Beyond the Meadows - Chapter 1

The country station played in the background as Annabeth Bentley moved about the kitchen cleaning up the dishes left over from another wasted breakfast.  Softly humming along to Garth Brooks’ song, somewhere other than the night, she went through the motions as she swished the dish rag over the plate in her hands.  Her attention was not on the dish she was cleaning, instead she was gazing out the window over the sink at the picturesque view, watching as the horses ran carefree in the fields.  Her thoughts carried her along to memories of the past just as surely as the hooves carried the horses across the green pastures.

She could remember days when she was younger, carefree and happier, just like the yearlings scampering around the adults in their play.  Life had seemed so much better back then, less complicated; yet to this day she could not recall what had happened to make her life seem so meaningless.  Jack Bentley was a good man and she knew he meant well with his actions, even after marriage he continued to be a decent man and a provider for her; their ranch, Bentley Meadows, was a testament to his dedication to work that he enjoyed doing.

They had met at the county fair nearly fifteen years earlier; she had been the only child of the local parish’s pastor, Micah Cummings; while he was the eldest son of the well known ranch baron in the county.  He had pursued her earnestly that night for a dance in much the same way he courted her after her father had agreed to let them date.  Clean cut yet ruggedly handsome, the calluses on his hand reminiscent of his hard labor with the animals; his shining green eyes and ready smile was more than enough to set the butterflies off in her stomach.  So when he finally asked her father for her hand in marriage, as was the gentlemanly thing to do, her father had agreed with earnest.  He had thought that his little girl would be loved, revered, and well taken care of as he had done with her mama.

But little did Annabeth’s father know Jack changed some after marriage, not all at once mind you, but little things here and there.  He had been the most sought after bachelor for so long, that she could only assume that he had a hard time settling down to just one woman.  She knew of his adulterous affairs, yet true to her vows she ignored them as any good woman would do; pushing through the last ten years of marriage keeping to her own vows, while he wandered from one bed to another.  Of course she never let on that she knew what the other townsfolk were whispering behind her back, she didn’t want their pity, so she would avoid most social occasions when they cropped up.  Begging off with a headache or more chores to do when the events arrived; Jack always attended them, giving her excuses to the hosts while his wandering eye would be scouting out any single lady who looked his way twice.

Her father, God rest his soul, had passed away nine years ago, and even upon his deathbed, she comforted him with faux smiles and reassurances that she was still happily in love with Jack.  Pastor Cummings had fallen quite ill with the late stages of cancer after she had married Jack, and she wanted him to live the rest of his days out with a peaceful mind and serene thoughts that his baby girl was truly happy.  Of course it had been a sin to deceive the ailing patriarch, but she had been certain that God would forgive her in her little white lies, for she had only been doing so out of her selfless love to her father.

“Mrs. Bentley, I don’t think that dish will get any cleaner then it is now.”

The deep voice of the ranch foreman, Stoney Martin, startled her out of her thoughts of the past, and with a small start she blushed as she looked down at the plate in her hands.  Any cleaner and she would be able to view her reflection in the fine porcelain.  Setting it aside to dry she picked up a hand towel and dried her hands, giving herself time to compose herself before she turned towards Stoney.  Offering him a smile, one that did not reach her eyes or reflect in their blue depths, she reached up to tuck a strand of auburn hair behind her ear.  “No, I suppose not,” Annabeth spoke, the sound more lighthearted then she felt “is there something you need Stoney?”  She asked of the ranch foreman.

Stoney stood in the doorway, his cowboy hat in his hands watching the boss’ wife as she seemed to be miles away washing the dishes.  When she didn’t hear him knock the first time he walked into the kitchen, standing just inside the back door he cleared his throat.  It was only after those attempts to make his presence known that he decided it best to speak up; when finally she turned to look at him, his gray eyes searched her face.  It was no secret that there was trouble in the Bentley house, yet none of the ranch hands spoke about it, knowing that it would cost them a damn good job should they interfere.  At the question directed at him, Stoney nodded his head before speaking.

“It’s about your mare Crimson Belle.  She has come into season and I wanted to know if you wished to breed her again this time around.”

Normally such a question would be asked of his boss, but Mr. Bentley hadn’t bothered to return home the night before, therefore Stoney had to ask Mrs. Bentley, as every good breeder knew that there was a small window of opportunity to successfully breed horses.  Feeling embarrassed to have asked such a question of the lady before him, Stoney dropped his gaze to the floor, his feet shuffling just a little bit as his hands ran along the brim of his hat.

“Oh … um,” she began to speak, before closing her mouth again.  Shifting about the kitchen a bit uncomfortable with the subject at hand, Annabeth tried to decide what to do; Jack had always taken care of the breeding on the ranch and had kept her out of the intimate workings of their business endeavor.  Yet knowing what Stoney and the others knew, she had to step up to the plate and make a decision that she wasn’t exactly a pro at.  Tucking the same wayward strand of auburn hair behind her ear again she finally looked at Stoney, surprised that he seemed just as embarrassed at the subject as she was.

“I suppose we should go ahead with it Stoney.  Give me a few minutes to finish up here and I will bring Crimson to the breeding paddock,” she finally told him.

At her words, Stoney nodded his head before turning on his heel and walking out the back door.  Turning to watch his retreating back through the window over the sink she sighed softly wondering who was so important to have kept Jack out all night; he was slacking on his duties to the ranch and to her.  Of course they hadn’t really been intimate since their wedding night, other than a few random times when he would creep into her bed.  Those times were few and far in between, of course he blamed their lack of intimacy upon her upbringing; as she was the daughter of a pastor and had been taught that sex was a sin.  It was not to be shared with anyone other than with one’s spouse, and that good Christian women didn’t receive pleasure while lying with a man.  She had done her best to be what Jack wanted when it came to sex, but she had been unable to fully open herself to him; shorting them both out of a lot of pleasure and enjoyment.

With a sigh Annabeth put away the clean dishes and tidied up the homely kitchen before moving through the sprawling ranch house until she reached her own quarters.  They were across the hall from the master bedroom that was Jack’s domain; while it was unusual for a husband and wife to have separate bedrooms, she was in fact thankful for her own room, one where she could find sanctuary and solitude when she needed it.  Changing from her tank top into a t-shirt, she also switched her shorts for jeans before pulling on her well worn boots.  Pulling her auburn hair back into a ponytail, she deftly braided it until it fell about mid-back.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror she tried to find the young girl that she had once been, yet she seemed lost.  In her place was an older woman, with a few barely noticeable wrinkles around her mouth, eyes and across her brow.  She had dark circles under her eyes as she hadn’t been sleeping well lately; too much on her mind at times while other times she had too many chores to do.  If the truth were told she didn’t really have all that many chores, she just chose to repeat many of them just to keep busy.  Before she was a married woman she did a lot of things for her father’s parish, picnics, bazaars, socials, and the like; but Jack had made Annabeth give those up after they were married.  Citing that her job as the lady of the house was more important than gallivanting around; of course she had explained to her father that once she had gotten settled into a married life routine she would return to her work with him and his parish.  Pastor Cummings had assured her that it would be okay if she chose not to return to helping him, as she had done more than her fair share of volunteer work for the church.

Shaking the memories of the past from her mind, she forced them to the very back recesses of her memory as she walked back through the house.  Leaving by the back door in the kitchen, as it was the closest to the stables, she looked towards the drive not surprised to see that Jack’s car was not parked there.  Half of her had wished that he had returned in time to take care of the breeding of Crimson, but half of her wished that he would never return.  While she missed him in her own way, she thinks she missed the young man that he had been when he had courted her.  She knew she was laughed at behind her back, and that she was the brunt of jokes and pity, two things that cut like a knife through her heart, yet still she held her head high and acted like she didn’t hear the townsfolk whispering as she passed.