Dorothy Garlock (8 page)

After Leroy and Bud left the house, Marvin lingered at the table. Tess knew him well enough to know that he was going to say something or do something he didn’t want his brothers to know about. She kept the knife close, determined to use it if he attempted to whip her, even though she knew Marvin was capable of killing her.

Lord, if she only had someplace to go and some way of supporting herself without doing it on her back. If she left, she would have to go far enough away so that a Carter couldn’t find her. Any one of them would delight in dragging her back to Marvin.

“I got a thin’ to say. Turn around.” Marvin’s voice was stern.

“I figured you did.” Tessie turned to face him.

“You earned a slap or two, but I ain’t goin’ to give it to ya yet.”

“Not ever again, Marvin. I told you that. I’ll hurt you if I can. If I can’t, I’ll hang myself. Then who would do your washing and cooking?”

Grinning as if he were really enjoying himself, Marvin pushed his hair from his forehead and leaned back in his chair.

“Cousin Judd would send over one of his girls. Maybe that little towhead.”

“Ora Jean? She’s only fourteen or fifteen. Cousin Judd knows that you’d work her by day and screw her by night. He wouldn’t put up with that.”

“Yo’re gettin’ smarty.” The smile had left Marvin’s face. “Is that what you want to talk about … how smart I am?”

“No. I wanna know about the man ya met in the woods.”

“Sheesh! I didn’t know the man from a bale of hay. I told you that he was just passing through.”

“What’d he say? Did he feel ya up? Leroy said he lifted ya off the ground.”

“Leroy is lying … as usual. He didn’t touch me.”

“Dadburnit! Did he look like he
wanted
to feel ya up?” Marvin raised his voice to a near roar.

“How’d I know? I didn’t look at him.”

“She-it. Leroy said yore dress was up over yore butt. He looked.”

“What if he did? I’ll never see him again. He sure won’t be making a shortcut through here. Leroy saw to that.”

“Too bad. Leroy’s a dumb-ass. Never uses his head.”

Tess agreed but decided to remain silent and wait for whatever scheme Marvin had in mind. She didn’t have to wait long.

“I want to know what’s goin’ on over there.”

“Isn’t your spy telling you enough?”

“I want you to hang around the edge of the woods. The man might come over to see if he can get some.”

“I might be able to get him over here if I stripped naked and hung a sign around my neck saying ‘Come on over.’ ” Tess grinned cockily.

Marvin’s eyes turned cold. “Ya makin’ fun a me?”

“Why would you think that?” Tess backed away when Marvin got up from the table.

“I’m gettin’ tired a yore lip. I want ya to get friendly with them folks. Call on the woman … neighborly-like. See what they’re up to. Leroy says there’s a tall skinny feller over there and the black-haired one ya met in the woods. Get next to ’em. I don’t care which one.”

“I’ll not be a whore for you or anyone else!”

“Why not? Ya was a whore for Cousin Willard,” he shouted. “I want to know if they’re tied in with the revenuers. Air ya so dumb ya can’t see that they ain’t but a mile or two from the still what puts food in yore belly?”

“You wasn’t worried about the Millers when they lived there.”

“That old man wasn’t goin’ to do nothin’. I scared the shit out of ’im. They moved, didn’t they?”

“Didn’t they own the land?”

“Banker in St. Louis owned the land. Feller named Donovan bought it. So reckon they’ll be there awhile.”

“I can’t just go over there.”

“Didn’t that fancy schoolin’ tell ya how to call on neighbors?” Marvin sneered.

“If it did, I’ve forgotten about it after being stuck here for six years and going to town less than once a year.”

“Well, ya better do some thinkin’ on it, and if ya shame us I’ll tear the hide off your butt.”

Those had been Marvin’s last words before he had stomped out of the house.

Now, bent over the washtub in the yard, Tess thought about the man she had met in the woods. He hadn’t tried to take hold of her or belittle her. He seemed to be genuinely sorry he’d scared her and wouldn’t have been bad-looking without the whiskers. Because of her brothers’ scraggly, un-shaven faces, she had come to despise whiskers.

Digging her bare toes into the earth to brace herself as she pulled the heavy overalls from the water, she held the legs to the roller of the wringer attached to the tub and used both hands to turn the crank. After she hung the overalls on the line, she gazed north toward the only neighbors within five miles who were not Carters.

Not for anything did she want Marvin to know that she was excited about meeting and talking to a woman who wasn’t a Carter. She had to think about what she would wear and make up an excuse for the visit. She remembered that Aunt Cora took an offering when she made a call. What could she take that a woman from town would appreciate?

The idea hit her. No woman in her right mind would turn down fresh raspberries, and she knew just the place to get them.

Marvin chose the day for Tess to call on the neighbors. A day earlier she had hurried to finish the noon dishes and had gone to the woods to pick the berries. Later she bathed, washed her hair and ironed her one good dress. With both fear and anticipation she had looked forward to the visit.

At midmorning Tess reached the edge of the woods. She stopped and stood for a while in the shadows, whipping up the nerve to go on to the house. She looked down at the print dress she had starched and ironed. The dress was all right, but she wished that her shoes were not so worn. She hoped the lady she was about to meet would think she wore her old shoes because she had to walk through the woods.

Taking a deep breath and reciting to herself what she was going to say, Tess started across the clearing toward the house. During the more than five years since she had come home from Aunt Cora’s, she had not been this close to their neighbors’ house. She could see at a glance that it was a well-kept-up place. No rubbish cluttered the yard, as it did over at her place. Cut wood was not tossed in a pile but was stacked neatly near the back door.

Tess’s heart was pounding like a sledgehammer. What if the woman was insulting when she called on her? What if she refused the raspberries? What if she slammed the door in her face?

Oh, Lord, why had she ever thought she could do this?

Knowing that Marvin would be watching from somewhere nearby, Tess forced her feet to move forward. As she approached the house, she could see a woman and a man working in freshly turned earth. The man was making furrows with a hand plow. They were planting a garden. The woman, wearing an old straw hat, straightened, holding her hand to her back, and called to the man.

“Will two rows of beans be enough, Jack?”

He nodded, then motioned toward Tess. The woman turned to see her in the yard and came toward her, taking off the straw hat. Her dark brown hair, cut in a short bob, shone in the sun.

As she approached, Tess could see that she was young and pretty and … smiling.

“Hello,” Annabel called before she reached Tess.

Tess completely forgot what she had rehearsed to say. She could only nod and stare.

“Hello,” Annabel said again. “You must be our neighbor on the south.”

“Tess.” Tess finally found her tongue. “Tess Carter.”

“Annabel Donovan.”

Tess accepted the hand that was extended without looking at it. She couldn’t take her eyes from the woman’s smiling face.

“I’ve been wanting to meet my neighbor.”

“You … have?” Tess stammered. Relief made her weak.

“I … ah … brought some raspberries.” She lifted the bucket she had been carrying by the bail.

“Oh, my. I love raspberries. Do you have a patch?”

“The bushes are in the woods.”

“You picked them for me? How nice. Thank you so much. Won’t you come in, Tess?”

“Maybe … for a little while.”

Annabel waved her hand to Jack in the garden and led Tess to the house. The woman was visibly trembling. Annabel suspected that she was terribly shy. Trying to put her at ease, she chatted about the raspberries.

“It must have taken you a long time to pick so many berries. Gracious! There’s enough here for a pie, if they last that long.”

Tess followed Annabel into the house, afraid that she would say or do something stupid that might cause this friendly girl to tell her to leave.

“Come in.” Annabel held the door open for Tess. “I’m so glad to have a visitor, and a woman at that.” Annabel hung her hat on the knob of a chair. “Sit down, Tess. Would you like a cool drink of water? It must be at least a mile over to your place.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Oh, call me Annabel. Jack brought in a fresh bucket of water before we went to the garden.” With the dipper, Annabel poured water into a glass and set it on the table. “Let’s be selfish and treat ourselves to a bowl of berries. Dish them up, Tess, while I get the sugar and cream. I dipped the cream off the milk just this morning.”

Annabel placed two bowls and two spoons on the table and turned her back to reach for the sugar but not before she noticed that Tess’s work-roughened hands were trembling.

When they were seated at the table across from each other, Annabel smiled at the woman across from her as she put the first spoonful of berries in her mouth.

“Oh, they are so good. It was so thoughtful of you to bring them.”

“I couldn’t come empty-handed.”

“Of course you could.” Annabel laughed. “But I’m glad you didn’t. Is the patch of berries far from here?”

“Not far. It’s a little way behind our place.”

“I’m so glad you came over. I hope we can be friends.”

“I hope so too, ma’am.”

“Annabel. Please call me Annabel. We’re too near the same age for you to call me ma’am.”

“Oh, no. I’m old, ma’am … ah … Annabel.”

“You can’t be much older than I am. I was twenty-one last Christmas day.”

“I’ll be twenty-eight next Christmas day.” Tess smiled for the first time and Annabel realized that she was quite pretty.

“Papa used to tell me that Santa Claus brought me and I’d wonder how he got down the chimney when we only had a stovepipe.” Annabel’s unfettered laughter rang, and Tess could only stare at her.

“We have the same birthday, Tess. We can have a birthday party together … if we’re still here.”

“Are you moving … so soon?” Tess’s eyes had hardly left Annabel’s face. It was such a pleasure to look at her. She smiled all the time.

“I never know. My father … travels and sells things. He takes sudden notions to move.”

“I hope you don’t.”

Tess’s large amber eyes held a look of distress. Annabel noted the look and also the fact that she had a beautiful clear golden complexion that went perfectly with her hair and eyes. She was small and slim and sat with her shoulders back and her head erect as if she were listening for something. Her eyes left Annabel only occasionally to dart around the kitchen.

“Did you know the Millers who lived here before we came?” Annabel asked.

Tess shook her head. “I’ve not been here before. Marvin doesn’t like for me to go … places.”

“Your husband?”

Tess shook her head again, this time more definitely, and a look of distaste came over her face.

“My brother.”

“You’re not married?”

The head shake again. “No. I’ll never marry!”

“I want to someday. I’d like to have children … a whole bunch of them. I’m the only one my parents had. It was lonely growing up.”

“Are the men here your brothers?”

“Goodness, no. They work for my father, except for Jack. He’s just a boy. He’s helping me with the garden.” Annabel cocked her head to listen. “That sounds like Boone’s truck coming in. He works for my father.”

“I’d better go.” Tess got quickly to her feet. “Don’t go, Tess. Boone will probably go to the barn and talk to Spinner, the other man who works here.”

“I’d better. Marvin—” Tess headed for the door with Annabel following.

They had just opened the door when Boone stepped up onto the porch. He stopped short when he saw Tess.

“Hello. I didn’t know you were coming back today,” Annabel said.

“I came through town and brought ya a chunk of ice.” Boone spoke to Annabel, but his eyes were on Tess. He jerked the billed cap off his head. “Howdy, ma’am.”

“This is Tess Carter, Boone. She lives on the place south of us. Tess, this is Mr. Boone. He’s really quite nice, even if he does look like a bear most of the time.”

“I met Mrs. Carter in the woods the day I went to get the cow. Sorry about the misunderstanding with your husband.”

When Tess didn’t correct him, Annabel felt she should.

“You didn’t tell me you’d met Tess, Boone. She isn’t married. She lives with her brother.”

“Three brothers,” Tess said, so low that Boone barely heard the words.

“The man on the mule was yore brother?” Boone asked as if Annabel were not there.

“Leroy.”

Boone grinned. “Tell ya right now, I wanted to bust his nose.” He watched in fascination as Tess’s eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth twitched, but the smile never materialized.

“Tess and I have the same birthday,” Annabel announced. “We’re going to have a birthday party together if we’re still here.”

“That’d be dandy,” Boone said, still looking at Tess.

“I’ve got to go.” Tess was so nervous that her stomach was fluttering.

“Don’t let me run you off. The girl here needs a lady’s company once in a while. How’s the ice holding out?” Dragging his eyes from Tess, he looked at Annabel.

“Got a little left.” She turned to the girl, who was poised as if to sprint away. “Will you come back to see me, Tess?”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Come anytime. I’ve got goods to make kitchen curtains. I’m not sure how to go about it and would value your opinion.”

“I don’t know anything about curtains.” Her eyes darted to the edge of the woods, where she suspected Marvin lurked with his spyglasses, then up at the big man with the dark stubble on his face. His black eyes were focused on her and she felt as if they were looking into her soul, her past, her future. “I’ve got to go. ’Bye.”