Garden of Dreams (9 page)

***

Leaning on his walking stick, JD counted out hundred- dollar bills on the counter in front of the teller. He'd left Jackie outside with the Harley. “It looks like I'll be around for a while, so I thought I'd better start an account,” he told the teller as he filled out the deposit slip using his new name. Any sensible bank officer would see through his statement quickly enough, but he counted on the stack of bills cutting through the questions. Thank heavens Jackie had found his wallet. JD had known when they'd left that they would travel on cash, and he'd brought plenty.

His assumption proved correct. The clerk nodded eagerly. “Sure thing, Mr. Smith. We can give you some counter checks today. Your new ones will arrive in the mail within a week.”

“You're set up for electronic deposits, aren't you?”

The clerk looked a little bewildered but, after consulting with the head teller, returned with the answer JD wanted. “Yes, sir. We don't have much call for it hereabouts, but we can handle that.”

He hadn't fallen entirely through the rabbit hole then, JD thought in relief. He'd experienced enough culture shock these last two days without discovering a bank that didn't handle electronic transactions. Being rescued by a combine and waking up in a hundred-year-old farmhouse with two electric plugs per room had already severely shaken his concept of middle America.

As JD took the new checks from the teller, he glanced up to see a familiar face. He hadn't been precisely conscious when they'd hauled him out of the bean field, but he didn't know too many people around here. He expected this must be the Mr. Thomas his son had told him about.

J D approached the farmer and held out his hand. “I want to thank you, Mr. Thomas. If you hadn't come along when you did, I'd have been in a heap of trouble.”

The shorter man shrugged diffidently. “No problem.”

JD could deal with men if he must. Growing up without a mother, living on military bases the better part of his life, he'd learned about non-talkers like Thomas. He pounded the other man on the back. “I owe you one.”

“Sorry about your truck. Is Bob fixin' it?”

“It will take some time. Miss Toon is renting us some rooms until it's done. Thought we'd take in a little fishing while we're here. Know any good fishing holes?”

They wandered out of the bank discussing the best fishing spots for this time of year. Thomas greeted Jackie, admired the Harley, commiserated with them over the damaged chrome, and, after inviting them to church on Sunday, ambled off to the farm store.

“Church?” Jackie asked with distaste. “We don't have to go to church, do we? Mom made me go a couple of times, and it's
boring
.”

JD had never had a mom to make him go. He remembered attending Bible school one summer when he'd grabbed the opportunity to escape a sweltering slum for air-conditioned church rooms. He hadn't been impressed with the ambience, but he'd stayed cool for a week.

He swatted Jackie on the side of the head. “We're in the Bible Belt now, son. We'll see what's expected of us. Can you imagine what your mom would say if the police told her they'd traced us to a church out here?”

Jackie grinned and didn't argue more. Looking at the boy, JD tried finding a piece of himself in that mop of long hair, the long nose and sulky mouth, but he couldn't. He could barely remember Nancy, but he supposed the kid resembled her.

Still, he couldn't help feeling some kind of pride that the kid claimed him. He'd been all of sixteen when he and Nancy had run away from their respective homes to start what they thought would be a new and better life. Hell, they'd made a new life, apparently, but not the kind they'd had in mind. He hadn't even thought Nancy might be pregnant when her old man had dragged her home. He'd just felt relief that he didn't have to figure out how to put food on the table any longer. He'd hit the road the next day and never looked back.

He'd been an immature jerk. Lord, the kid was almost as old as he was when he'd fathered him. JD would damn well make certain the boy knew how to take care of himself and any partner he picked up. There was no point in passing on the Marshall legacy of incompetence with women.

As he and Jackie rode the Harley toward the lakes, the sheriff stepped out of the Piggly Wiggly and flagged them down. JD had the sudden sense of falling into some old Western movie where the town sheriff knew everything and everybody. He rolled the bike to a halt and winced as he forgot his sore foot and set it down as a brake.

The sheriff looked properly sympathetic. “Sorry about that. Shouldn't you be resting that foot?”

Now that the man wasn't looking all dopey-eyed at Nina, JD could tolerate him. And Jackie should learn respect for the law. Age certainly had a way of catching up with a man. Once upon a time JD would have just given the man the finger and ridden off in a cloud of dust.

“Promised the kid I'd take him fishing. The accident kind of wrecked our vacation plans, so I'm looking for some way of making it up to him.”

“This is a great place for a vacation,” the sheriff informed him proudly. “It's a shame it's not hunting season. I could take him down some trails and show him some deer. If you want to rent a boat, there's a marina just off on the right as you reach the lake. They'll take good care of you.”

“I'm obliged to you.” JD nodded, hoping he'd picked up the local lingo. “Gary Thomas just told us where to find the best fishing holes. Reckon we'll take some fish back for Miss Toon this evening.”

That clouded the man's expression quick enough. Sheriff Hoyt definitely had intentions in that area, JD decided.

“Bob said he didn't find your billfold in the truck anywhere. Have you found it yet? I've still got to fill out that report.”

Double damn shit. Here he was driving the Harley through town without a license as far as this backwoods sheriff knew. He should know better than to expect the law to be on his side. Grinding his teeth, JD summoned a polite reply. “Damn, I'm sorry, Sheriff. I'm so used to having the thing in my pocket, I'd forgotten it went missing.” It didn't take much of an act to look crestfallen. “What do you reckon I should do? I hate burdening Miss Toon with driving us around until I get a new one. I'm not even sure I can replace it since I'm not at home. It's kind of like being in a foreign country and losing a passport. Where's the nearest embassy?”

That almost brought a grin to the sheriff's face. “Well, if you carried your birth certificate around with you, you could go over to the courthouse and take the driver's test and get a Kentucky license. Just give me your social security number, and I'll use that on the report. Try staying away from any more stolen vans while you're around here, and I'll pretend I don't know you haven't got a license on you.”

JD gave him a number with a wrong digit that would throw off any search the sheriff might make. Anyone could mess up a number. Hoyt would never know if it was his own fault or JD's. He'd done the same at the bank. If they stayed only a few weeks, it wouldn't hurt. It would just slow down anyone tracing him.

“I'd offer to take you out for a beer, Sheriff, but Miss Toon tells me I can't do that around here, so I guess we'll just bring you a mess of fish when we catch some. Appreciate your understanding.”

“Bring the boy over to church on Sunday so he'll meet a few of the other kids. You might find this is a good place to live.” Tipping his hat, Hoyt sauntered back in the direction of his car.

Behind him, Jackie gave a whistle of relief. “Wow, you played that one close. He can't find Mom that way, can he?”

“Quit worrying about your mom. She'll be okay now that she knows you're safe. We're here to have a good time, remember?”

The boy accepted that, but Jackie didn't know about Harry. As he gunned the bike down the road, JD tried not to let that minor matter get to him.

Jimmy's return e-mail had said that Harry and his “partners” had left in search of JD.

JD wondered if he could have tried harder to shake DiFrancesco. Maybe he should have found somewhere safer for Jackie. Hell, maybe he should just have his head examined. What had ever given him the idea that he could become a corporate businessman? His credentials leaned more toward backwoods mechanic.

With Jackie chattering excitedly beside him about the fish they'd caught, the ones now simmering in the frying pan, JD wondered if his life would have been better if he'd stayed married to Nancy, found a mechanic's job, and settled somewhere. Jackie's life might have been better for it. Guilt churned his guts every time he looked at the boy.

“Hey, Dad! Look at the eyeballs! They're rolling around—”

JD made a hushing motion as he pointed toward the front room. He didn't need their pixie landlady recognizing his relationship to Jackie. He'd told her about Nancy, but he preferred erring on the side of caution otherwise. As the Smith brothers, they weren't so easily identified if someone came looking for them.

Jackie popped a hand over his mouth and nodded.

Lord, it hurt just looking at the boy. Well, he might be totally incompetent at relationship building, but he had a few other talents he could rely on. With a smirk, he winked at Jackie, and still carrying the greasy spatula, JD wandered toward the front room.

“Miss Toon? Would you care to join us? We're about to partake of the biggest, fattest catfish these lakes have ever given up. There's plenty enough for you.”

The house had only the one ancient TV. His addlepated landlady sat cross-legged in front of it, watching the evening news with a pencil between her teeth as she worked her way through several gardening catalogs, apparently comparing prices. He'd have blown a gasket by now concentrating on both activities at once.

She waved her fingers, indicating she'd heard him, popped the pencil from between her teeth to mark notes on a legal pad, then finally replied, “That's okay. You two enjoy yourselves. I'll catch something later.”

“Catch something? As in flies? Like a spider? If you go down to the lake right now, all you'll catch is mosquitoes. Come on. It won't take ten minutes to eat. I still owe you for saving my life, remember?”

She gave a mighty sigh and shoved her fingers through her hair, making it stand on end more than before. “Okay, you'll know my guilty secret. I hate fish. I particularly hate
catfish
. They're full of nasty little bones that aren't worth the trouble to pull out. I'll just have some cheese and crackers later.”

JD leaned against the door frame and admired the delicate tilt of her chin. For some insane reason, he felt the same protective instincts for this little bit of fluff and bone that he felt for his son. She lived in this huge gloomy house all alone, drove a rickety car that shouldn't be trusted ten feet from safety, and she'd developed some decided peculiarities that would worsen unless someone pulled her out of the empty shell she'd buried herself in. He had the urge to tug her into his arms and teach her what she was missing. Stupid inclination given his own paranoid tendencies.

“Then come and eat your cheese and crackers with us. Tell us about the local flora and fauna. Or better yet, tell us how we can get out of church on Sunday. So far, you're the only person who hasn't invited us.”

Nina threw another look at the TV where the local newscaster expounded upon the latest protest over the TVA's mishandling of the lake properties. With a shrug, she switched it off. She didn't know what made anyone think large corporations would do anything else but mishandle property when the bottom line was all that mattered to them, and people couldn't be calculated in dollars.

She despised eating alone, and besides Jackie had been awfully proud of his fish. She should congratulate him on his catch at least.

He grinned at her as she entered, and she saw a flash of family resemblance between the brothers. They both had that wicked grin that could turn a woman's heart upside down. Returning the smile, she accepted the chair JD pulled out for her.

“If you're going to catch this many fish, you'll have to start a fish market,” she teased. She tried ignoring the male in blue jeans rummaging through her refrigerator. He'd taken off his denim shirt in deference to the heat in the kitchen and was back to a T-shirt again.

“Could I make money at it?” the kid asked seriously.

She should have known better. She didn't know if the enormous check JD had presented her earlier was any good. She was afraid to find out. If their clothes were any evidence, they didn't look as if they had enough to live on. Of course the boy's thoughts would go to money.

“Well, you'd have some pretty stiff competition,” she pointed out. “Everyone out here fishes.”

He shrugged without looking too deflated. ‘Then I'll find something else. I want to own my own business like Dad.”

A guilty look darted over his face as JD dropped the cheese and crackers on the table. Nina pretended she didn't notice. She wouldn't delve into family history. She suspected the two must share the same father but different mothers. She found it surprising that Jackie would admire a man who beat him, but children always adored their parents, right or wrong. Or had JD said it was Jackie's stepfather?