Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] (29 page)

“Morning.” Yates knew that the girl was happy Ruth Ann had come home, but was hurting because she felt responsible for her leaving.

Margie answered with her head down and continued on toward the house. He remembered that she had said she would leave when Ruth Ann came home. He had a sudden memory of being young and homeless and how desolate he had felt having nowhere to go nor anyone to care about him. He'd like to wring the neck of the dirt-clod who had run off with Margie's money.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, his eyes sought Leona. She was as perky this morning as a shiny new penny.

“Morning.” She ducked her head to put away the pan she used to make biscuits.

“You look chipper this morning. Sleep good?”

“I got up several times in the night to be sure Ruth Ann was in her bed. Otherwise, I slept like a log.” Her smiling eyes met his. “I never want to go through such a day again.”

“And I hope you never have to.” Yates hung his hat on the peg beside the door. “Sheriff McChesney was here.”

“I saw him and was going to ask him in for coffee, but he left.”

“He said that your brother's little boy died last night of diphtheria.”

The smile left Leona's face. “I hate to hear that.”

“We should find out if Ruth Ann has been with other children, not only for her sake, but for JoBeth's. Diphtheria is catching and not to be fooled with.”

“I'll talk to her when she gets up. She may have been just too tired last night to talk.” Leona poured coffee in the thick cup Yates preferred. He always drank at least one cup before he ate his breakfast. “I wish Deke had waited for breakfast.”

“He wanted to get out to the ranch and head off the men Fleming would send out this morning.” Yates picked up the cup and stepped out of the way so that Margie could set the breakfast table. “I want to go to town this morning and talk to the doctor about bringing Andy home.”

He's anxious to bring Andy home so he can leave.

He was gazing at Leona so intently with his silver eyes that she feared he could read her every thought. Those eyes, fixed on hers, were looking into her very soul. Leona turned quickly back to the eggs she was scrambling in the skillet in case the dread she was feeling reflected on her face.

“If he can come, will he take the bus?” Her voice was not quite steady.

“No. I'll go get him before I let him do that. It'd be a long, hot trip on the bus for someone not feeling up to snuff. Fleming offered to bring him home. He has business in the city today or tomorrow.”

“May I have a ride to town when you go, Mr. Yates?” Margie stood behind one of the high-backed kitchen chairs, her hand clutching the knobs. Her bald-faced misery was one of the saddest sights Yates had ever seen. “I …have my things ready. I'd like to go before the girls get up.”

“Margie!” Leona turned to grasp her arm. “I thought you were going to stay and help me fill all those empty jars in the cellar.”

“You don't really need me, Leona. It would be best for me to go on and find a permanent way to support myself.”

“You can stay here and help me. When Andy comes back he'll not be able to do much in the garage and I'll have to take care of the gas pump.”

Yates will be only a sweet memory and my heart will be broken.

“I can't bear to be here knowing that I'm the cause of that child running away. She …she could've—something terrible could've happened to her.”

“I don't think she ran away just because of you.”

“I do. She didn't want me here. She made it plain. I don't blame her. This is her home. She has a right not to want strangers in it.”

“Ruth Ann has been very emotional since her mother died two years ago. At first she resented me. She even said that if someone had to die why couldn't it have been me and not her mother. It took her a while to get used to the idea that I was staying on to take care of them as I had done while my sister was sick.”

“Better look at the eggs, Leona,” Yates said.

“Oh, shoot! They're drier than a bone.”

Yates grinned. “They'll be all right. I've never seen an egg I couldn't eat unless it was rotten or raw.”

“I was hoping to start canning the green beans today.” Leona scraped the eggs into a bowl, then brought the biscuits from the oven. When they were on the table, she sat down so that Yates would.

“The jars are clean and in a tub on the porch. I covered them with a cloth.” Margie moved around and eased down in a chair.

“You've been such a help. I don't know what I would have done with JoBeth yesterday, if not for you.”

“I've been thinking that I'd like to have a job somewhere in an orphans' home taking care of children … at least for a while.”

“There isn't one home around here that I know of. Please reconsider and stay. JoBeth is attached to you and I'll talk to Ruth Ann.”

Yates planned to stall about going to town to give Leona time to change Margie's mind about leaving. It was clear to him that the girl didn't want to go, that, in fact, she was scared to death. But she was proud and had rather go out into the unknown than be in a place where she wasn't wanted.

“Excuse me, ladies, I have a few things to do.” Yates left the table as soon as he finished eating. Then to Margie, “I'll let you know when I'm ready to go. Leona will have to watch the gas pump.”

“He's a nice man,” Margie said wistfully after the front screen door slammed behind Yates.

“Yes, he is. Although I didn't think so when he first came here.” Leona smiled remembering that she had thought him arrogant and high-handed. He was still arrogant, but somehow, now, she didn't mind.

“He likes you.”

“I hope so. I'd hate to have someone around that
hated
me. I had that when I lived with my brother.”

“I think Yates more than just
likes
you.” Margie had to smile at the flood of color that covered Leona's cheeks. “When I worked in the cafe in Conway, I learned to tell which of the men had a crush on Betty Kay, the other girl who worked there.”

“None had a crush on you?”

“Heavens no! Compared to Betty Kay, I was dull as dishwater. Yates may be in love with you.”

“You're wrong, wrong, wrong—”
Oh, but I wish that you were right.
“He is just here helping out until Andy comes back. Then he'll hit the road. This diphtheria epidemic scares me.” Leona plunged into another topic of conversation. “When I was little there was an epidemic here that killed five or six children. The schools closed and they discontinued church services. My mother kept my sister and me close to the house.”

“Do you know the little boy who died?”

“I don't know him. He's my brother's little boy. I wonder which one. He had six boys. Two of them have left home.”

“It was Paul. Oh …oh—”

Leona turned to see Ruth Ann standing in the doorway in her nightdress, her hand over her mouth.

“Come here, honey.” She opened her arms. Ruth Ann ran to her and climbed up onto her lap. “How do you know it was Paul? Were you at Uncle Virgil's?” The child turned her face to Leona's shoulder and wracking sobs shook her. “Don't cry, sweetheart. You're home now.”

Leona cuddled Ruth Ann in her arms and stroked the blond curls back from her wet face until the sobs subsided into an occasional hiccupping.

“Shhh …you're here with Aunt Lee …and your daddy may be coming home soon. Yates is going to talk to the doctor and maybe he'll even come home tomorrow.”

“I …was so scared—”

“Of course you were. Anyone would be. Especially a little girl.”

“There was a …rat—”

“Oh, honey! Can't you tell me where you were?”

“No. I …promised.” Ruth Ann lifted her head and looked across the table at Margie. “I'm sorry … I was mean to you.”

“That's all right, honey.” Huge tears rolled down Margie's cheeks. “My grandma took care of me when my mother died. I wouldn't have wanted a stranger to come in and make themselves at home.”

“But, I was …mean. Daddy would … be ashamed of me.”

“No, he wouldn't.” Leona wiped the tears from Ruth Ann's cheeks with the tail of her apron. “He'd tell you that Margie wasn't taking anyone's place. She was going to help me can so that we'd have some good things to eat when winter comes.”

“I …wish I hadn't…run off.”

“So many people were worried about you. Yates went to town and offered a reward to anyone who found you and brought you home. Deke came on his motorcycle and went up and down the highway, even up to Elk City. Mr. Fleming brought in riders from his ranch to search for you. It was so lonesome here without you. You're dear to all of us.”

“I'm sorry—I was going to Mr. Fleming and—ask him to take me to Daddy.”

“You didn't get there, did you?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Did someone pick you up?”

“Uh-huh. He said he'd take me to Mr. Fleming.”

“But he didn't.”

“He … he took me someplace else.”

“Can you tell me where he took you?”

“I promised, Aunt Lee. You told me I should always keep promises.”

“Yes, I did, sweetheart. But sometimes it becomes necessary to break a promise. As of yesterday there were six cases of diphtheria in town. It spreads among children. A lot of them could die from it. The sheriff was here this morning and told us that one of Virgil's little boys had died.”

“He …said that if I told …that
he'd
hang him up and …and take the hide off his back—”

“Oh, surely not!”

“Please don't make me tell.”

“Honey, I don't want to make you tell, but if you've been near someone with diphtheria we should know about it and take you to the doctor.”

“I wasn't near Paul.”

“Were you in the house?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Were you with someone who had been in the house with Paul?” Ruth Ann turned her face to Leona's shoulder and refused to answer until her aunt prodded. “Tell me, honey. We need to know if you were exposed to the diphtheria for your sake and for JoBeth's. I know that you don't want to bring the germs back to your little sister.”

Ruth Ann began to cry again. “He … he untied me and took the rag outta my mouth. We came through the woods. It was dark. He … he held on to my hand and told me not to be scared— He's …he's not like Uncle Virgil.”

“Oh …honey—” Leona hugged the child tightly to her. “He was a brave boy.” She looked up to see Yates standing in the doorway. She nodded to him, then spoke to Ruth Ann. “Honey, will you sit with Margie while I go out to the garage? I'll not be gone long. Margie was as worried about you as the rest of us. She's afraid you left because of her.”

“I … I just miss my daddy.”

“Come sit on my lap, Ruth Ann, and let me tell you about when I was a little girl. My mother died when I was JoBeth's age, and I went to live with my granny. She taught me to sew on buttons, make flour paste and how to cut out paper dolls from folded paper.”

With Ruth Ann settled on Margie's lap, Leona quickly left the room and went to the porch where Yates waited.

“Did you hear what she said?”

“Part of it.”

“She was tied up someplace and that…that low-down, slimy worm put a rag in her mouth.” Leona was so angry she neared tears. She gripped Yates's forearms and shook them. “We've got to take her to the doctor. I think one of Virgil's boys brought her home. She won't say that he did, she's afraid he'll be hung up and the hide stripped from his back.”

“I heard the last part. What do you want to do?”

“We can't do anything that will cause trouble for the boy after he risked so much to bring her home. What do you think we should do?”

She tilted her head and looked into his face. Yates watched her intently. He didn't answer for such a long while that her eyes wavered beneath the intensity of his. He lifted a finger to her cheek. Every moment he was with her, a medley of emotions passed through him—concern, curiosity and at times anger at himself for being so smitten with her.

Hell, she'd never leave Andy and the girls and, besides, he wouldn't have anything to offer her until his stepfather died and his inheritance came to him.

He had lived the past seven years among rough men, driving the highway, waiting to go back home. He was rough and, at times, brutal. She was soft and sweet. Lord help him, he'd never dreamed of meeting a slip of a girl who could turn him inside out with just a pleading look in her eyes.

“Let's think about it for a while,” he said, his eyes still holding hers. “Meantime I'll go in and talk to Doctor Langley about bringing Andy home and tell him about Ruth Ann. Whatever I tell him will go no farther. He'll not want Virgil's boy to be punished.”

“You'll tell him that Virgil had her.”

“I think I should. He needs to know that Ruth Ann was out there and possibly exposed to diphtheria. Will you be all right here for an hour? The campers have pulled out.”

“Of course, we'll be all right. Go ahead and do what you have to do.”

“What about Margie?”

“She's staying here.”

She's staying and you're going. Oh. Lord. I don't know if I can bear it.

“I won't be gone long. Do you need anything from town?” His hand slid from her arms to her back and he pulled her to him. It was so natural that he wasn't even aware of doing it.

“Two dozen jar lids,” she murmured and leaned against him, her eyes closed. She wanted to store away each touch, each caress, to bring out and enjoy during the long lonely years ahead.

“Quart fruit jars?”

“Uh-huh. I'll show you before you go.”

She couldn't think of anything except him. Did she feel his lips in her hair or was it just wishful thinking?

The sound of a motorcycle penetrated her haze of happiness. She pulled away from him just as Deke came around the corner of the garage and stopped his cycle beside Yates's car.

“Mornin', darlin'.”

“Mornin'.” Leona, embarrassed to be caught standing so close to Yates, put her hands on his chest to push herself away. He refused to loosen his arms and let her go. “Have you had breakfast, Deke?”

“Not a crumb, darlin', and I'm hungrier than a starvin coyote. Mr. Fleming told me to take the day off so I turned around and came right back. He's goin' into the city in the mornin', Yates, and said that he'll stop here on his way.”