“You wouldn’t have to. You’d live here in Santa Fe.” She looked at him now and grinned.
“Smart mouth! On the other hand maybe I’ll hang around and keep an eye on you.” He reached over and took her hand. “Is that all right with you?” He was serious and a little nervous. She could tell by his tone of voice and the tight grip he had on her hand.
“If … you behave yourself.”
“Speakin’ of behavin’, darlin’, I fully intend to kiss you before we get back to the court. I may pull off the highway and into the woods when I do, because it’s going to curl your toes, and I don’t want anyone to hear when you yell like a raidin’ Apache.”
Trudy’s heart was chugging like a runaway train. “All right, Romeo, get this truck moving. We’ll just see who yells the loudest.”
It was late afternoon when they returned to the court. Trudy jumped out of the truck and ran toward the house, giggling.
“I’ll get ya for that!” Deke yelled.
“What in the world?” Mary Lee hurried to the door. “What’s going on?” she asked as Trudy burst through the door. Her eyes were shining with happiness.
“That … that jackass!” Trudy looked over her shoulder to be sure Deke hadn’t followed her to the house. “I pinched him.”
“Pinched him? Why’d you do that?”
“Because he … because he deserved it.”
“You two act like a couple of two-year-old kids. Trudy Bales, are those whisker marks on your face?”
Trudy’s hands flew to her cheeks. A rosy redness rushed up her neck and covered her face.
“Does it show?”
“No, but I guessed that you and Deke would get around to kissin’ before you got back.”
“You … tricked me!”
Mary Lee put her arms around her friend and hugged her. “I’m happy for you.”
“I’m scared, Mary Lee. I know it won’t last.”
“Maybe it will.”
“I just can’t believe that he likes me. He said I was … pretty.”
“You are pretty. I’ve been telling you that for years.”
“But … my legs are so … short. They’re only half as long as yours. And … my butt is big.” Trudy’s brown eyes flooded with tears.
“I bet if you asked him, he’d say he didn’t care. I bet he’s glad he’s met someone who has to look up to him for a change. Someone who likes him and is fun to be with. I don’t imagine life has been easy for him either.”
“But … he’s always so cheerful.”
“It could be a cover-up to hide the hurt he feels when someone calls him ‘runt’ or ‘squirt.’ ”
“Every morning when I wake up, I wonder if this is going to be the day he leaves.”
“Don’t think about it. Get all the happiness you can out of each day.”
“Hey, Jake! Get out here. It’s goin’ to rain.” Deke’s voice reached into the kitchen.
Mary Lee went to the door to see Jake come out of the washhouse and hurry around to where Deke and Eli were pulling a new mattress out of the truck bed. Jake grabbed one side, and they carried it up onto the porch. When Mary Lee opened the door, they brought it into the bedroom and hurried out.
Jake got in the truck and drove quickly down to number six. He had moved the mattress from that cabin up to replace the one they burned. They had just got the new one inside when the rain came pelting down.
In the house, Mary Lee looked at the mattress on her mother’s bed with dismay. Her mind automatically counted the money left in the fruit jar.
“This is a nice one.” Trudy began spreading a clean sheet over the blue and white striped ticking.
“Why did you get two mattresses when Eli gave Deke money for one?”
“That’s a long story and a good one. You would have gotten a kick out of hearing the pitch Deke gave that store man.” Trudy rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and tucked the sheet securely on one side. “Lordy, that man can dicker with the best of them. He dragged me to the door of the store twice, making out like we were leaving, before he got the man down to two mattresses for twenty dollars.”
“He got both for twenty dollars? Mr. Collins at the furniture store here charged me fifteen dollars for one. I’ll give Deke the extra five.”
“You can try. He said that he owed you much more than that for meals and staying in the cabin with Jake.”
“Jake paid the rent in good faith. It wasn’t his fault that Mama let him have it so cheap. And he’s entitled to share it with whomever he wants.”
“You’ll have to fight it out with Deke. But I’m warning you, he’s as stubborn as a mule … darlin’.” Trudy laughed, and it was such a happy sound that Mary Lee laughed with her.
The rain came down for an hour, keeping the men in the end cabin long enough for Mary Lee and Trudy to prepare supper from the leftover food. When all was ready, Mary Lee went to the front door and looked out onto the highway. Cars were going by slowly. She was sure that if the court were open she would fill the cabins.
It was strange to pass her mother’s room and have the door open. Trudy would sleep in there tonight, and the canvas cot could go back to the washhouse. It was also strange not to feel the dread that Dolly would come storming out of the room and embarrass her.
She had locked her feelings for Jake in a little secret chamber of her heart. He had been kind, wonderful in fact. She could no longer deny to herself that she had fallen in love with him. He had held her at her mother’s bedside as if she were a little child who needed comforting. She had felt his face in her hair, his lips on her forehead, but she couldn’t let herself think that his feelings for her were anything near what a man felt for the woman he loved. He may have been alone when his mother was dying.
It would be over soon.
When she lost the court, Jake would go on his way. She and Eli would take what little money she could save between now and then and move to town. She had been thinking about what she could do and decided that she would look for work as a housekeeper where she could take the baby and Eli. Mr. Morales might know of a motherless home where she could work for their keep. She would talk to him soon.
Suddenly, it hit Mary Lee that both her close blood relatives were gone. She didn’t remember ever having seen her grandparents. There were uncles and aunts somewhere, but Dolly had alienated them long ago.
But she wasn’t alone.
Thank you, Bobby Clawson, for giving me this baby, and thank you, God, for bringing Eli to my door.
Chapter 26
THE FIRST NIGHT AFTER THE COURT REOPENED, all five cabins were rented. Mary Lee and Trudy served breakfast to the occupants of four of them and to Jake and Deke, who had gone back to work. The second night they rented four cabins, but on the third night they rented all five of them again.
For three days, since the funeral, Mary Lee had managed not to be alone with Jake. It helped that he and Deke worked late every night and came back to the court hungry and tired. They never offered to pay for their meals, but Mary Lee knew that some arrangements had been made with Trudy because there was more money in the grocery jar than she had put there.
Trudy and Deke were in love. Trudy’s face glowed with a happiness she never dreamed would be hers. Deke’s eyes found her the instant he stepped in the door; and although he still teased, there was a tenderness in his tone that had not been there before. Each evening as soon as the supper dishes were washed, they went to one porch or the other or walked across the field toward town.
Mary Lee was happy for her friend and prayed that she didn’t end up with a broken heart.
Jake was aware that Mary Lee was avoiding him. She welcomed him to the supper table the day of the funeral and every night after that. She talked to him and smiled, but when the meal was over and the room set to order, she excused herself, went to her bedroom and closed the door.
Eli had tried to entice her to stay and listen to the radio Jake had left in the house. Her excuses were lame ones, suc
h as, she had to wash her hair, do some sewing, write a letter. On the fourth night, Jake got up from the table and announced that he was going to town. He didn’t invite Deke or Eli to go along, knowing that Deke wanted to be with Trudy and that Eli was too young to go into a beer joint.
The tension between himself and Mary Lee was wearing on Jake. His nerves were strung tight. He had fooled himself into thinking that she cared something for him. Didn’t she let me hold her the night her mother died? Since that time she had made it painfully clear that she wanted only to be friends.
The undertaker had come, according to Trudy, and presented his bill. Mary Lee had paid it out of the money she had saved for the mortgage. Her eyes held a haunted, vacant look at times, and the smudges beneath them told him that she wasn’t getting enough rest. She was worrying herself sick and wished that the lawyer would hurry and make his move in order to take the burden of waiting to lose the court from her shoulders.
Oh, Lord, Jake sighed. He never imagined that loving a woman could be so damn painful.
These thoughts were swirling around in Jake’s mind when he opened the door to the Red Pepper Corral. It was early. Only one man sat at the bar, and another three or four at the tables.
“Hola, amigo.” Paco stood behind the bar drying a glass. He placed it on the shelf and dropped the cloth to draw a beer for Jake, who straddled a stool at the end of the bar.
“How ya doin’, Paco?”
“Fair. You?”
“Same.”
“Well, that takes care of that. How’s the little lady makin’ out?”
“She’s holdin’ up real good.”
“Glad to hear it. Stay away from Pedro’s. Yancy and his bunch are hanging out there. Yancy is still talkin’ big. He’s sayin’ Mrs. Finley had to have help killin’ Frank.”
“Yeah? Is he accusing me or Mary Lee?”
“He’s not come right out and said. Guess he’s afraid of Ocie. The man has a long arm.”
Jake gave a snort of disgust.
“What’re you down in the mouth about, amigo? Did someone tell ya there ain’t no Santa Claus or did ya lose your job at Quitman’s?”
“No. I’ve got two or three more months out there.”
“A man was in here askin’ about ya this afternoon.”
“Yeah? What’d he want?”
“Don’t know. Told him we were working out at Quitman’s and you lived at the motor court.”
“I’d have to be starving to climb those damn bridge girders again if that’s what he wanted. They probably can’t find another welder that’ll go up there and they’re looking for somebody dumb enough to do it.”
“Ai, yi, yi. Speak of the devil. Here comes the dude who was askin’ about ya.”
Jake looked over his shoulder. When recognition dawned, he grinned at the pleasant surprise. The man’s dark eyes swept the room and landed on Jake. In polished boots, tailor-made fringed jacket and a ten-dollar Stetson, the man would stand out in any crowd, not only because of his dress but because he was tall and broad, and well-dressed Indians were not a common sight in New Mexico.
Jake stood to greet him. He had worked on the Fleming Ranch in Oklahoma. It was there that he had met Deke.
“Howdy, Jake.”
“It’s good to see you, Mr. Fleming.” The men shook hands like old friends.
“I just missed you and Deke at the Quitman Ranch. Had a good visit with Mr. Quitman, though. He showed me the horses you’re working on.”
“Mr. Quitman’s a nice man to work for.”
“I planned to get a bite of supper and then look for you and Deke at the motor court. I came in to have a beer first, that is, if the proprietor isn’t afraid to serve a redskin.”
“Name your poison, amigo.” The grin on Paco’s face was wide and welcoming.
“Same as Jake’s.” Barker Fleming straddled the bar stool with ease. “Nice little town you have here,” he said to Paco.
“A village has been here a long time, amigo. But the highway has made it a town.”
“It’s the same with towns all along the way. They are calling this highway the Mother Road.”
“Is most of it paved now?” Jake asked.
“All but a stretch over west of here.” Barker emptied his glass. “Have you had supper?”
“Just finished,” Jake said.
“Drink up, then come along with me while I have mine. I’ve got in the habit of eating; and when I miss a meal, it throws me completely out of kilter.”
“Sure.” Jake emptied his glass and placed two coins on the counter before Barker could dig into his pocket. “Thanks, Paco.”
“I’ll add my thanks too, for helping me find Jake,” Mr. Fleming said. “I’ll be back in before I leave town.”
“Adios, amigos.”
Outside the Red Corral Jake pointed toward Ruby’s Diner, two blocks down the street.
“Not fancy, but the food is good.”
“I’m not much for fancy. Let’s go.”
While the two tall men walked down the street, Mr. Fleming inquired about Deke, then told Jake that he’d had business in Albuquerque and was on his way back to Oklahoma.
At first, Ruby was a little awed by the well-dressed, exceedingly handsome stranger. But after he had eaten a large meal and complimented her on it, she visited with him as if he were a regular customer. He talked about Deke in glowing terms, telling her that he had known him all his life.
“His daddy was a crackerjack mechanic. By the time Deke started to high school, he could fix anything with a motor on it and had started building a motorcycle. He and I have talked about building a race car, but we both knew that it was just a pipe dream. You’ll not find a more honest, hardworking man than Deke Bales.”
When Ruby went back to the kitchen, Mr. Fleming lit a cigarette and offered one to Jake.
“I think you’ve set her mind at rest,” Jake said. “Her daughter, Trudy, and Deke are kinda smitten with each other.”
“I’ve always hoped that Deke would find a woman who would care for him. He deserves to have a home and family.”
“They’re well matched. You’ll know what I mean when you meet her.”
“Have you ever handled rodeo stock, Jake?”
“I understand that some of the quarter horses I’ve trained have been used for pickup and roping.”
“Do you have any desire to get on a bucking bronco?”
“No. I like to keep all my bones inside my skin.” Jake laughed. “I get my horses used to me with soft words and gentle handling. By the time I get on them they protest a little but do very little bucking.”
“I’m thinking about going into the business of furnishing stock for the Dallas–Fort Worth Rodeo Association. I could use you and Deke — you with the stock and Deke to keep my equipment going.”
“Before you say any more, Mr. Fleming, you’d better know where I’ve been for the last two years.”
“I know where you’ve been. Deke told me. I think I’m a pretty good judge of men. Did you come back here to clear your name or to seek vengeance?”
“Someday my name will be cleared; and when it is, I’m going to be right here staring the folks in the eye who turned their backs on me.”
“Then you’re not interested in coming back to Oklahoma?”
“Not right now. I’ve promised Mr. Quitman I’d get his horses ready to sell. I figure that’s going to take me two or three months. Maybe at a later date.”
“If you ever want a job at my place, Jake, you’ve got one.” “Thank you. I appreciate your confidence in me.”
“I’d like to say hello to Deke, then get back here to the hotel and get a little sleep. I engaged a room when I arrived this afternoon. The highway is paved now all the way to Sayre, and if I get an early start, I can make it home in one day.”
As they approached the court, Jake saw that the Vacancy sign had been turned off. The cabins were filled again tonight. Then he felt a little spurt of anger when the big car s
topped in front of the house and he saw Mary Lee sitting on the porch with Deke, Trudy and Eli.
She didn’t go to her room early tonight because he wasn’t there. Well, hell, that should tell him something!
Deke and Barker Fleming met each other like long-lost relatives. Trudy’s eyes got as big as saucers when she saw the big, obviously well-to-do man put his arm across Deke’s shoulders.
“It’s good to see you, Deke. Lord, but I’ve missed you, and I’ve missed knowing you were handy when something went wrong with some of the machinery. I can’t find anyone to fix that old tractor that pulls the hay baler.”
“It’s good to see you too, Barker. How’s things at home?”
“Fine. Kids ask about you often. Especially Janna. She wants you to put a motor on her bicycle.”
“She’s a darlin’. She still sneaking out to ride the horses?”
“And I still give her a good chewing out when she does.”
“How’s Lucas?”
“He starts to school this year. My sympathy is with the teacher.”
“He’s a corker, all right. Come up onto the porch. There’s some folks I want you to meet.” He held his hand out to Trudy. “Come here, darlin’. I want you to meet the best man I know. This is Barker Fleming. His ranch is near my home-town of Sayre, Oklahoma. Barker, this is Trudy Bender.” He proudly held on to Trudy’s hand while she extended the other to the tall man.
Barker swept his hat off and grasped Trudy’s hand. “Hello, Miss Bender. I can always depend on Deke to find the prettiest girls.”
Trudy liked him at once and didn’t seem to be a bit shy. “I can believe that, Mr. Fleming. He’s a flirty little cuss.” Deke said, “Now, darlin’—”
“I guess you’re not ready to come home.” Barker’s smiling eyes went from Trudy to Deke.
“No, not yet.”
Barker laughed. “I can see why.”
“This is Mrs. Clawson.” Deke made the introductions. Mary Lee stood and extended her hand. “Welcome to Cross Roads.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Jake stood back where he could listen, look at Mary Lee and not be noticed. Where had he got the stupid idea that she might care for him? He was jealous of Deke’s freedom to hold Trudy’s hand even when he followed Mr. Fleming to the car. Not even in prison had he felt as lonely as he did now.
Song of the Road Page 27