by Robin Deeter
“Don’t misunderstand me. My heart is broken. Jim was my man, my soulmate, and there won’t be a day that I won’t miss him. But, I have to go on. We all do. Jim would kick my ass if I didn’t.
“But looking around, I see that I won’t be doing this alone. You all loved Jim, too, and you’ve been so good to us. Thanks for your friendship and I appreciate all of the support you’ve given me.” She blinked back a few tears. “Ok. That’s enough of that. If you have a drink, raise it up. If you don’t, get one.”
She waited until everyone held a glass aloft.
“To Jim Gallagher, the love of my life. A man with the kindest heart, the best sense of humor, and the handsomest man I’ve ever seen.” She faced the urn that had been placed on the bar. “Jim, I’ll love you for the rest of my days and I know that everyone here will, too. I hope you’re smiling down on us and that you enjoy the celebration. To Jim!”
“To Jim!” the crowd chorused.
Sandy downed her shot and said, “Start us up, Wheels!”
Grinning despite the tears in his eyes, he played a fast number, and Aaron and Brock joined in on their instruments. Ray grabbed Sandy and began dancing with her, kicking off the wake. Others soon joined in, laughing and talking.
The song ended, and Ray and Sandy went to the kitchen to bring out more food with the help of a couple of the girls.
When they were alone in the kitchen, Sandy said, “I can’t believe that you retired and that you’re marrying the mayor.”
Sandy was one of the few people in Ray’s life whom he trusted implicitly with the whole truth about himself.
He smiled. “I know. I can’t believe it, either.”
Sandy liked the happy look on his face. He held a special place in her heart, just like her girls did. “I’d say someone’s smitten.”
Ray blushed. “I wouldn’t go that far. I’m very attracted to her, but I’m not smitten.”
Sandy finished taking rolls out of the oven. “Sure, sure. I know you, Ray. I haven’t seen you turn that red since you were eighteen. You don’t blush—until now, which tells me that you care for Miss Branson.”
Ray’s jaw clenched. “I don’t want to.”
Sandy let out a laugh. “You sound all of eight years old, Ray. Love isn’t something that we can always control. A lot of times it just happens. You could certainly do worse than loving a good woman like Carly.”
Ray’s eyes flashed fire. “I don’t love her. We have an arrangement. Besides, it’s way too soon for love. We’ve only been together or whatever you call what we’ve been doing for a few days.”
Sandy harrumphed. “You know what Cotton would tell you about that, don’t you?”
A smile curved his mouth. “Yeah. He’d say that love doesn’t care about time or distance, that it’s never too soon to love someone and that they’re never too far away to feel your love.”
Sandy sat the large basket of rolls down on the counter and leaned back against it as tears took her by surprise. She buried her face in her hands as a sob shook her. Ray embraced her, holding her tightly, and rubbing her back.
“It’s ok, Sandy. Let it out.”
She shook her head against his chest. “I have to be strong, Ray. I don’t want to fall apart in front of all of those people out there.”
“Just because you shed some tears doesn’t mean you’re not strong. Isn’t that what you used to tell me?”
“Yeah, it is. Do you think he can still feel my love for him, Ray?”
Ray said, “Yeah, I do. Your love was—is—so strong that he has to still feel it. You’ll still feel his love, too. We all will.”
Sandy took a deep, shuddering breath, and loosened her arms from around Ray’s waist. “You’re a good boy, Ray. Thank you, honey.”
Ray grabbed her hand and put it on his rear. “Here. You always wanted to do that. Go ahead. It’ll cheer you up.”
Sandy burst out laughing, but she took the opportunity and gave his firm butt cheek a good squeeze. Ray cracked up with her and they hugged again. When their mirth subsided, they parted and Sandy wiped away her happy tears.
“You’re right. That did cheer me up. Whenever I’m sad, I’ll call you and have you come down so I can squeeze your backside to make me happy again.”
“Anything for you, Sandy. I owe you a hell of a lot, so letting you do that is just a small way to pay you back,” Ray said.
“It’s been my pleasure, Ray. You know that.” Once again firmly in control of her emotions, Sandy said, “Now, let’s get back out there and celebrate my Jim.”
Ray smiled and followed her back to the barroom, admiring the strength of the sassy woman who’d become such a good friend to him. He planned to make sure that she didn’t shed any more tears that afternoon. It was the least he could do for her after all of the kindness she’d shown him.
Chapter Nine
Walt sat in Luther Kingsley’s house, trying to hold his temper in check, but it was a difficult task. Gabe Rutger, Luther’s attorney, sat with them in the parlor.
Carefully keeping his expression serene, Walt attempted to reason with Luther.
“Luther, ya know that yer not gonna get ten thousand outta Wheels. Plus, if this goes to court, there aren’t many people who are gonna be sympathetic to someone who beat up a poor little monkey.”
Gabe’s lips quivered a little as he tried not to smile.
Walt’s anger ignited. “Ya think that’s funny, do ya? Well, see how funny ya think this is. If ya don’t be reasonable and accept the two thousand Wheels is offerin’, we’ll counter sue for pain and sufferin’. Ollie may seem like just a monkey to most people, but to Wheels he’s a valuable asset.
“Ollie is trained to help Wheels with all sorts of stuff, and it would be very expensive to replace him. So when ya beat poor Ollie, ya caused Wheels a lot of pain, not only because he loves Ollie, but because he wouldn’t know what to do without Ollie for other reasons.
“Ya better take that two thousand, which would tide ye over until yer back to work, Luther. If ya don’t, I’ve no trouble rakin’ ya over the coals in court and by the time I’m done with ya, ye’ll look like the biggest monster this town has ever seen. It’s yer choice. Ya have until tomorrow to decide.”
Walt’s hazel eyes shone with fury as he glared at the other men. He got up from his chair and strode quickly from the room. He was met in the kitchen by Luther’s wife, Madge.
“Mr. Gaines, please let me speak to Luther. I’ve begged him to stop all of this nonsense. I’ll try again,” she said.
Walt steeled himself against the sympathy he felt for her and Luther’s children. He had a duty to do what was in Wheels’ best interest and he couldn’t let his pity for Luther’s family get in the way of that.
“Mrs. Kingsley, I hope yer successful. Good day.”
“Wait!” Luther hollered. “Wait a second, Walt!”
Walt smiled internally, but kept a stern expression on his face as he walked back into the parlor.
“What?”
Luther glanced at Gabe and said, “If Wheels will make it three thousand, I’ll drop the lawsuit.”
“I’ll take yer offer to Wheels, but don’t be surprised if he says no,” Walt said.
Luther said, “Call him right now. Then we can settle it.”
Walt said, “I’ll speak to him in private and call ya. Besides, I’d hafta change the settlement agreement anyway.”
Scratching the back of his neck, Luther said, “Fine. See what you can do.”
Walt gave him a curt nod and left then, heading for Wheels’ place.
*****
Wheels tapped his pencil against his design table, thinking about Luther’s proposal. Walt had stopped by that afternoon to tell him about it. Ollie jumped up on Wheels’ lap, snatched Wheels’ pencil from his fingers, and leaped away again before Wheels could catch him.
“You little varmint,” Wheels said, laughing. “You have your own pencils.”
Ollie climbed the pegs that h
ad purposely been hung on the wall for him. They led up to a narrow, wooden track that circled the room. Ollie chattered and grunted as he ran along the track. Then he stopped above Wheels, put the pencil in his mouth, and swung down, hanging onto the track.
Wheels laughed and tugged his tail a little. “Bring that here. Bring pencil.”
Ollie dropped onto Wheels’ shoulder and handed the pencil to him.
“Good job.”
Ollie grunted and inserted his hand down Wheels’ shirt.
“You’re not gonna find any wasna down there,” Wheels told him.
His doorbell sounded and Ollie sprang away, running out of the room as he grunted excitedly. Wheels followed him and ordered him to stay back while he opened the door.
“Nora,” he said. “Why didn’t you just come on in, sugar?”
Nora kissed his cheek. “I wasn’t sure if I should or not.”
“Of course, you should. My door is always open to you,” Wheels said. “You’re not company.”
“I’ll remember you said that,” she said.
“Do that,” Wheels said. “I’ll warn you now: Ollie’s wound up. The kids were over for a little while and cranked him up.”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Ollie jumped at Nora, giving her little choice but to catch him.
“Ollie!” she scolded. “You are wound up.”
He kissed her and stuck a hand down her dress bodice.
“Ollie!” Wheels shouted. “Bad! Shame on you!”
Nora had pulled the monkey’s hand back out quickly, but even though she blushed, she still found it funny. However, she didn’t interfere with Wheels’ discipline.
“I’m sorry about that,” Wheels said. “He’s looking for wasna. He just did the same thing to me.”
The idea of Ollie looking for wasna in her cleavage was so amusing that Nora couldn’t hold her laughter at bay. She bit her lip, trying to hold onto her composure, but it was hopeless.
She surprised Wheels when she giggled and then laughed harder.
“I’m sorry, but it’s not every day that you have a monkey stick his hand down your dress,” she said, even as she shook with laughter.
Wheels laughed. “I’m glad you’re not mad. Not everyone would find that funny.”
“Well, not everyone knows that Ollie’s innocent and doesn’t know that that’s not proper. But sometimes improper things are funny,” she said.
“I know all about that, trust me,” Wheels said. “If I hadn’t made fun of things that were actually sad or embarrassing, I would’ve gone insane. Humor isn’t only the best medicine, it’s the best defense.”
Nora put a hand on his shoulder. “It certainly worked. You have one of the best senses of humor I’ve ever seen.”
“Thanks. You want a drink? Something to eat? Mama brought over an apple crisp earlier,” he said.
“Thanks, but I’m still full from supper,” she said. “So what were you up to?”
“Just fiddling around with an idea I had.” He got a beer out of the ice box. “Sure you don’t want one?”
“No, thank you.”
“Ok. Walt came over today,” he said, going into the parlor.
“Oh? What did he have to say?” Nora asked.
She sat on the sofa and Wheels shifted over to sit beside her. Ollie settled on the arm of the sofa, gazing longingly at Wheels’ beer.
“Luther said he’ll drop the lawsuit if I give him three thousand.”
“But you only have two thousand.”
Wheels took a swig of beer. “Yeah. I could borrow the rest from my folks, but I hate to ask them for it. It’s my own actions that got me in this mess, not theirs. I should get myself out of it. There are some things I can sell, but probably not all that quickly.”
“You shouldn’t have to pay him anything,” Nora said, taking Wheels’ beer from him.
Wheels watched her take a sip. “I thought you didn’t want one?”
“Not a whole one,” she said, handing it back.
He smiled. “Sharing one is just fine with me. I just feel bad for his family. If it was just him, I wouldn’t give him a dime. I’d let it go to court. But he’s got a wife and kids, you know? I don’t know what to do.”
Nora patted his leg. “I think you should ask them for it. You know they’ll help you.”
Wheels couldn’t feel her hand on his thigh, but he liked the sight of it there. “I know, but they’ve done so much for me that I hate to ask. All of my medical care was expensive and I don’t want to keep costing them money.”
“You’ll pay them back. You’re a hard worker and you’re in high demand,” Nora said.
“True on both counts. I’ve always been that way. I get that from Mama and Daddy. I also worked hard to develop skills that made me valuable even though I can’t walk,” he said.
“You’re a lot more skilled than many men who can walk, Wheels. Don’t you forget that,” Nora said.
By this point, she’d drank about half of his beer. Wheels took a few big swigs and then handed the nearly empty bottle to Ollie, who eagerly drank the rest of it. It was obvious that Nora wasn’t a big drinker. Even with only drinking half a beer, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were a little too bright.
“I won’t forget it.”
“How come you don’t have a piano at home?” Nora asked. “You’re such a wonderful player.”
“I used to, but I spent so much time in the house that Daddy took it away from me shortly after we moved here.”
“Took it away from you?”
“Yeah. I was convinced that my life was over,” Wheels said. “I won’t lie to you. There were times when I wished I’d died. I wasn’t even half the man I’d been and I couldn’t imagine that I’d have a good life at all. I thought I’d just spend the rest of my life sitting in a house, watching everyone else be happy.
“Daddy was hell bent on proving me wrong and he kept encouraging me to try to do things. I didn’t want to do anything, though. I didn’t want to go out or socialize. Then we moved up here and him and Mama got real tough with me.”
Nora leaned against him. “How so?”
“Well, they bought this house specifically because it had this carriage house. They fixed it up, put in that bathroom, made other modifications to it, and stuck me out here,” Wheels said.
Nora stared at him. “They didn’t.”
“They did. I had to sink or swim. They helped me with things, but they didn’t coddle me. I learned a lot of things by trial and error. It might sound cruel, but it was the best thing they could’ve ever done for me. I might not have been able to walk, but I still had full use of my arms and my upper body. I also still had my mind.
“I loved being in the army and one of my favorite things to do was to come up with battle plans and figure how weapons could be used the most effectively. I started applying that to my new life situation. How could I do something almost as well as if I could walk?
“How could I make something a little easier? How strong could I make myself? Could I help my body recover any more function than the doctors think I will? I started challenging myself at every turn and using what I had left, which was a hell of a lot compared to a lot of other people in my situation.”
Nora said, “You’re an amazing man, Wheels.”
“Thanks.”
“I love hearing all of this, but what does it have to do with Vern taking away your piano?”
Wheels chuckled. “I got off track. Sorry. Daddy took it away so that I had to get out of the house if I wanted to play it. I met Brock and Aaron when Carl and Daddy made me go to Benny’s the one night. Daddy gave my piano to Benny. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it there. I was mad enough to spit nails. He hadn’t told me where he’d taken it.”
Nora pulled back to look at him. “The piano at Benny’s is yours?”
“Yeah. I cussed Daddy out right there in front of everyone for giving it to Benny.”
She laughed. “What did Vern do
?”
Wheels grinned. “Waited until I was done and said, ‘Well, now, if you’re feeling better after all that, you might as well go play it since you’re here.’ I wanted to kill him, but playing was more important than yelling at him anymore since I’d missed it so much. When Brock and Aaron heard me, they started playing along and the rest is history.”
“So that’s how you became friends,” Nora said. “They said that they met you at Benny’s, but they never told me that story.”
Wheels said, “Well, now you know. They probably didn’t want you to know what an angry man I was back then. I was angry at everything and everyone. I was hard to live with for a little while.”
Nora said, “You were never like that around me.”
“Well, you weren’t around me all that much. I didn’t start coming over to your house until over a year after we’d moved here. I wasn’t angry by then and so I was a lot more fun to be around,” Wheels said. “You were such a cute little thing. I had to work hard to get you to say more than a few words at a time to me.”
Nora blushed. “Stop it.”
Wheels put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “You’re not so shy anymore, though. You take my cookies when you’re mad at me and drink my beer, too.”
She pushed against his chest as she giggled, but his arm only tightened, preventing her from escaping. Struggling further only resulted in him encircling her with both arms, holding her firmly in place.
“I couldn’t help it. I’ve always been shy around men.”
“That’s a good thing. It’s kept a beautiful girl like you safe,” he said.
Nora said, “Did you ever think that sometimes women don’t want to be kept safe? That they’d like to be in control of their lives the same way men are?”
“I didn’t say you weren’t in control of your life, I said it kept you safe.”
“Implying that my shyness was the only thing that kept me safe. That I wouldn’t have had any sense of self-preservation,” Nora said.
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“Yes, it was. Does Wendy need anyone to keep her safe?”
Wheels dark eyes widened. “What’s she got to do with this?”
