Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill (11 page)

Patrick
shut the door.  She could feel his eyes on her but refused to look at him.  She just couldn
'
t face the ridicule, or in the least, the pity she was certain was in those all-seeing eyes of his. 
"
Hurry
Little
Red
.
"

The screen door burst open and Aunt Paula wal
ked out with her hands on her hi
ps eyeing Bernie and Patrick
.  She was already all
"
dolled-up
"
as she called it. 
Her lacy tank top
did nothing
to hide her sagging boobs. 

No bra as usual.  Oh gosh this was so
obnoxiously
humiliating.  Would
Patrick
notice her jiggling globes topped with puckered nipples?

"
Where the hell have you been and who
are these
people
?
"

Aunt Paula
'
s eyes went
dewy
when they fell on
Patrick
.  Jolene moved forward
to head of
f
Aunt Paula before she reached the truck
and
Patrick
. 
"
This is a man I met at the races.
"

Paula
'
s
painted red
lips lifted in a slow grin. 
"
Is he?  Well, maybe he has come back for a bit more
.
"
  She assessed
Patrick
with hard green eyes and a speculative tilt to her head.  "W
ell, it will cost you more this time but I
'
ll throw in the room.
"

"
She is coming with me.
"
  Hi
s voice was sharp and hard with disgust.

Aunt Paula
turned to
Jolene
, her painted brows arched
and her lips thin
. 
"
What is the meaning of this young lady?
"

Jolene gathered her courage, her heart beating like hummingbird wings. 
"
I
am leaving.
"  Jolene was brave within
Patrick
's sure shadow.
 
"
M
e, Finn and O
l
li
e
are all leaving right now
.  Mr.
Patrick
has offered me a place to live
and work.  So,
I am going
and taking my dogs with me
.
"

Aunt Paula
'
s
eyes widened and her brows went up near her hairline. 
I
n a
fly wing's
second her
face twisted and she stomped toward
Patrick
. 
"
Just who do you think you are?  You think you are going to keep my niece like some whore?
"

Some of the men from the party were filtering outside while others who stood around their vehicles watched with curiosity
while
sc
ratching their chests under cut-
off tee shirts
.
  Bernie's hand hovered over his gun holster and his eyes darted everywhere keeping track of each person. 

Patrick turned his morning-glory eyes to take in the scene with his nose slightly tilted up with arrogance that even Jolene recognized. 
"
And what were y
e
r try
ing
to do to her sending her to the Derby like that?
"
   

Aunt Paula
'
s eyes narrowed to slits. 
"
Like what?
"

"
With
painted lips
and black all around her baby eyes.
"

Paula jabbed her hands on her hips, moved closer to
Patrick
and sniffed. 
"
What puddle of shit is this?  Baby eyes, my ass…she
'
s old enough...in fact,
far past old enough.  If her head wasn
'
t in those damned books, she
'
d been laid a long time before now and have a nice boyfriend.
"

"
She is just
an infant
, with eyes the color of green grass that has never been trod upon.
"

Paula cackled. 
"
Oh, I see the way of things now
.  Y
ou to
ok
a fancy to her then did you?
"

Patrick
regarded Paula with cold purple eyes
,
his hard jaw clinching. 
"
That sort of comment does not deserve an answer.
"

Then he turned to Jolene.
 
"
Now go on
Little
Red
, get ye
r stuff
;
and hurry while I have a final word with
your Aunt.
"
 

Jolene ran as fast as she could,
pus
hing past Aunt Paula
'
s
leering
boyfriends
who
stood with beer cans in hand.  Two of them had tried to corner her in the backyard a time or two in recent months but she had been able to skillfully escape. 

The screen door slammed behind her and she heard her
dogs
frantically
barking from inside of
Patrick
'
s truck as if they understood and believed all of Aunt Paula
'
s threats to send them away
had come to pass
.  And they should be so happy to go…why
after all his seats were real leather and
Patrick
would have lots of food for them.  But still they yapped just the way Collies did when they were upset.  She could picture his windows now
as
a big foggy mess.
Their barks called for her to hurry
and come back.

But Jolene hesitated
watching through
the
screen
door when she heard her Aunt talking mad
-talk
. 
"
I know what you are up to, coming here, all smelling-money
and
turning Jolene
'
s head.
"

Patrick
leaned against his truck
apparently
unconcerned about Aunt Paula
'
s boyfriends
inching closer to him with their brawl-
scowls and flexing flabby nonexistent muscles. 
Bernie moved forward, standing with his legs spread and his expression battle
-
ready.

Patrick
reached into his back pocket for his wallet. 
"
How much do you want?
"

Jolene could not see Aunt Paula
'
s face, but she imagined that Paula would grin, as she always did when she got money. 
"
Well now, that is what I am talking about.
"
  Jolene knew that purr. 
"
How much ya got in cash?
"

Jolene sobbed a single sob of humiliation, turned and ran for her mother
'
s small cedar chest.  It had been kept in the basement with the most important family photos and papers.  It was heavy, but Jolene was strong in her determination and the notion of freedom that was
unbelievably
within her grasp. 
She stuffed in her few pair of jeans and tee shirts and heaved up the heavy chest.

She huffed as she lugged the chest to the door in small steps.

The few party goers still inside the house well into their distractions and oblivious to the
drama unfolding
outside merely glanced at her sympathetically
and shrugged to each other
as she struggled
to get to the door
.

When she got to the door she lunged through
.  By then, all was quiet outside. 

Travis had returned from a beer run.  "What is the meaning of this...Bernie...is that you?  Big war hero packing heat?  Well now....."

Patrick
strode past Aunt Paula, Travis and the other men
with a menacing glare
and took the chest from Jolene
'
s hands. 
Bernie followed at a slower pace.  "Yep, it is old Bernie and you can bet I am a good shot Travis and not afraid to use a weapon."

Travis stepped back from Bernie, fear lighting his eyes.  "Crazy vet, you probably would shoot me in cold blood."

Bernie smiled large.  "Care to test me?" 

Jolene followed Patrick back to the truck.
 

When no one took the challenge Bernie
backed cautiously
to the truck.

"
Jump in
,
"
Patrick
said quietly while he placed the chest carefully in the back of the truck.
 
Bernie
jumped into the bed of the truck
perching himself on the
edge and keenly watching the people standing around Aunt Paula's porch
while rubbing his left thigh as if he was in pain
.  Travis was cussing and then turned to yell at Aunt Paula.

Jolene got in next to her dogs who licked her and pumped their long tails with elation.  Jolene hugged their long narrow heads. 
"
Don
'
t worry
pups
, this is a new life for us.  Everything is going to be different now.  We are all going home.
"
 

Chapter
5

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, the second child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Lincoln (née Hanks), in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm
in Hardin County, Kentucky,
(now LaRue County). Lincoln's paternal grandfather and namesake, Abraham, had moved his family from Virgini
a to Jefferson County, Kentucky
where he was ambushed and killed in an Indian raid in 1786, with his children, including Lincoln's father Thomas, looking on. Thomas was left to make his own way on the frontier.

Lincoln's mother, Nancy, was the daughter of Lucy Hanks, and was born in what is now Mineral County, West Virginia, then part of Virginia. Lucy moved with Nancy to Kentucky. Nancy Hanks married Thomas, who became a respected citizen. He bought and sold several farms, including Knob Creek Farm. The family attended a Separate Baptists church, which had high moral standards and opposed alcohol, dancing, and slavery. Thomas enjoyed considerable status in Kentucky—where he sat on juries, appraised estates, served on country slave patrols, and guarded prisoners. By the time his son Abraham was born, Thomas owned two 600-acre (240 ha) farms, several town lots, livestock, and horses. He was among the richest men in the county. However, in 1816, Thomas lost all of his land in court cases because of faulty property titles.
 
Wikipedia
- July 23, 2012.

Jolene
opened the hen house door and watched the
squawking
Rhode Island
Red
hens
run
flap
ping out
to the grass as if they were chased from the pen by a dozen fox.  Foghorn the rooster who had been waiting for the hens
'
release since the crack of dawn
,
immediately went to work on courting and chasing the hens down. 
He pretended to find a worm.  He danced and clucked
to bring a hen over for his imaginary present
then jumped
her
bare back
when
she
got close enough to investigate.

Now Jolene knew why their
back and head
feathers were missing. 

True to his word,
Patrick
had moved her into her old family home.  The house had been kept almost the same as it was the day Jolene
last
saw it.  Some furniture that Aunt Paula
sold was missing, b
ut
Patrick
had taken her to the big furniture store on New Circle and got new mattresses, a sofa and a new kitchen table.