Dorothy Garlock (32 page)

“Evening, ma'am.”

“Come to Grandma, sugar. I'll wash you and get you ready for bed.” Mrs. Cole held out her arms. Mary Pat shook her head and burrowed her face into the curve of Hunter's neck. “Come on, honey. You're getting Mr. Westfall sticky.”

“I don't mind. It's such a treat to hold her.” Hunter's face reflected his pleasure as his smiling eyes met Mrs. Cole's over the child's head. He spoke gently to the little girl in his arms. “Sweetheart, you'd better go to your grandma. After you're ready for bed, maybe she'll let us swing in the porch swing until you go to sleep.”

“Swing? ”Large violet eyes, so like her mother's, looked at him. “Swing.” She wiggled to get down.

Although reluctant to release the small warm body of the child, Hunter handed her over to Mrs. Cole.

“We'll swing after you get washed, if it's all right with your grandma.”

“Swing, swing, ”Mary Pat chanted happily as her grandmother carried her into the house.

Hunter wet his handkerchief at the pump and washed his sticky face, neck and hands. Laura pumped water into a tub to wash the beans.

“It looks like storm clouds in the southwest, ”he remarked.

“They were there last night, too. That's why I picked the beans tonight. A strong wind will lay the vines down and make them much harder to pick.”

“This is tornado season. Do you go to the cellar when it storms? ”

“Yes, but I hate going down there. Mama and I found a snake in there once.”

“I'd better go down and take a look around. You may need to use it. Do you have a lantern? ”

“In the kitchen. I'll get it.” Laura stepped off the wooden platform surrounding the pump. “Ouch. The darned cockleburs.” She stood on one foot and reached back to grab the pump handle for support. Hunter was there.

“Here, hold on to me.” After she was steady, he lifted her foot in his hand. It was narrow and slender and sun-browned. He found the burr on the ball of her foot and yanked it out. He ran his thumb over the bottom of her foot, searching for more stickers. “That's it. Watch when you put your foot down.”

“I knew the burrs were there. I just didn't think.”

Laura was surprised at how easily Hunter had slipped into their lives. She didn't know when she had first begun to look forward to his visits and to think of him as just a nice man and not Hunter Westfall, who lived in a big house and owned oil wells and companies.

Laura had no doubt about Hunter's sincere affection for Mary Pat. His face reflected his pleasure when he was holding her, and her daughter adored him. Even her mother was beginning to be more comfortable around him.

When he came to the house in the evenings, he didn't expect her to stop her work and usually joined in to help her. Afterward they would sit in the porch swing and talk about many things. He told her about his childhood and that after his mother died, Dinah and Casper were the nearest to family he had. He amused her by talking about places he had been and explained that a geologist he met in Oklahoma City had convinced him to lease and drill on the land around Rainwater.

He never touched her or asked personal questions but listened intently to anything she had to say about herself or Mary Pat. She liked him. She just wished that he wasn't rich.

Laura lit the lantern and went with Hunter to the slanting cellar door. He lifted it and laid it back. Then, taking the lantern, he went down the crude wooden steps to the dirt floor of the cellar. The walls and ceiling were of rough planking. A bench stood against one wall; several gunnysacks littered the floor.

“See anything? ”Hunter turned to see that Laura had descended to the bottom step. She had a garden hoe in her hand.

“If anything is down here, it's under the gunnysacks. Give me the hoe and hold the lantern.”

Hunter lifted first one gunnysack and then another. When he began to lift the last sack, he saw movement.

“Go back up the steps, Laura, ”he said quickly. Then, making sure she was safely away but holding the lantern so that he could see, he carefully lifted the sack with the hoe and uncovered a snake. Its head was raised to strike and the horny segments on the end of its tail vibrated to produce a rattling sound.

“Oh … oh — ”

“Hold the lantern steady, honey.” Hunter was totally unaware, as was Laura, of the endearment. He had moved between her and the snake. He aimed the hoe and brought it down with such force that the blade cut the snake in half. The parts writhed on the dirt floor.

“Oh … oh — ”Laura shuddered.

“It's dead. Leave the lantern on the steps and go back to the house. I'll take care of it.”

“I'll help — ”

“No, I'll do it. I'll get the sacks out of here, so there will be nothing for another one to hide under.”

Later, after Hunter had cleared the cellar of the dead snake and the sacks, he lowered the slanting wooden door and went to where Laura waited on the porch.

“My daddy always said that snakes travel in pairs.”

“I've heard that, too. If you have to go to the cellar, look around well before you step off the stairs.”

Laura turned when she heard the screen door open. “Mama, Hunter killed a big old rattler in the cellar.”

“Oh, my. I hope we don't have to go down there.”

“I hope you don't, either, but if a snake is there, he'll be in plain sight, ”Hunter said. “There's nothing there now for one to get under. I piled the gunnysacks out by the chicken house.”

Mary Pat, in her nightdress, was holding her arms out for Hunter to take her. His heart swelled. He looked for permission to Mrs. Cole.

“May I swing with her for a while? ”

“I should put her in her bed. She's getting too attached to you, Mr. Westfall.” Mrs. Cole's face creased with a frown.

“And you object to that? ”he asked, suddenly feeling like he'd been kicked in the stomach.

“She won't understand when you stop coming here.”

Hunter looked at Laura standing on the end of the porch. He didn't want to ask the question but knew he must.

“Laura, do you want me to stay away? ”

Her large expressive eyes looked directly into his.

“You'll stop …sometime. The newness of coming here will wear off — ”

Mary Pat began to howl and squirm in her grandmother's arms. “Swing, ”she screamed.

“I'm sorry if I've caused you distress.”

“It isn't that. We've enjoyed your visits.” Laura had to raise her voice to be heard over her daughter's screams.

“I'm not asking anything of you, Laura.”

“I… know — ”

Mary Pat's wails continued, her mouth open, tears running down her cheeks. She stretched her arms toward Hunter. He looked from Laura to her mother, an expression of uncertainty on his face. He had never been so miserable in his life.

Suddenly Mrs. Cole thrust the child in his arms. Mary Pat wrapped her arms around his neck. He held her tightly, pressed her wet face to his neck and scarcely heard the words Mrs. Cole uttered.

“Take her, but if you break her heart, I'll damn you forever.”

“Now, now, little sweetheart, ”he crooned to the child. “Don't cry.” Disregarding the two women watching, he kissed the little girl's wet cheek and patted her back. “Stop crying and we'll go swing.” He stepped off the porch to go around the house to the front.

“Come through the house, Mr. Westfall, ”Mrs. Cole said and opened the screen door.

Hunter looked at her in surprise. This was the first time he had been invited into the house.

“Thank you, ”he murmured.

The house was small. A little more than a dozen strides and he was across the kitchen, into a bedroom and out the front door to the porch. As he sat down in the swing, he was aware that Laura had followed him and stood just outside the front door.

“I wouldn't hurt her for anything in the world, Laura.”

“She hasn't known many men, and none as she knows you.”

“I've not known many little girls, and none as precious as Mary.” Their eyes caught and held, the only sound being the squeaking of the chains holding the swing. “Can you sit down for a while? ”

“I'm dirty from the garden and I've got to snap the beans.”

“I'll help after the baby goes to sleep.”

“You don't need to.”

“I want to.”

“Why … do you come here? ”

“I…like being with you and …Mary. I didn't realize how empty my life was until I met you …and Mary.”

“You've got a big house and money and oil wells — ”

“They mean nothing. I'm hungry for someone to like me for myself. Mary likes me and she doesn't know I have those things. I was hoping that you'd forget the things I have and like me for myself.”

“Sometimes I do forget them, but…”

“But what, Laura? ”

“But I don't understand why you like to come here. I've told you that I'll not go — ”

“I'll not ask that of you, ”he said quickly. “It means a lot to me to come here and for a little while be a part of your life and Mary's.”

“You could go anywhere — to the city, ride on a train, see a picture show — ”

“I've done those things, and believe me, Laura, it didn't give me anywhere near the pleasure that I get from holding this little girl and knowing that she wants me to hold her.”

“You'll get tired of us.”

“Are you tired of me? ”The second the words left his mouth, he wished them back. He held his breath waiting for her answer.

“Mary Pat and I look forward to seeing you. Mama still thinks that…ah …you come here because the men uptown talk about me.”

“I've not heard a word about you that is in any way insulting. If I did, someone would lose a few teeth.”

“The baby is asleep. I'll put her in her bed.”

Hunter and Laura sat on the back porch and in the light from the lantern snapped the beans. Hunter told her about his enlistment in the army during the war, his training to be a medic and that although he was glad when the war ended, he had wanted to go. Just seventeen, he'd lied about his age. When his mother found out, she had been furious.

“I still think it was one of the best things I've ever done. I learned discipline and responsibility. I learned to care for my fellow man.”

When they finished with the beans, they carried the tub of water to the honeysuckle bush and afterward Hunter hung the tub on the nail on the porch. It was time for him to go, but he lingered.

“Will you can the beans before you go to work in the morning? ”

“I don't work tomorrow. Mama does. She'll help me until it's time for her to leave.”

“Are you ever bothered by …anyone when you're here alone? ”

“Not often.”

“If you are, let me know. And … be careful.” They had moved to the side of the house. “Will you? ”he insisted. Unthinking, his hand clutched her shoulders.

She nodded. His mind suddenly snapped alive and he realized that he was holding her and pulling her toward him.

“Oh, Jesus! I swore that I'd not touch you, ”he whispered anxiously. “God help me! I'd give ten years of my life to kiss you …just once.”

“Ten years? ”She lifted her chin and stared up at him with wide eyes.

“It would be worth it.”

“I'd not charge you … that much.” The words came out on a mere breath, and he wasn't sure that he'd heard them correctly.

He continued to look down into her face, conscious that she might feel dwarfed by his hovering over her.

“May I? Please.”

She nodded and he gently drew her to him, his arms sliding around her. Her body went slack, pressing softly against him. Her hands slid over his ribs and clasped behind his back.

“Sweetheart.” He lowered his head, savoring the feel of her breath on his mouth before his lips danced with incredible lightness over hers. He trembled with the desire to crush her to him and drink long and hard from her sweet mouth, but he held himself in check.

Whatever the future held, he had this!

When she didn't draw away after the kiss, he pressed his lips to hers again, longer this time, and felt the slight movement of her soft mouth beneath his. The feelings that swamped him were not sexual and not like anything he'd ever felt before. He wanted to love, protect and care for this woman for the rest of his life.

“Sweetheart, ”he murmured again, his voice hoarse. She pushed gently against his chest and he let his arms fall from around her. He took her hands and held them against his heart in agony that she would tell him not to come back.

Her soft voice came out of the darkness.

“Would you like to come to supper some night? It wouldn't be anything fancy.”

“You mean it? Really mean it? ”The smile that broke over Hunter's face was so genuine and so beautiful that Laura stared.

“Of course I mean it.” There was laughter in her voice.

“You bet. Just say when.”

“Saturday night. I don't work that day.”

“I'll be here.” He squeezed her hands, then dropped them. “Thank you. Thank you, Laura.” He turned to walk away and turned back. “Good night. Kiss Mary for me.”

The man in the car parked on the side street behind a clump of blackjack had been waiting since dark for Hunter to leave Laura's house. His resentment of the man who had everything he wanted to have escalated. When he finally saw him walking up the road, he pounded on the steering wheel with his fist. He was so angry that spittle leaked from the corner of his mouth.

A low animal-like sound came from his throat. He swore viciously, uttering every filthy word that had ever been imprinted in his mind, and continued to speak as if he were talking to another person in the car.

“Son-of-a-bitch goes there every other night. Goddamn bastard isn't going there to talk and play pattycake with that damn kid. He's screwing Laura! He's screwing Laura, ”he said again, louder this time.

“They'll both get what they deserve. I'll hold that kid up by the heels and smash her head against a tree trunk. It'll split like a melon. Then I'll screw that stuck-up bitch until her damn eyeballs pop out. She'll wish to God she'd not been so snotty with me.

“Damn Westfall. Damn lucky son-of-a-bitch. Every damn thing goes his way. All he's got to do is snap his fingers and he makes money hand over fist. People in town treat him as if his ass was gold plated. Women fall all over him, but not for long. I've got a card to play that will really cook his goose.”