Hummingbird Lane

by Brown, Carolyn

  Leo handed Josh a check for what had sold in the last month. “This little trailer park is the best-kept secret in the whole state of Texas,” he said.

  “I think so, too.” Josh smiled as he put the check in his shirt pocket.

  “Folks who buy all you folks’ art wish they could meet you.” Leo chuckled. “I tell them that you are all recluses, but they don’t believe me. I’ve even had some magazine editors call me to set up interviews.”

  “Not interested in either.” Josh smiled. “We just want to do what we love, sell it, and live simply out here in our corner of the world.”

  “I understand,” Leo said. “I’ll see you next month.”

  “You should come around in the evening sometime and have supper with all of us,” Josh offered.

  “Can I bring a newspaper reporter?” Leo grinned.

  “Only if you want to die,” Josh answered.

  Leo laughed out loud, picked up the two canvases, and in two strides was at the door. Then he turned around. “Does Emma know how you feel about her?”

  Josh’s cheeks burned. “What do you mean?”

  “Anyone who can make that”—Leo nodded toward the picture—“has feelings for the subject. There’s pain and love both featured there.”

  “I’m not sure that I know how I feel about her,” he said. Just the thought of a relationship with Emma made him nervous, and yet the idea of her leaving made him so sad that he wanted to cry.

  “Well, when you figure it out, don’t be too shy to tell her,” Leo suggested.

  When he was gone, Josh picked up the picture of Emma and carried it to his bedroom. He hung it on the only wall big enough to support it and then sat down on the end of his bed and stared at it. “Why would I tell her anything? It might just scare her away,” he whispered.

  Emma was about to be all alone for the first time since she left her college apartment. She’d told Sophie that she would be fine, but now she had doubts. What if she had another nightmare? What if more than the rape had happened, and it all came to the surface? She wouldn’t feel right calling Sophie in the middle of the night or waking Filly up, either. She tore into a bag of chocolate doughnuts and ate a few straight out of the bag for breakfast. “Will you call me when you get to Del Rio and tell me what all this big talk is about?”

  “Of course.” Sophie put another shirt into the open suitcase on the sofa. “To tell the truth, I’ll probably need you to help me sort out whatever is going on.”

  “You don’t think he’s about to break up with you, do you?” Emma asked.

  “It’s crossed my mind. He’s always said that he wants a family, and I’m not sure if I do,” Sophie answered.

  “Well, I’d think that’s something that you should definitely agree on.” Emma wondered if she should even think about children. Getting pregnant involved sex, and she wasn’t sure she could ever do that after what had happened. Maybe she should talk to a therapist about that sometime.

  “You’ll be okay, right?” Sophie stopped packing and joined Emma at the bar. “I don’t care what time of day or night it is, if you need me, you call.”

  Emma shoved the bag of doughnuts over toward Sophie. “I will, and you do the same. I’ll work every day until you get back to pass the time. I still can’t believe that I’ve sold two paintings. Well, not sold, but they are out on commission. What if no one likes them or buys them?”

  Sophie ate a third tiny doughnut. “Since you’re a newbie, I wouldn’t be surprised if Leo calls you when they sell. He’s a good man, and he runs a really neat little store and gallery over in Terlingua. Maybe someday we can drive down there and you can see for yourself.”

  “How big is that town?” Emma asked.

  “It’s almost a ghost town, but there’s a few little shops, and folks come from miles around to go to Big Bend park. Leo’s place has a reputation that’s known all over the world, and lots of buyers come from the big cities like New York City and Los Angeles. If he puts your stuff in his shop, it’s a big step up, believe me,” Sophie answered.

  Emma took a sip of her coffee. “No pressure.”

  “He’s also brutally honest. If he hadn’t liked your work, he would have said so.” Sophie slid off the barstool and took a pair of jeans from the dryer, folded them, and laid them in the suitcase. “I’m never sure what all to pack for a trip, and this is all the way to Europe.”

  “What do you mean? Don’t you and Teddy take several little vacations a year?” Emma moved from her barstool over to the sofa.

  “Yes, but . . .” Sophie went to the refrigerator and got out milk. She poured two glasses full and set one down in front of Emma. “Usually we go somewhere, and I paint all day. Then we go out in the evenings or else cook at home if we’ve rented a condo. But this time Teddy asked me to leave my work behind. We’re staying in a house in Del Rio for one night and then we’re flying to London, where the first showing is to be held, and he wants to talk about something serious. What if he proposes?”

  “Do you love him?” Emma finished off the last of her coffee and took a sip of the milk. “Why are you afraid of marriage, anyway?”

  “Yes, I love him,” Sophie answered, “but in my experience, married men can’t be trusted.”

  “In mine, men can’t be trusted, married or not,” Emma said, “but it’s not fair to Teddy for you to judge him by other guys.”

  Same goes for you. Don’t judge Josh by other guys, either. Rebel’s voice in her head was loud and clear.

  “You’re right,” Sophie sighed. “Man, I hate surprises! I’d rather know what’s comin’.”

  “Amen and amen,” Emma said. “But sometimes surprises are downright wonderful. Like when you walked into my room after all those years. Like Leo loving my work. Like me getting to come to this place.”

  “Okay.” Sophie smiled. “You’ve made your point. Teddy has a surprise for me, and I’ll enjoy it every bit as much as you did all those things. Still no regrets?”

  “Only that I didn’t have the courage to do it on my own. But if I had, I wouldn’t be where I am right now. With that in mind, I wouldn’t change a single thing in my past,” Emma said.

  Sophie raised an eyebrow.

  “Not even the rape. It devastated me and made me hit rock bottom for a long time, but I’m coming back with strength I didn’t even know I had,” Emma said. “And I want you to have a good time with Teddy. Call me when you have time, and especially when you find out what the surprise is, but please don’t worry about me. I feel like nothing can hurt me here in this place. I’m safe and at peace.”

  Sophie sat down in the rocking chair. “I worry you’ll go backward and hit bottom again if I’m not here.”

  “Only way I’m going is forward.” Emma held up her glass. “Like you said, it won’t happen overnight, and I might have more nightmares.” She shuddered at the thought of going through that experience again, even in dreams. “But if I do, I can call you and talk to you, or like you and Filly both have said, I can march across the yard and knock on Filly’s door. I have a support system here like I’ve never had before.”

  Sophie swiped a tear from her cheek. “God, Em, I feel so bad that I wasn’t there for you, but none of what happened is your fault. Not then. Not ever, so don’t blame yourself.”

  “If I’d been more street savvy, I would have known better than to go with Dallas to a strange guy’s apartment. I’m so glad you’re here to help me get through all that, Sophie. My road to recovery might take a while longer than I want, but I’m going to get over this horror,” Emma said with so much confidence that she honestly believed what she was saying. “Hey, I didn’t run and hide under the bed today when Leo came into the house. Lord, have mercy!” She fanned herself with the back of her hand. “I thought for a minute I might faint dead away, but then he spoke, and you were right. His voice didn’t sound like it should come out of a man as big as a refrigerator.”

  Sophie laughed out loud. “Josh says that he’s the Hulk with
a red beard.”

  “The Hulk isn’t even that big,” Emma whispered. “My chest tightened up, and it took every bit of my courage just to shake hands with him.”

  Sophie nodded and took another sip of her milk. “I felt the same way the first time I met him.”

  “On a different note,” Emma said, “do you believe all that stuff Filly said when she read our palms or was it just a line of bull crap? I want to believe every bit of it. It gives me hope and courage, but what do you think?”

  “I think Filly has the ability to read people,” Sophie answered. “Kind of like a sixth sense. I don’t know if palms really figure into it all that much, but what she said about our hands sure made me feel better.”

  “I’m going to believe that she’s got the gift of seeing beyond today because I want to,” Emma said. “I want to get past all that stuff I’ve buried and move on with life. Now, enough of this, let’s get you packed up. What time will Teddy be here tomorrow?”

  “Right after breakfast,” Sophie answered.

  Emma stood up and touched her milk glass to Sophie’s. “To a bright future for both of us, just like Filly said.”

  “To us!” Sophie said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sophie was up at the crack of dawn, made coffee, and took a cup to the front porch. Teddy wouldn’t arrive for at least a couple of hours, but she was too excited to sleep. Tonight she would fall asleep in his arms, and tomorrow morning they would have breakfast together. That was, if he wasn’t breaking up with her. He had never given her a reason to even think that was the case, but if he did, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. He’d been her rock as well as her manager for years. She didn’t want to lose him in either way.

  “Good morning,” Emma said behind her.

  “What are you doing up at this time of day?” Sophie moved over to give Emma room to sit beside her.

  “Wanted to watch the sunrise this morning. I’m glad I get to see it with you. I had another dream last night.” Emma eased down on the porch so that she wouldn’t spill a drop of the full mug of coffee in her hands.

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” Sophie asked.

  “I stood up to my mother in the dream,” Emma said. “I told her that this is my life, and I’ll live it however I please. She started to tell me how foolish I was and said I was too delicate to know how to run my own business.”

  “What happened?” Sophie was having even more second thoughts about leaving Emma alone.

  “I said I might fall,” Emma said, then grew serious. “But if I did, I’d get up with the help of all my new friends, pull the cactus needles out of my ass, and try again. Then I picked up my suitcase and carried it out of the house. I told Jeffrey to take me to the bus station, and he nodded. That’s when I woke up. What do you think it means?”

  “I’ll go back to one of the therapists’ lines and ask, ‘How did it make you feel?’”

  Emma blew on the top of her coffee and then took a sip. “Free at last. Kind of like the words of that song say: ‘Free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.’”

  “Well,” Sophie said, “I think the suitcase symbolizes the baggage that you’re carrying with you, and the fact that you’re willing to take it with you and own it as yours is a good sign. You aren’t hiding anything anymore, and you don’t care what Victoria thinks.”

  “That’s easy to say when I’ve got this perfect hiding place away from her right now.” Emma sighed. “But when the time comes that I have to face her in person, will I cave in, or will I be able to tell her to go to hell?”

  “You’re gaining more and more independence every day, Em, but when that time comes, I’ll be standing right behind you. Victoria has lost her power. Just remember that,” Sophie told her.

  “I hope you’re right,” Emma said and then pointed at the eastern sky. “Look at that gorgeous sunrise. This is going to be a good day. I haven’t had this feeling since we were kids and it was the day for Rebel to come clean our house. That always meant she would bring you with her, and I couldn’t hardly sleep the night before.”

  “Then you’re not going to miss me?” Sophie teased.

  “Not in the least,” Emma told her, “and if you believe that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in New Mexico that I’d like to sell you.”

  “We’ve made some good memories,” Sophie said.

  “But none of them are as good as what we’re making these days.” Emma grinned. “We shouldn’t be talking. We should be painting that gorgeous sunrise. I’ve never seen so many brilliant colors. How many have you painted?”

  “Not many, but I do plan on doing at least one somewhere in the Big Bend park this summer. There’s this place . . .” Sophie pulled her phone out of her hip pocket and flipped through her pictures. When she found the one of two enormous rocks with a big round one cradled between the two like the hand of God had laid it right there for them to hold up, she handed the phone to Emma.

  “That’s awesome,” Emma said.

  “See that hole at the bottom of the round one?” Sophie pointed. “I want to put the rising sun right there, with maybe some dark clouds all around it. What do you think, Em?”

  “That would be surreal, as if nothing, not even evil, can stop the light from shining through,” Emma answered.

  “I just have to be there when the sun comes up to get the essence of the whole thing, to feel it down deep in my soul,” Sophie said. “I’d forgotten how much I missed talking art with you. I wish I’d plowed right through Victoria and come to see you.”

  “She’d have had someone toss you out on your ear.” Emma’s tone was dead serious. “She will have her way. If she can’t control me, then she’ll cut off my money, hoping that I’ll starve, but I won’t now that Leo is buying my work.” She cocked her head to one side and said, “I hear a vehicle coming. I thought Teddy wasn’t arriving for another couple of hours.”

  “Sometimes folks make a wrong turn and—” Sophie gasped. “It is Teddy. He’s early.”

  She was halfway across the yard when Teddy parked his truck. He got out and opened his arms, and she ran into them. His eyes sparkled, and he held her tightly for a few seconds before he tipped up her chin and kissed her long and passionately. How could she have ever thought he was going to break up with her? Her heart pounded in her chest, and every nerve in her body wanted more than a kiss, even if it was steamy hot. If Emma hadn’t been sitting on the porch, she would have pulled him inside and dragged him back to her bedroom, but today the sex would have to wait until they were in the house he’d rented.

  “You’re early,” she panted when he finally pulled away from the kiss.

  “I couldn’t wait to see you, so I drove longer yesterday and got up at three this morning. Couldn’t sleep anyway. I’m tired of us being apart, darlin’,” Teddy whispered.

  “Want a cup of coffee before we go?” she asked.

  “No, I just want to meet Emma and then get to the house in Del Rio, leave our clothes in a heap by the front door, and fall into bed with you,” he said.

  “Me too.” She buried her head in his shoulder for an extra minute, then laced her fingers in his and led him to the porch. “Teddy, this is my best friend, Em Merrill. Em, this is Teddy.”

  Emma stood up and nodded. “I’m glad to finally meet the man who puts a smile on Sophie’s face every time his name is mentioned. We can even tell when she just thinks about you!”

  “The pleasure is all mine. She’s told me all about you. Congratulations on the paintings that Leo took yesterday,” Teddy said.

  “Are you sure about me going away for a whole week?” Sophie asked one more time.

  Teddy held up two fingers. “Ten days or two weeks. One of my surprises is that we got a showing in Rome as well, so we’ll be staying over a few extra days.”

  “Oh. My. Sweet. Lord!” Sophie’s hands shook like Emma’s did when she was nervous. Two whole weeks away with Teddy would be heaven, but then she heard Emma’s quick intake o
f breath and felt guilty.

  Emma smiled so wide that you could see her back teeth. “You’ve earned this, Sophie. Congratulations! Take lots of pictures to share with all of us when you get home.”

  Sophie hoped that she had mistaken Emma’s reaction for fear when it was really happiness for her that she’d also been booked in Rome. “My phone number is on the refrigerator. Use the landline all you want and call me anytime, night or day.”

  “Here’s your suitcase.” Emma handed it to her and then gave her a hug. “Now, get out of here, and don’t worry. Teddy, get her out of this place before the waterworks start.”

  Teddy took the suitcase from her and then draped his arm around Sophie’s shoulders. “No tears from either of you or you’ll make me cry, and then Em will think I’m a big wuss.”

  “All right, then, I guess we should go, but . . . ,” Sophie started.

  Teddy gently pulled her toward his truck. “Goodbye, Em. We’ll see you soon.”

  “Get on out of here so I can paint something with that beautiful sunrise in the background,” Emma scolded with a big smile on her face.

  Emma stood on the porch and waved until the vehicle was out of sight. Sophie kept one arm out the window of Teddy’s truck and waved back at her until they made the first curve in the dirt road and she couldn’t see the park anymore.

  Teddy laid a hand on her shoulder. “She’s going to be fine, but I’m a little worried about you.”

  “We were friends of the heart.” Sophie sighed. “Do you know what that is?”

  “Nope, can’t say as I do,” he answered.

  “Neither of us was popular. We weren’t accepted in school. I was poor and she was rich, but neither of us fit in with the other kids, not even the nerds. But . . .” Her voice cracked.

  “So you bonded and then you were ripped apart. Knowing that you were in the same area and yet not being able to see each other anymore would be worse than if one of you had died.” Teddy gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I love you, Sophie Mason.”