Seasons of Her Life

by Fern Michaels

  Ruby threw Andrew Blue’s letters across the room and pushed the stack of library books to the floor.

  In a flash she was off the bed and rummaging in her bottom dresser, where she kept her mementos of Calvin. In a minute she had the cards, notes, and pictures in the wastepaper basket. So little to show for such an intense relationship.

  Dry-eyed, Ruby carried out the trash for a second time that evening. “Now you’re dead, Calvin,” Ruby muttered as she fit the colorful lid back on the trash can. “You’re really dead!”

  Back in her room, Ruby sat down and wrote a cheerful letter to Andrew Blue, so unlike her cut-and-dried polite previous responses.

  When she read the letter over before sealing the envelope, she added a postscript saying that she was looking forward to his visit and would plan something for the weekend. Not sex, she added in a second postscript. She mailed the letter on her way to work the following morning.

  After work Ruby met Rena and Hal Murdock on the corner of 31st and P streets. Hal, Ruby decided ten minutes later, was the closest thing to a greased pig she’d ever seen. He talked out of the side of his mouth in a language Ruby didn’t understand even though she knew he was speaking English. She didn’t like him, and what surprised her even more was that Rena didn’t seem to like him, either. Obviously, Rena had read the same library book she had, the one that said it isn’t necessary to like one’s real estate agent as long as he gets his customer a good deal.

  An hour later Ruby had seen Hal’s two offerings, one a three-bedroom house on O Street with a finished basement and a walled-in courtyard. The second house was a building on Poplar Street that had been converted into a two-family house. Ruby’s eyes sparkled, as did Rena’s, when she thought about the rent she could charge. Hal’s eyes gleamed and his capped teeth sparkled like a barracuda’s.

  Back in Hal’s office, which was little more than a dingy storefront, Ruby looked at the sheaf of papers she was handed and told to read over. She looked helplessly at Rena.

  “Tomorrow will be soon enough. We must look these over and have Miss Connors’s attorney scrutinize them. Not that you would ever do anything wrong. A precaution, you understand.”

  Hal said he did, but he seemed jittery to Ruby, and that made her suspicious.

  “You might as well tell me now what’s wrong with the house on Poplar Street,” Ruby said. “That’s the one you whisked us out of so quickly. And you didn’t have the key to the basement. I find that rather strange.”

  “The basement floods when it rains,” Hal said out of the corner of his mouth. “I don’t have a key. There’s water damage.”

  “Then the price should reflect what it’s going to cost for repairs, assuming I intend to buy,” Ruby said. “Why don’t you talk to both owners tomorrow and see if you can’t come up with a more reasonable price. If we can’t come to terms on Poplar Street, then I won’t be wanting the other one on O Street. Tomorrow we can ... huddle, here at your office. Same time. Thank you for showing us around.”

  On the trolley Rena looked at Ruby and laughed. “Huddle? What does that mean? Where did you learn to be so ... forceful? I think, Ruby, you are going to get the houses at a lot less than we anticipated. Your offer is low, but sound. I was so green when we bought our first one. We actually paid the asking price. I’ll never do that again. All you need is a sump pump, and Bruno can do that for you—for a small fee. I’m thrilled for you, Ruby. It’s wonderful to be a property owner, but also a little work. We will make a notation, in small print, on the rental lease that the tenants are responsible for everything.”

  Ruby gaped. “Everything?”

  “Everything.” Rena was as smug as a cat catching her first mouse. “Ah, I see you didn’t read the lease you signed. You must make that a rule in life, Ruby, never sign your name to anything you disagree with or don’t understand. Always have a good attorney in the background, even if it costs more than you want to pay. In order to make money, you must spend money ... wisely and with a clear head.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Ruby muttered, wondering what else was in the lease she hadn’t bothered to read.

  In the days to come, Ruby alternated between fits of elation and spasms of depression, which led to bouts of abject fear. Her sleep was invaded by demons named Hal, Rena, and Bruno. Was she doing the right thing? After she had asked herself for the hundredth time if her grandmother would approve of what she was doing with her inheritance, she finally decided to go through with the real estate deal. She would certainly be no poorer, and if things got sticky or messy, she would sell the czarina’s ring and hope for the best.

  Yesterday, after work, during a raging thunderstorm, she’d signed on the proverbial dotted line. Acceptance of her final offer was just a formality, Hal said. She was putting a thousand dollars down on each house, and if the bank approved her mortgage application at four percent, she would be an official property owner in forty-five days. She’d done her best to estimate hidden costs, Rena’s fees, and closing costs. If she was lucky, she’d squeak by without touching her two-hundred-thirty-three-dollar savings account.

  Two days ago, when it looked as if the sales would go through, Ruby posted a notice on the bulletin board at work. So far this evening she’d had eight calls from parties interested in renting. She’d probably get another dozen before the week was over. What she had to concern herself with now was Rena’s nickel-and-diming her to death.

  She was uneasy, but in her gut Ruby knew the tension she was feeling had little to do with her property. Andrew Blue would arrive tomorrow. Or was it tonight? She couldn’t remember exactly. All she knew was she had a date for brunch tomorrow with the handsome marine, and she wasn’t sure how she really felt about Andrew Blue now that she’d officially pronounced Calvin Santos dead. “Be up, Ruby, act positive, give Andrew a fair chance. You’re twenty-one now, time to get your personal life in order. Time to think about not becoming an old maid.” Andrew had hung in there for two years, and so had she. That had to mean something. Especially now that she had finally put Calvin completely in the past.

  Today she’d bought a new dress. Consciously or unconsciously, she bought it for Andrew. That was a start in the right direction. Tomorrow she would be cheerful, happy, and accommodating to him. She would tell him she was happy to see him, delighted to be in his company and she would let him know she was amenable to seeing him more often. And from now on she would change the tone of her letters. As of tomorrow she and Andrew would be what the girls in the house called a thing. She was settling, something she promised herself she would never do, but time and life didn’t stand still for a Calvin Santos and a Ruby Connors.

  Ruby cried herself to sleep.

  Andrew Blue spat on the rag in his hand and applied it to the already-high shine on his shoes. He was so clean, neat, and pressed that his appearance screamed Marine Corps. Spit and polish, piss and vinegar, and damn proud of it.

  He was ready for his date with Ruby Connors. She was the one thing he hadn’t come to terms with since his transfer to Camp Lejune. He’d used leave time to come to Washington at his own expense to see her. For the life of him, he could never explain to himself why he had kept up his correspondence with her. At one point he’d actually thought he was in love with her, but he wasn’t. He did feel something, though. Otherwise, why would he have kept writing to her every ten days? And what the hell did she write back? Words, just goddamn words with no meaning. The sun is shining ... Admiral Query said this or that ... my landlady got another diamond today ... there’s a storm due tomorrow ... bullshit. He wanted more, something personal.

  Ruby was still a hick from the sticks, but the last time he’d seen her, he’d been surprised at her appearance. She’d always been exceptionally neat and clean, but she was now dressed better; she’d put on a few pounds in all the right places, and she had a new hairstyle that was very becoming. She even wore earrings, little gold things that kind of swung from her ears. As they said in the Corps, Ruby was put togethe
r. He approved and he was not unaware of the stares he received from other guys when she was with him. She still wasn’t beautiful, but there was something about Ruby ... he wanted her ... had never stopped wanting her.

  Maybe this trip would be different. The tone of her last letter had left him puzzled. If was almost as if someone else had written it. He remembered laughing over several lines. Maybe the little hick was finally over the flip and that business with her bastard father. Now, that was something. He wanted to know more about that day, but Ruby refused to offer explanations, and finally he had to accept that he would probably never know what was behind that visit from her father.

  His return to Washington this weekend was not strictly to see Ruby. It was the first step in a campaign. If, his colonel told him, he were married, he had a good chance of moving up in rank, so long as he played ball and kept his nose clean. For “favors rendered,” he would be grateful enough to pass along Andrew’s name with his own personal recommendation. He had enough ears at his disposal to make good on his promise.

  Andrew’s stomach churned when he thought about the “favors rendered” part of the deal. If caught, his ass would be out of the Corps, and he’d get a dishonorable discharge. Whoever would have thought a colonel in the Corps on his way to being a brigadier general would have a passion for nubile young girls? Andrew had been revolted, but in true Corps fashion had kept his mouth shut. If he wanted to be honest with himself, he knew the main reason he hadn’t turned his back on the colonel was that he would move up in rank that much faster. In the military, one hand washed the other. Everything was politics, playing the game to win.

  Still, Andrew hated what he was doing for his colonel. This move and promotion, if it ever materialized, would get him out of the colonel’s clutches. He had to make it work, had to zero in on Ruby and go on from there.

  On his way from Quantico, in a friend’s car that he’d managed to appropriate with an appropriate line of bullshit, he wondered what Ruby would say if she knew how he was advancing his career. He also wondered if she would be impressed with his speedy promotion to captain in a year or so. It wasn’t till he drove across the 14th Street Bridge that he admitted to himself that no matter what he did, he would never impress Ruby Connors. He wondered why that was.

  He should have made some lasting friendships in the Corps by now, but he hadn’t. He could go to the Officers’ Club with the guys, have a drink or a beer, but it never went beyond that. He was a loner. Ruby could change that. Ruby would make friends with other officers’ wives and they’d cultivate a circle of friends that would make him appear stable. Marriage. Andrew snorted derisively. A kid would clinch everything. A big step, but he was ready for it. His career demanded it. If Ruby would just cooperate, they could be married by the end of the year and get a good tax deduction. Thanksgiving or Christmas. For sure, he’d never be able to forget an anniversary.

  Andrew tooled along, enjoying the major’s car. Marriage would necessitate a vehicle of some kind, a clunker, a rattletrap, something for Ruby to drive. Of course, Ruby didn’t know how to drive, which meant he’d have to teach her.

  Jesus! He was acting and thinking as if marriage were in the works. Ruby could still dash it all with one word. No!

  He turned onto Monroe, and his bright blue eyes, behind dark glasses, searched for house numbers. He saw her the same moment he saw the brass numerals attached to the white column atop the banister. She was rocking in a wicker chair and wore the same kind of sunglasses he wore. A chill washed over him. His hands grew sweaty on the steering wheel. This was the way Ruby would look when she got old. She’d sit placidly and rock in a chair on the front porch. His mouth suddenly went dry, and it became hard to swallow. How badly do you want to be a captain and how bad do you want to get away from Colonel Lackland? “Damn bad,” he mumbled as he pulled the car to the curb.

  The moment Andrew reached the rocking chair, he lifted Ruby bodily out of it. “Don’t ever let me see you rocking in a chair again until you’re ninety-three years old.” He smiled, but there was no humor in his voice.

  Ruby laughed. “It’s so nice to see you again, Andrew. I’ve been looking forward to your visit. How long will you be here?”

  Andrew sucked in his breath. Nice to see me? he thought. This was a new Ruby, a very new Ruby. “Till eleven o’clock Sunday night. If you’re amenable and don’t have anything else to do, we can cover a lot of ground between now and then. Sixty dollars’ worth.” He grinned. “I’ve been saving up to show you a good time.” Actually he’d won forty-six dollars in a crap game two days before. As far as lies went, it was a small one; he had saved the money for two days.

  “Where did you get the car?” Ruby asked happily. She was almost giddy as she settled herself.

  Andrew threw back his head and laughed. “There’s a long story to how I got this car, and I’m not sure I won’t end up in the stockade when I return it. It belongs to a major at Quantico. I wanted this weekend to be special, so I sort of ... what I did was ... hell, I stole it, is what it boils down to. I did fill out some papers ... maybe they’ll pass muster if the major doesn’t have anything to do this weekend. On the other hand, if he, too, had some kind of date planned, it’s safe to say my ass is grass. Let’s not think about it.”

  Ruby giggled. “I’ve never been in jail before.”

  “Me, either.” Andrew grinned.

  Fourteen hours later, Andrew steered the Nash to the curb outside the house on Monroe Street.

  “I had a great time, Ruby,” Andrew said softly as he leaned closer to her. He’d expected her to move away, but she didn’t. He was puzzled at the change in Ruby.

  “I did, too, Andrew. You can be a lot of fun when you aren’t being overbearing and pushy. Don’t go getting any ideas now, either. But if you want to kiss me good night, that’s okay.”

  “Who said I wanted to kiss you?” Andrew teased.

  Six months ago Ruby would have been flustered by the remark. Now all she did was shrug. “Your loss, Lieutenant,” she said airily as she made a move to get out of the car.

  “Hey, hold on here,” Andrew drawled. “I always walk my dates to the door, and that’s where I kiss them. I don’t mess around in car seats. When are you going to get it through your head that I’m not the kind of guy you think I am?”

  Ruby smiled in the darkness. “Right now, Andrew,” she said, leaning over and kissing him full on the mouth. She was out of the car in a flash and halfway up the steps before Andrew stopped groaning. He tried to flatten his instant erection. His long legs propelled him up the steps, where he caught Ruby by the door. “You’re a tease, Ruby,” he said irritably.

  Ruby threw up her hands. “I don’t understand, Andrew. Do you want to kiss me or not?”

  “Goddammit, Ruby, for two years you’ve held me at arm’s length, and now all of a sudden you’re giving off signals.”

  “Oh, shut up, Andrew, and kiss me good night!” Ruby ordered. He did and Ruby swayed. She told him she wanted to kiss him again.

  Something surged in Andrew, but he pushed her away. “Not on your life, Ruby. First thing you know you’ll have me on that rocking chair and you’ll be on my lap and then ... oh, no. I’m leaving you here safe and sound, the way my mother taught me to do. I have to hit the road. I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early. Get yourself all Mickey Madooded, and we’ll go on from there.”

  “Huh? What’s Mickey Madooded?”

  “An old Indiana saying. Get dressed up, spiffed up, you know . . .” he said, taking the steps two at a time. “See you tomorrow.”

  Mickey Madooded! Ruby giggled all the way up the steps to her apartment.

  At six o’clock the following evening, over a candlelight dinner that he had just enough money to pay for, Andrew asked Ruby to marry him. Ruby didn’t blink, didn’t simper, didn’t look away or pretend to be flustered. She thought about how much fun they’d had the day before. She thought about how good it felt to have someone. She thought about how satisfying
it was not to think about Calvin. She looked at Andrew across the tip of the candle flame and said in a normal-sounding voice, “It sounds like a good idea.”

  “Huh? Does ... does that mean yes?”

  Ruby nodded.

  Andrew looked like he’d been kicked in the gut, but he still smiled.

  She smiled back. He looked ill. She felt ill. She wanted to run screaming from the restaurant.

  “When?” she asked in a matter-of-fact voice.

  Andrew shrugged. “Isn’t it up to the girl?” he said in an identical-sounding matter-of-fact voice.

  It was Ruby’s turn to shrug. “I don’t have anyone to invite except my roommates and landlords.”

  “I don’t know anyone here anymore. Why don’t I leave all that up to you? We should do it before the end of the year, though. Is that okay?”

  “Sure.” Anytime before the end of the year meant she could settle on the two houses and make arrangements for Rena to take over as manager. Forty-five days till she closed. A few days to get her clothes together and give Rena notice. Time to give the girls a chance to find a new roommate.

  “Where will we live?”

  “I’m waiting for orders. Don’t worry, I’ll see to housing wherever I land. Military housing isn’t the greatest, but it will do for now. I have some money saved, not much, but it will see us through. If we get married by a justice of the peace, we can save on a wedding. We can honeymoon for a weekend and go away somewhere later. I guess we’ll need money for furniture, that kind of thing.” Ruby nodded. “Do you mind not having an engagement ring?” Ruby shook her head. “I’ll get you one later,” he promised. Two years ago he could have won all kinds of diamond rings from busted romances in a crap game. Now the girls were getting smarter; they kept their rings. He hadn’t seen one in the pot for a very long time.