Catching Moondrops (16 page)

“Ain't no lawbreakin' goin' on in here, Jessilyn. Least not until you showed up. I could arrest you for assault.”

“I didn't say nothin' about lawbreakin' goin' on in here. I'm talkin' about over at the colored church.”

He watched me for a second and then took a long swig of his beer.

“That stuff give you courage, Sheriff? Or does it just make you a better liar?”

Sheriff Clancy spit and shifted his wad of chewing tobacco. “You got a big mouth on you, girl!” But despite his vehemence, he clamped a meaty hand on Delmar's shoulder. “Let her go.”

“Don't feel like it.”

“I didn't ask if you felt like it. In fact, I didn't ask you nothin'. I told you to let her go.”

Delmar didn't even flinch until the sound of a pistol being cocked caught his attention. I looked down and saw Sheriff Clancy holding his pistol by his right thigh.

“Like I said, Delmar . . . let her go.”

Delmar gritted his teeth so hard, I could hear them scraping together, but he let me go. Not without giving me one last shot, though, and his sharp release sent my head back into the wall. I bit my tongue with the force of it, blood immediately awakening my taste buds. I ran the back of my hand across my mouth where some had trickled from the corner of it. As I walked toward the door, I looked into the face of every man in that room, then made a mental note of their shoes. If a man was bound to hide his identity under a white hood, you could always figure him out by his shoes.

The sheriff kept his hand on his gun, apparently to stave off any trouble, but the look he aimed my way said he'd just as soon put a bullet in my head. I opened the door and hurried outside. It had started to rain, and the feel of it was like a slap to the face. My knees started to shake from the realization of what I'd done, and I ran to the truck awkwardly and peeled out of the gravel drive.

The rain had put a damper on the fire, but it still burned freely and had taken over most of the church property. Luke was standing on the roadside, his clothes wet and sooty, as I drove up.

“Jessilyn!” He waved and I slowed to a stop, turned the engine off, barely able to look at him. “Where you been?” he asked. “You had me worried sick. Gemma and Tal took a few of the ones who were worst off over to the Jessups' barn to look after them, and everyone else headed out when they realized there weren't nothin' to be done. Next thing I know, I'm all alone, and you ain't nowhere to be found.”

I hopped out, still unable to look him in the eye. I knew he'd want to wring my neck if he found out where I'd been, but it wasn't likely I'd get by without saying. I put it off for a few more seconds and reached up to smooth back his wet hair.

He pulled my hand away to lay it over his heart. Then he leaned forward. “Jessie, what's goin' on? Don't shut me out. Ain't nothin' worse than that.”

I felt so guilty. While Luke had stayed to help good people, I'd gone off to cause more trouble with the bad ones. I slipped my hand away from his and held it over my own heart, where a pain was starting to make it hard to breathe.

Luke looked at the back of my hand and then leveled a sharp glance at me. “Why's there blood on your hand?” He pulled me to him and gave me a once-over. “You get hurt somehow?”

I shook my head and started to cry.

Luke took my face in his hands. “Jessilyn, you tell me what happened. Now! You hear?”

“I left.” My voice shook, and I had trouble working in my words around the gasps as I cried.

“I know that. Where'd you go?”

“To Cole's.”

“Cole Mundy?” He dropped his hands and studied my eyes. “What in blazes would you do somethin' stupid like that for?”

“I don't know.” I knew my words were as stupid as my actions, but it was the truth. I didn't know. I had no idea what had come over me from the very start of it all, and I couldn't explain it to the man I loved just now, either.

“You don't know? Jessilyn, they could have killed you out there, you know that?” He turned and walked off about ten feet. I knew he was likely thinking he could kill me right about now too, so I left him alone to work out his anger before he turned his attention back to me.

He turned around then and pointed at me. “Where'd the blood come from?”

“I bit my tongue.”

“You bit your tongue!”

“It's the truth, Luke!”

“How?”

I stood there silently, afraid he'd retaliate after hearing Delmar had been rough with me, and I didn't want Luke getting hurt because I'd been a fool.

But Luke wasn't taking my quiet for an answer, and he took three quick steps toward me. “Jessilyn, how?”

“He just gave me a little shove, is all. It was my own fault. I just bit my tongue because I got surprised by him.”

“Who's ‘him'?”

“Delmar Custis.”

“Delmar Custis put his hands on you?”

He had no idea how much, and I wasn't about to let him know. I only shrugged. “He shoved me a little, like I said.”

He walked past me and opened the truck door, but I caught him by the arm. “Luke, wait! It wasn't nothin'. It was my own fault. I lost my temper, and I went over and accused them. It ain't like he didn't have reason for it.”

Luke didn't look at me. “Get in the truck, Jessilyn.”

“Where are we goin'?”

He didn't say anything, but the set of his jaw told me enough. I slid my way between him and the truck door. “Luke, don't do nothin', please. It was my fault. Me! If you get into trouble because of my stupid ways, I'll be sick, you hear?” I was frantic by now, all sorts of images flashing through my head, and not one of them ended without Luke being hurt. Or worse. I took his face in both of my hands and made him look at me. “If you care about me at all, don't go over there. Just let it go.”

His blue eyes locked with mine. “Jessilyn, you know how I feel about you.”

“Then don't go.”

He watched me for a good solid minute, every muscle in his face tense. I held my breath the entire time I waited. Finally he leaned his forehead down against mine and sighed. “You wear me out, Jessilyn. You know that, don't you?”

Relief swept over me and I fell against him, no longer feeling able to hold my own weight. But I didn't have to worry. He held it for me. And as we stood there in the rain, the smell of fear and hate mixed with the smoky air around us, I clung to him out of desperation, desperation about what life would bring us.

About the thought of who it might take away.

Chapter 11

I could see it start to happen right from the minute Gemma had met Tal on our front porch. Even with Malachi bleeding on the floorboards, she'd shone from top to toe, a flush dusted across those high cheekbones of hers like I hadn't ever seen before.

Just like she was shining now, strolling up the walkway beside him.

I leaned the broom against the house, stood at the top of the porch steps, and waved. “All done for the day?”

“For all I can tell.” Tal held up a chicken by its scrawny legs. “Gemma's prize for her services today. She's a soldier to do what she does for some fried chicken.”

I wrinkled my nose at the sight of it. Ours was mostly a planting farm, and any slaughtering that was ever done was done by a field hand or my daddy. “I hate the sight of those things unless they're already ready to be dredged and fried.”

Gemma smiled at my discomfort. “That mean you ain't gonna pluck it and whack it up for me?”

“I will soon as hell freezes over.” I retrieved the broom and nodded toward the house. “Momma's asked you to stay for supper, Tal.” Then I looked at him long and hard and said, “Long as your friend don't come with you. Daddy's in the shed. You can leave that critter off with him.”

“That's mighty good of your momma. Tell her I thank her kindly.” He tipped his hat at me, then at Gemma, and went off to dispose of Gemma's wages.

Gemma took the broom from me and swept the pile I'd made into the bushes. “That man put in more work today than most do in a week. He's got six folks hurt from that fire, and he ain't got nowhere to take them since the hospital won't accept coloreds. You should see him tryin' his best to care for folks in that empty old barn.” She stopped sweeping and tossed the broom against the wall so hard, it slid sideways and clattered to the floor. I didn't say anything. I just watched as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and then bent over to pick up the broom and settle it upright. “I swear, Jessilyn, sometimes it all just feels like too much. I ain't sure how much more I can take.”

I took her face in my hands and stood almost nose to nose with her. “Gemma Teague, most days it's me gettin' a reminder from you, but today it's my turn. All the stuff goin' on—it's a bunch of nonsense, ain't no doubt in that. Men like the Klan shouldn't be allowed to run around destroyin' people's lives. But I've had you tell me time and again to look at the good, and I'll tell you what's good this here day. It's that you got Tal Pritchett here to care for them sick folk at all. He could've been lost yesterday. You remember that.”

Her eyes moistened up right off the bat, and she leaned her forehead against mine. “I know.” Her breath caught, and she took her time before repeating, “I know it, Jessilyn.”

I used my thumbs to swipe at her tears, then wiped away my own. “Now, more importantly, you two seem to be gettin' on right nice.” I lowered my voice and put my mouth close to her ear. “Reckon he's got some thoughts about you that don't have to do with workin'.”

“Shh!” She gave me a playful whack with the back of her hand. “Don't you go startin' somethin'.”

“Oh, please! Everybody in these here parts knows what's goin' on between you two. It's clear as day you're in love with him.”

Gemma's cheeks turned pink as Momma's roses. “Be quiet, I said. I don't need the whole world knowin' my business.” But no matter her stern words, a grin played at the corners of her mouth. “He is a fine man, though, ain't he?”

“And fine-lookin', too, you ask me.”

I waited for her to scold me for such talk, like usual, but she just took a glance in Tal's direction and said, “Mmm-hmmm. He sure is.”

I stepped back and put my hands on my hips. “Gemma Teague! If that ain't the first time I ever heard you talk saucy.”

She tilted her chin up and gave me the look of a woman who knows what she knows but ain't interested in the rest of the world knowing. “I'm just sayin', he's a fine man who's fine-lookin', and that's all I'm gonna say about it.”

“Uh-huh. I hear you. And I'm just sayin' I got me a sure bet to lay down that there ain't a soul in Calloway who don't know what's what with you two.”

Gemma still had her eyes on Tal, who was talking to Daddy outside the shed. “Ain't your momma taught you better than to lay bets?” She sashayed past me and paused at the door. “I'll be upstairs freshenin' up.” Then she dashed inside with a hop in her step.

With a smile gracing my face, I glanced at Tal again, studying him while he stood there in conversation with my daddy. Sure enough, I figured he'd fit in right nice with us even if the people of Calloway did fuss and fight over another colored person joining the Lassiter family. Adding Tal to our family, though, meant losing part of Gemma, and as much as I teased her, I wasn't ready for that yet. I wasn't sure I ever would be.

But there were plenty of things in life that weren't up to me. I'd found that out many times, and I knew tonight was no exception the minute we sat down to supper.

Luke had stayed home to work this evening, and from the second I took my seat, I'd felt like the odd man out. From the faces at the table, I could see there was something stewing that only I wasn't part of, and it stung at my pride like an angry bee. Daddy kept looking Tal over with that intuitive eye of his, and Momma kept jerking a little, so I knew she was giving him little kicks under the table to make him stop. Gemma sat all uptight and quiet, and Tal was having so much trouble swallowing his food that he ate his peas in singles.

I pushed my mashed potatoes around my plate, making peaks and valleys out of them, and wondered what had suddenly gotten under everyone's skin. Finally I leaned back in my chair and announced, “Miss Cleta got a new carpet for her livin' room.”

It wasn't exactly groundbreaking news, but it was something to fill the unbearable silence. I looked at Momma. “She says you're welcome to her old one if you want it. Miss Cleta thinks it's awful threadbare, but it looks just fine to me. Might help take the chill out of the den in winter.”

Momma smiled but didn't reply. I tapped my foot quietly beneath the table for about thirty seconds before deciding I couldn't take any more. I let my fork slip out of my hand and clatter to the table beside my plate.

“All right, now this is too much. What on earth is goin' on around here?”

“Jessilyn,” Momma breathed, “what's gotten into you?”

“Only whatever's not bein' said at this table. I'd like to know what's got everybody so out of sorts.”

Daddy's right eyebrow shot up, but he didn't take his eyes off Tal, and Tal shrank under his watchful glare.

I gave Gemma a nudge under the table, and she looked at me nervously. “You want to tell me what's goin' on, Gemma?”

She gave me one of those long stares with wide eyes that said I should keep quiet, but I wasn't interested. I just returned her stare and said, “Well? Say somethin'.”

Tal cleared his throat and forced himself to look at me. “She can't.”

I looked at Tal expectantly. “Why not?”

“'Cause she don't know what's goin' on.”

“Well, do you?”

“Yes'm.”