A Forever Thing (15 page)

“Let’s go eat banana splits at the Dairy Queen. My treat,” Fancy
said when they finished the job.

“Sounds good to me,” Sophie said.

“I want one of those Peanut Buster Parfaits instead,” Kate said.

“Sophie makes me promise to stay in Albany for a whole year,
and all you want is ice cream?” Fancy said.

“That’s just for today. I’m saving my big payback until some
midnight when you’re snuggled up to Theron after you marry him.
Then I’ll demand that you come help me out of some dire situation.” Kate grinned.

“Then I don’t ever have to worry about it. Theron and I are barely
friends. We tolerate each other for Sunday school, but mostly we
end up arguing. This morning we ‘bout set the room on fire with our
`big-people discussion.”’ Fancy hadn’t told them about his sizzling
kiss that night on her porch. If she did, they’d throw a veil onto her
head, zip her into a white dress, and push her down the church aisle.

They all had their treats and left the Dairy Queen to go in different directions. Somehow Fancy wasn’t even all that surprised
when she saw a pickup truck tailing her again or when it pulled
into her driveway right behind her.

“What are you doing in town at this time of night?” she asked
when Theron got out of the truck.

“I just finished up some paperwork at the school and was on my
way home when I saw your car. Hungry? Want to get a burger?”

She shook her head. “Just had a banana split with Sophie and
Kate.”

He looked … disappointed? Not possible, Fancy thought.

“I figured,” he said. “Their trucks are here every Sunday afternoon.”

Her blue eyes narrowed into slits. “Are you stalking me, Theron
Warren?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I have to drive past your place on the
way home from church.”

She fought back the heat rising from her neck. “Anyway, Sophie
and Kate came over, and we cleaned out Granny’s bedroom. Amazingly, she’d kept lots of pictures, including some of my momma and
me.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hattie is a good example
of the fact that we never really know anyone. That’s another reason I’m never getting married again.” He seemed to straighten his
shoulders, as if waging some internal battle.

Fancy shrugged it off. “Well, Mr. Eternal Bachelor, want to
come in for a pot of coffee?”

Again he looked thoughtful, then nodded. “Okay. It’s starting to
freeze out here. Strange weather for Texas at this time of year. Are
you flying home for the Thanksgiving holiday?”

She nodded as she opened the door. “After the ladies get their
hairdos on Wednesday, I’ll fly out of Dallas that afternoon”

He shut the door behind him, removed his coat, and tossed it
over the back of the sofa. “Be back for church on Sunday?”

“Oh, honey, I’d be afraid to miss church. You’d be declaring me
dead and claiming the Sunday school class, possession being
ninety percent of the law.”

He sat down at the kitchen table and watched her make coffee, his
gaze lingering on her lips. It wouldn’t be right to kiss her again, he
told himself. She’d think there was something there, and he couldn’t
offer Fancy Lynn Sawyer anything. Besides, she was going back to
Florida as soon as Hattie’s house sold, and he had a ranch in Texas.

She leaned against the cabinet while the coffee dripped. “I don’t
remember this kind of cold in November. I remember playing outside without a coat on Thanksgiving.”

He nodded. “It’s strange, all right. Maybe the storm they’re predicting will bypass us, and we’ll just get the edge. Weatherman
said there’s ice in this one and maybe snow in the one to come in
the next couple of days. It might shut down the schools.”

“I hated it when we had to shut down for hurricanes. It always
threw my schedule off and made the kids even wilder when they
came back to the classroom.”

“Know just what you mean,” Theron said.

She poured coffee into two cups and set them on the table, then
sat down across from him. The phone rang, and she hurried to the
living room to dig it out of her pocket. It was Sophie saying that
she and Aunt Maud were planning a big Thanksgiving dinner, and
if the weather kept her from going home, she was welcome to slide
on down to Baird instead. She thanked Sophie and turned around,
only to run smack into Theron’s chest.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Thank you for the coffee,” he said hoarsely, looking down into
her mesmerizing blue eyes.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered.

He reached out with his right hand and traced her jawline. “You
are a beautiful woman, Fancy Lynn Sawyer.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, but she didn’t have to say a
word, because his eyes slowly closed, and he leaned down for the
kiss. It was every bit as earth-shattering as the first one had been.

“Good night,” he murmured when he broke the kiss.

“Good night,” she whispered.

Before she could say another word, he was out the door, and she
could hear his pickup backing out of the driveway. She wrapped
her arms around her body, hugging herself tightly. Her world was
changing; the winds were blowing her sideways, and she wasn’t
sure that she liked it one bit.

Nervous energy surged through her veins, and it was too early
to go to bed, so she dragged out a suitcase and packed for her trip
to Florida. When she finished, she forced herself to eat a piece of
string cheese with ham wrapped around it, blaming the jitters on
too much sugar and caffeine. She’d just finished eating it when the
house phone rang.

“Hello,” she said cautiously. The phone hadn’t rung one time
since she’d been there; it was probably a telemarketer.

“Fancy, it’s Theron. I’ve got a big, big problem, and I need help.
I didn’t have your cell number, and I was afraid Hattie’s phone had
been disconnected. I’m glad you picked up”

Theron was talking too fast, and she could hear fear in his
voice. “What’s wrong, Theron? Tell me what’s going on”

“I need you to come with me to Decatur. Can you please, please
come with me? The weather is getting bad, so it might involve an
overnight, so pack a bag. I can have you back early tomorrow morning, if not tonight. The bag is just in case we absolutely have to stay
overnight.”

“Theron, what are you talking about?” she asked again.

“I’ll have to explain on the way. It’s my ex-wife, and she’s barely
given me enough time to get there. Will you help me?”

She made a decision with her heart, bypassing her head. “I’ll be
waiting on the porch,” she said.

She turned off all the lights, put the heater on low, and set her
already-packed suitcase out on the porch. The temperature had
dropped again, and a cold mist stung her warm face.

In seemingly no time, truck tires crunched the cold gravel of
the driveway, and she locked the front door. Theron hopped out,
grabbed her suitcase, and rushed her to his pickup.

“We’ve got to hurry. That mist is going to slow us down. It’s
freezing on the windshield so fast, the wipers are having trouble
keeping up,” he said.

She buckled herself in. “Theron, what’s going on?”

“It’s a long story, and I’m scared to death. I’m glad you’re going
with me. Even an argument would keep my mind off what’s going
on. I’m in shock.”

“Then you’d better start talking. We can’t fight if you keep talking in circles, because I can’t make heads or tails out of what
you’re saying. Do you know you’re as white as a sheet? Did she
murder someone or what?” Fancy asked.

Theron pulled out of Albany headed east on Highway 180 at a
speed that did not take the freezing mist into consideration. Something horrible had happened, and Fancy’s curiosity was on high
alert, but she kept her silence, giving him time to put his thoughts
into sentences.

“Maria called,” he finally said.

“I got that much. Is she dead or something?” Fancy asked.

“She wouldn’t be calling if she were dead,” he said. “You remember how you felt that night you told me about Hattie? How
stunned and shocked you were?”

She nodded.

“Multiply that times a thousand, and you’ll understand the turmoil I’m in right now. Maria suggested I bring someone with me,
and I could only think of you. You’re so good with the little kids at
Sunday school, and you’ve taught first grade all these years. I
don’t know a blessed thing about three-year-old girls.”

Three-year-old girls? “Slow down, Theron. Start from the beginning. Do you want me to drive?”

“No, I can drive. It’s two hours to Decatur in good weather. If
I’m not there by eleven, all deals are off.”

“Okay, we’ll get there by eleven if we have to stick our arms out
the windows and fly. Now tell me what Maria said when she called.
Go slow,” Fancy said. So it had something to do with a three-yearold, and he couldn’t tackle the job on his own.

“Maria left me a message. Evidently she finally got someone
to tell her where I was, and she found a number. The ranch is still
in Joe’s name. He’s my grandmother’s brother, so his name isn’t Warren; it’s Frank. Anyway, she found the number after asking
enough people up in Shamrock.” He paused.

Fancy had told him to go slow, but she didn’t mean that he should
start out with “In the beginning God created …” and go from that
point. So far he had established that Joe Frank was his great-uncle
on his mother’s side.

“She’s been in and out of Shamrock for a couple of months. My
sister, Melissa, called a few weeks ago and told me Maria was
around town asking questions.”

So now Fancy knew he had a sister named Melissa. Was his
mother Mary? That way all the women in his life would have M
names. She waited patiently for him to continue.

“In the message she said it was a matter of life and death, so I
called. She said that when she left me, she was pregnant, but she
wasn’t sure she was going to keep the baby, since she didn’t want to
be married anymore. Her brother and sister-in-law talked her into
keeping the child by offering to help with the babysitting. She
moved in with an old boyfriend after she had the baby. But he’s
been out of the picture for a few months, and now she’s going to get
married again. Trouble is, she doesn’t want to take the child with
her. And she’s flying out tonight. Remind you of Hattie’s story, only
in modern times?”

“Wow!” Fancy whispered. “How … cold,” was all she could
think of to say.

“She’s at the old hunting cabin where we spent our honeymoon.
It’s on my grandparents’ property and way out in the middle of
nowhere. She’s threatened to give the child to her sister-in-law if I
don’t get there tonight. She said Kayla didn’t really want her because she’s expecting twins herself now, but she said she’d take
her if I didn’t want her.”

Fancy gasped. What was wrong with these people, discarding a
child as if she were an outgrown toy? “So … why am I here?” she
managed to ask.

“To begin with, I don’t know much about suddenly taking care of
a three-year-old on a twenty-four-hour basis. And I’m hoping that
having a woman with me when I go to get her will keep her from being afraid. She doesn’t know me. Her own father is a stranger to
her,” he groaned. “And I guess I need a friend right now.”

Fancy smiled. So she was his friend? “Settle down. Breathe
easy. It won’t do that baby a bit of good if her father has a heart attack and dies at the age of thirty.”

“Thirty-one,” he corrected.

“Okay, then, thirty-one. We’ll get through this, Theron. I’ll help”

“Thank you, Fancy. I … I just didn’t know who else to call.” He
fell silent for a moment, then said, “This weather is getting worse.
We’ll probably do best to stay in the cabin tonight and drive back
early tomorrow morning. I’ll call in and take a personal day.” He
made plans as he drove.

“What’s your daughter’s name?” Fancy asked.

Theron shrugged, looking miserable. “I don’t even know. Maria
said she was leaving a packet with her birth certificate and vaccination records. I didn’t even ask her name. I was so confused and
shocked, I could barely see straight.”

“Quite a lot to throw at a self-confirmed bachelor,” Fancy said.

“Yes, it is. Just more reason to be one too. Women!”

Fancy fought back a smile. “Not all women are like Maria.”

“How would I ever know the difference?” he moaned.

“You’ll know when the time comes, Theron. For now just concentrate on keeping this truck on the road and out of a ditch.”

Theron kept silent for the next hour. When they reached Mineral Wells, he stopped long enough for them to dash into a convenience
store, use the restrooms, and grab two large cups of coffee. Having
something warm to wrap her hands around helped calm Fancy’s
nerves.

“What would you say to her if you were in my shoes?” Theron
asked thirty minutes later when they headed north on Highway 51.
The weather was getting serious. The road was covered with black
ice, and the oncoming traffic was moving very slowly.