When we last left our intrepid heroes, Trixie and Jim had started dating. However, they had chosen not to tell the rest of Bob-Whites since the others had been annoying them immensely by pressuring them to date. Can they keep this secret? Let’s find out…

By CMW

The next morning, Trixie woke up with a smile on her face. It took her a few seconds to remember why and another few seconds to remember that she had to try and erase that smile. If not, her brothers would figure out that she and Jim were dating, and she really wanted to keep that secret…for a little while at least.

Mart was the real problem. She hadn’t managed to convince him that she was attracted to Honey’s cousin Ben Riker, could she now convince him that she wasn’t in love with Jim Frayne?

Luckily, she knew she had a big advantage this time. This time, with Diana to distract him, all Trixie had to do is just mention Diana’s name. Then he’d get a big goofy grin on his face and forget everything else. Brian wasn’t that moony about Honey but he wasn’t as gifted at reading her mind as her almost-twin.

The first test would be breakfast. She thought about taking a shower and getting dressed in something cute in preparation of "studying" with Jim. When she realized any alteration of her normal behavior would cause her brothers to be suspicious, she changed into jeans and an old sweatshirt and ran downstairs for breakfast.

Mart and Bobby were there at the kitchen table with her parents. In fact, Mart was already on his second helping. He looked up at her in mid-chew, frowned, and quickly swallowed.

"Hey, squaw, what’s up with you? You look…different somehow." Luckily, his relationship with Diana had lessened his need to use overpowering language.

Trixie did her best to stop herself from blushing. She casually replied, "Well, maybe it’s because you’re so used to staring adoringly at Diana that if feels odd to look at another female. How was your date last night?"

Mart suddenly got that euphoric look on his face that he always had whenever he thought about Diana. "Oh it was great. We went to The Castle on the Hudson. It was so romantic, dimly lit; they even placed us next to the fireplace. And the food was exquisite. I had Black Angus beef tenderloin in a cabernet reduction with Potatoes Aligot. My sweetie had duck with roast fingerling potatoes, asparagus, and seasonal forest mushrooms. And dessert!! I can’t even describe it. Ah, words fail me…" He got that euphoric look on his face that he always had whenever he thought about food.

"It would be so nice if words really failed you. Nice and quiet," Bobby interjected, grinning at his older brother.

Mart stuck his tongue out at Bobby. Mrs. Belden laughed. Sometimes she wondered which of her two blond-haired, blue-eyed boys was the nine-year-old and which was the seventeen-year-old.

"Where’s Brian?" Trixie asked.

"Oh, he’s already left for an all-day date with Honey." Mart said, grabbing his third helping of bacon. He therefore missed Trixie’s look of relief, the others didn’t.

Trixie ignored Bobby’s curious look and busied herself eating breakfast.

He’s just nine years old; he can’t suspect anything, she thought, chewing her bacon.

"So what’s on everyone else’s docket for today?" Mr. Belden asked, putting down his newspaper.

Mart answered first. "Diana and I are planning on going on a picnic before it gets too cold. Moms, can we have the leftover ham from Thursday for sandwiches?"

"I don’t believe there is any more leftover ham, Mart." At Mart’s shocked look, she smiled and said, "Ask your brother about that."

Mart turned and glared at Bobby. It looked like Bobby just might surpass Mart for the Most Ravenous Belden title.

"There is some leftover chicken from last night though, dear. I don’t believe Bobby has eaten that yet. Maybe you can have chicken sandwiches instead?" Mrs. Belden suggested, grabbing the Tupperware container from the refrigerator. Mart nodded, although he looked sulkily at Bobby. He got up to help prepare the sandwiches. "What are you doing today, Trixie?" Mrs. Belden asked as she sliced bread.

"But we always study in Jim’s room," Trixie said, with a sinking feeling. She remembered her dad heading into the office after breakfast and the busy line at the Manor House. Somehow, she doubted that was a coincidence.

"Yes, but that was before. Things have changed a bit now, haven’t they?" Ms. Trask asked, arching an eyebrow.

Jim tried to not blush but failed miserably. He couldn’t look at Trixie, so he didn’t see she was failing just as badly.

"Well, yes, but we’re not going to do anything inappropriate…and I do have my computer up there and…" Jim tried to reason with her.

"There’s a computer in the study. Besides, since when do you need a computer to do geometry homework? Things haven’t changed that much since I was teaching, have they?" Ms. Trask said, her eyes twinkling.

Jim and Trixie sighed in resignation. They headed into Mr. Wheeler’s study, settling down at the large desk. On their way in, Jim muttered quietly to Trixie, "Maybe we shouldn’t have told the adults either."

Trixie laughed as she got out her geometry book.

For a few minutes, Jim and Trixie bent over the math book, going over the problems. They even managed to get through three. However, the proximity was eventually too much for Jim. Even though the door to the study was open, he leaned over and kissed Trixie, slowly and sweetly. Before they could get too caught up in the kiss, they heard someone walking in the hallway.

Jim quickly pulled back and turned to the book. "So what you need to do here is figure out the angles of the triangle. You know that the angles are supposed to add up to 180 degrees, so all you really have to do is…"

Ms. Trask passed by the room, barely glancing in on the two of them as she walked by.

"Alright, now where we were?" Jim asked.

"Something about angles in a triangle," Trixie said, giggling.

"That’s not what I meant, Trix," Jim growled, threading his fingers threw her sandy curls as he gently pulled her face towards his. Once again, they had barely started to enjoy the kiss before they heard someone else walking in the hallway. They both pulled back.

Celia walked into the room. "You two don’t mind if I dust the room while you’re in here, do you? It won’t disturb your…" she paused, "studying, will it?’’

Jim shook his head no, turning back to the book and starting, once again, to help Trixie with her math. Trixie giggled and whispered to him that they had already done that problem.

After ten minutes and three more math problems had gone by, Celia said she was done and left the room, unfortunately leaving the door as wide open as before.

Jim immediately took advantage of her absence by closing the math book and grabbing Trixie. This time, no one was going to interrupt them. He deepened the kiss, enjoying the freedom of showing his feelings to Trixie. Images of what else he could show Trixie, and what she could show him, went through his mind as he…

"Oh, I’m so sorry," Celia said, walking back into the room. "I forgot to dust the globe. Please excuse me."

Jim quickly jerked back. Trixie glanced at him, trying hard to hide her amusement as she opened up the math book. One more math problem was solved before Celia left the room again.

"This is annoying," Jim said. "I can’t believe these interruptions."

"Yeah, we’ll never get my homework done if you don’t stop interrupting it with kisses," Trixie teased.

"Trixie…" Jim began, becoming frustrated. He quickly shut up when Trixie leaned into him this time and initiated the kiss.

Trixie loved the freedom to do that, to actually make a move on Jim Frayne without worrying if she would be rejected or not. And, she had to admit, kissing was pretty damned nice. Diana and Honey had tried to describe it, which was pretty difficult when Trixie kept interrupting by yelling, "TMI, these are my brothers. Ewww." But there was no way to do it justice. The way it made her feel, so wanted and so warm and so…

"Oops, I’m so sorry," Celia said, walking back into the room. "I forgot to dust the bookcase. Please forgive me." Celia bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. She felt a little guilty, it hadn’t been that long since she and Tom had been sneaking kisses. But since her job description now included new chaperoning duties for both Trixie and Jim and for Brian and Honey, she’d have to keep interrupting their fun. And she had to admit that she really enjoyed seeing James Winthrop Frayne II lose his cool. She finished the bookcase and walked out.

Five math problems, three kisses, and three more "forgotten to dust" pieces of furniture and Jim had had enough.

"Arrrgh…this is ridiculous. Why don’t you finish your homework quickly and we can go and find some place more private?"

Trixie agreed and bent over her math book. She rapidly filled in answers to the last five questions and shut the book.

Jim looked at her in surprise. "Umm…Trixie, I don’t think you were supposed to just make up the numbers."

"I didn’t," Trixie defended herself. "You can check them."

Jim opened up the book once more and looked at her answers. She had every single one of them right.

"How did you do it so quickly?" Jim asked. "I thought you needed my help."

"Well, no, I just wanted your help. I didn’t really need it," Trixie admitted.

"Since when have you been so good at math?"

"Well…" Trixie drawled. "Remember Arizona and Diana’s uncle’s ranch?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah, and I seem to recall lots of issues with math problems."

"True. But Tenny Stetson helped me a lot…"

Jim interrupted her. "Yes, since I was a total impatient jerk with you when I was supposed to help. I’m so sorry, Trix. I just really, really wanted to spend time with you and I knew that if you would just concentrate on your work, you’d be able to get it done and we could go have fun."

"Well, that’s one thing Tenny taught me, how to concentrate. We actually kept in email contact, and he wrote me once about a teaching technique he used in one of his classes. Basically, you just try to get the kid to connect his homework problems with real-life situations that are relevant to their lives. Like having kids on a farm do farming type word problems and kids in the city figure out train schedules and things like that. So he suggested that I just treat the questions as mysteries that need to be solved to find out the bad guy. Once I started doing that, I gave math the same concentration I give mysteries and it became easy."

"So all this time you haven’t needed my help?" Jim said wonderingly, mentally kicking himself for not having come up with the mysterious math idea himself.

"Well, no, not really. But it was a great excuse to enjoy your company," Trixie said as she slipped her book and notebook into her bag. "Now what do you say we ditch this place and all its chaperones?"

Jim got up from his chair and stretched his long legs. "Sounds great to me. How does a horse ride sound to you?"

"Sounds great as well, I’ll just store my bag here and we can go."

They called out to Ms. Trask where they were headed as they walked out the door. She smiled to herself; they were Regan’s problem now.

Luckily, Regan didn’t seem to be as concerned as the others with chaperoning. He left them alone while they saddled up and just admonished them with a quick "Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do" when they left.

While they were out riding, Trixie and Jim talked about what that last statement meant.

"I mean, what wouldn’t Regan do? Or what would he do, to be precise," Trixie mused. "I don’t think he’s even dated anyone since I’ve known him. Well, other than that Joan woman, but that ended when she insisted he move back to Sarasota. I’m so glad he didn’t move there."

"So am I. He’s a great guy to have around…and he gives great advice," Jim said, smiling broadly.

Trixie looked at Jim curiously. Somehow, she suspected his move yesterday and Regan’s advice were one and the same. Well, she’d have to thank Regan later for her new boyfriend.

Boyfriend! Wow, that’s such a cool word. She thought.

Once again, the weather was perfect as they rode through the preserve. And once again, after the ride Jim helped Trixie down from Susie, enjoying it just as much as last time. Regan discretely stayed in his office. Jim had learned from his mistake with Jupiter last time and Trixie and Jim groomed and wiped down the horses before he tried anything else. Trixie was just coming out from having hung up the tack when Jim pinned her against the wall.

Suddenly, Jim heard voices coming close to the stables. He quickly shoved Trixie into the hay and shut the half-door to the storage room. He was just in time as Dan and Mart came into the stables, arguing loudly about the upcoming World Series and something about a curse.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here? Weren’t you going on a picnic with Diana, Mart?" Jim asked, willing his voice to sound normal.

"How’d you know that?" Mart asked, looking closely at Jim.

"Well…umm…Trixie told me," Jim stuttered. In the stall, Trixie rolled her eyes. Jim seriously needs to work on his acting skills.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately Di’s mom decided that shopping was a much bigger priority. Her parents are going to this fancy shindig and Mrs. Lynch wanted Di’s opinion on what dress to wear. My beloved is quite gifted in the sartorial selection department. By the way, do you know the whereabouts of my loquacious sibling?"

Jim paused before answering this time. "Well, we worked on her math homework, but then she left the Manor House. I just got back from a ride so I’m sure she hasn’t gone too far." There, everything I just said was truthful.

In the stall, Trixie was doing her best not to sneeze. Why did he have to try and hide me? There’s nothing wrong with us going out riding together.

Dan looked over at Jupiter in his stall and then at Susie. He noticed how both horses gleamed with sweat. He raised an eyebrow at Jim. "Did you go out riding alone?"

Jim looked at Dan, not sure how to answer. Luckily, Regan took that time to walk out of the office.

"Hey Dan, hey Mart. How’s it going? If you want to ride the horses, only Lady, Starlight, and Strawberry need riding. Jim and I went out with Jupiter and Susie, but I’d appreciate any help with the others."

Dan shook his head, his suspicion vanishing. "Sorry Uncle Bill, we were just going to see if Jim and Trixie wanted to go into town before heading out. But of course, we could ride the horses if you need us."

"No that’s OK. You boys go have fun."

"So, Jim, can you come out for a boy’s day out?"

Jim composed himself enough to reply casually that he was unable to go out today, he had a lot of important things he had to do that day. There isn’t anything more important than kissing Trixie, he thought. Damn, I’m getting rather single-minded, aren’t I?

Dan and Mart turned to go out the door of the stable, barely making it out before Trixie finally let out the sneeze that had been bothering her.

"Bless you," Jim said as he opened the door.

"Why did you have to go hiding me for? There’s nothing wrong with us being together." Trixie said as Jim helped her onto her feet.

"I know, I didn’t think. Are you OK?" Jim asked, full of concern.

"Just covered with straw. But that’s not the first time that’s happened," she said, with a sly smile at Jim, enjoying it when he immediately blushed.

Regan just continued working with the horses, smiling to himself. They must think they’re the first couple to make out in a pile of hay. If only they knew.