The Comforts of Home (36 page)

An hour later he felt the bed dip and the covers lift. He didn’t move.

“Ty,” Kate whispered. “Can I sleep next to you tonight?

This storm is keeping me awake.”

He raised his arm and she slid in next to him. Neither said another word. For a long while he knew she wasn’t asleep. Final y, he moved closer and put his arm around her waist. “Good night, my dear Kate,” he whispered.

“Good night,” she answered, and he felt her relax. In a few minutes she was sound asleep.

Tyler took a deep breath and drifted off, but he didn’t dream. His only dream was at his side.

MARCH 19

TRUMAN FARM

REAGAN FELT THE TENSION IN THE AIR FRIDAY

MORNING as soon as she woke. The wind and rain from the night before pul ed everyone’s nerves to the surface. No one at the farm had slept wel .

Jeremiah and Foster looked like they’d been up for hours when she went in to make breakfast a little after dawn. The whole house stil rattled from the wind.

“There’s a bad one coming,” Jeremiah mumbled over his coffee cup. “Did I ever tel you I was born during a terrible storm back in 1920? The wind blew the roof off the barn and we lost most of the grain that year, but my momma always said I came riding in on that tornado and she knew I’d be a wild one al my life. She wanted to name me Stormy, but then they’d have to stick with the theme.

Rainy and Sunny would have been al right, but if they had several kids soon we’d be down to Cloudy and Haily.” Reagan smiled, knowing that her uncle’s efforts at storytel ing were aimed at making her laugh. Over the years she’d guessed at least half of his memories were made up on the spot.

Foster laughed at the story, but al Reagan could manage was a yawn. She’d been up listening to the rain most of the night and planned to take a nap as soon as breakfast was over. In this weather she could do little in the orchards.

Aunt Pat came in, moving slower than usual. Her arthritis bothered her on rainy days, but she managed a smile for them al . As she did every morning, she pul ed on an apron and wanted to help. Before Reagan could stop her, she got out the eggs and set to work.

When no one seemed to want to talk, Pat said, “You know, I’ve been thinking. It only makes sense for al of us to load up and head over to my place. It’s only next door, so it should be no great problem and we’ve got a ful basement to wait out the storm in. I would make a big pot of coffee and we’d be snug as bugs in a rug down there.” Jeremiah frowned. “I’ve been in this house al my life and it hasn’t crumbled down around me yet. I don’t see any point in getting wet moving from one place to another.”

“Now, Jeremiah.” She pointed a wooden spoon at him.

“Don’t you ‘now’ me. I’m just fine where I am. You’l be safe here too. That’s the trouble with you Mathesons, you always think what you got is bigger and better than what other folks build.”

“That’s not true. I never built anything in my life, Jeremiah Truman, and you know it.”

“No you taught school and everybody knows it’s the know-it-al s who think they can teach.”

They argued while she cooked. No one else chose to step into the ring with the two senior citizens, but they did wake Noah up since he slept one wal away from the kitchen.

He came in wearing his pajama bottoms, stood right between them, and cal ed off the fight.

Neither of them listened to him.

When he tried again, Aunt Pat spatulaed a fried egg up against the side of his face, and Jeremiah laughed so hard they final y stopped yel ing. Noah managed to eat half the egg off his face before it hit the floor.

He tried to sit down at the table, but Aunt Pat informed him that only wild animals eat before they’re properly dressed and washed. He complained as loudly as Jeremiah had, but he left the room to pul on jeans and a shirt.

Pat yel ed after him, “Are you sure you don’t have some Truman blood in you, boy?”

“No,” he yel ed back. “Or Matheson, thank God. My family has had to put up with both of you for a hundred years and I’m tel ing you, from the stories I’ve heard it hasn’t been easy.”

“Hush your complaining,” both Pat and Jeremiah yel ed, final y agreeing on something.

The subject of relocating was tabled along with breakfast and everyone sat down to eat. Jeremiah told a story about how back in the dust bowl days, people used to eat as fast as they could so the dust wouldn’t cover the food before they finished.

“It feels that way today,” Reagan whispered. “Dust as fine as sand seems to be sifting through the floors of this old house, making everything and everyone seem like I’m looking at them through dirty glasses.”

“It’l clear out soon.” Foster smiled. “The rain’l come.

Then we won’t have to worry about dust. We’l have to watch for leaks.”

Noah shook his head. “News says we might get tornadoes before dark.”

No one spoke. They just ate in silence. Reagan remembered something her math teacher said a few years back. He compared living in Texas with being a hockey fan.

If you sit in the stands long enough, you’re going to get hit with the puck.

Halfway through the meal, Aunt Pat put her chubby worn hand on top of old Jeremiah’s rough wrinkled fingers and said, “I know your house wil stand, but I want to be near my sister if the storm worsens and tornadoes are in the area.

She’s always been afraid of them, Jeremiah. You know that. If the warning comes, wil you come with me to make sure my family is al safe?”

To everyone’s shock, Jeremiah nodded. “We’l al go. If it’l make you feel better, Patricia. Lord knows you’ve been worried about Fatil a al her life. I wouldn’t expect you to stop now just because she’s out of your sight.” He stood and pul ed up his walker. “I’l go watch the news. Everyone else get ready. If it moves from a watch to a warning, we load up the cars and move to the Matheson basement.” Pat fol owed him to the parlor, where the TV was already tuned in to the weather channel. They sat side by side.

“He gave in to her!” Reagan whispered in shock.

“Aunt Fat’s name is Fatil a?” Noah added, but no one was listening.

“He loves her,” Cindy said from the doorway. “I’d think al of you would have figured that out by now. She thumped Noah on the head as she passed him. “And don’t cal Aunt Fat
Fatilla
. She told me she’s always hated her name.”

“And she likes
Fat
?” Noah rubbed his head.

“I think it’s kind of romantic,” Reagan whispered. “After al these years they are together.”

“Fatilla?”
Noah glanced at Reagan. She looked like she might be the next to thump him so he stood, taking himself out of the line of fire. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m getting ready. That cloud’s too dark to be anything but a tornado mixer.”

Foster nodded. “I think we can get everyone in the van.

I’l take the meds; Cindy could you get blankets? If that watch turns to a warning, we’l be headed over to the next place. Since we can’t take the path through the orchard in the van, we’l have to drive around.”

Reagan felt a sense of panic at leaving her home, but she knew if Jeremiah went, she had to go with him. She locked away any important papers in the safe, turned off the gas just in case, and packed the pies she’d made. Other than that, she had no idea what to take to a tornado party.

When she walked back into the kitchen, everyone had gone but Noah. For a moment they just stood staring at each other. She felt close to him today, even though she hadn’t said anything about it. They were so much a part of each other. Al her memories since she came to Harmony, since she started her real life, were wrapped around him.

She loved him in a way deeper than boyfriend and girlfriend, different than family, stronger than friends. He was a part of her, and she guessed she was a part of him.

He frowned. “You going to tel me what to do when you get that age?”

“Probably,” she guessed. “Why?”

He looked like he wanted to cuss, but he just said, “I think it may take me a while to get used to the idea. I don’t like fol owing orders, so don’t expect much out of me.

Maybe you should look for someone easier to boss around.”

“Shut up,” she ordered. The one moment she thought fine lace bound them, he must have seen a rope . . . maybe with a noose on the end of it.

He hesitated, as if he planned to argue, then changed his mind and leaned across the corner of the kitchen table and kissed her. “I do like kissing you, Rea. Think we might make it a habit whenever I’m home?”

She shrugged, not liking the idea that he would be leaving soon. This was the first time he’d mentioned going back. Now that it was in his mind, she had a feeling it wouldn’t be long.

When he pul ed away, he asked, “You stil comparison shopping?”

“Maybe.” If he wanted to keep it light, she could too.

TYLER SPENT THE MORNING GOING BETWEEN

WORKING and checking on Kate. She slept late, and then about midmorning he found her visiting with Autumn in the kitchen.

When he dropped by a half hour later he had the strange feeling he was interrupting their conversation, so he grabbed a few cookies and disappeared. When he returned to check on lunch, Kate was talking on the phone.

A few minutes later he saw her heading up the stairs. When she came down al dressed, she said she was having lunch with Martha Q.

He tried to hide his disappointment. “I’l drive you. It’s raining,” he said.

“Thank you.” She pul ed on her raincoat and they hurried out.

Nether said a word in the car. After holding each other al night, they didn’t seem to know how to break the polite silence between them. He wanted to say how much he loved her being next to him, but somehow he was afraid that words, any words other than simple nothing conversation, might frighten her off.

When he pul ed up close to the Winter’s Inn porch, he turned to her. “I’l be back in an hour. There’s a tornado watch out. If it turns into a warning I’d like you to be back at the home with me. Those foot-thick wal s wil weather anything. I’m not so sure about Martha Q’s house.” Kate nodded and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

The kiss was awkward for them both, but they were forming a habit.

He watched her run onto the porch. “You are so dear to me,” he whispered.

Sitting in the car, he felt like he’d been hanging out at a train station al morning. He wished he could have told her not to go, but just because they cuddled last night didn’t mean he had any vote in what she did.

She’d kissed his cheek as if to say,
I’ll see you in an
hour, dear
.

Tyler smiled and went back to his work. He had no idea what was going on in Kate’s mind, but one kiss on the cheek convinced him that everything would be just fine.

He’d just finished lunch at his desk when Alex cal ed from the sheriff’s office. Tyler picked up the phone thinking there might be some news about Leland. No one had seen or heard from him since he walked out after making bail.

He’d simply vanished.

In the past few days Tyler had learned more about the man, and it was al bad. Alex told him about Leland’s list of arrests since his teen years on everything from petty theft to assault. Apparently, Autumn was only one of several young women he’d tried to beat into line. His MO seemed to be picking up girls in bars who were too drunk to fight him off after he offered to take them home. Then he moved in without being asked and tried threats and final y beatings if they didn’t want to play house with him.