The Awakening

by Jude Deveraux

  She set her suitcase down in the butler’s pantry and went to the kitchen, where she borrowed a tall, lever-handled juice extractor from the cook and called the grocery in Kingman and ordered a truckload of lemons. “Then send to Terrill City for them,” she said into the telephone.

  She went outside, the suitcase in one hand, the juicer in the other when she stopped. She needed to say goodbye to her mother.

  Amanda stood beside her mother’s chair under the tree for a moment, and everything that had happened came back to her. She felt overwhelming anger at herself. Why had she allowed Taylor to deny her mother? Why had she followed Taylor so blindly?

  Grace looked up at her daughter.

  “Mother, I—” There were tears in Amanda’s eyes.

  “Planning to leave?” Grace asked, nodding at the suitcase.

  “I have been a terrible person to you, and I—”

  Grace interrupted her daughter. “Mind if I run away with you? And what’s that for? It’s not a cudgel for someone’s head, is it?”

  Amanda held the juicer up. “Father promised the workers lemonade and I’m going to give it to them. I figure it will be a day or so before he gets the bill for the lemons and stops delivery.”

  “And the suitcase? Does that have to do with the pickers or one very handsome economics professor?”

  “I…” Amanda knew she’d been so brave for the last few hours, but her newly found courage was leaving her. She fell to her knees and put her head in her mother’s lap. “It was so awful,” she cried. “Those poor people are fainting from thirst because Father charges them for water, and I feel like such a fool. I have spent years in my room and—”

  “Hush, Amanda,” Grace said sternly. “Lashing yourself isn’t going to help at all. You were a sweet little girl who wanted to please her father. Now dry your eyes and let’s get to work. It’s almost sundown, so the pickers will stop for the day, and the lemons will never get here before tomorrow morning. You wait here while I pack a few things, then we’ll spend the night at the Kingman Arms and tomorrow we’ll make lemonade. Now dry your eyes so you’ll look pretty for your professor.”

  “But, Mother, you can’t leave Father just because I’m leaving.”

  “What’s here for me? Your father and I haven’t had anything between us since he punished me for what he saw as a betrayal by taking you away from me. I have just been waiting until you either married Taylor or came to your senses. I couldn’t leave before; we couldn’t all desert you. But now I can leave.” She stood. “Stay here and I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  Amanda sat on a chair, her hands clasped in her lap. “If Hank will have me,” she’d said. It wasn’t difficult to see that she’d loved him for a long time. With a grimace, she thought that if nothing else about her was strong her willpower was. She’d willed herself to love Taylor, and in spite of his bullying her, in spite of his patronizing kisses and his punishments, she’d remained loyal to him. Yet Hank had shown he cared about her, had treated her as a person, but she’d willed herself to despise him. She’d almost willed herself into a miserable life that she would surely have had with Taylor.

  Her first concern was the pickers, but when they were gone she’d go to Hank and beg his forgiveness on bended knee if she had to.

  Her attention was taken off herself as, through the trees, she saw about ten men approaching the front of the house. At the head of the group was the man with the distinctive hair, Whitey Graham.

  Amanda was on her feet instantly. This was no doubt the presentation of the grievances that Hank had said he was going to give to her father. She began running and reached the house just as Taylor, J. Harker and two of Bulldog Ramsey’s deputies came out to stand on the porch. Amanda stood in the deep shade to one side. She didn’t feel that she fit completely with either side.

  “We have a list of grievances,” Whitey said. “We ain’t happy about things in the fields.”

  Harker didn’t give any indication that he heard the man. He just glared, his eyes like coals.

  Whitey stepped up on the porch so he was an equal height level with Harker. Taylor started to protest this insolence, but Harker pushed him aside.

  “Say what you came to say,” Harker grunted.

  Whitey read a list of seven complaints that included a need for field toilets, camp toilets, drinking water delivered to the fields, pickers appointed as inspectors, lemonade made with lemons and, finally, one dollar and twenty-five cents paid for one hundred pounds picked, with no bonus.

  Everyone held his breath as Harker made up his mind.

  Please, Amanda prayed, please agree to this.

  Harker at last spoke and he agreed to more toilets, water delivered three times a day, real lemonade, and even to pay two dollars and fifty cents a day to inspectors chosen by the pickers. But he refused to raise the wages.

  It was Whitey’s turn to be stubborn. “You have just dug your own grave,” he said quietly.

  Harker smacked Whitey across the face with the back of his hand. “Get off of my land.”

  In the next moment all hell broke loose. One of the deputies lunged at Whitey. Whitey ran down the steps, while the nine men with him didn’t seem to know whether to run or fight. The second deputy yelled that Whitey was under arrest, to which Whitey said there was no warrant for his arrest. With that, Whitey and his men ran from the property.

  Amanda leaned back against the porch railing. It was done now. The ball had started rolling down the hill. No humans could stand the conditions in the fields for very long without exploding.

  Suddenly, Amanda stood bolt upright. Where was Hank? He said he was going to present grievances but he hadn’t even been among the presenters. Did he decide to keep out of it? Had he at last come to his senses and realized it wasn’t his fight?

  She almost laughed at the idea. Hank Montgomery didn’t have a cowardly bone in his body. He’d single-handedly taken on J. Harker Caulden, a man who terrified his own family yet Hank had always stood up to him. Hank dealt with crazy men like Whitey Graham. Hank set up a Union Hall in the middle of Kingman, California, and when the citizens had painted GET OUT OF TOWN on the building, Hank had just shrugged and had Joe paint over it.

  No, the cause of Hank Montgomery’s absence from the grievance committee wasn’t cowardliness or disinterest. So what had made him stay away? Something awful must have happened in the fields.

  Without another thought, she started walking rapidly toward the fields. Her mother caught her arm before she was out of the cool, shady garden.

  “Decide to leave me behind after all?” Grace asked, trying to sound lighthearted, but her voice betrayed her concern.

  “The union men gave Father an ultimatum,” Amanda said.

  Grace groaned. “I can imagine how well your father took that.”

  “He slapped the presenter, but, Mother, Hank wasn’t with them.”

  Grace frowned, seeing her daughter’s fear. “I don’t understand. Do you think Dr. Montgomery could have done a better job of the presentation?”

  “Hank said he was going to present the paper. But he didn’t do it. Mother, there is something awfully wrong. I know it. I’m going to look for Hank.”

  Grace Caulden set down the suitcase she was holding. “Then let’s go. We’ll find him.”

  “The fields are awful,” Amanda said, her eyes searching her mother’s. “The people are—”

  Grace took her daughter’s hand. “It’s time we did something, don’t you think? It’s time we both stopped hiding in our rooms.”

  “Yes,” Amanda said and they started walking.

  They searched for two hours. They walked around every tent, every squalid little hovel, stepped over unspeakable piles of stinking garbage, endured much abuse and lewd remarks. They asked everyone, used every language Amanda knew. They communicated with hand gestures. They asked any way they could, but no one had seen Dr. Montgomery for hours.

  Whitey Graham blocked their path when they’d starte
d on their third hour of searching. “You two are Cauldens?” His eyes gleamed in the growing darkness. “Feelings are running pretty high against the Cauldens right now. You two better get out of here.”

  “I want to know where Dr. Montgomery is,” Amanda said, swallowing her fear of this man.

  Whitey grinned. “Went off hours ago with a pretty lady. Haven’t seen him since. Maybe he’s…” He trailed off, letting his face make his bawdy suggestions.

  Amanda hid her clenched fists in the folds of her skirt. “I’m going to get him. I’ll drag him…out of bed if I have to, and then he’s going to talk to my father. You’ll get your wage increase. Hank will find a way to persuade my father.”

  Whitey smiled in a mean way. “You sure seem to think the professor’s powerful. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to make Caulden listen, except maybe a few shots fired into somebody.”

  Amanda swallowed and hoped her face didn’t betray her terror. “I’ll get him. Hank knows how to talk. If anyone can talk to my father, he can.”

  “It may be too late for talk.” He was looking her up and down in an insolent way.

  Amanda turned away from him and started walking toward the road to Kingman.

  Grace hurried to keep up with her daughter. “What an awful man. He makes my skin crawl. Dear, where are you hurrying off to?”

  “Reva Eiler’s house,” she said bitterly.

  “You think your Dr. Montgomery is with her?”

  “Yes I do. He seems to need lots of women around him.”

  Grace was tripping over clumps of grass, her heels were snagging, her skirt kept getting caught, and her little hat was down over one eye as she rushed to keep up with her daughter. “I’ve only seen you with him once, dear, but it was my impression that he was quite mad for you.”

  Amanda hesitated, then resumed her pace. “He looks at all women like that.”

  “No man has enough energy to be that intense about two women.”

  “Hank has lots of energy,” Amanda said over her shoulder. “Massive amounts of energy. Long-lasting, enduring, incredible energy.”

  Grace stopped, eyes wide, and looked at the back of her daughter. “How very fortunate for the woman he loves,” she murmured and hurried forward.

  Amanda climbed over the fence at the edge of the field then helped her mother over.

  “Are we planning to walk all the way into town?” Grace asked, flexing her aching ankles. She thought she had the beginnings of a blister on her left little toe.

  “We are going to hitch a ride.”

  Grace turned away so Amanda wouldn’t see her horror. For years she had prayed that her daughter would someday break out of Taylor’s rule, but to go from being a meek little lamb to thumbing rides was more than she wanted.

  The first car that came down the road stopped for them, but it was heading out of town. Handsome young Sam Ryan leaned out the window and smiled at Amanda.

  “So, we meet again,” he said softly.

  Amanda narrowed her eyes at him. “Sam, I want you to turn this car around and take my mother and me to Reva Eiler’s house.”

  Sam drew back into the car. “Sorry, but I can’t.” He looked as if he’d just noticed Grace. “I have to run an errand for my father.”

  “If you don’t take me to Reva’s house this instant, I’ll go to your parents and tell them what you did to me the night of the dance. I still have that torn dress.”

  Sam grimaced. “All right, get in, but I’m not waitin’ for you at Reva’s house.”

  “No one asked you to,” Amanda snapped.

  Amanda didn’t say a word on the way to Reva’s house. She didn’t even answer her mother when Grace whispered, “What did Sam do to you at the dance?” Amanda was too busy raging inside at Hank Montgomery. Here she’d been thinking she loved him and thinking what a noble person he was to try to help the poor, defenseless workers, when he was out lollygagging with Reva Eiler. And Amanda had told Taylor to go after Reva! What a fool she was about men—and women, for that matter. Reva had flirted with Hank at the Union Hall and conned Taylor into taking her home from the carnival.

  Amanda began to imagine the terrible things she’d do to both Reva and Hank when she found them together.

  “Here we are,” Sam said sullenly, “and this makes us even. Dad’ll have my head when I’m late.”

  “You deserve it,” Amanda said, shutting the car door. “You shouldn’t take advantage of defenseless women.”

  “You weren’t exactly defenseless with that professor around. He knocked one of my back teeth loose.”

  Amanda smiled at him. “Maybe you’ll remember next time.”

  Sam grimaced and drove away.

  “Amanda dear,” Grace said, “you and I are going to have to have a long talk after this is settled.”

  Amanda didn’t answer but went to Reva’s door and knocked. It was a filthy little house, with a broken swing outside, rusted tin cans in a pile by a fence with missing boards. Hollyhocks that looked as if they were fighting for life grew from something that looked like a truck fender. A pane of glass from the front window was missing and newspaper had been taped over it.

  At her second knock, Amanda heard shuffling footsteps inside.

  “What’d’ya want?” a man’s voice yelled.

  “It’s Amanda Caulden, Mr. Eiler. I want to see Reva,” Amanda yelled back. “If she’s here,” she said under her breath.

  “She’s asleep,” Mr. Eiler yelled.

  “With whom?” Amanda muttered. “I really do need to see her,” she yelled through the door.

  A hand angrily tore the newspaper from the broken pane of glass. The rest of the window was so dirty it may as well not have been glass. Reva’s face appeared at the window. “I am here, Miss Know-It-All Caulden,” Reva said, “and I’m alone in my bed, not that it’s any of your business. What brings you to this part of town? Need somebody to clean your toilet?”

  “Where is Hank?” Amanda asked.

  “Not with me.”

  Amanda glared at her. “Then when did he leave? I assume it was his visit that has exhausted you into an early retirement.”

  “It happens to be nearly ten o’clock. Some of us have to get up and go to work in the morning. Not all of us can be princesses like—”

  “Just a minute!” Grace said, stepping forward. “Before you two young ladies”—she emphasized the word—“start pulling hair, I think we should find out what we came here to find out. Reva, Dr. Montgomery seems to have disappeared, and we were told he might be with another woman and we assumed it was you.”

  “He hasn’t been here. He’s been out at the fields all day. I saw him for a few minutes yesterday and he was pretty upset. He said it was awful out there and for me to stay away.”

  “Do you have any idea where he could be?” Grace asked.

  “Maybe he went back to his hotel and went to bed. Or maybe he went to the Union Hall. Or maybe he went to the diner for something to eat. Or maybe—”

  “You have to help us look,” Amanda said. “I think something has happened to him.” Now that she knew he wasn’t with Reva, she was beginning to calm down. Whitey had lied to her, but why? Was he, perhaps, lying merely because she was a Caulden? Or was there another reason?

  “He’s all right,” Reva said. “Hank can take care of himself. Besides, it’s late and I need my sleep.”

  “You either come voluntarily or I’ll drag you out,” Amanda said.

  “Really, Amanda,” Grace said. “I’m sure Reva’s right and Dr. Montgomery is fine. Perhaps we should—”

  “I get Taylor,” Reva said, as if he were a piece of merchandise.

  “Done,” Amanda answered in the voice of an auctioneer saying, “Sold to the woman in the dirty nightgown.”

  “Give me five minutes to get dressed.”

  “Forget the lipstick and you’ll save three minutes,” Amanda said with a sweet smile.

  Grace looked away to hide her smil
e.

  In four minutes Reva was dressed and outside. Amanda wasted no more time on catty remarks but issued orders like a general—or like her father. Neither Reva nor Grace considered contradicting her. Amanda assigned them places to check and gave them less than an hour. They were going to have to search nearly all of Kingman at a run.

  An hour later they met in front of the Kingman Arms.

  “No sign of him,” Reva said. She too was concerned now. “No one has seen him all day. He hasn’t been back to the hotel. Joe’s at the Union Hall and he hasn’t seen Hank.”

  Grace had had no luck either.

  “If we could only find his car,” Amanda said. Her heart seemed to have jumped into her throat. Terror was what she felt, sheer debilitating terror. He would never leave the fields and the unionists unless something had…happened. She didn’t like to imagine what could have happened. There was too much talk of bloodshed and violence. “He would never leave that car of his,” she whispered. “If we could just—”

  “But his car is back at the fields,” Grace said.

  Amanda and Reva turned to look at her.

  “I tripped once and saw something yellow in the hop fields. It was almost hidden under the vines, but I knew what it was. There’s nothing else quite the color of Dr. Montgomery’s little automobile.”

  “They’ve done something with him,” Amanda said softly, and she knew it was true. “They want their violence, and Hank meant to stop them. They have removed him.”

  “Removed him?” Grace asked. “What in the world do you mean?”

  Reva took a step backward. “You know, it’s awfully late and I’m real tired. I think I better go home and get to bed. I have to go to work in a few hours. Amanda, after the hops are in, let’s have lunch.”

  Amanda grabbed Reva’s arm. “You’re going to the ranch with us. We’re going to find that Whitey Graham—I know he’s behind this—and make him tell us where Hank is.” She swallowed. “If we’re not too late. Reva, does your father have a gun we can borrow? I don’t think a man like Whitey will listen to three women saying please.”