A Forever Thing (3 page)

“Truth is-and I’ve faced it finally-I’m still not over Jethro
Hart Ducaine. That sorry cowboy stole my heart when I was fifteen, and he’s still got it. Part of the reason I came back to Texas
was to get it back and get on with my life.”

Sophie sputtered, “But … but that was fifteen years ago!”

“Yep, it was, but I gave him my whole heart, and no matter how
hard I try, I’m still missing a good-sized chunk. That makes me
the `borderline fool’ of the three of us. I always measure every man
in every relationship against Hart Ducaine. A girl never forgets
her first love.”

“What `magic words’ will it take to make you get over him?”
Fancy asked.

“Oh, I’d like the traditional words. But I want them said by a
knight in shining …” The next word escaped her, and she waved a
hand in the air, trying to remember it. Neither of her friends helped
her out a bit. “By a knight in shining …” It still didn’t come to her.
“Well, dang it, he has to say the words from a big white horse and
be my knight in shining whatever.”

“Now it’s your turn, Sophie. What’ll it take for you to get married again?” Fancy asked softly.

“You never did tell us that whole story,” Kate added. “You said
you would only tell us when we were all together again. And why
didn’t you let us come to the funeral to comfort you?” she asked.

Sophie tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. “It’s
really a downer. Let’s don’t spoil our first evening together with
that conversation. Besides, once you hear it, I won’t be the `smart
one’ anymore. I’ll be the borderline fool.”

“Might as well hear it and get it out of the way, then,” Fancy
said. “Besides, I just came from jail. Looks like I might be giving
you competition for the `fool’ title. And that’s not even mentioning giving up a job right next to the beach in Florida to come back to
this gosh-forsaken piece of ground.”

“Okay, but, honey, you’ll never doubt who gets the dunce cap by
the time I finish. Bring out the stool,” Sophie said with a sigh.
“Here goes. Matt was ruggedly pretty, and the TV cameras loved
him. His voice was deep, and the microphone loved him as well.
Trouble was, the women loved him too. And he loved ‘em right back.
But I found out all of that after I married him.” Sophie stopped to
take a drink.

“I hear bitter herbs coming forth from thy mouth,” Kate teased.

Sophie laughed. “That you do. We were living in our nice big
house in Tulsa. Matt had to fly to Fayetteville to lead a conference
on staying married in today’s crazy world. Nothing new. He was
constantly flying somewhere. But while he was gone, I found a receipt for a very expensive piece of jewelry, and it wasn’t my birthday or our anniversary. I called the jewelry shop and with a little
fibbing found out that it had been engraved to Molly Devine with
all his love. I called him and confronted him, and he just laughed
it off. I hired a private detective and planned to call a divorce lawyer the next week. Then I got the message that his plane had
crashed in the desert. The papers covered up the fact that not one
but two women unconnected to the conference were on the plane
with him.”

“I’m so sorry,” Fancy said.

“It gets worse. I had thirty days to vacate the house. The station
brought in a new couple. The show must go on. Souls must be
saved. Money must be made. So I came to live in Baird with Aunt
Maud until I could get my head on straight again, which is what
I’m trying to do,” Sophie said.

Kate’s eyes widened to the size of silver dollars. “The Aunt
Maud you hated to spend a week with every summer?”

“That’s the one. She’s not such a bad old bird after all. I’m keeping the books for her and helping out wherever I can. The peace of
the ranch is a little different when I’m a cynical thirty instead of a
hormonal thirteen. Matt had a monstrous-sized life insurance policy with enough zeros to boggle the brain, so I’ve got plenty of
time to do whatever I want.”

“One of those double indemnity things when the person is in an
airplane?” Kate asked.

“That’s right. And I don’t feel one bit guilty about a dime of it
either”

“You shouldn’t,” Fancy said with angry determination.

“So, to answer what it would take for me to get married again?”
Sophie said. “He’d have to prove to me there could be `life after
wife.’ Because according to that private detective’s report, there
certainly wasn’t a faithful life after wife, just lots of deception.”

“Sounds like, ultimately, you’re still the smart one, which means
I hold on to my dunce cap,” Kate said. “Which reminds me, I’ve been
dying to tell you both, I decided to move back to Breckenridge
permanently a couple of weeks ago.”

Two whoops went up from the table, and Sophie and Fancy
raised their bottles to clink with Kate’s.

“Tell us about it,” Fancy said.

“When Daddy died of cancer in the spring, Momma wanted to
move back up here to be near her sister. I took a leave to come with
her to get her settled in. My grandmother’s house was still empty
next door to Aunt Ilene, and we moved her into it. And now I’ve
decided to stay, so I quit my job in New Iberia, Louisiana, and
moved in with her. Y’all remember Momma Lita?”

They both nodded.

“But you’d just made detective,” Fancy said. “That was a promotion you’d been after for quite some time.”

“Yep, but Daddy’s death, well, it hit me hard too. I needed a
change, and a big one. So I made one. But now, of course, I’m wondering if it was the right thing to do,” Kate said with a sigh.

“I can’t believe we’re all back in this area together,” Fancy said.

“We are. I’m working at the Three Amigos with Momma and
Aunt Ilene for now, and the Breckenridge police department is
giving me some relief work. I got two shifts last week. Graveyard
for the moment, but maybe it’ll turn into something more.”

Fancy shook her head. “Oh, Kate, you have so much more to
offer than waiting tables. You are smarter than that.”

“Nah. Sophie remains the `smart one.’ If I was so brilliant, I’d still be a detective in New Iberia and eating at the same restaurant
Dave Robicheaux frequents.” Kate’s giggle had enough brittleness
in it to worry Fancy. But what was done was done, and they’d all
find a way to make the best of it.

“Dave Robicheaux? Do I know who that is?”

“Yes, chere. That character in those mystery novels by James
Lee Burke. Dave Robicheaux has made New Iberia famous. I’ve
even had people ask me if I knew him. Funny, ain’t it?” Kate said
in her best Louisiana twang.

“Okay, enough sad stuff. It’s time to come up out of the doldrums. We’re all three back in this area, and we’ll make the very
best of it,” Fancy said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Kate said in a deep southern drawl. “We are the
girls of the nineties, and we sure won’t let the girls of the fifties or
the eighties outdo us. There won’t be `nothing these ladies won’t
do,’ just like K. T. sang about.”

“Hear, hear!” Sophie raised her bottle for another toast. “Now,
who’s heard anything about old Hart Ducaine? And how about
Chris Miller?”

Fancy blushed scarlet at the mention of the latter.

Kate pointed a long, slender finger at her. “Hot-seat time.”

“I haven’t heard from or seen that boy in fifteen years. Not since
that last night we were all together,” Fancy said.

“Still in love with him like Kate is with Hart?” Sophie asked.

“No, I got over that long ago. When Momma caught us kissing
on the playground and yanked me home practically by my hair, I
thought my world had ended. She embarrassed the devil out of me
and, I was sure, ruined my life for all eternity. It took a long time
for me to admit it, but her having us leave here was the best thing
she ever did for me”

“Well, at least I didn’t get caught,” Kate said.

“Aha, now the truth surfaces,” Sophie said.

Kate nodded, but she didn’t blush. “Thank goodness Momma
and Daddy were so involved with our move that they didn’t come
checkin’ on me like your momma did on you.”

“So?” Fancy raised an eyebrow.

“So what?”

“Hart must’ve been a good kisser for you to carry a torch all
these years,” Fancy said.

“I just thought of something funny.” Sophie changed the subject
before the issue of who she’d kissed when she was fifteen came to
light. “We `girls of the nineties’ look like we’re all about to burn
our candles at both ends.”

Kate nodded. “You got it. Me with two jobs. Fancy with her new
teaching position and takin’ care of Hattie when she gets out of the
nursing home. And Sophie with her new bookkeeping and ranchin’
duties. Okay, back to Chris Miller. I hear he’s living in Albany still.
On about his third wife,” Kate said.

“That’s ancient history. What’s present is this job I’m interviewing for tomorrow. You two will keep your fingers crossed for me
and say a prayer, right?” Fancy asked.

“I’ll do the finger-crossing. I’m not so sure I believe much in
prayer anymore,” Sophie said.

Kate nodded at Fancy. “You already got the job. That person
from the school you talked to said you were the best applicant and
that no one else had even applied. Tell me, how is Hattie?”

“Demanding as ever. I went to the nursing home to see her this
morning. She says she’s coming home in three weeks. She and the
doctor made a deal,” Fancy said.

“That woman really did scare me when we were kids,” Kate said.

“Me too,” Fancy said. “Only time she was happy was in the
beauty shop. The rest of the time she was constantly telling Momma
how she’d messed up everything”

“I remember,” Sophie said. “I bet Gwen didn’t even look back in
the rearview mirror when y’all left for Florida.”

Fancy slowly shook her head. “She cried all the way”

“You are kidding me,” Kate said.

Fancy’s head continued to go from left to right. “No, I’m telling
the gospel truth. Want me to make a pot of coffee?”

Kate nodded.

Fancy stood up and filled the Mr. Coffee machine, then sat back
down. “Momma felt like she was leaving unfinished work. That
she’d worked so hard to make Granny Hattie love her, and she’d failed. She cried until we got to our new home, and then she dried
her tears and never shed another one. Les was good to her and for
her. They’re happy, and I’m glad. She deserves it “

“She ever come back?” Sophie asked.

“Every other year, for two days. Arrived on Friday night. Left on
Sunday morning. We flew into Dallas, rented a car, and stayed the
weekend with Hattie. Nothing ever changed.”

“Then why did you stay?” Kate asked. “Why not just hire a
home-health aide?”

“I’m the only grandchild, and the least I can do for Momma is
to take care of her mother for these next few months when she gets
out of the home,” Fancy said. “I can take it, and Momma would be
looking at designer straitjackets if she had to do it. I’ll be teaching
during the day, so it’ll just be the evenings. Besides, y’all are close
by. You can be my support system if the going gets tough.”

Her friends left at midnight, and Fancy took a quick shower and
went straight to bed. The next morning at ten o’clock she had the
formal interview for her new job, and then she’d sign a year’s contract with the Nancy Smith Elementary school to teach first grade.

She reminded herself that it was only for a year and that she
could endure her grandmother that long. Then a vision of that black
cat darting out in front of her popped her eyes wide open, and a
bad feeling wrapped itself around her heart. She had to tell herself
a hundred times that everything would be okay before she could
finally go to sleep.

Fancy dressed in navy blue dress slacks, a white cotton sweater,
and a simple gold necklace that matched her hoop earrings. She
checked her reflection in the mirror on the back of the door and
changed the earrings to gold-ball studs. She slipped her right foot
into a white sandal and the left into a navy blue pump with a chunky
heel.

After looking at herself sideways and head-on, she decided on
the pumps. They definitely said first-grade teacher more than the
sandals. The next thing was her hair. Leave it down or twist it
up? She held it up and looked at her profile. She decided to leave
it down so she wouldn’t come across as trying too hard. She
picked up the lightweight jacket that went with the slacks and
slipped it on.

It was only two blocks to the school, so she walked, which
turned out to be a big mistake, because even at a quarter to ten in
the morning it was already ninety degrees, and navy blue soaked
up the sun. A blast of cool air hit her when she opened the door to
the school, and she sighed. She was five minutes early, so she
found the nearest bathroom marked GIRLS, where she rolled off
brown paper towels and dabbed at the sweat beading below her
nose and across her forehead and reapplied a touch of makeup.
That was the best she could do. Her face still had a faint red cast,
but it was Texas, and it was August. Heat was a big part of the territory. She fluffed her hair and went to wait to be summoned to the
lion’s den.