Palmetto Moon (30 page)

“That went well.”

“Shut up, Reggie.” Frank slams the car door, starts up the Mayflower, and pulls back out onto the road, headed for home.

Around sunup, he pulls into a truck stop. Frank barks at the attendant to fill up the car, and then heads inside to grab something to eat on the road.

“Got some fried-egg sandwiches made up, tuna salad, too. They’re not from yesterday, no, I made them fresh, first thing this morning,” the wiry little old waitress behind the counter says. Frank orders two Dixie cups of black coffee and one of each sandwich and puts a dollar on the counter.

“Food,” Reggie says gratefully, back in the car. “And coffee.”

“Hope that’s okay. It’ll have to be,” Frank says, and pulls back onto the highway.

The closer he gets to the Savannah River, separating Georgia from South Carolina, the more the dread in Frank’s belly grows. He’s got nothing to keep Vada from marrying Justin and nothing to offer her except love. Until now, he believed that might be enough to stop the bride in her tracks, but without his peace offering, without Darby, he’s not so sure.

“Darby is right, you know.” Reggie shrugs. “I’m sorry, but she is. And I’m not at all sure when the moment of truth comes, if a girl of Vada’s breeding is even capable of choosing a life without luxury, even if that life is full of love.”

“Thanks for being so supportive.”

“I’m not trying to be hurtful, Frank, I’m trying to help you understand the culture Vada and I come from. Vada’s never had to do without anything. All she’s had to do is ask for whatever she wanted, and it was delivered on a silver platter. You’re asking a lot of her to leave that life.”

“You’re sure about this?” Mother asks, trying to smile.

“After Justin and I talked a long time last night—yes, I’m sure. It’s the first time we’ve agreed on anything, really. It felt good and makes this seem even more right.”

“I don’t know where your father is. He should be here by now.”

Mother’s hand trembles as it skims across the top of one of the trunks that are packed and ready to go.

“You look so beautiful; you always do. I know I should be happy for you, but I can’t stop feeling like—I don’t know. Like I want to go back to when you were a little girl and do things over again.”

“Mother, please don’t cry.”

She nods and dabs at her tears. “I would be a better mother, the kind of mother you deserved—at least, I hope I would.”

“It’s time to go,” I say softly.

“Do you have a kiss for your old man?” My father appears in the doorway, smiling.

“Yes.” Tears spill down my face. I gather them both in my arms and hold them close, grateful for this moment.

“You remember what I’ve always told you?” he asks softly, wiping my tears away with his thumbs.

“I’m a Hadley.”

“And you’ll always make your way in this world.” He finishes the sentence like a benediction.

“Wake up,” Frank says.

Reggie stretches and looks around the crossroads as Frank turns down the long dirt road that leads to Claire and her boys.

“I’ve kept you from your family long enough.” Frank extends his hand. “Thanks for—everything.”

“What about Charleston?”

“I have time for a birdbath, a change of clothes, and then—I hope I can find the right words to make her change her mind.”

“Good luck, Frank.” He opens the car door and pauses. “I hope she chooses you.”

Tiny’s dust-covered truck is the only vehicle in the dusty parking lot, which probably means that Big Jim did sweep her off her feet.
Damn good for her. She deserves it.
Frank opens the screen door to his house, pushes the door open, and stops just inside.

What if he hadn’t stopped the night of the storm? What if he’d made love to Vada like she begged him to? Would things be different?

He looks at his watch. He has fifteen minutes to get on the road again. No more than that. He pulls the new slacks and dress shirt out and lays them on the bed, along with the wing tips and a pair of socks. He strips, steps into the hot shower, and hopes the water will wash away the memory of everything—all the way back to the moment he was getting ready to pick Vada up and take her to the Edisto Motel. He has to think of things that way if he has a prayer of going through with this. There’s too many wrongs between that time and now, too many reasons for her to turn him down flat.

Frank’s not sure if it’s the humidity from the shower mixed with the blazing August day or the fear of losing her, but he can barely breathe. He knows what he’s going to say, that he loves her and he knows she loves him. That he can’t live without her and doesn’t even want to think of what life will be like without her laugh, without her smile, and without those blue eyes that take his breath away. He’ll promise her the world and work like a dog to give it to her, if that’s what she wants, because his life began the day she walked into his diner.

He can take care of the bastard easily. After the last time they met, her father will be a problem, but Frank’s going to focus on Vada, only her, and if her daddy gives them his blessing, fine. If not, he can go straight to hell, because nothing is going to keep Frank Darling from the woman he loves. Except finding his damn car keys.

He rifles through his dirty clothes and starts tearing the place apart, looking everywhere. Shit. How can he be this close to getting her back and have no way to get to Charleston? He runs out to the Mayflower, hoping to God that he left them in the ignition, but no luck. He gets down on his knees and looks underneath the car, but nothing.
Backtrack.
He hurries into the house, scouring the ground, the porch, the living-room floor, everywhere, but he’s exhausted, running on no food and bad coffee. He doesn’t remember much of anything after he set foot in the door the first time, other than his sole focus was getting Vada back.

He grabs his wallet and sprints to the Mayflower, hoping he remembers what his cousin taught him about hot-wiring a car. He dives as close to the floorboard as his large frame will let him and yanks what he hopes are the correct wires from under the dash. The copper tips of the two wires rub together. Nothing. Cars whiz by as he yanks another wire down and keeps trying, until a half dozen of them splay out like spaghetti on the floor. Shit.

When he opens the door to Tiny’s truck, a thick layer of dust flies everywhere. He doesn’t bother to shoo it away from his new clothes. Between the dust and the dirt caked on his knees, his clothes are a lost cause anyway. He’s grateful the truck is higher than the car, giving him a better view of the wires. He hears a car pull into the lot and wants to scream at them that he’s closed, maybe forever. If he doesn’t get his ass to Charleston in time to stop that wedding . . .

He racks his brain to remember what was so easy for his cousin, what eventually sent him to prison. Yellow and red? No, red and green? Blue? Shit.

“You seem like you’re in a hurry, Frank Darling.” The dust is still settling around her bright fire-engine-red car loaded down with suitcases.

He can’t believe how beautiful she is. Vada gets out of the car and walks toward him. She came back. Damn it. She came back for him. She wraps her arms around his middle, and he picks her up and takes her mouth in a long, wet kiss. “I thought you were getting married.”

“Not today, but soon.”

“Soon, like in a few hours, or soon like next week?”

“It depends.” She traces his jawline with her finger.

“On what?”

She kisses him again, with such wanting. “On what your answer is.”

“My answer?” Crossroads busybodies be damned, he scoops her up and walks toward his house, their house.

He sets her down just inside the doorway. He wants her to be sure she knows what she wants. That she’s running to him and not just running away again. She threads her fingers in his hair and raises on her tiptoes to kiss him. Slowly. Sweetly at first, savoring the closeness, the breath they share. She pulls away from him and looks like maybe she’s come to her senses, and then shakes her head.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” She smiles, chin quivering. Tears in her eyes.

“Wasn’t supposed to be like what? Tell me, and I’ll set everything right.”

“I had this all planned out, but—”

“I found Darby for you.”

“You did? Where is she? Is she okay?”

“I tried to get her to come back, but she has a new life, and she’s pretty good with a gun.” He strokes her cheek with the back of his knuckles. “She told me to tell you she loves you. She told me if you loved me, you’d stop the wedding.”

She looks down, ashamed. “Frank, I have to tell you something. I was with Justin last night—”

“I don’t care. You’re here with me now.”

“No, hear me out. I thought maybe I belonged in Charleston, with him, but when I told him what I wanted in a marriage—he laughed.” She smiles. “Howled, actually.”

“He did? Did you tell him you wanted a partner, a man who would be your equal?” He trails kisses down her neck.

“Yes.” Her laugh is musical.

“And what did he have to say?” he whispers, his lips skimming the top of her breast.

“Justin said he didn’t want me—that with my progressive thinking, I’d be lucky—” He covers her mouth in a long kiss. She pulls his shirttail out and runs her hands up the length of his back. “—if anyone in Charleston—” His hand slides up her thigh; she gasps. “—will have me.”

“But you told him you know someone who loves you just the way you are, someone who wants you—more than anything.” She nods, her forehead against his, her hands pressed into the small of his back, drawing him closer.

“Yes, but before we go any further, Frank Darling, I have to ask you something.” His arms are locked around her.

“God, I love you, Vada. I’m so glad you came back.”

“But you have to let go of me for this.”

“Never.”

“Please, Frank.” She tries to use her teacher face, but dissolves into laughter.

It feels wrong to let go of her, even for a second, but he does.

“When you proposed back in Memphis, I said yes, but I was terrified, afraid that loving you meant losing myself, but that’s not what happened. In loving you, I discovered who I am and what I want. I want you, Frank, and I can’t imagine my life without you.” She cups his face in her hands and smiles. “Franklin James Darling? Will you marry me?”

He pulls away just enough for him to see her beautiful face, to get a glimpse of what forever will be like with Vada Hadley. “You already know my answer, Vada,” he says. “Besides, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.”

She kisses him tenderly at first, then deeper, passionately. “Okay,” she says breathlessly. “Your turn.”

“This part, I planned.” He gets down on one knee, takes her hand, and places it over his heart. “I never believed in love at first sight. Hell, I’m not even sure I believed in love. But that all changed the moment I looked up from the kitchen and saw you standing in my diner. You changed my life. You changed me for the better. Marry me, Vada Hadley. Say yes to me, and I’ll love you forever.”

She kneels, melting into his body with a long, sweet kiss.

“Yes.”