Morning Glory (22 page)

Now that Lorianne was home, Libby wouldn't arrive
at 8:00 every morning. Neither would Briar. Why, oh
why, didn't she learn her lesson with Percy? Married
men were as dangerous as a poisonous rattler. Why did
she have to be drawn to them?

"So what are you really here for?" Briar asked his
ex-wife.

She fanned herself with the back of her hand dramatically. "Why do you think I'd come to this place?"

"How much and why?" Briar wondered how he'd
ever fallen in love with those cold, cold blue eyes.
Thank goodness there was life in Libby's eyes, even if
they were the same color as her mother's.

"I'm leaving the stage and getting into the moving
picture business. I need a few thousand dollars. For the
money, I will give you my word that you will never see
me again."

"You make a lot of money. Why are you coming to
me? And just how good is your word?" he asked.

"I make a lot, but I spend a lot. I'm coming to you
because you have it and you won't even miss it. It will
be a couple of months before I see money from the first
picture. And my word is solid. I'll never come back to
this hick town again. Take it or leave it. I could still get
a lawyer and take Libby from you. I can play the part
of the poor little wife who ran in fear of her life from
her mean husband, leaving her small baby daughter
behind. I could have a judge eating out of my hand,
Briar, and you know it."

"You wouldn't dare," he hissed.

"Oh, honey, I would. I definitely would," Lorianne
said.

"Do you want to see Libby?" Briar asked.

"No, I don't think so. I thought I might. Curiosity,
you know. But I changed my mind. A person doesn't
miss what they never had. She was mine for a month
and, like I told you when I left, I resented her for taking me away from the stage. Things haven't changed. I
just want five thousand dollars and I'll disappear."

"You are one cold-hearted woman. Libby is a cute
little girl, full of life, beautiful."

"How could she be anything else? I'm her mother. If she got half my looks, she'd still be gorgeous. Maybe
she'll get your business mind and be beautiful and
smart. And yes, I am cold-hearted. I'll admit it. It's
what gets me what I want when I want it. You knew
what I was when you married me. Our marriage should
have never happened, but I was just too taken up in the
moment and the glory of a big wedding."

"I'll pay this time, Lorianne, but I won't be blackmailed. I won't pay again. Ever. So don't come back. I
mean it," Briar told her.

"You've got my word. Cash? Got it here?"

"In my safe downstairs. I want you out of here as
soon as I bring it to you."

"Couldn't keep me here if you begged-and, darlin',
we both know what an expert beggar you are"

"Stay here and I'll be back in five minutes. If Clara
comes out of the bathroom, tell her I'll only be a
moment," Briar said.

"Oh, that woman? She peeked in and left right at the
beginning of our conversation. That's why I said I'd
come home to stay. To run her off. Consider it one last
favor from me. You don't want some little nobody from
a place like this," she laughed. "Not after you've been
married to me"

"You never change." Briar hoped Clara hadn't run
away.

"Neither do you. You're always the knight-in-shining
armor trying to rescue someone. Even me. Turn the
actress into a proper wife and loving mother. Briar, women don't want to be rescued. Take my word for it.
Just get my money and I'll slip out of here. You'll never
see me again except on the big screen."

"I'll even avoid that," he threw over his shoulder as
he headed down to the safe.

Clara felt sorry for herself for about ten minutes,
then anger set in. Even if that woman was a big hotshot actress she had no right to think she could come
waltzing back into Libby's life after four years. Clara
might never see Libby or Briar again, but she wasn't
going to sit on Tucker's back porch and whimper all
day, licking her wounded pride. No sir, she was going
right back over there to the reception and she was going
to speak her piece to that woman. Granny Anderson
would have already had a green pecan switch picked
and skinned of all its leaves if she'd seen Clara tuck tail
and run away from another woman.

Clara covered the distance back to the stile in minutes, hiked up her stained skirt tail and made short
work of the walk back to the house. She marched up to
the porch, took a deep breath and opened the front
door. The minute she started up the stairs, she looked
up to see Lorianne at the top, carefully counting a thick
stack of money and shoving it into her purse. The
woman smiled sweetly when she noticed Clara and
ever so slowly, very dramatically, made her way down,
one step at a time, never taking her eyes from Clara.
"Where is Briar?" Clara asked.

"Gone back to his little party, I'm sure."

Clara didn't flinch but stared deeply into the
woman's eyes. What she saw there chilled her soul to
the core. "Where are you going?"

Lorianne dabbed at a trained tear slipping down her
cheek. "Why, darlin', I'm leaving. Don't trust that man.
When Libby was born, he found another woman and
turned me out without a penny. He's a womanizer, a
smooth talker."

"Lorianne Lawdry, you are lying," Clara said bluntly.

"You are crazy," Lorianne replied.

"Probably so, but I'm not stupid."

"Got a problem in here?" Tilly asked, barely a foot
behind Clara.

"Nothing I can't handle" Clara didn't even turn
around.

Lorianne let her eyes go to the stain on Clara's dress
and linger there as if she were looking at a pile of trash.
"I'm just leaving. Just remember, darlin', Briar isn't
what he appears to be. Be careful. He's sly and he's not
above breaking your heart. I've forgotten more about
him than you will ever know."

"Maybe so, but I've got the rest of my life to find out
everything about him," Clara said.

"Oh, honey, you really are a simple-minded creature."

"And very proud to be so. Don't come back to Carter
County," Clara said.

"You wouldn't be threatening me, would you? Wild
horses couldn't bring me back to this godforsaken dirt hole." Lorianne pushed past both women and out the
front door.

"You going to let her have the last word?" Tilly asked.

"Yep, I am"

"You believe what she said about Briar?"

'No.

"Why?"

"Because-"

Tilly threw her arm around her cousin's shoulder.

"Come on over to my house. I've got a new dress that
will fit you perfectly. Pale lilac with a hat to match. You
can't wear the shoes. They'd be a size too big, but the
ones you've got on will match fairly well. We can get
you cleaned up so you can flirt with Briar without being
self-conscious. And besides, if she changes her mind
and decides she didn't win that catfight she might be
back with her claws honed up real sharp. You wouldn't
want to look like you do right now. Or I could just take
you home and let Briar think he's attracted to a simpering woman with no backbone."

"Thank you, Tilly. I would love to borrow your new
dress. I intend to dance with every man here, including
your preacher, and I'm going to marry one of them when
I decide which one I'm going after. And I wasn't threatening that woman. She's evil. I can see it in her eyes."

"So could I, but if you believe that you are going to
marry anyone but Briar, then I'm a little saint girl
who's going to the convent next week"

Briar didn't even take time to change his shirt before
he dashed out the back door. He scanned the whole area
for Clara. She wasn't on the dance stage. Nowhere
around the tables where Beulah and Bessie were laughing over the antics of a bunch of little girls who were
playing wedding. Figuring she must be on the front
porch, he jogged around the house just in time to see
Lorianne leaving in a fancy new car and Tilly's vehicle
following it out.

In the split second before the car disappeared, he
realized Clara was in the car with Tilly. He sat down on
the porch swing, feeling emptier than he had since the
day Lorianne told him she had her bags packed and was
going back to New York. He'd known she wasn't happy
but had chalked it up to baby blues. He'd often won dered what his reaction would be if she ever came back.
Then suddenly, at the worst possible moment, she was
sitting in his bedroom and had just ruined another portion of his life.

He rocked himself gently and let the hill music slowly seep into his soul, but it didn't soothe the ache.
Lorianne wasn't worth a moment of his anger. He just
wished he would have known she was waiting for him.
He'd have sure handled the situation differently with
Clara. Thirty minutes later, he was still rocking when
Tilly drove down the lane and around the house to the
backyard where the overflow of wagons and cars were
parked. Briar was shocked beyond words to see Clara
in the passenger's seat. He was even more amazed
when she came through the house, opened the front
door and sat down beside him on the swing.

"Guess we need to talk," he said.

"What about? Tilly offered to take me over to her
house and loan me this dress so I wouldn't be a mess all
day. The beans will take more than a washcloth to get
out of the one I was wearing. Looks like you still need
to change your shirt."

"You saw Lorianne and heard part of the conversation, didn't you?"

"I saw her. I heard. I left in a huff. I came back angry
and we had what Tilly calls a catfight. I let her have the
last word, but I think I won the fight. You'll still let me
keep Libby even though I think you were stupid to
marry a woman like that, won't you?"

"I think you were stupid to give a man like Percy ten
years. I only gave Lorianne eleven months."

"But you would have given her ten years or twenty
for Libby's sake. So don't judge me or take out your
anger on me because she came and hoodwinked you
into giving her money to go away"

"She tell you that?"

"No, she told me a lot of other things, but when I
sifted through them, not much came through in the
form of truth. Most of it was fabrication to make you
look bad and me not like you. I saw her putting money
away in her purse, so I figured that out on my own."

"Pretty outspoken, aren't you, Clara Anderson?"

"Yes, I'm very outspoken, Briar Nelson, and you
should know that from the day we first met. So you got
anything more to say about this?"

"No. You want to talk about it?"

"God, no! This is a wonderful day. A party. All this
family. Why would I want to talk about that woman?
She's gone. The dust has settled. So it cost you a few
dollars. I vote we bury her name in the past and never
look back there again. Now I'd like to dance again."

Briar could scarcely believe his ears. "You are an
amazing woman."

"No, a very selfish one. I like where my life is right
now, Briar. I don't want that woman messing it up."

"Do I have time to change my shirt before we dance?
I wouldn't want this barbecue to stain that lovely dress
you are wearing and I intend to hold you close"

"We've got all day. Just promise me there's not
another ex-wife up there in your bedroom" She smiled
brightly.

"I promise. There's only one of those and like you
said, the dust has settled," he promised.

Tilly slipped into Briar's spot on the swing. "So, you
going to keep him or is he up for grabs? I didn't see
anything that particularly interested me today. I took a
turn around the yard to check out the possibilities.
Nothing looks too inviting. Preacher is too stuffy and
the rest of them just don't take my fancy"

"I don't know if I'm keeping him or not. It's a possibility, maybe. Please let me figure out my own mind
before you go to grabbing. Once you set your mind, there
wouldn't be any room for me," Clara said honestly.

"Just what makes you say such a thing? Hell's bells,
Clara, we look enough alike to be sisters and you've got
a better nature than me. Besides, he hasn't even thrown
a glance my way," Tilly said.

"I'm almost as outspoken as you, especially since
Briar popped into my life again. And, honey, a day
hasn't dawned when anyone in Carter County could
hold a light to your looks."

"I don't think Lorianne Lawdry is out of the county
yet and she's the prettiest woman in the whole country,"
Tilly said. "But remember, he's already found out beauty without love isn't much of a bargain."

"Yes, he did. It doesn't mean he still won't yearn for
what might have been and let it ruin a second relation ship. I just want a while to get to know the man. Who
knows? Once I do, I may not even like him."

"If you don't, I bet you step right up and tell him so
and the reasons behind it, too," Tilly said.

"Spoken like a true Anderson. Granny would be
proud of both of us," Clara said. "Think we'll ever really marry, or are we just going to flirt around until we're
both old and gray?"