Justus shrugged, fighting not to show how miserable he was feeling. He liked Constance, or had thought he did, but couldn't figure out why she was so mad at him, unless it was because she wanted him to see her naked, and didn't understand what that meant to him. Heck, to his thinking, a gal should be happy for a guy who wasn't drooling to see her in her altogether!
"All right, then, no mooses." Grabbing a piece of chicken, he munched on it, considering how, besides the whole amazingly awkward thing...and sitting around in their underwear! "Got real nice weather fer a picnic, don't we? Just a few clouds, not too warm..."
He was trying to figure a way to just end this, but the food was good, and he didn't want to rush things. Besides, they had to wait for their clothes to dry some.
"All right, then, no mooses."
"Thank you," she sighed in relief, hopefully that subject was over. The joke had long run it's course in her opinion.
Grabbing a piece of chicken, he munched on it,"Got real nice weather fer a picnic, don't we? Just a few clouds, not too warm..."
"Considering the time of the year, the weather is pretty good, yes. Not that I am an expert on Montana weather, mind you," then she gnawed some more on the chicken leg.
She shifted her postion on the blanket a bit, noting he had not commented on the chicken like he had on the corn dodgers. Maybe he didn't like it? She knew it was nothing special but a basic roasted bird with some salt and pepper on it. Her uncle liked it well enough when she made it.
"So.......what's the verdict? I mean on the chicken? Do you like it?" she was certainly interested in his opinion.
"Oh, yeah, th' chicken's real good!" Grinning, Justus took another bite. "Not too much on it...some folks slather on all sorts of fancy things that I don't know what they are, an' then it gets too...well, too many tastes."
He hoped it made sense, but he liked his food mostly just food, and sometimes it could get too confusing. But then...
"I'm mostly used ta trail food, beans, stew, 'taters, steak, of course, an' sometimes chicken. Cookie makes good grub, an' Mrs. Pike makes real good sweets for us sometimes."
Was he getting too off track, or was this too much talk about food? "It's real good, an' I think it's kind ya went ta all that trouble fer me."
"Oh, yeah, th' chicken's real good!" Grinning, Justus took another bite. "Not too much on it...some folks slather on all sorts of fancy things that I don't know what they are, an' then it gets too...well, too many tastes."
Constance nodded with a smile, "Yeah, plain like me I guess."
"I'm mostly used ta trail food, beans, stew, 'taters, steak, of course, an' sometimes chicken. Cookie makes good grub, an' Mrs. Pike makes real good sweets for us sometimes."
"Yes, I bet those are nice. You know that Mrs. Pike taught Clara a lot about cooking when she hired her? Although both Clara and her husband pointed out to me Clara won the fall festival baking contest first time she entered, before she had anything to do with Mrs. Pike. They are very close now though. Even their babies were born close together," Constance expounded.
"That last was a joke," she tacked that on just in case. He wasn't always the quickest on the uptake.
"It's real good, an' I think it's kind ya went ta all that trouble fer me," he declared.
"Thank you and it was no trouble. After all I wanted food too when we got out here. Right now I am learning to cook more myself, Clara has been teaching me. I simply never cooked when I lived at home, we had a cook and two maids. Oh and a coachman. We even had a butler for awhile but he got caught in bed with one of the maids," she revealed her past life a bit.
"Can't imagine what it'd be like havin' a bunch'a strangers livin' with ya," Justus commented with a shrug, "bad enough havin' ta deal with kin, even when ya got no choice. So, how'd ya learn ta do fer yerself, if there's someone ta do it all fer ya?" He chuckled. "'Course, not havin' no one ta cook fer me didn't make me any better a cook, but I learned other ways ta get what I wanted."
He shrugged and munched on the chicken, then added, "Been times, when I was little, I had ta just take what I needed." He couldn't being himself to call it stealing, even though he knew fair well that was what it was. "Got things good now, with Mr. Pike, he's a good man, runs a fair outfit, no more strayin' off th' path fer me."
"Well you don't really have them living with you...I suppose they might even have their own room in the mansion but it's not as if they were family. The only mingling was when we asked them to do things and they responded. I recall once when I was like seven or eight, mother caught me laughing with the cook. She first of all lit into the cook, saying her job was to make the meals not play with children. Then I got a lecture later along those same lines," Constance tried to clarify, not sure how successful she was.
"And come to think of it, you do live with strangers in your job. What about those ranch bunkhouses you share. None of you are related, just doing the same job," she added.
Justus then admitted he took things out of desperation, he did not use the word 'steal' but Constance was fairly certain that's what he meant. She didn't judge him for it. Though she did chuckle, just a little.
"And I, for one, cannot imagine you ever doing anything.......sinful, really."
Justus nearly blushed as he shrugged. He knew she was complimenting him and he appreciated it, even if he couldn't confirm that was true.
"Not since I been on my own. I walked away from all that." Suddenly, as good as the food was, he wasn't that interested in it anymore. If they were going to pursue this, there were things that she'd need to know, and, at least for him, it wasn't particularly pleasant.
"After Ma run off..." he was finally able to admit that to himself, "Pa figured he could use a little kid ta trick folks inta givin' me money. I'd tell 'em I was all alone...some of 'em give me money, some offered a place ta stay, an' sometimes I was pretty tempted, but I always went back ta Pa...he was family..."
Well, this was depressing! And it didn't get much better, at least until recently, and connecting with the Rocking P drive. "We're like a family, th' boys, an' even th' Pikes...look out fer each other, help each other." He grinned. "Even fight sometimes, like brothers do...so I heard."
"Not since I been on my own. I walked away from all that."
"Oh?" Constance waited to hear more as Justus was then forthcoming.
"After Ma run off...Pa figured he could use a little kid ta trick folks inta givin' me money. I'd tell 'em I was all alone...some of 'em give me money, some offered a place ta stay, an' sometimes I was pretty tempted, but I always went back ta Pa...he was family..."
Constance frowned, mother fled, father a rather despicable sounding sort.
"Well, can't fault you any. You were just a kid and your father put you up to it. He's the one to blame then isn't he," she didn't really mean it as a question but an assertion on her part.
Luckily it seemed for Justus, things improved a lot for him now that he was part of that ranch of Pike's (well, Emeline's too). He seemed to have found a real home of sorts, she was glad for him.
"We're like a family, th' boys, an' even th' Pikes...look out fer each other, help each other." He grinned. "Even fight sometimes, like brothers do...so I heard."
"Not just brothers, make that brothers and sisters, or children and parents. In my family I got along alright with my brother until things changed. Father's fortunes took a real tumble and we went from rich to desperate. My father had always made it crystal clear, my brother was his favorite and was going to get his business, the home, you name it. Me, I was going to be married off. I knew that of course but always told them I pick who I marry not them. Once things got hard financially, father decided I was a burden and demanded I marry. I refused, not on principle but just that there was no current one I was seeing in any fashion. So then he banished me, exiled me, whatever you want to call it. He sent me out west and to live with his brother, my uncle."
"So here I am. One time rich girl being a waitress and living in a room in my uncle's place. Don't get me wrong, he's nice, a lot nicer than my father. And as for me and my brother, he hates me. He even pushed father to write a change in the will leaving everything to him and nothing for me."
Constance pulled with a couple fingers at her sticky slip pasted to her torso, "Guess both of us had no luck with family."
Well, that was at least one thing they had in common.
"We're like a family, th' boys, an' even th' Pikes...look out fer each other, help each other." He grinned. "Even fight sometimes, like brothers do...so I heard."
"Seems like we both done better once we strayed out on our own," Justus observed, relaxing a little and smiling. "Reckon sometimes that's best, step away from th' past an' just start as a new person." He shrugged. "My proper last name's Fitch, but I took Mama's name. Seems more right."
He munched on more chicken, then shrugged. "Always did wonder what become'a her, but not sure I want ta know. I kinda reckon that she met a man who was real good ta her an' give her all she ever wanted. Not some ol', crusty cowboy."
"Seems like we both done better once we strayed out on our own," Justus observed, relaxing a little and smiling.
"It does seem that way," Constance nodded.
"Reckon sometimes that's best, step away from th' past an' just start as a new person." He shrugged. "My proper last name's Fitch, but I took Mama's name. Seems more right.
"Ahh, interesting. Well, can't say I blame you," she then reached for something, turned out to be a small narrow bottle of dark glass with a cork and label.
"Always did wonder what become'a her, but not sure I want ta know. I kinda reckon that she met a man who was real good ta her an' give her all she ever wanted. Not some ol', crusty cowboy," he declared.
"I hope she did too," Constance wasn't that optimistic though but she'd never let him know that. She also did not share his regard for the mother, she had after all abandoned her little boy to that lout of a husband and father.
"Say, I brought some wine. It was in my uncle's house but do not fret, St. Justus, I did not steal it. I asked if we could finish it off, he said to take it. It's half gone," she held up the bottle to him.
"Sadly I did not bring any glasses, fearful they'd break you know," she smiled as she began to work on the cork, "We are rough frontier folk, I'm sure we can just drink out of the bottle."