Love in a Small Town (43 page)

Rennie bought a house on Church Street. She and Sam got married in August. They had to; Rennie was pregnant. They were both scared but very excited and acting like teens. Rennie agreed that she would move out to Sam’s house in Santa Fe, but only after the baby was born, because she had to be with Mama and Molly for that. Sam never argued.

Loren gave up coon hunting for Season and even moved up to Oklahoma City after they got married. Together they began to raise and train dogs to help the handicapped. Loren did keep one coon dog, though, and Season said she felt so guilty that she broke down and encouraged him to visit with his coon-hunting friends once in awhile. She said she saved a lot of animals and was not going to worry over a couple little raccoons.

Lillybeth began working with a famous divorce attorney and adamantly said she would never marry. She seemed to take particular care, however, to remain beautiful and attractive, if unattainable.

In the spring of the following year, two weeks after Rennie’s baby girl was born, Aunt Hestie’s cottage burned to the ground. A short in the electrical box was deemed the cause. The insurance inspector found a penny had been wedged in the fuse box.

A week after that, on a warm, sunny morning, a crew arrived to clean away the rubble for rebuilding. Seeing how Molly and Odessa and the other Collier women stood and stared at the ruin compelled Tommy Lee to have the place rebuilt. He simply knew that it had to be, and he had learned to pay attention to such feelings.

Walter and Sam and Stirling and Loren agreed to join him in the endeavor. It seemed like they understood, although none of them spoke of it. Tommy Lee called Stephen to see if the young man wanted to join them, and Stephen thought the idea was stupid, but he didn’t want to be left out, so he would send a check to help with expenses. Sam, talking to Rennie, came up with plans as close as possible to the original structure.

Over the following weeks, the men oversaw the construction and the cottage went up. The women were happy, and Tommy Lee had a sense that he had done a very good thing. Especially when he looked into Molly’s eyes.

Author’s Note

I’m asked repeatedly where my stories come from. I have to admit that they come from my own life, from the lives of family and friends and their friends, and from the lives heard about while waiting in grocery store checkout lanes.

The story of Molly and Tommy Lee is the universal story of love and marriage and family. In this way it is my story and that of at least
85
percent of the married couples in the world, in one way or another.

With that in mind, let me put in here, lest there be mistaken supposition: I have no sisters, and I adore my lovely mother-in-law, who has a lot of color in her life, not to mention all of us making a mess of her life at numerous holidays. My own dear mother can be wonderfully eccentric, but she drives a Toyota and never goes out for breakfast.

This book is for those two grand ladies, who have taught me much of what I know about loving, and for dear friends Karen, Dixie, Machelle, Carolyn, and Mary, and to all of you out there who have walked the valleys and the hilltops of the familiar road and continue to walk on.

Most of all I dedicate this story to James David Matlock, my husband, the bravest man I know.

—Curtiss Ann Matlock

* * * *

If you are a fan of country music, you probably realized the chapter titles are actually song titles. Many thanks to the singers of these songs that bring pleasure, comfort, and inspiration. I couldn’t write without your music.

—CAM

Copyright © 1997 by Curtiss Ann Matlock

Originally published by Avon Books

Electronically published in 2003 by Belgrave House

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.