Miss Janie’s Girls

by Brown, Carolyn

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Noah and Teresa had planned to go to the haunted house in Sulphur Springs on Halloween, but a storm came up that evening, both outside and inside the house. The wind blew like crazy, bringing sheets of cold rain with it. Terrified of the thunder and lightning, Queenie refused to go outside and made a nasty mess on the living room floor. Noah was furious with her for making a mess and banished her to her doghouse on the screened porch. Then he said he was doing the dog a favor by letting her stay on his porch (as he said) and this was how she repaid him.

  Teresa cleaned up after the dog, but she damn sure didn’t like the way Noah had acted with Queenie. If they ever did have children, would he raise his voice to them when they had an accident?

  “A pet is like a child. You train them. You don’t yell at them like that,” she said.

  “It didn’t hurt me to get yelled at,” he argued.

  “It did me.” She looked him right in the eye and didn’t blink. “Queenie is afraid of storms. They scared me when I was a little girl, too. If things got tough in the house, I could always hide out under the trailer porch, but if it was storming, even that was taken away from me.”

  “Oh, grow up, Teresa, and stop living in the past,” he’d said before storming out of the room.

  His tone sounded so much like something Luis might have said that she followed him into the hallway. “What’s wrong with you? This is a brand-new side I’m seeing, and I don’t like it. I knew things were too good to last. I’m not that lucky.”

  “I lost a case in court yesterday,” he admitted as he put on his coat and pulled the hood up. “A good man went to jail for something he didn’t do.”

  “And you’re taking it out on me and Queenie?” She could almost feel fire shooting from her eyes.

  “No, but I’m leaving before I say or do something else wrong,” he said.

  Teresa saw red when Noah walked out of the house, got into his truck, and drove away. She had put up with Luis leaving her alone and running off to a bar to get drunk, and by damn, she wasn’t going through that again. She still had a vehicle of her own, even if she hadn’t started the old rusted-out truck in a while. She’d put four new tires on it, and it had gas in the tank.

  She got into it, slapped the steering wheel a couple of times, fired it up, and started driving south toward Sulphur Springs, hoping that maybe he’d gone to the Dairy Queen for ice cream to cool his temper. When she arrived, she drove around the lot twice but didn’t see his truck, so she went to the park, pulled to the side of the road, and sat listening to country music for half an hour in the pouring-down rain. Every blasted song seemed to speak right to her, as if the words had been written with her and Noah in mind.

  She should’ve known that the only place “happily ever after” happened was in romance books and movies. She thought she had learned that from Luis, but she’d let her guard down and found out that all men were alike, after all.

  The rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun that afternoon, and when she drove through town, she passed an area where trick-or-treaters were out in full force. Little ghosts, goblins, and princesses ran up and down the streets with sacks and plastic pumpkins in their greedy little hands, expecting candy and treats. She remembered going out on Halloween night when she was a little girl, and what happened afterward. Angel let her have a few pieces of candy and took the rest. Teresa never saw any of it again. Her mother got the munchies pretty often and had a terrible sweet tooth.

  She went back to the park, got out of the truck, and kicked at the wet leaves that had fallen on the ground, but even that didn’t help ease her anger. Halfway to the swings, she realized she needed to talk to someone, so she sat down on a picnic table with her feet on the bench and called Kayla.

  “Hello, what’s going on?” Kayla whispered.

  “Are you with Will?” Now, in addition to being angry, Teresa felt guilty.

  “We’re at a movie. I’ll step out into the lobby so we can talk,” Kayla said.

  “No, don’t do that,” Teresa whispered, even though there wasn’t another person in the entire park to overhear.

  “Already on my way,” Kayla said. “Talk to me. Are you all right?”

  “No, I’m not,” Teresa answered. “Noah and I had our first fight, and he left, and he’s not at the Dairy Queen, and I’m afraid he might have gone to a bar, and I’ll feel terrible if I drove him to drinking again.” She sucked in a lungful of air. “What did you do when you and Will had your first argument?”

  “First of all, we agreed to step back and let our tempers cool down, and then we sat down and talked it through.” She giggled. “After that we had makeup sex. What did you fight about?”

  “Our dog, Queenie,” Teresa sighed. “She’s afraid of storms, and she made a mess on the living room floor. Noah yelled at her and put her on the back porch. He bought her one of those igloo doghouses for out there, but I know she’s scared to death. We argued, and he said he was doing her a favor letting her stay on the porch at his house.”

  Kayla laughed out loud. “That’s a stupid thing to fight about.”

  “I can see that now, but I got really mad when he set his jaw and said his house. And his tone reminded me of Luis when he was angry, so we had an argument,” Teresa said. “What do I do?”

  “Cool down and talk it out like adults. I bet this is the tip of the iceberg about what’s really wrong, isn’t it? You needed something to argue about, and the dog got the job, right? You’re afraid of commitment, and if something is his fault, then you feel justified in not being in love with him, right?” Kayla asked.

  “Probably,” Teresa had to admit.

  “You don’t have to tell me what the big problem is, but face it, talk it out, and if you don’t want to live with him anymore, you can move out and get your own place. I’ll go with you. We don’t have to live in the house with Noah forever, you know. We could even sleep in the senior citizens place if we needed to for a few nights. There’s always room for you at our place whenever Will and I decide to get married,” Kayla told her.

  “Thanks, and I’m sorry I ruined the movie for you,” Teresa apologized.

  “No problem,” Kayla said. “We can talk more tomorrow, right?”

  “Sure we can,” Teresa agreed.

  A stool in an old country bar wasn’t a new thing to Noah, but the one he sat on on Halloween night was. As a matter of fact, he felt downright out of place in a bar now that he’d been sober for so long. Located south of Sulphur Springs, it was a tin building with a rough wood facade and swinging doors that made its patrons feel like they were walking into a honky-tonk out of a Western movie. Noah had been there more than an hour, and the ice was melting in the double shot of Jameson that sat right in front of him. An old man with a scruffy gray beard and a mop of hair the same color, drawn back in a ponytail, slid onto the barstool right beside him. He ordered a shot of Jack Black and tossed it back like an old bowlegged cowboy.

  “I’m Orville Jones.” The old guy motioned for the bartender, who was dressed up like Minnie Mouse, to bring him another one. “Who are you? Can’t say as I remember seeing you here before, and I’m here most every Saturday night.”

  “Noah Jackson,” he answered.

  “Well, Noah Jackson, are you going to drink that whiskey or let it sit there and mold?” Orville grinned, showing off a mouthful of crooked teeth.

  “I haven’t decided. I’ve been sober for six years,” Noah said.

  “Then what the hell are you doin’ in here, son?” Orville frowned. “I’ll bet dollars to cow chips that it’s money or a woman. Am I right?”

  “Yep,” Noah answered.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “We had our first fight after a bad workday.” He toyed with his glass, swirling what was left of the ice around in circles. He started to bring it to his lips, but then set it back down.

  Orville got up and went to the jukebox, plugged a few coins into it, and then came back. �
�You need to listen to Miss Miranda sing this here song before you drink that watered-down stuff.”

  The country beat of Miranda Lambert singing “Storms Never Last” filled the whole place. A few folks got up and two-stepped to the music. Noah wished he had Teresa in his arms rather than the whiskey tempting him right there at his fingertips.

  “You hearin’ the words to that song?” Orville asked.

  “Yes, sir, I get the meaning, and you’re right,” Noah answered.

  “Well, son, the clouds that’s brewing now won’t last, like the pretty lady is singing, so leave that drink alone and go home to your woman. If you’re lucky, she’ll still be there.” Orville picked up Noah’s drink and downed it one gulp. “Wouldn’t want you to lose your six-year chip.”

  “Thanks.” Noah threw a bill on the bar. “This is for your next drink, sir.”

  “Appreciate it.” Orville gave him another big grin.

  Teresa was still sitting on the swings when her phone rang. “Go watch your movie,” she answered.

  “I’m not at the movies. Where are you?” Noah’s deep voice sounded worried. “I came home, and you were gone. We need to talk.”

  “I’m at the park,” she said.

  “Will you meet me at the Dairy Queen in ten minutes?” he asked, and then added, “Please. And you can bring Queenie, since we can eat at the outside tables.”

  “I can be there, but I’m not bringing Queenie,” she said.

  Different scenarios played through her head as she thought about going back to the house to get Queenie, but eventually she decided against it. No way was she taking her dog with her to experience a sad moment. As she drove to the ice cream store from the park, her thoughts kept circling back to the fact that Miss Janie had left him the house, so it was legally his. He could do what he wanted with it, and that included telling her to go somewhere else.

  The drive to the Dairy Queen took less than three minutes. She went inside and headed to the booth that she and Noah had chosen as their favorite. The next few minutes went by so slow that she wondered if the big Coca-Cola clock on the wall had stopped.

  Finally, the door opened and Noah walked in. He looked every bit as miserable as she felt, and it broke her heart to see him like that.

  He went straight to the counter and ordered something. How could he be hungry? Her stomach was tied up in knots with worry about what they were about to say or do. He paid with a bill, stuffed the change into the pocket of his jeans, and took his own good easy time getting back to the booth.

  “We need to talk,” he said. “Why didn’t you bring Queenie? I said we could eat outside.”

  “She’s sensitive,” Teresa said. “She doesn’t need to hear you yell or see me cry.”

  “All right.” He nodded. “Now let’s talk.”

  “You already said that,” she told him. “You go first.”

  “I don’t care if that silly dog sleeps in the house,” he said.

  She looked him right in the eye and didn’t blink. “I don’t care if you put her in the screened porch.”

  “Then what are we fighting about?” he asked.

  “Where have you been?” she threw back without answering his question.

  “I went to a bar and ordered a double shot of Jameson on the rocks. I stared at it for an hour, but I didn’t drink it. An old guy sat down beside me and made me listen to a song on the jukebox, and then he threw my whiskey back and I left,” Noah answered. “After I listened to the words of the song, I didn’t want a drink. I just wanted to come home to you.”

  “Play it for me,” she said.

  He glanced around the room. “There’s no jukebox in here.”

  “You’ve got a phone,” she reminded him.

  He found what he was looking for, adjusted the volume, and laid the phone on the table between them. The song came up, and Teresa recognized Miranda’s voice right away. Storms never last, the lyrics said, and bad times could pass right along with the wind. Teresa looked out the window and watched the wind blowing the leaves from the trees. Could this storm she and Noah had faced be blown away like that? Would they be all right when they got to the root of their problem?

  “We had our first fight. What we do now is what will define our relationship. The dog isn’t what’s wrong with us right now, is it?” he said.

  “What do you think our problem is?” she asked.

  “Trust,” he answered with one word. “You don’t trust me. You’re measuring me by Luis, and I’m not like him at all. I’m not going to cheat on you, and I think I proved tonight that I won’t be going back to my old drinking ways. I love you, Teresa, but I can’t live with you if Luis is still in your life. I want more than us just living together. I want us to be together forever. I want children and to grow old with you.”

  “Luis has been out of my life for more than a year,” she declared.

  “I know that, and I don’t think you still love him, but until you can trust me with all your heart, he’s still right there between us,” Noah said. “You told me you want to live with me for a year. I feel like we’re wasting time that we could spend being totally committed to each other. I don’t want to rush you, but darlin’, I want the world to know that you are my wife, not my girlfriend.”

  The lady brought a banana split with two spoons stuck in the top and set it between them. “Y’all enjoy. I’ll bring your coffee when you finish. That way it won’t get cold,” she said, then went back to wait on a group who were pushing their way inside.

  “Thank you,” Noah called after her. He picked up one of the spoons and laid it to the side, then picked up the other one. “This is our life here between us, darlin’. One spoon. One banana split.” He dipped into the ice cream and the caramel and held the spoon toward her mouth.

  She wrapped her hand around his, ate the ice cream, and then took the spoon from him. She filled it with hot fudge and vanilla ice cream and offered it to him. He ate it and smiled for the first time.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re right. I’ve been measuring you by Luis, and that’s not fair. I thought we had to live together a year before I really made a commitment. I wanted to be sure that we would last, but I really believe in you and trust you.”

  “I apologize for not speaking my mind, but, honey, I am serious,” he said as he slid out of the booth. He dropped down on one knee right there in the Dairy Queen, took her hand in his, and said, “Teresa Mendoza, will you marry me? I don’t have a ring yet, and it doesn’t have to be next week, but I want to know that we are committed wholly to each other, that the past is totally gone from our lives.”

  “Yes!” She leaned in to kiss him. “And, Noah, you have my whole heart, every bit of it. I think you always have.”

  He kept her hand in his as he stood up, and then he slid right next to her. A verse from the Bible came to her mind. “And they two shall become one.” She had no idea why it popped into her mind, but it sure made sense right then. Her heart and Noah’s were one, and there would never be room for anyone else ever again.

  “I love you,” she whispered, “and we don’t have to wait a year.”

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  Teresa picked up the two pink gift bags on her way out the door that Sunday evening. The sun was just setting, and a cool breeze let her know that summer was gone and fall had arrived. Queenie was sprawled out on the porch that fine fall morning. Noah had been right when he said she’d be half the size of a Shetland pony. “You protect the place,” she told the dog. “Don’t let any mice or two-legged critters on the property until we get home.”

  “Are you ready for this?” Noah slipped an arm around her waist, and together they crossed the yard to the truck.

  “Yes, and I’m ready to start our family,” she said. “If we have a baby nine months from now, we might have four or five by the time we’re forty.”

  Noah’s bright smile lit up the truck. “We’ll see what we can do about that when we get home from c
hurch.” He started the vehicle, and loud music filled the cab. “Guess I know who was driving this last.” He turned it down far enough that they could talk above it.

  “Yep, I like my music loud when I’m alone.” She wasn’t afraid to have children anymore. She no longer believed that she would be a terrible mother. Miss Janie had taught her better than that. She and Noah had been married six months now, and there had been a few arguments, but they’d worked their way through them. Every day they were together, their love for one another seemed to grow even more.

  “Remember this song?” he asked when Miranda began to sing “Storms Never Last.”

  “It’s kind of been our theme song for the past year, hasn’t it?” she said. “Did I ever tell you about my drive up here last year? About fifty miles out, I thought for sure I’d run out of gas or that one of my tires would blow out. That song came on the radio, and I remember wishing that it was true, that storms didn’t last, but I sure didn’t believe it. Now I do.”

  “I believe it has been our song, and I’m glad that you changed your mind about it.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “The wind really has taken any bad times with it, just like the words say.”

  She covered his hand with hers. “I’ve heard that the first year of marriage is the hardest. If that’s the case, we should make it all the way to that eternity you talked about the night you proposed to me.”

  “Maybe after the party this afternoon, we should go to the Dairy Queen and share an ice cream sundae just for good luck on starting our family,” he suggested.

  “Couldn’t hurt a thing.” She smiled as he found a parking spot at the church.

  Kayla forgot to pick up the hostess gifts and didn’t remember them until she and Will were in the SUV and halfway to church. When she brought it to his attention, Will turned the vehicle around right there in the middle of the road and went back to the house.

  “You stay in the car, darlin’,” he told her. “With that big old belly, you can’t hurry.”