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Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers] (23 page)

BOOK: Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers]
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“Morning, sleepyhead.”
“I gotta go out.”
“You can use the chamber.”
“Gotta go doo-doo.”
“In that case, come here. I’ll carry you. There are cockleburrs on the path to the privy.”
“Yo break yo back carryin’ that youngun. I get his shoes.” Aunt Dozie hurried to the bedroom while Henry Ann lifted the child and set him on the end of the washbench.
After Henry Ann put on one shoe and Aunt Dozie the other, Henry Ann set the child on his feet and took his hand.
“Hold up your nightshirt, honey,” she said, as they went out the door.
Dozie turned a pan of bread dough out onto a floured board and began to knead it with her strong hands. Her brow was furrowed. Henry Ann had been unusually quiet lately. She had announced at breakfast this morning that while it was cool she would walk to town. She had looked at Grant, and he had nodded his head in approval. Dozie wondered what that was all about. One thing was sure: Henry Ann was becoming too fond of another woman’s youngun, and Dozie suspected that she was liking the woman’s man too much, too. Dozie could see nothing but heartbreak ahead for her girl.
“Yo ort to a let Johnny drive ya. It’ll be hot’ern a oven come noon,” Dozie said later, as Henry Ann tied a ribbon around her hair to keep it back from her face.
“There’s a breeze, and I’ll take the parasol.”
“Can I go?”
“If you go, sugarfoot, who’ll help Aunt Dozie churn?” Henry Ann stooped and placed a kiss on Jay’s cheek. “I’ll be back before you have time to miss me. And I’ll bring you a candy stick.”
“Can . . . can ya . . . can ya bring me a frog that jumps?”
“I don’t know, honey. I may not find one like the one you had, but I’ll try.”
Henry Ann smiled and waved gaily at Jay and Aunt Dozie. As she started down the dusty road, it was a relief to let her face relax. She’d not felt much like smiling lately. Since Grant had told her that Isabel could lay claim to a third of everything but the land and buildings, she’d not had much else on her mind. She was anxious to talk to Mr. Phillips, her daddy’s old friend who had drawn up the papers when the farm was put in her name.
How can things go so wrong in such a short time
, she wondered, and tilted the parasol so the breeze could hit her face. Her daddy was gone, Isabel had been a disappointment and . . . she had lost her heart to a married man. Oh, he was grateful to her for taking care of his child during a trying time with his wife and for neighborly help with his field, but other than that he’d not really seen her as a woman with dreams of a man who would love her, give her children, and grow old with her. Anyway, if he were free, he’d probably be more interested in a friendly, sparkly girl like Karen rather than an old maid like her. Yet the night she and Tom had put Jay to bed together, his dark eyes had held a definite look of yearning in them. Of course, that could have been because he was nervous about asking her for the loan of the mules.
Henry Ann was so deep in her thoughts that a car pulled up beside her before she heard the sound of the motor.
“Hello, my pretty. Jump into my jalopy, and I’ll give you a ride.” Christopher Austin leered at her and twisted the ends of an imaginary mustache imitating a movie villain.
“My daddy told me not to ride with strangers,” Henry Ann replied in a little-girl voice.
“Never fear, my pretty little lady, I promise to be a perfect gentleman.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll accept the ride.” Henry Ann folded her parasol and got into the car. “How come you’re going to town? Are you caught up with your work?”
“You’re never caught up on a farm, H.A. You know that. I decided to run in and pick up a few things.”
“How are your folks?”
“They’re fine. I saw Johnny and your team in Dolan’s field when I passed.”
“We’re trading work.”
“I saw Dolan and his wife at the air show. That man’s got a peck of trouble riding on his shoulders. Is his little boy still with you?”
“Yes. His . . . wife is not well.”
“She’s ah . . . strange. I heard that she put on quite a show on Saturday. Tom carried her kicking and yelling to the car, then took off before the show even started.”
“Really?”
“Mrs. Miller told Mama about it. They were parked nearby.”
“If Mrs. Miller saw it, it’ll be all over town.”
“She said that Mrs. Dolan could swear like a well-digger.”
“She exaggerates.”
“Her sympathy was with Mrs. Dolan. Made Dolan out as a man who was mean to his wife. Wouldn’t even let her stay and see the show.”
Henry Ann turned her head sharply. “Mean to her? That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. She’s the one who’s mean! Why do you think Jay is staying at my house?”
“Don’t get excited, H.A.,” Chris said quickly. “I’m just telling you what Mrs. Miller told Mama.”
“She’s an old busybody. I hope your mother didn’t believe her.”
“Don’t count on it. Mama soaked in every word as gospel,” Chris said dryly.
“Mrs. Miller was in the office the day Tom took Jay to see Doctor Hendricks. She . . . Oh, never mind.”
“She told Mama about that, too. And that you were with him.”
“Oh, good Lord! Maybe if my reputation is tarnished enough, it’ll knock me out of the running for your hand.”
“Don’t count on that either.”
They didn’t speak again until they neared town.
“Will you be here long?” Chris asked. “I’m going to pick up some shotgun shells. I’ll wait—”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be. You’d better not wait.”
“I thought maybe . . . maybe you’d have time to ride with me out to Opal’s,” he said quietly, and turned his head so she couldn’t see the anxious look on his face.
“Out to Opal’s? I’d love to go if it wouldn’t take more than an hour. I need to pick peaches later this afternoon.”
“We’ll not stay long. I thought it would be a good time for you and Opal to visit. She doesn’t see many women her age.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” Henry Ann laughed dryly. “I’m at least five years older than Opal. Maybe more.”
“She needs a friend, Henry Ann.”
The sad look on Chris’s face touched her heart.
You don’t know it, Chris, but we both have troubles of the heart. Though yours aren’t as hopeless as mine.
“Of course, I’ll go. But first I want to see Mr. Phillips, then go to the store. I won’t be long.” She smiled, and when she did, Chris thought his childhood friend was not only pretty, but terribly nice. “When we come into town together and then leave together, Mrs. Miller is sure to make something of it.”
“Let her. I don’t care if you don’t.”
“I’m willing to do my part to keep Mrs. Miller supplied with gossip to spread. Let me out at the corner, Chris. I’ll see Mr. Phillips first.”
“I’ll park over by the store.”
Mr. Phillips’s law practice didn’t take up much of his time. The only reason he had an office uptown was because he owned the property. The sandstone building was one of the oldest in town and had an iron stairway to the second story attached to the side. Two dirty glass windows with a door in between faced the street. On one of the windows was a chipped and faded sign in gold paint: O.B. P
HILLIPS
, A
TTORNEY AT
L
AW
.
Henry Ann opened the screened door and stood for a minute beneath the slow-whirling blades of the fan that extended down from the ceiling on a long pipe. Mr. Phillips sat in his swivel chair, his booted feet on his desk. His shaggy gray head was tilted to the side, his mouth beneath the bushy, drooping mustache hung open.
Henry Ann rapped on the door that was folded back to the wall. The old man came awake with a snort. His feet slid off the desk and hit the floor with a thump.
“Morning, Mr. Phillips. Sorry to wake you.”
“That’s all right, Henry Ann.” He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just catchin’ up on my sleep. Had to go over to the county seat last night. Sheriff Watson jailed one of my clients. Damned fool got in a fight and hit a deputy.”
“I’ll try not to take up much of your time.”
“Sit. Sit, Henry Ann. What’s on your mind?”
Henry Ann told him as briefly as possible about Isabel going to the Perrys and about her getting a lawyer.
“She can’t get any part of the farm.”
“How about the cattle, the crops, the household things?” Henry Ann’s nose twitched when the old man held a match to a foul-smelling cigar and blew smoke across the desk. His appearance and his manner seemed unfit for a lawyer, but some folks swore by him. Henry Ann continued, “She’ll say that they belonged to Daddy and that she is entitled to a third of them.”
“Hummm—” He puffed for a minute. “Good thinking on your part.”
“I didn’t think of it. A man working for us did.”
“Good thinking,” he said again, swinging his chair around to spit in the spittoon behind him. “Who’s her lawyer?”
“She didn’t say. She was with Pete Perry.”
“Don’t think it was Mendosa, or he’d be crowin’ about it. They might have called on that shyster over at Ringling.”
“Can she force me to sell everything and give her a third?”
“How about the boy?”
“He hasn’t sided with her. He hasn’t mentioned wanting anything. He knows, and so does Isabel, that my daddy wasn’t theirs.”
“No tellin’ how many more of Dorene’s kids will show up. She was loose as a goose,” he said with a snort of disgust, and Henry Ann cringed. “What’s important as far as the law is concerned is that Ed was married to her when the kids were born. Ed knew that.”
“I’ve not heard of any more kids. What can I do?”
“Hummm—” He puffed on the cigar. The smoke made her nostrils sting. “I’ll have to think on it. I told Ed he ought to make out a will, but he thought putting the farm in your name was enough. I did, too, at the time.”
Henry Ann stood. “He had twelve dollars left in the bank after he paid Doctor Hendricks and for his burial.”
“Harrumph! If I know old Arnston, he’ll not turn it loose without a court order, so you might as well forget it. Rumor has it the bank’ll be going bust soon anyway.”
“I don’t want to give up what Daddy and I worked for. I offered Isabel a home and a chance to go to school, but she turned it down and went to the Perrys. I don’t feel that I should have to sell my cattle and livestock at today’s prices so she can have a third.”
“I’ll think on it.”
Henry Ann went to the door. “Don’t think too long, Mr. Phillips. I may be hearing from her lawyer.”
“Run on home, Henry Ann. Leave it to me.”
As she crossed the street to the store, his words played over in her mind.
Leave it to me.
Bullfoot! She’d wanted him to tell her that Isabel had no claim, but he hadn’t. Thank goodness for the money her daddy had put in the milk can. It was safely buried in the cellar. The Perrys would never get their hands on that.
The store was typical of many small-town stores, although it was stocked better than most with groceries, feed, and some dry goods. Mr. Anderson was a good businessman, and he had a heart. He traded with his customers when possible, carried on credit the ones he was sure would pay when they could, and kept his prices low.
Henry Ann came face-to-face with Karen when she stepped into the store.
“Well, hello. I didn’t see your car. Did you walk in?”
“I rode in with Christopher Austin.”
“Oh, my!” Karen’s blue eyes danced. “His mama will dance a jig over that.”
“I hope she won’t find out about it. I need to get a few things, then I’ll ride back with Christopher. Hello, Mr. Anderson,” she said to the white-aproned man who came from behind the counter.
“Howdy, Miss Henry.”
“I want three peppermint sticks, a tin of Copenhagen, and a box of allspice. We’re putting up pickled peaches,” she explained to Karen. “I’ve got to pick peaches when I get home.”
“You dipping snuff now?” Karen asked with a grin.
“It’s for Aunt Dozie and you know it, smarty.”
“The peach ice cream we had Sunday was good.” Karen waited while Mr. Anderson put the spice, the tin of snuff, and the candy in a small sack.
Henry Ann dug into her purse and placed a fifty-cent piece on the counter. She accepted the change, waved good-bye to the grocer, and followed Karen out of the store.
“I wasn’t sure you knew what you were eating on Sunday,” Henry Ann said with a teasing grin as they stood on the store porch. “You and Grant were so busy flirting with each other.”
“Flirting?” Karen’s mouth dropped, and her cheeks fired up.
“Yes, flirting. Be careful, Karen. He’s admitted that he’s a bum with roaming feet and has been for several years. He’s a good worker and a good influence on Johnny. Other than that, we know nothing about him. We never know when we get up in the morning if he’ll still be there.”
BOOK: Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers]
6.4Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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