Morning Glory (20 page)

"Thank you ... for everything." Judith smiled.
"Who'd have ever thought that night at the fire, we'd be
friends. I thought you were the meanest woman on
earth"

"And I thought you deserved a big scarlet A for your
chest," Clara laughed.

"I'm glad we straightened the whole thing out, and I'm really glad you are a part of our family," Judith
said.

"Thanks for including me these past couple of days,
but in all honesty, I'm just Libby's babysitter, Judith,
not a part of your family. Franny will be up in a few
minutes."

"Okay" Judith nodded and checked her reflection
one more time. In an hour, she'd be a wife. Maybe by
this time next year, a mother. But before that happened
she'd be willing to bet Clara Anderson was a real part
of the family.

Clara smoothed the back of her dress as she sat down
on the bench to play. Soft tunes drifted out across the
fall afternoon, quieting the family and few guests. Loud
talk turned to whispers. Children found their parents
and were led to seats where they fidgeted and stole long
looks back at the food tables, especially the one with
the big cake decorated with white sugar icing and fresh
flowers.

Tilly slid in beside her and hummed along with the
music. She wore a bright red dress with a matching hat.
Leave it to Tilly to outshine the bride; but then if she'd
worn a tow sack girded up in the middle with bailing
wire, the bride would pale in comparison. With her jetblack hair, blue eyes and creamy complexion, she could
have probably made it big on the stage. But she was
content on her farm, following Granny Anderson's
recipe.

"There's Briar in the doorway motioning to you,"
Tilly whispered in her ear. "I think it's time."

Clara had been playing mindlessly, not thinking
about her fingers or the music, but about her own future.
One that suddenly loomed bright and beautiful. She
might be an old maid by society's standards, but she
didn't have to accept those rules. She could damn well
still have a family if she wanted one. There were women
who had children after they were forty. Granted, it
wasn't easy, but no one ever promised life would be a
bed of roses. Briar's kiss had awakened her to a need in
her life. Libby was filling part of that need, but Clara
wanted her own children, and her own husband.

She nodded at Tilly and began to play the right song.
Danny and Cecil took their places under the shade tree
draped with lavender netting. Sarah, Judith's sister,
appeared at the top of the porch stairs, dressed in deep
purple and carrying a bouquet of multicolored flowers.
She walked slowly down the aisle made by arranging
chairs on two sides of the lawn. Two little girls in violet lace came next, scattering rose petals. Then Clara
struck a chord and the preacher made a gesture with his
hands for the guests to stand. Briar and Judith stepped
out into the brilliant sunlight. Judith smiled at her waiting groom. Briar chanced a glance toward Clara. He
promised himself as he walked his sister toward her
groom that later he'd find time to talk to Clara again.

"So what's going on between you and Briar?" Tilly whispered while the preacher was delivering the first
lengthy prayer.

"Nothing," Clara mouthed.

"He just looked at you like he'd like to ditch Judith
and drag you off by your hair to a cave," Tilly said.

"Hush" Clara blushed scarlet.

"Why are you red? You haven't blushed in years,"
Tilly grinned.

"It's the reflection off your dress," Clara told her.

"Sure it is. I'll be by the Inn tomorrow morning and
we'll talk. Anything makes my hard-hearted cousin
blush, I want to know about," Tilly said.

"Shhhh," Clara put a forefinger to her lips. How
would she ever explain to Tilly? She could hardly even
make sense out of it all to herself. Changing was difficult at best, especially when it was easier to do the
things and think the way she'd done for a third of her
lifetime.

"Cecil, you may now kiss your bride," the preacher
said, bringing Clara back into the moment.

"Whew!" Tilly fanned her face with the back of her
hand. "Now that's the way I want my groom to kiss me"

Clara shifted the topic over to Tilly. "Oh, are you
getting married?"

"Not this week, but that new preacher out there under
the shade tree is almighty handsome."

"You? With a preacher?" Clara almost choked on the
words.

"Well, you almost hooked up with one," Tilly
reminded her.

"Yes, but I run a legitimate boarding house. You'd
have to give up your livelihood and you really like all
the excitement," Clara said.

"I do. I really do. Granny Anderson said she hid her
livelihood from Grandpa for two years after they were
married, so I suppose I could hide it. He's looking this
way. Should I smile or pretend I don't see him?"

"If you smile, he's a dead man."

"I thought it was looks that killed, not smiles. You're
on your own. I'm going to go find someone to flirt
with even if it's the good looking preacher man. Oh,
did you hear, our old sheriff has resigned and they've
called in a former Texas Ranger? Name is Rayford
Sloan. Sounds like some hoity-toity lawyer instead of
a lawman. I heard tell he's meaner than a constipated
rattlesnake."

"Now that's exactly who you need to set your hat for.
A lawman." Sarcasm dripped from Clara's tone.

"Not on your life, honey. They can smell a recipe
brewing from a hundred miles away. No, I think I'll
flirt with some of Briar's relatives or maybe even Briar
himself. Would that make you jealous?" Tilly grinned.

"Why should it?"

"Just wondering,"

"Go flirt with whomsoever you desire." Clara arose,
pushed the bench back up under the upright piano and gently leaned on a porch post, a heavy feeling the pit of
her stomach. If Tilly flirted, Briar would fall.

Tilly patted her on the shoulder and went off toward
the group gathering up around the dancing stage. Clara
watched several of the oil men hanging on every word,
rushing to get her punch and asking her to dance. There
was no shortage of men to fall at her feet. Tilly had
never had problems getting a man to pay attention to
her. What she did have difficulties with was taking any
of them seriously.

"Hello," Briar said.

"Hello" Clara wondered how he'd gotten so close
without her seeing him. It was as if the slight breeze
had blown him onto the porch.

"Pretty wedding, isn't it?"

"Lovely."

"They're going to finish their first dance together, cut
the cake and the food will begin then. Hungry?"

'No"

"Then come take a walk with me. We can eat later.
There's enough to last all evening." Briar offered her
his arm.

Without hesitation, she looped hers through his and
let him lead her wherever he would. Clara didn't look
back to see if Tilly was paying attention. She sincerely
hoped she wasn't because she didn't want to have to
answer a hundred questions about leaving the party
with Briar as well as explaining why she was blushing
so often as of late.

Briar led her across the yard, through a small copse
of pecan trees and to the very place where he'd brought
in his first Healdton well. They weren't so far away that
they couldn't hear the music and laughter, but the house
and the party were completely hidden from view. A
pumper stood where the derrick had been, working
with very little noise, bringing up oil and sending it to
a storage tank not far away. Where there had been men
everywhere before, now the machinery worked alone.
It looked different without the mud, the crude sprinkling down like black rain, men everywhere, laughing
and talking. Grass edged its way closer and closer to
the machinery, but the area around the pump was mostly still bare dirt. Clara stepped gingerly to keep from
kicking up the dust and ruining the hem of her pale blue
dress.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to walk with you and this
is as far as my property goes in this direction," he said.

"About that kiss last night," she said bluntly.

"What about it? I think at near thirty and over thirty,
we are old enough to do whatever we want, don't you?"

"What did it mean to you?"

"It meant that you are a very attractive woman and I
wanted to kiss you"

"Do you often kiss women you find attractive?" She
asked.

"That's a pretty personal question."

"A kiss is a pretty personal thing."

"It was just a kiss. Sharing an intimate moment. Did
you not like it? Was it offensive?" Briar asked.

"No, I did like it very much, Briar. Do you really
think I can do anything I want and it's no one's business?" She was amazed at that idea.

"Of course. Good grief, woman. Of all the women in
Healdton, you're one to be asking that question? You've
been doing exactly what you wanted for the past ten
years and to the devil with the whole town. Someone as
smart and pretty as you are, the one referred to as the
"strange one" That doesn't seem to bother you one bit.
So why should a kiss be such a big thing?" he asked.

"Because it got me to thinking that maybe I'm not
too old for a family even yet. That and the fact that
Judith is my age and she's just now marrying. Maybe
the time has come when women aren't old maids at
twenty-five and completely over the hill at thirty," she
answered.

A tingly sensation crept up Briar's neck and across
his face and he had to exercise willpower to keep from
scratching it. Was this woman about to propose to him?
Would she create a scene if he refused and ruin Judith's
wedding?

"Quiet all of a sudden, aren't you?" she said softly.

"I suppose," he agreed.

"How humorous. I'm not asking you for your hand in
marriage, Briar Nelson. I'm just saying that I've figured out with your help that I've been living a half-life.
I'm even looking at the oil men differently now. Tilly's out there flirting with them, probably dancing with one
by now, and I'm going to follow her lead. There is a fellow out there who'll sweep me right off my feet if I'm
willing to let him. I think I'm about ready to see what's
available."

Briar's heart fell. So she didn't feel the emotional
topsy-turvy he had when they'd shared both of those
kisses. All he'd done was awaken Sleeping Beauty. He
wasn't the prince. He was just a roustabout who'd come
to Healdton to sign the Anderson leases and failed.
Who'd found a wonderful place to raise a daughter and
a town where he felt at home. Where his drifting days
had come to an end and he'd actually bought land so he
could settle down permanently, and, the most important
thing, where he'd found Clara.

"So which of my men are you going to set your cap
for?" he snapped.

"All of them," she shot right back at him.

"Then I suppose we'd best get on back to the party
so you can narrow that list down"

"That sounds like a good idea." She took two steps
forward, wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss right on his lips. Warmth radiated from the
core of her being. Her heart soared. That silly humming noise began in her chest. The list had really narrowed down to one oil man, whether she wanted to
admit it or not. She might think about the other men,
but they'd come up short, she was sure; she had no
intention of telling Briar such a thing though.

"Are you planning to kiss all my men like that to see
which one you want?" he asked when she reluctantly
pulled away.

"Of course. How could I know which one I want if I
don't kiss them?" she murmured.

Rustling and giggling let them know they were about
to be joined by other people, so Clara stepped back
even though she wished desperately that she could
spend the rest of the late summer morning with the
sound of an oil well in the background.

Olivia and Danny appeared out of the grove of pecan
trees.

"Well, you two old sly ones. We thought we were the
only ones sneaking around," Olivia said.

"We're not sneaking," Clara protested. "What are
you two doing out here? I figured you'd be dancing
until the sun set."

"Had to protect my interests," Olivia giggled and
snuggled in close to Danny's side. "Tilly looked crossways at Danny and I knew I'd best get him on out here
and kiss on him a spell so he'd forget about the
prospects of Carter County's beauty."

"She won't ever be as pretty as you" Danny looked
down deeply into Olivia's eyes. "But I'll sure enough
let her look at me any old time if it means you're going
to kiss me"

"I think that's our cue to leave." Briar took Clara's
hand and pulled her along beside him. When they reached the other side of the copse, he kept her hand
tightly in his. He'd let all those eligible bachelors on his
payroll know that they'd better not line up for Clara
Anderson's kisses.