“Going to make it final?”
“It’s what Johnny wants.” She slipped her feet back into her shoes. “Do you think I’ll be deserting the ship if I leave now? The crowd has thinned down, and I am tired. Your wife worked my tail off today.”
Paul chuckled. “She’s good at that. She can get more work out of people with her sweet ways than an overseer can with a whip. Go on home. You’ve done your duty.”
There was more traffic than usual because of the carnival. Kathleen didn’t notice the car that followed her at a distance, stopped with lights off and sat there until she was in her house and the lights were on.
Theodore Nuding lingered for several long minutes in his dark car and stared at the lighted bedroom window. After a while he drove slowly out to the Clifton place, parked his car in the shed, and went into the house.
The front hall was jammed with boxes and crates that had been delivered the night before. He had given strict orders that the truck arrive at twelve o’clock midnight, not a minute earlier or later. A bonus of fifty dollars to each of the two men would be the reward. The cargo was unloaded quickly and silently. After the men were paid, they had left quickly and silently.
Nuding went to the small room where he kept his personal belongings. After removing his good clothes, he dressed again for work and went up the stairs to Kathleen’s room. This was where he spent most of the time while he was in the house. He loved to be here, where she would be. He settled in the comfortable chair at the table and opened his observation diary.
11 P.M. Mother, dear Mother. This has been the most wonderful evening of my life since I lost you. I danced with Kathleen five times. I wanted to dance every dance with her, but I had to be careful and not be too conspicuous. I held her in my arms, Mother. I actually held her. She is slender as a reed and moves like an angel I pressed her against me —her breasts and her belly. She is perfect. Her skin is like smooth silk, and on her nose are tiny little freckles. I wanted to fall at her feet and worship. I had so wanted her here for Christmas, but I fear I will not be ready. It is taking me a little longer because I tire so quickly. I’ve already decided how I will take her. A man in Dallas advised me and arranged for me to have what I need. It is wonderful what money can do. For a while I thought I might have to eliminate Johnny Henry. Now I don’t think it will be necessary. They are drifting away from each other. Doing away with him would not be difficult, but the death of a war hero would bring attention to Rawlings. Any number of officers would be poking about, and I don’t want that. I am still not feeling well, Mother. I tire easily. I was so excited tonight that I forgot to be tired until I was on the way home. Tonight I will go to bed early so that I can work in her room all day tomorrow. The sheriff wouldn’t expect the “weatherman” to be out on Sunday.
Nuding closed the journal on his rambling entry, leaned back, closed his eyes, and relived the time he had spent with Kathleen.
By Monday noon the town was buzzing, not only about the success of the carnival, but about the supervisor at the Gas and Electric beating his wife. At Paul’s urging, Sheriff Carroll had filed a disturbance report which could be legally used as a news item in the paper. Paul wrote the story, which would appear in the Tuesday edition of the Gazette.
The success of Saturday night’s carnival to raise funds for the polio ward at the clinic was slightly marred by an altercation that required Sheriff Carroll’s attention.
Harry Cole, manager of the branch of Oklahoma Gas and Electric, became enraged at his wife for dancing with another man during the tag dance. The sheriff was called by a concerned citizen who discovered Mr. Cole abusing his wife outside the school. The lady suffered bruises on her face, a cut lip, and a black eye which were attended to by Dr. Jude Perry. Charges are pending.
Pete hired Junior Fairbanks to appear with Dale in front of a judge to get a restraining order against Harry Cole, which was granted after the judge saw Dale’s face. She and Danny had spent the night at Jude’s, with Millie Criswell acting as chaperone. The humiliation of the town’s knowing Harry had been beating her was making Dale physically ill. She had walked the floor most of the night. Concerned, Pete asked Theresa and Jude to talk with her.
“He is the one who should feel humiliated,” Jude counseled Dale. “You’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. The higher you hold your head, the less people will think of him. You are an excellent nurse. We value you here at the clinic. If you choose to, you can work toward getting your RN.”
“I love nursing, but can I make a living for myself and my son?”
“You can work full-time here,” Jude said gently.
“Thank you, Doctor. Now I’m wondering why I put up with him for so long. The final straw was when I realized the influence he would have on Danny.”
“You put up with it because he was ‘the devil you knew’. You were afraid of going into the unknown. We all are.”
Jude was amazed at the depth of Pete’s feelings for Dale Cole. Although a very nice person, she was far different from any woman he had thought Pete would be interested in. She was mature, had a child, and was rather plump. None of this seemed to matter to Pete. He had fallen in love.
Later that day Pete moved Dale’s and Danny’s things into the room at Mrs. Ramsey’s, where Kathleen had stayed when she first came to Rawlings. It had been Theresa’s idea for them to rent the room; she felt that Dale should not be alone at night because that was when Harry would most likely try to harm her.
“I’m glad to have you here.” Mrs. Ramsey put her arms around Dale. “I suspected what was going on at your house from the things Danny would say. You poor dear. You have put up with a lot.”
Harry, of course, put out his version of what happened on Saturday night. The four employees at the Gas and Electric listened politely and didn’t believe a word of it.
“I tried to get her to come home with me. She may have had a drink of something. She never acts the way she did unless she’s been drinking. She fought me like a wild woman. Look at the marks on my face. What was I to do?”
To Harry’s way of thinking, the stink in the town would die down. He was worried about word getting back to his bosses in the city. Tuesday, when the Gazette came out, he became so angry he put his fist through the partition in his office.
The “weatherman” read the Gazette at the Frontier Cafe while he was eating his lunch. The article in the box on the front page caught his interest, and he read it through twice.
On the one occasion that he had been to the utility office to have electricity turned on at the Clifton place, he had witnessed Harry Cole’s treatment of an employee. The man had not understood his instructions. Harry Cole had berated him, calling him a stupid lout. Nuding had wanted to put his fist in Cole’s face. The employee, needing the job, had stood quietly and taken the insults. At that moment Nuding had formed an instant dislike for Harry Cole.
An idea was beginning to form in his mind. Most men were animals, in Nuding’s opinion, and a man who abused a woman, God’s most perfect creature, was the lowest form of animal life. Nuding folded the paper and sipped his coffee.
With his weatherman props in his hand, Nuding rose, paid his bill, and left the restaurant. He drove to his place on the hill. The sky was cloudless, giving him no excuse for being there. He took a roundabout route back to the Clifton place, left his car in the shed, and went to his secret room.
From a locked box he took out a sheaf of handwritten notes, a carefully labeled vial of clear liquid, and a syringe with a needle attached. For the next half hour he studied the notes. One part stood out from the rest. An injection of more than one cc is fatal, (destroy syringe and needle after use.) Nuding had purchased it for his own use should something go wrong with his plans to keep Kathleen with him. He could never endure the consequences of an arrest and had made plans to join his mother should that happen.
At the restaurant it had occurred to him that he should test the potency of the liquid to be sure it would work if he needed
to use it on himself. A man who would beat a woman was the ideal guinea pig for him to try it on. He filled the syringe with one and one half cc’s of the liquid, placed it in a small metal case, and slipped it in his pocket.
Chapter Twenty-three
In the days that followed, Kathleen found herself, thinking about the man in the tweed coat. Something about him made her uneasy. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was. He had been a perfect gentleman and a very good dancer. During a rather fast fox trot, his breathing had become labored as if he was tiring; but he didn’t hesitate and murmured a rather breathless “thank-you” when the dance was ended.
Kathleen described him to Adelaide, but her friend didn’t know him. They explored the possibility that he was a salesman passing through town who had come to the carnival because there wasn’t much else to do.
The only news she had of Johnny came from Pete.
“We were having a beer last night at the Silver Spur and Mack Boone came in. His daddy is Barker’s foreman, but he’s been laid up for a while and Boone has been taking over.”
“I know who he is.” Kathleen poured herself more tea and refilled Pete’s coffee cup. “He used to compete at the rodeo and seemed to be a sore loser. It was always someone else’s fault if he didn’t place. The animal didn’t perform or he wasn’t given the mount he drew. Johnny called him a whiner even then.”
“Sounds like him. He’s got his claws out for Johnny, Threw out a few remarks about Fleming cattle wandering over to the Circle H. Johnny ignored him for a while. Then Mack said something to one of the cowboys about Marie Fleming having the hots for him and following him around until it was hard for him to get his work done. Faster than you could spit, Johnny had him by the throat and shoved up against the wall.”
“Marie can’t stand Mack Boone. She’s in love with Bobby Harper; she told me so the day we went to Frederick.”
“Johnny’s got a short fuse these days. He would’ve strangled Boone, if I hadn’t interfered. He thinks more of the Flemings than he lets on, especially the kids.”
“Lucas has always looked up to Johnny as a kind of hero. I wish Johnny would pay more attention to him.”
“He did a pretty good job of it when we drove the horses up from McCabes’s. They were thicker than thieves. Barker kept his distance, probably so the boy could be with Johnny. Lord, I wish I’d had a daddy like Barker when I was growing up!”
“Barker should be told that Mack is making remarks about Marie.”
“Johnny warned Mack that if he ever heard of him even mentioning either of the Fleming girls, he’d be walking spraddle-legged for the rest of his life. Then he added that he had a witness who saw him driving Fleming cattle onto Henry land, hoping Johnny would be accused of stealing them. Johnny told him that if it happened again, he would go to the sheriff and swear he had tried to sell them; that is, after he had strung him up by the thumbs and left him hanging all night.
“The way he said it would have put the fear of God in me. Johnny can be a mean son of a gun when something doesn’t set right with him. Must be his Cherokee blood.”
“The last time I saw him was at the carnival.”
Pete reached over and squeezed her hand. “If you’d ask me, I’d say he’s missing the boat. Once in a man’s Me he has a chance to catch the brass ring. If he misses it, he’s out of luck.”
“Have you caught your brass ring, Pete?” she asked softly.
“Yes, and I’m going to hold on to it. Dale is filing for divorce. She hasn’t said that she would marry me. It’s too much to ask her to make a decision like that right now. I don’t want her to come to me because she thinks she can’t make it on her own. I want her to want me as much as I want her.”
“You’re a good man, Pete Perry. Dale is lucky you fell in love with her.”
“Lordy, sugar.” Pete laughed, and his blue eyes gleamed. “No one’s ever called me a good man! I’ve been a horse’s patoot most of my life.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Johnny could tell you things about me that would curl your hair.”
“Pete Perry, have you looked at me lately? If there’s anything I don’t need, it’s more curls in my hair.”
The end of the week marked the seventh week since Kathleen’s last menstrual period. She didn’t dare to hope that Johnny had made her pregnant six weeks ago when they made love. She had been heartbroken when she came out of the bathroom and found him gone. She had curled up in the bed and sobbed. Maybe it was then that one of his sperm had made its way into one of the eggs her body had released. God, please let it be true.
The doctor who delivered Mary Rose had said that he had no idea what had been responsible for her deformity. All these years Kathleen had wondered if something she had done during pregnancy had caused it.
Johnny, however, had been certain that his heredity was to blame and had left her. When she had needed him the most, he had let her down. Why was she still madly, crazily in love with him?
On the spur of the moment, Kathleen decided that she would go to the clinic and talk to Jude, not as her friend, but as Dr. Perry, MD. She called Millie and made an appointment, fearing that if she thought longer about it, she would change her mind.
The morning of the appointment she was so nervous she couldn’t drink her tea. She considered canceling. Then strengthening her resolve, she bathed, dressed, and walked to the clinic so that on the way she could plan what she was going to say.
“Good morning.” Millie’s was a cheerful greeting when she entered the reception room at the clinic. “Have a seat. Doctor will be with you in a minute.”
Before she could sit down, Jude opened the door of his inner office. “Morning, Kathleen. Come in.”
“Oops. Short minute,” Millie exclaimed with a good-natured smile.
Kathleen’s legs felt like stiff sticks as she walked into Jude’s office. He went behind his desk and motioned for her to sit down.
“I never got to thank you for your part in making the carnival such a success. Enough money was raised to outfit the polio ward. Now let’s hope we don’t have any patients. The medical journals indicate that researchers are close to a polio vaccine, but it could still be years away.”
“Working toward a good cause usually brings a community together. A lot of people had a hand in making the carnival a success.”
Kathleen chose to get right to the point of her visit before she lost her nerve. She swallowed hard before she began.
“I realize that you’re busy. But there are a few things of a personal nature that I’d like to discuss with you —confidentially, of course.”
“Of course, and take as much time as you want.” He leaned forward and studied her pale face.
“You may have heard that Johnny and I had a baby in 1942 before he went to war.” She paused to take a deep breath. “Mary Rose lived only forty-eight hours. She was …she was—”
“I have the medical records,” he said kindly, and reached for a folder on his desk. “Theresa and I have gone over them carefully. Do you want to know what we think about the birth?” Kathleen nodded and he continued. “Your baby was born without a cap on her skull. It’s a condition called anencephaly and is not compatible with life. It was a miracle she lived as long as she did out of the womb.”
“What caused it? Johnny thinks he…that his mother—”
“Let me help you,” Jude said, seeing her struggle for words. “Johnny thinks that his mother is the product of an incestuous coupling. He had convinced himself that her resultant defects were passed along to him and to Isabel, each in a different way. It made Isabel wild and uncaring for anything except her sexual pleasure, and it made him § unable to sire normal children. He has no explanation as to why the blight, as he referred to it, skipped over his other sister, Henry Ann.”
Jude went to the bookcase, pulled out a large volume, brought it back to the desk, and opened it to a place he f had marked with a scrap of paper.
“I don
’t know if Dorene was the product of incest. If she was, so was my father, Hardy. They were brother and sister. No one disputed that or the fact that the folks on Mud Creek were a lusty clan that took their pleasure whenever and wherever it was convenient.” He sighed in disgust.
“It’s a medical fact that continuous incest within a family for generations will produce people of an inferior intellect, stunted stature, and deformity. Not one thing points to this being the case with your baby.”
Kathleen sat in frozen silence, her eyes riveted to his face.
“I believe that a natural but rare failure to develop properly in the womb is what happened to your baby.” His palm was covering a picture on, the page of the book. “This may be difficult for you to view, but I think you should at least glance at this, if only to convince yourself that such birth defects have been recorded in other pregnancies and were no fault of yours or Johnny’s.”
Jude removed his hand. Kathleen looked down at the sketch of a baby, then quickly away. Her eyes filled rapidly with tears.
“Is that comparable to the way Mary Rose looked?”! Jude asked gently.
Kathleen nodded, her face crumbling. While she composed herself, he returned the book to the bookcase, then waited for her to wipe her eyes.
“I must tell you that I’ve not had much experience in pediatrics. Theresa worked for a year in that department at St. Anthony in the city. We discussed this case after Isabel died and Johnny mentioned ‘watered-down blood.’ Of the hundreds of babies born during the time she was there, Theresa can recall only one case similar to your baby’s condition. It was definitely not the fault of the parents. They had already had four perfectly normal beautiful children.”
’Thank you,” Kathleen whispered. She allowed the tears to roll down her cheeks unchecked. “I wish I had known this —back then.”
“Is this what’s keeping you and Johnny apart?”
Kathleen gulped and looked away from the kindest eyes she had ever seen.
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