Dorothy Garlock (19 page)

“It’s been hard on ya, youngun. I’m just doin’ what yore pa told me to do. It’ll be all over soon.”

“Will it?”

“Lord, I hope so. Truth is, I’m tired of it too,” he said to her back as she flounced into the house again.

While Annabel cooked the custard to make the ice cream, Boone penned up the chickens. Jack and Corbin carried the big block of ice to the back porch and chipped it to go around the drum once it was set in the freezer.

“Boone doesn’t like me much,” Corbin said as soon as he and Jack were alone.

“He’s not said anythin’.” Jack looked at him with a puzzled look on his young face.

“Is he…interested in Miss Donovan?”

“Like, ah…being sweet on her?”

“Something like that.”

“He watches over her like a mother hen, but I don’t think it’s…’cause he’s sweet on her. It’s more like he was her uncle or something. He and Spinner look after her when her pa isn’t here.”

“Is her father gone a lot?”

“He’s only been here once since I’ve been here. Boone is worried about the Carters. He’s afraid one of them will slip over here and…hurt Annabel.”

“Hurt her?”

Jack told Corbin about Murphy Donovan pushing Marvin Carter’s car off the road into a tree and busting up the front end.

“Ruined his radiator, did he?”

“Last couple of evenings Boone has disappeared. I think he’s watching the Carters to see what they’re up to. He told me to stick close to Annabel. We sit in here in the house without a light on.”

“What does she think of that?”

Annabel came out onto the porch before Jack could answer. “Is the freezer ready? The custard will be cool soon, and you can start cranking.”

Later she poured the custard into the drum and added the milk to fill it to within a couple inches from the top. Then, while Jack milked the cow, Corbin turned the crank on the freezer. Annabel added salt to the ice and covered the top of the freezer with a folded quilt.

“I wish we weren’t moving to St. Louis,” she said as she sat down on the edge of the porch.

“Why St. Louis?”

“Papa is buying a hotel there.”

“I hear the hotel business is good right now. A lot of people are on the move.”

“Have you moved around a lot?”

“I lived in Springfield all my life until I went up to Jefferson to school, then into the army. When I came back from France, I went home to Springfield for a year, then took the job of police chief in Fertile. I was there until a few months ago.”

“Jack said you are well thought of in Fertile.”

“I don’t think some of the drunks at the river dives would agree with him.” He tipped the freezer and let the water from the melting ice run out onto the ground.

“Are you going back into police work?”

“I’ve not decided. Keeping the peace in a small town is satisfying work. It’s also confining unless the town is big enough for you to have an assistant. You’re always on call.”

“You didn’t have an assistant in Fertile?”

“No, and after the town was cleaned up, the challenge was gone.”

“Ah…so you liked the excitement of putting the crooks in jail.”

“It was really more satisfaction than excitement.” It was comfortable talking to her like this. “Are you leaving as soon as your father comes back? Jack said you had started packing up.”

“Probably.” She swallowed hard and concentrated on not letting him see the deep ache within her.

“You’ll still be here Saturday night to go to the ball game?” A sharp feeling of apprehension suddenly struck him.

“Unless…unless Papa comes home and wants to leave right away.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen. I’m…looking forward to us going to the game.”

A stillness followed. Only the green, thick-lashed eyes and the faint color that spread across her cheeks betrayed the fact that her heart was soaring like a bird. She hoped that he was unaware of the turbulent feeling his presence inspired. She looked into his piercing, sunlight-squinted eyes. They seemed endowed with the ability to look a hole right through a person. She had to get her mind off the man and put a lid on her thoughts that perhaps, just perhaps, he might be attracted to her, or after she left here she’d be in for more heartache than she could handle.

“Tessie!”

The kitchen door slammed and Tess heard her brother’s heavy boots coming toward the pantry-sized room where she slept.

“Where the hell are you?”

The door was jerked open. Tess got up off the bed, where she had been sitting looking out the window remembering the kiss she had shared with Boone and knowing that another night would go by and she would be unable to meet him at the edge of the woods.

“What do you want? I left your supper on the table.”

“I want you to get over there and find out what’s goin’ on. That bastard that hit me is there honeyin’ up to my girl.” A stubble of whiskers covered Marvin’s cheeks and his hair looked as if he had come in out of a windstorm.

“Over to the…Donovans’?”

“‘Over to the Donovans’?’ ” he mimicked. “Ya dumb-ass! Where else?”

“I can’t go over there if they’ve got…company.”

“You’ll do as I tell ya, gawddammit!”

“It…wouldn’t be polite, Marvin, to barge in on folks who have company.”

“Who the hell cares ’bout polite? Get your skinny ass over there and see what’s goin’ on.” His hand lashed out and fastened on her arm.

“Why don’t you send Leroy?”

“Leroy ain’t got no reason to go over there. You’re goin’. Put on a clean dress. Fix your hair. I ain’t wantin’ her to see my kin lookin’ like they’ve been sleepin’ with the hogs.”

“Please, Marvin. What if they know you took their horses?”

“What do you know about that?”

“Only what I heard Leroy and Bud talking about. Calvin came and got them, didn’t he?”

“What if he did? Donovan’s goin’ to pay for what he did to my car. Before the week’s out he’ll know not to go pissin’ on Carters.” Marvin’s face turned uglier than usual; his nostrils flared and he ground his teeth in frustration. “Cousin Willard’ll take care of him. I ain’t tellin’ ya again to get yore-self fixed up.”

“Then get out so I can change.” Tess tried to pull away from him, but he pulled her up close and stuck his face in hers. The sour mash on his breath sickened her.

“Don’t be shamin’ me. Hear? And watch what ya say to ’em. If ya let out a peep ’bout what goes on here, I’ll hear about it, and then…and then I’ll beat yore ass to a bloody pulp!”

“Why are you stealin’ from her? It wasn’t her fault—”

“Not from
her,
ya stupid bitch. They was her old man’s. I’m gonna have her and when I get ’er I’ll screw her brains out. She’ll be hangin’ on me like a leech before I’m done.”

“She’s not like the other women you’ve had, Marvin. Can’t you find someone else?”

“Ya think I’m not good enough? Huh? Huh?” He twisted her arm until she cried out, then shoved her from him. “Get movin’. Find out who that son-of-a-bitch is and what he’s doin’ there.”

It was dark in the woods.

Tess was more afraid of the brother who walked beside her than she was of the dark. Something sinister had happened to Marvin since he had been rejected by Annabel Donovan, bested by her crippled friend and pushed off the road by her father’s car. To the delight of Leroy and Bud, he told and retold, in detail, what he was going to do to Miss Donovan. For two days he had been drinking whiskey as if it were water, and tonight he was carrying a bottle with him.

Calvin had insisted that the Carters could create such havoc that the Donovans would pack up and leave, and it wouldn’t be necessary for them to kill anyone. If the Donovans didn’t go, the Carters would make other plans. The scheme had worked with the previous owner of the property. This afternoon Carter cousins had stolen the horses while they were at the far end of the pasture. It was the beginning of the harassment.

Leroy had reported what Calvin had said. “Fair is fair. An eye for an eye. We’ll sell the horses to pay for fixing the car, and Marvin can have the pleasure of gettin’ his own revenge from the man who hit him.”

Calvin had no words of wisdom to offer about Marvin’s courtship of Annabel or Tess would have heard about it from Leroy, who relished the telling. Women in the Carter clan were not held in high respect. They were to be used and enjoyed as the males saw fit. Calvin was fond of saying that with a sack over her head, one woman was the same as another.

Tess wondered what Marvin would do if he knew the Donovans had already decided to move.
Hurry! Hurry and get away from here, Annabel! If my brother gets to you…you’ll never be the same again.

At the edge of the wood, Marvin grasped Tess’s arm. “Stay till ya find out how the wind blows. Act friendly like ya was just out walkin’ and saw the lights. Don’t be doin’ nothin’ dumb. I’ll be waitin’ here.” He leaned back against the tree and took a deep swallow from the bottle he was carrying.

A knot of apprehension twisted Tess’s stomach as she walked out of the shelter of the woods. Light from the kitchen shone on several figures sitting on the edge of the porch. She could hear the murmur of male voices and Annabel’s girlish laughter. Tess walked slowly, dreading to approach and wondering what in the world she would say.

Tess’s uneasiness grew into full-fledged fear when she realized that Mr. Boone was standing and looking directly at her. She didn’t know why she knew it was him. The distance between them was too great for her to see anything but the shape of him. Then he was coming to meet her and she prayed that he wouldn’t call out to her.

With her finger against her lips, Tess hurried to meet him.

“Sshhh, sshhh—” she hissed. “He’s watchin’.” Tess’s heart was beating like that of a trapped rabbit.

Boone nodded that he understood. “Ma’am, is somethin’ wrong?” he asked in a tone slightly louder than normal.

“Oh, no,” Tess said with a forced laugh. “I…wanted to ask Miss Donovan…something.”

“Come on over. She’s here on the porch.” Boone turned and walked beside her, keeping a distance between them. He waited until they were almost to the house before he spoke. “Is something wrong?” he asked in an anxious whisper. “Did he hurt you?”

“No. He made me come to see what’s going on.” There was an embarrassed hesitancy in her voice. “Don’t stop! He can see us,” she said when Boone paused.

“How long can ya stay?”

“Until I find out what that man is doing here.”

Annabel stepped off the porch as they approached.

“Hello, Tess. You’re just in time for ice cream. We’ve all had one helping and are getting ready for another.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t come to—”

“Come up onto the porch. Jack, will you get a chair for Tess?” Annabel reached for Tess’s hand. “You know Jack and Boone. This is Mr. Appleby. Corbin, Tess Carter is our neighbor.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Corbin looked down at the small woman with the delicate features and could hardly believe that she was the sister of the lout who had bothered Annabel in the park.

“Likewise,” Tess said when she finally got her tongue un-stuck from the roof of her mouth.

Annabel led her up on the porch to the chair Jack had placed next to hers.

“I brought out another bowl, Miss Annabel.”

“Then dish up the ice cream before it melts. We’re running out of ice,” she explained to Tess.

Tess was glad that it was dark. She couldn’t stop trembling. Her teeth chattered against the spoon when she put the first bite in her mouth. Only Boone knew why she was here. Marvin would go right out of his head if he knew that she had talked to Boone, that he had kissed her. Her eyes clung to him as she listened to the voices that floated around her.

“We always took out the dasher at home,” Jack was saying. “The kids would fight over who got to lick off the ice cream.”

“Yo’re the only kid here. We’ll let you lick it.” Boone tried to hand the dripping dasher to Jack, who refused to take it. There was a lot of laughter and horseplay that was foreign to Tess. This sort of thing at the Carters’ would result in a fist-fight.

“I’m glad you came over. I’ve been wanting to see you again.”

Tess tore her eyes from Boone when she realized Annabel was speaking to her.

“I…didn’t know you had company.”

“Mr. Appleby isn’t exactly company. He stopped by to see Jack and we decided to make ice cream.”

“It’s good.”

“I used cream. Our cow gives good rich milk.”

“You ought to keep her close by…because of…because of coyotes or…wild dogs.”

“Wild dogs? Oh, my. I’d be sick if anything happened to Mildred. I’ll ask Boone if he’s seen any wild dogs or coyotes around.”

Tess’s eyes flashed quickly to Annabel’s. They looked as if they were seeking something. Sadness sagged the corners of her mouth as she turned away to fasten her remarkable amber eyes on Boone. His face was a blur in the dark, but she knew he was looking at her…wanting to help her, protect her. She wished she could go to him, ask him what to do.

“If everyone has finished, I’ll take in the bowls. Corbin can wash out the freezer at the pump.”

Jack stepped up onto the porch as Annabel got to her feet. “I’ll take in the bowls. You wash the freezer.”

Jack held the bowls out of her reach. “Not until you promise to play for us.”

“Jack Jones! You’re getting to be more like Boone every day.”

Chapter
14

A
NNABEL DIDN’T WANT THE EVENING TO END and if prolonging it meant she had to furnish the entertainment, then that’s what she would do.

Corbin didn’t want the evening to end either. He was determined to have a short time alone with her, but he wasn’t sure how he was going to manage it. Boone had watched him like a hawk until Tess Carter arrived. Now he watched her and wasn’t hanging on to every word that passed between Corbin and Annabel. Almost every time he looked over at the man, Boone’s eyes were on the small woman. And when Tess wasn’t speaking to Annabel, she was looking around for Boone.

Something interesting was going on here.
It didn’t take much figuring to come to the conclusion that the two of them knew each other better than they were letting on.