Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] (36 page)

He looked at her, then had to jerk the wheel to avoid a chuckhole when his eyes went back to the road.

“This is a hell of a place to have this conversation.” He held her hand to his lips.

The realization that except for chance he would never have met this woman, never have known that she existed, sent a surge of emotion through him that was both tender and fierce. He longed to pull her into his arms and tell her again and again that he would never break her heart. He would guard it as carefully as he guarded his own. He loved her with a cherishing kind of love. He wanted to hold her in his arms, plant his child in her warm, fertile body and keep her at his side forever.

Dear God, help me to find the words to tell her how I feel about her.

It wasn’t until they had neared the outskirts of Albuquerque that Brady spoke about his ranch being only two days north.

“You’d rather turn here than go on to California.” Margie wished that she hadn’t brought to light her fear.
Dear Lord, I couldn’t bear to lose him now.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you with me.”

“You want me to go to Colorado?”

“More than anything in the world.”

“Deke told me to just leave the truck with the authorities and let them find Goldie. I’d hate to do that. I’d never be sure if she got it or the money in Elmer’s box.” She tilted her head to rest for just a minute against his upper arm, then looked up into his face. “I took two hundred dollars of it. I’m calling it payment for delivering the truck.”

“He was your father. He brought you on this trip and owed you enough money to see you through. How are you going to find his wife?”

“Her cousin said she went to Bakersfield.”

“Was there an address book or any letters in Elmer’s things?”

“There’s a packet of envelopes. Money is in some of them.”

“Maybe you should look again. You might find something that would make the hunt for her easier. Honey, I don’t have money to stay in Bakersfield but a few days unless I find work.”

“I have the two hundred dollars.”

“Don’t you want to use that to see Hollywood?”

“I want to use it to buy curtains, rugs and doodads for our cabin.”

“Sweetheart! Are you giving up your dream?”

“It was a little girl’s dream. Now I have a bigger, better one. To be a helpmate to the man I love. To make a home with him, have his children. I can get all the Hollywood I want in the movie magazines.”

“Sweet girl. I don’t want you to be sorry.”

“I plan to be too busy to be sorry. If your ranch is ten miles from town, I’m going to have to be mother and teacher to Anna Marie for the first few years—that is, if we can get the books and the other things I will need.”

“You can do that?”

“Sure I can. When I got out of high school, I helped the teacher one year because the school system was so broke they couldn’t hire another teacher. I got half her pay. I thought I was rich.”

He glanced at her with love and pride. “Wait till I tell Ramon I’ve got a teacher for the kids.”

“Kids? I don’t speak Spanish.”

“They all know a smattering of English. Uh-oh … I’d better pay more attention to my driving. Jody is pulling over.”

Brady parked along the highway behind Jody, got out and waited for Alvin, who was walking toward him from up ahead, and Foley, coming from behind.

“The public campground ahead looks about like the one we came out of,” Alvin said. “Are you willing to go on to another place even if we have to pay fifty cents or a dollar to camp?”

“Do you know of another camp?” Foley asked.

“No. But if we don’t find one, I’m willing to move on out of town and find an out-of-the-way spot.”

“Fine with me,” Brady said.

Foley nodded.

“I’ll walk back and—no need, here come Taylor and Wills.” Alvin spoke to the men. “I was just coming to tell you that the public campground is ahead, but we’re going on.”

“Glad to hear it,” Taylor said. “Harry has been warned about this place. He has directions to a place where we can camp for two bits a car. It has water and toilets. The man runs a good place, so he was told.”

“Is it far off the highway?”

“ ’Bout a mile.” Harry was stingy with his words.

Alvin looked for approval from both Foley and Brady before he spoke.

“Sounds good. Move out in front and lead the way.”

While they waited for the other two cars to pull ahead, Brady, with his arm around Margie, explained the situation.

“If this is a good place and Grace will look after Anna Marie for a while, we’ll go into town and take in a picture show.”

“Really?” Margie’s eyes went wide with pleasure.

“Really. Just the two of us, pretty girl.” He hugged her and placed a kiss on her nose. “We’ll eat supper at a restaurant and go to a picture show to celebrate. It isn’t every day a man meets the woman he wants to keep beside him for the rest of his life.”

“Can we afford it? We’ve got to have money to get back to Colorado.”

“This will be our one and only splurge, honey.”

The campground was a shady acre enclosed with barbed wire. A man in overalls had a little stand at the gate where he was selling oranges and a few garden vegetables. After Alvin had pulled through, Jody stopped. Brady was about to get out and pay for the truck when Jody drove on into the campground.

“Howdy. Welcome to Shady Acres. Stayin’ long?” The man was middle-aged, big and brawny. He looked them over, glancing at Anna Marie in the backseat.

“Just overnight.” Brady dropped a coin in his hand.

“This is the best place we’ve stayed,” Margie remarked as they passed the man at the gate. “Even if we do have to pay.”

“I liked that place up in Oklahoma where I met a sassy little blonde with pretty brown eyes.” Brady stopped the car alongside the truck.

Margie’s eyes devoured his smiling face. She wouldn’t have believed it if she had been told when she met this stern, unsmiling man who had just buried his twin brother, that in only a few short weeks he would become so dear to her.

“Margie.” Anna Marie put her hand on Margie’s shoulder to get her attention. “Can I get out?”

“If you put on your shoes. There’ll be cockleburs here.” Margie got out and opened the back door.

“Can I play with that little girl?”

“We’ll go over and talk to Mrs. Taylor and see if she wants to play. You can take your jump rope or your ball.”

Margie tied Anna Marie’s shoes, then leaned down to whisper to her.

“You girls are always whispering,” Brady complained.

“This is something you don’t need to know.”

“Yeah, Uncle Brady. You don’t need to know.”

Later Margie was able to report to Grace and Mona that the outhouses were as clean as could be expected and that generous doses of lime had reduced the odor. Grace informed her that Brady had already asked if she and Mona would keep an eye on Anna Marie while he took Margie out for the evening.

“Go,” Grace whispered. “Have a good time. Mona and I will keep an eye on Anna Marie.” She tilted her head toward where Brady was talking with Foley. “If I was young and single, I’d be after him like a shot. That is, if I hadn’t met Alvin yet.” She finished with one of her contagious giggles. “I think we just might invite the other folks over and have a singin’ tonight. They seem to be right nice folks. It’ll give Rusty a chance to sing his new song.”

Excited about the prospect of going out with Brady, Margie left Anna Marie playing happily with the little Taylor girl and climbed into the truck to wash herself thoroughly and dress for her big evening.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Homer pounded on the wheel when he saw that the caravan wasn’t going to stop at the crowded public campground. “Now, where the hell are they goin’?” he snarled.

When Homer had caught up with the caravan outside Tucumcari and discovered that two more cars had joined it, he had felt safe with those two cars between him and Foley Luker. Now one of those cars had taken the lead, and with only one car between him and Luker, Homer backed off.

“Does your arm hurt?” Sugar asked.

“Hell yes, it hurts.”

“You should of let me drive more.”

“I don’t trust ya drivin’ in town.”

“Well, hell. You trusted me to drive in Tucumcari.”

“Tucumcari ain’t Albuquerque. Now, shut up!”

Sugar sulked and made no comment when the caravan turned off at the sign that said
CAMPGROUND
1
MILE.
Homer drove on.

“They’ll be easy to find, but first we’ll find us a place to spend the night.” He looked over at her and grinned. “Ya got to get all gussied up, pretty puss, so we can go huntin’ for easy pickin’s. I’m down to a hundred bucks.”

At the El Rancho Motor Court they parked the car beneath the shelter attached to the cabin. Homer unlocked the door and went inside, leaving Sugar to get the bags out of the rumble seat of the car. She pulled her case out and set it on the ground, then reached in for Homer’s cloth bag. She paused. In the far corner she saw a leather belt with a big brass buckle. Chester’s belt and buckle.

Had Chester taken the bus back to Oklahoma without his belt and his watch? If so—she almost giggled—what was holding his pants up? Seeing the belt only confirmed her suspicion that Homer had gotten rid of his uncle. Instead of being horrified at the thought, Sugar smiled. Homer knew that she didn’t like Chester, and he cared enough for her that he’d gotten rid of him.

The little shit!

Homer was in a better mood after he had rested on the bed and Sugar had changed the bandage on his arm. After watching her strip and wash, he was aroused and insisted that she do something about it. She was willing to comply.

When they left the cabin to eat, Sugar was dressed as a boy, but later she wore her demure blue dress when they went to scout the hotels and fine eating places for their “easy pickin’s.”

By midnight they had robbed one gentleman and two drunks, and their take was a hundred and forty dollars. Sugar deemed it enough, but when Homer spotted a pool hall that was closing, he decided they’d wait until all the patrons had left and the door had been locked. After being coached by Homer, Sugar rapped on the door, and when a man came and unlocked it, she acted scared and pointed down the street. Then Homer stepped up and rapped the man smartly on the head with the butt of his gun. He shoved him out of the way and went inside.

While Sugar was bringing the car around, Homer rifled the cash register. On a shelf beneath it he found a bank bag with several days’ receipts. It was their most successful take so far, four hundred and sixty dollars all told. Sugar hooted with glee when he told her.

“We’re rich! Let’s go honky-tonkin’!”

“Not in the town where we’re doin’ business, little bitch. Frank Barrow, brother of Clyde, told me that. He said, ‘Strike quick, lay low and get out.’ We’re gettin’ back to that cabin and that’s that.”

“Well, hell. What’s the good of havin’ money if ya can’t spend it and have a good time?”

“We’ll have us one hell of a time when we get to the next big town. Now, don’t go sulkin’ on me, little pussy. We’re gonna have us a real slam-bang tonight. I’ve been holdin’ back a trick or two that’ll set ya to squealin’ like a rabbit bein’ humped by a six-foot jack.”

“Don’t you even want to go see where the cowboy is campin’?”

“I got time ’tween here and California to get to the cowboy and that prissy-ass bitch that shot me. What I’m wantin’, pretty pussy, is to get ya naked and in bed where we can be
nasty
!”

“I’ll swear to goodness you’re the horniest little stud I’ve ever known.”

Homer grinned proudly. “Thank ya kindly, little puss.”

Chapter 28

A
T THE WAGON WHEEL RESTAURANT BRADY
placed his hat on a hook beside the door and led Margie to a table at the end of the room. After they were seated, he handed her a menu.

“You look awfully pretty.”

“So do you.”

“Did you notice that I shaved?” He fingered his chin.

“Uh-huh. Did you notice that I combed my hair and put a ribbon in it?”

“You’re pretty without a ribbon.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Hoyt. I’m still going to order the most expensive thing on the menu.”

Their eyes held. She was the girl of his dreams, even more wonderful than he had imagined. Her hair was the rich color of ripened wheat, her mouth wide and sweet, her eyes like stars.

She stared at him for a long silent moment. She was afraid that if she moved, he would be sure to know how happy she was being here with him. When she finally spoke, her voice caught, then came out in a husky whisper.

“I’ll have beef, mashed potatoes and gravy.”

“I’m going to have a steak, medium rare. I haven’t had a decent one since I left the ranch.”

“And I haven’t had mashed potatoes since I left home.” A smile tilted the corners of her mouth.

Brady chuckled. She was fun, intelligent … soft. When he started on this trip, he never dreamed that he would meet a woman like her.

The overweight waitress who came to take their order had eyes only for Brady. She was still looking at him when she walked away. Margie wanted to scratch her eyes out even though she couldn’t blame her for looking at him.

While waiting for their order, Margie smiled into the eyes observing her. When his hand moved across the table, hers met it halfway.

“I hated leaving Anna Marie. She was afraid we wouldn’t come back.”

“She’s grown attached to you. She’ll have to learn to share you with me, honey.” He watched her, and when she tried to pull her hand away, his fingers gripped hers tightly. “This is my time to claim all your attention.”

Margie noticed the looks he was getting from two women who had just come in and sat down at a table not far from them. He was an exceedingly attractive man who would radiate confidence if he stood barefoot and ragged. His thick black hair sprang back from his forehead and hung to the collar of his shirt. Deep crinkly grooves marked the corners of his eyes, etched there from squinting at the sun. There were other lines too, which grief and experience had made.