A Forever Thing (31 page)

Theron was speechless.

“Told you it’d be difficult to talk in that condition. Eat your ice
cream before it melts and you don’t have anything but milk and
peanuts. It’ll sink in, and you’ll be able to blink in a little while. I
reckon this’ll be your last year at the school. If I know you, by summertime you’ll be a full-time rancher.”

Theron put a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. In a minute
he would wake up and find Fancy in the kitchen making breakfast.
He’d tell her about this crazy dream, and they’d have a big laugh
over it. But when he did force his eyes to blink, his father was still
sitting across from him with a silly grin on his face as he made his
way down to the bottom of a peanut butter sundae.

Robert scraped the inside of the tall plastic glass and picked up the
coffee mug. “Okay, now let’s have at it. I want to know about this
girl. How’d you meet her, and is it serious?”

Theron told the story in a monologue and ended with, “I like
things just as they are. I want someone to live in the house and
take care of Tina while I work. I can ranch and take care of my
daughter on my own after school lets out in June.”

“What’re you intendin’ on doin’ when the time comes that she
needs a mother to talk to her about girl things?”

Theron shuddered.

“And what is it that Fancy wants? Not that any woman wouldn’t
be proud to be your live-in cook and bottle washer,” he said with a
touch of sarcasm.

“She wants something she calls `a forever thing.”’

Robert pursed his lips and nodded. “She say that right out loud?”

“She did, and she also said she’s going back to Florida soon.
Her grandmother’s house here has sold.”

“Looks to me like you don’t have much time. What’re you going
to do with it?”

“Dad, you only met her for a few minutes. Fancy’s beautiful,
but she’s also obstinate. Hard to live with. Argues with me all the
time. Angels with halos and white fluffy wings couldn’t live with
her, and I’m no angel.”

“That depends on whether you’re talkin’ to me or your momma”
Robert laughed at his own joke. “I see new life in you, son. I ain’t
seen it in four years. Not since you married Maria and things went
sour. It wasn’t there last time I saw you. I figure Fancy put it there.”

“Maybe Tina did,” Theron argued.

“New granddaughter is beautiful. We’re goin’ to get along just
fine, me and her. But what I see in your eyes wasn’t put there by a
child. It’s what your momma puts in my eyes every time she walks
in the door. Don’t waste time, son. Now, let’s go take care of Uncle
Joe. He deserves it, since he’s taken such good care of you.”

A handful of people stood around the grave while the preacher
read the twenty-third Psalm and said a few final words about Joseph Theron Frank. The north wind whipped against the sides of
the small tent set up for the service as if it had come to carry Uncle
Joe on up to heaven to meet Molly.

Then it was over, and everyone left with their heads down against
the cold, blustery winds that threatened to suck the air right out
of their lungs. Theron’s family gave Tina hugs and said they’d see
them at the party the next week; then they headed north in their
truck.

Fancy belted Tina into the car seat. She shivered, glad that she’d
found the old black wool coat in the closet at her grandmother’s
house that morning. Without it she would have frozen in the cemetery. Theron started the engine of his truck and turned on the
heater. In a few minutes the air inside was warm, and the tension
in her muscles began to ease.

“Time to talk,” he said.

“About what? That was the sweetest service. When I die, I want
something that simple. Just a few old friends to tell me good-bye
and then a good wind to carry me on up to my beloved.”

“That’s so like a female,” he grumbled.

“Uncle Joe planned it, so it’s not at all female. He was a romantic
soul. Too bad you only got his name and not his heart,” she snapped.

“What’s female?” Tina asked.

“It’s a girl. A girl is female like me and you. A male is a boy,
like your daddy,” Fancy explained.

Tina looked at her doll. “You are female. Bear is boy. He’s a …
what is it?”

“Bear is a boy, so he’s a male,” Fancy said patiently.

“Why are you so patient with her and so impatient with me?”
Theron asked.

“Because you already know. Is that what you wanted to talk
about?”

“No, I want to talk about Hattie’s house. So, the deal is going
down exactly when?”

“It’s going down this afternoon. Mary’s granddaughter is buying it because she wants the beauty shop. Mary is financing it for
her, so it’s a cash sale.”

“How long are you staying after that?”

“Honey, I can be gone tomorrow if that’s what you want.”

“No! Fanny no go!” Tina whimpered.

“Now look what you did,” Theron whispered angrily.

“What I did?” she questioned. “We’ll talk later,” she told him.
“I’m not going anywhere right away, sweetie,” she added, leaning
down toward Tina. “We’re going home and making lunch together.”

“You mean we’ll argue later,” Theron whispered.

“Something like that.”

The whimpering stopped, and Tina kept up a constant chatter,
talking to her toys in the backseat.

Theron and Fancy kept their silence.

She wondered what had bitten him that morning. Ever since he
and his father got back from making the funeral arrangements the
day before, he’d acted strange, as if he wished she’d simply disappear off the face of the earth.

Tina went straight for the Christmas tree to play when they arrived back at the ranch. She set up two of her new stuffed animals
and told them that they were “fee-tails” and not boys.

Theron poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table.
“You ready to speak to me?”

“I’m not, but I suppose we’d best get it over with. When will you
have my replacement?” She took a Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator and joined him.

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want you to leave.
I want you to stay. I want to talk about hiring you at least until June.
Please don’t go right away”

“June?”

“Uncle Joe left me his entire estate,” he explained eagerly. “I’ve
always wanted to be a rancher. My dream was to own an operation
like my folks, but they started small, and I knew I’d have to do the
same. I wanted to do it on my own like Dad did. It was the beginning of my dream when Uncle Joe offered to let me buy him out at
a fraction of the retail value. I knew I was getting a deal because I
was family and named after him, but at least I was making the
payments with my own money.”

“What’s that got to do with my staying until June?”

“Everything. He left me his whole estate. That means I can pay
off the ranch and build a new house and make this a bunkhouse or
build a bunkhouse and hire help when I need it. It means I can be
a rancher, so I don’t need to work at the school. So I need help
until June, when school is out. And, dang it all, I’ve fallen in love
with you, and I don’t want you to leave.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. He’d said the magic words, but he
hadn’t promised her a forever thing.

And she wasn’t settling for anything less.

The sky was blue. No clouds. A nice breeze and sixty-degree
weather.

Fancy should have been playing with Tina at the park that afternoon, but instead Elaine Warren and Tina were waving good-bye
to her from the ranch house porch. It was over and done. Theron’s
momma would look after Tina until June, and Fancy was going
home to Florida. She’d drive to Hattiesburg that night and on to
Panama City Beach the next day. Her mother had clean sheets on
her bed and her little apartment aired out and ready. Her life would
go back to normal.

Tina had accepted the new caretaker fairly well, especially since
Theron’s mother, Elaine, was there to help make the transition.
Dessa Ortega, the housekeeper Theron had hired, must have reminded Tina of her maternal grandmother, because she’d been
comfortable with her from the first. Fancy couldn’t find a thing
wrong with the woman except that she’d get to spend her days with
Tina and Theron.

Fancy wiped at blinding tears with the back of one hand. It
took every ounce of willpower in her body to keep driving and
not turn the car around. She had wanted to stay, but without her
forever thing, she couldn’t stand to prolong her own misery. If she
couldn’t have the whole ball of wax, she didn’t want enough to
make a puny birthday candle.

She and Theron had managed to keep their distance after the
New Year’s party. Only once, and that had been the night before,
had he broken the rules and kissed her again. But it had been on the
forehead when he asked her once more to change her mind and stay.

She wanted to, but she couldn’t, and she didn’t want to go. Waving good-bye at that child on the porch was almost as difficult as
watching Theron get into his truck that morning and go to work.
She hadn’t slept well, and she couldn’t bear to have breakfast with
him that last day. They’d said their good-byes the night before, and
he’d held her close without kissing her. But that morning she’d
tipped one single slat in the miniblinds and watched him leave,
taking her heart and soul with him.

Now a shell of a body was driving south to catch 1-20 all the way
to Mississippi. From there she’d drive on 49 until she reached 10,
and that would lead her home. But that was a misnomer; home was
on a ranch between Albany and Moran, Texas, where Theron and
Tina lived. Where her friends, Sophie and Kate, came to visit often.

She flipped open her phone and called Kate.

Kate answered the phone with questions. “Was it terrible? Did
you cry?”

“Yes. Not there, but I am now,” she said.

“He didn’t beg?”

“Wait till he’s speeding through my town. I’m going to make
him pay.”

“It’s not his fault, Kate. It’s mine. We’ve been upfront and honest with each other since day one. I shouldn’t have fallen for him,
but I did. Not one time did he ever really lead me on. It was just so
hard to leave Tina on that porch. I’m on my way toward Mississippi now. I just needed to hear your voice. Please bring Sophie to
Florida in the spring.”

“You know as well as I do that she’s not budging an inch from
Aunt Maud until it’s over.”

“Bring Maud too. The warm weather and salt air might do her a
world of good,” Fancy said.

“Yeah, right. Don’t hold your breath until that happens, darlin’.
You going to be all right?”

“Yeah, I’m going to be fine,” Fancy lied. “I’ll call you later in the
day.”

“If you don’t, I will. Keep the cell phone charged, and be careful”

“Will do ” Fancy snapped it shut and tossed it over onto the seat beside her. She inhaled deeply and caught a faint whiff of almonds. That brought on a fresh batch of tears.

At noon she stopped in Mesquite, Texas, at a Dairy Queen, and
she was still crying. She ordered sweet tea and drove on. By midafternoon she was starving, so she pulled into a McDonald’s and
ordered one of their fruit-and-yogurt parfaits.

At Cracker Barrel in Shreveport she had pancakes and bacon.
She ordered an apple dumpling to go. Every time she stopped for
gas, she fought the urge to turn the car around and go back to Albany. She had called the house four times during the course of the
day. Each time Elaine told her that Tina was playing, Dessa was
cleaning or cooking, and things were fine.

It began to rain just outside Jackson, so she pulled into a Holiday
Inn and checked in for the night. The room reminded her of the one
she’d shared with Theron and Tina in Decatur. She tried not to notice, but the memories wouldn’t be put aside, so she stretched out
on the bed and let them wash over her like a flood. She had the
phone in her hand and had dialed before she realized what she was
doing.

“Hello,” Theron answered.

“I’m in Jackson, Mississippi. It’s raining and cold, and I was
tired, so I didn’t make it to Hattiesburg,” she said.