“Well, I suppose people know who is lying there,” Cat said softly. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
He quickly glanced over and saw the sympathy in her eyes. He was glad to see that the color in her face was even better by now.
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “It’s not that. None of us know what to say. We can’t say he was a beloved husband and father. I’m not sure it’s accurate to even call him a husband. What got him killed in the end was that he was having an affair with a neighbor. I suppose we could say the father bit, but it’s only true in a biological sense. My brothers and I aren’t proud of the fact that he sired us. We talked about it some, just us boys, while our mom was having her trial, but we just couldn’t come up with any words.”
Cat reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. “There’s still time.”
“Maybe we could say he loved the land he was born on, although that sounds kind of small to sum up a man’s life. Like he didn’t have sons and a wife. And people around here would know we were shorting him. An epitaph needs to have some words to it.”
Jake decided to talk to Wade about it. After the wedding, of course. No one would want to talk about his father at the wedding, least of all the groom.
It was silent again. Lara had gone to sleep in her car seat.
Cat dozed for a bit. Her medication had strengthened her pulse and she was doing better. She needed to have her talk with Jake soon, though. She wouldn’t be able to wait much beyond his brother’s wedding. She needed to know with absolute certainty that Jake would give Lara a home if necessary. That was all that was important now.
Just then, she saw a small green highway sign that said Welcome to Dry Creek. Jake pulled off onto a rough asphalt road. The sky met the flat land and in the distance there was a cluster of buildings. She used to love listening to Jake’s stories about this small town, but it had seemed larger than life back then. She never pictured it being so tiny in the midst of all the empty land around it. She’d grown up as a street kid in big cities, so she was not used to seeing the sky meet the ground the way it did when there were no trees or buildings to stand in the way. For a moment she felt a little lost and then she decided she liked it. It lifted her spirits to see so much sky.
“How far is your ranch from Dry Creek itself?” she asked. “I remember how you used to talk about this place all the time.”
She suddenly realized there wasn’t another vehicle on the road, not behind them and not ahead of them, either. They were miles and miles from traffic. She didn’t even see a bicycle or a pedestrian. There was a bird of some kind flying low ahead, but that was it.
“I missed Dry Creek back in the home,” Jake admitted as they passed fields of dried grass, one on each side of the deeply rutted road. “But not as much as I did later when I was sitting in my hotel room in Las Vegas. I used to sit and wonder how tall the grass was in the summer and how high the snowbanks were in the winter and whether or not anyone was sitting around the old stove in the hardware store and, if they were, what they were saying.”
“Maybe you’ll move back someday.” Cat schooled her voice so it didn’t betray her eagerness. If she could choose any life for Lara, it would be for her daughter to grow up in a place like this. Who wouldn’t want to have neighbors who knew each other well enough to share gossip? And to live among people who stayed where they were born would be wonderful.
Then she saw it.
“Oh, my.” Cat sighed. Here was the final piece she couldn’t resist.
Rising up in the distance, on the roof of a small white church, was a short sawed-off steeple. It didn’t go as high as it should, but it added dignity to the building. There weren’t many trees elsewhere, but there were some around that structure. Rectangular windows lined the side of the place that she could see. Most likely there were windows on the other side, too.
Jake turned to look at her with a question in his eyes.
“It’s the church. It’s beautiful,” she told him.
“That’s the one building that’s always got a fresh coat of paint.” Jake shrugged as though he didn’t understand it, his eyes back on the road. “I will say that much for it.”
“That’s because people care,” she said, her voice lifting in triumph. “I can’t wait to go there and sit with everyone in a place like that.”
She felt Jake apply the brakes until he stopped the vehicle completely. Then he took the key out of the ignition and turned to look at her. His eyes were black with panic and his jaw was set in a rigid angle. “I don’t go to church. Maybe my mother and brother will be going. But I couldn’t go with you and Lara. I just want you to know that up front. I mean, the wedding will be there. But that’s it.”
“Oh.”
“I could drive you into town, of course.” His hands still gripped the wheel and his knuckles were white in doing it. “If you really want to go.”
“Won’t people expect you to be there? I thought everyone went to church in places like this, even ones who don’t…” She stopped, unsure how to proceed.
“Even ones who don’t believe?” he finished for her, his voice flat. “Well, in my case, no, they won’t expect me to come. I’ve never been to church in my life.”
“Never?” Cat whispered, her dreams crumbling around about her. How had she gotten so caught up in the fantasy of life in a small town that she had forgotten how Jake felt? “Don’t you believe in God at all?”
“I’m surprised you even need to ask,” he snapped back, finally turning to her. “There’s a God all right, but He let my mother go to prison for something she didn’t do. And He let my father terrorize his own family. He even let the man kick our dog so hard he broke the poor animal’s neck. I was five at the time. Lara’s age. So, yeah, He’s probably there, all right, but He sure doesn’t have much time to spare for the likes of us.”
The pickup was silent when he finished. Both of them just sat there.
“He never promised anyone their life would be perfect,” Cat finally whispered back.
“Well, He got that much right.”
Cat suddenly realized she wasn’t the only one with a damaged heart sitting in this cold pickup. Her problems might be physical, but Jake’s were just as real—and maybe just as painful.
“Do you know if the church has a prayer meeting?” she asked quietly.
“I expect they do.” His voice was tired now, but he put the key back in the ignition and started the vehicle again. “The people in Dry Creek are real big on praying.”
Cat nodded, but didn’t say anything. She needed to be around people who had faith. Anything was possible when God’s people came together and begged for His mercy.
“Mommy?” The voice came from the backseat and she turned around to smile at her daughter.
“Sleep okay?” she asked.
“I had a bad dream,” Lara said.
“It’ll be all right,” Cat assured her. Her daughter had been having an increasing number of bad dreams in the past two weeks and she wondered if some of her own tension was finding its way into her daughter’s mind.
“’Cause you’re with me.” Her daughter completed the phrase Cat usually used to comfort her. “And the two of us can do anything when we’re together.”
Tears formed in Cat’s eyes. She couldn’t promise that anymore and hadn’t said those words since she’d had the first tests on her heart.
“God will be with us,” she whispered instead.
Jake shifted gears into a slower speed. He didn’t glance over at her, but she could tell what he was thinking by the muscle that tightened along his jaw. She held her breath, expecting him to say something, but he was silent.
After a minute, Cat turned back to her daughter. “We’re going to be in Dry Creek so I want you to stay close to me and not
get lost.”
“No one gets lost in Dry Creek,” Jake said with half a laugh. “If you’re not at the café, you’re at the hardware store or the church. Not many places to get lost in. And there’s only one street. Not even many trees to hide behind.”
“I see a gas station,” Cat said as they came closer to the town.
“Must be new since I’ve been here.” Jake paused and then continued, “It’s been ten years since the day they hauled me and my younger brother out of this place.”
Suddenly the enormity of the weekend was clear to Cat. Not only was his older brother getting married, but Jake was returning home.
“You should have come back earlier,” she said without thinking.
“I didn’t know what to say to people,” Jake admitted. “And my mother and brother have both changed. I wasn’t sure I’d fit here anymore.”
“Everybody changes,” Cat said.
“I never wrote to her. Okay?” Jake’s words burst forth, his agony fresh. “I let everyone in the home think I was writing her letters, but they were all blank. All those years my mother was in prison I only sent her one Christmas card. One card in ten years and all I said was to have a good Christmas. I was ashamed to have her for a mother. How do you go home after that?”
Everything was silent for a moment.
“I make a big deal about saying she was innocent back then,” he continued. “But I didn’t stand by her, either. Not after the verdict. I’m no better than anyone else in this place.”
“Maybe you should give her the olive tray, then,” Cat suggested with a smile. “It might make you feel better. You know, olive branch.”
“Me?” He turned to her with surprise in his eyes.
She shrugged. “I figure she’s just happy you’re coming home now. She wouldn’t want you to stay away because you feel guilty about anything in the past.”
“You think so?”
She nodded, a lump in her throat. “Mothers will do almost anything for their children when it comes right down to it.”
Cat told herself she couldn’t let the tears fall. Too much was at stake.
Lord, what a mess we all are, she prayed. Help Jake to give his burden to You. And help me to do the same. Lara is Yours to care for as surely as she is mine. Have mercy on us all.
Chapter Six
Jake stopped in the middle of the strip of asphalt that made up the only street in Dry Creek. His brother assured him he was welcome in this place, but he wasn’t sure. The roadside area was dirt scattered with clumps of dead grass and nothing but only a few weeds grew. A couple of old pickups were parked next to the café. Across the street, he could see into the large window at the front of the hardware store. Inside, old farmers were huddled around the potbellied stove, probably complaining about the price of wheat.
A handful of houses were set farther back on each side behind the businesses. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining so the ground had not turned to mud. No travel magazine would ever visit this part of the world, but the place twisted itself around Jake’s heart anyway. Maybe this is why he never warmed up to those big neon hotels in Vegas. He was a humble man who liked to live close to the earth. But he had stopped at a poker table when he was traveling through Las Vegas and won enough to make him stay.
He looked over at Cat and saw her looking back at him.
“I don’t know whether to open these doors or put the key back in the ignition and go somewhere else,” he finally said ruefully. “This old place is…”
He stopped, not sure what he wanted to say.
“Home?” Cat finally said softly with a smile on her face.
Jake was startled. He wasn’t so sure he’d go that far. “Maybe it’s just familiar.”
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Jake glimpsed a movement. He looked up and there she was—a gray-haired woman walking right down the middle of the road toward them, carrying a cane in one hand and a big white purse in the other. She must have come out of the café while he was lost in thought. It was chilly and she had a brown wool coat on, with a flutter of red-and-white gingham dress showing beneath it. He knew he couldn’t hear the sound of her white orthopedic shoes, but her steps were certain, with or without that cane. It was the set of her shoulders that told him who she was.
“Mrs. Hargrove,” he whispered and the years rolled backward. Maybe he had come home.
For all of the problems he had with the rest of the people here, he had nothing bad to say about this one. She’d sent him and his brothers birthday cards each year, no matter where they were. And she’d always tucked a worn five-dollar bill inside, along with a verse of Scripture she’d written out by hand. She was partial to the Psalms of David, when it came to him.
“That’s the woman who wanted you to go to Sunday school that time?” Cat asked, her voice puzzled.
He’d forgotten he’d told Cat about Mrs. Hargrove years ago. “She said she’d give me a piece of apple pie if I’d go for just one Sunday. Just forty-five minutes. And I think she mentioned whipped cream, too.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t do it.”
He grinned as he glanced back at her. “I was a man of principle, even back then.”
A soft rustle could be heard behind him and then Lara spoke. “Does the lady still have some pie? I’d go to Sunday school if she wanted.”
“I expect Mrs. Hargrove always has pie,” Jake said as he twisted around far enough to see that Lara’s wide eyes were looking straight ahead at the woman.
“She looks kind of funny,” the girl finally said, as if she was trying to figure something out.
“You’ll like her,” Jake assured her. “All of the kids do.”
Just then there was a tap on the side of his pickup and he turned back to roll his window down.
“Well, don’t just sit there, Jake Stone,” the older woman scolded as she grinned up at him. “Get out here where I can give you a hug.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jake opened his door and stepped down to the asphalt.
He stood there, feeling suddenly awkward.
“My, how you’ve grown.” Mrs. Hargrove looked him over carefully, pride shining in her eyes.
“It’s been over ten years,” Jake reminded her. He almost thought she was going to check his ears to see that they were clean, but she didn’t.
“Too long—that’s all I can say,” she announced. And, with that, she stepped closer and gave him the hug.
He smelled talcum powder and felt the bony strength of her arms. Just about the time he felt tears start to burn behind his eyes, the older woman gave him an extra pat on the back and stepped away. Her own eyes were suspiciously bright.
“Your mom said you were bringing some buddies to the wedding,” Mrs. Hargrove continued, the expectant look on her face hard to miss now that the he wasn’t in the shadow of his pickup.
Jake realized the sun had been too bright for her to see inside his vehicle, especially since his windows had a slight tint to keep out the glare.
He turned around to the door that was still open to his pickup. It was going to be hard to hide the fact that he had a daughter. Fortunately, no one looking at Lara would leap to the conclusion that she was related to him, because she was blonde while he was black-haired and brown-eyed.
It wasn’t that easy, though. He was gripped with an intense desire to tell this woman who Lara was. She would be almost as excited as his mother. Of course, both of the women would never speak to him again because he wasn’t married and providing for his child as he should. Those envelopes of cash seemed pretty puny to him now.
“I’d like you to meet Cat Barker,” Jake said as he moved so Mrs. Hargrove could see inside the cab better. “And in the backseat is Lara Barker.”
“Oh, your mother is goin
g to be so pleased,” the older woman said as she moved in close enough to look into the shadows inside the pickup. “When she told me, I said Jake’s buddies couldn’t be men. Remind her that I said that. You have to drag men to weddings, but not women—and especially not little girls. They love to come.”
Mrs. Hargrove glanced in the backseat before turning to Cat.
“I’m so pleased to meet you.” Mrs. Hargrove looked straight at her. “And what an unusual name.”
“It’s really Cathy.”
That made Mrs. Hargrove’s smile grow even wider. “Oh, a nickname. That’s so nice. My name is Edith and there’s not much I can do with that. I just don’t seem like an Eddie. And, my husband—” she turned back to Jake “—you heard I got married, didn’t you? To Charley Nelson. But I still go by Mrs. Hargrove most of the time. It’s so hard for everyone to get used to a new name after all this time, and I keep forgetting, myself. Besides, Charley is fine with it. He knows I love him. It’s not the name that makes a marriage, is what he says. Bless his heart.”
“Congratulations.” Jake wondered if Mrs. Hargrove was blushing or if her cheeks were just pink from the exercise she’d had walking down the street.
“Thank you, and who do we have here?” Mrs. Hargrove leaned farther into the cab of the pickup so she could see into the backseat better. “I’m so pleased to meet you, Lara. You’re going to have to stop by my house soon and have a cookie.”
Jake could see Lara’s blond head bobbing up and down in agreement. Her blue eyes had grown wide.
“I’ll go to Sunday school if I have to,” the girl said, her voice pure innocence and filled with hope. “I like pie, too.”
Mrs. Hargrove’s smile turned into a laugh. “I see Jake has been talking to you about when he was a boy.”
“I just—” Jake started, but Mrs. Hargrove waved his protest away.
Lilac Wedding in Dry Creek Page 7