While she fried the first heaping plate of Johnnycakes, the men started carrying in the crates from the wagon. Each man's load stacked two or three boxes high, showing just how much strength ran in the Coulter family. The crates must weigh fifty pounds each, at least.
She didn't know everything Jericho had purchased for the house, but she motioned to open places around the kitchen where they could stack each load. She’d have to sort through the contents later and find places for it all. More permanent places than the way the men currently stored their supplies—in haphazard stacks around the edges of the room.
"Jericho said these belong to you two ladies." Gilead looked at her as he held two crates near the door to the room she shared with Naomi.
Dinah nodded. "Thank you. Just set them inside the door and I'll go through everything later."
She'd not expected her short list to fill two crates, but maybe the milk had been packed well. Naomi needed to drink as much as they could find to help the baby grow strong. Too bad Jericho didn't have a milk cow on the ranch.
Hedidown cows though. Could any be tamed for milking? Maybe she could ask him when they had a quiet moment. Had he thought about it when he'd purchased the milk from her list?
When she'd piled three plates high with Johnnycakes and two more with fried meat, she caught Lillian's attention as the girl exited Jonah's chamber, the pup in her arms. "Lillian, can you wash your hands and set the table? Then we'll be ready to eat."
No one had said whether the men planned to sit around the table for this meal like they had the others, but if she prepared everything, surely they would come, despite the increased chaos of the pup and unloading the wagon.
As she'd hoped, Gilead saw Lillian setting out plates and called his brothers in to eat. Jude headed to the washbasin first, and the others followed him. Sampson and Sean even rose from their chairs to wait their turn in line to wash. She tried not to smile so broadly she embarrassed them.
These mountain men weren't so hard to train.
Jericho didn’t meet her gaze as he waited for Miles to finish with the water. Maybe the camaraderie they'd developed over the last two days wouldn’t last now that they were back among the others.
But after he dried his hands on the cloth, he turned to the plates of food beside the stove. "These go to the table?"
She nodded as she pushed the frying pan to a cooler surface. "They do."
He scooped two plates of Johnnycakes, then turned to Sampson and Sean. "You boys get the rest."
That made her work easier. She used a leather pad to pick up the full pot of coffee she'd just brewed from the grounds in one of the crates the men carried in, then headed to the table to fill cups.
When they were all seated, Gilead spoke the same prayer one or other of the brothers had said before every meal they'd eaten at the table so far. There was never discussion about who would pray, they all just bowed and one of the men began speaking. Was Jericho or someone else arranging who would pray ahead of time? They had to be, unless there was a system already set up she didn't know about. That seemed unlikely.
As they ate, conversation flowed easily, with Sean chattering on about Apple and some of the brothers teasing him and his sister about the pup. Lillian responded with shy answers that showed how protective she would be of her new friend.
For her part, the pup sat at Lillian's feet. Dinah kept an eye on the girl to make sure she didn't try to feed her from the table, but Lillian didn't attempt it.
When a moment of quiet settled, Jude turned to Jericho. "I'm planning to look for new...um, strawberries today. If you don't need Sampson, thought he could work with me."
Something in his voice seemed strained. Was it her imagination, or did Jericho glance her way for half a heartbeat before eyeing his brother. Maybe he thought picking berries would be a better job for the women and children. Perhaps that was already Lillian's task, but he didn't want to pull her away from helping Dinah.
She spoke quickly before Jericho could answer. "Lillian and I can do that. Sean too, if you don't need him elsewhere.
Jude turned to her with a startled look, then his brows lowered. "I, um. No. Picking strawberries is usually what I do."
What in the wide blue sky? She studied him, trying to find a reason he would cling to this work. Did he love the taste of strawberries so much? Did the berries grow on some rocky cliffside that only he had the courage to maneuver? If that were the case, she might let him do it. Heights unnerved her more than anything else.
But he hadn't said that was the case. Maybe he was just trying to be chivalrous and take the work himself.
She tried once more. "We could at least help you. Many hands make the work lighter."
"Sampson will help him." Jericho spoke up, his tone sounding final. "Jonah needs you here, since you've been gone two days."
She nodded. He was probably right, but something about the conversation felt off.
"Miles and I are headed to work with the two-year-olds today." Gilead eyed his oldest brother as though waiting for approval.
Jericho nodded. "Sean and I will ride down to the valley. He can halter the foals while I tar the cattle." He swept his gaze around his brothers. "We should wean the calves on Monday."
The men nodded, though nobody seemed pleased with the news. Miles dropped his gaze to his food and mumbled something she couldn't understand before stuffing a bite of meat into his mouth.
