Dorothy Garlock (21 page)

J
ILL SAT ON THE EDGE OF HER AUNT S BED.

“Come out onto the porch with us, Aunt Justine. Thad or Joe will carry you.” Justine closed her eyes and was so still that it alarmed Jill. “Aunt Justine. Are you all right? ”

“I'm… all right.”

“It's a lovely night. There's a nice breeze.”

“You don't have to stay in here with me. Find Thad. He'll take you for a walk. Just lock the door when you go out.”

“I'll not go out and leave you alone. Joe, Thad and Mr. Blue are on the porch. Radna, too, if she hasn't gone off somewhere.”

“I'm here. I'm not going anywhere tonight.” Radna had paused in the doorway, then came into the room. “What's she nagging you about now, Justine? ”

“She wants me to go out to the porch.”

“Joe or Thad will carry her.” Jill spoke to Radna, but her eyes remained on her aunt's face. “We'll bring out a chair from the lobby.”

“Why not, Justine? ”Radna took a housecoat from Justine's wardrobe. “Aren't you tired of lying in that old bed and looking at these four walls? I'd jump at the chance to have a hairy-chested bucko carry me.”

“Has
he
come in? ”

“I've not seen him, ”Jill replied, knowing that her aunt was referring to Lloyd Madison. “Don't worry about him, the hairy-chested buckos will be with us.” A giggle burst from Jill's mouth, bringing a smile from Justine.

“They're on the porch. I'll get them.” Radna was not giving Justine a choice.

“It's a lot of trouble.”

“Ah, poot. It's no trouble, but what if it is? They've got to pay for all that food I cooked up for them.” Radna was on her way out the door.

Joe came in while Jill was putting the housecoat on her aunt. “Are we going somewhere? ”

“We're going to the porch and see the sights. Put your hands under her arms, Joe, and hold her up while I tie the belt.”

Joe held his aunt upright while Jill tied the sash around her small waist, then eased her back down on the side of the bed.

“Get your hands off my woman.” Thad's voice was loud and threatening.

Jill frowned at him. “You're like a bull in a china shop, Thad.”

“Can't help it, darlin', I have to be loud to get this farm boy's attention.” He bent and scooped Justine up in his arms. “Ready to go dancin', sugar? ”

“Not if you don't Charleston, ”Justine said haughtily.

“Of course I do the Charleston. I shimmy, too.”

“I don't doubt that for a minute, ”Jill said dryly.

“I was going to carry her, ”Joe complained, trailing Thad out the door. “She's
my
aunt.”

“No one carries this woman but me. You can carry Jill.”

“Jill? Why would I want to carry my
bratty
sister? I've been lugging her around since she wore nasty diapers.”

“Hush complaining, Joe, and help me get a chair out of the lobby.”

Jill followed Thad as he strode down the hallway with a giggling Justine in his arms. His treatment of her aunt was endearing him to Jill more and more. He knew just what to do to raise her spirits.

Blue appeared. He and Joe carried a padded chair to the end of the porch and Thad eased Justine down into it.

“How's that? ”He leaned close to her and whispered, “I'd rather sit in the chair and hold you on my lap.”

“A few years ago I'd have taken you up on the offer, bucko, ”Justine whispered back. “You've got the blathering tongue of the Irish, Thad.”

He backed up and gave her a stricken look. “Is that why you fell in love with me? I thought it was my good looks.”

“Don't let him turn your head, Aunt Justine.” Joe straightened his aunt's feet the way he'd seen Jill do. “He's used that blathering tongue to romance girls all the way from Missouri to central Oklahoma. They all fall for it…until they find out he uses the same line on all his girls.”

“Pay him no mind, Aunt Justine, ”Thad said. “He's jealous because the girls don't pay as much attention to him as they do to me.”

“Both of them are full of hot air, ma'am.” Blue snorted in disgust. “The only girls I've seen running after either of them looked as if they'd come out of their mamas backwards and no one noticed.”

“I'm so glad you're here, all of you. You, too, Mr. Blue. Having my family with me is more than I deserve.” A tear choked Justine's voice.

Jill arranged her aunt's hands in her lap, then sat down on one side of her. Joe sat on the other side. Jill patted her aunt's hand, but her mind was still on what Joe had said about Thad romancing girls. She looked up to see him towering above her, his eyes on her face, his lips smiling. She had half believed that he cared for her in more than just a sisterly way. How foolish she had been. Thad liked women. All women. He liked to make them happy. He was one of those people whose confident, unruffled presence attracted them.

Jill was relieved when he moved, but then he turned and sat down on the bench close beside her … too close.

“There's room here for you, Blue. It gives me an excuse to sit close to Jill and put my arm around her.” Thad moved until his hip and thigh were pressed to hers. He sent a sideways glance at Jill, teasing her with his smile, and snaked his arm across her shoulders.

“When did you need an excuse to snuggle up to a pretty girl? ”Blue grunted, and went to sit on the porch steps.

“You can move over now.” Jill gave Thad a bump in the ribs with her elbow.

“You'll regret this, Blue, ”Thad threatened. “I've done plenty of favors for you.” He moved, but just slightly away from her. His arm remained behind Jill, his hand capping her shoulder.

“It's been a while since I was out at night, ”Justine said. “Martha has new lights in her café.”

A truck went by and a loud male voice yelled, “Hey, pretty little wildcat! ”

“What was that about? ”Joe asked.

“I haven't told you about the night I got here and found our little sister on the street corner — ”

Jill's elbow lashed out again and connected with Thad's ribs. He grunted. She had meant for it to hurt. It did, and she was glad.
Our little sister!
The remark put her firmly in a category she didn't want to be in. She was more angry at herself than at him for thinking that it could be otherwise.

“Why'd you do that? ”

“Because you've got a big mouth! ”Jill would have gone to her room, but she didn't want to upset her aunt.

“I was about to ask you to walk down to the drugstore for an ice cream.”

“Don't bother. I wouldn't go anywhere with you if you were the last man alive! ”

“Why are you mad? I was kind of proud of the way you were taking up for yourself on that street corner.”

“You sure as heck didn't show it, ”Jill sputtered. “You came in there swearing like a sailor, knocking people out of your way. I've not forgotten that you called me a sl — ”

“Don't say it.” Thad quickly put his hand over her mouth. “I told you that I'm sorry I said that. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. I even told Joe that I was sorry. That took some doing on my part to admit anything to him.”

“Sorry doesn't cut the mustard with me, mister. You can be sorry until the cows come home and I'll still remember what you said, ”Jill insisted.

“I don't want you to be mad at me. Come on, let's go for a walk.” His hand began stroking her upper arm. His green eyes were focused on her profile.

“No.” She tried to bump his hand from her arm.

“Please.” The murmured plea in her ear was like a soft caress.

“No. I'm staying here with Aunt Justine. I told her that I would and I am.” She didn't dare move her head an inch for fear that her face would collide with his.

“Go walk with him.” Radna came out of the shadows at the side of the porch. “Joe and I and Randolph will take care of Justine.”

Blue let out a snort and looked over his shoulder, a frown pleating his brow, which caused Radna to needle him further.

“That is, if Randolph isn't planning to go on the warpath tonight and take a few scalps.”

“If I do, that mop of yours will be the first to hang from my belt, ”Blue threatened.

“Go on, honey, ”Justine said, unaware of the byplay between Radna and Blue. “I'll be fine.”

“I'll take Aunt back to her room when she wants to go.”

After Joe made his comment, Jill jumped to her feet. “It's easy to see that I'm not wanted or needed here. I can take a hint. You want to get rid of…me.” At the end she was striving to keep her tone level and her lips from trembling, but her traitorous voice betrayed her on the last word.

Not understanding the reason Jill was as mad as a hornet but feeling that he must have been the cause of it, Thad stood up, mentally kicking himself for having caused the pain reflected in her voice. More than anything he wanted to cradle her face in his hands, bring her head to his shoulder and comfort her. He wanted her to look at him with laughter in her eyes instead of the pain he saw there now.

“They're not trying to get rid of you, honey. It's me. They think the only way to get rid of
me
is if you go with me.”

“Horse hockey! ”Jill's hurt had been replaced with an unreasonable anger. “And don't be
honeying
me, you big, ugly clodhopper! ”Glaring at him as if she'd like to run him through with a saber, she stomped down the hotel steps. Thad hurried after her, catching her on the sidewalk.

“Slow down, honey. I wanted us to go for a walk, not a run.”

Jill turned on him with a balled fist. “Stop calling me that, or I'll hit you in the nose.”

“You don't want me to call you honey? ”

“No, I don't. You say it as if you were talking to a six-year-old. Save it for the stupid girls who chase after you.”

“Joe was just making that up. He's the one girls go for.” Thad cupped her elbow with his hand and refused to let go when she tried to wrench it away. “If we're walking down through town, I want all the men who stare at you to know that you belong to me.”

“I don't belong to you, Thad Taylor. Get that through your thick head.
I'm not your little sister! ”

“I thank God for that, you stubborn little imp.”

Jill was afraid to look at him, afraid that the taunting gleam in his eyes would goad her into hitting him and that once again she would make a spectacle of herself on the street for the men to gawk at.

Had she looked at him, she would not have found a teasing glint in his eyes but loving concern.

A number of men were loafing in front of the billiard parlor. One of them, Lloyd Madison, broke from the group and came up the sidewalk toward them. Thad, with his hand firmly attached to Jill's elbow, steered her across the street to avoid him.

Jill stopped. “Let's go back. Lloyd Madison's going to the hotel, and Aunt Justine's on the porch.”

“Joe and Blue will take care of it. I told them the whole thing about your aunt being afraid of him. If he says one thing to upset her, Joe will break him in two.”

“I wish I knew why she's so afraid of him and why he takes such pleasure in needling her.”

“Does Radna know anything about him? ”

“If she does, she isn't saying. If Aunt Justine doesn't want her to say anything, she won't. They've known each other for a long time and I think they've come through tough times together.”

They were on a dark street now, one without sidewalks. The houses were set far back from the road. Some had no electricity. Jill could see lamps like the ones they had used at home before Evan, her sister's husband, brought out the electric line. It went past their place, so her father had hooked on. And how exciting it was to have lights at the turn of a switch!

“Where's your dog? ”

“She was under the back porch when I went in to supper. She'll probably have her pups there.”

“What are you going to do with her when you leave? ”

“I'll find a place for her or take her with me. I couldn't very well desert her now. If not for her, I'd not have had my name in the paper.” Jill looked up at him and burst out laughing. He grinned back at her, his eyes drinking in the sight of her smiling mouth, her bright, laughing eyes. “It was tough finding that girl, but you came through it just fine. I was proud of you.”

His praise was like a warm healing balm. “Do you think they'll find whoever killed her? ”

“I don't know, honey — ”The endearment slipped out. Thad glanced down at her, but she didn't seem to notice or remember that she'd told him not to call her that. “When I went down to the creamery to get milk for Radna, the man there said people are beginning to think that maybe Mr. Westfall killed her. She had been staying at his house.”

“If he had, he would have put her someplace where she wouldn't be found so soon. Didn't you say that a good stiff wind like the one we've had for the past few days would have leveled that sand dune? ”

“I think it would. They've not found the rest of her, her clothes or her suitcase.”

“Poor woman.” Jill shivered, giving Thad an excuse to put his arm around her, drawing her close to his side.

They had reached the schoolhouse. Thad led her onto the playground where a section of swings stood silent and unmoving in the moonlight.

“Are you afraid out here, honey? ”

“No, I'm not afraid — and my name is Jill.”

“Well, glory be. I thought it was Josephine.”

Her head jerked up. She felt his laugh against her shoulder that was wedged beneath his arm. Without seeing it, she knew that mischief danced in his green eyes.

Pride surfaced.

“I don't like for you to call me honey, lumping me with all the girls you call that. I don't like for you to call me
little sister.
I'm not your sister and I'm not six years old! ”

“Oh, Lord, ”Thad muttered on a breath of a whisper. His hands closed about her upper arms. He looked down into the face turned up to his. She was serious. She thought he was belittling her, treating her like a child. She was so sweet, so pretty and so precious to him, and in trying to keep from showing his feelings for her, he had made a complete idiot of himself.

“Honey — Oh, there I go again. I don't think of you as being six years old. I don't think of you as being my little sister.” He drew her close to him, and when she offered no resistance, his arms slipped around her. He cradled her head in one of his hands and pressed it to his shoulder. “I think of you as the prettiest, sweetest and spunkiest girl I've ever seen. I don't know if I can stop calling you
honey, ”
he whispered with his mouth against her forehead. “I think of you as
my
honey.”