The Widows of Wichita County (17 page)

During the early days of oil, change was the only constant from boom to bust. One sign taped to a window in a former boom town read, Don't Bother To Unpack.

Many men traveled with wives and families. Women worked just as hard trying to build homes at each stop as the men worked to build the rigs. Sometimes the money a wife made as a secretary or doing laundry would cover expenses for getting to the next town.

December 6
9:53 p.m.
Howard House

C
rystal Howard sat alone in the shadows of Shelby's room. The whine of machines blocked out all other sounds. She closed her eyes and dreamed of silence. The odors no longer bothered her. They were now the scent of Shelby. He had gone from having the aroma of cigars and whiskey and oil fields, to smelling of antiseptic, bleached cotton and dying flesh.

Her life with Shelby before the accident had been a roller coaster, high highs and low lows, but never boring. They would decide to fly to Dallas over breakfast, or have a party at sundown. No matter what the whim, their days and nights were exciting and unpredictable.

Now, there was a sameness about each day that made her want to scream. With all the people in the house, it was important to follow a timetable, but she had become a slave to it.

She dressed by seven so she could spend time with Shelby before the office staff from Howard Drilling arrived downstairs at eight-thirty. Then, as the day passed
with one business crisis after another, she would run up and down the stairs. Making sure the nurses gave Shelby his medicine. Checking to see if he was awake. Delivering messages. Asking advice. The oil game dripped into her blood. The excitement, the gamble.

The evenings were the only quiet time for her. Months ago she would have passed the time watching TV, but now, sitting beside Shelby while he slept was her only relaxation.

“Crystal?” Shelby whispered with a scratchy voice that doctors said would never heal. “You still here?”

She moved to his bedside. “I'm still here, darling.”

“What time is it?”

“A little before ten.”

His hand covered hers. As days went in Shelby's life, this had been a good one. He had not almost died.

“You need to get some sleep, baby.”

“I was just making sure you were resting quietly. I'll tell the nurse to wake me if you have any trouble during the night.”

“Go on to bed. I'll be all right.”

She leaned down and kissed his hand. “Okay. Night.”

She was almost at the door when she heard him whisper, “In case I forget to tell you, baby doll, you're doing a great job. I wouldn't have made it through this without you.”

He didn't see a tear roll down Crystal's face as she left the room. It was the first time he had ever complimented anything but her body.

She held her head high and walked next door to her room. As she undressed, she thought how Shelby had changed. It was almost as if he were another man behind all the scars and bandages. And tonight, he had proven
it once again. He had been grateful, something the old Shelby had never been. He was grateful for her.

Crystal grinned. Helena said tragedy changes people. Stirs up their hearts, makes them realize what's important and what's not. Maybe Shelby had found his heart.

When she sat on her side of the bed, the message machine on her private line blinked at her. Crystal punched the button.

“You're not going to believe what happened, Crystal!” Randi's voice came through loud and clear. “Frazier's Department Store just called. They want to add live entertainment over the holidays, and they want me to be the lead singer. Just think, Crystal, every night I'll be singing, and everyone in Nashville shops at Frazier's around Christmas. I'll be sure to get other gigs from it. And the best part is they're paying me a thousand a week plus a clothing allowance to spend in the store. Imagine that.”

Randi's laughter came through the line. “My last night is the eighteenth, then I'll be heading home. Thanks for letting me borrow your car. Spread the word to the other girls. I'm on my way. I can feel it.”

Crystal smiled. Randi needed a bit of good luck. She was tempted to go see if Shelby was still awake and tell him. He had always liked Randi. He used to tease about her talent, or lack of it, but he had always wished her well.

A light tapping sounded before Crystal could make up her mind. The night nurse poked her head in as she did every evening after she ran a vitals check. “Mr. Howard is resting nicely. Don't worry about him tonight.”

“Thanks.” Crystal liked the way the nurses from Dallas were so polite, so professional. “Good night.”

She leaned back thinking of all that had happened today. One day at a time Trent was cooperating with the
workings of the company. He seemed to have given up fighting with her and decided to work her to death to get her out of the way. New bids were going out every day along with more work crews than Shelby had ever kept going at one time.

Ten minutes passed. Crystal had lifted the remote from her nightstand, but hadn't bothered to click on the TV. The light tapping came again, startling her this time.

“Mrs. Howard?” The nurse opened the door a few inches. “I saw your light still on and hoped you wouldn't be asleep already. I have a phone call. Would it be all right if I took it downstairs? I won't be long.”

“Sure.” Crystal pulled on her robe. “I'll stay with Shelby 'til you get back.”

When Crystal entered Shelby's room, she was surprised to find him awake and restless.

“Where's the night nurse?” he asked.

“She went downstairs.”

“Good. I was just thinking about you.”

She moved to the machines. “Is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine. Come over here,” he said, sounding angry and frustrated. “Closer, baby doll.”

Crystal thought of the night he had tugged at her gown and made her open her top. She hesitated.

“Come here,” he ordered in his low voice. “I don't bite.”

She crossed to the side of his bed. “If you want me to strip, I'll do it, but I have to lock the door first. I don't want the nurse seeing me.”

She closed her eyes, afraid he might say he didn't care who saw her. But he didn't say anything. Before the accident her stripping had been almost a nightly ritual. Sometimes she didn't mind, telling herself he enjoyed it, but
mostly, she hated being groped, knowing the man she loved thought of her as just a body. And she hated the way he'd brag about the details of their private life to anyone who would listen.

When she looked up, he was watching her.

“I'd like…” He sounded tired. “I'd like you to lie down next to me. As close as you can get without having to touch me.”

“But…”

“Just do it, Crystal.”

Cautiously, she stretched out along the side of the bed as best she could. Her fingers trembled as she gripped the sheet to keep from tumbling off. There was no room for her beside him, but she tried.

“What do you want?” She forced any fear from her voice.

“I don't want to be by myself anymore. I just want to know you're next to me until I fall asleep.”

Slowly, she relaxed. His breathing slowed. He made no move to touch her or demand anything.

“Thanks,” he whispered just before he fell asleep.

“You're welcome,” she answered just as softly.

When the nurse returned, she followed Crystal out into the hall. “You really shouldn't be…”

Crystal looked at the nurse and raised her chin slightly, ready to fight.

The nurse lowered her gaze. “Oh, never mind. If you like, Mrs. Howard, I could order a bed that's a foot wider. It wouldn't make any difference with his care, but it might make you more comfortable.”

“Order it then.”

The nurse smiled. “You understand it wouldn't be wise for you to fall asleep. If you rolled or swung your arm while that close to him…” She didn't have to say more,
Crystal had not lived every day around him without being aware of what might happen.

“I understand. I just want to make him feel less alone.”

The nurse nodded her understanding. “Good night, again, Mrs. Howard.”

“Wake me if…”

“I will. Try to get some sleep.”

Saturday, December 11
12:30 p.m.
Helena's Choice

H
elena unfolded from her car and headed for her first day of work since before Thanksgiving. She and J.D. decided she needed to take a few days off and rest. After all, the store could get by without her for a while. It had been great fun to sleep in and then watch movies all afternoon. They went for drives to nowhere and talked until dawn once. She finally laughed and said she had to go back to work to get some rest. No one would believe what a time they had enjoyed.

As Helena locked her car door, she noticed Anna's new white Range Rover circling, looking for a place to park. Helena stood and watched. It was always grand when the lot was full.

The Rover, after running over the curb, landed in a spot by the street. Meredith Allen and Anna Montano climbed out laughing.

Helena could not hide her smile. “What have the two of you been up to?”

“We've been picking out poles for Frankie's place.
Which would have been a challenge even for Martha Stewart.” Meredith tried to straighten up but a giggle crept into her voice. “The man's not only hairy, he's color-blind. It's hard to talk paint with someone who only sees gray. At one point he was sure he wanted purple.”

“It—it is not as easy as one might think choosing j-just the right lamp pole for a bar parking lot.” Anna hooked her arm around Meredith's. “I—I was lucky to have help.”

Meredith's eyes sparkled. “At one point, we were standing in the lot all acting like poles so Frankie could decide how far apart he wanted us.”

Anna agreed. “I—I got—” she hesitated, looking for the right word “—hit on.”

Helena could not think of any two people who would look less like they belonged in the local dive. Anna, in her black wool, calf-length coat and fine silk scarf. Meredith, with her jingle bell earrings and white bulky sweater that made her look like a polar bear.

“She did!” Meredith answered Helena's frown of disbelief. “If I hadn't been there to fight him off, some trucker from out of town would have found him a ‘good buddy' today. Anna would probably be halfway to the state line by now.”

Both women burst out laughing.

Anna pretended she was lifting a huge belt around her waist. “I reckon,” she tried to sound like a local, but was hopelessly lost. “I—I could take you for a ride, little lady. I will even let you blow the horn.”

The women folded over in pain from laughing so hard.

“Have you two been drinking?” Helena found that hard to believe, but their behavior warranted her asking.

Meredith looked so guilty it would be a waste of time
for her to lie. “I'm not due back at the courthouse for another half hour. I'll sober up by then.”

Anna patted Meredith's arm. “We had to accept Frankie's offer. It would not have been polite to turn him down.”

Helena pulled them inside and up the back stairs before half the town saw them. “Mary will have a pot of black coffee. You can drink it while I order sandwiches delivered from next door. That should sober up you barflies.” She could not hide a smile as she thought of how she would tell J.D. tonight. He had learned all about Anna and Meredith from Helena. He told her once that Kevin Allen spoke of Meredith with respect, as if the little schoolteacher were the anchor in his life.

Helena followed as Meredith and Anna giggled all the way into the office, having a great time trying to imitate the voices of everyone in the bar. Helena could not believe the little schoolteacher and the fine lady were crazy enough to drink what Frankie gave them. She was tempted to stomp into his place and give him a piece of her mind. Maybe while she was there, she could pick up the two brains Anna and Meredith seemed to have left behind. They could not even tell her what they drank, only that it was green and tasted like frozen key lime pie.

The pair giggled their way through three cups of coffee and a sandwich each before they finally calmed down. Helena tried to look over her mail while she listened to them talk. Meredith promised to go out to Anna's place and see her art. Anna agreed to help Meredith paint a wall of her classroom to look like a forest.

“Well,” Helena finally broke them up, “did you get Frankie to agree on lamp poles?”

“We did,” Meredith said, winking. “Or rather I did, while Anna flirted with the trucker.”

“B-but he was so handsome.” Both women laughed at her lie.

“We'll call the order in today.” Meredith smiled at Helena. “Frankie should have the poles by Christmas.”

She stood and set her cup down. “I have to be getting back to work, much as I hate to.”

“I—I also must go. I've been gone for far too long.” Anna joined Meredith at the door. “Thank you, Helena, for the lunch.”

“Anytime,” Helena answered, thinking how she had known both women for months and this was the first time she had heard them laugh. Maybe green-frozen-key-lime-pie drink was not so bad. “You girls be careful.”

Helena stood at the window and watched the two widows walk down the front stairs and through the store. They wound through crowded aisles packed with racks of clothing and people.

Once they left, it took Helena a few minutes to realize something was wrong. “Mary! Mary!”

Her assistant rushed to her side. “Yes?”

“The store!” Helena had to make herself slow down and breathe. Her chest felt like an elephant sat atop it. “The store is packed with too much merchandise. People can't move around freely, especially the large women who are trying to shop. This is insane.”

“I know we're crowded,” Mary answered, “but we had to put all the new stuff somewhere. The back is packed with spring shipments the twins ordered while they could get them at a five percent discount.”

“New stuff?”

“Paula and Patricia ordered women's sizes. They thought they were ordering by ones, not by the dozens. So everything they ordered one of, we got a dozen. Two, we got two dozen. Six, we got six dozen.”

“I understand the principle, Mary. You don't need to continue to frighten me to death.”

Helena could not breathe. She had nothing against women's sizes, those women needed clothes, too, but the larger sizes were not the image she wanted for Helena's Choice. Her patrons were willowy like her mannequins. Many times she did not order even the twelves and fourteens in a style, because the dress would not hang right on a woman with much meat on her bones.

Helena's heart pounded when she thought of all the large sizes going out of the store in her high-quality Helena's Choice bags.

“Mary,” Helena whispered, trying not to frighten her employee. “Would you be so kind as to get my pill box from my purse.”

“Of course.”

As Mary hurried on her mission, Helena slowly lowered herself to her chair. More than a week ago, she had stopped taking the third pill she had to swallow every day. She told herself she didn't need the digoxin for chest pain. If it got bad, she had her nitroglycerin. There was no need in using both.

Mary handed her the small box and Helena took the tiny pill, placed it beneath her tongue, then relaxed back in her chair.

“Are you all right?” Mary worried over her. “Should I call the doctor, or an ambulance?” People in Clifton Creek rarely called an ambulance; it was easier to get in the car and drive to the doctor. If someone did not have a car, they could always yell for a neighbor to drive them. An ambulance in front of a home usually meant someone died.

“No, I'll be fine in a minute. I've just been a little tired lately, can't seem to get enough sleep.”

Mary did not look relieved. “Does your chest hurt? Are you short of breath? Do you have a pain in your arm?” She circled once more. “Or is it your leg? I can never remember.”

Helena forced her hand to move away from her heart. “It's only the angina acting up again. You know how it gets when I overdo it. I thought I was ready to return, but maybe I should stay home a few more days. The holidays seemed to be taking a toll on me this year.”

Mary handed Helena a cup of water. “Don't worry about the store. The twins will help me handle it. I couldn't believe it when we put plus sizes out for the first time, but I've been surprised. Women I've never seen in here before are shopping. And I can't tell you the number of men who've been in to buy their wives clothes who have never shopped Helena's Choice before. They don't even want us to wrap the box. They want their wives to know where the gifts came from.”

“How are the sales?” Helena took a deep breath, preparing for the worst.

Mary hesitated, then smiled. “The best we've ever done. If this holds, we'll have a record year.”

Helena did not respond. Swiveling her chair, she looked out the window into her store. “Wait until I tell J.D.,” she whispered as she watched the flow of customers. “He is not going to believe it.”