The Lullaby Sky (14 page)

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

O
n Saturday morning, Hannah slept poorly, and finally, at six thirty, she got out of bed and padded into the kitchen, where she found Darcy sitting in the dark with a glass of sweet tea in her hands. “So you couldn’t sleep, either?”

Darcy shook her head. “I thought it would be wonderful to have Calvin this close, but it’s not. I can’t get past this thing I have for him. I’ve tried and tried, dated other men, but none of them measure up or make me feel like he does. I have made up my mind to be single forever and dote on Sophie.” Darcy shrugged. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

“Travis.” Hannah set about making a pot of coffee.

“He’s always been in love with you. Since grade school,” Darcy said.

“But that’s when we were kids. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since those days.” Hannah’s chest tightened. Could she be the woman that he’d never gotten over? She couldn’t be, because she was past thirty before she got tangled up with Marty. That would have given Travis years to open up about his feelings.

Darcy shrugged. “The heart knows what it wants. Now what?” She threw up her hands and sighed.

“Now we be patient and see what happens.”

“Do you know what
wait
is? It’s a four-letter word and they are all awful.” Darcy groaned.

“So is love,” Hannah reminded her. “Hey, you remember when we all went to the park after graduation and Cal pushed you on the swings?”

Darcy nodded. “That was years ago, but I still remember it like yesterday. I wanted him to kiss me so badly that night.”

“Why didn’t you kiss him?”

“Fear, I guess.”

“Well, we’re all older now, and you should tell him how you feel.”

Darcy’s cheeks turned scarlet. “It would make things awkward. I’d rather have him as a friend than lose him forever.”

“But think how glorious it would be. What if
he
was afraid to tell
you
?”

“I’ll play devil’s advocate and ask him if he has feelings for you,” Liz said from the back door. “We’ll talk about it later, Darcy,” she mouthed with a backward nod at Aunt Birdie and Miss Rosie arriving right behind her.

A few strands of gray hair had escaped Miss Rosie’s bun, and she pulled a bobby pin from her pocket and fixed it. She wore a wildly colored caftan and bright-orange flip-flops that morning. Aunt Birdie set a paper bag filled with groceries on the cabinet and removed a cast-iron skillet from the cabinet. Her jeans hung on her fanny like a sack on a broomstick, and her red T-shirt sported Rudolph all tangled up in Christmas lights.

“We are here and we’re going to make a big breakfast. Sausage gravy and hot biscuits and scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins,” Aunt Birdie said.

“Thank you,” Hannah said. “I was going to make pancakes, but your breakfast sounds a lot better.”

“You can still get out the griddle and make pancakes for whosoever wants them. Being able to run in and out of your house is so much fun, Hannah,” Aunt Birdie said. “It reminds me of when your grandma, my sister, was alive. We used to do so many meals together, and it brings back memories for me. Built our houses pretty much off the same plan right across the street from each other. I still miss her.”

Miss Rosie cracked a dozen eggs into a bowl she removed from the cabinet. “Well, holy smokes, Hannah! Your cabinet isn’t all perfect.”

“It’s not easy, but I’m working on that.” Hannah was glad that someone noticed she was trying to get out of the deep rut Marty had dug.

“Aunt Birdie!” Sophie ran across the floor and wrapped her arms around the older woman. “I love it that you are coming over here so much. Are you cooking? Can I set the table?”

“Yes, darlin’ girl, you can set the table. Me and Miss Rosie are making breakfast and you do a wonderful job of helping.” Aunt Birdie pointed at the drawer where the cutlery was stored. “We’ll need six of each.”

“But what about Uncle Cal and Uncle Travis?”

“This is a ladies’ breakfast. The boys have already had breakfast and are down at the hangar working,” Miss Rosie answered.

Liz poured three cups of coffee and handed one to Miss Rosie and one to Aunt Birdie. “I love this feeling. Being free to come and go as we want and not worry about anything. This is the kind of home I want.”

“Then get out of your situation and make a home like this. I like that the boys aren’t coming to breakfast this morning. Y’all all looked like warmed-over hell on Sunday morning, and that’s a good thing. You don’t feel like you have to go rushin’ around tryin’ to look decent. Only strong women who are comfortable in their faded pj’s are allowed in this house right now.” Aunt Birdie crumbled sausage into the iron skillet and stirred it with a wooden spoon.

Travis put the last nail in the cat carrier at eight thirty that morning. It was just a wooden frame covered with chicken wire, but it held the gray kitten and could be used to take her to the vet.

He and Cal had made a trip into Gainesville that morning and picked up litter and a pan to put it in and cat food, both dry and canned, specially formulated for kittens, plus half a dozen cat toys.

“Are we going to do something every single time a guest leaves Hannah’s place?” Cal asked as he put the gray kitten into the carrier and shut the door.

“If necessary. But Elaine left Thursday and this is Saturday, so it’s really not a present for that reason. Besides, the kitten needed just a little more taming before we gave her to Sophie. We didn’t want it to scratch her,” Travis said.

“Party on Thursday after Elaine left that morning. Darcy arrived last night. Kitten today. What happens tomorrow?” Cal asked.

“Church,” Travis said.

“We shouldn’t spoil her with things, but with love,” Cal said.

“You preachin’ to you or to me?”

Cal picked up the loaded pink litter pan. “Both of us. You can’t imagine how much I love that baby girl.”

“I think I can. I’d cut out my heart with a rusty butter knife for her or Hannah.”

“Give Hannah some healing time, but not too much,” Cal said. “Then sweep in and give her a life of happiness forever.”

“Being with her would sure give
me
a life of happiness forever.” Travis sighed as he eased the kitten inside. She instantly set up a howl, and he started talking to her in a high-pitched voice. “It’s okay, little girl. It’s only for a few minutes, and then you’ll be carried around all day.”

“Don’t ever use that voice on Hannah,” Cal said.

“Do you intend to use your kitten voice on Darcy?” Travis asked.

“Hell, no.” Travis picked up the carrier, and they walked side by side from the hangar toward the house. “How much time does it take to heal? A year?”

“Good Lord, not at all!” Cal exclaimed. “What we saw at the courthouse at the first of the month was just the paperwork. The marriage has been over a long time. You’ll know when the time is right.”

“And you?” Travis asked.

“I hope I do,” Cal drawled. “The attraction is there. I can feel it, but . . .”

“But what?” Travis asked when his friend stopped walking and paused.

“I’m scared out of my mind to tell her how I really feel.”

“Join the club, bro,” Travis drawled.

Cal’s phone rang at the same time Travis’s did.

Travis set the cat carrier down and pulled his phone from his hip pocket.

“Hey, Dad. Did you pop the question?” he asked.

“Not yet. Did you find what you were looking for at Pete’s place?”

Travis smiled. “I did, and it picked up all kinds of bugs. We’ve got them all taken care of and Hannah has new phone numbers now.”

“Good. I was just calling to check on you kids.”

“We’re taking it a day at a time. Tell Linda happy birthday. I was planning on calling your future fiancée first thing this morning, but—”

“Well, shit!” John butted in before Travis could finish his sentence. “I forgot that today was her birthday. Thanks for reminding me, son. I’ll get off here and make a reservation at Margaritaville in Panama City Beach and make an excuse to go buy her a present.”

“You’ve got the perfect present in your pocket,” Travis said.

“Naw, I’m saving that for the right moment. It shouldn’t be on her birthday. ’Bye now,” John said.

“Your dad?” Calvin asked.

“Yep.”

Travis picked up the kitten and they headed toward the house again.

Sophie was sitting on the sofa watching Saturday morning cartoons when Cal and Travis brought the kitten in through the back door and into the living room. She looked up and gasped.

“Is that really a kitten?” she squealed.

“It is, and she says that she needs a home. You reckon she could find one in this house?” Travis set the carrier down at Sophie’s feet. “She’s sure been crying for a friend. I don’t expect you’d know anyone who might be her new buddy, would you?”

“I can be her friend.” Sophie left the sofa and dropped down on her knees by the carrier. “Can I get her out of that cage?”

“Of course you can,” Hannah answered. “She’s a beautiful kitten. You reckon you could share with me?”

“I sure will share, Mama, but can I hold her first?” Sophie asked.

Travis quickly crossed the room and slung an arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I don’t have a kitten to give to you.”

“Someday she’ll have babies and I’ll get my own kitten then. Maybe I’ll be the crazy old cat woman and I’ll have a dozen old mama cats who have babies two or three times a year.”

“And I will sit on the porch and let them crawl all over me.” Travis chuckled.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN

G
ood mornin’, folks.” The preacher’s big booming voice filled the little white church that morning. “I’m glad to see all the pews comin’ close to being full. It’s a lot easier to preach to a crowd than to one or two folks falling asleep on the back row.”

A few muffled giggles floated above Hannah’s head, but she didn’t hear them. She was too busy trying to make sense of the sparks that sizzled every time her knee or her arm brushed against Travis. There was no avoiding it. He was sitting right beside her, and since she was on the very end of a full pew, there was nowhere to go.

She’d known him since they were babies in the church nursery. They’d gone through thirteen years of school together, and there had never been anything like this. So why now? Besides, the way he sat there so cool and never flinching must mean that he didn’t feel the heat.

“I’m going to read a few passages from the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Paul was writing to these folks concerning loving one another. It caused me to think of the love that Ruth had for Naomi, when she followed her into a strange land after both of their husbands had died. I think, and this is my opinion only, that there are many ways of marital death. God did not intend for a husband to mistreat his wife or for him to be lord and master over her. When that happens, the husband is killing the marriage as surely as if he shot the wife between the eyes with his deer-huntin’ rifle,” the preacher said.

Without taking his eyes from the pulpit, Travis reached over and nudged Hannah’s shoulder. “He’s preachin’ to Liz this mornin’,” he whispered.

“Ruth followed Naomi into a strange land. That’s where a wife is when she leaves a husband who has not appreciated the fact that his wife should walk beside him and not two steps behind him.”

A few shuffles said that the preacher was stepping on sore toes. Evidently he had some knowledge of other men in the community who weren’t showing their wives the love and respect that they should. Hannah chanced a peek down the pew at Liz. Two high spots of crimson dotted her cheeks, but she was nodding in agreement.

“And in that strange land she will find God and happiness.” The preacher went on with the sermon about love, but Hannah’s mind wandered. Sitting in church should bring quietness to the soul, but that morning all it brought to Hannah was more questions without answers as she sat beside Travis and tried to figure out what this chemistry was that she felt.

After the last amen was said, Miss Rosie announced that dinner was at her house that day, and she wasn’t taking excuses from anyone. As they were filing out of the church, she looped her arm into Hannah’s. “And after dinner you can go over to Liz’s and help her pack, right? Darcy can play with Sophie while me and Birdie catch our Sunday afternoon nap, and the guys will go to the hangar, I’m sure.”

“I’m praying that things will go smooth,” Hannah said.

“I’m not. If he hurts her again, I’m going to shoot the bastard,” Miss Rosie said seriously, then turned to shake the preacher’s hand and smiled brightly. “Lovely sermon this morning. A lot of men are going home with sore toes, I’m sure.”

“I hope they go home with heavy hearts and repent if they’ve been treating their wives with anything other than respect.” The preacher nodded.

“That, too,” Miss Rosie said and moved on so the next person could shake his hand.

Liz kept telling herself that she was a grown woman and this was simply a stepping-stone. Wyatt was coming back to Crossing tomorrow, and she would tell him that she’d already moved her things over to Aunt Birdie’s place. She unlocked the door and threw it open. She stepped inside the house, and Hannah followed her.

“Come in. I’ve got boxes in the spare bedroom and it shouldn’t take us long to get them loaded and out of here since we’ve got two cars we can use.”

“Have you checked the place for . . . you know?” Hannah rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

“Travis did. We are fine. Wyatt isn’t as crafty as Marty or as willing to put out money for fancy devices. He just checks my call log when he gets home and fumes if I’ve talked to anyone too long.”

Hannah glanced around the living room and shivered. “Why don’t you delete the call log?”

“Tried that. Cost me dearly,” Liz said. “Entering this place is like walking into a tomb, isn’t it? No need to lie. I saw your reaction and feel the same every day. Like all the ghosts of his relatives are watching me and tattling to him.”

“I haven’t been in here since you moved in. Strange, but probably for the same reason I would meet all y’all over at Aunt Birdie’s house. It is spooky, Liz. It hasn’t changed since his mother lived here,” Hannah said.

Liz eased down on the sofa, circa 1980, with its wagon wheel arms and orange-and-brown upholstery. “What happened to us? We were happy roommates for more than ten years and then everything went to hell in a handbasket.”

“Thirty happened to us. We both felt like the chance for a marriage and a family was passing us by. You got involved with Wyatt and I met Marty. We went forward, only we chose the wrong path,” Hannah said.

“Wyatt was charming at first,” Liz said.

“So was Marty. That’s the way abusive men are. They draw their prey in and then torture it.” Hannah sat down in a wooden rocking chair. “This is the right thing to do, Liz. Don’t think about his charm and change your mind.”

“I have to leave. I’m to the point I’m afraid he’s going to kill me. His anger gets worse and worse every time he comes home,” Liz said.

“Then let’s get this done, and you’ll be gone when he arrives. All you’ll have to do is tell him, and I’ll even come with you to do that,” Hannah said.

“I need to do it by myself to show him that I’m independent and I can do what I damn well please with my life. That I can live without him,” Liz said. “It’ll be scary, but if things start to get out of hand, I’ve got you and Travis both on speed dial. I think I brought less out than I took in.” She wrapped her arms around her midriff and reminded herself that tomorrow it would be all over. Hannah would be there for her to talk to and Miss Rosie would be a wonderful roommate for the rest of the summer.

Hannah had never done a job so fast in her life. She wouldn’t have been a bit surprised to have long, bony hands shoot out from behind the door and drag them back into the house when they started carrying boxes out to their vehicles. How Liz had lived in the house for the past seven years was a mystery and a miracle rolled up into one.

“I really, really don’t like the feeling in that place,” she said. Hannah could practically hear eerie music coming from the shadows, and every creak from the floorboards made her wonder if ghosts didn’t live under the house as well as inside it.

“It gets worse when Wyatt is home,” Liz said. “Right now it’s just spooky. Add the tension and fear on top of that. If it hadn’t been for y’all and my job, I would have put a gun to my head a long time ago.”

“God, Liz, now I feel guilty. I should have barged in here and visited with you after you moved in. I would have put you in a straitjacket and hauled you out of here.”

Liz leaned against her car. “Don’t beat yourself up. I had to get to this point before I’d stay gone when I left, even if it was in a straitjacket. Let’s get the rest of it out and I’ll lock the door. Tomorrow I’ll give him my key and it will be done.”

Hannah braced herself against the feel of the house when she went back inside and made short order of getting all the boxes and clothing out to the cars. She didn’t breathe easy until they were parked in Aunt Birdie’s driveway.

Sophie was at her side the second she was out of the car. “Mama! Aunt Darcy says that Aunt Liz is moving in with Aunt Birdie. Why can’t she come live with us? We’ve got a big house, too.”

“Because Aunt Birdie asked her first,” Hannah said.

Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not fair. I would have asked her if y’all would stop talking big-people stuff and tell me things.”

Darcy came out the door and picked up several hangers with clothing still on them from the backseat of Liz’s car. “I’ll help take things inside. Aunt Birdie decided to take her Sunday nap at Miss Rosie’s and sent me over here with Sophie so we could do this job together. So you’ve left Egypt and you are returning to the promised land, Liz?” Darcy smiled.

“I can’t believe that you were paying attention to the preacher when Calvin was that close to you, Darcy,” Hannah said.

“Had to.” Darcy held the door for them to bring in two boxes each. “I was afraid if I looked at him, I’d go up in flames and there wouldn’t be nothing left of me but the smell of scorched linen. Why I ever bought this dress is a mystery. Damn thing has to be hand washed and ironed and it wrinkles something awful.”

“But it looks beautiful on you, and that shade of peach is so pretty with your complexion.” Hannah took her load to the spare bedroom and set it on the floor.

“I went through every dress in my closet before I chose this one. And did Cal even notice? No, sir! He was so intrigued with the preacher or one of those women in the choir wearing a shapeless choir robe that he couldn’t even see me. God, why did I have to fall in love with Calvin Winters when we were kids?” Darcy hung the clothing in the closet. “We can sort this later. For now, I’ll just get it all in here.”

Hannah giggled. “Don’t ask God. Ask your heart.”

They all three trudged up the stairs together to the bedroom Liz would be using. “The heart is a fickle thing. It will steer you wrong. God won’t.”

“I think the heart tells us what it wants, but when we don’t listen, that’s when we get into trouble,” Hannah shot right back. “Be honest. Did you have any doubts on your wedding day? I did, but then I was pregnant and felt like my baby deserved a good name. Look what that got me.”

Liz nodded slowly. “I did have doubts, but they’d already given us a shower and parties and it would create a stink in the whole town if I backed out on the wedding day. Besides, if I was honest with myself, I was a little afraid of what Wyatt would do if I did. You are so right, Hannah. The heart doesn’t steer us wrong. We do that to ourselves.”

Sophie followed all three women into the room. “You want Travis to paint a rainbow and a twinkle star on your wall?”

Liz wrapped both arms around Sophie. “Maybe when I get my own house.”

Sophie’s dark brows knit together in a thinking frown. “How would you paint a lullaby sky? I think we should fix a sign for our house and hang it on the porch so people will know what to call it.” She paused and stuck a finger above her upper lip. “Would it have clouds or not?”

Liz looked at Hannah and raised an eyebrow.

“Remember the preacher talking about happiness and peace this morning in church, Sophie?” Hannah asked.

“I was coloring, so I didn’t listen to him,” Sophie answered.

“Well, peace is when there is nothing in the house that makes you unhappy or sad. Our house is like that. But you can’t make a picture of it to put on a sign, because it’s a feeling down deep in your heart, not a picture in your mind,” Hannah explained.

Sophie smiled sweetly. “Oh, like the way Uncle Cal looks when he sees Aunt Darcy.”