Lacene Lords

by Fornataro, Nancy

  "Because I have to come back here!" he yelled, as he rose to leave. "I'm going to talk to Dad about this." He strode quickly out the back door, "I saw him by the barn earlier."

  Lila heaved a long sigh then smiled at Spence. "Life at our house. It must have been like this forever the way I feel right now. Things going wrong, people yelling and screaming at each other. Never a moment's peace. The only contentment I have is when I'm out back with the horses."

  Rubbing her back, Spence replied, "You aren't really thinking of committing her, are you?"

  "We'd thought about it. After she stayed there, after the suicide attempt, she seemed all right. Then, after Chad's...she got really bad, mostly at night. She has these nightmares, screams and carries on. Wakes up the whole house. Thank God for Maria, or we'd be up a shits creek. She's the only one who can calm her down. Plus I take sleeping pills and can't always roust myself."

  "Yeah, she told me. Wish there was some way I could help."

  She smiled warmly at Spence. "I'm glad you came, Spence. If we can all get through the wake Sunday, maybe things will calm down."

  "Yeah." He smiled back, trying to believe it was true.

  *****

  Red's Bar was twice as crowded as the previous night, as Spence entered with Lila, Karl and Big Jake.

  "Over here," Big Jake said, "she always saves us a table."

  They sat at a round table in front of the small stage. The noise level was deafening in the small bar, and Spence hoped they'd quiet during Meg's performance.

  "Yeah," Big Jake began, "people come from fifty miles away to hear Meg sing. Don't know where she gets it from. I can't carry a tune, myself."

  Lila snorted. "That's for sure." She leaned towards Spence, "I, on the other hand, have a wonderful voice."

  A pounding noise started, the floor shook, and Spence realized it was feet stomping.

  "They want my baby," said Lila proudly, as she lit a cigarette. They ordered drinks, having to shout above the din.

  Meg came on stage and the pounding stopped, but whistles and cat-calls started. She wore a long, denim cowboy skirt, white cowboy boots and a white peasant blouse. Her blond hair was long and fluffy, and Spence could see she wore a little more make-up than usual. Spence grinned at her, and thought she was probably every cowboy's dream.

  She held her hand up, and noise in the bar died down.

  "Some folks," she began, "some folks probably wonder why I'm here tonight. I don't know if you all heard that my brother passed on a few days ago."

  There was silence then a murmur began. She picked up the microphone and said, "I'd like to dedicate this song to my big brother Chad, my protector, and my friend."

  Then, she began to sing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..." Without any back-up music, she proceeded with the age old song.

  Spence was astounded at her voice. It rang out in the small bar, reaching peaks and valleys, soaring like an eagle in flight. It resonated richly in the air. He looked around at the faces in the crowd. Some mouths were open, and all eyes were glued on Meg.

  "I once was lost, but now I'm found..."

  Spence let the sound and sight of her envelop him, float around him, reach him deeply in a way he never thought possible. With all the songs he'd heard and played in his lifetime, he'd never heard this quality in a voice.

  When she finished the song, there was silence for a moment, then thunderous applause. She bowed to the audience.

  Lila was wiping her eyes, and Jake's face held the look of a man trying not to cry.

  Karl said grudgingly, "She's got some talent."

  A man then joined her onstage, and sat behind her, tinkering with equipment. She held up her hand again, and the noise subsided. "I'd like to dedicate this next song to a man in the audience." She looked pointedly at Spence, and there were a few laughs in the crowd.

  After signaling the man behind her, she began singing, "Yooooou, loved me from afar, and I remember you..."

  Spence groaned, and tried to hunch down in his chair.

  Spence felt a flush starting on his face, but when he looked at Meg singing that song, he knew. Her turquoise eyes said it all. She still loved him.

  Her set continued, and the crowd went wild with every song. She sang country songs, love songs and oldies, and each set was met with cheers.

  During her break, she came and sat with them.

  "You sure know how to embarrass a guy," Spence grumbled, then smiled in spite of himself.

  She put on a look of contrived innocence. "But Spence, I was just singing songs."

  Karl said harshly, "Don't get all puffed up about it, Spence. I'm sure what you had with Meg is long gone."

  "Long, long gone," Meg said, with her lips twitching into a smile.

  Lila said dreamily, "My baby-cakes can sing."

  Then talk at the table turned to the wake. "Spence," Jake said, "you got the records you need today?"

  "Yeah. Went over there this morning. Seems like Simmons is keeping up the place. New paint and landscaping."

  Karl added, "Can't really paint it over, though. I wouldn't want to live where someone had been mur—"

  "Shut up!" Jake interrupted. "You got the sense of a mule saying that."

  "Excuse me," Karl said to Spence, "but you know what I'm talking about."

  Then Meg lightened up the mood at the table. "Karl, behave yourself. Besides, I want to tell you all something." Her eyes were shining, her cheeks pink, and Spence thought she looked like a little girl with a big secret to expose.

  Big Jake grinned. "Go ahead, missy."

  "Well," she began, "somehow word got out, and this talent agent wants me to audition for Big Shot Recordings in Los Angeles."

  They all clapped, and Spence said, "A toast. To the most talented one in the room." Glasses were raised and toasts given twice over, before another round was ordered.

  *****

  Willie sat in the ranch house kitchen, and Maria stood at the sink, finishing up dinner dishes.

  "Maria?"

  "Si, muchacho." She laid the towel over the sink to dry, and sat with him at the table.

  "Why do you think Mom sees ghosts and things? Why is she that way?"

  Maria sighed, and wished she knew what to say to the boy. He was not hard in the ways of the world. She began, "It is a gift, muchacho. Very much a gift. In my village in Mexico, such a one would be called on."

  "What for?"

  She spoke slowly now. "Such a one could help the spirit pass over."

  "To where?"

  Maria searched her mind for the right words. "The spirit, it is in a trap, you see? The spirit cannot get free. It is trapped between up above," she pointed towards the sky, "and here."

  "Why does the spirit get trapped, Maria?"

  "Ay, the questions!" She smiled affectionately at the boy. "There was a time in my village. A man, he was a good man, but his wife was very bad. He came home and the wife and..." her voice trailed off.

  "Was in bed with another man?" Willie added helpfully.

  She rolled her eyes. "Aye, muchacho, you know too much. Si, this is what happened. And the good man was killed when the other hit him over the head. After, the good one's spirit roamed in the streets. People would see it, and be very afraid. But there was a woman who had the gift. She came to release the spirit. After that, the spirit did not go on the streets."

  "How did the woman do it? How did she release the spirit?"

  Maria shrugged. "I do not know. Some have the gift. Yes, it is a gift from God, Dios."

  As always, Willie felt better after talking with Maria. Maybe his Mom wasn't as bad as people said. Maybe it was a gift from God.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Spence and Meg pulled into the driveway of Big Jake's house around midnight. Meg slept on the way home due, in part Spence thought, to exhaustion and too much to drink on top of it.

  He shut off the car and relished the silence. He smiled as he thought perhaps he'd been in too many noisy bars. Now, the qu
iet felt good to him. This town felt good to him. And, most of all, Meg felt good. Too good. He wanted to be with her all the time, just like when he was a teenager.

  The air was still cool in the car, in spite of the air conditioner being turned off, but condensation was starting on the inside of the windows. Rain ran in rivulets down the windshield. The faint fragrance of Meg's jasmine perfume was in the air.

  He gazed at her. She sat, with her head resting against the window, sound asleep. He reached out to touch her hair, relishing its softness, burying his hand in the silken mass. Pulling it away from her face, he whispered, "Meg...wake up."

  She smiled slightly before opening her eyes. "Where are we?"

  "Home. Your dad's place."

  She moved over and rested her head against his shoulder. "Think he was proud of me?"

  Spence chuckled and hugged her. "Of course he was. We're all proud of you. You've got the most beautiful voice I've ever heard."

  Sighing deeply, she pulled away and looked at him. Their faces were inches apart. "You really think so?" she whispered. Her turquoise eyes scanned his face.

  All that was Meg hit him full force; the child-like innocence, his need to protect her, the demons that plagued her, and her incredible beauty. His lips crushed hers with years of waiting. She tasted sweet, so sweet, and her lips were just as he remembered them...too soft, too willing.

  He cradled the back of her head with his hand as the kiss deepened and their tongues did a lover's dance. She brought his hand up to her breast, guiding it, and he toyed the nipple with his thumb.

  Breaking away, she lifted her skirt, and moved her body to straddle him on the seat. She teased against his already rock hardness, baiting him, urging him on, thrusting in ways she knew he enjoyed. She arched her back, and he unbuttoned her blouse. Pulling down her lacy bra cups, he sucked her nipples, relishing the womanly scent of her.

  "Let's go to my room," she gasped, "I need you in me."

  They ran through the rain and up the stairs quietly, shushing each other like guilty teenagers.

  Once in Meg's room, they quickly undressed, and just stood by the bed and gazed at each other, not touching. One small candle on the bedside table lit the room, and shadows danced on the ceiling.

  Meg backed up to the wall. Spence followed, his body pinning her against it. His hands roamed each soft curve of Meg, her breasts, slim waist, and round backside. She ran her hands over his muscular arms then up to his shoulders.

  Twenty years, he thought, as he felt her velvety skin and inhaled her familiar jasmine scent. Way too long to be away from her.

  After reveling in her, relishing her, his fingers toyed with her nipple while the fingers of his other hand searched below, softly probing then entering the silkiness there.

  "Is this what you want?" he whispered.

  She gasped, and nodded, her mouth slightly open, her eyes closed, her head against the wall. He started to enter her, then stopped. She inhaled suddenly.

  "Tell me," he insisted.

  "I want you," she gasped, "I've always wanted you."

  Spence could wait no longer, his hands slapped the wall and he drove his hardness into her, and felt her muscles contract around him. She pulsed again, and he paused his thrusting.

  "Don't stop," she pleaded.

  "Tell me," he whispered, with a slight smile on his face. He pulled his chest back from hers and his hands fondled her breasts.

  Her eyes opened, and she smiled now too. "I love it when you're in me," she said softly.

  It was his turn to close his eyes and thrust, gently at first, then more insistently. She clung to him, and wrapped her legs around his waist, moving and moaning.

  "Tell me you need me," he whispered.

  "Oh, God, I need you so bad, Spence. Come in me now."

  His passion grew stronger, she cried out, and her inner core pulsed with each thrust until they were both spent.

  The field was obscured by darkness. Meg ran, tripping over rocks, and stung by cactus thorns. Someone was chasing, someone was coming. Her breath was ragged now, and pain tore at her chest as she struggled to breathe. Suddenly, a blow to her head caught her unaware and she fell, screaming with pain.

  "Meg, wake up!"

  She sat up in bed, confused, then looked over at Spence. He sat up too and wrapped her in an embrace.

  Maria, having been summoned by Big Jake, started to come in the room and backed away, murmuring, "Si, I understand."

  Meg felt the hard muscles of his back, and she buried her face in his neck. He smelled like aftershave and musk; he smelled pleasantly of sex. She pulled back from the embrace, and they lay facing each other.

  His eyes were warm, sympathetic as he said, "Want to talk about it?"

  "No, I just want to lie here looking at you."

  He reached up and stroked her hair. "I never did marry, you know. All those years. I came close a couple times, but I was on the move so much, it was always the same. I'd come back, and they'd found someone else."

  She smiled. "I know. When I was in school over in Rushburg, I guess I just was caught up in the moment with the professor. I was in awe of him, he was just such a power figure in my mind. He was a lousy lay, though. Very missionary. Nothing like you. I think wall sex is a first for us, Spence."

  Smiling, he drew her into an embrace, and they listened to the rain pounding against the windowpane.

  A few minutes later, Meg said, "How about some ice water? My throat is raw from singing."

  "Why not?"

  She rose and put on her robe. She tip-toed down the long hallway and down the staircase.

  Entering the kitchen, flipping on the light, she felt a chill. She checked the air conditioner setting, but it was on seventy-five, and she left it alone.

  After filling two large glasses with ice and water, she flipped off the light with one finger and continued towards the stairs.

  The house was black, but for a faint glow showing through the front windows from the porch light.

  In a flash, a feeling of dread came over her as she approached the stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs she halted, her feet refused to move and she felt rooted to the spot. The same chill struck her with force, again and again.

  Her eyes darted about; she saw the front door, the dining room, but when she looked into the living room, a strangled cry arose from her throat. Floating three feet off the ground was a pulsing, hazy white light. It moved from the window area towards the fireplace and stopped, pulsing all the while.

  Panic gripped her, and she tried to tell herself it wasn't there. Lila was right, it was just her imagination. This couldn't be happening. It just wasn't real.

  But slowly, the pulsing light moved towards her. A breeze lifted her hair. She dropped the glasses. She couldn't move. Her legs wouldn't function. She tried to scream, and it finally came out in a long wail, louder and louder until the thing was almost upon her.

  The hall light switched on, and Big Jake's voice said, "What in Sam's hill is goin' on down there?" He appeared at the top of the stairs along with Lila, Spence, Willie and Karl.

  Maria rushed in from the back of the house and began to comfort Meg.

  "It was a ghost!" Meg screamed at them, "A ghost was here!" Spence started down the stairs, and Maria backed away. "It was! It was here!" Meg wailed.

  Spence hugged her, murmuring comforting words.

  "Hell's afire," Jake blustered, "that girl gets nuttier every day."

  The family disbursed to their bedrooms leaving Spence and Meg alone at the bottom of the stairs. Maria came back with a mop and began cleaning up the water on the floor.

  Spence led Meg into the kitchen. They both sat at the kitchen table, while Maria came in and out, dumping chards of glass in the wastebasket and wringing the mop.

  Meg's shaking hands rested on her forehead. "It was there, Spence. It had to have been there. It can't be my imagination."

  "What did it look like?"

  "It was a light. Sort of a glow.
Then, it moved towards me."

  "Anything else?"

  "I felt cold. And the breeze in my hair, like at the Simmons' place."

  Maria bustled around, made them all some lemonade, then sat at the table with them. She told the same story she'd told Willie earlier that day. "You see, little one, it is a gift. You see things that others cannot see."

  "Do you think it is a friendly spirit? It must be Chad, don't you think? What is he here for? Why is he trapped?"

  Maria was silent. Her lips were in a straight line. She knew, but little one did not. She'd heard them talking, but she could never tell. Her little one could never know. It would be too much for her, and she would not get better.

  She sighed and did not answer Meg's questions. "De nada," was all she said, and she left the two alone in the kitchen.

  *****

  After an exhausting Saturday, when they stocked up supplies and moved furniture, Sunday, the day of the wake, dawned gray and depressing. The humidity was high and the temperature stifling. Thick, thunderous clouds rolled along the sky like omens.

  In the massive living room of Big Jake's house, area rugs were gone and hardwood floors gleamed. Long tables were set up on either side of the dining room, which would hold beef, chicken, beans, potato salad and an assortment of other food for the wake.

  Lila, dressed for the burial service in a black tailored suit, wandered there, her hand running along the table, her heels clicking on the wood floor.

  "Finally up and out of that room of yours, eh?" Big Jake said, as he joined her.

  Turning to face him, she replied, "Well look what the cat dragged in." She looked him up and down. "At least you seem presentable for once. How did you ever find a suit to fit you?"

  He ignored the comment and looked around. "Everything ready?"

  "Ready as it'll ever be. Since when are we ready for a death in the family?" Her voice broke, "I'll never be ready. I never thought I'd have to bury one of my children."

  Peering at her, he said, "Don't cry. You don't feel it. I'm the one that does. One sickly one, one healthy one, an' missy's got it up here." He pointed to his head. "So, only one good one out of the litter."