“But Mitch sees Janice all the time. And he loves her. That don’t mean he’s gonna marry her.”
“Oh, I’m gonna marry her, all right.” Mitch sounded sure of himself. “Just not till she’s outta school.”
Lorrie wouldn’t be out of school for a couple more years, and Curtis wouldn’t graduate until the end of this school year. There was no way he could marry her.
Before she could say as much, the front door slammed, and she heard her father’s booming voice calling for her.
With trepidation curling in her belly, she went to meet him in the living room. “Yes, sir?”
“You ain’t never allowed to see that boy again,” he announced, his voice as hard as she’d ever heard it.
“What boy?” she asked, knowing exactly who he was talking about, but wanting an explanation.
“That Walker boy. He’s good for nothin’, and he ain’t gonna ever make an honest woman outta you. So from now on, you ain’t allowed to see him.”
An honest woman out of her? No one said that anymore. “But, Daddy! That’s not fair!”
“Life ain’t fair. Get over it.”
Lorrie couldn’t help it, she burst into tears, her heart ripping in half right in her chest. The thought of never being able to see Curtis again was more than she could bear. Without waiting for him to dismiss her, Lorrie ran to her room and slammed the door, momentarily scared that he would come in with his belt and punish her for being disrespectful.
She didn’t relish the idea of a spanking, but she would’ve endured a million of them if it meant she could still see Curtis.
Sobbing uncontrollably, Lorrie flopped onto her bed and pulled her pillow to her chest, trying to keep the cracked and brittle pieces of her heart from escaping. It felt as though someone had filled her chest with broken glass, the pain suffocating her. Sobs tore through her, making her hiccup as she gasped for air.
Daddy couldn’t do this. He couldn’t keep her away from Curtis.
What had he said to Curtis? Had he insisted that Curtis marry her? Was that what this was about? And why would he? Why would her daddy want her to get married when she was still a kid? It didn’t make any sense.
Closing her eyes, Lorrie gave in to exhaustion, tears streaming down her face.
It was dark when Lorrie opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure what woke her, but she didn’t move from where she was. Wasn’t even sure she could. Her whole body hurt from crying most of the day.
Then she heard it. Something tapped against her window.
Scrambling out of bed, she tiptoed across the room, pulled back the curtain, and peered out into the night. Since they didn’t have an air conditioner, Momma always left the windows open, which allowed Lorrie to stick her head out.
“Psst.”
Lorrie searched for the sound and looked down at the hedges that lined the edge of the house to see Curtis hunched beneath the window behind them.
“I need to talk to you,” he said in a rough whisper.
Lorrie turned and glanced back in the room. She had no idea what time it was, but it must’ve been really late. It was just as dark inside, but she could make out Kathy’s and Celeste’s forms in their beds asleep.
Peering down at herself, she realized she was still wearing her clothes from that morning. She looked out the window again, then back into the room. She knew her sisters wouldn’t tell on her if they woke up to find her gone, so she was safe there. The only thing she could hope was that Momma didn’t come in to check on her. Not that she ever had before, but Lorrie had evidently missed dinner, so she might.
Without contemplating what might happen if she got caught, Lorrie slipped one foot outside and eased over the windowsill. Curtis wrapped his arms around her waist and helped her to the ground, then took her hand, and they ran from the house, heading toward the tree line that separated her parents’ yard from the neighbors’.
Once they were far enough away that no one could hear them, Curtis stopped. Lorrie was out of breath, but apparently she didn’t need to talk, because Curtis had pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against his body.
She allowed the warmth of him to infuse her for a few minutes while she caught her breath and her heart started beating normally. When she tried to pull back, Curtis wouldn’t release her, his lips brushing over her cheek.
“I love you, Lorrie. With my whole heart.”
She wasn’t sure why he was professing his love for her. She already knew how he felt. He’d told her a million times, the same as she’d told him.
“I can’t stay away from you,” he said softly.
Lorrie managed to put a little space between them and stared up into his handsome face. “I don’t want you to stay away.”
She honestly couldn’t think of a worse hell than living without Curtis.
Curtis cupped her head, his gaze locked on her face. She could see his eyes thanks to the bright white glow from the moon, and what she saw in them scared her. There was a sadness that she could feel piercing her heart.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, not really sure she wanted an answer.
“Do you love me, Lorrie?”
The pain in his voice mirrored the pain she could see in his eyes. “Yes,” she said hurriedly. “More than anything.”
“Enough to marry me?”
Lorrie took a step back, breaking his hold on her. “Did my daddy come see you today?”
Curtis nodded, but he didn’t move.
“What did he say?”
Curtis didn’t answer.
“Did he tell you to marry me?”
His terse nod broke her heart.
“Or what?”
“Or we can’t see each other,” he said on a rough exhale.
Lorrie’s heart broke all over again. Her father really was trying to force Curtis to marry her.
How could he do that?
Why?
Why would he do that?
chapter SEVEN
Curtis had never felt this much raw emotion before. Not even when he’d found out his old man was dead. Then again, he’d never felt anything like the love he felt for Lorrie. It was physical in the sense he was consumed by it. His chest always felt full, as though his feelings were too much to fit inside him, growing bigger every time he saw her, until now, when he thought his chest might actually explode.
As he stood in the trees, listening to the sound of the wind through the dry branches combined with Lorrie’s ragged breathing, he was consumed by everything.
Love.
Anger.
Desire.
Fear.
It swirled inside of him until he wasn’t sure which was most prevalent.
The anger was directed at Lorrie’s father for putting them in this position. Marrying this girl wasn’t the problem. He would marry her tomorrow if she would say yes. But he wasn’t sure she would say yes, and that was what terrified him. If he asked her now, she would think he was only doing it because her father had forced him to. And that was partly true. He was willing to do whatever he had to in order to make sure Lorrie wasn’t taken from him.
“I don’t understand,” Lorrie said in a rush. “Why would he do that?”
Reaching for her, Curtis pulled her back into his arms, not wanting to let her go. He loved the smell of her hair, the smoothness of her fingers when they snuck up the back of his shirt, the crush of her breasts against his chest. He wanted to kiss her, to lay her down on the ground right here and show her how much he loved her, how much she meant to him. He wanted to make love to her a million times, to let her feel every part of him and know that there wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t in love with her.
Cradling the back of her head, he held her against him, briefly wondering if she could hear the erratic beat of his heart. The fear was making his blood pump harder.
Fear that she wouldn’t believe that he wanted to marry her and not because of her father.
Fear that he would never see her again.
&nb
sp; Fear that if he didn’t marry her, she would move on and end up falling in love with someone else.
The last thought was what had him tightening his hold on her, his palm cradling the back of her head perfectly as he held it to his chest.
“I love you,” he whispered. “God, Lorrie. I love you more than anything. I need you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“Daddy can’t keep us apart,” she said adamantly. “He just can’t do it.”
But he could, and that was what terrified Curtis. “I’ll be eighteen in a coupla months, Lorrie. Technically, he can keep us apart then. I’m not willin’ to take that chance.”
Lorrie pulled back enough to look up at him. “What are you saying?”
It was now or never.
“I’m sayin’ I wanna marry you.”
When she started to pull away, he kept his arms banded around her.
“Wait,” he pleaded. “Let me explain.”
Lorrie shook her head. “There’s nothin’ to explain. We’re too young to get married, Curtis. And I don’t want you to marry me ’cause my daddy told you to.”
Curtis released her but cupped her face with his hands, forcing her to look up at him. “From the day I met you, I knew you would be my girl, Lorrie. You captivated me with your pretty blue eyes and your sassy little mouth. Even though you irritated me at the same time, it was the greatest feeling in the world. I knew you would be my girl forever and a day.” He took a breath. “No man is gonna force me to do anything I don’t wanna do. But more than that, no man is gonna take you away from me. You hear me? Do you understand what I’m tellin’ you? I love you. With every breath I take. I would be honored if you’d be my wife.”
Her blue eyes were wide as a tear trickled down her cheek. Curtis knew she was having a hard time believing him, but he needed her to. He needed her to know that he would go to the ends of the earth for her.
“Before your old man came over to my house, I’d thought about marryin’ you, sure. I don’t know what tomorrow’s gonna bring. You’ve seen the newspapers. Bad things are happenin’. We’re at war. My brother’s over there fightin’, and we don’t even know if he’ll ever come back. That could be me, Lorrie. When I turn eighteen, I’ll be expected to go over there. It’s all so messed up. I know that. You know that. But that don’t mean I don’t think about marryin’ you all the damn time.”
“I’m only fifteen, Curtis.”
“That doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to me.” Although it really did. Curtis knew Lorrie wasn’t ready for marriage. She wasn’t ready to be in his bed, to sleep by his side, to allow him to slide inside her body. He needed that to quench his desperation for her, but he could and would wait for her.
What he wouldn’t do was sit back and let anyone take her away from him.
Lorrie couldn’t keep the tears back. They were streaming down her face in rivers. Curtis’s words had pierced her heart and broken the dam. It was no wonder she loved him so much. She knew in her heart that she would never find a man who would love her the way that Curtis did. Never find a man who would protect her, keep her safe. She could feel it deep inside, knew that he wasn’t simply telling her these words because they sounded good.
Although he wasn’t her lover yet, he was her best friend, the person she confided in, shared her hopes and dreams with. She couldn’t imagine herself with any other man. Ever.
“I love you, Curtis Walker,” she said between sobs.
“Then marry me. Be my wife. We’ll go tomorrow. To the justice of the peace. I heard that Billy Elks did that. He went to the courthouse, and they married him that same day. He wasn’t even eighteen, either. I don’t wanna wait, Lorrie. I don’t wanna spend another second away from you.”
Lorrie wanted to tell him yes, but she wasn’t sure she could. What would she do about school? Where would they live? She was only in high school. Neither of them were finished yet. They couldn’t just quit going. She didn’t want to quit going.
Curtis’s thumbs brushed away the tears on her cheeks as he continued to cup her face and stare down at her.
“Whatever your worries, we’ll work them out together. We can do this, Lorrie.”
She forced a smile.
“I’ve always believed for every person there was only one love that would last a lifetime. I never understood quite what it meant until I met you, though. You’re it for me, Lorrie. You are my love that lasts a lifetime.”
Lorrie felt her chest tighten, and more tears began to fall.
How she’d ever gotten this lucky, she wasn’t sure. Finding a man like Curtis, one who knew what to say to ease her mind, one who didn’t make promises he didn’t keep… It was a dream come true. She could consider herself blessed beyond measure if she could spend the rest of her life with him.
She wrapped her arms around Curtis and held him tightly as he hugged her back. She was scared, she couldn’t deny that. Just like Curtis said, they didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but she knew that if her daddy tried to keep her away from Curtis, the only thing she’d have would be a broken heart.
At fifteen, she wasn’t naïve. Even though she lived in a small town, didn’t know a whole lot about what was going on outside of Granite Creek, her heart knew what it wanted. She had always dreamed about marrying a good man, a strong man. Settling down, raising children, laughing, loving. Curtis Walker could and would give her that, of that she had no doubt.
“I don’t wanna quit school,” she mumbled against his chest. Her mother had quit school to marry her daddy, and she didn’t want to end up like her.
“You don’t have to quit.”
“Where will we live? We can’t stay with your mother.”
Technically they could, she knew, but she was grateful when he agreed they probably shouldn’t.
“Where then?” she asked.
“We’ll work it all out, darlin’. Me and you.”
Lorrie nodded against his chest. “I’ll marry you.”
Curtis pulled back, cupping her head in his big hands once again. When she looked up into his face, he was grinning from ear to ear. It was that radiant smile that made her laugh, made her tears dry up as she realized what they were about to do.
Married.
Holy cow.
Lorrie was going to spend the rest of her life with him. They would get married, have babies, and spend a lifetime together, loving one another. It was as simple and as complicated as that.
“It’s gonna be perfect, Lorrie. You wait and see.”
“It already is,” she whispered back.
It already is.
chapter EIGHT
After helping Lorrie back in through her window, Curtis had come home, but he’d never gone to sleep. He’d spent the rest of the night mapping out what needed to happen for him to marry Lorrie. The actual getting hitched part was easy. It was everything else that had to be worked out.
He didn’t want to live with his alcoholic mother and his horde of brothers and sisters. That was no way for a married couple to start out their life together. Since he would be eighteen soon, he did have to think about what happened next. He could work on the ranch and help his mother that way, make enough to take care of Lorrie so that she could finish school. There was an old guesthouse on the property. Maybe he could fix it up, and they could stay there until he could buy her a house.
What if Lorrie didn’t want to live on the ranch? What if she wanted a house in town? His family had money, he knew that, but he didn’t actually have any of his own.
A knock on his bedroom door pulled him from his thoughts.
“What?” he hollered.
“Momma wants to talk to you,” Frank Jr. called out.
Curtis glanced at the window, seeing the golden rays shining in. Only then did he realize that the sun had come up. He took one last drag on his cigarette and then stamped it out in the ashtray. Getting to his feet, he tossed his pencil on the paper he hadn’t even written on and headed for the living ro
om.
“In the kitchen,” Mary Elizabeth announced.
Curtis stepped into the kitchen to see Mr. Jameson sitting at the table across from his mother. Dread instantly settled in his gut. Nothing good could come from that man showing up at his house.
“Mr. Jameson came to tell me the news.”
“What news?”
“That you’re plannin’ to marry Lorrie,” she added.
Lorrie must’ve said something. That was the only way he would know, because Curtis hadn’t yet figured out how he was going to go over there and ask for the man’s permission. Not after yesterday.
As though reading his mind, Mr. Jameson said, “You didn’t think anyone heard you sneak her out her bedroom window?”
Fucking bastard. The man had eavesdropped on their conversation.
“Is it true?” Mary Elizabeth questioned.
“It’s true,” Curtis admitted, locking eyes with Mr. Jameson. “I plan to marry your daughter.”
Mr. Jameson shook his head. “I’m sorry, son. I just can’t let that happen.” His tone was cool and collected, the complete opposite from yesterday, when he’d driven his ass onto Curtis’s property and asked what his intentions were.
A rage unlike anything Curtis had ever known consumed him. For the first time in his life, he understood the hatred that had lived inside his father.
Sparing a glance at his mother, Curtis swallowed hard before facing off with Mr. Jameson once more. “You can’t stop me.”
“Curtis, she’s only fifteen,” Mary Elizabeth pleaded. “You can’t marry her without Mr. Jameson’s permission.”
Curtis cocked his head. “That’s strange. I had your permission yesterday.”
“That was yesterday. I’ve changed my mind.”
A vision of him with his hands wrapped around the old bastard’s neck blinded him momentarily.
“Unless…”
Through a cloudy red haze, Curtis focused on Mr. Jameson once more. “Unless what?”
From the corner of his eye, Curtis noticed Mary Elizabeth’s face fall, sadness consuming her.
Mr. Jameson looked at her. “It’s my understandin’ that the first of your sons to marry will inherit the Walker estate. Is that true?”
Curtis (Coyote Ridge) (Volume 1) Page 6