Wishmakers (40 page)
Gloria looked at him, her amber eyes filled with love. “I don't know that I would have done differently, under the same circumstances.”
“I really am kind of a hippie, sweetheart. I own two apartment buildings in Chicago, and the rent money goes to pay the mortgages. There's a little left over, but not a lot. We can live here, and I'll get a job, or we can run Ethel's motel, and someday maybe turn this town into a tourist attraction. It's your choice.”
“Are your intentions honorable, Mr. Evans?”
“Right at the moment? No way! Later, like tomorrow, we're jumping the broomstick together.”
“Like the pioneers?”
“Like the pioneers.”
“I've decided.” She giggled happily. “We can run Aunt Ethel's motel for now—then, later, I want to live right here in Hangtown. After all, how many women have a town all to themselves?”
“You're sure?”
“I was never more sure of anything in my life. Oh, darling, I'm so glad Peter and I came out here.” Gloria's eyes became misty. “Jack, my sweet, wonderful bear of a man! Thank you! Peter and I were so afraid we'd have to go back to Ohio.”
“The only man you'll ever have to obey again is me,” he growled, and began to kiss her. “Hummm…you taste so good.” His hand moved up under her gown and stroked the naked flesh of her thigh and hips. “Can we go to bed now?”
“Jack, be good. It's almost like kissing a stranger. I miss your beard!”
“You miss my beard?” His head came up and laughing green eyes caught laughing amber ones. “Good God, woman! For weeks you've been telling me I looked like a hairy ape. It cost me thirty bucks to get my hair cut and styled and my beard shaved off. I did it to please you, and almost froze my face on the way home.”
She let out a girlish little gurgle of laughter.
“Poor baby,” she crooned tenderly. “You can grow it back.” She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him firmly on the lips. “But forget the earring!”
“Is there no pleasing you, little squirrely worry-wart?” he demanded, pinching her bottom gently.
“Yes. Did you notice that Peter is sleeping on the cot?”
“You bet! It's the first thing I noticed when I turned on the light.”
“Well…?”
Jack laughed joyously and hugged her close. “There's more I want to tell you, and I'd better do it now. Once I get you in that bed, there'll be no more talking.” He began to kiss her and nuzzle her cheek with his nose. “Someday when we've made our fortune, we'll build a house right here in Hangtown.”
“You're going to open up the town?”
“We'll have to wait and see about that. This is our town. We'll populate it ourselves.”
“Ahhh…nice….” She breathed against his cheek. “Can we get started now?”
“You wouldn't mind living out here?”
“Not as long as you're here and we're working on our…project of…populating the town.” She stroked the dark curls back from his forehead, loving the freedom to caress him. This precious intimacy was making her light-headed with happiness.
“Our house will have two stories and plenty of bedrooms for Peter and his brothers and sisters. One for Aunt Ethel, too, if she is able to come.” His voice grew husky as his lips moved over her face, but he continued determinedly. “It'll have a high-pitched roof, gables, a big porch with gingerbread, and a chandelier from Austria—all straight out of the 1870s. How does that sound?”
“Fine, but we've got to make our fortune first,” she whispered, her lips taking up the kissing. “You can tell me about it tomorrow. Right now I'd rather find out what it's like to have a…sex maniac make love to me.”
“You're not going to forget that, are you?” He laughed joyously and got to his feet with her in his arms.
“No. And I'm not going to let you forget it either. I hope we're snowed in for a week,” she said saucily, her amber eyes sparkling. She placed a little string of kisses along his jaw, and her fingers burrowed beneath his shirt and pulled at a tuft of hair on his chest. “Ya think you're pretty tough, don'tcha, big man?”
“I'm tough enough to handle you, mama chick. I'm from the Big Windy.”
“Yeah…yeah…play it again, Sam.”
“You're cruisin' for a bruisin', babe.”
He dropped her on the bed and stood over her. She looked up at him with adoration in her eyes, but her voice was mockingly stern.
“Well, get on with it, tough guy, or I'll…break your arm!”
FOR MY READERS:
GLORIA'S YUMMY CAKE
1 package chocolate cake mix
¾ cup butter or margarine
½ cup evaporated milk
1 16-oz. package caramels
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup nut meats
Optional:
1 cup coconut
Whipped cream
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Prepare chocolate cake batter according to directions on package. Bake 2/3 of the batter in a 9 × 13 pan and let cool.
3. In a double boiler melt together butter or margarine, milk, and caramels. Allow to cool and spread on cake.
4. Sprinkle chocolate chips and nut meats on top of cake. Coconut may be used instead of chocolate chips and nuts.
5. Dribble the remainder of the batter on top and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and serve with whipped cream.
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Prologue
N
ONA LOOKED DOWN
at the package Mr. Dryden had given her.
“I wasn't expecting a package.”
“It was delivered by a postman in a truck about an hour ago. I heard someone pounding on your door and went out into the hallway. The postman asked me if Nona Conrad lived there and when I said yes he asked me to give you this package.”
“Thank you, Mr. Dryden.” Nona tried to make out a return address, but the writing was smeared. “Mabel is doing some shopping this afternoon. Maggie won't be home until late. She wanted to see her friends one last time before we leave. I'm sorry you were bothered with this.”
Nona went back into the apartment clutching the package.
What in the world could it be? I haven't ordered anything.
She opened the heavily taped package only to discover another package inside with a letter addressed to her on top. Pulling off the letter, she opened it and to her amazement discovered it was from her half-brother, Harold. She quickly scanned the contents of the letter and then slowly read it again with a puzzled look on her face.
Dear Nona,
I know we have not been close in the past and I am sorry for it. Please keep this package until you hear from me. DO NOT OPEN IT UNLESS SOMETHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO ME! Regardless of how you feel about me, I do have feelings for you and Maggie and want to make up for the wrongs that I have done you. You are the only person in the world that I feel I can trust. I will explain everything when I see you. For the sake of our father, I'm asking you to do this one thing for me. I promise that I will have your money and Maggie's from our father's estate soon.
Your brother,
Harold
Now he's my brother. Other times he's called himself our half-brother.
Nona's curiosity tempted her to open the package, but she resisted and buried it deep in the bottom of the suitcase she planned to take with her to Tall Pine Camp.
Mabel came into the apartment and shut the door behind her. “I've got a few things for us to take on the trip and to eat on the way.”
“Are you ready to go?” Nona closed and locked her suitcase.
“Yes, the janitor helped me carry the things we're leaving behind in the storage shed. He said the owner told him to assure us they would be here when we wanted them.”
“That was nice of him.”
“Are we leaving tonight or waiting until morning?”
“We're leaving as soon as Maggie gets back.”
The next afternoon, Mr. Dryden opened the door to two well-dressed men. The bald one did all the talking.
“Good afternoon, sir. We're from the U.S. Postal Department and are checking on a package that was delivered to this address, but we lack confirmation. You know how strict the government is about little things.” He laughed. “Do you know who the package was delivered to?”
“A package came yesterday for Miss Conrad. She wasn't at home. The postman left it with me. He didn't ask me to sign for it. I gave it to Miss Conrad as soon as she got home.”
“Thank you. I guess that takes care of it.”
“It's a good thing it came yesterday because she has left for Tall Pine Lake. She accepted a job managing a camp there.”
“You don't say? I've never heard of Tall Pine Lake.”
“It's a beautiful place up in the Ozarks. You should visit sometime. There's fishing and hunting.”
“How far is it from here?”
“I don't rightly know.”
“Thank you, sir. You've been a big help. The United States government appreciates it.”
As soon as the two men got into their car, the baldheaded man slapped the steering wheel with his palm. “What do you think? Pretty slick, huh? I told you that blood was thicker than water and that she would be the one he would confide in.”
“Yeah, it worked out better than I thought it would. All we've got to do now is find a map and locate Tall Pine Lake and then the camp where she is working.”
chapter one
Home, Arkansas, 1980
E
XCUSE ME
.” Nona had come out of the small grocery store carrying two heavy sacks of groceries. She ran head-on into a man coming into the business. She hadn't hit him hard, but she felt the red sting of embarrassment just the same. Glancing up quickly, she saw that he was definitely a city man. He didn't look like a person who belonged in Home, Arkansas.
His clothes were expensive, certainly too new to have been worn long, unlike most of the men in town who wore faded work clothes that had seen many washings. His head was bald, but the black mustache on his upper lip was thick. Nona wondered why bald men were compelled to have hair on their faces. It was hard to tell if he was young or old. The coldness of his dark eyes surprised her. Her mind absorbed these impressions in a few seconds. She hadn't realized that she'd been staring until he reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Apology accepted,” he mumbled through uneven teeth. Even from those two words, Nona could hear an accent but one that she couldn't place. With an expanding smile, the man added, “You're Mrs. Conrad, aren't you?”
“No,” she answered, “I'm
Miss
Conrad.” “I was told you managed the camp at Tall Pine Lake. My friend and I are looking for a place to fish. Do you have a vacancy?”
“Not for a couple of weeks.” The words came out of Nona's mouth before she'd given them any thought. Even though most of the cabins were currently empty, something about the man prompted her to lie.
“That's too bad,” he said. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I'm sure!” she snapped. “It might be worth waiting for.” His eyes began to roam across her body before settling on her breasts. The thumb on the hand that held her arm began to move across her skin in a caressing motion. Suddenly angry, Nona tried to jerk her arm away, but his grip tightened.
“Let go.” Her voice was loud and strong. She felt a quiver of fear and looked around to see if anyone was near. Her hopes leapt as she saw a deliveryman carrying a large box toward the store.
But before she could say anything, the man abruptly released her arm, stepped back, and opened the door for the deliveryman, who quickly disappeared inside the store. Nona feared that the stranger would grab her again, but instead he said gruffly, “I'll be seeing you, Miss Conrad.” With that, he turned and walked away.
For a moment, she stood frozen in front of the store.
He knew my name!
Shaking the thought loose, Nona hurried to her car. Ripe sunlight bathed the small town and the first hint of June's heat was in the air. The leaves of the maple and oak trees fluttered in the light breeze.
As she moved down the boardwalk, Nona caught sight of her reflection in the large window of the hardware store. Mr. Finnegan's window was full of saws, hammers, nails, and even an antique cast-iron stove, looking out of season in the warm weather. Amid the clutter, there was still enough space for her to clearly see a slim woman with a mop of curly, fiery red hair. It floated around her face like a halo. It was what drew people's eyes to her. She wore slacks and a tucked-in shirt. Nona thought she was only passably pretty. Although a small woman, she appeared taller because she carried herself proudly. She considered her large sky-blue eyes her best feature. They sparkled when she was angry or when she was extremely happy. She had a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose. When she was younger, she had hated her red hair, but now, she must accept it or dye it and she didn't want the bother of that. Although she preferred to be referred to by her name, she had grown used to being called “that red-haired girl.”
Finally, she reached her car, a ten-year-old Ford, dustcovered from its travels down the dirt roads. When Nona moved to open the driver's door, she was startled to find another hand there before hers. In that split second, her heart sank at the thought that the strange man had followed her. But when she looked up, she found the bright eyes of a tall cowboy in a battered Stetson and a faded plaid shirt.
“Ma'am.” A smile split the man's handsome, sun-browned face. “A pretty woman shouldn't be carrying such a load.”
“My husband will be here shortly,” Nona said defensively.
“He's a lucky man.” The friendly cowboy opened the car door. “But until he gets here, let me help.” Nona placed her bags on the seat and pushed them across to the other side. After she got into the car and slid under the wheel, the man shut the door behind her and stood at the open window.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“My pleasure. Good day, ma'am.” He smiled warmly as he put his fingers to his hat brim. “Till we meet again.” His grin was contagious; Nona couldn't help but return the smile.
She started the car, put it in reverse, and began to back out. The loud blast of a horn caused her to slam her foot down on the brakes. Glancing quickly over her shoulder, Nona saw the deliveryman frown at her before driving his truck past her and down the street.
Damn that baldheaded man! He's got me rattled.
When the road was clear behind her, she eased out and drove out of town.