Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66]

by Hopes Highway

  “They were not as casual as I led you to believe.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I made such a to-do over it. I was just … overstrung. Elmer had rattled me by saying what he did.”

  “I’ve never done such a rotten thing in my life. Our parents raised us to be respectful of women. I want you to know that I’m sorry.”

  “Let’s agree to forget it. We have no future together. At the end of this trip, maybe even when we reach Albuquerque, you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine. I don’t want to do anything during this short time that I’ll regret.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like becoming too fond of Anna Marie and … you.”

  “Is there a danger of that?”

  “Of course. Anna Marie is a darling little girl. If I had the means to take care of her, I’d take her in a minute and love her as my own.”

  Brady wanted to know badly if she could love him too, but feared to ask the question. When he hesitated, she rushed into speech.

  “You’ve got your ranch to go to. I’ve got the sights of Hollywood to see and—”

  “I thought you were not so sure about that anymore.”

  “Well, heck. What else is there for a girl to do?” She tried to keep her voice light.

  “You could come and make a home with me and Anna Marie.”

  Damn his heart for beating so fast and making him feel so inept. Without realizing it, his hands were pulling her closer. This feeling of being totally alive when he was with her, even butting heads with her, and seeing her face behind his closed eyelids was so damn new. Yet here he was asking this lovely, sweet girl to turn her life over to a man that she scarcely knew. It was only natural that she would have some misgivings.

  The air in her lungs refused to come out. When it finally did, her voice came in a quivering whisper.

  “What does the job pay?” She refused to believe that he was offering any more than a job.

  “There won’t be much money involved. It will be years before we do more than just make a living.” His voice was husky. His hands moved up to her shoulders. “But I can guarantee you a lifetime of … devotion. I’ll bust my butt to take care of you.” He rushed on before she could say anything. “It would not be the kind of life you see in the movies. My house on the ranch is just a rough cabin right now, but it’s tight and warm and we’d have plenty of beef to eat.”

  Margie felt the wild hammering of her pulse as she looked up into his dark face. Her heart was beating in a strange and disturbing way as she struggled to get sufficient air into her lungs. His hands had moved from her shoulders down over her arms. He was waiting for her to speak. He had not said, “Marry me, I love you.” He had offered devotion, food and shelter.

  “Is this so you won’t have to leave Anna Marie with Opal?” She asked the question even as she thought it.

  “It’s true that I don’t want to leave my brother’s child with a stranger, but I’m not asking you to share my life just for that, although I know you would be a much better mother to her than the one she had. And it would please Brian to know that his little girl was with someone who loved her.” He hesitated. His throat worked as he swallowed repeatedly. When he continued, his voice was hoarse. “He asked me to take care of her. I just didn’t see how I could do it alone. I planned to send money to her aunt for her keep.”

  There was a long moment of silence, dominated by the pounding of their hearts. She stood with her head bowed, her forehead a whisker away from his shoulder. A thin thread of panic ran through her. Was she getting in too deeply too fast? Was she setting herself up for living a lifetime with a man who only wanted her to provide a home for him and his niece? It was not the loving relationship she had dreamed about.

  When she spoke, it was so softly that he couldn’t hear. He lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers.

  “What did you say, honey?”

  “I said, can I think about it?”

  “If you have to think about it, it means that you’re not sure that you want to take on the two of us.” He looked down into her upturned face and slowly shook his head. “You said that you’d take Anna Marie if you had the means to take care of her. I’m offering you the means. But in order to have her, you’ll have to put up with me. Is that what you have to think about?” There was huskiness in his voice as if this was terribly important to him.

  “No, that isn’t what I have to think about.” His words had ignited a spark of anger in her, and she spoke sharply. “I have to decide how having a sweet little girl who, if I’m lucky, will someday think of me as her mother compares against living my life with a man who someday may fall in love with a woman and leave me to fend for myself.” By the time she finished speaking, tears were rolling from her eyes and she was terribly ashamed of them.

  “Ah … honey, this can’t be easy for you.” There was genuine regret in his voice. “Why are you thinking that?” His hands moved to her back and pulled her up against him. The bristles on his chin caught on her hair. Her palms flattened on his chest in an attempt to hold herself away from him.

  The intensity with which he longed to make her his was causing his heart to jump out of rhythm. He was sure that he had found the woman who was meant for him. He loved to look at her, to talk to her, to be with her. She had responded to his kisses. He was confident that if she didn’t care for him now, she was on the verge of it. She was just confused because things were happening too fast. He had to convince her that they were meant to be together.

  “Sweetheart, remember me telling you that my mother said God made a certain woman for a certain man? I’m convinced that you’re the woman he made for me. I feel it in my heart, in my bones.”

  “You never said anything about—you said come make a home with you and Anna Marie.”

  “I’d not ask you to come with me, share my life, if I didn’t care deeply for you.”

  “I thought you wanted to hire me to take care of Anna Marie—”

  “And then I’d fall in love with another woman and leave you?” he finished for her.

  “Something like that. I’ve not known of many truly happy couples except in the movies.”

  “My mother and father were in love until the day they died. Look at Alvin and Grace. She’s the light of his life. I’m sure she feels the same. Are you thinking of my brother and Becky?”

  “And Elmer and Mr. Luker and any number of people back home who practically hated each other but stayed together either because they had kids or she had no place to go.” Soft brown eyes looked pleadingly into his. “I’ve got to be very careful that when I give my heart, it’s to a man who loves me as much as I love him.”

  “Honey, I understand that. All of this has happened too fast for you. I can wait for you to think about it.” He folded her gently in his arms. “Sweetheart, you’re a treasure, a prize at the end of the rainbow. I want to kiss you, but I haven’t shaved and I may scratch your face.”

  “You never let that stop you before,” she said on a breath of a whisper.

  With a swift look into her face he lifted her chin and fitted his lips to hers. He kissed her as openly and as intimately as a man could kiss a woman. Margie’s arm moved up, and her hand caressed his nape. She had never felt anything like the sensual enjoyment she was feeling now.

  When he lifted his head, he looked down at the pale, luminous oval of her face. His face was creased with smiles.

  O Lord, he is so handsome, so sweet. Thank you, God, for letting me come on this trip and meet him!

  “Your eyes glow in the dark. Did you know that?” The softly murmured words sent tremors of joy through her.

  He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. It was over too quickly for both of them. He lifted both her arms to encircle his neck, and his arms closed around her. There was no haste in the kiss this time. It was slow and deliberate. He took his time, with closed eyes and pounding heart. He held her so close against him that she could feel the hard bones and muscles of his body. His hoars
e, ragged breathing accompanied the thunder of his heartbeat against her breasts.

  With a sigh Margie gave herself up to the pure joy of kissing and being kissed, to the thrill of wanting and being wanted. She offered herself willingly. Her mouth opened under gentle pressure, yielding, molding itself to the shape of his.

  He lifted his head. Hungrily his eyes slid over her upturned face. Their breaths mingled for an instant before he covered her mouth again. When next he lifted his head, he pressed his cheek to hers.

  “Ah … sweetheart,” he murmured, his hand stroking the nape of her neck. “I’m never going to get enough of kissing you.” Slowly he moved his head until his lips touched hers again as if, having tasted them, he couldn’t stay away. His kiss deepened, and he dropped his hand from her nape to wrap her tightly in his arms, driven by passion, sparked by the touch of her tongue on his lower lip. He wanted it to go on and on but knew it had to end.

  She became conscious of his hand stroking her back and his low voice speaking in her ear. “I’ll be careful with you, darlin’ girl. I want more, much more, than your sweet kisses. But I can wait until you’re ready to give it to me.”

  She tugged on his hand and lifted his knuckles to her lips. They had spoken no words of love, but something wonderful throbbed between them. He pressed her head to his shoulder, and they stood close together, he leaning against the truck and she against him, in companionable silence and sweet intimacy.

  Glancing skyward, Brady was jarred out of his contentment when he glimpsed flashes of lightning.

  “We may get a rain.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “In the car.”

  “I don’t like to think of you out in the rain. You could get in the truck.”

  “It would be a mite crowded, honey.”

  Honey. Sweetheart. Margie closed her eyes and prayed that this was real, that she wouldn’t wake up and find that she had been dreaming.

  “Being in this bunk reminds me of when we were first married.” Grace giggled softly. “Remember that little half-bed we slept on that first year?”

  “Sure do,” Alvin whispered. “Some of my happiest hours were spent on that little half-bed.”

  “We broke the bed slats one night, and the old man downstairs came up and pounded on the door—”

  “And I had a heck of a time getting untangled from the bedsheets and climbing over the bed rail to get to the door.”

  “We were silly happy and didn’t have a dime.”

  “I’m still silly happy when I’m with you, love.”

  “Almost twenty-five years. I can’t believe the time has gone so fast.” She kissed him on the chin. “And you’re just as randy as you were back then.”

  He chuckled soundlessly. “Not quite, love.”

  “Randy enough for me,” she whispered.

  “I’m glad. I was afraid you were going to trade me in for a new model.”

  “You were not. You know that no one would put up with me but you.” She nestled her face in the curve of his neck. “Alvin? Rusty is so happy. I think he’s in love with Mona.”

  “Puppy love, honey. I was about his age when I fell in love with you.”

  “She’s the first girl he’s spent much time with.”

  “Are you worried that this is just a way to pass the time for her?”

  “I’m afraid he’ll be brokenhearted if she leaves him.” Grace ran the palm of her hand over him in the places she knew he liked.

  “Maybe they won’t break up, but if they do, he’ll have to take it like any other man who is disappointed in love. Now, stop your fooling around, woman. I’ve got to get some sleep.”

  “Alvin, I’m afraid Brady has decided to keep Anna Marie and will leave us at Albuquerque. His ranch is straight north.”

  “I don’t think he will unless Margie goes with him. She feels obligated to take the truck and the rest of Elmer’s possessions to California and find his wife. That says a lot about the girl’s character.”

  “Brady’s crazy about her.”

  “Yeah, and I’m crazy about you.” Alvin yawned.

  “Sometimes I long for our old home, but I tell myself that home is where you and Rusty are. I hope that if Rusty ever marries, it will be to a girl who will want to be close to us.”

  “Honey, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about this tomorrow. I’ve got to get some sleep. I take the watch in about four hours.”

  Sitting on the blanket beside the truck, with Rusty’s arm around her, Mona whispered to him.

  “What did you and Jody talk about today?”

  “Lots of things. He told me about the time he tied a string on your loose tooth and the other end to the doorknob. He said he slammed the door ten times and every time you ran with the door.”

  “He was telling a big windy. I ran with the door one time. Then he grabbed the string and yanked out the tooth.”

  “And you cried because you couldn’t find it.”

  “What else did he tell you?”

  “He told me that when you were in the fifth grade, you played Mary in the Christmas play and you pinched the boy who played Joseph because he’d put chewing gum in your hair. He yelled, ‘Damn you,’ just as the Wise Men arrived.”

  “That blabbermouth! What else?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Yes, I do. Tell me or I’ll pinch you.”

  “I’ll pinch you back. I’ve been wanting to anyway.” His hand moved to the side of her breast and stroked gently.

  “What did he say?” she asked breathlessly.

  “He told me about the time you went to the outhouse and were going to stand up on the seat and your foot slipped.” He could hardly talk for the laughter that bubbled up.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Mona said quietly. “But before I do I’m going to cut him into little-bitty pieces.”

  Rusty, his hand on Blackie’s back, felt the dog tense, then stand. “What is it, boy? Still got the ladies on your mind?” he whispered, and minutes later felt the swish of the dog’s tail before he sank back down. “Sometimes us fellas have to just grin and bear it, huh, Blackie?”

  “He wasn’t thinkin’ about that. He was looking toward the end of Margie’s truck. I think she got in, and Brady went to his car for his bedroll.”

  “They’ve been there talking for a long while. I’d bet a dollar Brady’s in love with her.”

  “From what he said tonight?”

  “That, and the way he arranged for me to ride with Jody today so she would ride with him and how he’s been looking out for her and trying to not overdo it.”

  “He may be just pretending to be interested in her to get her to look after Anna Marie. He told Daddy he was going to have a hard time parting with his twin’s little girl.”

  “Naw. Brady strikes me as having more integrity than that. I think he’s fallen for her. Just like I’ve fallen for you, sweet girl.”

  “And like I’ve fallen for you, sweet man.”

  They sat silently in the velvet darkness. Mona laid her head on his shoulder. He turned his lips to her forehead. It was quiet except for male voices and laughter coming from in front of one of the rag tents where a group of men had gathered to talk and drink bootleg whiskey. A car came in off the road, its headlights dancing over the array of cars, trucks and tents before shutting off.

  “There is a little bit of lightning off in the southwest,” Mona said softly.

  “It doesn’t smell like rain.”

  “Can you smell rain?”

  “Sure. When you can’t see, your other senses like hearing and smelling kick in. I know every time you powder your nose. This morning you were wearing a blouse that had been sun-dried and ironed.” He buried his nose in her hair. “You washed your hair with castile soap.”

  “I’ll have to be careful, or you’ll think I’m dolling up for you. Rusty, you haven’t sung to me since we left Deke’s.”

  “I can’t sing to you tonight, sweet girl. I’m trying to
keep my ears open for any unexpected sound. If the two of us ride with Jody tomorrow, I’ll sing to you all the way to Albuquerque.”

  “Have you worked any more on your song?”

  “Our song? A little bit.”

  “I’d like to ride with you, even if we have to put up with Jody. It’ll depend on whether or not Margie rides with Brady.” She put her hand on his cheek and turned his face down to her. “When we started this trip, I hated it. Now I think if not for the trip, I’d never have met you. I’m afraid, now, that after we get to California and you get a job on the radio, you’ll be so popular that you’ll not want anything to do with a Missouri country girl.”

  “And I’m afraid that when we get to California, you’ll see so many men that you’ll not want anything to do with a man you have to lead around by the hand.”

  Mona’s arms went around his neck. “Darlin’ Rusty, don’t ever think that,” she said furiously. “You’re the dearest, most wonderful man in the world, and I’ll love you forever.”

  “Forever is a long time, little Mona. And I’m going to be like I am for all that time.”

  “I don’t care! Oh, I do care. I wish you could see—for your sake. But … but if you could see me, you might not want me.”

  “I see you, sweet girl. I see you in my mind’s eye. You’re young, fresh and pretty as a buttercup. What’s more, you’ll never change. The years will go by, and you’ll never be wrinkled or gray. You’ll always be as I see you now.”

  “Rusty, I’m so glad you like me.”

  “How glad? Glad enough to kiss me?”

  “A thousand times,” she whispered.

  “Then you’d better get started. I heard my watch chime the hour. We’ve only got thirty minutes until Jody comes to take over the watch.”

  Chapter 26

  MARGIE WOULD NEVER KNOW what had awakened her.

  Perhaps, she thought later, she had not been fully asleep. Instantly alert, she slid off the bunk, slipped her skirt on over her head and buttoned it at the waist. After putting on her blouse she reached for the pistol she sometimes carried in her pocket.