Unusual Inheritance by Rhonda Grice

Chapter One
    Small white boulders and piles of grey rocks
were seen from the corner of her eye. Stormy, suddenly alert,
turned the animal with a slight nudge to the ribs and headed the
short distance away from the road. This place was her last chance
to get water before continuing the remaining two miles of her trip.
She remembered the small pond, nestled behind the rocks, from when
she and her parents had come by it on their way to another near-by
town years ago. What a welcome sight it was. She would have turned
to the North from here, if she were heading to the small settlement
of Tindal. But today her mission was in another direction. Her skin
felt as if it had reached a boiling point, and cool water would
feel like heaven!
    Long full branches from several trees spread
their limbs out over the water, giving her the shade she so
desperately needed. Stormy slid down from the saddle and rubbed her
behind. Three long days she had been riding, and was so ready to
plant her feet on the ground and sleep in a real bed. But for now,
the best she could do was cool off.
    Squatting down by the water’s edge, her
slender hands dipped a rag into the cool inviting stream. Ah, the
coolness of it felt refreshingly good as she cleaned the dust from
the road off herself with the wet rag. She let down her hair and
brushed the long chestnut brown strands for the meeting with the
attorney, Mr. Biggs, and tied it back with a ribbon.
“ It wouldn't do for me to look as poor as I
really am ,” she thought out loud
    Her mind began to wander to the strange
letter she’d received about some kind of inheritance, but she
quickly stopped those thoughts for now and got back to the task at
hand. The sooner she got to Possum Junction, the sooner her
questions would be answered and this would all be over. Stormy
stood by the pool of water to stretch her legs and let the gentle
breeze dry the skin where she had bathed. Time was getting away
from her, so better change clothes and be on her way, she reminded
herself.
    Her only other dress had seen better days,
but at least it was clean. Quickly Stormy stripped down to her
underpants, wishing she had time to jump in the water and really
get cool. Then she heard it; the noise. Her eyes turned back to the
rock ledge and there he was, just staring at her. Before she could
cover herself, the dusty cowpoke came all the way from behind the
rocks, looking just as surprised to see her as she was him.
    Stormy pulled the dress up to her bosom for a
small bit of cover. “What do you want,” she asked, scared of the
answer.
    The cowpoke tipped his dusty hat at her.
“Sorry Ma’am.” A large grin spread across his thin, but
clean-shaven face as his brown eyes took her in. For a moment it
seemed they were both speechless.
    Flustered, Stormy spoke in a harsh voice.
“The least you could do is turn around while I finish getting
dressed.”
    “Sorry Ma’am.” He said softly as he
turned.
    No man, other than her pa, had ever seen her
half-dressed! It was degrading…it was…well she wasn’t sure what it
was, but she didn’t like it! She hurriedly threw the dress over her
head and closed the buttons. “You can turn around now.”
    He turned to face her again. “I just want to
water my horse Ma’am, if that's alright.”
    “Of course it's alright. It's a free
country,” she almost hissed the words.
    Undeterred by her behavior the cowboy asked.
“So what's a pretty young girl doing all alone out here in her
underpants? He pointed at the edge of her dress still caught up to
the waist on one side, a small grin doing its best not to escape
his lips.
    More humiliation, Stormy thought as she
pulled her dress down where it belonged. “For your information
mister, I was just changing clothes before heading into town. How
was I supposed to know some…some peeper would show up?” Her voice
almost squeaked in agitation.
    The man smiled slow and easy like, then
responded to her outburst. “Huh…a peeper?” He