The woman handed her the information about each bus and then leaned in so she could whisper. “Make sure your husband looks at the engines, because some of them aren’t so good.”
Sara frowned. “Do you know which ones are good?”
The woman looked both ways and then pointed to #32. “Don’t look like much, but it’s never given us a day of trouble.”
After Sara thanked her and wrote her bid out for bus #32, she placed it in the auction box.
“Don’t you want your husband to look at it?”
She hated this moment when the nice woman would turn mean. “I don’t have a husband.” Just once, she wished a person wouldn’t hate her for something she couldn’t control.
Instead of turning into a cold statue, the woman took her arm and led her to a couch in the office. “Stay here, I just need to let Harry know I’m taking a break. You hungry?” She then laughed. “Of course you’re hungry. You’re pregnant. I’ll be back with some good food, not that junk we’re feeding the masses.”
Sara watched the young woman waddle from the office. She was still nice. She didn’t hate Sara for not having a husband like other women had. Except for Ethan Long, this woman was the first person who didn’t hate her once they knew her secret.
Then she frowned as she gave the matter more thought. This nice woman didn’t know all of her secrets. She thought this was Sara’s first baby. Honestly, Sara would like to keep it that way. She liked having a female friend.
A thump on the door alerted Sara that someone was trying to get in. She pushed herself from the couch and opened the door.
On the other side, her smiling friend stood, holding two heaping plates of food.
The woman waddled in. “Let’s eat at my desk.”
When she sat down before the desk, Sara noticed a nameplate. “Donna Hodgkin…is that you?”
Donna set their food down and held out her hand. “Yes. Forgive my manners. I was raised by wolves.”
Sara shook her hand while trying to hide her shock. “Were you really raised by wolves? What was that like?”
Donna laughed harder and sat down. “Not real wolves, although my husband sometimes says real wolves would have been better parents.” She dove into her food, talking as she ate. “We lived out in the boondocks and my parents had no time to waste on anything but hard work. If it didn’t put food on the table, or pay a bill, then don’t even mention it in conversation.”
Sara stared at her plate in amazement. A half a chick lay in a fluffy bed of mashed potatoes.
Donna eyed her. “You aren’t a vegetarian, are you?”
Sara grimaced. “To be honest, I’m not nothing now. Pastor Hucklebee kicked me out of the Baptist church this week.” Her response seemed to have shocked Donna, but when her new friend burst into laughter and choked on her food, Sara had no idea what had caused the fit, nor how to help make it better. She stood and patted Donna’s back like she would one of her boys. When her friend finally stopped coughing, she returned to her seat.
Donna wiped the tears from her eyes. “I shouldn’t have laughed, and God punished me for it, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I said vegetarian, not Presbyterian.”
Sara grimaced. “To be honest, I don’t know what either of those are.”
That took away Donna’s smile, but she didn’t tell her to leave. Instead, she returned to attacking her food rather like a starving wolf.
Sara cut away small bits of the chicken leg. She was worried as to what Donna would eat for the rest of the week if they ate the whole chicken in one meal. This chicken would have been meat enough to feed all her boys.
Donna had stopped eating and watched her. “I didn’t mean to laugh at you. I would never intentionally do that. God knows I got enough of it growing up.”
Sara could see the tears welling up in Donna’s eyes. She reached over and grasped her hand. “You have nothing to apologize for, Donna. I think you are one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. And generous. To be honest, I’m worried that you won’t have enough to eat the remainder of the week if I eat all this.”
Donna breathed in and calmed. “Eat all you like. We got a good business here. We never go hungry.”
“You sure?”
Donna nodded. “I swear. Now please eat more. You are making me feel like a gluttonous pig over here.”
Sara resumed eating. She wished she had pen and paper. She’d write down some of these words and ask Ethan what they meant when she got home.
After she had eaten twice the amount of her regular meals, they both moved to the couch and propped their feet on a soft leather cube.
Donna groaned. “I can’t wait until this baby is out. In that, I envy you, Sara.”
Sara stared at her in surprise. “Why?”
“You have less time to go.”
Nodding, she ran her hand over her stomach. “This isn’t your first, is it?”
“Second. My first is half-grown and out there helping his father manage the auction.” She rubbed her belly. “Not sure how this little guy came to be.”
“You, too?” Sara asked in shock. Until now, she had thought only the Virgin Mary went through her situation.
Donna nodded. “If you read the fine print on that folded up sheet of paper, buried halfway down is a statement it’s 98% effective. Which means 2% of women get surprises like we did.”
Sara had no idea what Donna meant.
Donna groaned. “Shit! Have I put my foot in my mouth again?”
Sara laughed at the question. “No, your feet are right beside mine.”
“Yeah, but I hurt your feelings and don’t deny it, ‘cause I saw your expression.”
Sara shook her head. “You didn’t hurt my feelings, Donna. I just couldn’t make heads or tails out of what you said. I don’t know nothing about sheets of paper that claim 98%.”
Donna reached out and took her hand. “No one’s ever told you about birth control?”
Sara shook her head.
“And clearly the father didn’t use a condom.”
Sara chewed her bottom lip. She had to tell the truth now. No way to dodge it. “There’s no father. I’ve never lain with a man.”
Donna rubbed her belly. “Then how do you explain this?”
Sara met her eyes. Perhaps if she stared hard enough, Donna would be the first person to ever believe her. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know why my babies come.”
“Babies?”
She could see the worry in Donna’s eyes. After worry comes repulsion, and then hate. She didn’t want to watch the change, so she looked at her belly. “I’ve sixteen boys at home. This will be my seventeenth and I don’t know why I have them.”
“Oh my god…I’ve heard of you.”
Sara nodded and pushed herself up. “I understand why you don’t wanna be my friend now.” She headed to the door.
“Sara, wait!” Donna called out as she floundered to get off the couch. “Damn it! How can you be further along and ten times more agile?”
Her fuss took Sara by surprise. She returned and helped Donna up. Once on her feet, Donna hugged her.
Sara had never been hugged by an adult woman before and she didn’t know what to make of it.
“Please don’t go yet. I didn’t mean to scare you off by saying I’ve heard of you. I just say stupid things. Which explains why I can’t keep a friend.”
Sara squeezed her hand. “That can’t be true. You’re the nicest woman I’ve ever met.”
“Then why are you leaving?”
The question baffled Sara. “Because I’m the woman with sixteen—soon to be seventeen— kids and no husband. Everyone says I’m wanton, ungodly, immoral…” Sara paused. “Those are all I can remember, but they say other things.”
Donna took hold of her hands. “Sara, besides my husband, I can’t name a single person who can stand me more than five minutes. You don’t really think I’m going to let a few babies send away the only person who doesn’t seem to mind my terrible ma
nners?”
“A few babies?” Sara challenged.
“You know what they say? After four, you lose count anyway.”
Sara laughed. “There’s some truth to that. Except for me, I think it was after five. Then Joshua, my oldest, started pitching in to help and things got easier.”
The office door burst open and a heavyset, older man entered and wrapped his arms around Donna.
“Good sale?” Donna asked as she kissed him.
“Sold them all but Betsy. We had an incredibly low bid for it, but the buyer left. Probably didn’t think they had a chance in hell to buy it for five dollars and thirty-two cents.”
Sara’s mouth fell open. “That’s me. That’s my bid.”
Donna quickly introduced them. “Sara really needs that bus, Harry. She’s got sixteen kids with number seventeen on its way.”
Harry laughed. “Well, for five dollars and thirty-two cents, you can drive it away now.”
Sara bit her lower lip.
Donna touched her shoulder. “If you need help on the money, I can spot you.”
“No. I got the money. Only I don’t know how to get the bus home.”
Donna frowned. “Wouldn’t driving it be sensible?”
Harry cuffed his wife on the back of the head. “Manners!” he whispered.
Donna playfully smack him in return. “Sara doesn’t take insult. She likes me just as I am.” She refocused on her new friend. “So why can’t you drive it home?”
“Because I drove Mr. Long’s car into town. He’ll expect me to return it.”
Donna looked up at Harry, as if expecting him to solve this puzzle.
Harry scratched his head. “Tell you what. Give me another two hours and I’ll drive the bus, Donna can drive our car, and you can lead the way in your borrowed car.”
“Perfect!” Donna rewarded him with a lusty kiss.
***
Donna and Sara went shopping for meat while they waited. Instead of going to a grocery store, Donna took her to a butcher who sold her fatted deer meat at thirty cents a pound.
Sara bought a week’s supply and asked the butcher if she could shop there regularly. He laughed at her request. “Please do.”
When they left the store, Donna teased her for asking permission to shop.
Sara shrugged. “None of the merchants in Briarville will sell to me anymore. They say I’m bad for business.”
Donna gave her a brisk shoulder hug. “Well, Fayetteville is too large to stick their nose into everyone’s business. As long as you don’t steal, write bad checks, or charge on stolen cards, shops here love to see you coming.”
Sara stopped and stared at Donna. “You don’t think I’d do any of those things, do you?”
Donna hit her head with the palm of her hand. Then she sighed. “No, Sara. That’s just me and my mouth being funny.”
Sara gave her a hug. “Be patient, I’ll get you sorted out.”
Donna laughed. “When I was dating Harry, I used to tell him much the same. I told him I was an acquired taste, and eventually he’d like me for more than the sex. He once admitted he hadn’t thought that likely during the first week we dated, but sure enough, I grew on him.”
“Well, I liked you right off,” Sara assured her.
“That’s good, because I couldn’t offer you sex just now. We’d be like two beach balls in heat.” She hit her head with her palm again. “Forget I said that.”
Sara laughed. “Since I couldn’t make sense of it, forgetting will be easy.”
“Shit, all these years I’ve been baking cakes trying to make friends. I should have just found a doctor to give the ladies lobotomies. Then they’d be forgiving like you.”
Sara nodded, although again she had no idea what ‘lobotomies’ meant.
Chapter 10
Ethan glanced out the window for the hundredth time. Sara should have been home hours ago. He worried about her safety.
Joshua looked up from his assignment. “Don’t worry, she probably won some prize and has to fill out paperwork and have her picture taken. That generally takes a few hours.”
Right, but driving her off the road might only take a few seconds, and he suspected several people in Briarville would be willing to do the “Lord’s work” in this matter.
Ethan focused on the eleven blond heads diligently progressing though their studies. How could anyone who had ever met Sara or her boys hate them? He understood the ease of philosophical contempt. He had entered this house with plenty. But how could a position proven so wrong after five minutes continue to thrive by those who had met her?
He checked the window again.
Joshua looked up, his brow furrowing, then returned to his studies.
An hour later, Ethan ended class. Since Sara was not around to assign chores, Joshua took lead. No one complained or argued with his assignments. They hurried off to their chores with the same energy and happiness they showed Sara. Only Little Tom delayed beginning his chore.
He slipped his hand into Ethan’s and motioned for Ethan to bend down so he could whisper. “Don’t tell the others, but I’m worried, too.”
Ethan kissed him on the top of his head. “Joshua’s right. She’s fine. Now get to your chores.”
Tom nodded and ran to the kitchen.
Hearing the chopping of wood, Ethan stepped out the back door. “Need any help?” he asked the eldest boy.
Joshua paused. “You ever chop wood?”
“No, but I’m a quick study.”
“I believe you are,” Joshua said and grimaced. “But since we’ve no means to get you to a hospital if you make a mistake, I’d prefer you wait to learn wood-chopping when a car is available.”
Ethan kicked at the grass. He couldn’t argue with the boy’s logic. “Fair enough.”
“You can help with the laundry if you want. Oscar sometimes drags them in the dirt before hanging them on the line. All you need to do is remind him on occasion to lift his arms.”
The young man amazed him. Sixteen and he thinks like an experienced parent. Ethan recalled all the trouble he’d rained upon his parents at sixteen. Those had been Ethan’s most confused and angry years. Not for a million dollars would he re-live those days. Yet, these boys seemed happy and contented with their hard lives—even when they reached sixteen.
It proved what his father had always said. Money couldn’t make you happy, but too much or too little money could make you miserable.
He walked over to Oscar and Tyler hanging out the laundry. “Would you guys like help?”
Oscar grinned. “You can do Ma’s job. Pull the clothes from the bucket and hand them off to us the way they’re to be hung.”
Tyler spoke up. “Don’t forget to remind us to lift our arms so we don’t drag the clothes in the dirt.”
Oscar nodded in agreement.
Ethan chuckled. “I can do that.”
After handing off two shirts, he glanced at his watch. Nearly three and still no Sara.
When his watch turned to four, his worry deepened. At what point should he call for help? And whom could he call? He suspected the sheriff would dance to the town’s bidding as well.
By five, even the boys had lost their joy. While none stopped working, he knew by the constant glances at every sound, they were worried sick. He should have offered to go into Fayetteville with her…but no, that was not possible. Someone had to stay with the boys or child services would cart them away. God, what they needed was a damn bus so they could all go with Sara.
Joshua set down his ax. “Mom’s coming!”
Tyler jumped about, so excited he could barely finish clipping the shirt to the line, while Oscar returned his shirt to the metal bucket. They both followed Joshua around the house to the front. Ethan resisted running and forced himself to walk. He had no reason to run. Sara was nothing more than a very nice woman and the subject of his investigation.
When he reached the front yard, his stomach twisted. Sara was not home. All he saw was fifte
en differently age-versions of the same DNA waiting for the one person in the whole world who cared if they lived or died.
His anger toward the unknown father raged inside him. He gladly allowed it to distract him from his worry of Sara. The bastard! Ethan had never thought much of men who abandoned their children after a divorce, but this guy was a hundred times worse. He not only refused responsibility, but also kept making more children with each passing year.
The boys were jumping like popcorn in a skillet now. Relief flooded him as he spied his car come over the hill. How the hell had Joshua known his mother was coming so soon? She must have been ten miles down the road when he declared her arrival.
Behind her came another car, and then a decrepit white bus from the 1950’s.
“A bus! Ma got us a bus!” Oscar yelled and hugged several of the other boys. “Now we can all go with her.”
Joshua kept the boys away from the car until it came to a complete stop. The moment she stepped out, her anxious children scrambled for hugs and kisses. It was a riotous greeting—but a happy one.
Ethan focused on the pregnant lady climbing from the second car and the large man stepping from the bus. The man’s face crinkled in concern at the sight of the boys. He hurried to the woman and protectively wrapped his arm around her. Ethan suspected he was suggesting they leave.
The woman hit him in the chest and then gathered a fistful of his shirt in her hands. Ethan’s wife had never manhandled him, but he recognized the scolding expression well enough.
The man stepped back and held up his hands in surrender. Unlike Ethan’s ex-wife, this one instantly withdrew her claws. In fact, she straightened out his shirt and then kissed him on his lips.
A tug on Ethan’s hand redirected his focus. Little Tom looked up at him. “Ma wants you to come and meet the strangers. She says they’re from a new town and they’re friendly.”
Ethan tousled the boy’s hair and followed him to the mob of boys.
Sara reached out for Ethan’s hand and they walked to the pregnant lady and her scolded husband. “Boys, I’d like you to meet Donna and Harry Hodgkin.”
Luck Be an Angel Page 5
