Lily of the Springs (10 page)

In my mind, I saw the two of us standing in front of Scoot Clyde, Russell Spring’s Justice of the Peace. Jake would be wearing his Sunday best, and I’d be in a white suit, holding a bouquet of lilies. They were my namesake flowers, and I didn’t care if some people thought they were flowers meant for a funeral, not a wedding.

Jenny gave my arm a reassuring pat. “I’ll talk to Virgil tonight, and if you’re feeling up to it on Saturday, we’ll take you home, and I’ll stay with you while you tell your folks…if you want me to.”

“
No
!” My protest sounded abnormally loud, even with the drumming of rain on the roof.

Aunt Jenny stared at me in shock. “Well, if you don’t want me to…”

“Not that.” I shook my head emphatically. “I
can’t
tell my folks. Not until I’ve had a chance to talk to Jake first. Aunt Jenny, do you know how old you have to be to get married without your parents’ permission?”

“I think 18 is still the legal age in Kentucky,” she said slowly. “Do you think the father…this Jake…will marry you?”

I didn’t hesitate. “Of course. He loves me. We’ve loved each other ever since we used to play together out near Tucker Creek when we were younguns. Otherwise, I would never have…” My cheeks grew hot, and I looked down, tracing a finger over a blue velvet patch of the crazy-quilt Aunt Jenny’s mother had made. “…let Jake take liberties with me.”

Take liberties
. What an odd way to describe the delicious way he’d made me feel with his touch. Even now, knowing the trouble I was in because of those forbidden pleasures, I couldn’t wish it hadn’t happened.

“Lillian?”

My head shot up at the odd tone of Aunt Jenny’s voice. And she never called me Lillian! My aunt was staring at me, her face white. “Are you telling me
Jake Tatlow
is the father of your baby?” The shocked whisper hung in the air between us.

Anger swept through me. I’d always thought Aunt Jenny was an angel on earth, but apparently, she was just as shallow as everybody else, judging Jake because of his name. Tatlow. It might as well have been Low-down Trash.

Defiantly, I met her gaze. “Jake is my baby’s father. And I’m not a bit ashamed of loving him. Maybe it was wrong to do things with him without being married. I might be ashamed of that, but I’m not ashamed of loving him. He might be a Tatlow, but he’s not trash. And if you knew him like I do, you’d know that.”

Aunt Jenny’s expression softened. “Oh, honey. I didn’t mean that to come out like it did. I was just…surprised.” She reached out and gave my hand an absent-minded squeeze, her dark brows furrowed in thought. “Maybe you’re right,” she said finally. “Talk to Jake first. If he’ll marry you, it’ll make it easier to break the news to your folks.”

“He will,” I said confidently, feeling a sudden calm settled over me. “He loves me.”

He loves me as much as I love him
.
And because of that, he’ll love the baby we created. And everything will be just fine.

J
ake was wearing his Gulf cap, which meant only one thing. His boss, Slim Jessup, was inside the station. I chewed on my bottom lip and watched from across the street as he leaned over the hood of a blue Packard and cleaned the windshield, his bare forearms gleaming golden in the afternoon sun against the rolled-up cornflower-blue sleeves of his uniform shirt.

My heart pounded beneath my sleeveless cotton blouse. It was still hot in central Kentucky this third week of September, and my underarms were slick with perspiration. But maybe that wasn’t because of the heat. It was nervousness. Now that the moment was at hand, and I was about to tell Jake he was going to be a father, a niggling doubt had crept into my mind. Maybe his reaction wouldn’t be what I hoped for, what I’d imagined.

I watched as Jake finished cleaning the windshield of the Packard and pocketed the bills handed to him. As the car pulled away, he saluted the driver with a forefinger to the brim of his cap, grinning in the way that always made my heart beat faster.

I took a deep breath. It was time to bite the bullet. To take the bull by the horns. To get the show on the road…there must be a million clichés to choose from, but they all boiled down to one thing. It was time to act. If I didn’t do it now, Aunt Jenny would be back to get me before me and Jake had a chance to decide what to do. Ten minutes ago she’d dropped me off down the street once we’d driven past to see if Jake was working.

Steeling myself, I looked both ways, and then crossed the street. Jake was already halfway to the station office. I knew I had to catch him before he went inside. Slim Jessup knew everybody in Russell County, and was a worse gossip than any old busy-body. His shaggy white eyebrows would shoot sky-high if he heard me talking to Jake. And then it would be all over town before the sun came up that Lily Rae Foster was canoodling with Jake Tatlow.

“Hey, Jake, wait up!” I called out, hurrying to catch up with him.

He turned, and my heart lifted at the way his eyes lit up when he caught sight of me. A smile of pure delight crossed his face. “Hot
damn
! Is it really you, Lily Rae, or am I dreaming?”

Suddenly it didn’t matter if the whole world saw us. Euphoria swept through me. I ran up and threw my arms around him, burrowing my face into his sweat-dampened shirt, breathing in the heady scents of gasoline, motor oil and healthy male. “Oh, Jake! I’ve missed you so much!”

His big, oil-stained hands had automatically tightened on me, but now, as if he’d suddenly remembered we were standing out in the middle of the Gulf station parking lot in Russell Springs on a busy Saturday afternoon, he pushed me away and stepped back. “
Lord
, Lily! Ain’t you always the one to say we have to be careful not to be seen together?”

I grinned at him, blinking back tears. “I know. But it’s just so good to see you. It feels like it’s been years since I went away.”

He glanced uneasily at the door to the office. “I thought you weren’t coming back until the middle of October.” He took off his cap and ran a tanned hand through his rumpled, damp hair.

My pulse quickened. Oh, how I loved Jake’s hands, so slender, yet strong. But when I realized he was waiting for an answer to his question, my smile faltered. “Well…that’s why I’m here. To tell you that I quit school. And the reason why…” My voice trailed off. I looked down at the grease-stained asphalt, my cheeks flaming.
How did you go about breaking news like this? Just come right out and say it
?

“Yeah? I’m listening.”

I let out a tremulous breath and lifted my head. “Jake, I found out something while I was in Louieville.” My cheeks were on fire, and the way he was looking at me told me he’d noticed.

A lazy grin crossed his face; his blue eyes began to glow like they did when he was touching me in secret places. “What was that, Lily Rae? You found out you missed me?” His voice lowered to a seductive rasp, “You found out you missed having a man lovin’ on you, didn’t you?”

The heat intensified on my face. “Jake, this is
serious
!”

He sobered. “Okay, so what is it you found out?”

The door to the station office opened, and a fat man in a Gulf uniform identical to Jake’s lumbered out, his pudgy fist wrapped around a bottle of Dr. Pepper. His eyes, like blue marbles stuffed into a rising batch of biscuit dough, shot from me to Jake, then back again.

“Why, Lily Rae Foster! What brings you around these here parts?” Slim Jessup bellowed. “Heard tell you was up in Louieville going to sec-a-tery school.”

I stared at the gas station owner, and couldn’t think of one intelligent thing to say.

Jake came to my rescue. “She was just tellin’ me her daddy is stalled up the road a-piece in that old Chevy of his. I told her I’d go take a look, and see if I can get it runnin’ again.”

Slim took a long swig from his Dr. Pepper, then scratched his protruding belly and let out a deep, rumbling belch. “Well, I reckon you better get to it then. Take the wrecker jus’ in case you can’t git it goin’. I told him last week, ‘Edson,’ I said, ‘you need to trade that old junker in and git yerself one of them purty new Buick Skylarks.’”

Jake was already striding toward the wrecker parked at the side of the station. I didn’t want to be impolite and walk away while Slim was still talking, but catching my eye, Jake jerked his head in the direction of the wrecker.

“I’ll be sure and tell him that, Mr. Jessup,” I said hastily, cutting Slim off in mid-sentence as he described all the new colors of the 1953 Skylark.
Jiminy Cricket, you’d think he owned stock in Buick
. “But I’d better be on my way now. Daddy will be fit to be tied if I keep him waiting much longer in this heat.” Feeling guilty for the lie, I gave him a wide grin and started after Jake.

“Hey, Miss Lily!” He called after me. “You never did tell me how’s come you’re here and not in sec-a-tery school up in Louieville!”

I waved and called over my shoulder, “I’ll tell you all about it later, Mr. Jessup.”

Jake already had the motor running when I climbed into the passenger seat of the wrecker. I barely had the door closed before he put the vehicle in gear, and with a jerk, it began to move.

“Fat bastard,” Jake muttered, glancing over his right shoulder before pulling out onto the street. “He’s probably heading down to the
Times Journal
right now to file a report about you being back, and you know, don’t you, that he’ll tell anybody who’ll listen that your pa’s car broke down.”

I’d already thought of that, but it was out of my hands. Soon, none of that would matter. As we approached the flashing yellow light at the junction of Highway 80 and 127, I saw Aunt Jenny’s red Packard convertible heading toward us from downtown. Darn! She was on her way back to the gas station to pick me up!

“Jake, that’s my aunt! Stop for a minute; I need to tell her something.”

Apparently Aunt Jenny had recognized the Gulf wrecker because she was already slowing down.

“Hey, Aunt Jenny!” I leaned forward to look past Jake.

“Hi, there!” Aunt Jenny flashed a warm smile, but there was an appraising look in her eyes as they swept over Jake.

I knew she was wondering if I’d told him yet, and I gave a slight shake of my head. “Can you pick me up at Grider’s in…say, fifteen, twenty minutes?” I silently begged my aunt to understand I needed more time.

Aunt Jenny didn’t disappoint me. “Mom needs a few things at the grocery store. I’ll come by and get you on the way back.” With a friendly wave, she drove off.

Jake let out the clutch and shifted to first. “So, that’s your aunt,” he said as the truck rumbled down the road. “Good looking woman. Well-preserved for her age. What is she? Thirty?”

“Thirty-two, I think. Did you know she was Miss Russell County at the 1938 county fair?”

“You don’t say.” Jake released a low wolf whistle as he made the left turn onto Main Street. “I’d sure like to see how
she
looks in a bathing suit.”

I gave him a dark look, unable to hide my irritation at the remark. “Uh…that’s my aunt you’re talking about. Not a calendar pin-up girl.”

Jake chuckled, swinging the wrecker into the drug store parking lot. “Hey, you and me might be messing around, but that don’t mean I’m dead. You ain’t the only pretty gal in the world, you know.”

No, but I’m the only one carrying your baby.
Better
be the only one, anyway.

Jake parked the truck, turned off the ignition and turned to me. “Come here.” He pulled me into his arms, his mouth claiming mine.

My bones melted at the hot, sweet thrust of his tongue. I eagerly responded to his kiss, momentarily forgetting we were sitting here in an open truck in a busy parking lot, visible to anyone who happened to look our way. But when his hand cupped my tender right breast over my thin cotton blouse, I wrenched away from him as if I’d been burned.

“
Stop
, Jake! It’s because of this that we’re in trouble!”

His eyes smoldering, he gave a bemused smile. “Sorry, Lily Rae. It’s just that you look good enough to eat in that pretty white blouse. And it’s been almost a month since we…” His gaze held mine. “…had some time alone together.” His voice vibrated through my body like a quivering guitar string, raising goose bumps on my forearms.

With an effort, I drew my mind back to the reason I was here.

“Jake.” I grabbed his hand, the one that was busy tracing up and down my bare arm. “You got to listen to me now. I’ve got some news that may take a little getting used to.”

“Okay. I’m waiting.”

I swallowed hard, conscious of the minutes ticking by. How much time had passed since we’d seen Aunt Jenny at the junction? For a moment, I allowed myself to imagine the perfect outcome. In a few minutes, Aunt Jenny would pull into the parking lot next to the wrecker. I’d be nestled in Jake’s arms as he tenderly kissed the top of my head. He would be holding me so tightly he wouldn’t want to let me go—even for the short drive to the courthouse.

I smiled, watching a dust mote drifting in the air above the dashboard.

Jake snapped his fingers. “
Hey
! Dreamy Eyes!”

I jerked my gaze back to him. “Oh, sorry.”

“So, what’s the news I’m going to have to get used to? You ain’t breaking up with me, are you? You tryin’ to tell me you found some city boy up in Louieville?” His cocky grin told me he didn’t believe that was the case at all.

The boy is way too sure of me, I thought. And if it weren’t for the situation I found myself in, I’d be inclined to take his ego down a notch, and maybe let him think there
was
another boy in the picture. But there was no time for that now.

“I’m going to have a baby,” I said.

Jake stared at me, still wearing his cocky grin. His eyes gleamed with the adorable mischief that reminded me of the boy he’d been back in the Tucker Creek days. Later, I’d wonder just how much time had passed before I saw the change come over him.