Bea (19 page)

Molly

From: Clemmie

To: Bea, Molly, Joanna, Catherine, Janet, Belinda

Re: Giddy

This latest romance novel I’m reading can’t hold a candle to Molly’s and Belinda’s emails! I read this scene where the heroine squeezed orange juice over herself and the hero licked it off, but I like Molly’s feather boa better! I imagine there are so many inventive ways you could use it! Sigh! At the rate I’m going, I’ll never find out. College tuition is so expensive, and I’m just trying to make ends meet till my brothers can graduate. I was going to up the rent, but with this economy, my sweet little boarders can’t afford to pay it, so I’m keeping rates low.

Oh, Bea, I just know Russ Hammond hasn’t vanished forever! Remember that old movie classic,
Now Voyager,
where Betty Davis returned home and thought she’d never see the hero again. And then they had this final dramatic scene, standing together at the window where Betty said, “Oh, don’t let’s wish for the moon when we have the stars!” Or something like that. Anyhow, the ending made me cry.

Bea, I just know you’re going to have a happy ending!

Clemmie

From: Belinda

To: Bea, Clemmie, Molly, Joanna, Catherine, Janet

Re: Happy Ending

Happy endings in romance novels and movies are just the beginning in real life! Reeve gives me the moon and the stars at least twice a day, and if I don’t get pregnant at this rate, I’ll just think I’m not holding my mouth right or something.

Bea, do you have Russ’s email or phone? Send him a sweet little message thanking him for rescuing you, or staying around for the family reunion. Just anything so he hears the sound of your voice and gets so lonesome for you, he can’t bear the thought of never seeing you again. I bet he’ll turn straight around and race back to you and simply sweep you off your feet!

Belinda

From: Janet

To: Bea, Belinda, Catherine, Joanna, Clemmie, Molly

Re: Messages

Bea,
do not
send this man any messages! You’re an
incredible, independent woman
who doesn’t need anybody. Not that I would want to ever do without Dan, but he knows darned well he’s in my life by
choice,
not
necessity!
If Russ is meant to be the one, it will all work out. If not, move on to something bigger and better!

Speaking of bigger and better, I shudder to think how I might have missed out on the Coach if I hadn’t been dumped by that wimp in medical school. Now Virginia is all stirred up and I still have hospital rounds. Molly, did you start this?

Anyway, keep pressing forward, Bea. You’re going to land on your feet and before you know it you’ll be kicking ass again with those high-heeled boots!

Janet

From: Joanna

To: Bea, Catherine, Molly, Belinda, Janet, Clemmie

Re: Russ

Russ sounds like one of those DELICIOUS, RUGGED types! You know the kind who vanishes into the mountains or some remote cave till he can figure things out. He’ll come back, Bea, but DON’T YOU DARE act interested!!! Make him EARN YOU!!! I’d hold out for a big diamond and maybe an eye-popping emerald or two, but I know that’s not your style. Still, maybe you can ask him for little ranch in Texas!

Oh, I WISH I WERE IN THE STATES! I feel like I’m in PRISON over here!!! I HATE school!!!

Joanna

From: Catherine

To: Bea, Molly, Joanna, Janet, Belinda, Clemmie

Re: Weekend

Bea, the next break I get, I’m going to drive over to Dallas so we can shop and kick up our heels. We may even ride a mechanical bull! Don’t they have those in Texas? You hang in there, sweetie! Everything’s going to be all right. The Dixie Virgins won’t have it any other way!

Cat

Chapter Ten

It was late afternoon when the bus pulled into Pearcy, Arkansas. Bea was rumpled and tired. She smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt and stepped down from the bus. The station was small and poorly lit. Dingy windows blocked what little sunshine there was, and one naked bulb cast a pale yellow glow over the plastic furniture and the faces of the weary travelers.

“Need any help?”

She knew it was Russ even before she saw him. The unmistakable deep bass timbre made her feel flushed all over. Still she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of seeing what he did to her.

“No, thank you. I can manage just fine on my own.”

Ignoring that, he stepped out of the shadows, took her suitcase in one hand and her elbow in the other then led her to a row of plastic chairs. They sat down together, side by side, facing forward. It was the way they had traveled together, not touching, both looking off into the distance as if they were straining to see around the next bend.

She was acutely aware of him, his thigh barely brushing against the side of her skirt, the way his python boots looked against the dusty floor, the even tenor of his breathing, the sprinkling of hair along the backs of his hands.

“When I left Florence, I thought I’d said goodbye to you, Bea.” He turned to face her then. His eyes were as vivid as the bright blue ribbons used to tie bouquets sent to mothers of newborn boys. It was going to be hard to look at them and tell a lie.

“You
did
say goodbye, Russ. It was best all around.”

“Did you miss me, Bea?”

“No, I didn’t miss you. But I missed your boots. Do they make them in my size?”

He laughed aloud. Several weary travelers paused on their way to the door to turn their heads and stare at him. Then, seeing nothing except a big man with a beard, they shook their heads and walked away.

“That’s a start,” he said. “In fact, it might be wonderful.”

“I fail to see the wonder of it.”

“I don’t remember anybody ever missing me, Bea.”

She was a sucker for a sob story. Her heart was doing flip flops and she didn’t want to even think about what her Virginia was doing. But she refused to decide her future on the basis of a soft heart and a runaway libido.

“What are you doing in Pearcy, Russ?”

“I came back to be sure your car was ready to travel.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Russ, but I don’t need your help.”

“Maybe I’m selfish. Maybe I just couldn’t stand the thought of you having to ask a stranger for help.”

“If I have another breakdown, maybe I’ll send up a smoke signal.” She stood up and held out her hand. “So long, Russ.”

He not only held onto her, but started a little erotic massage of her palm.

“I wasn’t going to see you again, Bea. I was going to check on your car and leave.”

“And go where, Russ? California? Texas? Wyoming?”

“Florida. I’m going back to LaBelle to get another grove, Bea. Start all over.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“I wanted you to know.”

“Why?”

His silence said it all. Here was a man who had no intention of chasing her till she caught him, no matter what kind of advice she got from her friends.

“Come with me, Bea,” Russ said suddenly.

The thing about unexpected hope is that it makes you do crazy things like throw your arms around somebody’s neck and agree to any old thing they say. Bea caught herself just short of agreeing to hop into his truck and go to Florida or Texas or even to the moon.

“My vacation’s nearly over, Russ. I have to be back at work in less than a week.”

“I’m not dead set on Florida, Bea. If you don’t like Florida, I could live in Texas or Alabama just as well.”

“I just got back from a vacation in Alabama, Russ.” She chose her words carefully, afraid to hope for things he wasn’t offering. “If this is an invitation to come and visit you, I’ll be happy to visit wherever you go. Just let me know when you get settled, and I’ll try to pop in sometime and say
hi.
”

“I’m not talking about an extended vacation or an invitation to visit.”

“Send me your address, then, and I’ll to remember to mail you a Christmas card.”

She reached for her suitcase and headed toward the door. Suddenly the space between Russ and front door seemed as huge as the Sahara. With her boots making a sharp staccato rhythm on the dingy tiles and the dead silence behind her, Bea held herself straight and tall. When she made an exit, it would be one to remember.

Each step she took sounded like doom. The door was only four feet away, then three. Another few steps and she’d be out the door and out of Russ’s life, permanently.

She could do this. There would be other fish in sea. Maybe not a gorgeous blond one with eyes the color of summer and a heart as big as Texas, but Bea was not about to look back.

“Bea!”

Still she didn’t turn, didn’t even stop. If he wanted her, he’d have to come to her. All the way. The Dixie Virgins would be proud. She held her breath for a heartbeat and then two. There was not a sound behind her. Sweat collected in her hair and rolled down the side of her face.

Then suddenly his boots were pounding on the floor. Russ caught her shoulders and spun her around, right into his arms.

“I’m talking about marriage, Bea.” Russ held her so close she nearly lost her breath. “I never dreamed it would be like this. I never thought I’d find somebody to love. And I certainly never pictured myself proposing in a dingy bus station in Pearcy, Arkansas.”

“You’re asking me to marry you?”

“Yes, I want to marry you, Bea.”

She thought about their journey together—the night in the tent on Quachita Mountain, the hours in his truck cab, closed off from the rest of the world by the storm, the meeting in the grove behind her house. Her trip had been more than an odyssey home: it had been an odyssey to love.

Still, she didn’t say anything. Something was missing, here. And hell would freeze over before she’d agree to a marriage without it.

“Bea? Did you hear me?”

“I heard you.” The hardest thing she’d ever done was pull out of his arms. “My answer is no.”

Before she could change her mind, she grabbed her suitcase and slammed through the door.
Shoot,
she was going to cry, and then how would she ever see which way to go to find her car?

Blindly, she turned right and headed in what she hoped was the direction of the garage. She’d gone less than a half a block when Russ caught up with her.

“I asked you to marry me.” He held onto her arm. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you, Bea?”

“I’m stubborn and bossy and opinionated, and in your own words, a woman worth twenty-seven dollars and six cents. I fail to see how that’s the basis for marriage.”

“You’d drive a sober man to drink.”

“Precisely.” She tried to shake off his hand. “Let go of me.”

“Not until you hear me out.”

“I’ve been listening for quite some time, Russ, and so far, I’ve heard nothing that interests me.”

Sighing, Russ ran his hand through his beard. He was silent for so long, Bea considered jerking away and storming off, this time for good. But something in his eyes held her still, something so deep and beautiful she trembled to look at it.

“Bea, I don’t know when I started loving you,” he said, and there it was, the key to everything. “Maybe it was the minute I saw you on that mountain road pretending you knew how to fix your car.”

Finally, she could do what she’d wanted to all along, reach up and touch the face she could see even in her dreams.

“I think it was those python boots that did me in.”

They smiled into each other’s eyes.

“At first I didn’t even recognize it,” he said. “I was sitting on a sagging bed at the Paradise, telling myself I needed to get into my truck and head south to Florida when I knew I couldn’t go without you.” He squeezed her hand. “I love you. Do you love me, Bea?”

“Yes. God knows, I didn’t want to.” She pressed one hand against his cheek. “I guess love is one of those things we can’t plan.”

“Will you marry me?”

She studied his face as the thought of marriage and all its complications played through her mind.

“You’re thinking about Taylor Adams, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t pledge my love lightly, Bea. You’re the first person I’ve ever really loved—except my parents, and I hardly remember them. This is not a letting-go kind of love; this is not the kind of thing I shared with Lurlene. If you marry me, it will be forever. You will be my home and I will be yours—till death do us part.”

Suddenly he was on his knees in front of her.

“Russ.” She laughed. “What in the world are you doing?”

“This is an old-fashioned proposal, Bea. I wish I had moonlight and soft music and wine, but I guess all this grandeur will have to do.” His eyes swept around the dinky town, taking in the dilapidated bus stations, the dusty sidewalks, the hardware store across the street with its peeling yellow paint.