The Lullaby Sky

by Carolyn Brown

  “Liz, meet Elaine. Elaine, this is my friend Liz. She’s also my boss—I’m a teacher’s aide at the school where she’s the principal,” Hannah said.

  “Sophie has told me all about you,” Elaine said with shy hesitation.

  Never before had Hannah wanted to fix things so much, both for her old friend and for her new one, but she was helpless in a hopeless situation. Elaine had taken the first step, and there would be help for her. But Liz was a different story. Hannah felt totally helpless to lend a hand to her friend when Liz wouldn’t admit she needed it.

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Laney,” Liz finally said, hoarsely, as she pulled the sleeve of her T-shirt down to cover a yellow-and-green bruise.

  Elaine nodded and smiled. “Sophie did a good job of describing you.”

  A rap on the door broke the intense aura in the room. Elaine took a couple of steps back toward the stairs. Hinges squeaked, and Calvin’s big, booming voice filled the house.

  “I have arrived. It took a week longer than I’d thought it would, but I’m here! The moving van is down at the hangar right now, but I had to come see everyone before I tell them where to put things. Sophie, my beautiful princess, I’m waiting for my hug.”

  Sophie threw herself into Cal’s arms. He swung her around the room twice before he set her down and wrapped both Liz and Hannah into a three-way embrace.

  “Uncle Calvin, this is Laney. She was supposed to stay with us one day, but she got to stay longer. But”—Sophie lowered her voice—“she can’t go outside. I think that she’s afraid Nadine will give her the bumps.”

  “Mumps,” Hannah said. “Anna Lou had them last week, and now Nadine has got them.” She lowered her voice so only he could hear. “And Cal, Elaine is one of my guests.” She raised an eyebrow. “She’s still jittery and jumpy, so . . .”

  “Enough said,” Cal said from the side of his mouth.

  “I’ll go on up to my room.” Elaine slunk off in that direction, fear and intimidation in her body language.

  “I’m Calvin Winters. I’m sorry I barged in here like a bull in a china closet,” Cal said in a soft tone. “I’m so excited to be back in Crossing that I didn’t think. Don’t go, Elaine. Do you like it here?”

  “Oh, yes.” Elaine turned with a smile. “I love it here.”

  “So do I.” Cal flashed his warmest smile. “That’s why I’m coming home. I sure hope that things work out well for you. Maybe our paths will cross again, and next time I’ll be a little less blustery.”

  “Thank you,” Elaine said.

  “I was only checking in before I go down to the hangar and start unpacking, so I’ll see all y’all later. Nice meeting you, Miz Elaine.”

  “You, too,” Elaine answered.

  He’d opened the door to leave, but Aunt Birdie pushed her way inside and rolled up on her toes to kiss Cal on the cheek. “I thought that was your van out there. I been tellin’ you for years that you could design your clothing line anywhere in the world, so why live in a big city?”

  “You are so right.” Calvin nodded.

  Sophie crossed the room to grab Calvin’s hand. “Can I go with y’all to see what you are doing with Father’s airplane place?”

  “No, you are going with me,” Hannah said. “You would get in the way down at the hangar. And besides, I might need help picking out scraps if Aunt Birdie don’t mind us taking some for a quilt.”

  “Well, hot damn.” Aunt Birdie grinned. “Y’all are making a quilt? What size bed? Calvin, get on out of here so us ladies can talk sewing projects.”

  Calvin’s chuckle turned into a full-fledged laugh. “Now, Aunt Birdie, you know that I love to talk about fabrics and sewing.”

  “But you are going to be hammering nails and building walls the next few weeks instead of making dresses, right?” Hannah asked.

  “I can do that, too, but my first love is the sewing machine.” Calvin sighed.

  “Don’t know the size of the quilts or who they are for, Aunt Birdie,” Hannah answered. “But Liz and I need a project.”

  “Then make them in throw size and I’ll get Travis to put together a rack that sits on the floor to hold them,” Calvin said.

  “Liz and I are both making one, and we’ll both need a rack,” Hannah said.

  “I bet Travis won’t mind making two.” He nodded.

  “Just one,” Liz said. “I told you—I can’t add to or take from that house I’m in, or it would cause the beginning of the next world war.”

  Aunt Birdie pulled out a chair and eased down into it. “You could piece together throws instead of full-size quilts if you want a project that would go faster. And to answer your question, I’d be glad to get rid of whatever scraps you want to take out of my storage shed.”

  “You are welcome to my scraps, too,” Cal said. “I’ve got at least a dozen boxes being unloaded right now.”

  Aunt Birdie pointed at Sophie and then at Liz. “Y’all two go on over to my storage building. Take a couple of garbage bags with you. Sophie can pick out colors for Hannah, and you can find what you’d like to work with. Pattern books are on the shelf above the boxes.”

  “Can Elaine go with us?” Sophie asked. “We won’t go through the backyard, so she won’t get the bumps.”

  “Sorry, darlin’, but Elaine has to stay inside,” Aunt Birdie said. “But I bet she’ll help y’all cut out the pieces for the quilt when you get back.”

  “Can we look at Uncle Cal’s stuff first?” Sophie asked.

  “No, because it isn’t unloaded yet. When we do the second one, we’ll go through his scraps,” Liz said. “Come on, baby girl, let’s get the stuff to go into the quilting business. We need to think about a pretty throw for the rocking chair in your room. I’m making mine special for you,” Liz said. “What colors do you think would be pretty?”

  “Blue and yellow and white, like my new walls. And can it have stars and clouds on it?” Sophie put her small hand in Liz’s, and the two of them left by the front door.

  “And I have to go down to the hangar,” Cal said. “That invitation to lunch still standing, Aunt Birdie?”

  “No, but it is for dinner. You are in the backwoods, Calvin, not the city. Here we have dinner and supper. And dinner is at noon, straight up. Today we are having chili and corn bread,” she answered.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

  When everyone had disappeared, Hannah looked over at Elaine. “Let’s make tea and talk.”

  “Hot tea with cream and sugar.” Elaine smiled.

  “Yes,” Hannah said as she made two cups of tea and carried them to the living room. “Even though it means we didn’t get to talk, I’m glad you had time to sleep and begin to recover. Gina said she’s coming to take you back to the shelter tonight.”

  Elaine sank into the sofa and sipped the hot tea. “I need to be there to get my new paperwork done, but it scares me to leave here. I feel safe here at your Lullaby Sky.”

  “I’m glad that you feel safe, but don’t be scared. Gina will take good care of you,” Hannah said. “How long were you married?”

  “Oh, he never married me. He just sweet-talked me into moving in with him and then treated me like shit. I was sixteen and my stepdad threw me out after my mama died. I got on a bus and came to Texas from up in northern Oklahoma to stay with my brother, but he’d moved and I didn’t know where to go. I slept on the streets for a few nights, then Jimmy come along and offered to let me stay at his trailer.”

  Hannah shivered. “You’ve put up with this for five years?”

  “And I might’ve put up with it longer, but he brought a new girl in last week and told his friends that he’d sell me to the highest bidder,” Elaine said. “I stood up to him, and he damn near beat me to death.”

  “I am so sorry,” Hannah said.

  “Me, too, but only that I didn’t leave sooner.”

  A gentle rap on the door took their attention that way. Hannah got up, pulled back the curtain, and motioned for Liz to come o
n inside.

  Liz looked as if she would burst into tears any second. Her breath was coming in short bursts like she’d jogged from Aunt Birdie’s back to Hannah’s house. She leaned against the cabinet and kept clasping her hands and then dropping them to her sides.

  “Is Sophie all right?” Hannah asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “You look like you are about to deliver bad news,” Elaine said.

  “It’s not Sophie. She’s fine. She’s with Aunt Birdie picking out scraps,” Liz said.

  “Talk to me,” Hannah said.

  “I’m scared out of my mind. Wyatt wants a baby,” Liz blurted out.

  Hannah held her breath until her ribs ached. Her first impulse was to jump up, cross the room, and hug her—assure her that she’d be a wonderful mother and not to be scared. But it was as if she was held to the sofa with ropes and chains and could not move.

  “Don’t do it,” Elaine said. “It’ll be one more reason to beat you.”

  “He doesn’t . . . ,” Liz started.

  “You can lie, but it don’t make it the truth,” Elaine said.

  Hannah opened her mouth, but no words came out. She swallowed twice and patted the sofa between her and Elaine. “Sit down and let’s talk about this.”

  “You know how it is. You lived through it. For me, meeting Elaine has brought it all home to me. If I have Wyatt’s child, he’ll threaten me with it like Marty did you, and I’ll wind up just like both of you. I don’t know how much more I can stand,” Liz whispered.

  “What are you going to do?” Hannah asked.

  “She’s going to leave him,” Elaine said. “She’s got friends and a place to go, so there’s no reason not to leave.”

  Liz inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, as if getting up the courage to even speak the words. “I have to pick my moment.”

  “You know I’m here if you need me, and I happen to know a really good shelter over in Gainesville if you want to hide out for a few days. I’ve known for a long time that Wyatt was abusive, but you have to realize you have a problem before you can solve it,” Hannah said.

  Liz sat down on the sofa. Tears flowed down her cheeks and left wet circles on her shirt as they dripped from her chin. “You tried and failed, and you are stronger than I am. Always have been. It’s going to get rough. Wyatt doesn’t let go of his possessions easily.”

  “Is that what you feel like you are? Just a possession?” Hannah asked.

  “It’s not a feeling. It’s a fact. It’s written in stone,” she said simply. “I’ve started making a plan, though, and just that much and telling you makes me feel like there is a future outside of humiliation and bruises.”

  “The sooner you put that plan into place, the better,” Hannah said. “And I’m right here any time you need me. We all are.”

  “Thank you.” Liz wiped away the tears.

  “For?”

  “Not pushing me and just being my friend.”

  Hannah smiled through the tears that wanted to escape from her eyes. She had to be strong or Liz might take two steps backward. “I had no right to push anyone. I’ve got two good sharp shovels down in the hangar. If bad comes to worst, they’ll never find his body.”

  Elaine giggled and then laughed, and then it became a guffaw that not even the universe could contain when they all started laughing. They’d barely gotten it under control when Travis stuck his head in the back door.

  “Got a few minutes, Hannah?” Travis asked. “Cal wants you to come down to the hangar.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on Sophie if Aunt Birdie brings her home before you get back,” Liz said.

  “And maybe me and Liz can visit some more about sorry men.” Elaine nodded.

  “Okay, then, but if Gina shows up early, don’t let her take you away before I return, Elaine,” Hannah said.

  “I sure won’t leave without telling y’all good-bye, and thanks for letting me talk, Hannah. It did help,” Elaine answered.

  Travis held the door for her, and she headed off toward the hangar for the first time in six months. She was at the edge of her yard when her phone rang. She fished it out of the hip pocket of her khaki shorts and frowned when she saw her divorce lawyer’s number pop up under a picture of the front of his building.

  Her heart stopped, and her hands went clammy. She didn’t want to answer, but not knowing was worse than facing her greatest fear—that Marty would find a way to get back into her life.

  “Hello,” she said cautiously.

  “Mrs. Ellis? This is Rayford Dillard, your lawyer for the divorce.”

  “No, this is Miss O’Malley, remember. I thought we’d finalized everything,” she said.

  “Sorry if I startled you. Everything is finalized and filed at the courthouse, yes. Copies are in the mail to you.”

  Part of the stress eased out of her body. “Thank you for letting me know.”

  “But we have another problem—or blessing, whichever way you look at it.” He chuckled.

  The word that stood out in bold italics was problem, not blessing, in Hannah’s mind. “Just spit it out.”

  The lawyer laughed again. “Your ex forgot that his airplane was parked on your property and now he wants it back. It’s a stupid thing for him to forget something that big, but he did in his haste to get the papers signed. Now it legally belongs to you. What do you want to do about it? This is damned funny.”

  She sat down hard on the ground. She was totally stunned. “How in the devil did he forget something as big as an airplane? Rayford, I’ve sold that hangar intact with everything that was in it. If Marty wants his plane, he’ll have to get in touch with Calvin Winters’s lawyers. But as OCD as he is, I’m still in shock that he forgot that his plane was parked here and not in Dallas.”

  “I asked his lawyer the same question. Do you remember him saying something about having trouble with the landing gear?”

  “Yes, but I thought he’d gotten it fixed. He said he was calling a repairman and that he’d give him the key so I wouldn’t even know when he came and went. He called his driver to come get him that weekend.”

  “Well, there was a communication problem. The guy who fixed it was supposed to fly it back to Dallas and put it in the Ellis hangar. He didn’t get that part of the message, so he fixed it and left it right where it sits. All this time, the Ellises have thought the plane was in Dallas. I guess since Martin’s new girlfriend lives right there, he didn’t need to fly the thing. I do think it’s funny as hell that karma has bit him on the ass for the way he treated you in that courtroom,” Rayford said with more laughter.

  “The matter is out of my hands.” Hannah giggled. “Winters, Grayson, and Drury out of Denton represent Calvin, if you want to get in touch with them. And before you ask, that’s his father and his two sisters, and they are partners in that firm. I don’t think Marty is going to be happy, and I feel sorry for that redhead who’s now with him. When he gets mad, it’s not a pretty scene.”

  Rayford had stopped laughing, but now he had the hiccups. “I will definitely tell him that. Have you had any problems?”

  “No, sir. I cleared out all his hidden cameras, listening devices, and GPS trackers and changed my phone number. I did keep all the camera stuff. How did you get my number, anyway?”

  “I went through Aunt Birdie. Remember, she’s the one who recommended me to you. But never fear, I would never give the number to anyone. And Hannah, hang on to everything that you found. If he ever makes trouble, it might be helpful. You have a good day. This has certainly made mine better.”

  “Thank you and mine, too.” She hit the “End” button and blinked a dozen times to be sure she wasn’t dreaming.

  Travis sat down beside her. “I got one side of that conversation and I know there’s an airplane in the hangar. So what are you going to do?”

  She fell back on the grass and laughed until tears streamed down her face for the second time in less than an hour. “Not one damn thing,” she said between chortl
es. “It’s no longer my plane, and Cal can push it off into the Red River if he wants to, or he can sell it to the highest bidder to reclaim some of the money that he paid me for the place. I knew he was overpaying me and now I don’t feel so bad.”

  Travis pushed back a strand of her hair stuck to the moisture on her cheek. “I like it when you laugh like that.”

  She looked up into his eyes, rimmed with lashes so thick that most women would sell their souls to have them. How had she never realized how pretty his eyes were or how handsome he was? And when in the devil had his touch caused a catch in her chest and a little flutter in her heart?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Aunt Birdie poured two shots of Pappy Van Winkle into a couple of recycled jelly glasses and held hers up in a toast. “To karma and the future. Both of us old coots are going to live to see our dreams come true before we die. It’s happening before our eyes.”

  “Don’t you call me an old coot. I’m a full-fledged bitch, and I got the background to prove it.” Miss Rosie sipped the amber liquid, holding it on her tongue a full minute before she swallowed. “Damn fine stuff. You did well to hang onto it until our victory dance.”

  “Oh, honey, this is just the twelve-year-old stuff. I’m hanging onto that prime bottle until we cross the finish line,” Aunt Birdie said. “I told you when that damned old plane sat there a month that he’d forgotten about it. Now we know why. He was out tomcattin’ in a sandbox he didn’t have no right to play in. Well, here’s to you, you rotten sumbitch.” She held up her glass again, then downed the last dregs and poured another shot.

  “I wonder if this shit burns?” Miss Rosie asked.

  “Why would you want to use something this wonderful to set fire to something? You could buy twenty gallons of gasoline for what this bottle cost me.”

  Miss Rosie’s plump shoulders rose a few inches in a shrug. “Might be worth it to take care of Wyatt. I’m so old I remember when God created dirt, so I don’t mind spending the rest of my days in prison for setting a worthless man on fire and roasting marshmallows with the flames.”