Capture the Wind for Me (20 page)

“No.” Katherine pulled to her feet. “I told you, Trent—I don't want to see you again. I can't believe you came here!”

Daddy hurried to her side and grasped her elbow protectively. “Whoever you are, you need to leave.”

“Not without my ring, I'm not.” He sneered at Katherine. “As for this piece of trash, you can have her.”

Katherine sucked in air. Daddy's eyes narrowed and his jaw flexed. I'd never seen such an expression on his face. “You are leaving.
Right now.
” He slapped a palm against Trent's shoulder and pushed. Trent's arm shot up and knocked Daddy's aside.

“Trent, stop it!” Katherine cried.

Clarissa whimpered. I shrank through the doorway and ran around the table to her. Greg had pushed back in his chair, unsure what to do.

“Katherine, get out of the way,” Daddy commanded. He turned to Trent. “Leave here right now, or I'm callin' the police.”

“Bobby, just let me talk some sense into—”

“Quiet, Katherine!”

“What do you mean, talk sense into
me?”
Trent scorned. “Where's
your
sense? You leave your fiancé without so much as a word, with all our bills? A monthly rent I can't pay alone? Least you could do is give me the ring back.” His searing eyes dropped to her left hand. “What do you do, take it off when you cheat on me?”

Daddy shot a stunned look at Katherine. “Is this true? You're engaged to him?”

Guilt stiffened Katherine's face. She could not say a word. I watched the color drain from Daddy's cheeks.

“So now she's living with you?” Trent spat the words at Daddy, clearly intending to hurt. “Let me tell you—she'll dump you, too. Just like she dumped me and all the rest before.”

Daddy's mouth hung open. Clarissa began to cry.

“Trent, the kids—”

“Shut up, Katherine! Why shouldn't they know your dirty little secrets? How you hop from this place to that? How you hop
beds.”

“That's enough!” Daddy shouted. He swiveled toward Trent and shoved him toward the hall.

From then on, everything happened at once, spinning out of control like some twisted, evil calliope.

Trent's face turned crimson. Without warning, he lowered his head and lunged into Daddy, knocking him across the dining room. Daddy crashed into the wall, elbows splayed, head hitting hard.

Instantly, Greg jumped from his chair toward Trent and plunged a fist against his jaw. Trent's head snapped to the side, teeth clacking, his skin grazed from Greg's ring.

Clarissa screamed and ran to cower in the corner. Only a few feet from the men, Robert scrabbled desperately for his crutches.

Katherine nearly got hit by Daddy's body. I ran to grab her and jerked her back.

Daddy shook his head hard, trying to focus. I pushed Katherine toward Clarissa, while Robert scrambled out of the way, crutches wobbling.

Trent gathered his strength and swung wildly at Greg. He missed. Greg punched his left ear.

“Aah!” Trent's lips pulled back in fury. Snarling, he bashed Greg's cheek.
Smack.
I could practically feel the impact. Greg ricocheted into the table. One elbow landed on the edge of Katherine's plate, flipping it over. Food flew into the air. Her glass of iced tea tumbled onto the carpet.

Katherine, Clarissa, and I all screamed until I thought my eardrums would burst. Robert never made a sound.

Daddy roared into Trent and punched with both fists. Greg staggered upright, blood at the side of his mouth, then joined in. One of the punches landed squarely in Trent's stomach. Trent's jaw fell open, air keening through his half-closed throat. He dropped to his knees.

“Call the police, Jackie!” Daddy stood over him, arm pulled back, ready to launch. Greg swayed, huffing. His silk shirt bunched at his waist untucked.

“Take Clarissa,” I breathed to Katherine. I darted around the table and into the hall toward the kitchen, nearly slipping on the floor. My fingers shook so badly I could hardly dial 911. Bradleyville only has one policeman, and that emergency line is rarely used. Officer Hank-ins answered on the first ring.

“W–we n–need your help!” I stuttered, my vision blurring with tears. “Who is this?”

“Jackie Delham. Th–there's a man. He's fighting with Daddy.”

“I'm on my way.” The phone banged in my ear.

I stumbled back to cringe in the dining room doorway, tears scalding my cheeks. Trent lay in a fetal position on the carpet, arms over his stomach. Someone must have landed a final blow. Daddy glanced at me questioningly. I nodded.

Nobody moved. Clarissa sobbed in Katherine's arms.

We waited.

A minute later, Officer Hankins's car screeched up to our curb. I heard the car door slam, the pound of feet. I ran to our front door and threw it open. “In there.” I pointed.

He raced into the dining room, surveyed the scene, the three damaged men. He frowned from Greg to Trent, both strangers to him.

“He pushed his way in here and wouldn't leave.” Daddy indicated Trent, voice dripping with derision. “He started to fight.”

With no further questions, Officer Hankins dropped to one knee, the leather on his uniform squeaking. He reached back for his handcuffs and slapped them around Trent's wrists. “All right, get up.” He yanked Trent to his feet.

Trent's face twisted. He bent forward and groaned.

“I kick him in the stomach,” Greg explained. His breath came in puffs. Blood had dripped from his mouth onto his shirt. Food clung to the silk.

“Looks like he got a good one on you, too,” the policeman commented. He looked at Daddy, who seemed a little woozy. “And you.”

“I'm okay,” Daddy and Greg said at once.

Officer Hankins studied Trent. “What's your name?”

No response.

The policeman wrinkled his forehead at Daddy. “Who is he?”

Daddy hesitated. “I don't know.”

Officer Hankins swung a narrowed gaze from one man to the other, trying to read sense into the situation. Clarissa hiccuped another cry, and his face softened.

“All right. I'll go lock him up for a while. Then I'm gonna have to come back here, find out a little more about what happened.” He pushed Trent past me. I flinched away from the man.

Trent dug his feet into the carpet. “I'm not going until I get my ring back!” he hissed at Katherine. “That ring's worth three thousand dollars.”

“Come on, come on.” Officer Hankins prodded him. “We'll have this little discussion another time.” He turned back to Daddy. “Y'all better call Doc, have him check you out.”

Daddy nodded.

Not once had he looked at Katherine.

We all stood practically frozen, hearing the click of the front door shutting.

I didn't know who to go to first. I wanted to hug Greg, thank him. Cry on his shoulder. But knew I couldn't do that. Clarissa still clung to Katherine, Robert scrunched up next to them. Daddy brought a hand to his forehead, closed his eyes. Sadness and shame creased his face. What had Katherine done to him? I ran over and threw my arms around him, pain for him welling up my throat. Slowly, he slid his arms around my back, as if all energy had been driven from him. He rested his chin on the top of my head. I could feel him trembling.

“Daddy, I'm so sorry,” I choked into his shirt.

He patted the back of my head.

Clarissa joined us, crying with relief and fear. Then Robert, awkwardly leaning into us on his crutches.

The four of us shook and clung to one another as we hadn't done since Mama's death. I could hear Katherine sniffing from her place against the wall. At least she was smart enough to stay put. I would never trust her again. Ever.

Finally, we pulled apart. Daddy moved to Greg, held out a bruised hand. “Thank you.” They shook carefully, flinching at each other's touch. “Better take that ring off in case your hand swells,” Daddy noted. Greg edged it off his finger and slipped it into his pocket.

The spilled iced tea lay in an ugly spot on our light blue carpet. I picked up Katherine's glass and set it back on the table. New tears biting my eyes, I surveyed the mess on both the floor and table. So much to clean. So much to make right. Would the stains ever come out?

Weariness surged through me, trailing one depressing thought after another in its wake. What would happen to us now? We'd lost Mama, now this with Katherine. Daddy had to be heartbroken. So much for Pastor Beekins and his sermon, I told myself. At that horrible moment, I felt no hope at all that God could bring good out of past mistakes. Look what Katherine had done.
Lived
with men? Lied to Daddy? Who was she, really?

Who had Daddy—who had my family—fallen in love with?

A piece of trash.

I had to turn my mind off. Do
something.
Automatically, I began stacking the dishes to clear the table. Daddy went to phone Doc Forkes, and Greg disappeared into the bathroom. For a wonderful, white minute, I blocked out all, thinking only to clean. To work. To throw myself into a task as I'd always done since Mama's death, channeling my energy away from my emotions.

“Help me, Clarissa,” I commanded, heading toward the kitchen with a full load. When I returned, Katherine was picking up plates. I aimed a scathing look at her, and she slipped them back on the table. She stepped away, eyes downcast, a tear dropping on her cheek. Then she turned and left the room. When Greg emerged from the bathroom, she went in and hid.

He'd washed the blood from his face. His jaw had begun to swell and turn color. The food on his shirt was now gone, replaced with greasy spots. They would never come out. I set down the dirty silverware in my hand, searching for words. All I could do was press my lips together, silently messaging how sorry I was. How utterly humiliated. Greg approached me, sadness in his eyes. He placed his hands on my shoulders, his right knuckles battered and red, then urged me toward him.

“I'm so sorry,” he whispered, just as I had to Daddy. “So sorry.”

Limply, I let him hug me. Was it just an hour ago I'd have died for this? “You shouldn't be apologizing, I should. I can't believe this happened.”

Daddy's footsteps crossed the hall from the kitchen. I pulled away from Greg, feeling the guilt on my face. It wasn't right somehow, Daddy seeing us hug in comfort, when he and Katherine couldn't even say one word to each other.

He pretended not to notice. “Doctor Forkes is on his way.” His voice sounded flat. “Greg, you stay and let him have a look at you. We'll also have to talk to Officer Hankins when he comes back. Then we'll get you home.”

“Yes, sir.”

Daddy's chin dropped to his chest. “Dear God. The apology I'm gonna owe your family.”

“No, no,” Greg assured him. “I'm glad I am here.”

Doctor Forkes and Officer Hankins arrived within minutes of each other. I'd cleared the table of dishes, but food still smeared and puddled on the cloth. Without being told, Robert took charge of Clarissa, taking her into his bedroom and closing the door. Katherine sat on the family room couch, face pinched, waiting.

While the policeman looked on, Doc examined Daddy, then Greg. Lots of bruises and soreness but nothing broken. They should ice their wounds. A knot had formed on the back of Daddy's head. “Doesn't look like you hit hard enough for a concussion, though,” the doctor concluded.

He smiled almost sadly at Greg as he left. “Do tell Celia hello for me. I got to know her when she was here nursing her dad a year ago. Tell her congratulations on her marriage. Her wedding day was just a week from mine. And,” Doc added, “tell her . . . that I hope she and your brother are as happy as Sharon and I am.”

Greg promised he would.

Once the doctor had left, the four of us gathered with Officer Han-kins in the family room. He joined Katherine on the couch. Daddy sat to the side in an armchair, where he could watch her face. I took the computer seat, Greg on the extra kitchen chair beside it.

First Officer Hankins turned to Katherine. “Our fightin' friend wouldn't answer a one a my questions after I locked him up. You're gonna have to tell me who he is.”

Katherine's gaze remained on the carpet. His name is Trent Baxter, she told us. He had been her fiancé while she was in California. She had realized he wasn't right for her. One day she drove away from him for good and returned to Bradleyville. She left him a letter, telling him the marriage was off. Apparently, he'd tracked down her parents' phone number and had begun calling two days ago. Katherine had talked to him more than once, telling him she didn't want to see him again. She had no idea he'd come here. He did occasionally travel on business to Nashville, she said. Perhaps once there, he'd decided to come harass her personally.

“This ring he's talkin' about?” Officer Hankins prodded.

“I sold it.” Katherine's voice was barely audible. “I needed money to get back here and start a new life.”

Daddy stared at her, stone-faced. Officer Hankins threw him a glance. Clearly, he saw there was more to the tale than we were telling. But I knew Daddy. He'd deal with his hurts privately. By morning, gossip about what had transpired in our home would be all over town. It was still light outside; most assuredly the neighbors had watched the policeman's and doctor's cars come and go. Especially Mrs. B next door, who never missed anything. Still, Daddy would not spread Katherine's shame any further than our four walls.
Why, Daddy?
I wanted to cry.
Why let everyone think she's the innocent victim? She lived with this man and probably others. She hid all this from you!

How easy it was for me to judge then—when I hadn't lived long enough to know how easy it is to fall into duplicity. I cringe now, remembering.

The rest of us gave statements about what happened during the fight.

“You want to press charges?” Officer Hankins asked Daddy.