by Pamela Morsi
She encouraged him to take a seat at the kitchen table beside her. Mrs. Marin and Howard were still not particularly pleased. But Cessy seemed totally happy and at ease with him.
"Did you get your things from your bachelor quarters?" she asked.
"Yes, yes I did."
"Mrs. Marin and I will make some room in the wardrobe for your things," she told him.
"Oh, I don't have much," Tom assured her. "I ... I travel light."
Cessy nodded with understanding. "Yes, I do suppose that would be necessary. But now that you have a home, well, you can send back East for your things."
"Ah . . . yes, yes, I guess I can."
"Did you wire them?" she asked.
"Who?"
"Your family? Did you send them a telegram about our marriage?"
Tom had not thought of this. Of course, he would have to start some story about his family. Cessy would naturally expect him to want them to know.
"Why . . . why yes, yes, of course I did. It was the most important thing that I had to do all day," he told her.
"And did they send a reply?"
"Ah . . . not yet," he said, hoping to buy time.
Cessy giggled and feigned biting her fingernails. "I'll be on pins and needles until we hear if they approve."
"How could they not approve of you, Cessy?" he said. "You are wonderful."
"But I'm not at all the kind of woman that should have married Gerald Tarkington Crane," she said with a shake of her head.
Tom was surprised at her words. She was exactly the kind of woman to suit Gerald. And she certainly suited him.
"Cessy," he said evenly. "I am just glad that you are married to me."
A blush stole into her cheeks and she lowered her eyes. His words obviously pleased her and he was glad that he said them.
She gave a hasty glance to see if Howard or Mrs. Marin was looking, and when she found they were not, she kissed him quickly and hurried away.
"You must be starving," she said. "Why don't we eat in here, it is so much more friendly."
Cessy fixed him a glass of sweetened lemonade and began bustling around, setting the table in the kitchen as the servants finished up the dinner preparations. She was jovial and teasing and her mood was positively infectious. She told him about her day. She made taking a bath while the laundry was being done sound like an adventure. And her description of Maloof's pleasure at presenting them with a new rug was as entertaining as any vaudeville skit. Tom just sat back in his chair, relaxed, and watched her.
This was the life, this was what he wanted. A fine, clean home, nice clothes, plenty of good food and a woman who loved and respected and worried about him. It was perfect. It was everything that Tom Walker had ever dreamed for himself and he basked in it.
Dinner was placed before him. It was simple fare, but tasty and hot. Tom was very content.
"I don't want you to be nervous about meeting my father," Cessy told him. "His bark is very much worse than his bite. Once he gets to know you, he will see just how perfect a son-in-law you are."
Tom shook his head. "I don't know about perfect, Cessy, but I am going to try to do my best."
"Of course you will," she said.
"And I won't be going anywhere without letting you know," he assured her.
"Don't give it another thought," Cessy insisted. "It was just something that happened. Years from now we'll look back at today and laugh."
"I love to hear you laugh, Cessy," he told her.
She did then, just for him.
"And besides, you are not the only one who has been gone all day," Cessy told him. "My father still hasn't shown up and I worry about him, too."
"Don't be anxious about King Calhoun," Tom told her as he finished his last bite of okra. "The Sixteen blew into a gas pocket and he's been up on the Topknot with the men all day."
Tom clipped his fork in his potatoes before the stillness of the woman across from him caught his attention. He raised his head.
"You know Daddy?" she asked.
"No, oh no, but well, everybody knows King Calhoun," he said.
She nodded slowly.
"How did you find out about the blowout?"
"I . . . ah . . . it's what everybody is talking about down at the saloons in Topknot. I . . . ah . . . stopped by to get a beer before I came home . . . ah . . . from the bank. All the men in there were talking about it. They said Calhoun was up there with his men all day."
"Oh," Cessy said, shrugging acceptance. "What were you doing at the bank?"
It was an innocent question. Unfortunately, Tom had no reasonable answer.
"I was ... I was . . . well, when I sent the telegram to my family I also wired my banker that since I'm going to be here, I'd . . . ah . . . need a transfer of funds."
"Oh, yes," Cessy agreed. "I would imagine that's so. Then you stopped into one of the saloons." She hesitated. "Why would you go all the way over to Topknot to get a beer? They have a beer garden in Burford Corners."
"I ... ah ... I have a favorite saloon over there that I prefer to do business with," he answered.
"A favorite? Which one?"
Tom searched his mind for the names of just one of the rows of saloons that were the part and parcel of downtown Topknot. Only one came to mind.
"Queenie's Palace," he answered.
Glass shattered noisily on the floor and lemonade splashed everywhere as Howard dropped the decanter that he carried.
Chapter Fourteen
Cessy Crane knew herself to be the happiest young woman on the planet. Others may have doubted, they may have tempted her to doubt, but she'd believed in him. And he'd proven her true.
After dinner the two sat cuddled up on the sofa together. Between occasional kisses they made plans.
"I have been considering the best way to break the news to Daddy, and I want you to follow my lead," she told him. "I think that we should let the truth come out rather gradually," she told him.
"That sounds like a good plan," Gerald agreed. "It is likely to be a shock to him. And he may even get angry that I have so propitiously stolen your heart."
She grinned at him. "Such a charming robber, you are," she teased.
"King Calhoun may not find me so," Gerald admitted.
Cessy nodded. "It will be fine, I'm certain of it," she said. "He will be surprised, but he's not the kind of father who would deny me anything that I desire."
"And do you desire me, Cessy," he whispered close to her ear.
"Whatever do you mean, Mr. Crane?" she asked him, batting her eyelashes like a coquette.
Gerald laughed at her performance and rewarded her with a hasty peck upon the end of her nose. It was no passionate kiss, but it was so dear and familiar and so ordinary it made her feel very married. And Cessy found that she liked that feeling very much indeed.
"When Daddy gets home," she said, "I will introduce you. We can sit around for a few moments chatting and getting to know each other."
Gerald nodded.
"When he's warmed up to you a bit, we'll mention that we've been seeing each other," she said. "Now, Gerald, that may surprise him a bit because, honestly, I haven't been keeping company with any gentleman."
Cessy was a little self-conscious about this admission. It was no great shame to have lived so long devoid of willing suitors. She had a husband now, the most wonderful husband she could imagine, and he was well worth the wait. So she was determined not to be embarrassed by the truth.
Gerald reached over and ran one long brown finger down the side of her face to her jawline and gently raised her chin.
"You were just waiting on me," he told her.
She smiled at him, admitting the truth of his words.
"Once Daddy has gotten to know you and learns that we've been seeing each other for almost two whole weeks," she said, "I'm sure it won't seem quite as impetuous to admit that we've eloped."
Gerald held her chin in his hand and lovingly stroked her bottom lip with his thumb.<
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"Cessy, I think that you need to expect that your father may not be too pleased to find that you've married me," he said.
"He may be a little upset at first," she admitted. "But he would never stand in the way of my happiness, Gerald. You can be certain of that. He has always wanted only the best for me."
"Then he and I have a good deal in common already," he said.
"I believe that ultimately you two will get along very well," Cessy assured him. "He'll probably want to make an oil man out of you."
She giggled at the idea of always clean, always perfectly pressed Gerald covered with the muck and mire of working on a rig.
"Can you imagine yourself on a work gang?" she asked.
Gerald looked displeased at the prospect. "Not really," he said. "Surely he will not expect that of me."
"Oh, certainly not rig work," Cessy agreed. "Although I have to tell you that you do look strong enough for it."
She punctuated her little joking comment with a squeeze of his biceps.
"But Maloof is right, Daddy will probably take you into the business."
"Maloof?"
"When you weren't here today, he assumed that, as my husband, Daddy would have you out working already," she said. "I suppose that's what he would expect, since Mr. Nafee has him working day and night already and he and Muna are not yet even wed."
"How droll," Gerald suggested.
"Don't worry, it won't be all work and no play," Cessy said. "Daddy has his business and I have my interests, but we both enjoy giving entertainments and having guests to visit."
"I'm sure our life will be quite diverting," Gerald said. "Any life with you, my Cessy, would be that."
The compliment pleased her.
"Daddy and I will, of course, want to introduce you to all our friends," she told him.
"That would be nice," he replied.
"We know a lot of people here in Burford Corners," she explained. "And we know everybody in Topknot. It's Daddy's field, and most of the folks working there were handpicked and have been friends of ours since way back in Pennsylvania."
"How nice," he commented.
"It really is," Cessy agreed. "Most of those people are like family. Many of them helped raise me. Mama died so young and Daddy was always working out on the wells."
"It must have been a very difficult life," he said, taking her hand in his own.
"It was hard, I suppose," she told him. "But it was a wonderful life, too. We were all working together and sticking through the tough times by leaning on each other." Cessy shook her head. "Wait until you meet Ma."
"Ma?"
"That's what everybody calls her. Her name is actually Sadie Pease, but she's like a mother to all of us that grew up in the oilpatch."
"How nice."
"She and Cedarleg, that's her husband, have been as dear to me as my own parents. I've tried to get the two of them to retire here and work at Reverend McAfee's school. Ma would be so good for the boys and Cedarleg could expand the teaching there to include mechanics and industrial training."
Gerald's brow was furrowed as if he was worried. "It sounds as if these people are very important to you," he said.
"They are. I love them dearly," she said.
He was looking very worried now and Cessy was momentarily puzzled. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and offered a reassuring kiss.
"Don't worry, my darling," she told him. "Ma and Cedarleg are just going to love you, I'm certain of it," Cessy said.
He didn't look so sure.
"Cedarleg will take a bit of winning over, I suppose," she said. "But once he gives somebody his trust, he never falters. Ma won't even need to be won. She's a very generous soul, always. And she has a real sense about people. It's almost as if she can see straight to the heart of a person the minute they meet."
"A worthwhile talent," Gerald observed.
"And such a sense of humor," Cessy added. "She's always got some funny story to tell and she tells it over and over."
"I will try to remember to be amused," he said. "So that she will like me."
"Of course, she usually finds something to like in just about everybody," Cessy pointed out. "But I think she would see you as I do, honest and fair and true all the way to the heart."
He nodded thoughtfully for a long moment. Then to Cessy's surprise he abruptly changed the subject.
"Where do you want to go on your wedding trip?" he asked.
"Wedding trip? Why I hadn't even thought about one," she said. "Do you want to take a wedding trip?"
"Isn't that what newly married couples do?" he asked. "Niagara Falls or perhaps Europe."
"Europe?"
"If it's good enough for Teddy Roosevelt, it's good enough for my bride and me," Gerald assured her.
"I don't know," she said. "I really hadn't considered Europe."
"Then we could stay bound to American soil," he said. "We could take the train to Chicago for a few weeks, it's a wonderfully exciting city."
"I haven't been there since I was a girl," she admitted. "Daddy took me to the Exposition."
"So we see Chicago and then on to New York," he said. "You do like New York, don't you?"
Cessy nodded.
"We could see stage plays, eat at restaurants, peruse the cabarets and the dancing palaces, enjoy ourselves until we are totally exhausted with our leisure."
"Oh, that would be wonderful," she agreed.
"Then let's do it," he said. "Neither time nor money need concern us, why not enjoy ourselves to the fullest."
"I enjoy every moment that we are together," she told him honestly.
Gerald smiled at her. "We'll get away alone together," he whispered seductively in her ear. "Just the two of us in a pullman berth, our bodies rocking against each other in every state from here to the Atlantic Ocean."
His words sizzled through her, setting her heart to pacing rapidly, and stirring up vivid memories of the previous night that had her squirming restlessly upon the sofa beside him.
Gerald pulled her into his lap and began kissing her. That very special kind of kissing where he stroked her mouth with his tongue and nipped her lips with his teeth. Cessy wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body closely against his own.
"Mmmm, you taste so good," he whispered.
"Oh, it feels so good," she answered.
"If we can get some of these clothes off you," he promised. "I can make it feel even better."
He undid the buttons on her shirtwaist and helped himself to the linen-covered roundness that spilled above the top of her corset.
Gerald ran a fiery trail of kisses from the base of her throat to the valley between her breasts. His tongue snaked out to taste that very tender flesh.
Cessy buried her fingers in his hair and pressed him more closely to her as she threw her head back, eagerly offering him whatever he desired to take.
The parlor doors opened and slammed startlingly into their pockets.
Cessy squealed and jumped to her feet to find herself facing her father. Hastily she covered her exposed bosom. King Calhoun was glaring at them like the wrath of God.
"We're married!" she cried out by way of announcement.
Tom would have hoped for a more auspicious introduction to his father-in-law. But they had come to an understanding, at least. Tiredly Tom trudged up the stairway to Cessy's room. She'd gone to bed over an hour earlier, while Tom had been questioned and cross-examined in the library by his new father-in-law.
Having the man catch them spooning in the front parlor had not been Tom's finest moment. Inelegantly, he had kept his seat, but it seemed the easiest way to cover his lap. He met King Calhoun's furious glare with as much raw courage as he had mustered against the Cubans.
"Married! By God, you'd better not be married without asking me!"
Cessy attempted to make her careful, well-thought-out explanation into a quick and concise excuse. And she was not doing particularly well.
"We
met at the Fourth of July picnic," she said. "And we knew right then, the night that we met, that we were meant for each other. Gerald and I have been keeping company on the porch for the past week and a half, and yesterday we went for an outing with Muna and her fiancé and we got married."
King Calhoun had not been easily won over.
"Have you lost your wits!" he had screamed at one point. "You must be addled in the brain," he suggested at another. "Has this fancy talking fellow lured you into something against your will?"
It took the better part of an hour to convince Cessy's father that she was sane, in her right mind and of her own free will, married to Gerald Crane.
"It can't be true," Calhoun insisted.
"Well, it is," she had assured him. "Reverend McAfee performed the ceremony in his little church yesterday afternoon."
King Calhoun paced the length of the parlor like a caged lion. Tom stood protectively at Cessy's side. She held on to his arm as if it were a lifeline as her father bellowed and complained.
"I've always tried to watch over you, protect you," Calhoun ranted. "I've tried to do for you the things that I thought best."
"I know that, Daddy."
"I sent you to that fancy, highbutton school of Miss Thorogate's. I thought you'd be happy among the females there. That you'd go to parties and entertainments and make friends. But you were more interested in falling-down tenements than coming out parties."
"I know you were disappointed in me," she agreed.
"Disappointed! Sweet Mother Magee!" he bellowed. "I wasn't disappointed, I was mystified. You come back to the oil fields and I watch you get on with your life and I'm thinking that you are happy and content. I build you this house in Burford Corners. You involve yourself with social obligations of the community, with the Library Committee, that Indian School. But in all this time, not by even the smallest word have you ever indicated that you wished to marry."
"Daddy, it's not that I wished to marry," Cessy insisted. "And you make it sound as if I've kept something from you. There was nothing to tell so I didn't tell you."
"Well, I dang well wish that you had," he told her. "If I'd had one inkling that you wanted to marry up, I'd a found you somebody to wed. You didn't say a word."
