Bring on the Blessings (5 page)

“You need to shut the hell up. The money the state’s paying me ain’t worth all this drama.”

He sighed and wondered where the state got these people. He’d been in seven different homes in the past year. All of them worthless, but rather than argue further, he took matters into his own hands.

Later, after she went to bed, he set fire to the house. He started at the back to ensure they both got out safely. He wasn’t trying to murder anybody; he just wanted to be out of her life, and to have an inhaler, of course.

When he confessed to the firemen that he’d done it on purpose, they called CPS.

D
riving north on Highway 183, Lily Fontaine couldn’t believe she was actually back in Kansas, but all she had to do was look out the window of the rental car at the flat rolling plains of green and gold to know the truth. She’d been born and raised in Kansas, Topeka to be exact, but had spent her teenage years living in Henry Adams under the watchful eye of her mother’s college roommate Marie Jefferson while Lily’s mom, Cassandra, did a three-year stint with the Peace Corps over in southern Africa. Marie was also Lily’s godmother, and when Cass lost her battle with cancer during Lily’s junior year at the University of Kansas, Marie had been with her at the grave site.

Lily’s son, Davis, had never known his grandmother and that fact always saddened her, but she felt blessed to have been Cassandra Fontaine’s daughter and to have had her dynamic personality in her life.

After Cass’s death, the bond between Lily and Marie cemented. As a youngster, Davis had spent many summer
vacations out here on the plains running barefoot and free, and as far as he was concerned, Marie was his gram. Most times Lily had stayed home to get a break from raising such a rambunctious boy child and because of her workload as the executive secretary to the president of one of the nation’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. Her last visit to Henry Adams had been ten years ago, when she’d flown in to help the town celebrate Marie’s fiftieth birthday.

In reality, Lily was looking forward to spending ten days doing absolutely nothing in a place that offered absolutely nothing to do. Now that her company had been purchased and swallowed up by one of its major competitors, she had time to smell the roses and enjoy the simple things in life, like visiting her godmother.

She was also looking forward to the news about Henry Adams’s new owner. It had broken her heart to hear about the town’s financial difficulties. When she last talked to Marie the buyer was supposed to be flying in to check out the place, and Lily was anxious to find out how the meeting had gone.

This trip back did have a potential bad side though. One of the things she wasn’t looking forward to was Trent July. When she last visited, he’d been living in California, but she knew through Marie that he’d since returned and was now the mayor. Lily had no idea what would happen when they met face-to-face after all these years, but the guilt was rising.

Setting that aside for now, she fiddled with the radio. The rental car had no CD player, so for the last thirty-five miles, she’d been forced to listen to static, farm reports, and
what passed for talk radio out on the plains. She knew it was useless to search for real music, but she was hoping to hear something a bit more conducive to an urban woman like herself, but she got nothing. Strike that. When smoke began streaming out from under the hood like a house on fire, she got plenty.

By the grace of God she was only a few miles outside of Henry Adams and she and the sputtering car managed to make it into the local garage. Back in high school, Rocky’s dad had owned the place, but she had no idea whether he still did. The gray smoke billowing from under the hood was making it nearly impossible to see, and she prayed not to hit anybody or anything.

“Stop!” A man yelled.

She stomped down on the brake.

“You almost hit me!”

He came striding out of the smoke. He was dressed in a pair of oil-stained denim overalls and wiping his hands on a dirty rag, and his face—the grim but familiar face—hit her with such force she went instantly still. Memories washed back, hot and strong, bringing with them a decade’s-old shame.

His eyes met hers through the open window, and he stopped, whispered, “Well, I’ll be damned.”

She swallowed and managed a fake little smile. “Hey, Trent.”

“Lily.”

His one-word response held about as much warmth as his eyes, but it was no more than she deserved, she supposed. “You,
um,
work here?”

He nodded.

She could tell by the set of his jaw that he was remembering too. She forced herself to keep her gaze steady. “You think you could see what’s going on with all this smoke?”

“Pop the hood.”

She reached down and pulled the lever. Straightening again, she realized her hands were shaking. Drawing in a deep breath to settle her nerves, she wondered why he’d come back. He’d gotten his engineering degree from Stanford and had worked for one of the big multinational construction firms. In high school he’d been captain of the football team, and wherever he went it was wet panties all around. Women young and old adored him. Lily had adored him too. He’d adored her as well, but after she went off to college things became complicated. During one of his visits to see her freshman year, she’d hurt him so badly they broke apart like a dropped piece of china, and she hadn’t set eyes on him since.

“There’s oil all over the engine,” he told her. “Whoever worked on it last didn’t replace the cap.”

“So that’s what making all the smoke?”

He nodded.

“Can you clean it up? This is all I have to drive while I’m here.”

“Glad to hear you won’t be staying.”

She supposed she’d earned that but she hadn’t come to town to start anything. “How much?”

“Won’t know until I’m done.”

“Okay.” Lily knew there was no way she was going to hang around the garage while he did whatever he had to do
to the car, and she was pretty sure he didn’t want her there, so she reached for her phone lying on the passenger seat and punched up Marie…or at least tried to. The phone didn’t respond. No bars. “There’s no cell service out here?”

“Nope. Land line only. The one tower we had was blown down two years ago.”

“And the phone company didn’t put it back up?”

“No. Said the small population wouldn’t justify the expense.”

“Then do you have a phone I can use?”

“In the office.”

She got out and followed him back.

He stood in the door while she dialed. His silent scrutiny made her turn away. When Marie answered, Lily explained about the car. “Will you come get me?”

“I have a pie in the oven. Have Trent run you out.”

Not a chance.
She ignored his chilly stare. “He’s working. I don’t think his boss will just let him up and leave.” There weren’t any other workers inside the small cramped building, but she had seen three beat-up old cars waiting like patients at an Auto Urgent Care.

Marie’s response brought Lily up short. “
He
is the boss?” She caught the ghost of a smile that crossed his dark face just before he said, “Leave the keys and take your valuables.”

He walked away.

Marie told her to go over to the Dog and Cow and wait there. She’d pick her up after the pie was done.

When Lily came back out to the garage, he was nowhere to be seen. Not that it mattered. The less they saw of
each other the better. She beat down the gnawing guilt that came with the knowledge that she alone was responsible for the gulf between them and turned her attention to how she was going to get to the Dog and Cow without a ride.

Out in back of the garage, the tight-jawed Trent stood and waited for his emotions to slow. Lily. He wished Marie had warned him she was coming so he could have been prepared. As it stood, seeing her again brought back memories he thought he’d buried, but the old anger rose again, reminding him of that humiliating day when she and her big city college friends had broken him down and sent him slinking home like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. Willing himself not to remember that at one time he’d loved Lily Fontaine as much as he’d loved breathing, he reined himself in and went back out front but found her gone. Looking up the road he saw her walking away. He let her go.

Lily decided she didn’t want to wait at the Dog and Cow. It was a good five miles to Marie’s place and she hadn’t walked five miles in, well, years, but it was either that or face Trent again and beg a ride, so she chose to hoof it. One encounter with him had been more than enough. In her haste to get away, she’d left her water on the seat and the late morning sun was kicking her behind. The rolling suitcase being pulled behind her was a problem too. The wheels were designed for the smooth polished floors of airports, not the dusty pock-filled dirt that passed for roads in north-central Kansas. Every few feet the damn thing went off track or hit a rock and she had to stop, untangle the wheels, and start up again. It was like pulling a balky mule.
She pressed on however, alternately cursing and begging the angels for mercy.

They must have been listening because a half a mile out, an old red truck rolled up on her. It stopped, the passenger-side door opened, and inside sat the smiling Malachi July under the wheel.

Looking all the world like his son would in fifteen years he called out in a surprised voice, “Lily Fontaine? Is that you?”

She grinned back. “Sure is, Mr. July. How are you?”

“Get in and I’ll tell you.”

Needing no more of an invitation than that, she tossed her suitcase in the bed and he drove them away.

He handed her a canteen, and she drank down the ice-cold water gratefully. Handing it back, she wiped her mouth, as ladylike as she could and sat back against the seat, content.

“Since you were lugging that suitcase I’m assuming you just got in? Why’re you walking?”

“Rental car had issues so I left it with Trent.”

He looked over. “How’d it go?”

She shrugged. “He was polite.”

“Good. He never told me why you two broke up and I don’t expect you to either, but you’d’ve made a great daughter-in-law, Lily.”

For all of his womanizing ways Malachi Trent had always been kind to her and she appreciated that kindness now. “It was my fault.” The memory of the anger and hurt on Trent’s face that day in her dormitory was as fresh in her mind as if it had happened yesterday. The harsh demeaning
laughter directed his way by her so-called college friends rose to taunt her as well. Looking back she was appalled at how she’d treated him. She was surprised he hadn’t tossed her out of his garage headfirst.

“You staying with Marie?”

She nodded. Thinking about the rift with Trent cast a shadow over her mood.

“Lily?”

She looked his way.

“It’ll work out.”

She didn’t know if she agreed but she said softly, “We’ll see.”

They drove along in silence and the familiar lay of the land touched her. When she graduated from high school and moved downstate to attend college, you couldn’t have paid her to come back. The big city with all its glitter and glitz filled her in ways Henry Adams had not. She’d gotten to see plays, attend concerts, lectures, and make friends with people from all over the world. In spite of the drama surrounding her marriage and the subsequent divorce, resettling here held no draw whatsoever, but now after decades of raising Davis and running from pillar to post with her job, the slow life had an odd appeal she found surprising.

Malachi’s voice broke into her thoughts. “I promised Tamar I’d bring her some eggs. You mind if we stop a minute?”

“No. Be nice to see her. Marie says she’s still going strong.”

“Eighty-four and counting. Still driving too.”

“She’s an amazing woman.”

“It’s that July blood. Great-aunt Teresa lived to be a hundred and five.”

As the drive continued and she listened to him tell her about his wild outlaw ancestors, Lily’s mood lightened.

Bernadine finished breakfast with a smile. The eggs, bacon, and toast had been just enough. She’d turned down the waffles Tamar first suggested. Waffles were a little too heavy for the summertime. She looked across the table at her hostess. “Thank you for breakfast and for taking me in.”

“My pleasure. Glad to have somebody to cook for besides myself.”

Bernadine got up and began clearing the table.

“And what do you think you’re doing, missy?”

“Cleaning up.”

“Sit.”

Bernadine ignored her. The least she could do was earn her keep. “Tell me where everything goes, let me do these dishes, and then I’ll sit.”

Tamar’s unwavering gaze made Bernadine think of a hawk. In a way she did resemble an exotic bird with her dark skin, sharp features, and brilliant black eyes. Gray hair gleaming with the high sheen of silver ran down her back like an undulating river. “You defying me?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Tamar finally smiled. “Then go on. I like a woman with backbone.”

Once the chores were done, Bernadine grabbed a sec
ond glass of ice tea and joined Tamar on her porch. It was one of those old-fashioned wraparound porches that was sheltered from the Kansas sun by an overhanging roof. Although the day promised to be hot the porch was shady and the surrounding landscape was still. Bernadine felt as if she’d stepped back in time.

“So, what are your dreams?” Tamar asked once Bernadine got herself settled on the old sofa.

“To do something worthwhile with all I’ve been given.”

Tamar studied her. “Got a good relationship with the Great Spirit, do you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Bernadine like her. Trent’s grandmother was a spry old thing and her mind was as sharp as her eyesight. Last night, they’d discussed everything from politics to the economy to Tamar’s love of Mos Def.

“That boy’s got talent,” she’d said, much to Bernadine’s delight.

So with all that in mind, Bernadine told Tamar, “My dreams are the ones I told you all about yesterday. This town. The children.”

Tamar didn’t say anything for a long while and Bernadine wondered if maybe Tamar didn’t support her plans, but then Tamar looked her way with those hawk-bright eyes and said, “Not going to be easy.”

“I know that too. Do you think Riley and his people will come around?”

“If they don’t, will it stop you?”

“Nope”

“Then why worry about it? This is your town now. If you want to turn it into Amos ’n’ Andy Land, who’s going to tell you no?”

Bernadine burst out laughing. “You are very wise, Tamar July.”

“Amen. Anything that can make this town rise again I’m all for. My grandmother was the mayor here back in the 1880s and she did a lot of good things. She’d like the idea of what you’re going to do.” And she added, “If I didn’t say so at the meeting, I’ll help any way I can.”