“Aren’t you going to take a bite?” Alan’s voice broke into her reverie.
Only then did she realize she was holding a plate with a piece of cake.
“Delicious,” she said after tasting it.
Alan looked at her strangely. “Are you all right? You seem distracted.”
“I’m fine, just a bit tired from the drive and not sleeping very well last night.”
“Maybe you’d like to go upstairs and lie down? I’m going to take Sophie up to her room soon, anyway. ”
“I’m okay.”
A half hour later, Alan carried Sophie upstairs and the guests began to disperse. Eventually only Kathryn and Nurse Cindy remained. They stood in the front hall with Alan. Kathryn glanced at her watch. Five-thirty. If she left now . . .
“. . . such a brave little girl,” Cindy was saying.
“She was lucky to have you as a nurse,” Alan said. Cindy smiled, and bidding them both good-bye, she left.
“I should be going, too,” Kathryn said abruptly.
Alan stared at her, aghast. “I thought you were staying for the weekend.”
“I know and I’m sorry about the last-minute change in plans. But I need to return to New Nottingham tonight.” She got her coat from the hall closet.
“Whatever for?”
“They’re holding a benefit for Garth Barker.”
“The guy who tried to run us off the road?” Alan’s face registered anger and surprise. Even so, he held her coat for her. As she was slipping her arms into the sleeves, one elbow banged into the hall table. The pot with the African violet Cindy had placed there teetered and almost fell. She caught it just in time.
“Yes. It’s to raise money for an operation to restore the sight in one eye, and I . . . well, I just feel I ought to at least make an appearance. I’ll call you.” Giving him a quick kiss, she hurried from the house.
As she was about to open the car door, she realized she was still holding the pot. Should she return it? Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Alan standing in the doorway with a stunned expression. If she went back now, she’d have to do more explaining and he might try to persuade her to stay. Better just to leave. She got in the car and drove away before she could change her mind.
Chapter 34
Cars and pickups jammed the parking lot of The White Stag and formed long lines on either side of the road when Kathryn arrived later that evening. Inside, the Christmas lights on the trap chandelier blinked on a crush of people, turning their heads blue, green, yellow and red. She stood in the doorway, feeling out of place and almost wishing she hadn’t come.
People pressed behind her, pushing her into the room and up against a long table where the auction items were on display, along with bidding sheets. She glanced at a sheet. Gordon had donated a week at his house in Provence, valued at $10,000. The wonder was that he’d contributed anything at all, though perhaps it was his way of keeping on the good side of the locals, none of whom had bid on the house, anyway.
There were lots of bids on Millie’s offer of a week of home-cooked dinners for a family of four. And on Earl’s offer of a week’s excavating work. She wondered if her donation, the book of Civil War photographs and prints, had generated any interest. To her amazement, she saw that Earl had bid seventy-five dollars. She picked up the sheet and squinted at it, just to be sure.
A man walked out of the restroom, just beyond the table. Head bent, he was checking his fly. Earl. The sheet fluttered from her hand, landing at his feet. He picked it up, saw her, and did an immediate double-take.
“I didn’t know you were interested in the Civil War,” she blurted.
“Oh, that.” He colored beneath his tan. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Thought you had a party in Boston.”
“I did, but it ended early, so I decided to come back for the benefit.”
“I’m glad.” A smile spread over his face, as he gave her the once-over, his gaze taking in the mauve silk blouse and brown suede mini skirt she’d worn to Alan’s and then her legs in their black-patterned stockings.
“You look nice . . . Star,” he added, lowering his voice and moving closer.
“Thank you.”
A band began to play. Earl said something, but the noise drowned out his words.
“What?”
“I said, ‘Would you like to dance?’ ” He held out his hands.
“Well, I . . .”
Just then, a man who looked very much like Earl, but was neither as tall nor as handsome, came up and spoke in his ear. “My brother Wayne reminded me I promised Em the first dance. Looks like she’s going to hold me to it, too.” He pointed across the room to where Emily sat.
In her green dress and green-feathered hat, one hand waving emphatically at Earl, she resembled an impatient parrot. Beside Emily, Sis looked sullen, holding her pregnancy in her lap like a beach ball. On the other side, Garth slouched in his seat, dark glasses hiding his sightless eyes and a beer can concealing all but the corners of his mouth. If he’d been a different sort of person, she might have pitied him. Instead, she felt relief that, blinded, he couldn’t harm her or his wife, Cheryl, who sat next to him, staring stoically into the press of people. Again, she reminded Kathryn of a child crusader girding for battle.
“Don’t go away now,” Earl said as he started toward Emily.
Couples swirled past. Millie was dancing with Norm St. Clair, Gordon with Brandy. Millie laughed and shook her head at something Norm said. Seeing Kathryn, she flashed her a puzzled look. Gordon and Brandy were having a serious conversation. Perhaps it had to do with the prospects of selling the house.
Earl and Emily came into view and Kathryn stopped noticing the others. Emily was much older than Earl, but she seemed a mere slip of a girl beside him. He bent over her, one arm crooked around her waist, the other extended like a tree branch into the vine-curl of her fingers. He guided her carefully around the floor, shortening his strides to match hers and keeping a distance from the other couples, as if he feared the slightest jolt would break her brittle bones. She beamed up at him and he smiled down at her. They had the same faded blue eyes, were related in some way. But the how of it no longer mattered. All that mattered was watching them dance.
When the band switched to a fast dance, Earl brought Emily back to her seat and rejoined Kathryn. “I liked how you danced with Emily,” she said.
He grinned. “Ready for a turn yourself?”
Before she could answer, he took her in his arms. The dance was a swing number. She knew the steps but had never mastered the twirl part. When he swung her away from him, she bumped into another couple. When he tried to spin her back, she got them hopelessly tangled. “I can’t do this.”
“Sure, you can. We’ll go where there aren’t so many people, and I’ll take you slowly through it.” He led her to a corner of the room and walked her patiently through a successful twirl. But when he tried to speed up the pace, she became flustered and crashed into a table behind them.
“Watch it!” A man at the table barked. “Spilled my beer.”
She apologized then turned back to Earl. “This isn’t going to work. You’ll have to find another partner.”
“No. Wait here.” He walked over to the band and said something to the lead electric guitarist. The music changed to an Elvis song, “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Earl guided her away from the corner, stopping under the trap chandelier. The lights flashed on his rugged features: blue, green, yellow, red. One hand rested lightly on the small of her back, the other clasped her fingers, their arms outstretched as if they held the neck of a large stringed instrument between them. Then, with a slow deliberateness, he drew her close, folding her arm against his chest and pressing her hand to his heart. She nestled her head in the curve of his neck and shoulder, closing her eyes while he crooned in her ear.
They swayed to t
he music like willows in the wind. He slid his arm out from between them and hugged her to him. Her arms encircled him. Each time he squeezed her, she squeezed back. They were pressed so close she could feel the buttons in his shirt, his belt buckle and the hardness below. She’d never been in a clinch like this before. She could have swooned with pure joy.
Someone tapped on her shoulder, gently at first, then more firmly. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. Millie stood beside her. Smiling but with a hint of something else in her expression. “You don’t mind if I dance with my ex, do you?”
“Of course not.” She released her hold on Earl with a stab of regret. He opened his eyes and stared at her, confused, until he saw Millie.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you promised me a dance also,” she said.
“I did?” Earl looked dazed, as if he, too, was coming out of a near swoon.
“Yup.” Millie took him by the arm and assumed dance position. After some hesitation on Earl’s part, they began to move with the music. Kathryn stumbled to the sidelines where Norm St. Clair stood laughing and shaking his head.
“What’s so funny?” she asked irritably.
“Millie.” He chuckled. “Married to Earl for over twenty years, divorced for six, and you’d think she’d be over him by now. But when she saw the two of you dancing, she couldn’t get there fast enough to break it up. Know what she reminds me of?”
“What?”
“A hummingbird.”
“A hummingbird?”
“Uh-huh. Got ’em at the Cobble. Come for the columbine. In June, the hillside’s covered with ’em. Everyone thinks they’re such pretty little things, but when they’re competing for nectar from those blossoms, things can get downright nasty.”
“That doesn’t sound like Millie. All she did was claim a dance Earl promised her.”
Norm shrugged. “Speaking of critters, did you tell Earl I have a bone to pick with him?”
“No, you never said what it was.”
“He borrowed the stuffed rattler we got in the visitor center at the Cobble a while ago, and still hasn’t returned it. I want it back.”
So Earl had put the stuffed rattler on the stairs. She might have known, given his family’s history of snake handling. He’d wanted to scare her away. But that was then. Things were different now. Or were they? A door creaked open in her mind. A door she’d tried to keep shut. It was barely cracked, but that was enough for the smallest of doubts to creep in. And once inside, the doubts multiplied.
I warned you, she imagined her grandmother saying. But you didn’t listen. He’s played you for a fool. He knew the rattlesnakes would be out when he took you to that hilltop cemetery.
He rescued me.
He only did that to gain your trust, get you to confide in him. And it worked. You revealed your worst secret. And just now on the dance floor—
No!
“Earth to Kathryn,” Norm’s voice replaced the one in her head. “Listen up.” He leaned in and leered at her. “You get tired of Earl, come to me. I can give it to you as good as he does—better!”
She was appalled. “What makes you think . . . ?”
“I got eyes. I saw how you two were dancing.”
“That was—”
“Didn’t believe him at first when he said you were hot. But now—”
“When did he say that?”
“Ever hear of the locker room? Men talk about these things, you know. And Earl’s a great one for bragging about his conquests.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out, and she wasn’t sure Norm would have believed her, anyway. “Better round up Brandy now,” he said. “Been with that Farley fellow too long. Don’t forget what I said about you and me getting it on.”
He ambled off, leaving her caught in a whirlwind of emotions. Shame. Humiliation. But most of all, fury at Earl. If Norm was a sleaze, Earl was a hundred times worse. Twisting what was still tentative and awkward into a tawdry affair. And tricking her into making a fool of herself on the dance floor, so anyone watching them would believe they really were lovers.
Anger built within her to a dangerous degree. She knew she should control herself, cool off somehow. But when Earl caught her eye and grinned, as he glided past with Millie, it was more than she could take. She scowled back. Earl left Millie and hurried over. “Why the dirty look, Star?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“I thought you liked it.”
“I don’t like it—any of it!” She gestured at the dance floor.
He looked bewildered. “But just a moment ago, you—”
“Norm told me what you’ve been saying about me in the locker room.”
“The locker room?”
“You know perfectly well what I’m talking about.”
“No, I don’t.”
Around them, couples had stopped dancing to stare. She hated scenes and now she was in the midst of one, making an even bigger fool of herself.
“It’s not worth repeating.” She turned to go.
Earl caught her by the arm. “Star, please. If I don’t know what I’m being accused of, how can I defend myself?”
She twisted in his grasp, but he held firm. “Leave her alone.” Gordon loomed blimp-like beside them.
“Keep out of this,” Earl shot back.
“She doesn’t want your attentions,” Gordon sneered. “Or is your hillbilly head too thick to realize that? Just because you screwed my wife doesn’t mean you can screw every woman who lives in my house.”
Earl flushed a deep scarlet. His eyes were like ice. He reached behind him as if to get something. The blow caught Gordon on the jaw and sent him crashing to the floor. “Earl!” Millie shrieked. Wayne and Lucas Rogers grabbed and held him. Millie knelt beside Gordon. “Are you all right?”
Gordon started to get up, groaned and collapsed like a prizefighter down for the count. Hank Lapsley hurried over and together he and Millie helped Gordon lever himself up. Gordon swiped at his bleeding lip and spat, leaving a small red pool just short of Earl’s boots. Earl strained in his brother and Rogers’ grip. Emily pushed through the crowd. “Hit ’im again, Earl, hit ’im again!” she cried, shadowboxing the air with tiny, liver-spotted fists.
“Stop it, Emily!” Millie commanded. Emily went on punching the air until Lapsley thrust himself between her and Gordon. “Now, Em, this ain’t the time for more fighting. We’re supposed to be raising money to help Garth. ’Member, everyone?” His gaze swept the room.
Brandy stepped forward with a towel and a plastic bag filled with ice. “I’ll help you get cleaned up,” she told Gordon. He let her guide him to the restroom.
Wayne and Rogers released Earl. For an instant, he looked like he’d go after Gordon. Apparently thinking better of it, he turned to Kathryn. “Star?”
The hurt and confusion in his voice made her wonder if she’d been wrong to listen to her grandmother. Her grandmother who always believed the worst of people. Men especially. Wrong also to listen to Norm. He could have lied to her about Earl for reasons of his own. At the very least, she should have given Earl a chance to defend himself before rushing to judgment.
“Earl, I—” she began.
“What the fuck’s going on? Where is everybody?” Garth roared. He blundered across the room, clawing the air.
Earl sighed and went over to him. “Just a little trouble in the school yard,” he said. “But everything’s okay now.” He steered Garth to the bar, where Rogers was again tending to thirsty customers.
Kathryn wavered. She could still go to him. Go and apologize for letting her temper get the better of her. But seeing Earl surrounded by the crowd at the bar, she decided the moment for this had passed. For the second time that day, she left before she could change her mind.
Chapter 35
Garth waited until he
heard Cheryl and Derek leave the cabin and Sis close the bathroom door. Now was his chance. He rose from the chair and started groping his way toward the shelf where his gun case was. He tripped on a hard object and nearly fell, arms flailing as he steadied himself. Little fucker Derek must’ve left one of his toy trucks lying around. He hoped Sis didn’t hear the noise.
Sneaking around in his own house—how could he have sunk so low? He inched forward, hands reaching out until his fingers closed on the metal edge of the gun case. He scrabbled in his pants pocket for the key. Had a moment’s panic when he couldn’t find it. But it was there, lodged in a deep fold.
Was a time he hadn’t bothered with locks and keys, kept his gun where he could grab it in an instant. Asking for trouble, his dad and brothers said. But why have a weapon if it wasn’t handy? Then the bitch Diana got herself killed with it. “You don’t put that under lock and key, I’m gonna use it on you,” Earl warned.
He’d learned the hard way not to argue when Earl got that look in his eyes. The snake-about-to-strike look, their mother called it. Pain in the arse, having to unlock the case every time he wanted his gun. He’d taken to wearing the key on a chain around his neck. But while he was in the hospital, key and chain disappeared. Put it away in a safe place, his bitch-wife told him in a snotty voice she wouldn’t have dared use before the accident. Lost his sight but not his balls. Little piss-ant Derek got the key fast when Daddy threatened to beat the shit out of him.
Garth scraped the key along the metal surface of the case, searching for the lock. He found it, but in his excitement, the key slipped from his fingers and clinked to the ground. Godammit to hell! He felt like pounding his head against the wall like when he was a youngster having one of his fits. They’d had to restrain him to keep him from hurting himself. He wrapped his arms around himself, digging his nails into his shirtsleeves, until the urge passed.
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