A Forever Thing (8 page)

After the ladies left, Fancy worried Hattie’s news like a dog
with a bone. She’d bury it for a while, then go dig it up and stare at
it a while longer, then swear she was burying it forever. Finally at
six that evening she decided to make another trip to the nursing
home to assure Hattie that Gwen and Fancy both loved her even if
she had trouble loving them.

She found a handwritten note on Hattie’s door that read NO
VISITORS, and she went straight to the nurse’s desk.

“What is going on in Granny’s room?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, but we have to abide by the patient’s wishes. Especially Hattie’s, since she checked herself into our facility and is
able to check herself out when she is ready. If it hadn’t been for the
promise she made to the doctor, I don’t think she’d be here today,
but he gave her a three-week deadline, and she agreed. However,
after you left yesterday, she called us and said to put the note on
the door,” the nurse said.

Fancy stared at the woman until she was a blur.

“Will there be anything else?”

“No visitors at all?” Fancy asked.

“Well …” The nurse blushed. “The rule was, only the ones on
her list.”

“And they would be?”

“I’m sure it’s patient privacy,” Theron Warren said at her elbow.

She jerked her head around to find him not a foot from her.
Couldn’t she go anywhere without running into him, or was he
stalking her?

“Yes, sir, it is just that. She’s entitled to see only the people she
wishes. You and your mother, Gwen, are not on the list,” the nurse
told her.

“Why is that?” Theron asked.

“That is visitor’s privacy,” Fancy shot at him.

“Is Hattie in her right mind?” Theron asked the nurse.

“Oh, yes, sir, she is that. Doc said he’d never seen an eightyseven-year-old woman with a mind like Hattie Sawyer’s. No way
would anyone ever get anywhere having her declared incompetent”

“I’d never do that,” Fancy whispered.

“Guess she’s got her reasons,” Theron said.

Fancy gave him what she hoped was her very best drop-deadon-the-spot look and turned to leave.

“Am I on the list?” Theron asked. “I’d like to see the old girl.
She attends the same church I do. She and Uncle Joe were the oldest ones in the church until they both ended up here.”

“Yes, sir, you can go right on in and visit with her. I’m sure
she’ll be glad to see you.”

Fancy didn’t look back. She didn’t even wipe the tears streaming
down her face until she got to the car, and then she used up two
Dairy Queen paper napkins. Finally she sucked it up and checked
the damage in the visor mirror. Her eyes were swollen and puffy,
her mascara smeared, her lipstick blotchy.

She came near to jumping through the top of the car when
someone knocked on the window, and she jerked her head around
to see Chris Miller’s face only inches away.

“What do you want?” she asked.

He mouthed words and made hand gestures. “Roll down the
window.”

She pushed the button.

“What’s the matter, doll? That old woman hurt your feelings? I
never did like her. Hadn’t been for her, we’d have been together all these years, but she and your mother got it into their heads I wasn’t
good enough for you. I wasn’t, but I’ve cleaned up my act,” he said.

“Chris, you are married. You’ve got a son and a new baby. Go
home,” she said.

He reached inside the car and ran a finger down her jawbone. “I
never stopped loving you, Fancy Lynn.”

She pushed his hand away. “I mean it, Chris. Stop stalking me”

“Stalking you? Honey, your ego is too big. I’m not stalking you.
I’m giving you one last chance. Tina is about to leave me. She just
stuck around until that kid was born. You want another go-round?”

“No,” she said as she hit the button to roll up the window and
started the engine.

There was still plenty of light when she got home, if Hattie’s
house could be called that, so she hauled the lawnmower out of the
storage shed and worked up a sweat cutting the grass. That job finished, she took out the Weed Eater and fired it up to manicure the
lawn. When she was done, she set about weeding the flower beds.

Hattie would at least come home to a nice yard. She’d have to
start paying to keep it up from now on, though, and that would
plague her. Knowing her grandmother, Fancy wouldn’t be surprised if she had a truckload of gravel brought in and the front
yard covered in it so she wouldn’t have to pay a local kid to mow.

She had dirt under her fingernails and a smear of it across her
face, and her hair hung in sweaty clumps, but she felt better since
she’d worked out her frustrations. She got an icy cold can of Coke
from the refrigerator and was sitting on the porch when a pickup
truck slowed down and stopped in front of the house.

Theron Warren climbed out of it, shook the legs of his dress jeans
down over the tops of dark brown suede Roper shoes-cowboy tennis shoes, some folks called them-and squared his shoulders before walking up the sidewalk to the porch.

“Miss Sawyer,” he said at the edge of the porch.

“Mr. Warren.”

“I tried, but she said no,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Fancy didn’t care that Theron
was seeing her in a state of pure, 100 percent filthy mess. But she did wonder if he’d lost his mind since she saw him in the nursing
home.

“Your grandmother. She’s a salty old girl, and I’ve always admired her for it. I can’t imagine why she’s being so stubborn about
you visiting, so I asked her. She told me it wasn’t any of my business, and from now on I’m on her no-visitors list.”

“Welcome to the club. It appears to be growing daily,” Fancy
said.

“What on earth did you do?”

“I was born, plain and simple. Leave it at that and forget it”

“I’ve got another reason I want to talk to you. I owe you an
apology.”

Fancy raised one eyebrow. “Reckon you’d better sit down for
that. It might take all your strength.”

“I imagine it will. I don’t like to apologize.”

“Want a Coke so you don’t pass plumb out?”

“I’d love one,” he said.

She set her can on the top step, went inside, and brought an icy
cold soda out to him. He took a long swig while she sat back
down, keeping at least three feet between them.

“Good and cold. Hits the spot on a hot August day. Thank
you.”

She checked the sky to see if the clouds were about to part and
the rapture appear. Theron Warren had smiled at her!

“I’m sorry about the job. I wanted to hire you. Already had the
papers ready for you to sign,” he said.

“Sure, and that’s why you called Wilma Cripton to come in for
an interview,” she said.

“She is a sister-in-law to one of the school board members, an
aunt to another, and her husband works for a third. She wanted the
job at the last minute. I thought I could change their minds, but I
couldn’t”

“You went to bat for me?” Fancy was amazed but wasn’t sure
she believed him.

“Hey, I’m fair. You proved you weren’t drinking and you were
of age”

Fancy looked over at him. “Why wouldn’t they even consider me
for the sub work?”

“We honestly do have all the substitute teachers we need.”

“Then apology accepted.”

He grinned again. “Just like that? No stinging barbs?”

“No, you deserve to be forgiven, since you tried to get Granny
to see me. I appreciate it”

“Be glad you weren’t at school. If today is any indication of the
rest of the year, I may hand in my resignation and go to straight
ranchin’.”

Fancy smiled back. “The first days are always tough. It’ll smooth
out. It always does.”

“Jimmy Miller got into a fight with another little boy on the playground. Tina had to come in for a conference. She says she’s taking
the kids and moving back in with her parents. God only knows how
in the world she ever got hooked up with Chris anyway. He’s bad
news deluxe.”

So it was true. Chris really was going to be single. Fancy almost
moaned at the idea of his being around every corner and free from
his wife and kids. Hattie was right. Fancy should gas up her car, pack
up her belongings, and head to Florida. But she’d promised Sophie
she’d be at the cattle-sale party on Friday night, and the beauty-shop
ladies were supposed to be there two more days that week. Otherwise she might have started packing without even taking a shower.

“So who it is you go to visit in the nursing home?” She changed
the subject.

“Uncle Joe. He’s got Alzheimer’s and doesn’t know where he is
most of the time, but every now and then he’ll recognize me. He’s
the reason I’m in Albany. Never had any children of his own, so
when he got sick, he called me and made me a deal on his ranch
down south of town. I’m hoping to teach long enough to get it
completely paid for before I quit, but another day like this one and
I’ll learn to live on beans and rice.”

“What you got on your ranch? Horses?”

“Half a dozen. Mainly longhorn cattle. Grow my own hay. Few
Angus for beef. Couple of hogs and some chickens.”

“Cats?”

He smiled. “Two in the house. Six or seven in the barn. You like
cats?”

She warmed to him. Anyone who had cats couldn’t be all bad.
“Love them. All but black ones who run out in front of my car.
Momma is allergic to them, and Granny would never allow any kind
of animal around here. I’ve always planned on adopting one when I
get my own place”

He frowned. “You still live with your momma?”

“Yes, I do. Not exactly with her but pretty close. She and my
stepdad have this wonderful beach home with a guest house off to
the side. I pay rent, and we both have our privacy.”

“Couldn’t have a cat there?”

She shook her head. “Momma is in and out too much, and I’m
in and out of the big house, so I’d be tracking in cat dander. Just
can’t happen.”

He turned the Coke up and finished the last swallow. “Thanks
for the cold one. I’ve got stock to feed, so I’ll be on my way. Sorry
about Hattie.”

“Thanks for sticking your neck out for me, and for the explanation about the job. See you Sunday.”

“I suppose. There’s an opening in the nursery. You want it?”

“No, I do not. You trying to run me off?”

“Probably. I don’t really need any help.”

Fancy didn’t want him to go but couldn’t think of any reason to
invite him to stay. “I’m not leaving just because you had a case of
conscience over the way you acted. I’ll be there bright and early.
I’ve already got a project in mind.”

“See, there you go, trying to take over. I can smell overbearing
a mile away.”

“That would be the kettle calling the pot black, now, wouldn’t
it?” She giggled.

He tried to come up with a retort, but nothing came to mind, so
he left with a wave. She sat on the porch and tried to make sense
of the craziest week she’d ever spent in her life.

Theron wondered as he drove to the ranch why Hattie Sawyer didn’t
want to see her granddaughter. Could it be the fact that Fancy had been hauled into the local police station and didn’t get the teaching job? He’d feel terrible if he were somehow the cause of the
breach. Hattie was a dyed-in-the-wool, old-time Christian teetotaler, but only a handful of people, if that, even knew about the
half hour Fancy had spent in the jail cell. He hadn’t said a word
to anyone. Never would. It was just a misunderstanding, as far as
he was concerned. Surely even Hattie wouldn’t fault Fancy for
that.

He still hadn’t figured out a darn thing by the time he got home,
so he changed from his dress clothes into overalls and started the
chores. The cattle were still grazing, so they were fine. He fed
the chickens and hogs and started back into the house when his
cell phone rang. He fished it from the bib pocket of his overalls
and sat down on the back porch step to talk.

“Hello, sis, what’s happening in Shamrock?” he asked.

“I’ll never get used to this caller ID stuff,” Melissa, his older
sister, said.

“Technology-ain’t it great?” he said.

“Maria was at the drugstore today,” Melissa said bluntly.

“It’s a big state and a free world. I suppose if she wants to walk
down the streets of Shamrock, she can do it,” he said.

“She was making noises about you waiting to buy property until
she was out of the picture and that she’s going to make you pay”

“Maria was a six-month mistake. How and what can she do about my ranch? I borrowed the money to buy it. Granted, Uncle
Joe sold it to me for a fraction of its worth, since I’m his kin, but
it’s no skin off her pretty little face,” Theron said.

He shivered in spite of the blistering breeze blowing across the
porch. Maria had been trouble from the day after their wedding.
She thought she had married his family’s money and was so disappointed when she found out what a Texas schoolteacher brought
home, she literally whimpered.

“I know that. You know that. But she’s been in town a week now,
and every day she finds someone else to listen to her. Just thought
you ought to know in case she decides to come down south,” Melissa said.

“Thanks for the update. It’s been three years since the divorce. I wonder what she’s really up to. Haven’t heard a word in all this
time, and now she surfaces.”

“Who knows about Maria? I told you in the beginning . .

“I know. I know. But I didn’t listen, so don’t tell me again now.”

She laughed and changed the subject. “Momma and Daddy are
fine. Julie hasn’t had the baby yet. It’s hot up here. We need rain
awful. Terrence is playing his first football game Friday night. I
think that covers everything else.”

“I’m glad that boy took after his father instead of his uncle,”
Theron said.

“The way you quarterbacked for the team was legendary, and
you know it. Little don’t mean lazy. It just means you had to work
harder to get the job done. So don’t be giving me any of that humility junk.”