by Sharon Sala
Bowie James was a good four inches taller than him and bulked up big-time beneath his clothes. He should have brought backup. Instead, he pointed a finger in Bowie’s face.
“You broke Emmitt’s nose and—”
“Don’t do that,” Bowie said, and grabbed the finger and pushed it away. “Whatever happened to your little thugs they brought on themselves. They jumped me in the dark, and both had weapons. They should be ready to take what they were trying to dish out, don’t you think?”
Jud didn’t know how to respond to this quiet menace, but he was well aware it could go wrong at any moment, so he spat out the rest of what he’d come here to say.
“I want my grandson out of jail, and you’re gonna drop charges. Understand?”
“Go home, old man,” Bowie said. “I told your boys last night that I didn’t want any trouble. I came here to fix my grandma’s house, and then I’m leaving. I don’t want anything to do with Blessings, and that includes anyone named Boone.”
“You don’t tell me no! No one tells me no!” Jud shouted.
Bowie could hear sirens coming up Main. “You want a cell next to your grandson?”
“I want him out!” Jud said, and swung at Bowie again. But Bowie dodged the blow, grabbed Jud’s arm, and yanked it behind his back, then pinned him against a van just as a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot.
Jud was struggling and cursing and trying to get free.
Bowie recognized Deputy Ralph as he hurried toward them.
“You again?” Ralph said, eyeing the man Bowie James had pressed up against a van.
“I’m sorry to say, it’s just more of the same,” Bowie said.
“I’ll kill you! I swear to God, I’ll see you dead!” Jud screamed.
Bowie just pushed Jud’s head a little firmer against the van and yanked his arm a little higher behind his back.
“Well, that was stupid,” Bowie said. “You just threatened my life in front of a policeman.”
Deputy Ralph cuffed Jud and then pulled him around. “You get the cell next to Junior. I think he’ll be glad to see you. Jail isn’t anything like home.”
Jud was so shocked that he was actually in handcuffs that he began to stumble and stammer.
“Oh, well, y’all know I didn’t mean it. I was just pissed off about Junior being in jail. How about we let bygones be bygones?”
Bowie’s eyes narrowed. “Do you remember Mama begging you to stop your sons from beating me?”
Jud’s face paled, but Bowie kept talking. “I remember. I couldn’t see you because my eyes were swollen shut, but I heard you laugh and call her a whore.”
A couple had come out of Granny’s, saw what was happening, and stayed to watch. It was the beginning of the crowd that was gathering.
Jud was embarrassed to be seen in this situation and started shouting again. “So you’re out for revenge?”
Bowie shook his head. “I already told you why I came. And when I’m done with Gran’s house, I’ll be gone. You started this again without taking one thing into consideration. I was only a kid when you ran me and Mama out of town. I’m not a kid anymore, and you bit off more than you can chew and swallow here, old man. You figure all this out with the judge. Maybe he’ll give you and your grandson a bargain…like a two-for-one deal.”
“I didn’t touch you,” Jud said. “You can’t put someone in jail for arguing.”
Then Mercy stepped out of the crowd. “Jud Boone tried to start a fight in Granny’s, and this man stopped him and dragged him out without disturbing any of the diners. I was watching from the window after they left. Jud kept trying to fight, and this man just kept stopping him without fighting back.”
Jud glared at her.
“I’ll remember that. I can make you sorry you ever opened your mouth,” he yelled.
“You just threatened Mr. James and the police chief’s wife in my presence,” Deputy Ralph said, and grabbed Jud by the elbow and opened the back door to his cruiser. “Watch your head,” he added, then shut the door and drove off with his prisoner.
Bowie was beginning to doubt his ability to stay out of trouble long enough to finish what he’d come to do. And the crowd from inside Granny’s was staring at him again. He’d had enough.
“Didn’t your parents ever tell you it’s rude to stare at people? How many of you are thinking about taking a swing at me when my back is turned again?”
Shock spread across their faces, and then they all began talking at once.
“No, never.”
“Sorry for staring.”
“No, we’re sorry.”
“It wasn’t that!”
Then one old man spoke up. “I’m sorry, sir. I remember you and your mama…a real sweet girl. But you don’t look the same. You look so much like Jud Boone looked when he was young that I thought I was seeing things.”
Bowie shrugged, but at least now he got the reason for the stares. “Think what it’s like to be me. I look in a mirror and see the devil.”
Then he got in his car and drove out of the parking lot. It was time to get the girls.
* * *
Ella James was pinning up her mother’s long braid into a little doughnut shape at the back of her head. Pearl’s hair had turned completely white the year Billie Jo committed suicide, and she’d never been the same. This setback with the flood had taken her mother all the way down.
Twenty-five-year-old Rowan Harper, the girl kneeling at Pearl’s feet, was also a hurricane refugee who’d lost everything. The county sheriff had picked her up on a road where she’d been walking, and when he heard her story, he called the director of the nursing home in Blessings to see if he had room for one more refugee. After he was assured there was a room for her, he’d taken her to Blessings and dropped her off where people were sent to die, arriving at her temporary lodgings with nothing but the clothes on her back.
Ella and Pearl had taken to her, and after a week together, they’d become each other’s family. This morning, Rowan was tying the laces on Pearl’s tennis shoes, while Ella was still working on her mama’s hair. It took a village to get the old woman dressed these days. She’d sunk into a depression that no amount of distraction could change.
Rowan rocked back on her heels when she was finished and patted Pearl’s leg. “Did I get them too tight, honey?”
“No, dear, they’re just fine. Thank you,” she said.
As Rowan went to make up Pearl’s bed, she couldn’t help but remember doing this for her father every day. The loss of him was still fresh and painful, and she kept blinking away tears. Hurricane Fanny had not only washed away their home, but taken her daddy with it.
When Pearl and Ella offered her a place to live with them, she cried from the relief. Only right now, everything was on hold, because they had nowhere else to go, either.
Rowan finished with the bed and was going into the bathroom to clean it when a man’s deep voice interrupted the silence.
“There are my girls,” he said.
She heard Ella gasp, and Pearl let out a cry of such joy and then begin to weep.
Rowan only got a glimpse of the giant of a man walking in before Ella was in his arms. He was laughing and hugging her so tight that he swung her off her feet.
For a moment, Rowan wondered what it would feel like to be loved like that, watching Pearl flying out of her chair crying and laughing. “You came, you came! Ella said you would.”
Bowie held out one arm. “Come here, Gran. I need a hug from you, too.”
Pearl fell into his arms.
So, he’s Pearl’s grandson.
Rowan could see that he mattered greatly to them and stood quietly, watching the reunion and their joy with only a brief flash of envy. Then, as if sensing he was being watched, the man looked up and saw her. She caught a flash of something beyond curiosit
y, and then it was gone.
* * *
Bowie was so happy to see his family that it took a bit for him to realize there was another woman in the room. He knew he was staring, but didn’t look away.
She was young and leggy, like a colt, and with a lot of long hair as dark as her eyes, wearing a pair of worn-out shorts and a green T-shirt about two sizes too large. Her feet were bare, and there was sadness on her face, even though she smiled at him.
Bowie smiled back. “Hey, Aunt Ella, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”
Ella frowned. “Oh, where are my manners? Rowan, this is my nephew, Bowie James. His mother, Billie Jo, was my younger sister. Bowie, this is Rowan Harper. She’s in the same predicament Mama and I are, only she lost her daddy and her home in the flood.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Rowan Harper. My condolences on your losses. That hurricane was a bad one.”
“Yes, it was,” Rowan said. “Thank you for the sympathy. It is a pleasure to meet you, too.”
Pearl patted Bowie’s arm. “When we get our house fixed, Rowan is coming to live with us. She doesn’t have anything or anybody left, and we have those two extra bedrooms.”
Bowie blinked. This certainly added a hitch to his plans, but what the heck. He had the extra sleeping space, and it wouldn’t be for that long. He couldn’t take the girls and leave her behind.
“That sounds like an answer to everyone’s prayers,” Bowie said. “So, Gran, I haven’t seen the house yet. Is it locked?”
Ella nodded. “Yes, wait a second and I’ll get the key.”
She got her purse from the small closet, dug through the contents, and pulled out a key ring and handed it over.
“It’s the gold one, and it’s going to take you a while to fix the mess that house is in. Oh…you should also know that right after the floodwaters went down, some people from church came to the house and helped Mama and me pack up what hadn’t been ruined. We got some clothing, our business papers, the pots and pans, of course, and also my granny’s sideboard and the family silver. It’s all in storage here in town. Whatever is still in the house is to be thrown away.”
“Good to know. And it’s not going to take as long as you think,” Bowie said. “I brought one of my best work crews with me. They’ll be staying in the local bed-and-breakfast while we’re here, and I am taking all three of you to stay with me in my motor home until we’re done. No more nursing home.”
When Pearl’s eyes welled, Bowie hugged her again. “Don’t cry, Gran. I’ll fix the house. But you all need to know that there may be some more trouble while I’m here.”
Ella frowned. “What do you mean, more trouble?”
Bowie ran a hand through his hair in frustration.“I only arrived here last night, and in that short length of time, I have had three run-ins with the Boones, so be prepared. As long as I’m here, Jud isn’t going to let anything rest, although he’ll have to get out of jail to do it.”
Ella gasped. “Jud Boone is in jail? What did he do to you?”
“Emmitt’s oldest boy is in jail, too, Mel is probably drinking meals for a while, and Emmitt’s nose is broken,” Bowie said.
Rowan eyed the width of Bowie James’s shoulders, the muscles visible beneath his shirt, and the size of his hands, and guessed the Boones, whoever they were, might have come off luckier than they knew.
Pearl wasn’t amused. “I won’t stand for any of this,” she said. “It’s Jud’s fault Billie Jo took you and ran away in the middle of the night. I never saw her again. I’ll be having something to say to him myself, if he starts this old feud up all over again.”
“What feud?” Rowan asked.
Pearl threw up her hands in disgust. “Oh, it’s so stupid, and it began three generations back. My father and Jud’s father were sort of friends, but always in competition, and they loved the same girl. The animosity grew when the girl chose my father instead of Jud’s father. And then even though Jud’s father later married someone else, the hard feelings grew between them, and he passed it down to his children. Any chance Mr. Boone had to cause trouble for my daddy, he didn’t hesitate to take it.”
Bowie stopped her. “You can finish this ugly saga for Rowan later. How about I get you all out of here? How long will it take you to pack?”
“We have one suitcase between Mama and me,” Ella said.
“I don’t feel right intruding on you,” Rowan said. “I accepted these sweet ladies’ generosity, but it does not mean you should pick up the slack. I’m sure the director will let me stay until you repair the house.”
“No, ma’am,” Bowie said. “I came to rescue my girls, and the way I look at it, you’re the bonus I didn’t know was coming. Now I repeat… How long will it take you to pack?”
Rowan felt like Pearl. She wanted to cry from the joy and relief of not being left behind.
“Everything I have will fit in a grocery sack,” she said.
“Then let’s get crackin’,” Bowie said. “I already met with the director and told him you all were leaving, so there’s nothing left to do but take you away.”
What had begun as just another day had turned into a rescue, and a family reunion for Ella and Gran.
But for Rowan, it was a whole other thing. It hadn’t taken her long to go from curiosity about the stranger to having something of a crush. She’d always dreamed of the knight-in-shining-armor version of true love, and he was certainly a good example of that. Even though she’d known him less than fifteen minutes, and she’d turned out to be the unexpected guest at the shelter he was offering, she wasn’t going to turn down the first ray of hope she’d had since before the storm.
Chapter 3
Bowie felt like Santa Claus as he carried their belongings to his Cherokee. The girls were behind him, chattering among themselves, obviously relieved that their lives had just taken a turn for the better. He was putting their things in the back when Pearl frowned and then pointed to the deep gouges on both sides of his car.
“Bowie! Your car! What happened here?”
“That’s why Emmitt Boone’s oldest boy is in jail. He keyed it this morning. It set off the car alarm, and he got caught.”
“Why would he do something like this?” Pearl asked.
“Get in, and I’ll tell you on the way,” he said.
They all piled into the vehicle. Ella and Pearl got in the back seat so they could sit together, which left Rowan in the front seat beside Bowie.
“Now, tell me about those scratches,” Pearl said.
“As I was leaving Granny’s last night, Mel and Emmitt jumped me in the parking lot. I don’t know how they found out that I was in town so fast, but there they were. One of them had a baseball bat. The other one, brass knuckles. Stuff happened. Mel went down face-first and most likely will be swallowing nothing but liquids for a while. Emmitt went home with a broken nose. I guess he raised enough hell about it after he got home…excuse my language…that it fired up his boy to enact his own little version of retribution.”
Ella snorted. “Stuff happened. I’ll bet it did, if you laid both of them out without suffering so much as a bruise. You haven’t changed a lick. You never lied. Not once that I knew of when you were a kid, but you were the best at omitting details.”
He grinned. “Buckle up,” he said as he started the engine and drove away. “Oh…hey, Aunt Ella, I’ve been wondering what happened to your car. Was it a victim of the hurricane, too?”
“Yes, it floated away. They found it about a mile outside of town, caught beneath a bridge. Insurance company sent money. It’s not enough to buy a new car, of course, but it’s in the bank. We’ll figure something out after we’re home again.”
Bowie was listening, but he was also looking for the vehicles his work crew would be in. When he saw all three of them parked at Granny’s, one towing the trailer with the tools, he knew they�
�d already checked in at the bed-and-breakfast. He’d meet up with them shortly, and they’d go through the house together.
Ella was pointing out flood damage to her mother and bemoaning the loss of big trees and landscaping throughout Blessings. But Rowan was noticeably silent.
Bowie glanced at her once and thought he saw tears in her eyes. He felt true empathy for her situation. He knew what it felt like to lose your footing in the world. The farther he drove, the quieter all three of them became, until he drove into the trailer park and stopped at the red-and-black motor home.
“This is yours?” Rowan asked.
“Lordy be, Bowie,” Gran said.
“This must have cost a fortune,” Ella said.
“It’s the only home I own,” Bowie said. “I’m never in one place long enough, so I take my comfort with me.”
“Ah…I don’t think I knew that,” Pearl said. “I know when we do that FaceTime thing on the phone, you’re always on a jobsite. I just didn’t think.”
Bowie grinned. “If you think the outside is fancy, wait until you get inside. Now let’s get in out of the heat.”
They piled out of the car, excited and talking again as they walked up the little path to the door. Bowie turned off the security system, unlocked the door, then stepped aside to help them up the steps. Once they were in, he ran back to get their things.
All three of them were still standing in the middle of the living room, huddled together without moving, when he got back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and set their things on the sofa.
Ella kept shaking her head in disbelief. “It’s so grand…marble countertops, white cabinets, that gold-flecked backsplash.”
“And the furniture,” Gran said. “It all looks so, so—”
“Homey?” Bowie asked.
“Yes!” they echoed.
He grinned. “I told you this was my home. Gran, you and Aunt Ella will be sharing my bedroom and the private bath. Rowan, that sofa behind you turns into a full-size bed for you.”
“But where will you sleep?” she asked.
“That bench seating on the far side of the dining table pulls out to a bed as well.”
