Dorothy Garlock (10 page)

“Guess I forgot what day it is.”

“They’ll be serving in the dining room in about an hour,” Corbin said. “I’d like for the two of you and Jack to be my guests for dinner. If you have nothing to do in the meanwhile, sit here on the porch while I fill Jack in on the news from home.”

“Naw.” Boone fidgeted. He took off his cap, then slapped it back on his head. “We’d better get on back.”

“Come on, Boone,” Corbin said. “I owe you a meal and you know it. I owe you much more than a meal.” Corbin’s eyes held Boone’s.

Annabel’s gaze traveled from one man to the other. Boone was anxious to be gone. She looked back at Corbin to see the teasing look he was giving Boone.

They knew each other better than Boone had let on.

“Some other time.” Boone stepped back into the truck. “Let’s get goin’, Annabel.”

“If you’d like to stay, ma’am,” Corbin said when he saw her hesitate, “I’ll drive you and Jack back out to your place after we’ve had dinner.”

“Ain’t ya hurt too bad to drive?” Boone asked with a sarcastic tinge in his voice.

“I’ll manage.”

“Ya ain’t goin’ to have to.” Boone stepped back out of the truck and spoke to Annabel over the top. “Are you wantin’ to stay?”

“It would be nice, Boone. I’ve not had dinner at a hotel since we left Ashton.”

“All right, but we’ll get what ya need from the store while we wait so we can get home after ya’ve et. We’ll be back, Appleby. Get in, Annabel.” He got back behind the wheel and waited for Annabel to get in the truck.

“Ma’am, Jack and I will be here on the porch when you get back. I’m glad you’re going to join us.” He opened the truck door and, with his hand beneath her elbow, helped her in.

“Thank you, Mr. Appleby. I’m looking forward to it.” Boone backed the truck out as soon as Corbin stepped away. “Shoulda let the bastard bleed to death,” he grumbled under his breath.

“What did you say, Boone?”

“I said he’s probably still a lawman and we ort to give him our backside.”

“I like a man with good manners. Why does he owe you? You didn’t tell me the whole story, did you?”

“You don’t need to know ever’ move I make, missy.” Boone was plainly agitated.

“Did you know him before we came here?”

“No, I didn’t know him before we came here. Why do you ask me thin’s ya’d not ask yore pa?”

“I don’t know. I’m with you more than I am with Papa. I think … lately, that I know you better than I know Papa.” When she had started speaking, her voice was strong. When she finished, it was almost a whisper.

“This feller was a lawman, Annabel. Could still be, for all we know. I don’t want him hangin’ around.”

“If he isn’t a Federal he’d not be interested in what you and Papa are doing. What harm can it do to have dinner with him? I want to, Boone. Sometimes I feel like my life is standing still. All I do is cook, clean and wash and wait for something to happen to you or Papa.”

Boone glanced at her but said nothing. “I’d like to eat dinner at a hotel once in a while, Boone, and see a picture show and maybe go to a dance.”

“Murphy tried to set ya up in a boardin’house where ya could meet young folks and do them thin’s.”

“Let’s don’t talk about that. I’ve told you and I’ve told Papa that I’m not going to be shut away somewhere in a boardinghouse.”

Boone drove the block to the mercantile and stopped. “Don’t be blabbin’ in the store that Appleby was a police chief or that we know anythin’ about him.”

“Boone! You can make me so mad. I’ve no reason to even mention him. Goodness!”

Boone got out of the truck and spoke to her when they met on the walk in front of the store.

“I’m going down to the repair shop and get the shoes I left to be soled. Take your time. We’ve got an hour to kill.”

“You don’t have to act as if I’m pulling your teeth,” she said sulkily. “You could have gone back to the farm. He said he’d bring me and Jack home.”

“Yeah. Bet he’d of liked that.” Boone walked away before she could reply.

Annabel went into the store and was greeted by Mr. Hogg.

“Mornin’, Miss Donovan.”

“Good morning.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I need a pound of dried apples, a can of peaches, a tin of cinnamon and one of nutmeg.” Her eyes scanned the row of goods on the shelves. “And a box of Gold Dust washing powder.”

While the grocer was setting the items on the counter, Annabel wandered over to the table that held the yard goods. She pulled out a bolt of soft blue-flowered voile, unrolled it and held it up. She decided the flowers were too large, so she rolled it and put it back in the stack.

“That’da been purty on ya.”

Annabel jumped and turned. She had not known anyone was near. A man lounged against the table, his bright blue eyes on her. He was smiling and as her glance met his, he winked. Annabel wanted to laugh but managed to keep a straight face as she turned to go back to where Mr. Hogg was tallying up her bill. The man slid easily in front of her, blocking her way.

“Miss Annabel. I’m Marvin Carter, yore neighbor. Tessie said ya was right purty. She ain’t right ’bout a lot of thin’s, but she was shore right ’bout that.”

The first thing Annabel noticed about him was that he had been to the barbershop and his blond wiry hair had been trimmed, slicked down and generously doused with hair tonic. He reeked of it. His blue shirt was new. It still had the fold wrinkles in it.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Carter. Tell Tess hello.”

“I’ll tell her. I was in the barbershop when ya passed and come up here to tell ya that I’ll take ya out to the park at Riverside tonight. Be ready ’bout sundown.”

Annabel couldn’t hold back the small laugh. “I don’t think so,” she said, slowly shaking her head.

“Why not?” His face was suddenly harsh. “Ya got something else to do?”

“Yes, I do.” She tried to step around him again. He blocked her with a quick step to the side. “Let me pass, please.”

“Not till ya say ya’ll go with me tonight.” His expression changed suddenly. He winked again and smiled. “We’d have us a high old time.”

“I don’t know you, Mr. Carter.” Her voice now was sharp, agitated. “I’m not going out with you tonight or any night. Let me pass.”

“Ya think yo’re better’n me? Is that it? Well, ya—”

“Miss Donovan”—Mr. Hogg appeared beside her—“did you say you wanted one pound of peaches or was it the dried apples you wanted?”

“Apples and a pound of raisins too, please.”

Annabel felt her elbow being clasped by Mr. Hogg’s meaty hand as he ushered her around the obnoxious man and down the aisle toward the main counter. Just as they reached it, she heard the screen store door bang shut.

Mr. Hogg looked through the window to see Marvin Carter going down the walk.

“Was he bothering you?”

“In a way. But no harm was done.”

“He’s trouble. All the Carters are trouble one way or the other.”

“His sister is nice. She called on me and brought me a bucket of raspberries.”

“We don’t see much of her in town. The boys keep her close to home.”

“I kind of got the impression that she was afraid of her brother Marvin.”

“Your father will take care of Marvin Carter. Is he out of town? I’ve not seen him for a while.”

“Papa is away now, but he’ll be back in a few days. What do I owe, Mr. Hogg?”

“I can put it on a tab if you like. Mr. Donovan can pay when he comes in.”

“I’d rather pay.”

“Eighty-seven cents. Prices going up each time I order. Raisins are getting especially pricey.”

Annabel said good-bye and headed for the door. “Miss Donovan, I’d give the Carters a wide berth. They are a bad lot, and they’ve got kinfolk all over the county. Offend one Carter and you’ve offended all. They’re thicker than fleas on a dog’s back.”

“Thank you for the advice, Mr. Hogg.”

“Tell your papa to stop by if there’s anything I can do for him.”

As Annabel was leaving the store, Mr. Potter from the pharmacy was coming in. He backed out onto the sidewalk to talk to her.

“Hello, Miss Donovan. I was hoping to see you again soon.” His white hair was parted in the middle and perfectly combed. His shirt was sparkling white, his bow tie straight.

“Hello.” Annabel gave the small, rather plump little man one of her quick smiles.

“I wanted to ask you to be the guest soloist at our Sunday concert.”

Annabel’s laugh rang out. “Oh, goodness, no! I don’t play that well, but I thank you for asking me.”

“Henderson’s concerts are not held in Carnegie Hall, my dear, but right here in the town square every Sunday afternoon during the summer months. Not all in my orchestra are accomplished musicians.”

“I know that, Mr. Potter. I’ve never played for anyone but my family.”

“We’ll be playing Beethoven and Brahms. When we first talked, you said they were your favorites. You could play a medley or whatever you wanted,” he coaxed with a twinkle in his eyes.

“They are my favorites. I love their music.”

“I could tell. Will you come in sometime and play just for me?”

“Mr. Potter, don’t ask me. I’d be embarrassed.”

“All right, my dear. Just be warned. I don’t give up easily.”

“I do want to attend your concert Sunday afternoon.”

“I hope you can make it, my dear. I’ll be looking for you.”

From the porch of the hotel, Corbin had watched the truck go down the street and park at the mercantile. He’d watched Miss Donovan go into the store and Boone walk down to the shoe repair shop.

Corbin and Jack sat in the wicker chairs and Corbin told him everything he could think of about his family, ending with Jill’s graduation from high school.

“She was valedictorian. The whole family was proud as peacocks.”

“She’s always been pretty smart.”

“Tell me how you came to know Miss Donovan and Boone, Jack.”

Jack took his time telling Corbin about bedding down one night not far from the river and that thieves took his money and his baseball and leather mitt. He told about being sick and the long walk up the hill to the house to ask for help.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, to tell someone that I was hungry and to ask for food. Miss Donovan was awfully nice, Corbin. I guess I passed out on the porch and the next thing I knew, I’d been stripped of my wet clothes and was in a warm bed. Boone was there that morning. Neither one of them ever made me feel that I was a bother.”

“What’s Boone’s connection to her? He acts like he’s her father.”

“He works for her father. Right now Mr. Donovan is away someplace, but they expect him back any day. Both Boone and Spinner look out for her. She’s mighty fond of both of them and them of her. It’s almost like she’s got two extra fathers.”

“Do you know what her father does besides farm?”

“He sells something, I think. He doesn’t farm. That place hasn’t been farmed for a long time. Miss Annabel would like for it to be a real farm. Boone got her some chickens and a cow. She hasn’t had them long. She can’t even milk.”

“Have they hired you on to work there?”

“No. I’m putting in the garden. I’ve got to pay her back for taking care of me, and I’ve got to find the thieves who took my baseball and mitt. I’m not leaving here without getting them back.”

“I plan on staying here for a while. The doctor told me not to try making the long drive back to Fertile until my leg and my shoulder heal.”

“What happened to your leg?”

Corbin told the story once again about getting out of his car to relieve himself and being ambushed. He told about waking up in the cabin in the hills and learning that Boone had run off his attackers. Boone attended his wounds and several days later helped him get to the car to come to town.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that they would have killed me and taken the car. If they’d left me, I’d have bled to death. I owe Boone a lot. He’s a man of principle even if he doesn’t want anyone to know it.”

“He was gone for about a week. Annabel said he liked to go up into the hills and hunt. He came one day with a hunk of venison and some smoked fish. I had to show her how to cook the deer meat. Now Spinner has gone fishing. Spinner is the other man who works there. I thought it was strange that Boone hunted for that long.”

“They may have something to hide, Jack. I think it best if you didn’t ask them about their business or say anything about me ever being a police chief.”

“Why? I’m kinda proud to know a police chief.”

“Folks could get the wrong idea of why I’m here. Besides, I don’t like them knowing my business.”

“Not even Miss Annabel?”

“Boone knows, and I imagine he’s told her. But if it isn’t mentioned, there isn’t any explaining to do.”

Corbin watched Annabel come out of the store and stop on the walk to talk to the dapper little man who ran the drugstore. She was slender and poised and reminded him a lot of Julie Jones Johnson.

For the first time in a long while a woman interested him. He was looking forward to dinner.

Chapter
7

J
ACK AND CORBIN GOT TO THEIR FEET when Annabel and Boone came up the steps to the hotel porch. Annabel had removed her hat and looked even younger and prettier than before. Her green eyes were sparkling, her lips smiling. Corbin could hardly tear his eyes away. When he did, he caught a frowning Boone watching him.

Determined not to let the surly man spoil his pleasure in being with this exciting girl, Corbin maneuvered the cane to his other hand and offered his free arm to Annabel.

“Shall we go in?”

“Corbin …” Jack spoke hesitantly, even as Annabel took Corbin’s arm. “I’m not dressed to go into a fancy place—”

“You’re dressed just fine. This place isn’t that fancy.”

After putting his hat on the hall tree beside the door, Corbin led them to a square table covered with a white cloth. He held the chair for Annabel. Boone dropped his cap on the floor under his chair.

“According to the posted bill of fare,” Corbin said, still standing, “they’re serving catfish and corn bread today. Also chicken pie with biscuit crust. Which do you prefer, Miss Donovan?”

“The chicken pie.” Corbin looked at Boone and Jack. They both nodded.