Curtis (7 page)

Sobbing uncontrollably, Lorrie flopped onto her bed and pulled her pillow to her chest, trying to keep the cracked and brittle pieces of her heart from escaping. It felt as though someone had filled her chest with broken glass, the pain suffocating her. Sobs tore through her, making her hiccup as she gasped for air.

Daddy couldn’t do this. He couldn’t keep her away from Curtis.

What had he said to Curtis? Had he insisted that Curtis marry her? Was that what this was about? And why would he? Why would her daddy want her to get married when she was still a kid? It didn’t make any sense.

Closing her eyes, Lorrie gave in to exhaustion, tears streaming down her face.

It was dark when Lorrie opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure what woke her, but she didn’t move from where she was. Wasn’t even sure she could. Her whole body hurt from crying most of the day.

Then she heard it. Something tapped against her window.

Scrambling out of bed, she tiptoed across the room, pulled back the curtain, and peered out into the night. Since they didn’t have an air conditioner, Momma always left the windows open, which allowed Lorrie to stick her head out.

“Psst.”

Lorrie searched for the sound and looked down at the hedges that lined the edge of the house to see Curtis hunched beneath the window behind them.

“I need to talk to you,” he said in a rough whisper.

Lorrie turned and glanced back in the room. She had no idea what time it was, but it must’ve been really late. It was just as dark inside, but she could make out Kathy’s and Celeste’s forms in their beds asleep.

Peering down at herself, she realized she was still wearing her clothes from that morning. She looked out the window again, then back into the room. She knew her sisters wouldn’t tell on her if they woke up to find her gone, so she was safe there. The only thing she could hope was that Momma didn’t come in to check on her. Not that she ever had before, but Lorrie had evidently missed dinner, so she might.

Without contemplating what might happen if she got caught, Lorrie slipped one foot outside and eased over the windowsill. Curtis wrapped his arms around her waist and helped her to the ground, then took her hand, and they ran from the house, heading toward the tree line that separated her parents’ yard from the neighbors’.

Once they were far enough away that no one could hear them, Curtis stopped. Lorrie was out of breath, but apparently she didn’t need to talk, because Curtis had pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against his body.

She allowed the warmth of him to infuse her for a few minutes while she caught her breath and her heart started beating normally. When she tried to pull back, Curtis wouldn’t release her, his lips brushing over her cheek.

“I love you, Lorrie. With my whole heart.”

She wasn’t sure why he was professing his love for her. She already knew how he felt. He’d told her a million times, the same as she’d told him.

“I can’t stay away from you,” he said softly.

Lorrie managed to put a little space between them and stared up into his handsome face. “I don’t want you to stay away.”

She honestly couldn’t think of a worse hell than living without Curtis.

Curtis cupped her head, his gaze locked on her face. She could see his eyes thanks to the bright white glow from the moon, and what she saw in them scared her. There was a sadness that she could feel piercing her heart.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, not really sure she wanted an answer.

“Do you love me, Lorrie?”

The pain in his voice mirrored the pain she could see in his eyes. “Yes,” she said hurriedly. “More than anything.”

“Enough to marry me?”

Lorrie took a step back, breaking his hold on her. “Did my daddy come see you today?”

Curtis nodded, but he didn’t move.

“What did he say?”

Curtis didn’t answer.

“Did he tell you to marry me?”

His terse nod broke her heart.

“Or what?”

“Or we can’t see each other,” he said on a rough exhale.

Lorrie’s heart broke all over again. Her father really was trying to force Curtis to marry her.

How could he do that?

Why?

Why
would he do that?

chapter SEVEN

Curtis had never felt this much raw emotion before. Not even when he’d found out his old man was dead. Then again, he’d never felt anything like the love he felt for Lorrie. It was physical in the sense he was consumed by it. His chest always felt full, as though his feelings were too much to fit inside him, growing bigger every time he saw her, until now, when he thought his chest might actually explode.

As he stood in the trees, listening to the sound of the wind through the dry branches combined with Lorrie’s ragged breathing, he was consumed by everything.

Love.

Anger.

Desire.

Fear.

It swirled inside of him until he wasn’t sure which was most prevalent.

The anger was directed at Lorrie’s father for putting them in this position. Marrying this girl wasn’t the problem. He would marry her tomorrow if she would say yes. But he wasn’t sure she would say yes, and that was what terrified him. If he asked her now, she would think he was only doing it because her father had forced him to. And that was partly true. He was willing to do whatever he had to in order to make sure Lorrie wasn’t taken from him.

“I don’t understand,” Lorrie said in a rush. “Why would he do that?”

Reaching for her, Curtis pulled her back into his arms, not wanting to let her go. He loved the smell of her hair, the smoothness of her fingers when they snuck up the back of his shirt, the crush of her breasts against his chest. He wanted to kiss her, to lay her down on the ground right here and show her how much he loved her, how much she meant to him. He wanted to make love to her a million times, to let her feel every part of him and know that there wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t in love with her.

Cradling the back of her head, he held her against him, briefly wondering if she could hear the erratic beat of his heart. The fear was making his blood pump harder.

Fear that she wouldn’t believe that he wanted to marry her and not because of her father.

Fear that he would never see her again.

Fear that if he didn’t marry her, she would move on and end up falling in love with someone else.

The last thought was what had him tightening his hold on her, his palm cradling the back of her head perfectly as he held it to his chest.

“I love you,” he whispered. “God, Lorrie. I love you more than anything. I need you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

“Daddy can’t keep us apart,” she said adamantly. “He just can’t do it.”

But he could, and that was what terrified Curtis. “I’ll be eighteen in a coupla months, Lorrie. Technically, he can keep us apart then. I’m not willin’ to take that chance.”

Lorrie pulled back enough to look up at him. “What are you saying?”

It was now or never.

“I’m sayin’ I wanna marry you.”

When she started to pull away, he kept his arms banded around her.

“Wait,” he pleaded. “Let me explain.”

Lorrie shook her head. “There’s nothin’ to explain. We’re too young to get married, Curtis. And I don’t want you to marry me ’cause my daddy told you to.”

Curtis released her but cupped her face with his hands, forcing her to look up at him. “From the day I met you, I knew you would be my girl, Lorrie. You captivated me with your pretty blue eyes and your sassy little mouth. Even though you irritated me at the same time, it was the greatest feeling in the world. I knew you would be my girl forever and a day.” He took a breath. “No man is gonna force me to do anything I don’t wanna do. But more than that, no man is gonna take you away from me. You hear me? Do you understand what I’m tellin’ you? I love you. With every breath I take. I would be honored if you’d be my wife.”

Her blue eyes were wide as a tear trickled down her cheek. Curtis knew she was having a hard time believing him, but he needed her to. He needed her to know that he would go to the ends of the earth for her.

“Before your old man came over to my house, I’d thought about marryin’ you, sure. I don’t know what tomorrow’s gonna bring. You’ve seen the newspapers. Bad things are happenin’. We’re at war. My brother’s over there fightin’, and we don’t even know if he’ll ever come back. That could be me, Lorrie. When I turn eighteen, I’ll be expected to go over there. It’s all so messed up. I know that. You know that. But that don’t mean I don’t think about marryin’ you all the damn time.”

“I’m only fifteen, Curtis.”

“That doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to me.” Although it really did. Curtis knew Lorrie wasn’t ready for marriage. She wasn’t ready to be in his bed, to sleep by his side, to allow him to slide inside her body. He needed that to quench his desperation for her, but he could and would wait for her.

What he wouldn’t do was sit back and let anyone take her away from him.

Lorrie couldn’t keep the tears back. They were streaming down her face in rivers. Curtis’s words had pierced her heart and broken the dam. It was no wonder she loved him so much. She knew in her heart that she would never find a man who would love her the way that Curtis did. Never find a man who would protect her, keep her safe. She could feel it deep inside, knew that he wasn’t simply telling her these words because they sounded good.

Although he wasn’t her lover yet, he was her best friend, the person she confided in, shared her hopes and dreams with. She couldn’t imagine herself with any other man. Ever.

“I love you, Curtis Walker,” she said between sobs.

“Then marry me. Be my wife. We’ll go tomorrow. To the justice of the peace. I heard that Billy Elks did that. He went to the courthouse, and they married him that same day. He wasn’t even eighteen, either. I don’t wanna wait, Lorrie. I don’t wanna spend another second away from you.”

Lorrie wanted to tell him yes, but she wasn’t sure she could. What would she do about school? Where would they live? She was only in high school. Neither of them were finished yet. They couldn’t just quit going. She didn’t
want
to quit going.

Curtis’s thumbs brushed away the tears on her cheeks as he continued to cup her face and stare down at her.

“Whatever your worries, we’ll work them out together. We can do this, Lorrie.”

She forced a smile.

“I’ve always believed for every person there was only one love that would last a lifetime. I never understood quite what it meant until I met you, though. You’re it for me, Lorrie. You
are
my love that lasts a lifetime.”

Lorrie felt her chest tighten, and more tears began to fall.

How she’d ever gotten this lucky, she wasn’t sure. Finding a man like Curtis, one who knew what to say to ease her mind, one who didn’t make promises he didn’t keep… It was a dream come true. She could consider herself blessed beyond measure if she could spend the rest of her life with him.

She wrapped her arms around Curtis and held him tightly as he hugged her back. She was scared, she couldn’t deny that. Just like Curtis said, they didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but she knew that if her daddy tried to keep her away from Curtis, the only thing she’d have would be a broken heart.

At fifteen, she wasn’t naïve. Even though she lived in a small town, didn’t know a whole lot about what was going on outside of Granite Creek, her heart knew what it wanted. She had always dreamed about marrying a good man, a strong man. Settling down, raising children, laughing, loving. Curtis Walker could and would give her that, of that she had no doubt.

“I don’t wanna quit school,” she mumbled against his chest. Her mother had quit school to marry her daddy, and she didn’t want to end up like her.

“You don’t have to quit.”

“Where will we live? We can’t stay with your mother.”

Technically they could, she knew, but she was grateful when he agreed they probably shouldn’t.

“Where then?” she asked.

“We’ll work it all out, darlin’. Me and you.”

Lorrie nodded against his chest. “I’ll marry you.”

Curtis pulled back, cupping her head in his big hands once again. When she looked up into his face, he was grinning from ear to ear. It was that radiant smile that made her laugh, made her tears dry up as she realized what they were about to do.

Married.

Holy cow.

Lorrie was going to spend the rest of her life with him. They would get married, have babies, and spend a lifetime together, loving one another. It was as simple and as complicated as that.

“It’s gonna be perfect, Lorrie. You wait and see.”

“It already is,” she whispered back.

It already is.

chapter EIGHT

After helping Lorrie back in through her window, Curtis had come home, but he’d never gone to sleep. He’d spent the rest of the night mapping out what needed to happen for him to marry Lorrie. The actual getting hitched part was easy. It was everything else that had to be worked out.

He didn’t want to live with his alcoholic mother and his horde of brothers and sisters. That was no way for a married couple to start out their life together. Since he would be eighteen soon, he did have to think about what happened next. He could work on the ranch and help his mother that way, make enough to take care of Lorrie so that she could finish school. There was an old guesthouse on the property. Maybe he could fix it up, and they could stay there until he could buy her a house.

What if Lorrie didn’t want to live on the ranch? What if she wanted a house in town? His family had money, he knew that, but he didn’t actually have any of his own.

A knock on his bedroom door pulled him from his thoughts.

“What?” he hollered.

“Momma wants to talk to you,” Frank Jr. called out.

Curtis glanced at the window, seeing the golden rays shining in. Only then did he realize that the sun had come up. He took one last drag on his cigarette and then stamped it out in the ashtray. Getting to his feet, he tossed his pencil on the paper he hadn’t even written on and headed for the living room.

“In the kitchen,” Mary Elizabeth announced.

Curtis stepped into the kitchen to see Mr. Jameson sitting at the table across from his mother. Dread instantly settled in his gut. Nothing good could come from that man showing up at his house.

“Mr. Jameson came to tell me the news.”

“What news?”

“That you’re plannin’ to marry Lorrie,” she added.

Lorrie must’ve said something. That was the only way he would know, because Curtis hadn’t yet figured out how he was going to go over there and ask for the man’s permission. Not after yesterday.

As though reading his mind, Mr. Jameson said, “You didn’t think anyone heard you sneak her out her bedroom window?”

Fucking bastard. The man had eavesdropped on their conversation.

“Is it true?” Mary Elizabeth questioned.

“It’s true,” Curtis admitted, locking eyes with Mr. Jameson. “I plan to marry your daughter.”

Mr. Jameson shook his head. “I’m sorry, son. I just can’t let that happen.” His tone was cool and collected, the complete opposite from yesterday, when he’d driven his ass onto Curtis’s property and asked what his intentions were.

A rage unlike anything Curtis had ever known consumed him. For the first time in his life, he understood the hatred that had lived inside his father.

Sparing a glance at his mother, Curtis swallowed hard before facing off with Mr. Jameson once more. “You can’t stop me.”

“Curtis, she’s only fifteen,” Mary Elizabeth pleaded. “You can’t marry her without Mr. Jameson’s permission.”

Curtis cocked his head. “That’s strange. I had your permission yesterday.”

“That was yesterday. I’ve changed my mind.”

A vision of him with his hands wrapped around the old bastard’s neck blinded him momentarily.

“Unless…”

Through a cloudy red haze, Curtis focused on Mr. Jameson once more. “Unless
what
?”

From the corner of his eye, Curtis noticed Mary Elizabeth’s face fall, sadness consuming her.

Mr. Jameson looked at her. “It’s my understandin’ that the first of your sons to marry will inherit the Walker estate. Is that true?”

What?

The red haze intensified, and for the first time in his life, Curtis contemplated killing a man.

“It’s true,” Mary Elizabeth said, looking up at Curtis. “Curtis would inherit it all if he were to marry Lorrie.”

What the hell did that have to do with anything? He wasn’t going to marry Lorrie just so he’d get the Walker land. It was already his as far as he was concerned. And Gerald’s. And Joseph’s. And David’s. And Frank Jr’s.

Mr. Jameson was looking at him once more. “I’ll give you my permission to marry Lorrie provided you pay me a sum equivalent to her worth.”

Curtis’s fury consumed him, his hands fisted at his sides, and an involuntary growl tore up from his chest. This sorry, good-for-nothing bastard wanted Curtis to
pay
him?

“It’s only fair, son,” Mr. Jameson went on to say as though this was a completely rational conversation. “If she marries you, that’s one less set of hands I’ll have to help out at home.”

Not to mention one less mouth to feed, Curtis thought, but kept it to himself.

Bastard.

“And how much do you want?” Curtis dared to ask.

“Five thousand dollars,” Mr. Jameson said smoothly, as though he had this all planned out.

“Five thousand? Are you outta your fuckin’ mind?” That was more money than most people made in a year. Twice as much as what the folks in Granite Creek made.

“Is she not worth five thousand?” Mr. Jameson questioned.

“Lorrie’s worth more than any amount of money,” Curtis bellowed, angry that her own father could imply otherwise.

“Then I don’t see that we’ll have a problem.”

Oh, they had a big fucking problem.

Curtis looked at his mother. For the first time, he realized she was sober. And she was crying. He had no idea what she was distraught about. She had to know that he would always take care of her. But did they have that kind of money? He knew the ranch was worth a lot, but that wasn’t the same as cash.

When Mary Elizabeth looked up at him, her eyes were suddenly clear. She nodded her head once, a signal for him to agree to Mr. Jameson’s demands. The action shocked him, but he couldn’t bring himself to deal with that right now.

“Fine,” he told Mr. Jameson. “But I’m marryin’ her today. And if you do anything to stand in my way, you’ll never see a penny. Now see yourself outta my house.”

Mr. Jameson got to his feet. “I’ll expect the money before you marry her. And don’t think you can gyp me, boy. You pull a stunt, and you can bet your ass you’ll never see her again. I’ll send her away from here for as long as I have to. I’m sure there’ll be another ol’ boy willin’ to take her off my hands eventually.”

Curtis couldn’t stop himself. He grabbed the front of Mr. Jameson’s shirt, jerked him forward, then slammed him into the wall, getting right up in his face. The rage blinded him, but he managed to speak. “If I
ever
hear you disrespectin’ Lorrie again, I’ll put my fist through your face. I don’t give a good goddamn who you are. She ain’t a goddamn piece of property.”

Mr. Jameson’s eyes widened, a hint of fear swirling in the blue orbs, but he didn’t say anything, his breath rushing in and out of his lungs. It took every ounce of control Curtis possessed to keep from beating the man to a pulp.

“Five thousand,” Mr. Jameson snarled. “I’m takin’ you at your word.”

With barely restrained fury, Curtis managed to release Mr. Jameson’s shirt, then he took a step back and allowed him to pass.

“I’ll tell Lorrie to pack her things. That you’ll be comin’ for her today.”

That he would.

Even if he didn’t quite know how the hell he was going to tell her about this.

Or if he even should.

“Don’t leave,” Mary Elizabeth whispered when Curtis started to walk out of the room after hearing the front screen door slam.

Turning to his mother, Curtis tried to tamp down his anger. His mother wasn’t responsible for what happened and he didn’t want to take it out on her. He expected her to tell him to bring her a drink, or go check on the kids.

“Momma? Is everything okay?” Frank Jr. asked, peeking through the doorway.

“It’s fine, honey,” she assured him. “Now go on. I need to talk to your brother.

Frank Jr. nodded, then disappeared.

“Please sit down.” His mother motioned to the chair that Mr. Jameson had just vacated.

Taking a deep breath, Curtis sat down, pulling his cigarettes from his pocket. He lit one up and tossed the pack on the table, figuring his mother would need one, too. As he inhaled and exhaled slowly, he finally managed to calm down some. Mary Elizabeth pulled an envelope from her lap and set it on the table in front of her.

Bloodshot eyes lifted to meet his.

“I know your father wasn’t the nicest man in the world.”

That was an understatement. The man was a world-class bastard.

“But I loved him.” A sob tore from her chest and a tear trickled down her cheek. “I loved that man with all my heart.”

Curtis had never doubted that. His old man hadn’t been a people person, but the love Curtis had sensed between his mother and father had always been genuine.

“And he loved me, Curtis. And the most important thing was that I
knew
he loved me. He made sure I knew.”

Not sure what to say, Curtis took a drag on his cigarette and nodded.

Mary Elizabeth slid her hand over the envelope briefly.

“It’s hard without him here. Not because I need him to help with you kids or with the chores.” Mary Elizabeth shook her head. “I know I haven’t been the best mother lately. You’ve taken over everything since he passed. Just as I knew you would. I always knew I could depend on you to take care of us. There was never any doubt. I think your father knew it, too.”

Now
that
he didn’t believe.

“Mr. Jameson is right, though,” she told him, taking a deep breath. “We’d always tried to keep it quiet, but your father’s will outlines everything. The first of you boys to marry receives the land and the ranch.” A small smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “He always believed that love would win, Curtis. He was a hard man to live with, but he loved furiously. I think to the point he often didn’t know how to deal with it, how to express it appropriately.”

“I don’t wanna buy Lorrie,” Curtis blurted. “Not for no amount of money in return. I don’t care about the land or the ranch. She’s the only thing I need.”

“I understand that,” she said kindly. “And Lorrie understands that, too. There’s no way a girl can’t see the love in your eyes. It’s right there, Curtis. And since the day you started seein’ her, I knew she was the one for you.”

“Why would you agree to pay Mr. Jameson?” That was the one thing Curtis didn’t understand.

Mary Elizabeth passed the envelope over to him, her fingers trembling. He saw that his name was scrawled across the front in his father’s clumsy block letters. Curtis set his cigarette in the ashtray on the table and unwrapped the string that kept the envelope closed, then pulled out a single sheet of paper.

He glanced at his mother as he unfolded the paper, resting his forearms on the edge of the table.

Curtis,

I wish I could be there right now to see you reading this. I know that I’m not, because if I were, you would be hearing it directly from me, not reading the words on paper. Just know that I’m with you in spirit.

It has always been my wish that one of my boys would take what our ancestors have built with their own hands and continue to cultivate it and grow it for future generations of Walkers. Since you’re reading this, it means you’re the first of my boys who will marry, and the other letters I’ve written aren’t necessary. Truth is, I’ve always known that you would be the best choice, but still, I left the decision up to fate. It is my wish that the first of my sons to marry will inherit what we’ve worked so hard to build.

What you don’t know, and what most people don’t know, is that the ranch is only a small portion of what we own. There’s no doubt in my mind that you haven’t agreed with the way that I’ve raised you kids, but just like all children, you only see what you want to see. I purposely kept things from you, but know that I’ve never had ill intentions.

Granite Creek belongs to the Walkers. Every inch of it. From the land that our ranch sits on to the land that surrounds it. Everything. The school, the diner, the Gas n’ Go. Every tree, every flower, every patch of dirt. And though I’ve allowed people to use the land to build their businesses and to raise their families, some pay me a fee, others live on it for free, it still belongs to the Walkers. Therefore, on your wedding day, it is being passed down to you.

Curtis looked up at Mary Elizabeth to see her watching him. She must’ve read the question in his eyes, because she nodded. He turned his attention back to the letter.

I wish I could be there to see you marry the woman you will spend the rest of your days with. There is nothing better in this world than the love of a good woman. I was one of the lucky ones, the blessed ones. Even I can’t deny that I’ve been a far better husband than I have been a father. I would’ve gone to the ends of the earth for your mother, and sometimes I did. She’ll tell you if you ask. I’ve ensured that she will always be taken care of. She’ll never want for anything, and she knows that.

Now, son, a marriage requires a lot of work. It’s never one-sided and it never should be. The woman you choose to spend your life with holds your heart in her hands, and you trust her to do so. The opposite is also true. Take care of her, and in turn, she will take care of you.

I can’t say it enough. I wish I were there to see this day, but since I’m not, take these words of wisdom with you. Love furiously, son. It’s the only way to live.

Dad

When Curtis looked up at his mother, this time he saw more tears dripping down her cheeks. He felt his own tears welling in his eyes, a hot ball of emotion choking him. It felt as though his father were speaking to him from the grave.

“He loved you kids. All of you. He wasn’t the greatest at showing it, but
that
” — she nodded toward the letter — “is proof that he knew what love was.”

Curtis swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I love her,” he said.

“I know you do. And you’ll do as you said. You’ll give Mr. Jameson the five thousand dollars, and you’ll marry Lorrie. And you’ll move forward knowing that you own the land his house sits on. What you choose to do with that knowledge is up to you. Your father never flaunted it. Never wanted people to know. More importantly, he never wanted you kids to know. He believed in hard work. In earning what you want.”