Under the Summer Sky

by Lori Copeland

  “Sir,” Benjamin interrupted sharply, “the lady needs a few moments.”

  Trinity reached for the document and skimmed it. The wording was simple and stated its true intent. “I’ve read it, Aunt Pauline. You can sign it.”

  Jones moved the paper closer and Pauline bent, but then shook her head. “No. I ain’t signin’ anythin’.” She lay back down and closed her eyes. Trinity groaned, and the lawyer snatched back the application and stuffed it in his satchel.

  “Call me when she’s willing to cooperate,” he said, and with a flurry he was out the room.

  The search for the missing deed was on again.

  It was late in the morning as Trinity stood at the mercantile window and watched Lil load sacks of feed across the street. The woman’s powerful arms could squeeze a man senseless. She was fit and trim and had the strength of two strapping males. Shaking her head, she murmured, “Wonder what she’d look like in a dress?”

  Mae glanced up. “Who?”

  “Lil. I was wondering what she’d look like in a dress and bonnet.”

  “Not bad.” Mae closed a ledger and rounded the mail cage to come and stand beside her. The women fixed on their subject. “She doesn’t look bad. She wore a lovely dress to my wedding. Her hair was clean and brushed—she even wore a bright ribbon. It was so unlike her.”

  “She needs a man.”

  Mae smiled, returning to her work. “Lil doesn’t need anything. But a nice, even-tempered and extra-patient male would give her company, though she vows she doesn’t need or desire male companionship.”

  “She mentioned that she has no intention of marrying, but actually I think she would make some man a fine wife. Why, she’s as strong as two men and can outwork three.”

  “And when she isn’t riled, she can be right good company.” Mae leaned closer to the window pane. “What’s she doing?”

  “She’s shoveling manure now. Mr. Grate has been down in his back and she must have offered to take over for him.” Trinity shook her head. “You said she cleans up fairly well?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say she has a womanly side…at least none that I’ve noticed. She isn’t one to fuss, but some men find more value in a woman’s nature and Lil conforms to any situation.”

  “Yet she says she doesn’t want to marry.”

  “Doesn’t every woman contend the same when she’s still single at her age?”

  “She isn’t ancient.”

  “No, but the bloom is certainly off the rose.” Mae sighed. “I’m just lucky Tom favors perennials.”

  Trinity grinned. “Don’t be silly. You’re as lovely as any woman around.”

  Lil might not be a looker, but the pig farmer certainly had charm. Uncut and unpolished, but charm nonetheless. It was a shame for someone with Lil’s gregarious and giving nature to be alone. She’d make a fine mama and a devoted wife.

  “Mae? Ever thought about helping her a bit with her appearance?”

  Mae laughed. “I’ve offered a thousand times. If lassoing a man means taking a weekly bath, combing her hair every day, and wearing a dress, she isn’t interested. She prefers her pigs’ company.”

  “It’s such a shame.” Trinity moved away from the window. “I would think you’d be curious to see exactly how you could transform her—you know, turn an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.”

  Mae shook her head. “I love her exactly as she is. If I were to try and change her she wouldn’t be Lil anymore. Can you hand me that stack of egg cartons?” She flashed a smile. “And help me put them out on the counter?”

  A breathless Mae stopped Trinity when she emerged from the hotel later that day. “Trinity! I have news!”

  “News? What is it?”

  “You remember what we were talking about earlier today? Our chance has come—quicker than I thought and maybe not at the most opportune time, but we need to act if we’re going to.”

  “Going to what?” Trinity reached up to tie her bonnet strings. She had sat with Pauline most of the afternoon and she needed a brisk walk to get her blood circulating.

  “I’d forgotten about it with all the excitement, but Mary Grace and Luther Willis’s children are having a get-together tomorrow night for their parents’ fiftieth anniversary. I realize it isn’t the most ideal time with Pauline so ill, and of course should the Lord call her home we wouldn’t think of going, but Tom said we should think of dropping in. Mary Grace and Pauline used to sew together in the Women’s Quilt Society.”

  Tying a snug knot under her chin, Trinity smiled. “I wouldn’t think it improper at all. I’ll sit with Pauline and you and Tom can take Benjamin to the celebration. The outing would do him good and he needs a distraction.”

  “Thanks—but Lil’s known Mary Grace and Luther forever. She took food to Luther for weeks when Mary Grace had her appendix out last fall.”

  “Then she should go too.” A grin formed when Trinity caught the implication. “You know, it would be a perfect time for her to wear a dress.”

  Mae winked. “I was thinking the same thing. And you know, there will be fiddle playing and dancing.”

  “Sounds like a good deal of fun.” Trinity started off. “You convince Lil to go, and I’ll be over early tomorrow evening to help.”

  “Wait!” Mae caught up with her. “Lil won’t want to go because that would require bathing.”

  “Well, I must say she could use a good scrubbing.” Trinity didn’t particularly enjoy visits with the girl when she’d been mucking around in pig wallow all day.

  “She won’t take a bath unless it’s for an extra-special occasion.”

  “Isn’t a party a special occasion?”

  “Not for Lil—unless someone was to escort her. A good-looking man, for instance.”

  Trinity paused, her gaze going to Mae. “A date?”

  “Yes. If a man were to ask her to go to the party with him she’d go.”

  “She doesn’t like men.”

  “She says she doesn’t like men. I don’t believe her. I see the way she looks at Jones.”

  Irritation swept Trinity. “Jones? I’ve never noticed the slightest indication that he returns her—interest.” And she would have taken note. The very idea of Lil and Jones together was laughable. Jones was suave—experienced. Lil…wasn’t.

  “No, he doesn’t appear to have an interest—but if he were to ask her to the gathering she’d be pleased as punch.”

  Somehow the thought didn’t sit well with Trinity. Jones wasn’t interested in Lil—or in women in general. But then she wasn’t his keeper. “He’ll never do it.”

  “No, not if he knew he was taking her. But Tom could get him to come along and I could ask Lil to go…”

  “Trick him? He’d never speak to you again, and besides you said she wouldn’t go if she had to clean up.”

  “I could make her think she had an escort.”

  Stopping short, Trinity caught her breath. “Jones would skin you alive!”

  “Not if he wasn’t aware of what was happening. We can clean up Lil—make her look real pretty and smell like a spring flower and when we go to the party Jones is certainly gentleman enough to ask for a dance. One dance and Lil will think he brought her.”

  “You must think the man’s addled in his head.”

  “Of course he isn’t. He’s very nice and most likely if I asked he’d grant me the favor, but I’d really rather not be so obvious.” Mae’s front teeth worried her lower lip. “And Tom wouldn’t be real happy if he knew what I was doing, but I can pull this off.” She reached for Trinity’s arm. “You’ll help, won’t you?”

  Trinity pulled back. “I don’t want to lie to Jones.”

  “You don’t have to lie. Nothing untoward will take place. I’ll tell Lil that we’re going to the anniversary party and Tom and Jones will take us. She’ll just assume Jones will be her escort.” She flashed a smile. “Simple.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be dancing—you’ve been awfully tired lately.”

&n
bsp; “Nonsense. It’s the heat. We’ll have a couple of dances, eat cake and drink punch and then come home. Neither Lil nor Jones will ever be the wiser. Now, are you going to help me make a woman out of Lil?”

  Shaking her head, Trinity considered the notion. It wasn’t actually a deception. Lil would get to enjoy the fun and not feel like a wallflower and Jones would never be the wiser. The idea seemed innocent enough—so why did she resent the notion that Jones would be with Lil? “What do I have to do?”

  “I’ll have Lil come early tomorrow evening. We’ll give her a good scrubbing and then have her put on one of my dresses. You can fix her hair and we’ll add a touch of color to her cheeks. I have extra slippers with the daintiest little heels. We’ll transform her into a lovely woman.”

  “Lil? Lovely?”

  Taking her arm, Mae picked up the pace. “Don’t worry. Everything will be just fine. Be over no later than five tomorrow night.”

  “Won’t Tom notice all the fuss?”

  “Tom never notices what Lil looks like.” She flashed a grin. “Or smells like.”

  As hard as that was to conceive, Trinity shrugged. She could do a good deed as well as the next person. “I’ll be there, but you’re accepting the blame if this backfires on you.”

  Sixteen

  A bath!”

  Lil stood in the doorway, jaw agape. “What fer? I took one last month.”

  “A lady should always be fresh and clean for a party,” Mae argued. Trinity stood in the kitchen in front of the filled washtub, a towel draped over her right arm. A large bar of soap was waiting in her hand.

  “I ain’t takin’ no bath.” Lil whirled and started out the back door, but Mae blocked her exit.

  “Don’t make me hurt you, Lil. I want to go to the party and have a good time. Bathing never hurt anyone—and while we’re at it we’re going to give your hair a good scrubbing.”

  “Over my dead body!”

  “If that’s what it takes.”

  Squeals erupted from Lil’s mouth. It wasn’t an easy bath and it took the better part of fifteen minutes, but finally she was scrubbed and rinsed and dried.

  Planting Lil in the dentist chair, Trinity grabbed a comb and began to work through the matted red rat’s nest. Lil was still sputtering. “This here is an ambush, Mae. Jest you wait, you got one a-comin’.”

  “Hush.” Mae touched her finger to her tongue and then tested the hot iron. “Once I press this dress I’ll work on your face.”

  “My face! What’s wrong with my face?”

  Mae picked up the iron from the stove and ran it lightly over the lavender-sprigged cotton. “Nothing’s wrong with your face. I’m just going to add a little color.”

  “Ouch!” Lil jerked away and reached for the comb, but Trinity held it out of her grasp.

  “Sit still. I’m going to put a few curls in here and there and if you keep wiggling you’ll get burned.”

  “There ain’t a man alive worth all this trouble,” Lil groaned. “Jones better look real good himself tonight.”

  Jones always looked real good, tonight and any other night. Trinity picked up the curling iron and tightly wrapped a hunk of hair around it. “Where did you get this thing, Mae?”

  “The curling iron? It’s a Marcel. Ordered it from a catalog a few months back. Isn’t it marvelous?”

  Trinity released the clip and a lovely curl fell into place. By simply laying the iron on a stove the rod turned hot and made beautiful curls almost instantly. “Fabulous. It must have cost a fortune.”

  “Tom bought it for our three-month anniversary.”

  Lil was muttering to herself. “Curly hair—shoot! Ain’t never had curly hair and don’t want it now.”

  “You’re going to be the belle of the ball.”

  “What ball? I thought we was gonna eat cake and drink punch at Mary Grace and Luther’s place.”

  “And dance,” Mae added, shaking out the folds of the finished dress.

  “Jones asked me to a dance? He did not.”

  Mae met Trinity’s eyes. “Did I mention there would be dancing?”

  “Jones did not ask me to the party—why, that’s a boldface lie if I ever heard one, Mae Curtis. You should be ashamed of yoreself. There ain’t a man in this town—especially Jones—that would invite me to that party.”

  Mae seemed to be grasping for words, then gave up and shrugged. “Well, you never know. Miracles happen.”

  “Jones takin’ a shine to me would be like Eve mistakin’ an apple for an orange.”

  “Lil, you’re too hard on yourself.”

  “And I ain’t never danced in public—I ain’t that good.”

  “Just do the simple box step.” Trinity wrapped another curl around the rod. “Let the gentleman take the lead.”

  “And don’t fuss at him—whomever you’re dancing with. Be polite,” Mae warned.

  “Then what do I yak about?”

  “Talk about the weather. How lovely the summer has been. Does he enjoy the holidays?”

  “The holidays are months off.”

  “Still, he will know if he enjoys them or not.” Trinity released the last curl and stood back to study her work. “Oh my, Lil. You really do have beautiful hair.”

  Lil hesitantly touched her hand to her head.

  “Careful,” Trinity warned. “You don’t want to muss the curls.” The girl did have exceptionally workable hair. Clean, shiny, and curled. The wide arc of freckles dotting her complexion only added to her sudden allure.

  Mae eased her out of the chair and slipped the freshly ironed dress carefully over Lil’s head and then stood back to survey their work. Her hand came up to cover her mouth. “Oh, Lil. You are exquisite.”

  Color crept up the young woman’s neck. “Can I take a look-see in yore peerin’ glass?”

  “Of course.” Mae reached for a hand mirror and gave it to her. Lil lifted the object and stared. And stared.

  “Well? What do you think?” Mae prompted.

  “Huh. I ain’t looked at myself since I was a kid. Twelve, maybe?”

  Trinity and Mae spoke in stunned unison. “You haven’t looked in a mirror since you were twelve?”

  Lil shrugged. “Didn’t much care for what I saw then so I didn’t look again.” She turned to the right, and then the left. “Like what I see a lot better now.”

  Easing in, Mae touched a bit of rouge to Lil’s cheekbones and then drew a thin line of kohl along her eyelids. Lil simply sparkled.

  A hot knife of envy sliced through Trinity. Lil, while not exactly exquisite, was certainly eye-catching. And it would be Jones’s eye that she caught tonight.

  “Well?” Mae glanced at Trinity. “I have thirty minutes to make myself presentable. Want to help?”

  “Of course,” Trinity murmured, suddenly wishing that she hadn’t been so accommodating. Jones wasn’t likely to fall head over heels in love with Lil, but no one could help but notice that the woman did have a more presentable side. And he was fascinated by Lil’s interests. He never failed to inspect the motorcycle when she roared into town, and Trinity had noticed the way he would sit on the mercantile porch and wait until she and Esau had ridden out of town before he got up. Their fascination for the unusual was identical.

  She bit her trembling lower lip. In the future, the pig farmer could clean herself up.

  Jones jerked the black string tie into a knot and frowned at his image. He should have his head examined for agreeing to this nonsense. He didn’t know Mary Grace and Luther—never laid eye on either one of them—and now he’d agreed to go to their anniversary party.

  A knock on the door took his mind off his misery. He stepped to unlatch the lock and let the heavy door swing open. Tom appeared, grinning like a donkey eating green grass. “Ready?”

  “Will be in a couple of seconds.” He picked up a bottle of Bay Rum and splashed a little on his cleanly shaven jaw. A bath and a shave cost seventy-five cents in this town. Highway robbery, pure and simple.

&nbs
p; Tom sidled into the room, his gaze roaming the furnishings. “Nice place. I haven’t seen the rooms since the café finished them.”

  “It’s not bad.” Jones picked up the comb and ran it through his hair. “Remind me again why I agreed to go to this shindig?”

  “Because Mae’s been real close to these folks and she didn’t want to go unless she took a friend. Said she’d feel real bad about leaving her behind—and she really appreciates you pitching in to help.”

  “But why do I have to go? I don’t know the Willises.”

  “Mae thought it would be nice to have her friend escorted. For appearance’s sake, you understand.”

  Leaning closer to the mirror, Jones scoffed. “Escorted? I’m supposed to escort this woman? Can’t she get her own dates? Who is she, anyway?”

  Tom pulled a watch out of his pocket. “Will you look at the time? We’d better get going. Don’t want to be late, now.”

  Giving a final glance in the mirror, Jones decided he looked as good as he was going to get. He was clean, shaved, smelling good, and about to escort a woman he didn’t know to a party. Never mind that he’d rather turn in early. He reached for his hat. “Is Trinity going to be there?”

  “No, she’s sitting with Pauline. Mae thought it would do Benjamin good to step away for a few minutes.”

  “He doesn’t know the Willises either, does he?”

  “I’m sure he doesn’t.”

  Jones locked the door of the rented room and turned to take the long row of stairs leading to the first floor. Already the sound of guitars and fiddles filled the warm, humid air. The two men crossed the street to the Curtises’ home. They climbed up to the porch, taking the steps two at a time. Mae appeared in the doorway to greet them.

  Tom paused, a grin splitting his face. “Just look at her, Jones. Look at her and eat your heart out.”

  Jones had to admit that Mae was glowing tonight. She was prettier than a black cloud during drought. Pink was her color, and the love evident in her eyes for her husband only made her more comely.

  His smile died when a second figure appeared in the doorway, looking every bit as pretty but apparently forgoing tonight’s festivities. “Evening, Miss Trinity,” he said.