One Bride for Five Brothers

But still, it stung. She was beautiful. She was sassy and perky too. Things I like. And for a second I let myself hope that we were really settling in, that we were really all on the same page

Because frankly, we need to be on the same page. I don't know how this business works out if we’re not all here. I don't know how we keep the family together. I sure couldn't run the orchard by myself. Nobody else could either. If Charlie finds himself a girlfriend and runs off, we’re screwed. We need something to bind us all together, someone to bind us all together.

Is Vanessa that woman? Really?

There was a moment I thought she really understood. She talked about family like it was some kind of fairytale. Something she longs for. Talked about our staying in one place like it was ideal for her.

Does she mean it? Odds are, she doesn't. She was not brought up like this. Sounds like her people are practically Gypsies. In fact, if I'm understanding her right, the longest she has ever been in one place was when she was in college, all by herself. That doesn't sound like family to me.

The morning dew soaks the hem of the cuffs of my jeans as I trudge down the row, finally within sight of her front door. There she is. She is sitting on the front porch with her feet bare feet up on the split rail fence, a cup of coffee in her hands. She waves overhead when she spots me and I automatically wave back.

Easy now, big guy, I tell myself. No sense in fitting her for a crown just yet.

“You're up early!” she calls out when I am close enough to hear.

“Been up since dawn,” I inform her. “Farm work starts early. Do they teach you that in college?”

“Most of what I learned in college was about spreadsheets and the history of marketing,” she yawns, stretching her arms over her head. “Does that translate?”

“You should to talk to Charlie about that. He's the one with a spreadsheet for brains.”

“I'll do that,” she smiles, standing up and leaning over the rail as I walk up the path. She's cute in low-slung jeans and a tight tank top. No bra, and her nipples are dark and obvious through the fabric, standing up like two thumbs. I lick my lips, wishing we had the day off.

“So are you here to put me to work?” she winks.

I tip an imaginary hat. “Yes, ma'am. Time for you to earn your keep.”

“All right!” she hoots. She jumps once, making those beautiful tits bounce inside the tank top, then dashes back through the front door with her coffee cup. In five seconds she's back on the front porch, the heels of her work boots heavy on the floorboards.

“Am I dressed okay?” she asks with a grin. Her blonde ponytail swings from side to side in the early morning light.

“Everything about you is perfect,” I sigh, shrugging. “You might find out you were made for this. You can drive stick, right?”

Her face smiles freezes in mid smile. “Drive… as in stick shift? I mean… no? Is that required?”

Great. I knew she was too good to be true.

“Well, I guess I know what we’re doing first! Follow me, princess.”

The old blue pickup is parked right behind the cabin. I swing around to the passenger side and hop in. The driver side door creaks as she opens it, then hoists herself into the driver’s seat by grabbing onto the steering wheel.

She yanks the seat forward, closer to the wheel.

“Geez, you guys are all so tall!”

“Man, you're so small,” I shoot back. “But that shouldn’t keep you from making this work. Okay, you know how to drive an automatic, right?”

She rolls her eyes. “Of course I know how to drive. How do you think I got here?

“Not in a stick shift, apparently. So, what you’ve got down there as far as extra pedals is a clutch. You work that with your left foot whenever you want to switch gears. You’re gonna start with one… which is up here…”

I take her hand and put it on the knob, jiggling it back and forth through the neutral position, then up towards one.

“And then to change to second gear, you’re gonna hit the clutch, then pull back, like this…”

With her tiny, smooth hand under mine, I pull the gearshift back toward second gear.

“And so on… Third, fourth, fifth, you’ll hear when the engine revs high enough that you need them. So. You ready to turn the engine on?”