Turner's Rainbow 2 - The Rainbow Promise (10 page)

H
arper's store was where Jimmy Banks had first spoken to Julia. It was the week after Christmas, and she was wearing the cherry red knitted cap that Luke had given her. Julia cherished that cap, and she thought it made her pretty. When she glanced across the store and saw Jimmy standing at another counter, she was doubly glad she'd worn it. He looked unbelievably handsome to her. She wished, achingly, that he would see her and smile, maybe even say "hello."

As she stood there, dreaming, Jimmy turned and looked at her. Julia realized that he'd caught her staring at him, and she blushed and fixed her gaze on the goods behind the counter. Old Mr. Harper handed her the flour and sugar she had asked for, and she counted out her coins.

She gathered up her purchases and started for the door. She heard footsteps hurrying across the wooden floor behind her, and Jimmy suddenly went past and opened the door for her. She looked up at him, startled, and smiled shyly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He followed her outside and fell in beside her. "You're Julia Turner, aren't you?"

"Why, yes."

Her surprise that he knew her name must have showed on her face because he grinned a little abashedly and said, "I asked Mr. Harper who you were. I'm sorry, but I didn't recognize you. The last time I saw you, you must have been only twelve."

Julia nodded. She wished she could say something clever— or even anything at all!—to keep him walking with her, but her mind was utterly blank.

"It's cold out today," he commented.

"Yes, it is.

"You aren't walking home, are you?"

"Yes."

"It's too cold for you to be out. Let me take you home. I'll get the buggy."

"Oh, no, that's too much trouble," she protested automatically, even as she prayed that he would insist. He did.

Julia returned to the store and waited for James to come back with the buggy. When he did, he politely helped her up into the vehicle, then took her to the little cafe on the square for a cup of hot chocolate. She was sure that everyone was staring at them. Imagine that she, Julia Turner, was sitting there bold as brass with Jimmy Banks! But Jimmy didn't seem to notice the other people.

Her hair was down, which wasn't really proper for a grown woman. She'd worn it that way because the weather was cold, and the fall of hair warmed her neck and shoulders. But no doubt people would say she was being brazen. Nervously her fingers went to her hair and pushed it back. She wished she could put it up or at least braid it, but she could hardly do her hair in public.

"Don't change it," Jimmy said quickly. "Your hair's beautiful."

She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to deal with a man like Jimmy Banks. It wasn't that she hadn't been around men. Zach Sloane had tried to kiss her a couple of times, and Bobby Ray Jenks kept asking her to walk out in the trees with him. Will Dobson had been courting her for months, but Will never said anything pretty. He was rough, hulking, and tongue-tied. Zach and Bobby Ray were too slick and practiced. None of them were like this handsome, well-dressed young man across the table from her, who gazed at her with admiration and gave her a compliment without a trace of a leer on his face.

Julia sat, as tongue-tied as Will Dobson ever was, her hands nervous in her lap, and simply looked at Jimmy. He asked her polite questions about herself and her family. She was sure she answered them clumsily. He chatted about the weather. Finally, Julia thought to ask him about his schooling, and he began to talk about college. New Orleans, and medical school. Julia listened with fascination, commenting or asking questions, unaware that her discomfort had vanished.

Jimmy wound down after a while and looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry for running on like that. You must have been terribly bored,"

"Not at all!" she hastened to assure him, "It sounds wonderful to me, I can't imagine reading all those books and learning so much or actually living in a city* I wish I could see those places you talked about."

He smiled. "Maybe you will one day,"

She shook her head, her smile wistful. "No, I don't think so"

Maybe I'll take you there."

She glanced at him, startled. He seemed to realize the implications of what he'd said, and he looked away quickly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Perhaps I'd better take you home now."

The ride home in the buggy was wonderful. Julia stored it away like a treasure in her mind. They sat only inches apart, a heavy lap robe across their legs and feet. The worst of the chill wind was cut off by the sides of the buggy. Julia had never ridden in one before. She had never sat this close to a man and felt the heat of his body. She gazed at Jimmy's hands, long and slender, sprinkled with dark, curling masculine hairs. She thought about his fingers curling around her own; she thought about him touching her. She looked at his profile, at the sharply cut lips and long, classic nose, the long, thick lashes. His skin was darker than her own. His jawline was already shadowed; he must have a heavy beard. She wondered if his chin would feel rough if she ran her hand over it; she wanted to.

When he left her at her house that afternoon, Julia was sure she would never see him again, but the next evening he showed up on the doorstep. She asked him in, her embarrassment at his seeing the humble interior of their shack outweighed by her eagerness and excitement at being with him. They sat alone—her father and Luke were both gone, and Julia's grandmother was asleep in the next room—and talked for hours.

Finally Jimmy left reluctantly. He told her that the next day he had to return to New Orleans to school. He gazed at her for a long moment, then leaned forward to kiss her cheek. Instinctively, Julia turned her face, her lips seeking his, and he kissed her. Excitement of a kind she'd never felt before shot through her. She couldn't breathe. She began to tremble. His hands gripped her arms, and she felt the rigid tension within him. He stepped back suddenly. He looked at her, his breath coming in short, rapid spurts. "I'll be back," he said hoarsely and left.

Julia lived on that kiss all winter.

It had been brazen of her, she knew, to seek his lips. He probably thought terrible things about her for doing that. Yet she couldn't regret it. She had never felt anything as wonderful, never tasted anything as sweet. She thought about Jimmy constantly, remembering the touch of his lips and the pressure of his fingers against her arms, the warmth of his breath on her cheek. She wanted to feel those things again. She wanted to see him again.

But she didn't think she would. He would be bound to forget her over the months. There were probably lots of girls that were interested in him, ones of his own class who were far prettier, brighter, and more vibrant than she. After all, she and Jimmy had shared only a few hours, only one kiss. She couldn't expect it to be as important to him as it was to her. Jimmy Banks couldn't have fallen crazily, instantly, in love with her—as she had with him.

Julia had almost convinced herself that she would never see him again when one day late in March, she heard the sound of a horse approaching the house. She glanced out the window and saw Jimmy riding into the yard. She rushed out onto the front porch as he slid off his horse. They hurried forward and stopped a few feet away from each other, grinning, surging with excitement, and suddenly shy.

They took a long walk by the creek. Julia didn't care where they went; she wanted only to see Jimmy and hear his voice, to absorb the wonderful knowledge that he was here with her.

"Is school over?" she asked hopefully.

"No. I have to go back in a week. This is just Easter vacation. But I'll be home again the end of May."

It seemed an awfully long time.

"I missed you," Jimmy said, and Julia stared at him in surprise. "I thought about you all the time."

She went all hot and cold inside. "I—I thought about you, too."

"Did you? Really? I was afraid you'd hardly remember me."

"Not remember you!" Julia gaped at him. "How could I not remember you?"

"There must be lots of other men courting you."

"Courting me?" Julia blushed. He must think she was stupid, the way she kept repeating everything he said. But his words stunned her. Could he actually be courting her?

"Yeah. Are there?"

She shook her head. "No. Only one."

"Who?"

"Will Dobson."

"I don't know him."

"He's from over Cold Springs way."

"Are you—inclined toward him?"

"No."

Jimmy grinned, and she could see the relief on his face. "Good."

After that, they both relaxed, though there was still a bubbling undercurrent of excitement between them. He stayed most of the afternoon, and they talked and laughed, the rest of the world forgotten. He left finally, reluctantly, but the next evening he returned, and for the remainder of his week's vacation he was at Julia's house every evening. Julia felt as if she were living in a fairy tale. He seemed as entranced by her as she was by him. Her. Julia Turner. It was unbelievable.

He didn't kiss her again. She kept waiting and hoping for a kiss, but it didn't come. The tension in her rose. She thought about his kiss, half the time not even hearing what was said, wanting only to have his arms around her and his mouth on hers. She caught him looking at her as if he fell the same way as she felt inside, and she wondered why he didn't kiss her, why he wouldn't even come close to her. The air between them was thick with unresolved longing.

The night before he left they walked again along the creek, following its meandering path. Jimmy took her hand; his skin was like fire. They said little, too aware of his imminent departure, yet not wanting to talk about it. They stopped at the foot of a large willow tree, and Jimmy laid his suit jacket on the ground for them to sit on. They looked at the moonlit water, the budding branches of the willow curving around them.

"It won't be long," Jimmy said without conviction, "Two months,"

"No, You'll be back before I know it "

"I'm going to miss you."

Tears clogged Julia's throat. "Oh, Jimmy! I'll miss you, too!"

"Don't cry!" He turned to her, concerned, "Please. Not for me." He laid his hand against her cheek tenderly. His thumb wiped away a tear. He gazed at her, and she could see the hot desire in his eyes, feel the faint tremor in his hand. "You're so beautiful. Like a sylph. A wood sprite,"

Julia didn't know what either of those things were, but the way he looked at her Ailed her with heat and elation. Unconsciously she stretched toward him. He leaned toward her. Her heart pounded inside her chest, and she couldn't catch her breath. He made a funny little groan, and suddenly his arms went around her and his mouth pressed into hers. He kissed her feverishly, hungrily, and she clung to him, dizzy with passion. His tongue came into her mouth. It surprised Julia, but she welcomed it. Bright shivers darted through her. Was this how Luke felt with women? No wonder he was so wild. She felt definitely wild herself right now. Jimmy's hand touched her breast, and she exploded into flame.

They made love there on the ground, too hungry, too eager to seek a softer, warmer place. They were too eager even to think. All Julia knew was heat and desire and the exquisite sensations his fingers awakened throughout her body. Even the pain when he entered her could not break the magical spell of her desire. Afterward, when he lay beside her, sweaty, warm, and utterly relaxed, she knew only peace and contentment.

"I love you," he whispered, though she hadn't asked for any such words from him, and tears formed in her eyes again.

"And I love you." More than anything in the world.

The next two months were unbearably lonely. It seemed forever until Jimmy would be home again, and Julia wasn't at all sure that she would see him again when he did return from college. She had few illusions about what a rich boy from town wanted from a Turner girl. She had known from the start that Jimmy's courtship wouldn't end in a proposal of marriage; a Banks didn't marry a Turner. There could be only lovemaking or nothing at all. Because she loved him so much, she had chosen the lovemaking, even if it meant that she was now "a fallen woman," another girl like Emma Whitehead or Tessa Jackson. But she was aware that their one night of passion might be all there would be; after he'd won her, Jimmy might not be interested in her anymore. That was the way of life; you found it out early when you grew up in a sharecropper's shack with a vicious, drunken father who was looked down upon by everyone in the county.

One night early in June, Julia was awakened by a soft tapping at the door. She glanced over to where her father lay, snoring, on a mattress on the floor Luke wasn't home. She walked silently to the door and opened it a fraction, Jimmy stood outside on the porch, his face tight and eager.

"Jimmy!" She flung open the door and rushed into his arms. He lifted her up off the floor, burying his face in her loose, fine hair.

"Julia. Julia, God, it's good to see you again." He kissed her deeply, searchingly, a kiss born of two months of loneliness. "You're so beautiful. I've missed you like the devil." He kissed her again and again, and she could feel his hard desire through her thin cotton nightgown.

"I've missed you, too," she whispered, clinging to him.

"I just got in tonight on the eight-oh-five. I came out as soon as I could get away from the house."

Love swelled inside her chest. He had rushed to see her as soon as he got home! "I love you."

He carried her like a child into the woods behind the house, saying he didn't want her to hurt her bare feet on the twigs and rocks. They had made love in the shelter of the trees, the scent of wild honeysuckle thick around them.