One Lucky Cowboy (16 page)

   They reached the back of the truck at the same time and she hurried around to the passenger's side. She didn't need him to open doors for her. She was quite capable of doing it herself, thank you very much. If they were on an actual date, then she'd expect it, but he could scarcely tolerate her. The exception being when they watched action films—and that was an adrenaline rush and simple physical attraction.

   He got in, started the engine, adjusted the air condi tioning and said, "Quote me verse and chapter that says you should go out to eat on Sunday."

   "Matthew five, verse six. Blessed are they who hunger after righteousness for they shall be filled," she intoned.

   "What has that got to do with Sunday dinner?"

   "Do you want to be blessed or not? It says we will be blessed if we are hungry after righteousness, as in going to church. And He promises we shall be filled."

   He fought back the smile, determined that she wouldn't see that he was amused with her answer. "That's stretching the verse until it breaks."

   "So?"

   "So I'll feed you dinner. Dairy Queen, Sonic, or Subway. Your choice."

   "Fried chicken, potato salad, dinner rolls, and maybe a bean burrito," she said.

   "I thought you said you weren't cooking."

   "I'm not. They sell all that at the grocery store. We can take a picnic to the park."

   "Are you kidding me?"

   "No, sir. I do not tease when it comes to food or a park. I love the swings and the slide."

   The Nocona park was located on the south side of Highway 82. It had a small tennis court, basketball hoops, swings, slides, tetherball, and enough sports equipment to keep a whole classroom of kids busy for a whole day. It also had a pavilion with picnic tables and benches where Slade and Jane spread out their grocery store bounty and had lunch.

   Slade couldn't believe a little woman could eat so much and stay so small. She barely reached his shoulder, so she was probably five foot three inches at best. Her waist was small, hips rounded, a little small in the bosom—though there was enough to fill out the top of the sundress with no problem.

   "And now we put away the leftovers for a mid afternoon snack when we get home, and we go play. I brought shorts and a T-shirt. I'll change in the truck and you'll keep watch." She announced as she finished off a chocolate donut complete with sprinkles on top.

   He pushed her on the swing and her laughter rang throughout the park like church bells. She climbed on every jungle gym, raced from one ride to the next, and dared him to see-saw with her. She'd been eleven years old the last time her mother took her to the park in Greenville. It wasn't nearly as big as the one in Nocona nor did it have as many toys. Her mother had played with her and it had always been one of her fondest memories.

   It was late afternoon when they got back to the ranch only to find a message on the machine from Nellie, saying that she'd won five hundred dollars at the poker tables the day before and Ellen had won four hundred. Myra had lost and so had Jeannie but they'd sworn in blood they wouldn't tell how much. Sunday they were skipping church and hitting the shopping mall at one o'clock right after lunch at the Cracker Barrel so she wouldn't be calling again until Monday or Tuesday. They had her cell phone but by damn if they called for anything other than blood, guts, or a similar emergency they'd have to deal with her when she got home.

   Jane and Slade had an afternoon nap and sat on the deck reading the rest of the evening. Jane had the urge to kiss Slade on the cheek when they reached his door at bedtime but she hesitated and the moment passed. She was tired enough to sleep soundly—at least until morning when the nightmare awoke her again. The only variation in the horrible dream was that Slade was there. John was drowning her in the clear water and Slade was hitting him with his fist. When she awoke she wondered what a dream interpreter would make of that?

Monday.

Jane expected a routine Monday.

   She didn't get it. Dinner came off without too much trouble. She made banana pudding and a double batch of brownies for dessert while a pot roast complete with pota toes and carrots cooked in the oven. Biscuits and green beans with ham hocks and thinly sliced onions finished off the meal. The men ate with gusto, leaving just enough leftover roast to slice for barbecue sandwiches that night.

   It was after dinner that things got hectic. One of the older Mexican hired hands had a heat stroke in the one hundred-plus degree weather. Another one took him to the emergency room at the Nocona hospital. That left Slade shorthanded and he needed to get the hayfields plowed under and readied for another crop.

   Jane had the cookbooks down, intending to make a couple of Bundt cakes for the next day's dessert, when the phone rang. She picked it up on the second ring.

   "Hello. Luckadeau residence."

   "Who's speaking?"

   The hair on her neck stood straight up. Chills chased down her spine in spite of the heat. "Who would you like to speak to?"

   "Nellie Luckadeau, please."

   "May I ask who is callin'?"

   "This is Ramona Farris."

   "Well, ma'am, you'll have to call back. Miz Luckadeau has gone off on a little visit. Will anyone else do?" Jane exaggerated a Mexican accent, hoping that Ramona wouldn't recognize her voice.

   "Slade Luckadeau?"

   "He's off on a tractor. I don't reckon he could come to the phone right now," Jane said.

   "Would there be a young lady in the house by the name of Ellacyn Hayes?"

   "Used to be."

   "Where is she now? Out shopping with Mrs. Luckadeau?"

   "No, ma'am. Miss Ellacyn stayed a week with us and took off one night in the middle of the night. Just disap peared after she got that first paycheck. I liked the girl just fine and she was a hard worker. This new one Miz Luckadeau hired ain't got nearly the spunk."

   "Do you know where she went?" It was clear Ramona was getting bored with the conversation.

   "Yes, ma'am, I surely do. It was my job to see to it she worked in the kitchen helpin' fix up the menfolks' dinner. They get hungry out there a-workin' like dogs in the heat so we have to feed 'em good. So we got to be good friends, me and Miz Ellacyn did. Strange name, that is, ain't it?"

   "I don't care about her name. I want to know where she went," Ramona snapped.

   "Lady, I don't have to be givin' out no information to you." Jane hung up the phone. She counted to ten and tried to breathe normally. It would ring again because Ramona needed the information.

   It did.

   "Hello, Luckadeau residence." Jane said.

   "This is Ramona Farris again. I'm sorry I was rude. It's just that Ellacyn is my sister and she's got psychological problems. She's escaped from the institution where we keep her and she needs her medicine or she might do harm to herself. We've been looking for her for a month. Anything you could tell me would be a great help."

   "Yes, ma'am. Like I said, it's a strange name. I'm right sorry to hear that the poor little thing ain't right in the head but you know, I kinda thought that when she was here that week. Miz Luckadeau, she give her a hun'erd dollars for that week's work and I don't reckon she earned but about half that much. Stayed in her room and looked scared most of the time. Would that have been a-cause she didn't have her medicine?"

   "Oh, yes, I'm sure it was. Now could you please tell me where she said she was going?"

   "Be right glad to tell you seein' as how the poor little thing needs to be put back where they can take care of her. You never know about all the crazy people out there in the world. Why, any man could come along and talk her into doin' ugly things for a few dollars to keep her alive."

   Ramona sighed and Jane smiled.

   "She packed up her bags on a Saturday morning when Miz Luckadeau and Slade was off to the grocery store. The foreman here on the ranch said he was going over to Gainesville to get a part for a tractor and she asked if she could go along with him and would he drop her at the bus stop. Said she was headin' on north for a spell. Maybe Tulsa or Miami. That's a town on up past Tulsa in the corner of Oklahoma. I figure she'll go to Miami. No reason except that she kept talking about liking the beach. I didn't know there was a beach there. Did you?"

   "Maybe she was talkin' about Miami, Florida," Ramona said.

   "Never thought of that. I bet she was. But why would she go to Tulsa first? Maybe she's got relatives there who she wanted to see? She didn't mention anyone but one distant cousin and she didn't say if she lived in Tulsa or not. Sorry I can't be of no more help to you. Poor little ole thing out there all alone."

   Ramona hung up without even saying good-bye.

   The phone rang again and Jane's nerves about snapped.

   "Hello. Luckadeau residence." Jane was still using her fake Mexican accent.

   "Jane, is that you?" Slade asked.

   "It's me." She changed back to her normal voice.

   "What are you doing? Playing jokes in case Granny calls? Never mind. Don't tell me. You'd beat around the bush until it was stripped bare of leaves. I need someone to drive a tractor and plow until dark. You ever done that?"

   "Where are you?"

   "Remember when you rode the fence line with me?"

   "Yes."

   "Go all the way to the second section line and turn left. You'll see the dust before you get to me. Pull in and park the truck anywhere."

   She followed directions, crawled up into the cab of a John Deere tractor, and fired up the engine. All after noon she plowed and worried that Ramona might have seen through her story. If not, maybe she bought herself a few more days and they'd be off on a wild goose chase to Tulsa or Miami… Oklahoma or Florida. She didn't care as long as it kept them away from the ranch and out of her sight.

Tuesday.

   She cooked all morning. Two Bundt cakes. Vegetable soup. Ham and cheese sandwiches on thick slabs of her own homemade bread. Chips and picante made from her mother's recipe.

   She plowed all afternoon, stopping just long enough to drive back to the house, make sandwiches, refill the tea jug, and carry his meal to Slade at suppertime. She ate while she drove the truck back to the field and didn't sit around jawing with him while he swallowed his food. She got back inside the cab of the tractor, fired it up, and turned on the lights. At ten thirty that night they stopped and dragged themselves to the house. They didn't have energy for anything other than showers, and were asleep five seconds before their heads hit their pillows.

Wednesday.

   Lord Almighty, but she'd be glad when Nellie got home. She missed her so bad that morning as she laid out chicken to barbecue in the oven that she could have wept. She whipped up two pecan pies and a double recipe of peach cobbler for dessert, then made baked beans and potato salad.

   Slade and the help talked about moving cattle that afternoon from one pasture to the next. They debated whether to get out the semi and load them up, or round them up by horseback and herd them from one section of land to the other.

   "Hey, Jane, you want to ride this afternoon? We could use another person. You ever worked a herd?"

   "I expect I could learn fast enough," she said, glad for anything to pass the afternoon so she wouldn't be so homesick to see Nellie and Ellen.

   She whispered threats into Demon's ear as she saddled him. She stuck a foot in the stirrup and hefted herself up and over in one graceful motion. He must have believed her about the cat food industry because he responded to every touch of the rein the rest of the day. She brought up the rear and would have had to eat a fair amount of dust had they been driving the cattle in anything but pasture grass. But to her notion she had the best seat in the house.

   The cattle dogs were a big help in keeping the cows together but often a calf would get lost and start bawling for its mother. During the afternoon when they rounded up a straggler and brought it back to the herd, she and Demon flushed a dozen rabbits that skittered off away from the cattle hoofs. Slade had trained his dogs well, though, because not a one of the four took off after the rabbits. She could almost see the desire to chase them in their eyes, but they obeyed when he whistled.

   Would he expect his wife to jump like the dogs when he hollered?

   "None of my business, is it, Demon?" she mumbled as she adjusted her hat.

   They hit the house that night at dark and ate leftover chicken straight out of the pan, standing at the kitchen bar. They wiped their fingers on paper towels and Slade called for the first shower that night. She didn't see him again until morning. She was too tired and sore to dream about anything that night. There was surely not time for fretting about what could be or would be on a ranch. Every waking minute was taken up with work. Not that she was complaining. She was down to two weeks until her birthday on July eighteenth. Then Paul was going to find out what it felt like to be on the street without a job. And John could abandon his plans to marry slash kill her and go on back to sleeping with his pseudo sister.

Thursday.

   Jane moaned when she crawled out of bed. Her legs were going to be permanently bowed if Slade asked her to ride all afternoon again. He'd already eaten breakfast and was going out the back door when she reached the kitchen.

   "Got to get at it early today. We're branding the late calves. Should be done by noon. Sorry to hurt your feel ings if you've got a thing for seared flesh," he said.