Larkin gazed at him, cheeks now rosy in the glow of his lamp. “Why, Judd, that’s pure poetry. Are you courting me still?”
“Always. I will court you always.”
Chapter
35
It’s just a scratch,” Larkin insisted once Judd had her out in the open where he could count her fingers, see her stand—briefly—and assess the damage to her person. Dr. Baldwin arrived while they were still in the mine, but Judd figured he could wait his turn. Finally, he stepped aside so the doctor could clean the cut on Larkin’s leg where she’d tripped and torn her skirt. Now he was probing her scalp, which featured a gash and a goose egg.
“I’d be surprised if this didn’t cause a concussion, but you seem pretty well over it if it did,” he said. “Get some food, water, and a hot bath and I think you’ll do just fine. This bump will stay tender for a few days, but both of you are in surprisingly good condition considering how long you were down there.” He snapped his leather bag shut and winked at Judd. “I’m guessing you’ll have more than adequate nursing from here on out.” He started to walk away, then turned back. “I told Ben he’s welcome to stop by the house and use the phone to call your parents and let them know you’re alright.”
Judd managed a smile, although he hated to see the dried blood matting Larkin’s burnished hair. He reassured himself that the cut wasn’t bleeding and the bump was likely a good bit smaller than it had been two days earlier. Maude wrapped a blanket around Larkin’s shoulders and took the tin cup she had already emptied.
Kyle sat on a log near the creek, eating Judd’s ham biscuit and watching them intently. Judd scooped Larkin up and carried her over to sit beside the boy.
“Are you alright?” Kyle asked Larkin. “I didn’t mean to get us in trouble like that.” Tears welled in his eyes.
She cupped his cheek. “What we did was foolish, but I’m grateful for how brave you were.” She turned to Judd. “He told me stories and sang songs to pass the time.” She smiled at Kyle again. “All I wanted to do was sleep, but Kyle kept me going.”
Kyle puffed his chest out. “You’d best eat something, Miss Larkin. I know I was powerful hungry.”
Maude walked over with bowls of soup for them all. She waited until they’d each tasted the thick ham-studded beans before nodding and going back to pack up her supplies.
“I take it what Dr. Baldwin said means Daddy didn’t come?” Larkin raised her chin high, yet Judd could see tears glistening.
“Guess not.” Judd considered offering a possible excuse, then decided that wasn’t his place.
“I’ve disappointed him. Ben and I both have.”
Judd grunted. “Might be he’s disappointed some folks, too.”
Larkin turned her attention to her bowl and swallowed some more soup. She was eating slowly, and Judd wanted to pour the nourishment into her, to heal her by force if necessary. He felt anger well up in him against George Heyward. How could he have let the man turn his head with the notion of one day running the timber company? Here was what mattered. A woman he loved, people who came together in a time of need, and a little boy falling asleep sitting up on a log.
A memory of Joe drifted into Judd’s mind. They’d been to a barn dance where they’d each taken a turn with every pretty girl in the county and maybe a few who were on the plain side.
“That Miranda Watson’s got a crush on you bigger than the sky,” Joe had said as they walked home under a canopy of stars. “When you gonna settle down?”
“When are you gonna settle down?” Judd asked.
“Me? Never. I’m not built for it. But you—you’d make a good husband and father, too. Miranda’s a fine girl and she’d do you proud.”
Judd remembered looking at the moon where it hung down near the horizon. “Guess there’s time for all that. No need to hurry.”
Joe stooped to pick up some flat stones and skim them across a pond. “Judd, there’s a whole pile of things I don’t know, but one thing I do know is this—there’s never as much time as you think.”
Judd sat on the log and settled the sleeping boy against his side. He wrapped his other arm around Larkin. He held them there, not speaking, and whispered a prayer of thanks for this moment in time that would soon disappear, like a startled deer, into the woods. But he’d remember it and would try never to take a moment like it for granted again.
Larkin woke and stretched under the weight of the quilt Granny Jane sent over. She’d go see Granny today and tell her goodbye. She’d made up her mind sitting on that log yesterday, marveling at the sky and the trees and the ferns pushing through last year’s dead leaves. She’d breathed the fresh air and for a moment thought she caught a whiff of salt. But that was impossible. Even so, it awakened something in her and she knew it was time to go home and face her father. Sometimes the people who needed the most help didn’t look like they needed any help at all.
She slipped out of bed into the cool morning. Although it was nearly May, mornings could still be frosty. Back home in South Carolina it would be as good as summer. She pulled on a nubby sweater Maude had given her over her nightclothes and pushed aside the curtain that separated her bed from the larger room.
Ben sat at the table, Bible open before him, sipping a cup of coffee. She didn’t see Judd.
“Hey, little sister. How you feeling this morning?”
Larkin stretched, testing her arms and legs. “I’m a little stiff and sore, and this bump on my head is still tender, but otherwise I think I’m right as rain.”
Ben smiled, probably recognizing one of Maude’s favorite sayings. “There are biscuits and sausage in the warmer. Maude sent Kyle over with them early. Coffee’s in the pot.”
Larkin made a sandwich with a biscuit and the ground pork, loaded with sage. She’d been part of the hog killing that made this food possible and she realized how grateful she was for that pig as her mouth watered in anticipation. She’d felt so hungry and sick at the same time when they’d been stuck in the mine. Eating whenever she wanted was a luxury she’d long taken for granted.
“Is Kyle still here?” She spoke through crumbs and didn’t care.
“He and Judd went out to do something or other. I think Judd was worried the boy would wake you.”
Larkin felt her cheeks pink at the mention of her intended. Somehow marrying him was more real now. She wished they could skip the big to-do back home and just let Ben wed them right here.
The door opened as Judd and Kyle clattered in with an armload of wood to keep the cookstove going. Kyle rushed to Larkin and flung his arms around her.
“I feel better this morning. I ate three biscuits, and me and Judd have been chopping wood.” He leaned back. “Do you feel better, too?”
“I do,” Larkin said with a laugh. “Although I’m not sure I’ve recovered my energy the way you have.”
Kyle grinned and slid into a chair. Ben offered him a mug of mostly milk with a splash of coffee, and Kyle accepted it with what Larkin had come to think of as his “manly look.” Judd stepped over to the table and dropped a kiss on top of her head before sitting.
He took her hand and looked into her eyes. “I need to go back to South Carolina and set things straight with your father, but as soon as I’m done I thought . . . well, I thought I’d come here and we could stay until the wedding.”
Larkin marveled that this man would give up being a key part of a lucrative business just to make her happy. “Actually, I’ve got a few things I need to set straight with Daddy, too. I’d like to go on back home with you. We can sort out where we’ll live later. I’m beginning to see that I can be happy wherever I am just as long as I’m doing what God made me to do.”
“And what did God make you to do?” Judd asked, trying to keep his dimples from showing.
“To help people and to . . .” She glanced at Ben, who just sat there grinning like a cat with cream. She made a face and looked back to Judd. “To love you.”
“Sounds right to me.” Judd kiss
ed her quick.
“In the meantime, I’ve had the most marvelous idea.” She could feel the joy flaming up inside her. “Let’s get married right here, right now. Ben can perform the ceremony, and we won’t have to bother with a big church wedding back in South Carolina.”
Judd kept hold of her hand, his face turning serious. “Larkin, that sounds awful good, but . . .” He looked at the floor, then back to her. “I don’t think it would be right to leave your parents out. Or to spoil all the plans your mother’s already made. I’m ready to make you mine right this minute, but I guess I ought to respect the way you’ve been theirs up until now.”
Larkin was astonished. “I . . . well, I suppose you’re right. It’s just I suddenly felt like I couldn’t wait another minute.”
Judd tugged her hand and pulled her over to sit on his knee—scandalous in front of Ben and Kyle. “Then you know exactly how I feel. I’m not saying I’ll kick up a fuss if you get your mother to move the date up from October, but either way, you’re worth the wait.”
She swatted at him and leaned into his shoulder with a sigh. “You know, I suppose I am at that.”
Ben laughed and clapped his hands together. “You tell me the day and I’ll be there.”
Kyle piped up, “Can I come?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that—” Larkin began, but Ben cut her off.
“You just wait and see if I can’t make that happen. Now, when are the two of you leaving?”
“No time like the present,” Judd said. “The sooner we go, the sooner we can come back.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Ben said and downed the last of his coffee.
Chapter
36
Augusta Heyward waited in the open door as Judd pulled into the driveway with Larkin riding beside him in his truck.
“My darling, I was so frightened.” She wrapped her daughter in a hug. “I’d be willing to have cancer five times over just to know you’re safe.”
Larkin surprised them all by bursting into tears in her mother’s arms.
Augusta spoke over her daughter’s shaking shoulder. “Thank you, Judd. George meant to be here to thank you as well, but”—her eyes darted away—“business was pressing.” Then her eyes darted back briefly. “I think it had something to do with a former employee. Pete something or other.”
Judd’s ears perked. What was Pete up to now?
“Won’t you come in and stay for dinner?” she asked.
Judd considered it, but decided it might be best to leave the initial meeting of father and daughter to family only. “Not today, but I’ll be back around tomorrow.”
“Good. We’ll count on you staying, then.”
Judd tipped his hat and drove to the boardinghouse, torn between leaving Larkin to fend for herself and wondering which hornet’s nest Pete had poked this time.
Judd didn’t have to wonder about Pete for long. Hank was waiting for him on the front porch of the boardinghouse, and he didn’t waste any time with small talk.
“Sure am glad you got Larkin home safe and sound.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I hate to ask you this, but you been spending much time with Pete lately?”
Judd sat on the top step and leaned back against a post. “I try to keep up with him, but I guess it’s been a while since we last visited.”
Hank nodded. “Pete’s in some trouble over this land he says Mr. Heyward stole from his father.”
“You talking about the lawsuit?”
“That’s probably part of it. The main thing is, Pete got arrested for trespassing. He was out there in the woods late at night with a shovel and some other tools. Refuses to say what he was doing, but the consensus is it wasn’t anything good.”
“He was pretty upset last time I talked to him.”
“You think he might try to tamper with the machinery—maybe shut the job down?”
“I don’t think so. He wasn’t exactly everyone’s best friend, but I don’t think he’d do anything to put the other men at risk.”
Hank sighed. “I didn’t think so, either. And the funny thing is, he wasn’t even around the machinery. He was out in the middle of those woods, stumbling around with a flashlight. Somebody who lives on an adjacent plot saw the light bobbing around, got worried and called the police. You got any guesses as to what he might’ve been up to?”
Judd thought back to his last conversation with Pete when they’d discussed the lawsuit. “Seems like Pete said something about wanting the land and anything on it. I assumed he meant the trees, but maybe there’s something else out there. He has mentioned treasure a time or two, but I figured that was just talk.”
Hank looked thoughtful. “You know, there was a story I remember hearing as a kid about a wealthy family living out that way during the War Between the States. Supposedly they hid some gold or jewelry or something like that when the Union soldiers came through. Hid the best stuff and left the everyday silver plate and some cheap jewelry lying around for the soldiers to find.” He tapped his lip “Now what was the name? Oh, right—Bennington.”
“How would Pete’s father have ended up with some wealthy family’s land?”
Hank shrugged. “Don’t know. Plus I’m pretty skeptical about there actually being any valuables hidden. Treasure hunters look for that stuff all the time. If there ever was anything, it’s probably gone by now.”
Judd stretched out his leg. “Pete strikes me as the kind of feller who’d look just the same.”
“Maybe,” Hank agreed. “Either whichaway, it’s got him locked up. Thought you’d want to know.”
“Appreciate it,” Judd said and went inside to his lonesome room.
“Daddy usually isn’t this late,” Larkin said, looking at the table set for three.
“Especially not when his baby girl’s come home after a harrowing experience in the wilds of Kentucky,” Mother said with a smile. “I’m sure there’s a good reason.”
“Oh, it wasn’t all that harrowing. Not looking back on it now. Although it did help me get some things straight in my mind, and I really do wish Daddy would come home so I could talk to him.”
Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed her cheek to Larkin’s. “This is hard for him. He’s not used to being defied. Are you . . . planning to come home to stay?”
“At least until Judd and I can get married.” She felt hope rise in her mother. “Which I’d like to see happen sooner rather than later. I know you had a big wedding in mind, but honestly we’d prefer something small and . . . soon.”
Her mother sighed. “I remember being in a hurry to marry. It is so very hard to wait when you know it’s what you want.”
“You couldn’t wait to marry Daddy?”
“I thought I’d die if we didn’t get married, I loved him so much.”
“Do you still . . . love him like that?”
Mother moved back into the kitchen and began putting food in serving bowls. “Oh, not exactly like that, but I still love him very much. I just wish—”
Her wish went unspoken as Larkin’s father came through the back door, a gruff expression on his face.
“Larkin,” he said.
She went to him and he wrapped her in a hug, tears springing to his eyes. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he said in a hoarse voice.
They settled in the dining room and passed the dishes of pork chops, butter beans, rice, and salad. When all their plates were full, Larkin cleared her throat.
“Daddy, would you say grace?”
He paused, loaded fork halfway to his mouth. “Very well.” He folded his hands and closed his eyes. “Lord, we thank you for the food before us and for returning Larkin safely home. Amen.”
It wasn’t quite the eloquent, heartfelt prayer Larkin hoped for, but she was grateful all the same. If she was going to have a difficult conversation with her father, it was best to begin with prayer. She whispered one of her own as they began eating.
“Daddy, we’re thinking of moving up
the wedding date.”
He laid down his fork. “Now that is good news. Judd’s a good man.” He cleared his throat. “Will you, uh, be returning to Kentucky afterwards?”
Larkin did her best to hide her surprise. “We haven’t quite decided.”
He nodded. “Larkin, I’ll tell you the truth. When I told Ben he was no longer a son of mine, I felt certain he would see the error of his ways and come home. Obviously, he did not. When you ran off and found him, I hoped . . .” He pinched his nose where his glasses sat. “I hoped he might realize what he was giving up and ask for my forgiveness. But instead he began to woo you away, as well.”
“Daddy, I—”
He held up his hand. “While I wished Judd had a little more ambition when he first arrived, I couldn’t deny that he was smart, hardworking, honest, and just the sort of man I’d want to groom to take over Waccamaw Timber one day.” He laughed. “In a way, his lack of ambition made him perfect. Once I saw how smitten he was with you, it was easy to steer him toward greater responsibility and I think, as he sampled what might be his, he came to want what I wanted.”
“What’s that, Daddy?”
He leaned back in his chair and fiddled with a fork. “A successful business that other men respect. A legacy that continues for generations after we’re gone. Just one page in the annals of history noting that I was here and changed the world at least a little.” He dropped his chin. “Not to be passed over and forgotten.”
Larkin swallowed hard. She thought about what Mother said about Daddy’s own father giving everything to the church, even at his son’s expense. She guessed maybe Daddy just wanted to be seen, for his efforts to be acknowledged.
The Sound of Rain Page 26