“Are you sure I look alright Sofia? I’m not sure about this color on me.” As Imara straightened her skirt, she shook her head in frustration. “Ugh! I need some new clothes. Everything I have is rubbish. I look like a little girl.”

Sofia turned from the sink and looked her over. “Imara, you’re 23 years old. You’d look alright in a potato sack. Ask me again when you’re my age. Besides, he’ll be here to work, not to stare at you all day long. And, trust me, no man alive would ever mistake you for a little girl.”

Rolling her eyes, Imara looked in the window and smoothed her hair down as she caught her reflection. “I’m so nervous, Sofia. My hands are shaking like a leaf. Here, feel them.”

After she wiped her hands on her apron, Sofia took Imara’s in them. “Bless your heart, your hands are ice cold.”

Starting to hyperventilate already just at the thought of him, Imara shook her head. “I can’t help it. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since I met him. I’m just getting so worked up  at the thought of him being here. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Imara felt her forehead then pressed softly on the sides of her throat. “Maybe I’m fevered. Do I look like I’m getting sick to you?”

Sofia pushed Imara’s hair off her shoulder then looked in her eyes and smiled. “There isn’t anything wrong with you. This is love, besides your kind don’t get sick. That little cherub done shot you right in the ass, baby.”

Imara laughed out until she heard the hooves beating against the dirt road. Trying to calm herself, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. “Oh, Sofia, he’s here. Should I go out there and say hello? I don’t want to be a bother, but…”

“But you want to look at him,” said Sofia. Imara swallowed then nodded. “Trust me, he’s going to figure out a way to get a glimpse of you, sweet girl. You don’t even need to worry about it. Men are natural born hunters; he’s going to want to take a look at his prey before he leaves here today.”

Imara chuckled and rolled her eyes away. “Alright. I suppose I can make myself useful in the meantime. What can I do to keep myself out of trouble? ”

Going back to chopping vegetables for tonight’s meal, Sofia shrugged her rounded shoulders. “You were wanting to get your garden started. Why don’t you see if Shaw can help you since he’s too yellow to go up on the roof like a real man.”

Imara laughed out loud as she thought about how angry Shaw would be if he heard that. He took his job as a tough guy seriously. “Yeah, alright.” As she left the kitchen Imara saw Shaw putting in a new fence post across the yard. “Shaw! When you’re finished with that, can you help me figure out where I can put my garden?” 

Shaw looked up and then took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. “Of course, but this soil is no good. We’re too close to the shore, it’s all sand and clay. We’re going to need some good soil and manure.” Then, he looked past Imara. “Ben, you think we can get a load of soil and manure for Imara’s garden before she throws a conniption?” 

As her heartbeat pounded in her ears, time stood still for Imara. She closed her eyes and blew out through her mouth as she tried to steady her nerves.

His deep, calm Southern drawl was like music to her ears. “I reckon we can bring that tomorrow afternoon.”

As his healing voice soothed her, Imara unfroze from her panic then turned to face Ben as he walked towards her with an older gentleman. Ben looked her over and smiled as he approached. “Miss Parker, this is my father, Harold.” 

The much shorter blonde man put out his hand to Imara. “It’s a pleasure, Miss Parker. You’re just as pretty as Ben said you were.”

Ben’s cheeks flushed with color as he smirked and looked down at the ground while he kicked the dirt. Imara smiled and shook Harold’s hand. “It’s good to meet you too, sir.” She turned back to Ben and said, “I’m so happy to see you again.”

Ben pushed his hair off his face and grinned. “You are?”

Before Imara could answer, Shaw said, “You can both follow me.” While Ben and Harold followed Shaw to the kitchen, Ben looked back at Imara as she crossed her arms and curled her hair around her finger. He paused before he crossed the threshold, then lifted his hand to wave goodbye. Imara took a ragged breath and put her hand over her heart and smiled as Ben went through the doorway.

Imara put her hand on her forehead. “Phew! Oh, sweet Jesus! What’s happening to me? It’s you, isn’t it? Is this real?” As her senses returned to her, she shook her head. “No, it can’t be. You’re a human. Aren’t you?”

As Sofia made a pitcher of tea, Imara put glasses on a serving tray while she looked out the kitchen window at Shaw and Thorin talking to Ben and Harold at the picnic table in the yard. “Do you think Thorin and Shaw would allow me to spend time with Ben? Alone, I mean.”

Sofia chuckled through her nose as she poured tea into the glasses. “I highly doubt it, baby.”

Imara sighed then sat down in the chair by the counter. “I just want to be near him without everyone looking. Is that awful?”

Sofia shook her head. “No, baby. I believe that’s normal. Why don’t you ask him if he’d like to come sit with you in the evening or go for a walk around the property? That way they’d still be close by. I’m sure they’d be alright with that. You’re a grown woman for crying out loud, they can’t expect you to stay single forever. Here, baby, take this basket.”

Imara took the basket handles in her delicate hands and lifted it in front of her. “No, I couldn’t do that. I can barely speak to him as it is without making a complete fool of myself, much less ask him to spend time with me. Oh, this is hopeless.”

Sofia lifted the tray and said, “Imara, he wants it too. He seems just as shy and backwards as you are. If you like him that much, you may have to be the one that makes the first move.”

Sighing frustratedly, Imara’s heart sunk as she realized that this was going nowhere fast. “Grand!” She followed Sofia to the backyard where Ben and Harold were waiting at the picnic table. 

Sofia waddled over with a smile then set the tray on the table. “Here you go, fellas. You must be mighty thirsty after being up in that hot old attic all day. Let me have that basket, baby. We brought you some crackers and cheese.” Imara handed the basket to Sofia, then bit her lip before she looked at Ben. Every glance at him sent a fire through Imara’s veins and made her feel short-winded. She sat down beside Sofia so that Ben couldn’t see her, she needed a moment's reprieve from the heat coursing through her body.

Harold looked at Ben and smiled then he glanced at the back of Imara’s head as her shoulders heaved up and down and she fanned her face. “Miss Parker, do you think you’d like to go to the fair with us this weekend? We got a mess of pigs to sell off in the morning, but after that you and Ben could go have some fun.”

Ben’s eyes snapped up to Harold and he gave him a side grin as he figured out the plan his father was forming in his head. Imara turned around then glanced up to Sofia before she looked at Harold. “Umm...I would love that, really, but I’ll have to ask my brother.”

Sofia smiled and nodded to Thorin and Shaw in the carriage house. “Go on, Imara. It doesn’t hurt to ask.”

After she hesitantly walked off to the carriage house, Sofia said, “That was awful nice of y’all to ask her, but Thorin and Shaw never let her go anywhere. They’re very cautious with her. I’ve been with this family a whole lot of years and Imara’s never been anywhere without Thorin or Shaw at her side.”

When Imara got to the building, Shaw was smoking his pipe while Thorin tinkered with an old clock. “I’ve been practicing witchcraft for over a hundred years now and I can’t even make a blessed clock run on time.”

Shaw crossed his arms as Imara sheepishly entered the door. “What’s on your mind Imara? Go on and speak up, we ain’t got all day.”

She glanced back over her shoulder then licked her lips and said, “The Logan’s invited me to the fair this weekend. May I go? Please.”

Thorin and Shaw looked at each other then Shaw snorted out through his nose. “Un-Un, no way.”

Imara looked down at the ground, then put her hand on her hip and the other on her chest. “You can’t keep me locked up here forever, you know.”

As he straightened up, Shaw uncrossed his arms and said, “Pardon me? I don’t believe I heard you right. Why don’t you try that again little girl.”

Thorin sighed then stood up from his stool. “Imara, we’ve been over this about a million times in a million different ways. Now, go thank them for asking and tell them you have other obligations.”

Imara crossed her arms and grabbed the charm of her necklace. “The two of you are always saying how you’re just trying to keep me safe, but you know what? I think it’s you two tyrants that I need to be protected from.” Having finally said what she’d been dying to say for years now, Imara turned around and walked back to the table. 

As she saw the disappointment in her expression, Sofia sighed. “Sorry, fellas. It doesn’t look like that went very well.”

Imara came to the table and looked around at the ground as she said, “Umm, thank you and all, but Thorin reminded me that we have other...he said no. Excuse me.” Imara turned and walked around the table then hurried to the kitchen door before the teardrops fell from her eyes.

Sofia clicked her tongue as she shook her head. “That poor girl. I know you can’t tell with all their nice things and this big ole house, but life’s just not been very fair to her.”

After hearing the way Shaw spoke to her and seeing the wounded look on her face, Ben felt sick to his stomach. Fighting back the urge to go rip him to shreds, Ben came up with a plan of his own to spend some time with Imara.

As she traced the wagon with her fingertips while she watched them leave the drive that evening. Imara knelt in a chair and pressed her forehead against the glass as the disappointed ache filled her belly. She knew he’d be back tomorrow, but every fiber of her being wanted to chase after him now and beg him to take her with him. “Please come back Ben.”