Catching Moondrops (10 page)

I slid my arms away and backed away awkwardly, lifting the back of one hand to test the temperature of my cheeks, but the heat in them only made me flush even more.

Luke slipped the apron over his head, then ran a hand through his hair to smooth it down. I was covered with a dusting of flour and he still sported creases on his face from sleep. But none of that mattered. Flour, messy hair, and prying eyes couldn't do a single thing to dull the sheer bliss that had started to fill me from the second my daddy had called me a woman and opened the door to my future.

Luke let his hand drop to his side and then reached out to gently grasp my fingertips, looking all the while like a schoolboy trying to get up the courage to ask a crush to the dance. But then he pried his eyes from the floor and looked at me without lifting his head, a squinty sort of stare that reminded me good and quick that he was no boy.

“Would you like to step out with me, Jessilyn?”

That was it. That was all he said.
“Would you like to step out with me, Jessilyn?”

And it was paradise.

From the corner of my eye I spotted Gemma's head peeking over my momma's shoulder, and I smiled. She'd blessed my life with her presence from the day she first showed up on our property. It was only fitting she'd be there the day my best dreams came true.

Luke saw my smile and let his own face spread out in a grin. “That a yes?”

I shook my head at him and feigned an angry look. “Luke Talley, you don't know me one bit if you think it ain't.”

His smile widened, and the pink that had colored his cheeks spread to his ears. Then he lifted my hand to his lips. It was only for a brief moment, but it was enough to send my heart thumping so fast, I thought I'd pass out.

I glanced at Daddy in fear of disapproval, but he only sniffed the air and grimaced. “Sakes alive, Sadie, what's burnin'?”

Momma caught sight of the smoldering pancake sitting on the griddle and rushed to the stove to pull it off. The pancake was black as coal, fogging the kitchen in a cloud of smoke.

But my world had just turned upside down. The house itself could have burned down around me and I wouldn't have noticed a thing.

Chapter 7

“Your brother been stayin' out of trouble, Noah?” Gemma asked, her face buried in her work. “I ain't inclined to see him show up at Doc Pritchett's anytime soon.”

One afternoon a week Gemma and I would sit together with Noah's sister, Lissa, out in front of the Jarvises' tiny, worn house, sewing drawstrings into tobacco bags. It was a much-needed source of income for Lissa. Gemma did it mostly for the conversation, and though I hated sewing, I always joined in to work on a few so I could sit and gab with them too.

Noah sat near us under a shade tree, a book in his lap. “Who knows? We barely see him these days.”

I tilted my head to see better as the sunlight dimmed behind the clouds, though my mind wasn't so much on needlework as it was on Luke. “I reckon he's busy tryin' to find work.”

“Work!” Lissa huffed. “He ain't doin' nothin' of the sort. Boy don't do nothin' but laze about and stir up trouble. Some days he comes home three o'clock in the mornin' drunk as a skunk.”

Gemma and I lifted our heads in unison, but it was Gemma who spoke first, as usual. “That boy's a mess these days.” She shook her head fiercely. “Don't you go followin' in his footsteps, Noah Jarvis. You got too much goin' for you.”

“I ain't likely to, Miss Gemma. I got me better things to think about.”

I finished my last stitch and laid my work down. “What're you learnin' about today, Noah?”

His eyes came up, but he kept his head tilted toward the book. “Just studyin' history.”

“You get into college, what d'you plan on doin' with that extra education? You got somethin' in mind?”

“Boy wants to be a doctor now,” Lissa piped up. “Think of that. Dr. Jarvis!”

“So you're pretty serious about that, huh?” I got up and bent down next to Noah to peer at his book. “Tal Pritchett thinks you'd be a fine hand at it.”

“It ain't a sure thing. Not even close. I figure I best not go gettin' nobody's expectations up. It ain't likely I'd get into college in the first place.”

“Tal thinks you'd get in, no questions asked, and I think so too,” Gemma said. “You keep studyin' hard like that, Noah. I want you takin' care of my children someday.”

“Unless you end up marryin' a doctor yourself,” I said. “In which case, you already got a ready-made doctor for your children.”

“Don't you start, Jessilyn!”

I gave Noah a nudge. “She gets so touchy sometimes.”

“I ain't sayin' a word.” Noah opened his book and hid his face behind it. “Don't go gettin' Gemma riled at me.”

Gemma jabbed her needle into the air in my direction. “I ain't got need of you braggin' about me steppin' out when I ain't, Jessilyn.”

“You will be.”

“Don't go spreadin' talk!”

“I'm only speakin' truth. Leastways I ought to be. No man could do better.”

I could see that she squelched a smile, but she looked away to keep from letting on. “You're just talkin' foolishness.”

“I'm only sayin'.” I reached up and grabbed a flower from the magnolia tree Noah sat under. “If the man's got any sense, he'll snatch you up, and he'll do it on the quick, too. Not like Luke takin' years of my life away while he got his nerve up.”

“Jessie, he weren't doin' nothin' but waitin' till things were good and proper. And I don't need you gettin' worked up over my marital status. It'll happen if and when it's meant to, so don't let it keep you awake nights.”

I elbowed Noah. “If I keep this needlin' up, she's bound to box my ears. You know how she can get.”

“She'll likely still be doin' it in a few years. Maybe by then I'll know how to mend you up.”

“Listen to you makin' jokes, Noah Jarvis,” Gemma said. “You're a bad influence on him, Jessie.”

“Ain't nothin' wrong with a boy havin' a well-developed sense of humor.” I went back to where I'd been sitting and stuffed my things into my sack. “Anyways, least the boy tells the truth.”

Gemma jabbed her needle into the tobacco bag and narrowed her eyes. “I ain't never laid a hand on you, and you know it.” She stood and filled her own sack. “But heaven knows there was a time or two I thought of it.”

“There's a time or two I've thought of givin' Malachi a shot to the head,” Lissa murmured. “Yes, ma'am, he could do with a lickin' or ten.”

“Well, don't tell me your momma don't give him some,” I said, “'cause I've seen it myself.”

“Oh, she hands it out good, but it don't make no difference. Don't ask me why it worked with me and Noah but not with Malachi.”

“He's stubborn as a mule, that's why.” Gemma stretched her arms high, arched her back, and groaned. “My back's stiff as a board.” She walked over to Lissa and patted her cheek. “Don't you worry none, girl. Ain't goin' to do nothin' but give you headaches.”

“Ain't possible not to worry when someone you love's in trouble, Gemma Teague. You ought to know that.” Lissa finished off by tipping her head in my direction.

I wrinkled my nose up. “Listen to you, makin' it out like I've given Gemma all kinds of worry.”

She grinned and tucked her head down closer to her work. “I didn't say a thing.”

“Uh-huh! Gemma Teague, you must've told some tall tales about me.”

“Only what's true.”

“Well, I ain't a girl no more, so you can stop pickin' on me now.”

“But it's so much fun.”

“Oh, hush!” I slipped my arm through hers and led her off toward the road. “I let her stay any longer and she'll be talkin' nonsense about me all evenin'.”

“Nothin' I ain't already heard,” Lissa called as we walked away.

Momma was on the porch shucking corn as we came up the walk, and she waved a corn silk–covered hand at us. “You girls get some good work done today?”

“Much as we could with all the silliness goin' on,” Gemma muttered.

Momma stood and let the stray pieces of husk slip off her lap. “Oh, what's work without a little silliness to make it better?”

I gave Momma a wink. “Gemma got all bothered because I brought up Tal Pritchett, is all.”

“Tal Pritchett's a fine man, Gemma,” Momma said. “Seems he means to do some good things here in Calloway.”

“He means to snap up my Gemma is what he means to do.”

Gemma propped the door open with her foot. “Jessilyn, you're just eggin' me on!”

“Ain't nothin' new about that.”

I followed her inside to the kitchen, where Gemma washed up. I could tell by her sharp movements she didn't plan on entertaining any more of my jokes about her and Tal Pritchett. As it was, Luke arrived shortly after, so I didn't feel like talking about any other man, anyway. It had been a few days since we'd talked courting, and I figured he had to come around to asking me to go someplace soon or else he'd look a fool.

So after I put in my fair share of picking up after supper, I walked outside to join him on the porch, where he stood against the rail staring at the moon.

“It'll be full tomorrow night,” I noted. “You know what my daddy says about a full moon.”

Luke folded his arms and smiled at me. “No, what's your daddy say about a full moon?”

He knew full well since he'd heard my daddy say it every full moon for the past six years. But Luke had me tell him the same stories over all the time just because he liked to hear me tell them.

I smiled wryly at him and then pointed my gaze toward the sky. “My daddy says that the moon fills up a little more every day until it just gets too full and starts to spill out. Then those moondrops fall to earth until the moon disappears altogether and has to fill up all over again. And if you're lucky enough, you'll catch one of those moondrops, because moondrops can make you see the whole world brighter.”

Just like always, he asked, “You ever catch one of them moondrops, Jessilyn?”

“Not yet.” I turned my eyes to him. “But I got me a feelin' I will soon.”

“Well then, we best go out moondrop huntin' tomorrow evenin', you and me. Seems to me we might spot some good ones. We could do a little night fishin' while we wait. Fish are hoppin' at Barter's Lake, so I hear.”

After all those years of waiting and wishing for this moment, none of my imagined scenarios did anything to still the nervous flutter of my heart. I hid my shaky hands behind my back and murmured, “That so?”

“So I hear. You reckon you might like that?”

Now for some girls, night fishing to start out courting would have been about as welcome as a snakebite, but not for me. I wasn't much of a goin'-into-town girl, and from my way of thinking, there wasn't a much more fitting way for us to get things started. I did everything I could to make my voice sound nonchalant. “I think I'd like that.”

But I knew it would never work. My daddy might have given Luke his blessing, but he wouldn't ever let me walk out alone with Luke at night.

He was way ahead of me. “Gemma already said she could chaperone.”

“Gemma likes goin' out on the boat.”

“Sure enough.”

“I don't reckon Daddy'll mind, then.”

“Can't see as he would.” He reached out to catch a firefly and held his hand open so it could crawl across it. “In fact, I reckon he don't, seein' as how I already asked him.”

I betrayed my attempt at nonchalance and stood on my toes in excitement. “He already said we could?”

Luke nodded. “Gotta be back by midnight, though.”

I didn't care. So long as I got to say I'd stepped out with Luke Talley, I didn't much care if we left at seven and had to be home by seven fifteen. I settled back onto flat feet and watched the firefly light up and fly away, a faint ache forming in my cheeks from my wide smile.

I was starting to think maybe I'd caught one of those moondrops after all.

Chapter 8

The day of my date with Luke was a blur. While I straightened Miss Cleta's knickknacks or dusted her furniture, she'd watch me from the corners of her eyes and then start chuckling.

Every time she did, I'd ask, “What's so funny?”

And every time she'd answer, “You're a sight.”

The fourth time she said it, I dropped onto the sofa with a loud sigh. “I can't think straight.”

“Oh, you can think straight, all right, only you can't think of more than one thing . . . and he's a whole lot nicer to look at than that dust rag.” She tipped my chin up with one arthritic finger. “You've waited a long time for this day, Jessilyn. Enjoy it.”

“I plan to . . . if I could only get these jitters to go away.”

She waved me off. “Jitters are part of the fun. Don't worry so much.”

But I worried, and there was no settling down for me that afternoon or evening. After washing up, I sat on my bed, my mind running through all the stupid things I could wind up saying or doing that night.

Momma came in and found me there so distracted, it took her two repetitions of my name before I noticed. Once I spotted her, she gave me that smile only Momma could give and sat down beside me. “You gettin' cold feet?”

“Momma, I swear, after six years, you'd think I'd be ready as anythin' for this.”

“But you ain't.”

“No, I ain't!”

She put an arm around me and pulled me close. “Baby, first time out with a man is always scary no matter how prepared you think you are. That's just part of life. But let me tell you one important thing: Luke Talley came to care for who you are, plain and simple. Not for somethin' he thinks you might be. Don't go tryin' to be anythin' but you and you'll be good and fine tonight.”