Deborah Camp (8 page)

“Can’t complain. I know your business is brisk. I can tell by all the women who come in here and mention your name.”

“That’s what I was just saying,” Jennie said from behind him. “I told him that I think he knows every single woman in town.”

“Not every woman, no.” He chuckled or tried to and almost choked himself.

“You okay?” Bob asked.

“Sure, sure.” He sucked in a breath and wished to hell he hadn’t come in. Settle down, son, he told himself. What’s gotten into you? “Nice to see you, Bob, but I must be going. I just wanted to stop in …I thought I saw someone …anyway, I have to get back to the office now.”

“Okay,” Bob said, his bushy brows meeting and his lips quirking in amusement. “Don’t let me keep you.”

“Right, right.” Long strides took him to the door and he had almost made a clean escape when Jennie’s voice lassoed him, bringing him up short.

“What time will you collect me?”

His heart sank like a lead weight. Slowly, he pivoted around to face her. She had an expectant expression on her pretty face and he couldn’t say anything other than, “Six.”

Even as Zach drove the horse and buggy he had borrowed from Adam and Bertha to the Philpot Boarding House, he couldn’t fully understand how he had fumbled his way into a dinner date with a client. He didn’t mix business with pleasure. There were so many disheartened, downtrodden, lonely women flocking to Guthrie that he and Adam had agreed not to become personally entrapped by them. Although Adam and Bert often were tempted to offer a young, distraught woman lodging or a small loan, they resisted. And even though Zach might be attracted to a few of their clients, he had never asked any of them to dinner or to any social event.

Until today.

“What in the hell were you thinking?” Adam had asked when Zach told him who he was bringing to dinner at his house.

“I covered it up by telling her we wanted to discuss her case,” Zach had said. “Or I think I did. I don’t know what I was thinking …

“You
weren’t
thinking,” Adam had charged with a frown of disgust. “At least not with your brain. And you invited her in front of the McDonalds?”

“Yes.”

“It will be all over town.” Adam had groaned and smacked the heel of his hand to his forehead, then leveled a finger at Zach. “We will make it crystal clear at dinner that it is
not
social, but all business.”

Zach had nodded in total agreement …or nearly total. Obviously, even Adam had seen something in his expression and wasn’t convinced.

“What’s going on, Zach? What’s makes her so different that you’d step over the line for her?”

“I don’t know. For the life of me, I don’t even know why I asked her to supper. It just came out. She was looking at me – she has beautiful eyes, have you noticed? Anyway, the next thing I knew, the gavel had fallen.”

“At least you didn’t seal it with a kiss in front of the McDonalds,” Adam had rejoined, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Zach pulled the horse and buggy to a stop in front of the boarding house. He was tying the reins onto the brake when the door opened and Jennie swept into view. She lifted a hand, closed the door, and descended the porch steps. Zach sprang from the buggy to help her up into the seat.

“Good evening,” she said, brightly, flashing her dimples at him.

‘Here, let me help you.” He took her gloved hand for balance as she stepped up into the buggy. The springs creaked slightly as she settled herself. Zach tried to ignore the feminine scent of her skin, how small her hand felt in his, and the creamy V of skin that showed in the neckline of her dusky rose dress.

Zach took his place beside her and gathered the reins. He cleared his throat and decided to set a business tone right out of the chute. “Adam and I don’t have any real news to deliver, but sometimes we think it’s helpful to simply go over what we do know about a case so that our client understands where we are and what our next steps will be.”

“I understood from Adam that he had turned my legal matters over to you. Has he changed his mind?”

He felt as if a trap door had sprung open beneath him. Damn! Adam
had
said that. “No, I just wanted his thoughts on … everything before we move forward.”

“I see.” Her shoulders bounced in a small shrug.

“How is Oliver doing?”

“Wonderful. Thank you for asking. Children are adaptable creatures. He has made several friends already. Dottie is watching him for me this evening.”

“Is he attending school?”

“Only for half a day until the end of June, but he enjoys it. His best friend so far is a blond-haired tyke named Joey North.”

Zach nodded. “Joey’s mother was a client of mine. They came here from Indiana, but decided to stay after the divorce was final. She met John Banner and they’ve set a summer wedding date.” He heard her soft laugh and glanced her way, but the shadows obscured her features. “What’s so funny?”

“You know everything about everyone – every female, that is. How do you keep them all straight?”

“Each case and each person is different. And I don’t remember them all. Karen North’s divorce was one of the more difficult ones. Her husband is an attorney and he fought the divorce with everything he had in him.”

“He still loved her and wanted to preserve the marriage?”

“No, he felt he owned her. It was that kind of union. He didn’t want her, but he didn’t want anyone else to have her either. If
he
had left
her
, I don’t think it would have been such a battle, but he didn’t like being discarded.”

“You see all kinds of unions, don’t you?”

“All kinds,” he agreed with a roll of his eyes.

“Except blissful ones – except for your personal friends like the Polks – and the McDonalds.”

“Would you describe them as blissful?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

He shook his head. “The only marriages I see that are blissful are the ones that just happened. Once they live with each other for a few months, the dew is definitely off the rose and you start seeing the thorns again.”

“You don’t think the Polks are happy?”

“Happy, sure. Blissful?” He shook his head. “Blissful is for people in fairy tales.”

“They aren’t blissful all the time, but —.”

“What kind of word is that anyway?” he interrupted, finding the whole conversation odd. It was making his stiff shirt collar scratch against his neck and droplets of sweat tickle his underarms. “Blissful.” He made a scornful sound. “Only fools are
that.
Living day in and day out with a woman is not for the faint-hearted.” Feeling a cold chill, he glanced sideways at the source. If she were carved from a block of ice, she couldn’t have delivered a more glacial glare. “Let me rephrase that —.”

“Don’t bother, Counselor. You have made your opinion crystal clear.” She patted her skirts and shifted her gaze to the street.

“We’re here,” Zach said, stopping the buggy in front of the Polks’ house.

“Thank heavens.”

Chapter 6

Settling into the front parlor after a fine supper of fried chicken, creamed potatoes, peas, applesauce, and sweet tea, Jennie sat on one end of the upholstered sofa and Zach sat on the other end. Their host and hostess chose matching rockers that bracketed the fireplace.

She had enjoyed the evening and the dinner conversation, which had been interrupted often with laughter. Adam and Zachary had exchanged stories about their early days fresh out of law school. Witnessing the camaraderie the two men obviously shared was touching and made Jennie feel closer to them.

Once, when Zach had chided Adam about his long-windedness, Zach had winked at Jennie. The gesture, however innocent, sent a current of warmth through her. For an instant, she felt guilty for feeling the stirrings of attraction, but then she chided herself. She wasn’t married, and what was more, she hadn’t been married for quite a while, even though she had been unaware of it!

“I imagine you meet all kinds of people at the dry goods store,” Bertha Polk said, commencing to rock as she picked up an embroidery hoop from a basket beside the chair. “Guthrie is chockfull of unusual people. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, in walks someone with a story that would curl a porcupine’s coat.” She threaded a needle and set to work on the table scarf she was decorating.

Jennie smiled, wondering when they would speak about her case. Isn’t that why she was here? Now that supper was over, she assumed they would tell her about their plan of action and what they had recovered so far.

Adam pulled a pipe and small packet of tobacco from his trouser pocket, filled the bowl, and tamped down the shredded leaves with his thumb. “Guthrie has more than its share of adventure seekers and scoundrels.” He struck a match and laid the flame across the top of the pipe bowl. “Speaking of scoundrels, did you speak to the man living out on Luna’s land?”

Jennie sat straighter. “Did you?”

Zach nodded. “I rode out to have a talk with him. Melvin Parks is his name.”

Bert gave a derisive snort. “I’ve seen him in town a couple of times. He makes my hackles rise.”

“I get the feeling he has known the inside of a jail cell,” Zach agreed. “And I don’t think he’s Luna’s cousin. He says he is taking care of things around there until Luna can hire a ranch foreman.”

“You don’t believe him, do you?” Jennie asked.

“I didn’t believe much of what he said.”

“What do you think he’s doing there?”

“Nothing mostly,” Zach said with a quirk of his lips. “And he seems to be mighty good at it.”

“So he won’t be a problem,” Jennie said with a smile of relief. “That’s good.”

Zach held up one hand. “I didn’t say that. He is Luna’s way of staking her claim on that land. She’s making money off it by leasing it to a neighbor as grazing land.”

“When you get the land for us, can you force her to give us the money she has made off our land?”

Zach shook his head and chuckled. “You’re getting way ahead of yourself.”

Jennie puffed out a sigh of frustration. “Things seem to be going very slowly. I thought when you invited me here that you had something important to tell me.” Since Zach was studying his clasped hands, Jennie looked toward the other people in the room. Bert was bent over her embroidery and Adam seemed to be engrossed in the shadows playing across the ceiling.

“I would like to snap my fingers and have Luna sign the deed over to you,” Zach said, demonstrating by rubbing his middle finger across his thumb. “But it’s going to take time. She’s stubborn and the law is on her side for now. I looked over the court documents and they all seem to be in order. I even asked around about your husband’s behavior and …”

“And what?” Jennie asked, turning sideways to see him wince. “What behavior?”

Zach wagged his head to downplay the importance of what he was about to say. “Just that he enjoyed Luna’s company. Nobody was surprised when they got married.”

Cold reality splashed through Jennie’s veins and she shivered. Had she ever really known Charles? “I see.”

“I know that’s hard to hear —.”

“Yes, and it has been even harder to believe,” Jennie admitted, hearing the husky tone in her voice, roughened by the tide of her emotions. “I’ve seen the pitying looks of people who come into the dry goods store. It seems that everyone knows about my philandering husband and that I was ignorant about the whole, ugly affair. What they don’t understand is that the man they knew or heard about was not the man I loved.”

“Townsfolk haven’t been rude to you, have they?” Bert asked, sitting forward in the rocker, her face set in lines of worry. “They haven’t been spouting off?”

“No, nothing like that. People, actually, have been respectful and kind.” She swallowed and forced a smile to her lips. “But they know about Charles and Luna and why I have come to Guthrie, It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Keep in mind that there are many women here who are your kindred spirits.” Adam’s eyes glimmered with kindness behind his glasses.

“I know, but I don’t think any of them had husbands who divorced them, married someone else, and then returned to them with nary a word about it.” The bolt of anger that blasted through her took her by surprise. She stared at her tightly clasped hands and wished Charles was standing before her so that she could shake some sense into him. Alarmed at her thoughts, her gaze bounced up to collide with Zach’s. He was frowning slightly and concern glinted in his eyes. She had the distinct feeling that he had almost read her mind.

“I want to see the land,” she said, suddenly feeling a desperate urge to do something, to make something happen. Anger flashed through her again when Zach shook his head. “And why not?” she demanded.

“Parks isn’t one to be trifled with and —.”

“I have no intention of
trifling
with him or even speaking to him. I want to see the property and the house.”

“I will take you there, but I don’t want you going there without me. Do I make myself clear on this?”

“Are you issuing me orders, Counselor Warner?” she asked, archly.

He settled back on the settee and slanted his left ankle across his right knee. “I’m trying to keep you out of harm’s way, Mrs. Hastings.” His blue eyes sparked briefly in the dimly lighted room. “Parks could be dangerous. You shouldn’t travel to that property alone.”

She glanced around and saw that Adam and Bert both wore expressions of concern and she surrendered. “Okay, fine. But I am curious about it. Is the house very large?”

“It’s small, but plenty big for you and Oliver. The place isn’t too far from town and it is good grazing land. I think Hastings made a good purchase.”

She smiled, her imagination weaving a scene of her and Oliver sitting by a warm fire in their own parlor and playing a game of dominos. She blinked away the image and felt moisture on her lashes. “It’s nearly Oliver’s bedtime. I should be going.”

“Of course.” Zach stood and offered his hand to her as she rose from the sofa.

“Thanks again for your hospitality,” she said, turning to Adam and Bertha.

“It was our pleasure,” Bert said, setting aside her embroidery hoop and pushing up from the rocker. “Next time I want you to bring Oliver with you.”

“Absolutely,” Adam agreed as he stood. He placed a hand on Zach’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

“I have court until the afternoon,” Zach reminded him as he ushered Jennie toward the front door.

“Another divorce, another dollar,” Adam chanted, then gulped and turned red when he realized what he’d said in front of a client. “I mean … I shouldn’t have —.”

Jennie smiled and laid a hand on his sleeve. “No harm done. Good night.”

After she was settled beside Zach in the buggy and they were jostling along the street, she gathered her shawl closer around her. “I suppose that dealing with so many marriages that have gone wrong would make one a bit jaded.”

“A bit.”

There was something in his tone that made her look away from the city’s buildings and squint against the darkness to better see his face. Shadows hid his features from her. “Have you ever been married?”

His shoulders shook in a silent laugh. “Not on your life.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

He turned his face toward her and his eyes glistened in the darkness like starlight on a still pond. “Hundreds of times.”

She looked away from him to hide her disappointment. They had turned onto a main thoroughfare and he guided the horse and buggy to one side of the road. “You are joking with me now.”

“Am I?”

“No one falls in love hundreds of times.”

“I beg to differ. Every time I’m with a beautiful woman, I fall head over heels.”

For an instant, she wanted to throttle him. Was he truly that dense, that cavalier to believe that the shooting star of lust was equal to the enduring sun of true love? Her pique of anger subsided, replaced by pity when she realized that he was only partly teasing her.

“You have never been in love,” she said. The buggy passed under a streetlight, giving her a glimpse of his smiling face. “Otherwise, you would not say such a foolish thing.”

“I’m a student of human nature, and from my studies, I believe love is the same as other emotions, such as anger, happiness, despair, and joy. It comes and goes.”

“You’re wrong. Love can be everlasting.” She spotted the outline of the boarding house ahead of them.

“Anything is possible.” He gave a quick shrug. “And many things are improbable.”

She opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it. What was it to her if he clung to his cold ideas of what can exist between a man and a woman? She mirrored his shrug and flashed him a smile. “I embrace the possibilities in life, Zachary Warner, which is why I believe you will find a way to move me and my son onto the land my husband bought for us.”

She thought she heard him suck in a quick breath, but she couldn’t be sure. He jerked on the reins, stopping the horse in its tracks and making the buggy lurch.

“Oh!” Jennie gripped the side of the buggy to keep from toppling forward.

“Sorry.” He wrapped the reins around the brake and jumped down from the buggy. He was around to her side in the blink of an eye.

Jennie took his proffered hand and stepped down to the ground. Light spilled from several windows in the boarding house. A couple of people sat in the rockers on the front porch, obviously watching them. Jennie eased her hand from Zach’s, feeling conspicuous even in the twilight and shadows.

“Good night,” she said, barely above a whisper.

He dipped his head and touched the fingers of one hand to the brim of his hat. “I’ll be in touch.”

She walked along the pathway that led to the front porch, glancing once over her shoulder to see him turn the buggy around in the street and head back the way they had come. She wondered where he lived in town.

Gloria Philpot and her mother, Adella Carter, sat in the rocking chairs. “Was that Zach Warner?” Mrs. Carter asked in her creaky voice.

“Yes. He’s my attorney. Do you know him, Mrs. Carter?”

She nodded and grinned. “He’s easy on the eyes.”

“Mama!” Gloria tapped her mother playfully on the forearm. “You are a mess, you are!”

“You think he’s pretty, too,” Mrs. Carter said. “Don’t say you don’t. Just about every female in town likes the looks of him.”

“I just hope he is a good lawyer,” Jennie said, trying to defuse the situation. “Good night, ladies. I must see to my son.” She swept inside and up the stairs to Dottie Dandridge’s room, two doors down from her own. Tapping on the door, she went in when she heard Dottie’s voice.

Dottie sat in a chair beside a lamp, a book in her hands. She lifted a finger to her lips and pointed to the bed where two little forms were snuggled under the covers. Jennie nodded and stepped further into the large room.

“Did they wear each other out?” she whispered.

“They did,” Dottie said with a grin.

“Thanks for watching him. Shall I add it to your weekly pay?”

“That will be just fine.”

Jennie pulled back the covers, gazing down at her son. His lashes looked so long lying against his cheeks. He stirred and she bent and gathered him up into her arms. She kissed his forehead. Dottie handed her his shoes and she mouthed another “thank you” before she carried him to the room they shared.

“Mama?” Oliver asked sleepily as she laid him on the bed to remove his socks, short pants, and shirt. “What did you eat?”

“Fried chicken and potatoes. What did you eat?”

“Beans, cornbread, and hog jowls.”

“Hog jowls?”

“They were fried up and real good.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed them.” She helped him to wiggle under the covers. Leaning over him, she kissed his forehead. “Good night, little man. I love you.”

“’night, Mama,” he murmured, already falling back to sleep.

Drifting to the windows, Jennie looked out at the street. Nothing stirred except the breeze in the trees and a cat moving stealthily from one side of the street to the other. She was reminded of the many nights that she had stood by her bedroom window in St. Louis and grieved for her husband. Night after night, she had wept, having presented a brave face during the days. She knew that she had to carry on for Oliver, but she had been unsure how to continue without Charles.

Finding that land deed had given her a purpose, a direction. Guthrie had become a shining beacon in the dark, dangerous waters that she had been set adrift on.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about Guthrie now. This is the town where my husband fell in love with another woman, she thought, trying to get used to the reality of it. Something happened to him here that made him reckless, thoughtless, and yes, heartless. Whatever had bewitched him had worn off because he had finally come to his senses and returned to her and Oliver.

Was Zach right? Did love come and go? Had Charles loved her once, fallen out of love, and then loved her again? Was love as capricious as that?

Looking over her shoulder at her sleeping son, she knew that love was not fleeting. It could change, yes. Love could deepen, waver, and even wane. But she believed with all of her heart that love didn’t disappear like smoke. Once you truly loved someone, even when the relationship no longer existed, a piece of your heart would be forever claimed by that person.