Song of the Meadowlark (Intertwined Book 1) (23 page)

Cora sat down at her new laptop and pulled up her email account. “Thirty-five messages? Who from?” She scanned the screen, filtering through the junk, looking for mail from friends. Most messages were from the library notifying her of books ready for pick up, the Department of Drivers Services about her Georgia Drivers License, and the bank about her new checking and savings accounts. She clicked on the one from the bank. She smiled after reading it. “It’s amazing how they act when you deposit a chunk of money.” If only Clark’s death wasn’t the source of her wealth. A dark cloud floated through her head, but she pushed it away. She cleared her throat and clicked on the email from Anne.

Hey, Cora. How’s it going? Haven’t heard from you this week. I figure you’re busy getting the B&B off the ground. I had a date last night with Tim Jacobs from school. I ran into him at the mall, and we ended up eating in the food court, going to a movie, and getting coffee. Call me when you get the chance, and I’ll fill you in.

“Well, good for her. Tim, huh?” Cora opened the next email.

Cora, Dad and I miss you. I hope everything is going well with you and Rex. Keep us posted. We’re thinking about coming your way for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Not sure which yet. I’ve attached some pictures I took when you were home. I just now uploaded them from my camera. Okay, I had better get off this computer and get dinner ready. Love you, Mom

Cora clicked on the attached pictures and burst out laughing at the pictures of her and Rex. “I’ll have to have some prints made of those.”

An email from the Buchanans waited in her inbox, as well, but she’d have to read it later because Susie called her name from the living room.

“What are you doing, little one?”

“Getting ready for dinner.” She twisted her hair with her finger.

“Is it that time already?” Cora closed her laptop.

“Yes, ma’am. And I’m hungry.”

“Me too.” Cora took Susie in her arms. “Let’s go see if we can help Jimmy in the kitchen with setting the table.”

“Okay.”

Cora and Susie finished setting the table as R.L. and Pearl came into the dining room. Rex came in from the back porch. “There’s my favorite girls.” He kissed Susie on the top of the head and Cora on the cheek. He winked at Pearl. “Dad, did Matt talk to you before he headed out?”

“He actually called me from the road. He told me the ideas y’all have come up with. I like everything I’ve heard so far.”

“What exactly did he tell you?”

“He told me he wants to make a go of the dude ranch in addition to the B&B. When you told him you didn’t want to deal with a bunch of cowboy wannabes, he realized he was the perfect person to deal with them. He’s a cowboy stuck in a suit wanting to be a cowboy.”

“He said that? Wow.” Rex chuckled, and Cora echoed his laughter.

“Yes, he did. You had some impact on him there, Son. You know, the service industry is where it’s at these days. I think it’s all sounding great. I say let’s get moving immediately on all of it.”

“Really, Dad?”

“Sure thing. The sooner, the better. We can start to get the word out while we begin construction on the wing you want to add and get the old bunkhouse renovated. Maybe people will be here by the first of the year.”

“Great.”

“R.L., I’ve been looking at website development on my new computer. There are a lot of easy ways to get a website up and going without even having to have a webmaster. Domain names are cheap and web hosting is a few hundred a year. There are so many social networks out there too. It won’t take long to spread the word.”

“Let’s get going on that too, then. Cora, I’m glad we have you here.”

“Cora?”

“Yes, ma’am?” Cora put down the book she was reading while Susie napped.

“Have you seen or talked to Clarice since before lunch?” Pearl wrung her hands.

“No, I sure haven’t.” Of course she hadn’t talked to her. The girl refused to forgive her. “She said she was having lunch with friends in town. Have you called her?” Cora pushed her hair behind her ears. When was Clarice going to stop causing her mother so much worry?

“No, I didn’t want to make her think I’m checking up on her. But…” Pearl let out the kind of sigh that could blow out the candles on a birthday cake.

“You’re checking up on her.”

Pearl smiled guiltily. “Yes, I suppose I am. I don’t mean to pry.”

“I know, Pearl. You’re just concerned for her.” Pearl’s concern was different from Mom’s concern. Mom only wanted to control Cora. Pearl wanted to keep Clarice from ruining her life.

“She’s not very careful.” Pearl massaged her right shoulder where it stayed tight from worrying about Clarice. “You know—her choice in friends and where she goes.”

“I know. Maybe you should call her. Ask her if she’ll be home for dinner.” Cora patted Pearl’s hand.

“Maybe I will.”

Cora busied herself with helping Jimmy and getting Susie ready for dinner. Pictures of the missing women she’d seen on the news flashed in her mind.
Lord, please protect Clarice from herself.

“Hey, what’s got you looking so puzzled?” Rex came up behind Cora and rubbed her shoulders.

“Your mom hasn’t heard from Clarice and is worried about her.”

“Mom’s always worried about her. You know that.” Rex sat next to Cora at the table.

“No, I think it’s more than that this time. I think she’s worried because all of the women who’ve been kidnapped except for me have been found dead. She knows Clarice meets up with people and shows very little discernment.”

“She’s not going to get kidnapped. Anyone who tried to take Clarice by force would be sorry. That girl may seem like a city girl, but underneath that façade is a homegrown country girl who can fend for herself.”

“But what about the morning after Wild Bill’s? She was obviously beaten up.”

“Those places on Clarice weren’t from an attacker, Cora.” Rex pressed his meaning into Cora’s eyes. “She likes to be rough when…”

Cora held up her hands. “Enough. I don’t need to hear anymore. Yuck. She needs to stop this carelessness. She’s going to be the death of your mom.”

“I know. Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine. If we don’t see her or hear from her in a couple of hours, I’ll call around and see if anyone knows where she is.”

“Okay, that makes me feel better.”

“Rex, this has been the best day ever,” Cora said as they soaked in the hot tub.

“Why?” He wiped sweat from his upper lip.

“We’ve gotten a lot of details worked out for the B&B. Your parents approve. Matt approves. Matt showed his heart today, which is a first. To see him let his guard down was awesome.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” He nodded.

“You suppose? I
am
right. Then, on top of that, it’s cold out, and I’m sitting in a hot tub with a very handsome man.” She grinned.

“Your boyfriend.”

“My boyfriend?”

“Aren’t I your boyfriend?”

“I suppose you are.” She winked at him and leaned across the hot tub to give him a peck on the cheek, lingering a few seconds.

“Hey, now, watch it.”

“What?” She fluttered her eyelashes in false naïveté.

“We’re alone out here. You keep your distance.”

“Why?” Cora grinned.

“You know why, Cora.”

She stuck out her bottom lip and splashed him in the face.

Rex chortled while he wiped the water away from his face then tapped her lip with his index finger. “I’ve been wondering about something lately.”

“What?”

“When did you decide to leave South Carolina? How did you know it was time?”

“Why? Are you planning to leave?”

“No. Just curious.”

“I’d been waiting for Clark to come home for a year. I felt like I was spinning my wheels there living with his parents. My relationship with my own parents was practically dead. I knew I couldn’t live the rest of my life with that hanging over my head. It was time. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve always been resistant to change, and when I think about the steps you took to get your life going again, I really admire you.”

“I just did what I felt God was leading me to do.”

“Maybe, but it sure took lots of guts to do it.”

“I don’t know about guts. I was trying to be obedient. Don’t make me out to be a heroine. You’ve made some pretty big steps and changes lately. You’re heading your life and Susie’s in a new direction.”

“Yeah, I suppose. I’m still scared, though.”

“Scared?”

He nodded. “I don’t want to mess things up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to be a bad dad. I want to be a good man.”

“You are. You will be. Rex, have faith.”

The back porch light from the house turned on. “Rex? Are you out there?”

“Yeah, Dad. I’m in the hot tub.”

Cora sat back, resting her head on the headrest. She closed her eyes and let the jets beat the cares of the day away. R.L. walked across the patio toward them.

“He’ll probably only be a minute.” Rex smiled apologetically at Cora.

“That’s fine, Rex. I don’t mind.” If there was one thing she’d gotten used to around there, it was family…and interruptions.

“Son, have you talked to Clarice?”

“No, Dad, I haven’t. I talked to her before lunch.”

“Have you seen her or talked to her, Cora?”

Cora leaned up and looked up at R.L. “No, sir, I sure haven’t. I saw her when Rex did.”

“Are you worried about her?”

“Yes. Your mom has called her cell phone several times, but there is no answer. I don’t know who she was going out with, but we’ve called everyone we can think of, and no one has seen her all day.”

Rex lifted himself out of the hot tub and wrapped his towel around him. “She didn’t say who she was going to be with. Did she, Cora?”

“No, I don’t think so. She didn’t say much when she was here.” Cora lifted herself out of the hot tub and grabbed her towel.

“Dad, Clarice could’ve told her friends not to tell you guys who she was with if you asked. She’s pretty secretive with her social life.”

R.L. threw his hands up in the air. “I know, Son. I know. But I don’t know where we went wrong with that girl. I hate to ask you, but do you think you could go look for her? We’ll put Susie to bed here.”

“Where’s Matt?”

“He’s in town, and he’s been looking for her. He went to Wild Bill’s and some other places.”

“Did he check with Ms. Lottie?”

R.L. laughed. “Rex, you know she wouldn’t have gone there.”

“I know.”

What was that look exchanged between them?

“Would you mind going to look for her?”

“I don’t mind, Dad, but I can’t think of any other places she’d be. She said something about meeting a guy stationed over at the base, but I don’t remember what his name was.”

“What about calling the cell phone company? Maybe they can try to locate her cell phone.” Cora looked from R.L. to Rex.

“That’s an idea.”

“Have you called the police?” Cora shivered in the night air.

“No, not yet. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. Do either of you remember what she was wearing?”

“No.” Rex rumpled his hair and sighed. “This is ridiculous.”

Cora turned to R.L. “She was wearing jeans and a blouse when she came in earlier, but she went upstairs to change. We weren’t in the hall when she left, so I didn’t see what she had on. What about her car? Isn’t there some kind of tracker on it?”

“Yes, I think there is. I guess I should call the police. Rex, your mother is worried sick. It’s been noon since she was seen.”

“We’ll go looking for her. If I find her and she’s okay, I’m going to put her over my knee and wear her out!”

Chapter 18

By 2:00 a.m., Cora could barely move. She and Rex had walked the streets of Southern Hope, had driven into Lewistown, and walked the streets there too. Clarice was nowhere.

“I’m gonna call Matt and see if he’s heard anything since he was going into Columbus to hunt her down; then we’re gonna go to the police station.”

“Okay.” The car lights flickered in the window. Cora sat in the middle next to Rex, her head on his shoulder. She yawned. “Rex, do you think she’s left home? Or do you think something has happened to her?”

“Nothing’s missing from her room. She promised me she’d never do what she did that night at Wild Bill’s. She said she’d never stay out all night, and she’d never make Mom worry about her again.”

“Do you believe her?” She raised her head and looked up at him.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Then she’s in trouble?”

“I think so.”

“Then let’s call Matt and head to the police.”