After that, Johnny and Jude talked about old times and both carefully avoided any mention of their experiences during the war.
“I’m eager to see Henry Ann,” Jude said. “I’ll never forget the two of you coming down to Mud Creek with blood in your eye because you suspected Hardy of rustling your cattle.”
Johnny laughed. “We had more guts than sense. I don’t know what I’d have done if your pa had grabbed me out of that car and wiped the ground with me.”
“He wouldn’t have done that. Hardy was scared of what Pete would do. Pete didn’t want you to know it at the time, but the folks on Mud Creek knew that you and Henry Ann were off-limits and not to be bothered.”
Johnny chuckled. “Not by anyone but him, huh?”
“All right you two,” Kathleen said. “Get yourselves to the table.”
Kathleen found the evening one of the most pleasant she had spent in a long time. They ate the corn bread and teased Pete that it wasn’t fit for hogs and that the only thing good enough to eat was the coleslaw. He took the ribbing with his usual good humor. When the meal was over, the girls cleared the table and washed up the dishes.
“Now I know why they asked us to come for supper,” Kathleen said as she hung up the dish towel she took from Theresa.
“I’ll have to be going soon and get my little boy. I called Mrs. Ramsey, and she said that she’d give him his supper. He plays hard and is usually asleep by the time I get him undressed.”
“How old is he?”
“He’s four and big for his age.”
“I’d like to see him sometime,” Kathleen said wistfully. Mary Rose would have been almost five if she had lived.
“He’s a handful at this age. I measured him when he was two years old. If it is true that he will be twice that height when he is grown, he’s going to be six feet tall. Imagine me looking way up there at my little boy.” Theresa’s smile was beautiful.
“Aren’t you through in here yet?” Pete demanded from the doorway. “You’re holding up the rest of the program.”
“And what is that?”
“Come on. You’ll see.”
The furniture had been pushed back, and from the radio came the signature tune of President Truman, “The Missouri Waltz.”
“I should be going,” Theresa protested.
“Not until I’ve danced with each of you beautiful ladies.” Pete grabbed Kathleen’s hand. “That’s old Harry’s favorite song.” He swung her around the floor. Their laughter mingled with the music. “Jude, you and Johnny grab a girl. This one’s mine for this dance and the next.”
Theresa’s heart jumped out of rhythm and her breath caught as Jude got to his feet and held his hand out to her.
She had been sure that he would prefer to dance with young and pretty Marie.
“Nurse Frank, would you honor me with this dance?”
“I’d be delighted, Doctor. But I must warn you, it has been years and years since I danced.”
“Then it is time you did.”
He pulled her to him and they moved slowly. It would have been all right with Theresa if they had not moved at all. When he lowered his head and pressed his cheek to hers, she closed her eyes, and her heart settled down into slow heavy thuds.
The music ended. She leaned back and whispered. “Your leg.”
“What leg?” he said, and pulled her tighter against him as the music started up again and a female vocalist began to sing, “I’ll never smile again, until I smile at you—”
“Do you want to try it, Marie?” Johnny asked when he saw her effort to fade into the background. “Come on. I’ll try not to break your toes.”
Marie was so small that her head barely reached Johnny’s shoulder. He held her lightly and tried to keep his mind on the steps and not on Pete and Kathleen, who were talking and laughing as if they were having the time of their lives. He was sure that Pete was not interested in an affair with Marie, but he wasn’t sure about Kathleen or Jude’s Nurse Frank.
When the dance ended, Pete reached for Marie and Jude held out his hand out to Kathleen.
“It’s the luck of the draw,” Johnny said as he put his arm around Theresa and they began to move to the music. “I’ve never been much of a dancer.”
“I’ve not done it a lot myself, so we’ll be well matched. I’ll try not to step on your toes if you promise not to step on mine.”
“Lady, I can’t promise a thing.” He smiled down at her. She was a soft, sweet woman and pretty even in that white uniform, white stockings, and heavy shoes.
The dance ended. Kathleen stepped back from Jude, not sure if Johnny would want to dance with her. On the radio the announcer was saying that this was the last number of the evening and to tune in next week for another hour of dance music. She felt a hand on her arm as Jude reached out for Marie.
Johnny pulled her into his arms. She went willingly and leaned against him. It was so good to be held by him. His arms encircling her pulled her so close, that her breasts were crushed against his chest. They fit perfectly against each other. She could feel the warmth of his body through her dress, and the wild beating of her heart against his. Was his breath coming faster than usual or was it just wishful thinking on her part?
“Good night, sweetheart, till we meet tomorrow. Good night, sweetheart, sleep will vanish sorrow—”
Johnny pressed his cheek tightly to hers. Kathleen felt as if she was in another world. She closed her eyes and wished the song would never end.
But it did, and he pulled away from her.
“It’s late. I don’t like the idea of Theresa going to pick up Ryan by herself,” Jude was saying.
“Doctor! I do it all the time.” Theresa was putting on her coat.
“Not at eleven o’clock at night. I’d go with you, but I shouldn’t leave the telephone.”
“Don’t worry, little brother.” Pete picked up his coat and handed Johnny his. “We’ll follow Theresa and make sure she gets home.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Theresa protested.
“Yes, he does,” Jude insisted. “See you in the morning.” Then he said to everyone in general, “This has been great. Come again, all of you.”
“How about Thanksgiving?” Pete said. “I’ll cook a turkey.”
“I couldn’t leave the family.” Marie’s dark eyes went from Johnny to Kathleen.
“Do you have plans, Theresa?” Jude asked.
“Why no. I’d love to come, but only if I can bring part of the dinner.”
“That can be decided later. You and Johnny can come, can’t you, Kathleen?” Jude stood at the door, waiting for his guests to put on their coats.
“I can, but I can’t speak for Johnny.” Kathleen was sure that her face was fiery red.
“He’ll be here,” Pete said confidently. “Wave a drumstick under that boy’s nose, and he’ll jump fences and wade across raging rivers to get to it.”
Kathleen sat in the backseat of Pete’s car with Marie as they followed Theresa’s small car to Mrs. Ramsey’s house. This was where she had boarded when she arrived in Rawlings seven years ago. Johnny Had come to the newspaper office and had shown her the way. She wondered if he remembered.
Without a word, Johnny got out of the car and went to the house with Theresa. Soon they emerged, with Johnny carrying the sleeping child. Mrs. Ramsey waved from the doorway. Kathleen wanted to cry. He had never held their child in his arms. If he married Theresa, he would have a son without having to sire one and risk the deformity he feared. In the back of her aching mind she doubted that she was strong enough to endure the pain. If that should happen, she would never be able to go far enough from this place to forget him. Her heart would be broken.
He didn’t come back to the car. He sat in Theresa’s car, holding the child, and she drove to her house. Pete followed. Johnny carried the boy inside and came out immediately. He got into the car, turned to her, and said, “Mrs. Ramsey said to tell you hello and to thank you for lending Emily the
books.”
“It was nothing,” Kathleen murmured.
“You’ll have to show me the way to the Fleming ranch,” Pete said.
Johnny got out again to walk Marie to the door? Johnny thought he smelled cigarette smoke as if someone nearby was smoking.
“This was so much fun. Thank you for telling Daddy you’d bring me home. Johnny—if you don’t go to the doctor’s house for Thanksgiving, will you come here? We were going to ask you and Kathleen.”
“I’ll have to go to Jude’s. My sister, Henry Ann, may still be here, and that would be the logical place for us to go.”
“I understand. You’ll want to be with her as much as you can. Just don’t forget that we want you, too.”
“I won’t forget.”
Marie opened the door and slipped inside. Johnny stood for a second or two. He could feel that someone was near. It was the same sort of feeling he’d had while he was in the jungles of the Pacific. Usually the person had been a native, but a few times it had been a Jap who wanted to surrender but was afraid to show himself for fear of being shot, or a Jap spying on the camp. Johnny’s eyes searched the darkness, seeing nothing. He went quickly back to the car.
Mack Boone stood flat against the wall of the house. He hadn’t been able to hear what was said, but he knew that it was Johnny Henry with Marie. The old man’s bastard was playing his cards close to his chest. The son of a bitch was planning to come out here and take over. Well, he, Mack Boone, was going to do his level best to see that it never happened. He had a few cards up his sleeve that he could play.
Kathleen went through the house one last time to make sure everything was in order before she left for town to pick up Henry Ann. She had seen Johnny’s sister just a few times, the last before Mary Rose was born, but she felt that she had known her forever.
Kathleen had had a restless night and had risen early to sit at her kitchen table, drink tea, and think about the night before. Johnny had walked her to the door, held the screen while she put the key in the lock, then said good night and backed off the porch as if to get away from her as soon as possible.
He’s afraid that he’s made me pregnant, she thought now. He needn’t worry. The chance of it happening that one time was one in a hundred, and she had never won anything in her life. One thing was sure. He was going to see to it that he didn’t tempt fate again. He had made that clear by his actions.
She went to her car, thankful that the bad tire still had air in it. She would go to Eddie’s and see if he could put on another tire or patch the one she had.
From the rise above, Theodore Nuding watched Kathleen leave the house. Last night while she was at the doctor’s house, he had taken his tire pump to her house and filled the tire as full of air as he dared because it would lose some before morning. Then, knowing that she was safe, he had gone back to work on her room.
He put down his binoculars, pulled his diary out from under the seat of the car, and began to write.
10:20 A.M. She is leaving the house. I believe that she is going to have company because the Indian brought a bed last night. It could be a relative coming to see that slutty woman who is in the clinic. I heard from the cleaning people that she was dying. Good riddance, I say. She was a whore who was taking up space and breathing good air that could be used by someone decent.
The room is coming along, Mother. I wish I knew someone I could trust to help me. This small town isn’t like the city. I have to be very careful and not draw attention to myself. The banker, John Wrenn, is the only weak link. He’s ignorant, nosy, and likes to talk. If one word about me is leaked, it will be curtains for him.
Mother, I miss you. But soon I’ll have Kathleen, and my life will be full of joy again.
Nuding read over what he had written, then quickly shoved the diary under the seat as a car approached, slowed, and stopped. It was Sheriff Carroll. Nuding grabbed his props, got out of the car, and stretched.
“Morning, Sheriff.”
“Morning. How’s it goin’?”
Nuding laughed. “Boring. Tornado season is about over. Another month will wind up my work here unless the bureau calls me in early.” He shifted an instrument gauge and a chart clipped to a board to his other hand.
“We don’t get much cold weather here until January. Out in the panhandle a northerner blows in once in a while.”
“It’s getting easier to predict them. Gives a fellow a little time to prepare.”
“Where did you say you were from?”
“Louisiana.”
“I was thinking you were from Texas. I don’t know where I got that idea.” Sheriff Carroll scratched his gray head.
“I may have said that. I guess I thought you meant where did I come from before I came here.”
“Well, no matter. Hear that you’re out at the old Clifton place.”
“Yeah. A friend of my boss bought it. I’m staying there until a crew shows up to work on it.”
“Kind of spooky, isn’t it?”
Nuding laughed. “I haven’t seen a ghost yet.”
“I hope your luck holds. They say old lady Clifton is hovering around out there. I’d better get on down the road.” The sheriff started his car.
“Thanks for stopping, Sheriff. It can get pretty boring sitting out here.”
“See ya.” The sheriff put his fingers to the brim of his hat in a gesture of farewell. A cloud of dust followed the car as he drove away.
“And I’ll see you, if you get too nosy,” Nuding muttered on his way back to his car.
At the filling station, Eddie found a pinhole leak in Kathleen’s tire, patched it, and put the tire back on the car. He also replaced the valve, which he thought could be an other source of the leak.
“Johnny told me to let him know as soon as I got a shipment of new tires and to hold one for him.”
“This old car isn’t worth a lot. I don’t want to put much money in it. By this time next year, new ones will be coming out, and I may be able to get a good used one.”
“Used cars will be pretty well worn-out after being used all during the war.”
“I’ll just have to take a chance. I won’t be able to afford a new one.”
When she left the station, Kathleen stopped at the grocery store and bought a few things, then parked HI front of the Gazette. She went into the office to wait for the bus that would be bringing Henry Ann.
Chapter Sixteen
Henry Ann Dolan was a strikingly pretty woman with rich brown hair, heavy brows, and soft brown eyes. But it was her smile, revealing an inner beauty, that drew people to her. Not quite so slender as she had been thirteen years ago when she met and married Tom Dolan, Henry Ann had thickened slightly at the waist, and her breasts had rounded after three children. Still, she looked younger than her thirty-seven years.
Kathleen introduced her to Adelaide and Paul before bringing her home where they would wait for Johnny. She carried Henry Ann’s suitcase to the small back room she had made as pleasant as possible on such short notice. Then she headed for the kitchen.
“The towels in the bathroom with the crocheted edges are yours. I’ll fix us some tea while you get settled in,” Kathleen called. “Would you rather have iced or hot?”
“Iced, if you don’t mind.”
Kathleen was a little nervous, aware that Henry Ann was curious as to why she was living here instead of out at the ranch with Johnny. Evidently Johnny hadn’t told her about the separation.
“Oh, dear. I miss Tom and the kids already. This is the first time I’ve been away from them for any length of time.” Henry Ann came in and sat down at the kitchen table.
“I bet they miss you, too.” Kathleen dropped the chipped ice into the glasses and filled them from a pitcher of tea.
“I’m eager to see Johnny. He has called several times, but I’ve not seen him since he came home.”
“He looks the same, just thinner and, of course, a little older. When he first got here, his hair was short, and he was b
rown as a berry. His hair has grown out now, and he looks more like his old self.”
“I’ve not seen Isabel since she was fourteen. My, but she was a handful. I had no choice but to send her to the orphanage in the city. I’m sure she hates me for it.”
“She had been out at the ranch for more than a week before I knew she was there. According to Johnny, Pete talked her into going to the clinic. She didn’t want to be treated by Dr. Perry, but Pete promised to take her to a honky-tonk if the doctor gave his permission. Of course, he knew that wasn’t going to happen.”
“Have you seen Isabel?”
“I’ve never met her. Johnny didn’t seem to want me to.”
Henry Ann’s expression showed her concern. “Kathleen, don’t think I’m being nosy, but—there seems to be something wrong between you and Johnny.”
Kathleen looked away for a moment, trying to blink the tears from her eyes before she answered.
“It depends on the viewpoint, I guess. Johnny thinks it right to be separated from me, and I think it’s wrong.”
“You love him?”
“I love him—and will always love him.”
“He loved you when you first married. I’ve never seen him so happy. When he gave his heart, I was sure it was for keeps.”
“We had two and a half wonderful years. Then he joined the Seabees, and I never heard one word from him while he was gone that four and a half years.”
“I can’t believe that—of him.”
Kathleen said quickly, “Please don’t mention to him that I said that.”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“I don’t know if I should. You’re his sister. He loves you more than anyone in the world.” Kathleen picked up the hem of her skirt and dried her eyes.
“Along with you—”
“No. No, I don’t think he loves me. Sometimes I’m sure of that. I feel kind of disloyal talking about him to you.”
“Then don’t. I know he was hurt when you lost your little girl.”
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