“My good man, I like a good fight as well as the next fellow.”
They both burst out laughing.
The attraction between them was like a living flame, and yet there was something more—a comfortable sharing of thought and feeling. When Jesse looked into his dark face and green eyes, she felt that she could tell him anything, everything, share her innermost thoughts, fears, and dreams with him. At times that afternoon she was so happy that her heart shook with apprehension. To be so happy was dangerous, her inner voice cautioned. What had happened between her and this man was too good to be real.
Granny Lester had known immediately that there was something brewing between them.
“Ya courtin’ her, boy?” she asked bluntly and switched her snuff stick to the other side of her mouth. “If you ain’t, yo’re a blame fool.”
Not the least embarrassed, Wade watched the color come up to flood Jesse’s cheeks, while she watched his eyes crinkle at the corners and his wide mouth stretch in a grin that enveloped his whole face.
“Well, I don’t know, Granny. She’s not asked me to court her yet.”
“Law, boy. Yo’re hard put if yo’re waitin’ to be asked.” Granny turned her eyes to her husband of more than fifty years. “I’d not ever set eyes on Mr. Lester till he walked right up to me at a camp meetin’. He were bold as brass. ’Yo’re the one fer me,’ he said. ‘I’m comin’ courtin’ Saturday night.’ He walked off ‘n’ didn’t give me a chance to say aye or nay. But come Saturday ya can bet yore britches I was all duded up in my best bib and tucker ‘n’ ready to walk out with him. Ya ort to take a lesson from Mr. Lester, boy, ‘n’ go after what yo’re wantin’.”
“Maybe I should come over and have a little talk with Grandpa and get some pointers on how to court from someone who has done it before.” Wade’s bright teasing eyes watched Jesse fidget and throw him a threatening glance.
“Ain’t ya ever courted a gal, boy?” Granny asked. “Pshaw! Guess ya never needed to. Ever loose thin’ in these hills has been beatin’ a path to yore door. Talk to Mr. Lester. I guarantee ya’ll learn a thin’ or two ’bout courtin’ a good woman.”
After they left the Lesters’ and before they reached his place, Wade turned off the road and drove deep into the woods before he stopped the buggy.
“This is a favorite place of mine. I wanted you to see it. I come here sometimes, sit under a tree and marvel at the stillness.”
It was a beautiful glen, cool, secretive, enchanting. Tall branches shadowed the sun, allowing only shimmering streaks of sunlight through and here and there a splash of blue sky. A light breeze rustled the leaves, and from far away came the lonely call of a mourning dove.
“It’s peaceful. Do you come here to get away from all those women who beat a path to your door?”
“I was afraid you’d pick up on that.”
“I ain’t no dumb… nurse,” she said, mimicking Jody’s voice.
“Thank you for the best day of my life.”
“You’re very welcome,” she said because she didn’t know what else to say.
“Will there be others?” His voice was husky, strained.
“I doubt there will ever be another day like this one.” She spoke with rock-hard certainty and drew back so that she could look in his eyes.
“Ah, love.” The soft, awed murmur echoed though Jesse’s scattered senses. “Are you real?”
“What a silly question.”
After a long, lingering kiss he released her lips to search her eyes. This thing between them was almost too wonderful to bear.
“Are you going to ask me to court you?” he whispered, his eyes teasingly soft.
“You’ll have to take your turn. I’ve already asked two very fine gentleman to call on me.” Jesse’s laugh was more like the giggle of a young girl. She peered at him through half-closed eyes.
“Good Lord,” he groaned. “How big are they? Bigger than I am? I’ll have to have a man-to-man talk with them—the kind I just had with Otis Merfeld.”
Jesse wound her arms around his neck. “I think I lost my mind this afternoon.” Her voice was low and soft.
“Sweetheart, I lost my heart.”
The kiss they shared was fresh and clean and sweet, nothing of passion and heat and clinging closeness, just tenderness.
CHAPTER
* 13 *
While Molly was being hitched to the buggy and the picnic basket loaded, Jesse had a few minutes alone with Wade on the back porch.
“I’ll be down one evening soon. Will your father object if I call on you?”
“Papa considers me a grown woman, perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”
“—And, I know, I’ll have to stand in line behind those two other fellows.” He laughed a deep chuckling laugh as his hand reached out to squeeze her shoulder.
Jesse smiled up at him and said softly, “If you come, I’ll see that you go to the head of the line.”
Wade’s heart beat with pure joy. He caressed her with his eyes. His throat was so tight that he couldn’t speak for a long moment. When he did, it was to say something he was determined to tell her before she left.
“About this fellow they call The Looker. I talked to Dusty Wright the other day. He hasn’t a clue as to who he is. Promise me you won’t go out after dark alone and that you women will stay together at night.”
“He’s not likely to come to our house even if Papa is gone. Susan and I sleep in one room. Pauline and Mrs. Lindstrom are across the hall.”
“He might not know that until he’s in the house.”
“It’s strange. Papa and I have talked about it. This man knows when the women are alone. Papa used to think it was someone from out of town. Now he thinks that he’s someone we know, someone who lives in Harpersville and has a reputation beyond reproach.”
“That lets me out. Dusty tells me that I’m the prime suspect.”
“But… that’s silly!”
“The Harpers will hang it on me until the man is caught. Does that bother you?”
“Yes, it bothers me because it’s so unfair.”
“Have you thought about your own reputation? It will suffer if you’re seen with me.”
“No, I’ve not thought about it and I don’t intend to. I have a right to choose my friends. If people don’t like it, the… devil can take the lot of them.” Jesse’s tone more than her words showed her frustration.
“I want to be more than a friend, Jesse.”
What she read in his eyes brought a flush to her cheeks.
“I know.” Her soft whisper came to him. Her eyes were misty. Here in the hills it seemed so natural to be with him, but down below people in the town would be horrified that Jesse Forbes would even consider being friends with the notorous Wade Simmer.
His body throbbed with the need to hold her, and it took a supreme act of will to let his hand slide down her arm to take hers. Only God knew how much he wanted her, how he dreaded the lonely days until he could see her again.
“You’ve got to go, honey. I want you home before dark.”
Honey. Jesse’s insides warmed with pleasure as she looked into his quiet dark face. She wanted once again the warmth of his arms, the scrape of his afternoon whiskers on her cheek. She wanted to feel the pounding of his heart against hers. But there was nothing to do but put her feet into motion and head for the buggy.
With their hands clasped tightly, they stepped off the porch and into the yard. Wade’s horse was saddled and waiting. Jody had known that Wade would escort them out of the hills.
“B-Bye, Jody. I had a good time. See you M-Monday.” Todd climbed up on the platform behind the buggy. C-C-Can I ride as far as you go, Mr. Simmer?”
“Sure.” Wade helped Jesse into the buggy, then stepped into the saddle and lifted Todd up behind him. “Hold onto my belt, big fellow.”
“Bye, Jody,” Susan called. “Thanks for showing me the baby rabbits and for letting me play your fiddle. I’m still mad ’cause
you threw that cow pie at me. I’ll never get that green out of my dress and it’s all your fault. Jess, did you know Jody made a fiddle out of a cigar box? You should see it; it has strings and everything.”
Pauline and Jesse waved to Jody as Molly pulled the buggy out of the yard. Wade and Todd rode behind. Since Wade had volunteered to take the sign announcing the date of the vaccinations to the store, they could take the shortcut to the main road.
“This has been a great day. It’s probably the most fun I’ll have all summer. Wait’ll I tell Mary Sue and Jeff I was in Wade Simmer’s hayloft. She thinks he’s a jailbird and has done terrible things. Maybe he did when he was young, but now that he’s old, maybe he’s had a change of heart. Mary Sue was sure that if we came up here, he’d ravish us.”
“Ravish? Susan, for land sakes. Where do you get such notions?”
“It wasn’t my notion, Jess. It was Mary Sue’s. She knows a lot about ravishing and things like that.” Susan slouched down in the seat and rested her head against the back. “I wish we didn’t have to go home to old Lou… el… la.”
“Are you disappointed that you’re going home… unravished?”
“Oh, silly. Why don’t you marry Mr. Simmer? I could come up here and live with you.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Jesse,” Pauline said. “Susan could go to that school over at Coon Rapids. It has two rooms but only one teacher. Three grades are in one room and three in the other.”
Susan sat up straight. “I’m not going to any dinky old school out in the woods somewhere. And Jess won’t marry and leave me and Todd with old Ghost-face, will you, Jess?”
“You’re getting the cart before the horse. I’ve not been asked. Get along, Molly.” Jesse slapped the reins against the mare’s back. “We’ve got to get this smart-mouthed girl home.”
When the curving road began to dip deeply into the valley, Jesse stopped the buggy. Wade settled Todd on the platform in back and came around to the side.
“From the cliff yonder, I can see you until you reach the bridge.”
“You don’t have to wait. We’ll be all right.”
“I intend to make sure. Bye, ladies.” He tipped his hat to Pauline and Susan.
“Bye, Mr. Simmer. I had a really good time.”
“I’m glad, Susan. Come back again.”
“I will if Jess will let me.” With a little suggestive smile on her face she rolled her eyes to her sister.
“Thanks, Miss Anthony, for taking on the job of teaching Jody. If you get into difficulty with the school board. I’ll certainly compensate you for the trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not certain I want to stay in Harpersville anyway. Perhaps a school like the one at Coon Rapids would be more to my liking.”
“Let me know if there are any books you need. I’ll get them from Knoxville or Chattanooga.”
As he spoke to Pauline, his eyes, dark and intense. wandered to Jesse and clung like a caressing hand. They traveled over her face, her soft red mouth, blue-gray eyes, wind-tousled hair, and down the tight, slim body and firm round breasts as if to imprint her image forever in his mind.
This woman was his, the love of his life.
A silent prayer formed in his heart: Dear God, keep her safe until I can be with her again.
“Bye, Jesse. See you soon.”
“Bye, Wade.Thank you for going on the rounds with me.”
“My pleasure.”
Since there seemed to be nothing else to say, Jesse moved Molly on down the road.
“Such formality,” Pauline said to Jesse as soon as they were out of hearing distance. “You’d think the two of you had just met.”
“Do you like him, Jess?” Susan asked “He’s not as bad as I thought he’d be. Everyone said he was mean. I don’t think he’s mean at all. He sure takes a lot from that brat, Jody. I’ve never seen a nig… a colored that talks back like he does. He’s a smart-mouth. I can tell you that.”
“Yes, he’s smart-mouthed,” Pauline said. “But he’s smart as a whip. He reads fast and absorbs what he reads. Mr. Simmer has worked with him. I’ll have to get books from the school on the pretext that I’m helping you, Susan.”
“Who would believe that? Everyone knows I get good marks in school.”
“They may think that you’re wanting to skip a grade.”
“Yeah? Do you think I could?”
The voices of her sister and her friend drifted over Jesse’s head. She had no thoughts except of the man she had left sitting on the big horse, the time they had spent together and the words that had passed between them.
Jesse was so occupied with her thoughts of Wade that the time flew by, and soon they were crossing the bridge and entering Harpersville.
It had been a very satisfying day for Louella Lindstrom.
Alone in the house for the entire day, she had decided it would be a good time to clean the doctor’s bedroom. Until today she had only made the bed, run the carpet sweeper over the rug and the dust mop over the hardwood floor around the edges. Jesse had made it plain to her that that was all she needed to do.
The room was large and airy with beautiful walnut furniture and a bed with posters that reached within a foot of the ceiling. Papers and medical journals littered the room except for the table beside the doctor’s bed. A gas lamp hung from the ceiling. An oil lamp with twining pink roses painted on the shade, a framed picture of Dora Forbes and the doctor’s pipe sat on an embroidered scarf on the bedside table.
Louella picked up the picture and looked at it curiously. Dora had not been beautiful by any means, but she was pleasant-looking, just as she had been when she was a girl. Time had blurred Dora’s features in Louella’s memory until she had seen Susan. The girl resembled her mother; there was no doubt about that, but she hadn’t inherited her mother’s ways. Dora had always been sweet, demure and easily manipulated. Susan was strong-willed and to Louella’s way of thinking, a rude little snip.
Only through the chance meeting with an old acquaintance had Louella learned that Dora had married a doctor, had borne two children and had passed on several years ago. The information had come just in the nick of time when Louella desperately needed a place to go.
By mid-afternoon the furniture except for the bed (because she couldn’t move it) had been rearranged, and the room had been cleaned until not a particle of dust could be found. The polished surface of the walnut furniture gleamed. Its beautiful grain was caught by the sunlight that came through the freshly washed windows. Long-unused dresser scarfs with fancy crocheted edges, which she had found in a bottom drawer, covered the tops of the chiffonier, the dresser and the table beside the bed. Louella had thought of moving Dora’s picture to a corner shelf, but decided to let it stay on the table for now as it was best not to make too many changes all at once.
The lady’s writing desk with the French bevel plate mirror was the only piece of furniture in the room that was not walnut. It was solid oak with a high gloss finish. The writing lid let down to reveal a series of pigeonholes with one drawer in the middle. It was locked. In the pigeonholes were a collection of calling cards. Stationery was heaped helter-skelter just as Dora had left it.
After arranging the contents of the desk to her satisfaction, Louella, working with a shoe hook, opened the locked drawer, took out the handful of letters and went to the chair beside the window. After sorting the letters by handwriting and date, she began to read.
Thirty minutes later, smiling, Louella realized there was more to Dora Forbes than she’d ever dreamed. She put the letter from Dusty Wright, the marshal, in her apron pocket. It always paid, she told herself, to have an extra ace in the hole when the stakes were high. She returned the rest of the letters to the drawer and carefully relocked it.
It was dusk when Jesse walked into the house. The parlor was alight in the glow of the gas lamps. The rest of the house was in semi-darkness. She sniffed and realized that what she smelled was the furniture polish her stepmother had taught
her to make by using a cup of vinegar, a cup of turpentine and a cup of boiled linseed oil. She followed the path of light that came from the open door of her father’s room.
As she stood in the doorway and surveyed the room, Jesse felt anger boiling up inside her. The housekeeper sat in Dora’s platform rocker reading by the light of an oil lamp on the onyx-top brass table from the parlor. The rearranged furniture stood in splendid polished silence. The bed was covered with the white fringed honeycomb bedspread that she had washed, folded carefully, and put away at her father’s request.
“You’re back. I was beginning to worry.” Louella stood. “I’ve been sitting here reading the doctor’s journals. My goodness, I never realized that medicine was so interesting.”
“I distinctly remember telling you, Mrs. Lindstrom, to leave Papa’s room alone. He didn’t want it rearranged, or I would have done it myself.”
“But, dear, isn’t it lovely? The furniture is valuable, you know, and shouldn’t be left to stand in dust—”
“It was not your decision to make.”
“You must not allow sentiment to keep such a pleasant room in gloom. I know it will cause Hollis a pang at first, but afterwards he will be glad to put the past behind him.”
Jesse, trying to ignore the housekeeper’s use of her father’s first name, walked over to Dora’s desk and pulled down the slanted lid. Stationery was neatly tied with ribbon. Envelopes and cards were in the pigeonholes. Beads and other trinkets were placed either in small boxes or envelopes and stacked neatly. Jesse whirled to face the housekeeper and drew in a deep angry breath.
“These were my stepmother’s things. Papa has never allowed anyone to touch them.”
“Nonsense!” Louella scoffed. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve not removed a thing. It’s all there anytime he wants to look at it.”
Jesse tried the drawer. Thank goodness it was still locked. She had no idea of what was in it or why her father kept the key on his keyring. She closed the lid on the desk.
“You should bow to my judgment on this, Jesse. It isn’t healthy for Hollis to wallow in grief.” She would have said more but something in Jesse’s face silenced her.
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