He wanted to believe her. And he thought that he might be able to let Crystal go...but not the baby. His own child.
His gaze drifted to the long driveway, and he remembered his mother driving away that day, leaving behind a five-year-old boy of her own flesh. And how just about ever since, his father had ignored him. The old man had left him the same as his mother had.
Lonnie did not want his kid to ever feel as he had—thrown away.
“Well, I guess I’d better go see her,” he said, and something jumped inside of him. He’d hardly ever been able to turn away from a challenge.
Ruby Dee got up and put her arms around him. He held her to him for a long minute.
Feeling tears threaten, Ruby Dee broke the embrace. “Call and tell her you’re comin’, so she has time to fix herself up for you.”
He opened the door, then paused. “Ruby Dee, don’t ever go away.” And he went into the house.
Ruby Dee sat back down in the swing and pushed it gently into motion. She put her hand to her belly. A child...Crystal was carrying Lonnie’s baby.
The longing came sudden and hard, a longing for Will to fill her with himself...and with a child.
But right on the heels of that thought came: HELL TO PAY.
Hardy wasn’t one to give over. Oh, it would hurt him! He would accept her moving off to her own place much more easily than he would accept her going with Will.
She was really caught, she thought. She could have everything on her dream paper, if she was willing to hurt Hardy.
But she didn’t think she could stand to do that. She loved him, too.
* * * *
Lonnie and Crystal went off that very afternoon to Oklahoma City, where they planned to be married the following day and enjoy a short three-day honeymoon at the Waterford, which was Will’s wedding gift.
Will came while Lonnie was packing and Crystal was bathing upstairs. She hadn’t been able to bathe at Georgia’s, because Georgia was throwing a hissy fit about her being pregnant and marrying Lonnie. “She shoved Crystal down the hall, and she threatened to geld me with a kitchen knife,” Lonnie told them, clearly confounded.
Crystal defended her sister. “Georgia wanted me to get a college degree before marriage. She’s been upset that I didn’t go back this year. And last week Mama had to go and say that Georgia was headed for an early change and needed hormones. Georgia’s been real upset since then.”
Ruby Dee made a present to Crystal of a red nightgown, still in tissue in a Dillard’s box. She had bought it the second time she and Beauford were going to be married. “I’ve never worn it. I was saving it for a special time.”
Crystal was delighted. “It’s real silk, isn’t it? I’ve never had a real silk nightgown.”
When they were alone in Ruby Dee’s room, she said, “I know Lonnie loves you, Ruby Dee. And it’s easy to see why.”
Ruby Dee sat on the bed beside her and took her hands. “Lonnie and I are close friends, but don’t be worried about that. You are who he is marrying, who is giving him a child. And you are who he needs, Crystal. No one can give him what you can.”
Crystal surprised Ruby Dee by saying, “I think so, too. I just wanted you to know that I know, and I understand.”
Ruby Dee thought that most people probably vastly underestimated Crystal.
And then the two lovers were getting ready to leave. Beside Lonnie’s truck, Will shook his brother’s hand, and then he hauled off and took Lonnie in a back-slapping hug, his face reddening at the rare show of emotion. Lonnie was clearly surprised, but also pleased.
Tears running down her face, Ruby Dee hugged Crystal and then Lonnie, saying, “God bless...and have a wonderful time. We’ll have a party for you when you come home, won’t we, Hardy?”
Hardy so far had not said a word. Ruby Dee prodded him with a look.
Hardy frowned back at her, but then he drew himself up and stuck out his hand to Lonnie, saying, “Good luck, boy. You’re gonna need it. You’ll have a job here, and you’re gonna need that, too.” He nodded at Crystal.
Just then Georgia’s red Suburban came flying up the drive. For one horrifying instant Ruby Dee thought it was going to ram Lonnie’s truck, and they all scattered. The Suburban veered into the yard, and even before it stopped, Will was shoving Lonnie and Crystal ahead of him toward Lonnie’s pickup. “Get in!”
Georgia jumped out of the Suburban, and she had a shotgun! “Damn you! You Starrs think you can just use a woman however you want.” She had been drinking, was wobbling but bringing that shotgun up nevertheless. “I’m not gonna let you do that to my sister.”
The shotgun went off, and Georgia seemed momentarily as shocked as the rest of them. The shot went far to their left, and Ruby Dee had the odd thought that it might have hit one of the cows out in the pasture.
Then Georgia was aiming at Will, who stood beside the driver’s door, with Lonnie right in line with him inside. “I’m not lettin’ him take Crystal and ruin her life.”
Well. Ruby Dee was tempted to go over there and slap Georgia’s face, but she was rooted to the spot.
The next instant Hardy stepped forward...right in front of Will.
“That’s enough, Georgia.”
“Get outta my way, Hardy, ‘cause I’d just as soon shoot you, too. You’re the whole cause of it, anyway.” Her finger was on the trigger.
Hardy started forward, thumping his cane on the gravel.
Oh, Lord, Ruby Dee thought, if the shotgun went off, it would cut him in two. Lord, protect him.
And then Hardy’s arm snaked out, his hand clamped on the barrel, and he ripped the gun out of Georgia’s hands. “Any shootin’ done on my place, I do it,” he said. With a powerful swing, he threw the shotgun over the pasture fence.
Georgia crumpled against the Suburban like a broken doll and went to sobbing. Will hurried toward her, Ruby Dee coming right behind him, followed by Lonnie and Crystal. Crystal was crying, and Lonnie was holding on to her. Georgia screamed and pummeled Will.
“Frank isn’t home,” Crystal said, when Will asked. “I think he’s over to Amarillo, but I’m not sure."
Georgia said she didn’t need Frank, that she didn’t need any goddamn man in this universe. She tried to slap Will, and anyone else within arm’s length.
After a few minutes Hardy told Lonnie and Crystal to go on. “You ain’t helpin’ her right now. Just go on, and we’ll see to her.”
Crystal hung back. “What will you do? You won’t call the sheriff, will you?” Her pleading eyes moved from Will to Hardy.
“Nah, we won’t call the sheriff,” Hardy told her. But after they had driven away, he said, “Well, I guess we maybe should call the sheriff.”
Will had gotten Georgia into the passenger side of the Suburban, and he stood there listening to her cry and scream at him. Ruby Dee felt helpless. Every time she approached, Georgia seemed to get wilder.
“No, don’t call the sheriff.” Will breathed heavily. “I can handle her. I’ll take her home, try to locate Frank and stay with her until he gets there.”
“That could take a day or two,” Hardy pointed out.
“If I can’t get Frank, her brother Pate’ll come over."
He got Georgia out of the Suburban and into his pickup. She was beginning to be wrung out now from alcohol and emotion, yet every hair was still in place, and her clothes still looked perfect. It was a little eerie.
Ruby Dee thought to get Georgia’s purse from the Suburban and hand it to Will to tuck beside her. A woman always needed her purse, especially in a crisis.
As he left, Will said, “I’ll let you know somethin’ as soon as I can.”
Ruby Dee and Hardy fed the horses that evening. Afterward, Ruby Dee made sandwiches for supper, and she let Hardy have extra cheese on his. The house was certainly quiet, after all the commotion of the afternoon.
Hardy commented, “I always thought that Georgia had a screw or two loose.”
“Most of us have a screw or t
wo loose,” Ruby Dee said. “We just usually keep it hidden.”
Hardy chewed thoughtfully, then said, “I think you’re right.”
“Hardy, you could have been killed, steppin’ in front of that shotgun like that.” Ruby Dee stretched out her hand and covered Hardy’s, squeezing it, as if to confirm that he was there and safe.
“Nah...she’d already scared herself too much to pull the other trigger.”
“She could have done it accidentally, like she did the first time.”
He just shrugged.
A few minutes later, she said, “Oh, Hardy, do you think Will is all right? She was awfully crazy.”
“He’s fine. Will ain’t no fool.”
Then Ruby Dee suddenly thought about how the shot might have hit one of the cattle. Hardy told her it wasn’t likely any were close enough to get hit.
“Shotgun like that’s for close range. We were all dang lucky not to catch any of it.” Fortunately Georgia had been pointing away from where the horses were, and Sally had been cowering beneath Will’s pickup. “It’s too dark to go look at any cattle now, anyway,” he said.
* * * *
Georgia lay on her bed, sobbing and sobbing. “It’snotfairWill.” That was how her words sounded, all run together. “Crystal’s soyoung. Shehasyears aheadof her tohavea baby. I want a baby.... I’m forty, andIwantababy.”
She had been crying like this ever since she had woke up, after passing out. Will figured this was the heart of the matter.
“Georgia, you can adopt a baby.”
“No...I want my own. You should have given me a baby, Will.”
“I didn’t know you wanted one, Georgia.” Which was true, not that he had ever thought much about it. They had never discussed it. Georgia had never even seemed that fond of children. She’d always said she’d had enough taking care of her mother’s babies. Georgia’s mother had had six other children, all much younger than Georgia. Ten years ago her mother had remarried, and since that time had had little to do with her grown children.
“You wouldn’t have done it anyway,” Georgia accused. “And Frank’s gone all the time. I’m alone, Will. It’s not fair!” and she went to sobbing again.
Will kept placating her and trying to locate Frank. He felt like he was drowning in tears. He’d found tranquilizers in the bathroom cabinet, but he wouldn’t let her have one. He kind of figured she had taken some before, and then she had started drinking, and the combination was what had set her off so crazy.
Georgia rarely drank, because she and liquor didn’t get along; it generally made her erratic as hell. The one thing that kept Will from taking her to the hospital was that he had twice before been through similar episodes with her—once right after her divorce, and again after her father had died.
At last she fell into what seemed a true sleep, and Will was free to call all over and locate Frank. When he finally found him, Will told him it wouldn’t hurt for him to bring home a baby.
“Nothin’, Frank,” he said hurriedly to Frank’s surprised question. “Just get home, and I’ll explain everything.”
* * * *
“Was that Will?” Ruby Dee asked, hurrying down the stairs. She had just come out of the shower and heard the phone ring.
Hardy nodded. “He’s okay.”
That was all he was going to say, and Ruby Dee pressed him to find out that Georgia was asleep, Frank was on his way from Amarillo, and Lonnie and Crystal had called from the hotel in Oklahoma City.
Ruby Dee experienced an empty feeling, the kind that comes after running on high for hours. It was all over, the danger had passed, she didn’t quite know what to do with herself.
She and Hardy sat out on the front porch, and the evening seemed strangely peaceful after the commotion of the day. The nights were getting cooler, and Ruby Dee wore her heavy velour robe and slippers.
She began to talk about having a party for Lonnie and Crystal. She wanted to make them a three-tier cake. “I once took care of a baker, and he taught me how to do decorative icing.” The weather forecaster had predicted a warm, sunny week, perfect for an outdoor afternoon party. Ruby Dee thought she could manage simple sandwiches for fifty people.
Suddenly she realized Hardy hadn’t said anything. “I’m sorry, Hardy. It’s not my place to be designing a party.”
“Stop that,” he said gruffly. “Right here is most certainly your place. You want to give them a party, we’ll give them a party.”
Ruby Dee didn’t know what to say to that. She pushed the swing faster. Tears threatened, and her heart filled to overflowing.
“I don’t think you need to be doin’ all the work, though,” Hardy said. “We can get ribs and things brought it.”
“I think a party would be fun, Hardy.” And then she ventured to add, “But mostly it would mean so much to Lonnie to have one...to know that you would give him one.”
Hardy didn’t say anything.
They sat in silence, except for the gentle creak of the swing’s chains. Lonnie and Crystal were in Oklahoma City now, Ruby Dee thought. She was envious, thinking of Lonnie and Crystal together...of the baby Crystal carried.
She said, “You’re gonna have a grandchild, Hardy.”
He just gave a little grunt.
Lonnie’s having a youngun made Hardy think about how poor a daddy he had been to Lonnie. He had always managed to shrug off the regret of this, but this night he had trouble doing so.
Hardy thought about what it had been like when he married Lila. Her crazy daddy had come after him with a shotgun, because he hadn’t wanted Hardy to marry her. One thing no one ever knew was that Hardy had gotten Lila pregnant, which was why he’d married her in the first place. Back in those days, when a man got a woman pregnant, he did one of two things: married her or ran off to the city. Hardy hadn’t wanted to run off.
Lila had miscarried, though, just two weeks after they were married. That was what she’d told him, anyway. Hardy had always wondered if she hadn’t lied the whole time, just to get him to marry her.
* * * *
Ruby Dee awoke when she heard Will’s truck on the gravel drive just after one in the morning. She had been waiting for word from him. Slipping from bed, she padded quickly to the open window.
She glimpsed the sparkling stars, then the tail end of Will’s truck. The rest of it was hidden by the elm tree. In the glow of the pole lamp she could see Will coming along the walk. Her heart thudded. There was a sense of knowing inside her. Will had come instead of calling, because he wanted to see her, talk with her. She was about to race down to meet him, when she caught a glimpse of the kitchen light coming on and shining out across the grass.
So Hardy was awake!
Ruby Dee stilled. She heard the back door open and Hardy’s step on the porch. Will stopped, stood looking in but not entering. And Hardy didn’t invite him.
Hardy said, “I guess you got Georgia taken care of.”
“Yeah...I waited for Frank to get there. I didn’t see any need of advertisin’ Georgia’s trouble by callin’ in anyone else.”
Georgia’s trouble? Ruby Dee figured it had been trouble for all of them. But she guessed she was proud of Will for wanting to shield Georgia. Ruby Dee would have wanted the same for herself.
Hardy said, “Well, you were thinkin’ right there...People’d chew on this for a month of Sundays, and wouldn’t none of us be left out. What’s Frank gonna do with her?”
Will sighed. “I don’t know. He’s with her, for a start. He said he’ll get ahold of a doctor tomorrow. She’s sorry, Dad. She...well, sometimes when she drinks she gets crazy like that.”
“That wasn’t just no drunk prank on her part,” Hardy said. “She was out to shoot the balls off you boys. That woman’s mad, and I sure don’t want her comin’ back here, possibly after Ruby Dee.”
“She won’t do anything to Ruby Dee. Ruby Dee has nothin’ to do with what set her off.” Then, after a second, “Dad... I’m grateful to you for steppin’ in."
>
Hardy gave his little snort, and Ruby Dee imagined his shrug. He asked, “What about her Suburban?”
“Frank’s gonna send a couple of boys for it tomorrow."
Another snort from Hardy.
Then there was a long silence. The two of them just looked at each other, from what Ruby Dee could see of Will, which was mostly from his hat down to his boots, but not his face at all.
“Ruby Dee’s gone to bed,” Hardy said, his voice dropping, so that she just barely caught the next words. “There’s no use gettin’ her up now. I’ll tell her what you’ve told me.”
“Dad...I’m goin’ to ask Ruby Dee to marry me.” Will’s voice was low, but it carried up to her. Ruby Dee put a fist to her wildly beating heart and held her breath, straining to hear Hardy’s reply.
But his voice was too low. She heard him speak, but couldn’t catch his words.
Whatever they were, Will had nothing to say in response. He turned and walked away. Her hand on the windowsill, Ruby Dee watched his pickup disappear around the corner of the house.
Chapter 26
Will walked into a dark, empty house. He flipped on the light and stood there staring at his kitchen, which was almost finished; cabinet doors stacked against the wall, awaiting varnish; new refrigerator and stove; Spanish-tile floor. The counter was strewn with empty soft-drink cans and beer bottles, washed paint brushes, a can of wallpaper paste, and a four-day-old box of fried chicken.
He threw his hat on the refrigerator and went through the dining room and down the narrow hallway. He stopped in the doorway of the bedroom. There, taking up a good deal of the small, newly wallpapered bedroom, was the queen-sized cherry-wood-and-iron bed he had bought that day. It had cost a small fortune. He had driven all the way to Oklahoma City for it. He wanted it for when he brought Ruby Dee here.
He stood staring at the bed for a long time, thinking nothing, yet feeling his mind racing. Pictures passed through his mind: Ruby Dee’s eyes, Lonnie and Crystal driving away, Georgia sobbing about wanting a baby.
The Loves of Ruby Dee Page 27