Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] (38 page)

Sugar had complained most of the day and wasn’t aware that Homer was getting tired of it.

“Lord, what I wouldn’t give for a glass of cold beer. I’m so sick of lukewarm soda pop that I could puke.”

“Hush yore bitchin’,” Homer shouted. “If ya don’t shut up, I’ll stop and put ya out. Ya can wiggle yore ass and get a ride with someone else. That clodhopper yo’re married to might be sucker enough to take ya back.”

Sugar had learned when to retort and when to keep quiet. She realized that she had gone a mite too far and waited for Homer’s anger to cool while they cruised the streets of Grants to find a place to stay. The motor court was full. Homer stopped and went into the lobby of what appeared to be the best hotel in town. After standing at the desk waiting for a slick-haired jelly bean to tell him there were no rooms, he came back to the car, let loose a string of obscenities and drove down the street to a third-rate hotel.

“I got a room,” he said when he returned to the car. “Keep yore head down and yore hat on. Ya’d be too easy to remember in this town.”

Sugar was exhausted by the time she had carried her suitcase to the third-floor room. As soon as the door closed behind them, she snatched off the cap. She was hungry and dirty and tired of wearing the damn cap, but was wary of Homer’s temper and kept her mouth shut.

“The bathroom is at the end of the hall. Wear the cap when you go in and have it on when you come out. I’ll go out and get us something to eat.”

“Can’t I go with you?”

“No. I don’t want anyone to remember we’ve been in this town. Hear? I signed in as Tom and Wilbur Smith. Yo’re a boy, sugar tit.” He grinned and before she could step aside, grabbed her breast and cruelly twisted the nipple. “But I’m mighty glad ya ain’t one.”

“Shit!” The pain caused Sugar’s temper to flare. “When are you goin’ to finish up with the cowboy so we can go on?” she blurted angrily.

His mood changed lightning-fast. “When I’m damn good and ready, and if ya don’t like it—” He jerked his thumb toward the door. “Make up yore mind while I’m gone. If yo’re stayin’, be naked by the time I get back.”

Sugar glared at the door for a long moment after he went out and she heard the click of the lock.
The stinkin’, horny little stud wanted her with him, or he wouldn’t have locked the door.

“All he thinks about is gettin’ even with the cowboy and gettin’ me naked,” she said aloud to the empty room. “If he wasn’t so damn good in bed, the little bastard could just kiss my ass good-bye.”

Chapter 29

I
T WAS DARK BY THE TIME
supper was over. Anna Marie, tired from vigorous play with her new friend, was ready for bed as soon as she was washed. Margie sat beside her on the bunk and told her a story about three bears. By the time she was finished, the child was asleep.

She smoothed the dark hair back from the child’s face and kissed her chubby cheek. She could hardly wait until she could pick her up, hug her and tell her that she was going to be her little girl and that they would live in Colorado with her Uncle Brady. It still seemed as if this dream of marrying Brady were happening to someone else.

“Is the little tyke asleep?” Brady appeared at the end of the truck.

“Yes. She was tuckered out. Come on in. It will be crowded, but I don’t mind if
you
don’t.”

“It couldn’t be too crowded to suit me.” Brady stepped up into the truck, bent over so that he could move to the front and sat down on the bunk. “Come here.” He pulled her down on his lap.

“Someone will see.”

“I don’t care if the whole world sees. Put your arms around my neck and kiss me.”

A tiny moan trembled from her throat. “Mmm …” Her lips moved over his in a sweet caress. His were warm and soft yet firm and insistent. A stubble of beard scraped her chin as his mouth settled on hers. He trembled, and the kiss became deeper. A ribbon of desire unfurled inside Margie. Her body was flooded with the longing that lapped at her senses whenever she was with him.

He backed away slightly. “I’d better stop while I can, sweetheart. One of these nights soon, I won’t have to stop.”

“Mmmm,” she murmured again, kissed him quickly and slid off his lap.

She unlocked the box Elmer had built across the front of the truck and folded back the lid. Brady moved the lantern to hang directly over the box.

“I found the two hundred dollars in the toe of his socks,” Margie said, taking out a stack of clothes. “The suit he was buried in was probably the one he was married in.” She reached for the Prince Albert can and heard a clinking noise. “I wonder why he put his tobacco in here?” She handed the can to Brady and searched in her pocket for the key to the tin box. “The clock looks familiar. I may keep it. It’ll be the only thing I’ll have that came from my family.”

Brady whistled through his teeth when he opened the Prince Albert can. “Look, honey, two five-dollar gold pieces and all these bills.”

“Well, for goodness’ sake.”

“Ten one-hundred-dollar bills! Lord, that’s a thousand dollars.”

“My gosh! And there’s more in the tin box.”

Brady stuffed the bills back in the can while Margie opened the box to view again the strange assortment: a pair of baby shoes, a cameo necklace, a lady’s lapel watch and the envelopes tied with string. Sitting on the floor of the truck between Brady’s legs, she untied the string.

“The first envelope had four fifty-dollar bills in it. The next five have two one-hundred-dollar bills. That’s twelve hundred. With what is in the can, there’s over two thousand dollars here. Goldie will think she’s hit a gold mine. In the last envelope is a letter to Elmer from … I can’t make out the postmark, can you?” She handed him the letter addressed to Mr. Elmer Kinnard, Conway, Missouri. He held it close to the lantern.

“Looks like Victorville.”

“You read it.”

Brady took the sheets from inside the envelope. “It’s from Goldie.” He scanned the pages, then held them out to Margie.

“You should read this.” He reached for the lantern and held it just above her head.

Margie read the letter quickly, then went back and reread it.

Elmer
,

It gives me great joy to write this. At last I will say what I’ve thought of you since first we met. You are without a doubt the most miserable excuse for a man that has ever lived. At first you were kind and generous, and I thought to amuse myself with you while I was there. When you thought you had me hooked to do your washing and cooking and to service you once a week in bed, you turned out to be a miserly, hateful, self-centered man. I hated every minute I spent in your bed. It was like having sex with a hog. You gave no thought for anyone’s pleasure but your own.

But, Elmer, I will have the last laugh. I used you to have a place to live. I made fun of you behind your back and I took three hundred dollars that you had hidden behind a dresser drawer. A whore would have charged you much more than that for the services I gave you.

I’ve returned to be with my husband, the love of my life. You see, I was only separated from him, and the marriage that you thought would bind me to you as your unpaid housekeeper and whore was not a marriage at all. Ha ha ha.

Goldie

“My goodness.” Margie looked up at Brady. “Did you read all of this?”

“Over your shoulder, honey. It’s no wonder he was such a bitter man.”

“Why did she marry him when she was already married?”

“Sounds like she wanted a place to live while she was separated from her husband.”

“It was mean of her to use him that way.” Margie folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.

“She doesn’t sound like anyone I’d like to know.”

“Brady? If she and Elmer weren’t married, she’s not entitled to any of this, is she?”

“Not by law.”

“Then I don’t have to give her anything?”

“I wouldn’t think so. If they were not legally married, you’re Elmer’s next of kin.”

“I had a half brother somewhere in California. I don’t ever remember seeing him. He lived with his mother’s parents. I heard later that he had died, but I don’t know for sure.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about his family coming after the estate.”

“This is all mine … ours?”

“Yours, sweetheart. After reading this letter no one could dispute it.”

“It’s a lot of money. I knew he was close with his money, but I had no idea he had so much.”

“You’ve got money now to go to Hollywood, stay as long as you want and see all the movies you want to see.” It about killed Brady to say the words, but they had to be said—and said now before he lost his nerve.

She turned to look up at him. “By myself?”

“Sure, honey. It’s what you planned to do when you came on this trip, and I’ve got to get back to the ranch.”

“Are you trying to say that now that I have this money and this truck, you don’t want me to go home with you to … to Colorado?” The words caught in her throat.

“No, honey, I’m not saying that. I’m trying to say that now you have the means to fulfill your dream of seeing Hollywood without having to worry where your next meal will come from.”

She got up on her knees between his legs and grasped his arms. Her eyes were so full of tears her vision was blurred.

“I woke up from that childish dream as soon as I met you. I have another now—the dream of going home, living with you in our cabin, cooking and cleaning for my husband and our little girl, giving you all the love in my heart.”

He lifted her chin with his fingers and placed his lips on hers. At first his mouth brushed gently over hers in soft, lingering kisses, then his fingertips stroked the tender skin at the nape of her neck.

“You are my love,” he whispered against her mouth. His hand moved down her back, pulling her closer. She could feel the pounding of his heart against her breasts. “I thank God every day that I found you.”

“We’ve not known each other very long.”

“I feel like I’ve known you forever. Do I seem like a stranger to you?”

“You’ve never seemed like a stranger to me.”

“That proves it, sweetheart. You were meant for me.”

“If you’re going to let this money come between us, I’ll … I’ll give it away. I don’t know how to handle this much money. The most I ever had at one time before I took the two hundred dollars out of Elmer’s socks was the one hundred and eighteen dollars my granny left me.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t even know how much is here; but if it’s really mine, I want to use it for our home, for our children.” She pulled away and looked at him. “You wanted me an hour ago when I only had the two hundred dollars. I’m no different now.”

“I wanted you then. I want you now!” He buried his face in the curve of her neck. “I’m trying to be fair to you. All I’ve wanted to do since I met you was work and take care of you.”

“Please, please, Brady.” She cupped his face with her palms. “Don’t be stiff-necked with pride. Let’s think of this as a gift from Goldie. She said the last laugh was on Elmer, but it was on her. If she hadn’t written that letter, all this would have been hers. Now it’s ours. In a few years we might want to make our house bigger, or build a new one.”

Brady hugged her to him and kissed her again and again, the money forgotten while he held this sweet woman in his arms. Her lips parted in a soft sigh. As if it were the signal he’d awaited, Brady captured her lips in a kiss that was rich and deep, a kiss she desperately welcomed.

“Nothing has changed?” she asked fearfully when he released her lips.

“Nothing’s changed, sweetheart.”

“You’ll help me with … this?”

“Of course. What do you want me to do?”

“Tell me what to do with the money and the truck.”

“Well the first thing we should do is lower the back flap in case someone comes by. Then we search in all the places where he may have squirreled away even more money.”

A half hour later they were stunned by what they had found: one-hundred-dollar bills in the back of the clock, in the bib of a pair of rolled-up overalls, behind the wooden back of a framed picture of a farmhouse and in the drip pocket of the leather shield he wore when carrying ice. The snuff tins were full of gold pieces.

Brady counted the bills. “Nine thousand and seven hundred dollars. I don’t know the value of the gold coins. It’s a fortune, honey. Some men work all their lives and never earn this much. You’re rich, honey. Very rich.”

“We’re rich. I can’t imagine him having all this money, although I remember my granny saying that he was from moneyed people. She said his parents owned half of Conway at one time, and he was the only child. He may have inherited some of it. He sold the ice business and his house. With all this money he never once offered to help me when I was working twelve hours a day, in order to have food and a roof over my head. He never, ever bought me a birthday or Christmas present or helped me when Granny died.”

“Don’t think about it, honey.”

“It’s ironic, though, isn’t it? I think he would hate it if he knew I had his money.”

“He would hate it more for Goldie to have it. Now, what do you want to do about the truck?” Brady asked while putting the money in the tin box.

“I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”

“We can’t take it and my car too. I have a good truck out at the ranch. It might be best if you sell the truck. We’ll go home in the car, and later I’ll teach you to drive it so that you can go to town when you want to.”

“How much is the truck worth?”

“It’s worth more than the car. I’d say about three hundred because of the heavy springs, tires and the heavy-duty motor.”

“I’d like Jody to have it,” she said without hesitation. “We could give it to him, but I’m sure he wouldn’t accept it.”

“How about if you tell him you’ll sell it to him for a hundred dollars, and he can send you monthly payments until it’s paid for?”

“That’s a good idea. All I want out of here is the clock, my clothes and a box of pictures my granny gave me.” She put the tin box in his hands. “What’ll we do with this?”

“Put it back for now. It’s as safe there as anywhere.”