Song of the Road (20 page)

“Can you stand?”

“I think so.”

“Come back into the office. The doctor will want to see you, and I can take care of your skinned legs.”

“What happened, Paco?” Several men had come up the stairs. One of them was carrying Mary Lee’s purse and one shoe. Another picked her hat up off the steps.

“I was passin’ by and heard the lady yell.”

“How could her foot slip backward through the open stair?” The nurse had a puzzled frown on her face. “Would someone get her other shoe? It fell off when her leg went through the opening.”

Paco said, “I thought I saw someone under the stairs. He dodged around the building.”

“Someone grabbed my ankle.” Mary Lee wiped her face on the handkerchief she took from her pocket. “Someone wanted me to fall.”

Paco lifted her to her feet and held her while she steadied herself then limped up the steps to the doctor’s office. He helped her to a chair.

Mary Lee looked up with tear-filled eyes. “Thank you.”

“You very welcome,
señora.
”

“What’s happened here?” Doctor Morris came from the back room. After being told, he listened to her heartbeat and that of her baby, then moved his knowing hands over the mound of her stomach. “Young lady, you’re lucky you didn’t go tumbling down the steps. I don’t think any damage was done by the fall. You’ll have to be more careful.”

Mary Lee’s shin was skinned, her knees cut and bruised. After a thorough cleaning, the nurse swabbed them with iodine.

“I felt my foot being jerked backward, Doctor. I know I’m not imagining it.”

“You don’t say? Hummm . . .”

“I couldn’t have slipped backward.”

“Then someone was deliberately trying to hurt you. You should tell Sheriff Pleggenkuhle.”

“Her shoe was yanked off, Doctor.” The nurse knelt down and slipped the shoe on Mary Lee’s foot and tied the laces.

“If you see any spotting, call me or come in at once.” At that moment a baby began to cry in the examination room.

Paco spoke to the doctor. “I must go to the bank; then I will get my car and take her home.”

“Oh, but I can’t let you do that,” Mary Lee protested.

“Yes, you can. Sit right here and wait for Paco. He’ll see that you get back home. I’d take you myself, but I’ve got a full schedule this afternoon.” The doctor left them.

“I don’t like being so much trouble.”

“None of us do,” the nurse said. “But sometimes we have to be gracious and accept help when it’s offered.”

“The man who helped me is Mr. García, isn’t he?” Mary Lee asked when they were alone. “I haven’t seen him for a long time.”

“Yes. You’ll be all right with him. I’d heed the doctor’s advice if I were you and tell the sheriff you think someone grabbed your ankle. I can’t imagine why anyone would do such a thing.”

After the doctor called the nurse into the examination room, Mary Lee got to her feet holding on to the back of the chair. Her knee was so sore, she winced when she put her weight on it. She walked back and forth, her mind going back to what had happened on the iron stairs. She had been halfway down the stairs when she felt something close around her ankle. Now she knew that it was a hand. It had jerked and pulled her foot back between the two steps.

She shuddered to think of what would have happened if she had not been able to hold on to the railing. She would have gone facedown, down the stairs, and surely her baby would have been injured or killed.

Who besides Frank Pierce would want to hurt her? He was in jail; and if he wasn’t, he was in no condition to be lurking beneath the stairs. Ocie Clawson wanted her baby. He would not hurt it. Could it have been the man her mother called Yancy? With her gone, the court would go to her mother . . . until the bank took it away from her.

A wave of fear traveled down her spine.

Her legs were trembling as Paco helped her down the stairs. She held on to the stair railing and leaned heavily on his arm. People passing gawked as he helped her into his car. She held her head up and didn’t look at any of them.

Jake and Eli were in front of the washhouse when the car stopped in front of the house. Before she could open the door and get out, Jake had charged around the building. His dark face held a worried frown. Eli was behind him.

Paco was getting out of the car as Jake pulled open the door. “What happened? Are you all right?”

“I’m all right.”

“
Hola,
Jake,” Paco said casually.

“What happened?” Jake demanded again. “Why’d you bring her home? I was about to go to meet her.”

“I fell on the doctor’s stairs and Mr. García was kind enough to give me a ride home.” Mary Lee turned and put her feet on the running board so she could step down.

“Fell on the stairs?” Jake echoed her words. His eyes went to her skinned legs, now dark red with iodine. He clenched his teeth until a muscle danced in his jaw. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered beneath his breath.

She tried to push his hands away when they grasped her under the arms, but he refused to be hindered and lifted her out of the car.

“Everything all right here, Eli?” she asked.

“I’ve rented number five. I don’t think they’ll stay long. We may be able to rent it again.” Then, as he realized what his words indicated, his face turned brick red. “Charged ’em the two dollars too,” he finished lamely.

“Has my mother been out?”

“She came out, cooked somethin’, then went out to number one.”

“Did the man who was there last night come back?”

“I’ve not seen him.”

Paco, watching Jake, muttered,
“Yi, yi, yi.”
His friend hadn’t taken his eyes off Mary Lee.

The man was down, gravel-smitten with the little widow.

“Thank you, Mr. García, for the ride.” Mary Lee took off her hat. “Excuse me. I need to change my dress.”

Jake didn’t say anything, but he was at the steps with his hand beneath her elbow. Eli was on her other side and followed her into the house. Jake came back to the car.

“Did the doctor see her after she fell?”

“Yeah,
amigo.
He look her over.”

“Where’d she fall?”

“On the steps comin’ down from Doc Morris. She thinks someone grab her foot and pull it back through the stairs. I was passin’ and heard her yell.
Yi, yi, yi.
She was holdin’ on to the rail.”

“The hell you say! Jesus, Paco! Did you see anyone under the steps?”

“Thought I did, but not sure.”

“By God, Paco! They’re not wantin’ her to have the baby. They’re afraid Ocie will make it his heir.”

“I ain’t heard Ocie’s so all-fired fond of Lon.”

“She’ll not go to town alone again.”

“You her protector,
amigo
?”

“Someone should be lookin’ out for her,” Jake said belligerently. “Her mother isn’t fit to shoot.”

“Yo’re it, huh?”

“She’s got no one but me and a thirteen-year-old kid. If Lon’s behind this and hurts her, he’ll wish he’d never set eyes on her.”

“Ya got to be careful,
amigo.
Let the sheriff handle it.”

“I’ll be careful. If I learned one thing in prison it’s that it doesn’t always pay to fight fair.”

“It’s bein’ spread around town that you held Frank while the girl whacked his pecker with a broken plate.”

Jake’s green eyes glinted at that; his mouth spread in a grin.

“I didn’t touch him and one whack was all it took. I had no idea what she was going to do until she did it. She took the sap outta old Frank. He’ll not be pissin’ in front of a lady anytime soon.”

Paco chuckled. “I’ll do what I can to set the story straight.” He got into the car. “It could be Frank and his cronies who have it in for her because she took over the court.”

“Frank’s a stupid son of a bitch.”

“Gotta be gettin’ back. How’re ya goin’ to keep an eye on that girl and work too?”

“Trudy Bender is comin’ out tomorrow. Between her and Eli, she’ll have someone with her when I’m not here.”

Jake stood back and watched Paco drive away. He wanted to go in the house and make sure Mary Lee was all right, but he wasn’t sure of his welcome. At that moment a car came in off the highway, and Mary Lee came out onto the porch to greet a heavyset man with a head of thick gray hair.

“Hello,” she said pleasantly.

“Sign says you get breakfast with the room.”

“We serve breakfast between six and eight here in the house.”

“Price is kind of steep, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so. You get what you pay for.”

“I’ll give you a buck seventy-five. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll leave it. Good day.” Mary Lee turned to go back in the house.

“Hold on, sister. I was just funnin’ ya.”

“It wasn’t funny and I’m not your sister.”

“Can I see the room?”

“Sure —”

“Give me the key, Mary Lee.” Jake stepped forward and held out his hand. “I’ll show it to him.”

“Number four.”

“Your wife’s kinda touchy,” the man said as he and Jake walked down the lane to the cabin.

Jake experienced a warm thrill on hearing the man’s words and didn’t correct him. He opened the cabin door and stepped back. The man looked inside, then nodded.

“Looks all right.”

They walked back to where Mary Lee waited on the porch. The man gave her the two dollars and his name for the register. After he drove down to the cabin, Jake stepped up onto the porch.

“Why don’t you sit down? Eli or I can do your legwork tonight.”

“If I don’t move around I’ll get stiff.”

“You can walk back and forth here on the porch.”

“Who, besides Frank Pierce, would want to hurt me, Jake? I felt a hand on my ankle. I couldn’t have slipped backward.”

“I believe you. I don’t know . . . unless . . .”

“Unless who? It wasn’t Mr. Clawson. He told me to take care of myself. He wants to raise my baby, not get rid of it. It could have been the man who was here last night, getting even for what I did to Frank.”

“You’re not going to town or anywhere else by yourself anymore.”

“You think someone is really out to hurt me?”

“I don’t know, but we’re not taking a chance.”

Their eyes caught and held. Green into blue. Something in the way he was looking at her brought back the memory of the kiss they had shared. It had been soft and sweet. She had to admit that she hadn’t been kissed like that ever.

“I’ll get my tools and fix your door.”

Later she was to wonder why she hadn’t resented his possessive attitude toward her.
You’re not going to town or anywhere else by yourself.
He had said that as if he had the right to tell her what to do.

She had known him only a few weeks and had been alone with him not more than four times. She had felt a connection with him the first time she saw him. No, not the first. He had hung in the back of her mind since their meeting long ago as children. And now being close to the tall, dark serious man he had grown up to be made her tingle in places she had believed were immune to sexual stimulation.

Chapter 14

“E
LI IS FRYING POTATOES AND MAKING TEA.
”

“Are you inviting me to supper?”

“It isn’t much.”

“It’s plenty, but I can’t keep on eating your grub.”

“I need to pay you back for what you do.”

“Why?”

“Just . . . because I do.”

“You made me a birthday cake.” He smiled. He was really quite handsome when he smiled.

“We all helped you eat it.”

“Will you let me take you to Ruby’s for supper one night?”

“I can’t leave the court, Jake. You know that.”

“You could leave for an hour if the cabins were rented. Eli would be here.”

“What if Frank came back?”

“He’s in jail. He’s not coming back anytime soon. But I get the message.” He stepped down off the porch. “I’ll get my toolbox. I picked up two latches to put on your doors.”

“Jake? What did you mean, you got the message?”

“I understand if you don’t want to be seen with me.”

“That isn’t it! Dammit, why do you have to say such things?”

“Don’t make a big thing of it.”

“I’ll go with you to Ruby’s.”

He shook his head impatiently. “No. I don’t want you to go out of obligation.”

“You can make me so mad that . . . that I want to kick you!” She glared at him.

“You goin’ to eat with us, Jake?” Eli stuck his head out the door. “I cooked potatoes and onions. We’ve got leftover corn bread.”

“No, thanks, Eli.”

Mary Lee watched him walk down the lane to his truck. She had hurt his feelings. She would like to go with him to Ruby’s, but she really didn’t think that she could leave Eli here alone at suppertime, when folks usually stopped for the night.