gave Clara a quick glance. She seemed happy and he didn't want to spoil it, "Considering that it's our bosses who are at loggerheads with each other and not us, I think we should get along fine. Besides, if I got into a fight with someone from Evergreen, my older brother, who is foreman would have me cleaning out the stables for the next month and that's something I don't want to be doing in warmer weather."

Posted December 1, 2020 | Speed Guyer

“Now that’s the best news I’ve heard all day!” Speed said accepting the cookie. “Weedy excited about all this? I’d surely think he would be, having his own room and all.” Of course, boys will be boys and that meant one never could tell about reactions to change, and a house with his own room would be a change to be sure.

Speed had somehow become invested in the two and how things would turn out for them, hoping for the best. Addy was a good woman, and Weedy, he was growing into a fine young lad, as far as Speed could tell, thanks to Addy’s dedication to the boy.

“Need any help, you give a holler.” He offered.

Posted December 1, 2020 | Leah Steelgrave

“Opponents, that’s one way of putting it.” Then, she chuckled, as ladylike as she could. “I wonder how this will all end. I don’t see a happy family reunification afterward. Far from it.” She said as quietly as possible. “

“With Mom gone, now the boys pretty much scattered, except for Case, coming together again seems to be an impossibility. It is true, as a family we were never really close, and the recent events have just driven a wedge deeper between us all.” Then she stopped. “I’m sorry. We‘re here to have fun, maybe talk a little hospital, but we’re wasting time with this drivel!”