He moved to Julie’s side of the table and gently took her hand from the ice water. “I hope you don’t get a blister. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. What can I do to make it up to you? What an awful first kiss!”
“I’ll tell you what you can do. Give me another kiss without so much fire in it this time,” Julie said with a smile.
Chance did kiss her again and felt he was going to have to back up on his notion that love at first sight couldn’t happen. He was hopelessly, head-over-heels, in love with Julie Stockton.
“So, Chance, let’s talk about you. How did you get from Ponca City to Harvard and back to Oklahoma?”
“Actually, it was a fairly good life for a boy. I lived on a farm just outside Ponca City. It had been in the family for three generations. I am the culprit that broke the chain and didn’t go back to raise cattle and wheat. I am the sole survivor and have the farm leased out to a real dedicated farm family. My Jr. High years were spent there with my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my parents. All of us lived in the same farmhouse. Before that, my grandmothers lived there too. It took all of us to make the farm work and earn a living. As a young boy, I had so many watchful eyes on me that I didn’t dare break any rules. And there were a lot of rules. Adults had their own path for me to follow. I did the best I could to stay in line because I loved and respected all of them. But, I was a boy and boys will veer, on occasion, off in their own direction. When that happened, whichever adult caught me gave me a good solid talking to and sometimes, a spanking. Then, it would never be mentioned again. They never, I thought, told on me to the others. They taught me to be kind to all animals and humans and to love, care for, and tend the good earth. It was a given that I go to school every day and bring home perfect grades. All that could be saved in the bank was for my college education. They all made deposits into that account from the day I was born until the day they died. The good grades and perfect attendance got me a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma and from there I went to Harvard Law School. The hard work of my grandparents made it so I didn’t have to borrow money to become an attorney. Although, I never thought of my family as well off, I guess they were. Either that or they sacrificed more for my future than I could ever have wanted them to do. I know all of them were very frugal. I remember my mother darning our socks and lengthening my work pants when they got too short if they didn’t have more than two patches. My school clothes were always clean, ironed, and never patched. When one of my school shirts or pants got torn or stained, it just became work and play clothing. My mother made all of my shirts and pajamas. My other clothing was ordered from the big Sears catalog. I was a very lucky kid.”
“It sounds like it. I take it that both of your parents are gone now. It must have been hard to lose them. It was, for me, when my dad died. It still is, some days.”
“Yes, it is. They died within two months of each other. They had been married for fifty-three years. Their lives were so melded together that, I suppose, Dad just couldn’t function without his other half. Mom died of a massive stroke and Dad followed two months later of a heart attack. I think it was more like a broken heart. Mom left a void so large within him that he could do nothing but join her. He told me that he loved me very much, but I was a grown man now and could find my own way and that he loved my mom more than he loved his life without her. He said his goodbyes and drifted off to an eternal sleep. That was three years ago. I didn’t quite understand it then, but I’m beginning to see his point. Maybe, I saw it all along but just couldn’t admit it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have spent the last twenty-five years of my life, I guess, looking for the perfect model of a wife; not just a wife but a person who is a part of me and me, a part of her. I guess I wanted more than a marriage. I wanted a union of two persons becoming one person. I wanted someone who could finish my sentences, know what I want to eat at any given time, and know when to hold me and give comfort. I wanted to be the same for her. It’s more of a link between two souls, I think. That was the union my parents had. I have dated quite a few girls and none has made the grade.”
“Enough about me. Are you ready to go? Karla will be up and waiting for you and will want to know all of the details about our date. And, I have an early court session tomorrow. Not to mention, the fact that you haven’t had a moments rest since your trip from Georgia.”
They walked to the car arm in arm. He kissed her before he opened her door. Julie had no doubt that she wanted to get to know him better and hoped he was her Mr. Right.
“By the way, Julie, what are you going to do about Jolly?”
“I’m glad you mentioned it. I plan to let him live out his life in his home. I love dogs. I’ve just never had a place to keep one. Mom and Dad never allowed pets, and I’ve always wanted one. If he hadn’t been Essie’s, I wouldn’t have chosen now as a good time to get one. But, since he’s part of the package, I’m delighted to have a housemate. I’m going to call Peggy tomorrow and take him off her hands. I was wondering if you could check on him at my house while I’m on tour. If you can’t take care of him, I will find a kennel to keep him until I get home. Mom says that Peggy is busy but will keep him until I get back. I don’t want to impose on her.”
“I would love to. He and I are already old pals. He is no trouble, at all. His day goes like this: Jolly wakes up around 6 a.m., goes outside, comes back in, and eats, flops on the rug in the kitchen. At noon he goes outside, comes back in, and eats, flops on the rug in the living room. At six he goes outside, comes back in and eats, and flops on the rug in the library until six the next morning. If he is away from home, he sleeps wherever he can find a place out of the path of others.”
“Thank you. I was hoping he could be with someone who knows him.”
When they were within a block of Karla’s house, Julie asked Chance to stop. When he did she leaned over and kissed him. “That,” she said, “is your goodnight and thank you for the wonderful evening kiss. Mom will be on the porch swing when we get there, and I want her to think we are way too mature to even think of kissing on the first date.” Chance laughed and held her close and kissed her again and again.
Julie left Chance’s Jag with a spring in her step, hope of true love in her heart, and a beautiful feeling that comes only from the security of home and that big Oklahoma starlit sky.
Karla called out from the swing, “Well, y’all weren’t out late enough to elope and get me a grandbaby but I hope the dinner was good.”
Chance too had a hope of better days to come. Days filled with love and laughing children and this lovely young woman. Julie, he thought, was so much like Essie that it was almost too good to be true. He had loved Essie like a grandmother and had told her many times that he would marry one day if only he could find a girl like her. It was mostly a joke then. Now, he wasn’t so sure it had been a joke at all. What the hell! Maybe it’s just the beer talking tonight. Nobody falls in love so fast. That only happens in the movies or romance novels.
They walked up to the porch and sat on the swing beside Karla. “The stars are so bright I think I could reach out and touch them,” Chance said as he gazed into the sky.
“Yes, they are, and look at that big old moon,” said Karla. “It’s a lover’s moon. That’s what it says in the Almanac.”
They all laughed. Chance stood and looked at the two women. “Good night ladies, and Julie, thank you for the wonderful evening. I will call you after court.”
He walked to his car whistling softly. He wanted to jump and click his heels together but didn’t want to make a fool of himself. His heart ached for her to feel the same.
“Oh, Mom, he is really something else. I have never been so quickly attracted or comfortable with anyone as I am with him. Something has to be wrong with him and I’m just not seeing it yet.”
"I’m sure there is. There’s something wrong with all of us. That’s why they say that love is blind. He probably leaves his towels on the floor or squeeze
s the toothpaste in the middle. Like your daddy used to do. Maybe, he doesn’t twist his Oreos apart and lick the middle first, as any good American should. Or, God forbid, he may not like bacon and eggs. But, those are flaws a body can put up with once you grow accustomed to the good in them. I know he would never cheat, lie, kill, or steal from anybody. I know he has charity in his heart. I know he has never married because he is looking for someone to live out his life with.
He believes he will know when he meets that person. I think you are waiting for the same thing. As parents, we put expectations into the heads of our children. That could be a blessing or a curse. Some of those children spend a lifetime searching for the marriage of their parents. In doing so, they can’t make one of their own."
“Mom, you are a wealth of wisdom. Let’s go to bed now. I’m so sleepy I can’t hold my head up.”
Julie got into the bed of her childhood and smiled. She put her head on her pillow and tried to think of all the things she would do tomorrow but instead thought of Chance. She tried to picture him as a boy playing in the wheat fields. She saw him riding his horse through the grazing cattle with the knees of his jeans in patches. She saw him sitting in a tree overlooking a pond. She drifted off to sleep and continued her tour of Chance Lightning in boyhood.
Karla was up by 5:30, her usual time. She started the coffee, went to the back porch, and took Jim’s old denim shirt off the hook by the door. She put it on and wrapped it around her for what she thought of as her morning hug from him. It smelled of the pack of Juicy Fruit gum he always carried in the pocket. She would never wash that shirt or remove the gum. It was her connection to him. How she wished he were here. He would be so proud of Julie and happy to see her signing her book. He would be as sad as she was to know how they had wronged poor little Essie. If he were here, their guilt would be shared and so not as hard to endure. As it was, Karla would shoulder it and try to believe that God would forgive her. She knew she would never be able to forgive herself.
She took the shirt off and returned it to the hook. Then, went back to the kitchen and made a small pan of biscuits, put the bacon in the skillet, and set the table for breakfast.
Like clockwork, Julie came bounding down the stairs at exactly 6:00. “Does that ever smell wonderful?!” She gave her mother a hug and got a cup of coffee.
“I haven’t slept so well in years. That bed has a sleep spirit in it.”
“I wonder who that could be at this hour of the morning,” Karla asked, as headlights lit up the back porch.
“Karla,” Peggy called out. “Sorry, for coming so early but I have to go and help Crissy today and won’t have time to go all the way back home later to get Jolly. I brought him in with me. I hope it’s okay.”
“Peggy!” Julie said as she ran out to hug her. “It is so good to see you. Please come in and have breakfast with us. Mom was just going to fry the eggs.”
“I do have a little while before John has to leave for work. Those twins are a handful for Crissy right now. She had such a hard time delivering them. She is still weak from all of the surgery she had after. But, they are all thriving now, and John is such a good husband and daddy. I thought we would lose him too, if that awful accident had taken her and those little babies. It is a pure miracle they survived since they had to come three months early. Crissy is a strong-willed girl. All will be okay in a few weeks. Julie, it is good to see you. I’m so glad you are home. Do you remember John Freeman? His wife and babies are the ones I’m talking about. They were hit by a drunk driver.”
“Yes, I do. In fact, he is the first person I saw when I got back to town. He was always a nice person. I’m sorry to hear about his troubles.”
Jolly came in and plopped down in a corner of the kitchen. Julie went to him and introduced herself, as if he were a person. “Jolly, you and I are going to be great friends and roommates. It is very nice to make your acquaintance.”
He looked up at her and sniffed her hair. She gave him a pat on the head as he stretched out and promptly went to sleep.
The three women sat around the table and ate while catching up on all of the news. Julie looked at Peggy and saw very little had changed about her over the years. She was one of those ageless people; the kind of person that looks just as they did when they were in high school. Maybe, they gain a pound or two but other than that, they are the same. Peggy was petite and blue eyed, and her platinum-blonde hair was a mass of corkscrew curls that seemed to go in every direction. She always bubbled over with excitement and energy. She talked ninety miles an hour so she could fit everything into her busy schedule. She had just celebrated her forty-fifth birthday, and her husband, Clyde, had given her a diamond pendant. He was one of the local car dealers in town, and the two of them were a match made in heaven. He was a workaholic and a rich, open, and giving man. She was a registered nurse but never worked for money. She was just the little community Florence Nightingale running from one home to the other and helping where she could. She cleaned, cooked, cared for their children, plants, animals, and did laundry, drove people to the doctor, and nursed them. Peggy loved all living things, and there was nobody in the entire town who did not return that love to her.
“My, I had better get going. John will need to leave for work soon. Thank you for the wonderful breakfast. Julie, welcome home. I read your book last week, and I loved it. If I bring it to the signing when you come back, will you sign it for me?”
“You bet I will.”
“I’d better scoot out of here and get down the road before John sends out a posse to find me. Have a good day.”
Julie and Karla washed the breakfast dishes and discussed the possibility of Peggy having to speed read the book. They couldn’t imagine her lolling around on the sofa reading and eating Bonbons.
“Julie, my girl, what’s first on the agenda for today?”
“Now that Peggy brought Jolly over, I suppose, it’s take my things to my house and get settled in. I think the old doggie will be happy to be back in his home.”
“I’m just getting the hang of you being back home and you are leaving. It is so good to have you around the house. I know you would never move back to your old room forever, so, I’m glad you will be just down the street.”
“I’m glad too, Mom.”
They pulled Karla’s old pickup into the drive. Julie ran up the steps, unlocked the door, and held it open for Jolly. He swaggered up the walk and slowly climbed the steps. When he finally reached the porch, he decided it was naptime. So, Jolly spread his body out directly in front of the door and slept. Julie and Karla changed their plan of action by opening a side door and taking things in that way. It was Jolly’s home, and if he chose to nap in front of the door, then so be it.
“Where do we put your clothes? Every closet in the house is full to overflowing.”
“For right now, let’s just put them on the bed in the downstairs guest room. Then do you want to go up and try on some nice clothes and see if you want any of them? Chance said that I look to be the same size that Essie was. You and I are too, so do you want to try it? Maybe we can find some dressy things for the tour and not have to shop. You know how I hate to shop for clothes.”
“You look just like Essie and you are smart and a good writer too but you did not inherit her shopping gene. From the looks of these closets, I’m surprised she had time or energy to write.”
“Let’s start with the closet in her room. That is where I’m going to sleep. When we get it cleaned out, I’ll hang my meager little garment bags in there.”
Peggy had cleaned out all of the dressers and donated the contents to the shelter when she was there cleaning. That gave Julie space to put away her underwear, socks, and tee shirts.
“Look, Mom, this must be the white coat that Francis Steward wants.” Julie took the coat off the hanger and put it on. It was a short coat with pearl beadwork across the yoke and around the sleeves. It was the most beautifully crafted garment Julie had ever seen. Julie put her hands i
n the slit side pockets and pulled out a slip of paper. She unfolded it and read, FRANCIS IS NOT TO HAVE THIS COAT. NOT EVEN OVER MY DEAD BODY! Julie laughed and said, “Well, I guess I’ll keep this little piece of work and make sure Francis sees me wearing it.”
Karla and Julie had such fun trying on clothes and putting them in three separate piles. There was one pile for Julie to keep, one for Karla, and the last one for charity. Neither Karla nor Julie kept very much. When they finished with two of the closets Julie helped Karla load her things in the truck.
“I’ll call Peggy tonight and see if she wants pick up the other things or call Goodwill,” Karla said, as she backed out of the drive. Julie waved to her mom and went to see if Jolly was ready to go inside. He was more than ready. He ambled in, went straight to the kitchen, looked at his empty bowls, and began to howl.
“Well, you do know how to talk, don’t you, old boy? Wait now. I don’t know where your food is. I’m looking, and in the meantime, you will need to be patient because I’ve never had a friend like you before.”
Jolly watched her opening and closing cupboards and continued to howl. Finally, as if he realized just how dumb she was, he stopped howling, walked over to a lower cupboard, and bumped it with his nose. She opened it to find it fully stocked with dog food and various doggie treats and toys.
“Jolly, you are a very smart friend,” Julie said as she hugged him. She filled one bowl with food and the other with fresh cold water.
Jolly loved her from that moment, but he knew he would have to teach her a thing or two about this house.
Julie walked from room to room downstairs and tried to take in everything she saw. It was hard to believe that just a few days ago she had no idea about where she would live. Now, she wished her tour was not coming up so quickly. She wished she could just stay here and become a part of this lovely old house. She was studying the paintings when the phone rang.
“Hello, Chance,” she said with a smile.
The Estate of Essie Grogan Page 5