Dixie Virgin Chronicles: Catherine (Book 7)

by Webb, Peggy

  I’m hoping time will heal that wound – and that Mother will not tell Billy Joe how to contact me. I never told her what he did, but when I changed all my contact info, I made her swear on a stack of Bibles she’d never tell him. Fingers crossed, she keeps her word!

  Cat

  From: Bea

  To: Catherine, Molly, Janet, Belinda, Joanna, Clemmie

  Re: Your friend, the clown

  Cat, maybe you ought to ask your friend, the clown, to stay with you for a little while. Didn’t you say Mickey was a nice, fatherly little man? I can’t imagine Billy Joe would do something crazy after all these years. I thought he gave up after campus security threatened to have him jailed. But you never know about obsession! I’d feel better if you’re not by yourself!

  And do tell more about Tyler West! He sounds like a man with the potential to be Mr. Right!

  Molly, I took your advice and shamelessly vamped my husband. It took his mind completely off having a baby, but it got his libido so revved up, I never know where or when he’s going to whisk me away. We almost got caught in the orange grove in broad daylight! Oh, it was wickedly delicious!

  Bea

  From: Belinda

  To: Joanna, Catherine, Molly, Bea, Janet, Clemmie

  Re: Water broke

  Oh lordy, Cat! I hope that awful man is not going to bother you again after all these years! Equalize the playing field. Get a baseball bat and put it by your bed. I’ve never seen a little bitty Southern belle turn so formidable when she gets her dander up!

  Oh, my gosh, I thought my water broke the other night, but it turned out to be lemonade on the sofa! Mark and Betsy had been playing in the house because of the rain, and she’d spilled her drink and then tried to clean it up without telling anybody!

  Belinda

  From: Molly

  To: Catherine, Janet, Bea, Clemmie, Joanna, Belinda

  Re: Private eye

  Cat, hire a private eye to find out what Billy Joe Wainwright is up to. I’ll ask Daddy if he knows any good ones. He has contacts everywhere!

  He and Glory Ethel are so happy! Seeing the two of them together is an eye-opener. Boy, was I wrong when I thought your libido died when you turned forty! I wonder if Daddy’s taking Viagra.

  Molly

  From: Bea

  To: Molly, Catherine, Janet, Clemmie, Joanna, Belinda

  Re: Glory Ethel

  Molly, that’s more information that I wanted to know about Mother and Jedidiah! I prefer to think I was born by immaculate conception!

  Bea

  From: Joanna

  To: Catherine, Clemmie, Bea, Janet, Molly, Belinda

  Re: Geriatric love

  Molly, I think that’s SO CUTE! It gives me hope that Kirk will still be chasing me all over the house when we’re both in Depends and on walkers! What fun!

  He’s still holding out for waiting a few years before starting a family, and I’m still trying to wear him down. I haven’t punched a hole in his condoms yet, but I’m TEMPTED!!! BIG SIGH!!! I want to be PREGNANT!!!

  Cat, OH LORD, I agree with Molly about the private dick! And TELL ALL about Tyler West! I looked up his website. He’s a DREAMBOAT!!!

  Joanna

  From: Janet

  To: Catherine, Molly, Joanna, Clemmie, Belinda, Bea

  Re: Protection

  Cat, hire protection! If you need extra cash, I’ll send some.

  Joanna, do not punch holes in Kirk’s condoms!

  Janet

  From: Clemmie

  To: Catherine, Molly, Joanna, Janet, Belinda, Bea

  Re: The Pregnancy Plan

  Well, shoot. My temperature was up because I have a virus. By the time Michael got home, I was stretched out on the silk sheets, all right. But I was aching for aspirin instead of You Know What! Bummer!

  Cat, I like the idea of putting a tail on Billy Joe. (Hollywood has me talking like somebody in a gangster movie. Giggle!)

  Do tell us more about Tyler West. I searched his website, too! This man is talented and really, really good-looking! I like that he’s sweet. Oh, I do hope you don’t let that stupid Billy Joe Wainwright ruin something that could be wonderful for you!

  Clemmie

  Cat powered off her email. Then she picked up the pink teddy bear she’d slept with and had been wagging around all morning, and went into her kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

  “Cat!” Mickey called through the door. “Mail for you.”

  “Coming, Mickey,” she called as she headed for her door.

  He was standing in the early morning sunshine outside her trailer, holding on to a sheaf of letters and smiling.

  “I went early to get the mail and just thought I’d check for you, too.”

  “Thanks, Mickey. I wonder who it could be. Hardly anybody writes letters anymore.”

  “Here you are, doll.” Mickey handed over the fat letter. “Whoever wrote you had lots to say.” He grinned. “Must be a fan. You’re collecting them like bees to a honey pot, you know.”

  Cat then patted the old man on his bony shoulder. “You’re the one with fans.”

  “I’d rather be rich and famous.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.”

  “You’re right. I wouldn’t trade what I have for all the riches in the world.”

  “Won’t you come in for coffee?”

  “Nah! Gotta get back.” He gave Cat a fatherly hug, then went to his own trailer.

  Cat sat on her trailer step in the early morning sun and opened the manila envelope. No sense looking at the postmark. All their mail was forwarded from winter headquarters in Florida by Jean, the efficient and indomitable wife of the owner of the circus.

  Her note fell out.

  Catherine, there is a man who’s been calling for the last three months trying to locate you. Since he would never give his name, I declined to give him the circus itinerary. He insisted this was a very important matter, so I finally told him he could write to you at this address. Hope I did the right thing.

  Hugs, Jean

  Cat reached into the manila envelope and pulled out another one. Bold black handwriting marched in precision across heavy beige bond. Slowly she turned the envelope over. The return address was engraved on the flap.

  Cat looked at the accusing black letters as if they might come to life at any minute and strike her. She sat staring a while at the letter before she opened it.

  Four pages fell out, each one covered with black ink, the letters tightly knit and intertwined.

  My dearest love, the salutation read.

  How like Billy Joe to assume that nothing had changed. Holding his expensive stationery, smelling his scent where his hands had touched the paper, Cat thought for a moment that nothing had. She was once more in the Wainwright mansion, lying on the expensive sofa with her fiancé and wondering if this time he would be the man she’d fallen for or the monster he had become.

  Drawing a deep breath, Cat took courage from her familiar surroundings—the trailers lined up like soldiers, the animal cages holding their sleeping occupants, the flags waving from the Big Top, the faraway silhouette of the Ferris wheel, its empty seats swaying in the early morning breeze. Everything had changed. She lifted her letter and began to read.

  I thought you would come back to me. I thought you needed time to yourself, time to finish your degree and do what you women call “finding” yourselves, and then I thought you would come back to me. I love you. Your leaving didn’t change that. And I know you love me. You are my true love. Giving back my ring didn’t change that. You will always belong to me, Cat.

  She should have known he wouldn’t give up so easily. The Wainwrights never gave up the things that belonged to them—not their money, not their property, nor their women.

  I waited and waited after you graduated from that vet school, he wrote, and finally I decided it was up to me. Your mother told me about the circus. The woman down there in winter headquarters wouldn’t tell me where you were, but that’s all right. We b
elong together. It’s destiny. And it’s only a matter of time. Until I see you again, my dearest love, I’m forever your Billy Joe.

  Cat ripped the letter to shreds, then marched back into her trailer and flushed it down the toilet. The defiant act was a type of psychic separation, but even as the last of Billy Joe Wainwright swirled down the toilet and disappeared, she felt a chill of premonition.

  o0o

  Tyler knew he had missed the sunrise the minute he woke up. He shoved back his tangled covers and stalked to his window where he stood glaring at the morning sun with an accusing eye. How could the sun do that to him? How could it rise before he was ready, before he had his guitar and his tape player and his cowboy boots and his Stetson for good measure? How did it have the audacity to shine on Catherine before he was there to shine with it?

  He said a word that was just too dirty for his books, then stalked into the kitchen and poured himself a big glass of milk. It was all his muse’s fault. She had kept him up till the crack of dawn, whispering in his ear.

  Outside he heard his beagles greeting the morning with joyous barks. The old mockingbird that always pecked a hole in every good apple on his tree, sat on the limb outside his window and scolded him.

  “Okay, I deserve it,” he said. “I should have set my clock.” He drained his milk, then picked up an apple. It was crunchy and good. “All is not lost. It’s too late for me to come up with the sunshine, but I still have the whole day.”

  One glorious day in which to pursue Catherine. “Who knows?” he said as he stepped into his shower, apple and all. “Today might be the day I catch her.”

  Chapter Three

  Catherine was still sitting on her trailer steps in the morning sun clutching when she heard the music. She lifted her head, listening. Somebody was playing an old Roy Rogers cowboy song.

  Catherine began to smile. She hadn’t heard the King of the Cowboys since she was a little girl. Her mother used to pop a DVD into the player every Saturday afternoon to watch an old cowboy movie classic. “Look at that Roy Rogers, Catherine,” she would say. “Now there’s a real man for you, always fighting for what’s right, always protecting the ladies, always a gentleman. My, my. I could just listen to him sing forever. Gives me goose bumps.”

  The cowboy music wafted across the circus grounds, seeming to come closer and closer, and suddenly Tyler West was standing right in front of her, decked out in a white Stetson and expensive cowboy boots with steel toes. He had a guitar slung across his shoulders, and he was sitting atop the handsomest piece of horseflesh Catherine had ever seen.

  “I’d call my horse Trigger, but he’d be insulted.” Smiling, he tipped his hat. “Good morning, Catherine. Did you enjoy your serenade?”

  “Where did you get that beautiful horse?” She stood up and went straight to the horse. Everything about him shouted Thoroughbred. She reached out and touched his velvet muzzle. “He’s gorgeous.”

  Tyler threw back his head and laughed. “I do believe I’ve discovered the way to your heart.”

  “Forget my heart. Just tell me about this animal.”

  “He belongs to me. He’s Man of Steel, named for my most famous book and for his most famous ancestor, Man O’ War. He’s won a string of races a mile long, including last year’s Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby.”

  Catherine was in a new kind of heaven as she circled the beautiful horse. Of all her animal husbandry courses, she had loved the equestrian ones best. She had seen and worked with some fine horses, but never one as magnificent as Man of Steel.

  She forgot everything except the horse. She gave him a thorough inspection, noting the fine musculature, the beautiful lines, the strength and span of his chest. When she had finished she smiled up at Tyler.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you had a horse?”

  “I have a stable of horses. I have cows, too. And pigs and dogs and cats and even an old goat named Marcus.”

  “One of your characters.”

  “Yes.”

  She could tell she had pleased him by the size of his smile. For some reason she was glad. She guessed her softened attitude toward Tyler was due to the horse.

  “I had the devil of time with old Marcus in that book. Like never to have convinced him to behave right. He kept wanting to do things I hadn’t counted on.”

  Tyler kept edging closer to her as he talked. Catherine was not so mesmerized by the horse that she didn’t notice. She also remembered that she was still wearing her robe. Drawing the belt tighter around her waist, she inched away from Tyler. Well,” Catherine said, turning to go, “he’s a very fine animal.”

  “Wait.”

  She didn’t know why she turned back. Perhaps it was because Tyler made the word sound like a polite request rather than a command or maybe it was just because the sun was shining and Tyler had sung old cowboy songs.

  “How would you like to spend the day with this horse?”

  “What?”

  “With the horse.” Tyler grinned. “Naturally I think I’m far more exciting, but since I’ve had such rotten luck with all my previous offers, I thought I’d make an offer you couldn’t resist.”

  “Are you trying to bribe me?”

  “Yes. If charm doesn’t work, try bribery. That’s my motto.”

  “Would I get to ride him?”

  “He would be honored to have such a beautiful woman in his saddle.”

  Cat couldn’t help but laugh.

  “There’ll be conditions,” she finally said.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Maybe.”

  Tyler struck a chord on his guitar and burst into song. If she hadn’t known it was the Roy Rogers “happy trails” song, she would never have guessed by the racket he was making. She didn’t know when she had ever heard a man sing so out of tune. But instead of detracting, his lack of skill made the song so appealing that she found herself laughing again.

  “That bad, huh?” he said, grinning. “I guess I should have stuck to the Roy Rogers tape, but you bring out the singer in me. The more I see of you, the better I’ll get.”

  “First bribery and now...what? Manipulation through guilt? If I don’t see you, your voice will never improve.”

  “Precisely. You’re a bright woman, Catherine DeChello.” He tipped his hat to her. “That’s why Man of Steel is so crazy about you.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Don’t you know about novelists? We talk to the animals. We even hear voices.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” Tyler cocked his head. “Shh. Listen?”

  “What is it?” she whispered, entering into his game with ease.

  “Man of Steel is whispering in my ear.”

  “What’s he saying?”

  “He says, ‘Tell Catherine I think she’s lovely and charming and that I plan to show her a very good time today. And...’“ Tyler paused dramatically.

  Cat decided he was not only a novelist, but also a very good actor. He was the very picture of mischievous innocence as he pretended to be listening to his horse.

  “And?” she prompted, caught up in his antics.

  “He says, ‘I plan to make Tyler behave.’ How is that for a disloyal horse?”

  “I think you have a very wise horse, and...” Catherine was not without her own sense of drama. Tyler looked at her, and she felt warmed by his smile.

  “And?”

  “I think you’re wise enough to know all the conditions, so I accept your invitation to spend some time with Man of Steel.”

  “You do us both great honor, Catherine.” Tyler swept his hat from his head once more and bowed from the waist.

  Catherine glanced down at her robe. “I have to change first.”

  “Take your time. Man of Steel came over from my farm in his special trailer, complete with his trainer, who threatened me with death if any harm came to him. I’ll take him back to his trailer, and then bring my car over and pick you up.”

  Catherine felt prickle
s of apprehension. She hadn’t been in a car with a handsome man since Billy Joe. She almost changed her mind and made up some last minute excuse. Then she told herself she was being more than silly, she was being a scaredy-cat. Still, she added one amendment to his plan.

  “I can’t stay all day, you know. Only an hour or two at best. We don’t have a matinee today, but we do have the evening show. And, of course, I have to be here to feed the elephants.”

  “I’ve already taken care of that.”

  “What?”

  “Feeding the elephants. Bret will do it.”

  “How did you know he could? It takes training to feed elephants.”

  “Catherine, when I go in pursuit of a woman, I make it my business to know everything there is about her. Bret told me he’d worked with the last elephant trainer and that occasionally he helped you out.”

  Catherine accepted that without comment. “See you later,” she said, waving her hand then she headed for her trailer.

  After she had stepped inside, she leaned her head against the door. There was no way Tyler West could know everything there was to know about her. She had told no one except Elvira, Elmer and Angel and the Dixie Virgins. And there was no way he could learn the truth from elephants. Oh, sure, she had hinted of man trouble to Mickey, for he had been a wonderful friend to her since she joined the circus.

  Cat tossed her robe aside, and when she stepped into the shower, she was humming. She couldn’t remember the last time she had hummed.

  She put on jeans and riding boots and a cool cotton shirt. Then she tied her hair back with a red ribbon. She didn’t want it blowing in her face when she rode Man of Steel. She wanted to be able to see everything there was to see. Imagine. Catherine DeChello on a Kentucky Derby winner.

  Shadows passed under her window, and for a moment her heart hammered. A shadow flitting across the haystack in the moonlight came to her mind. She pressed her hand over her heart, and then she heard the familiar voice of her boss, Larry Lanphere. Cat hurried went to the door.