Getting Lucky

by Carolyn Brown

  She stood up and threw herself into his arms. She needed comfort and he was like the Rock of Gibraltar for her all of a sudden. She hugged as tight as she could, but it didn't make the hurt go away. After several seconds she pushed herself back.

  He liked it when she needed him. He wished it would continue instead of her going all stiff and proper.

  "Everything is gone at my place?" she asked.

  "I found the cat and kittens in the ditch. She must've moved them when she felt the danger. That's all that's saved. Your truck looks like it's nothing but a burned-out shell of metal." He couldn't stop talking. If he did, he would hug her even tighter to his chest again.

  Nothing saved. Not even her pictures or Annie's Barbie dolls. Thank goodness she'd brought her favorite ones to Lizzy's for the play day. "My pictures of Annie when she was a baby?" she whispered.

  "It's all gone." Griffin imagined his feelings if he'd lost everything pertaining to Lizzy and he sat down. His cell phone rang before he was settled into the kitchen chair. He answered it and listened for a moment, then handed it to Julie. "It's for you."

  "Darlin', this is Alvera Clancy. I heard this morning about your house and I'm so sorry. Do you need a place to stay? My home is open to you and your daughter. Just come on over here. Do you need money or clothing? You let me know and I'll take care of whatever you need."

  "Thank you, Alvera, but Griffin and I are talking about a deal right now. He managed to save Annie's cat and kittens." Julie tried to make light of the situation but the last words came on the fringe of a sob.

  "Don't you be breakin' down. Houses can be replaced. Cats and kittens can even be replaced, but be thankful you and that precious child were safe. I mean it. My house and checkbook are open to you. Just stay in Saint Jo. We need you and Catherine says you're a damn good teacher, so the school needs you."

  "Thank you again, Alvera."

  "Besides, just think how Clarice would gloat if you decided to throw in the towel and leave because of a fire. Hell, she might've even set the thing," Alvera laughed.

  "I'm not running from anything," Julie said stoically.

  "That's the spirit. Get on with your life. This is a big thing but in ten years we'll all see why it happened. Good-bye, darlin'," Alvera said.

  Julie had a fleeting notion that Alvera could see into the future ten years and already knew why it happened.

  Lizzy and Annie rushed into the kitchen with Chuck right behind them. "We're starving, Daddy. Can we please have some cereal? Are you done with the big people talk?" Lizzy asked.

  Griffin looked up.

  Julie dropped down on her knees in front of Annie. "Annie, our house burned down last night, but Griffin saved your cat and kittens and she's out in the barn with Lizzy's cat and kittens."

  Annie's lower lip quivered. "What are we going to do, Momma? Please don't take me back to Jefferson. I don't want to leave Lizzy and Chuck and we…"

  Tears flowed down Lizzy's cheeks. "Daddy, what are we going to do?"

  He pulled all three kids into his big arms. "Come here. All of you. Lizzy, Marita is going to move away to Austin. Poppa Carl has a bad thing wrong with his heart and they can fix it over in Austin, so they're going to go live with Clarissa."

  Lizzy broke into sobs. "Who's going to keep me, Daddy?"

  "I'll stay," Julie whispered.

  "Name your price," he said.

  "You don't charge us room and board and I won't charge you for breakfast," she said.

  He nodded. "Deal."

  "Annie, do you want to live here for a little while?" Julie said. Words came out of her mouth but her heart was still just a chunk of stone.

  "Yes. Say yes," Lizzy whispered.

  "I do want to, Momma, and I wanted me and Lizzy to really be sisters but I didn't want our house to burn down and I'm sorry," she cried.

  Julie rolled back and sat down as she pulled her into her lap. "You didn't cause that fire, honey."

  "I think that's enough to take in for one day," Griffin said. "Thank you, Julie, and now it's time for you kids to eat breakfast and get ready for school. Miss Julie will take you with her this morning and bring you home this evening. Tomorrow things won't look so bad, I promise."

  Tears dried up. Frowns were replaced with smiles as they found places around the table.

  "Okay, it's cereal this morning because we are in a hurry," Julie said as she opened the pantry. Anything to keep her mind and hands busy and off the loss. "Tomorrow morning we'll have something hot."

  "Thank you, again," Griffin said.

  He put bowls on the table, along with milk. She found cereal and pre-made blueberry muffins and carried it all to the kitchen table. She would call Mamie during her break time and ask her what to do about filing insurance claims. She would focus entirely on school to keep her mind off the house. Would she ever find anything else she and Annie liked as well?

  The doorbell rang and Griffin went to answer it. She had just set the orange juice on the table when Mamie rushed in, grabbed her in a hug, and gushed on and on about how sorry she was.

  "You and Annie can come and live with me for as long as you want. I've already started the insurance claim for you. I brought papers for you to sign. I'm so, so sorry," she said.

  "Thank you for the offer but we're staying here. Griffin and I made a deal. I watch the kids, cook break fast, and take them back and forth to school in exchange for room and board," Julie explained.

  Griffin poured three cups of coffee. "Carl had a heat stroke but needs heart surgery."

  The telephone rang about the time she finished the story. When she answered it, Marita was on the other end.

  "Julie?" Marita said.

  "Marita?"

  "Yes, it's me. I'm on my way to the house to pack some bags. Clarissa is here and I'm riding back to Austin with her. They're taking Carl by helicopter. Surgery is tomorrow morning. It's not good, but they say it can be repaired. The heat stroke was actually a blessing. Did Griffin put you to work like I told him?"

  "He gave me a job. My house burned down," Julie said.

  "I know and I'm sorry but I'm glad you are there. Lizzy knows and loves you. It will make my leaving at least bearable. He can hire someone to do the work. She just needs a mother figure."

  "It's a pretty big job," Julie said around the lump in her throat.

  "You'll do just fine. We're at the house now. I'm going to pack and stop by just long enough to hug the kids. Take care of all of them for me." Her voice caught in a sob. "I've had her since she was two months old. This is the hardest thing I've ever faced other than worrying my head off about Carl."

  "I'll take care of her, I promise," Julie said.

  "I know you will. Just don't let Griff hire someone who won't when you have to leave."

  "I promise on that issue, too," Julie said.

  "Had to be Marita," Mamie said when Julie put the phone back on the stand.

  "It's tough on her."

  "She and Carl raised their kids on this ranch. I can't remember how many children they had because they're older than Graham and Griffin and were already married and gone by the time we were good-sized kids. But Lizzy has been her surrogate grandchild. Bless her heart. Things can sure get messed up in a twenty-four hour stretch, can't they?" Mamie observed.

  "I'm still thinking I may be dreaming all this and if I am, it's the worst nightmare ever. Bring your coffee upstairs. I've got to get ready for school."

  Mamie headed for the door. "No, I've got to open shop this morning. I heard about the fire and that you and Annie were fine and stayed here last night, but I had to see about you. Call me if you need anything."

  "Thank you," Julie said past the lump in her throat. Reality was sinking in and it hurt. What was it Alvera had said after the town meeting? That which didn't kill them would make them stronger? Well, after all she'd endured the past six months, she should be a pillar of steel instead of a whimpering woman who had to lean on Griffin for support.

  She picke
d up her purse in her bedroom, dug around for her cell phone, and called her mother.

  "Momma, I've got bad news," she said when she heard her mother's voice.

  "Is Annie all right?"

  "She's fine."

  "And you?"

  "I'm fine."

  "Okay then, I can take anything else. Give it to me," Deborah said.

  She repeated the story a second time and started to cry halfway through it. "I've got to go to school and I can't even think," she said.

  "Do you want me to drive over there and bring you and Annie home?" Deborah asked. "You've got enough money to live on without working next semester, then in the fall you can find another job."

  "No, I don't think so. I just needed to hear your voice."

  "Is this wise? You working there?" Deborah asked.

  "It's for the kids. Griffin and I are friends. At least I think we are. I could care less about the social aspects of it. My reputation is in worse shambles than it was in Jefferson, so I really don't care."

  "It would be easy to transfer any feelings you had toward his brother to him, since they look alike," Deborah said.

  "It would be the most difficult thing in the world. Every time I look at him, I think of that night and the mistake I made. His brother and I were an accident. Who knows, if we'd both been sober and responsible, we probably wouldn't have liked each other, either."

  "You going to rebuild?" Deborah asked.

  "Maybe. I may buy a trailer. That would be faster. Got to go. I see Marita out in the yard. I'm sure I'm needed."

  "I'm sure you are," her mother said.

  Lizzy couldn't begin to fathom life without Nana Rita there every day and she barely understood the concept of her leaving. She hung on to Marita for a very long time and then backed away.

  "Nana Rita, you will come back and see me and call me and make cookies for me and take me to my Christmas play at church?"

  "I'll do what I can. You listen to Julie and be a good girl. You have Annie and Chuck, so you won't be lonely. I'm sure Julie will let you help with cookies for the Christmas party," Marita said hoarsely.

  Julie had trouble keeping tears at bay watching the young and old trying to make sense of sudden parting. Annie stood to one side in her pajamas and held Lizzy's hand. Chuck held the other hand and watched the whole business with wide eyes. Of all of them, he would be the one who understand most the sorrow of parting. When Marita and Clarissa walked away, the children unclasped their hands and waved, then hurried up to their room to get ready for school. Tomorrow or the next day or maybe even next week, Lizzy might wake up crying for Nana Rita. Thank goodness it was in the future. Julie didn't think she could stand any more terrible things that day.

  She hustled that morning to get them ready and out the door at the right time. She was standing on the porch with all three of them when she realized she didn't have a vehicle to take them to school in. Her truck, along with her home, had burned.

  "Hey," Griffin said as he rounded the end of the house holding out a set of keys. "The red truck is yours until you can figure out what you want to do. It's the ranch truck and it's got plenty of room to be hauling kids and whatever else you need."

  She took the keys from him and said, "Thank you." But it was almost the straw that broke the camel's back. She fought back tears the whole way to school.

  The teachers dropped in and out all day, subdued in their condolences for her loss, and asking if there was anything they could provide or do for her. She'd made friends that she didn't even know about and they'd come to her side during a difficult time. That day she saw a light at the end of the tunnel. She belonged in Saint Jo, Texas.

  That evening over the supper table, talk went to Carl and his chances of survival and what they'd do without him on the Lucky Clover. Griffin told Julie and the kids that he had promoted Paul to foreman and his wife, Elsie, would be cooking and housecleaning for them. Starting tomorrow morning she'd be there six days a week. She'd arrive after they left for school and leave before they came home, but she would be there on Saturdays.

  After the supper cleanup was finished and they'd read their sight words through twice, Julie put the girls in the upstairs bathtub and washed their hair. She dressed them in pajamas and called Chuck in for his bath, which he declared vehemently that he could do all by himself.

  So Julie let him. Sunday afternoon she'd take Annie somewhere and buy clothing for both of them. Thank goodness for Aunt Flossie's money or she would have had to borrow until the insurance check came. The few pieces she'd purchased in Gainesville and the things she'd brought to Lizzy's for the play day were all that they had. Lizzy had been very generous in saying that Annie could have anything of hers, but Annie needed her own room and her own things.

  After the kids were tucked in, she fell back in a deep recliner and felt like crying, but there was no way she'd let Griffin see her fall apart again. She was a tough woman and she'd hang on to that with tenacity because right then, it was all she had.

  Griffin took a shower, letting the tepid water beat against his weary muscles. Dinner had been good and Elsie would work out just fine. Lizzy was already fitting into her new world. He'd called the local police force and they were going to talk to the DHS to get the ball rolling for him to keep Chuck. He even offered to adopt him outright if his parents would sign the papers.

  He finished bathing and dried his body on a big white towel before he opened a drawer under the vanity and pulled out a pair of boxers and knit pajama bottoms. A well worn T-shirt came from a different drawer and once he was dressed he plodded into the kitchen, barefoot and with water droplets still clinging to his hair, which he'd combed back haphazardly with his fingertips.

  Julie looked up and her resolve to be strong melted. She was a master at bluffing, though, and used her expertise at that moment. "We made it through day one." She managed to get out a few words without drooling.

  "Yes, we did. Maybe things will even out," he said.

  "I hope so." She managed a smile.

  His heart melted. She'd been through so much in such a short time but he could not let that alter his resolve not to get involved with her. Granted, he no longer thought she'd come to Saint Jo to claim whatever rights Annie had to the Lucky Clover. However, she had been with his brother. How would he ever know if she saw Graham every time she looked at him?

  "Lizzy and Chuck are already adjusting better than I ever hoped," he said to fill in the silence surrounding them.

  "So is Annie. I was afraid she'd be a mess after losing the house. She and Chuck and Lizzy told their story a dozen times today."

  "What are you doing this evening?" he asked.

  "Got a hot date. The John said to meet him at the end of the lane and he'll have me home by daylight. Figured I could make a little extra money on my own time. You mind watching Annie?" she said.

  His black brows knit together into one solid line. "What?"

  "It's the red-haired white trash. Sometimes it surfaces and…" she teased.

  He grinned. "You had me there for a minute. I guess first impressions aren't always the right ones. Thank you for all you did today, Julie. I'm really glad you are here."

  "Good night, Griff. I'm going up to bed. I think I could sleep a week and this is only Monday."

  "Good night, Julie."

  She stopped beside him for a minute and wished she had the nerve to kiss him good night, but she didn't. Not right then. Not when the wound of losing every thing was still raw. It would have to wait until later, if it ever happened.

  In that second that she hesitated beside him, he wanted to reach out to her, but Graham's memory flashed through his mind and he couldn't. Maybe someday he'd get past that; he hoped so because Julie was invading every waking moment of every day and most of his nights.

  Chapter 11

  JULIE SETTLED INTO THE ROUTINE AS IF SHE'D BEEN BORN to live on a ranch. After school she drove the three chil dren home and heated whatever Elsie left on the stove or in the ref
rigerator for supper. She graded papers or worked on her lesson plans while the kids played. After baths she helped the children get ready for bed, and she or Griffin or sometimes both of them read a story to the kids or let them watch an hour of television. She and Griffin had their daily talk about the kids, worried about whether the DHS would let them keep Chuck and how it would affect the girls if they didn't, and then it was off to bed for Julie. Mornings were breakfast, making sure teeth were brushed, hair was combed, backpacks ready with lunches and books. Then it started all over again.

  It wasn't so very different from the days when it had been just her and Annie. The biggest change was that now Annie had someone to play with and depended less on Julie for entertainment. And nowadays, there was the inner angst every evening when Griff walked into the kitchen in his pajama bottoms and T-shirt with water droplets still hanging on his jet black hair and smelling so sexy that all she could think about was hauling him off to bed. It wasn't because he looked like Graham, either. She'd put that issue to rest weeks before. Graham had been a smooth-talking, good-looking soldier. Yes, Griffin looked somewhat like him, only Griffin was much better-looking—softer, not so brittle.