Dorothy Garlock (13 page)

Sweetheart, I’m going to do my best to do this right. I don’t want to scare you off. You may be my pot at the end of the rainbow, my life’s mate, the love I’ve been searching for. I need to keep you close so that I can find out one way or the other if we were meant to be together.

April let her hand rest in his until he had to take it away to make the turn leading to the Jones farm.

“Eudora and Jacob will ride with us to Julie’s. Pa and Jack went over after dinner last night. One of Evan’s horses is ready to foal.”

Fat hens scattered when they drove into the farmyard. On the porch Jacob was jumping with excitement, but he didn’t run toward the car until it stopped. Then he bounded off the porch.

“Joe, can I sit on your lap and drive?”

“Not today, squirt. You’ll have to sit in the back with your mama.”

“Ah, Joe. Please, please, pretty please can I sit with you?” “Of course you can.” April got out of the car. “You can sit right here beside your big brother. I’ll sit in back with your mother.”

“Kid.” Joe frowned first at April, then scowled down at Jacob, who was grinning as unabashedly as his brother Jack sometimes did. “You don’t know how close you’ve come to getting your little backside swatted.”

“Why? I said please.”

“Yeah, why, big brother?” April smiled sweetly. “He said please.”

Joe lifted Jacob up and set him on the seat. “Rascal, see if I make you any more slingshots,” he muttered. “Or crack walnuts for you to eat.”

“What did you say, Joe?” April asked.

“Nothin’.” With a hand beneath her elbow he helped her up and into the car and murmured for her ears alone, “I’ll get even with you later.”

Eudora came from the house with a basket over her arm. Joe went to meet her and relieve her of the basket.

“Stay here on the porch, Samson,” Eudora said to the big brown dog who followed her. “You know you can’t go in the car. Hello, April. Isn’t this a lovely day? So good to have sunshine again.”

“It sure is. This is my favorite time of year. Not too hot. Not too cold.”

April and Eudora chatted about weather and gardens as Joe turned the car around in the farmyard and headed back toward the road.

“As soon as we have a killing frost, the woods between the two farms will be a riot of color. I love the gathering of the harvest and the preparations for winter,” Eudora said.

“I used to help my grandmother can beans, make chowchow and shred cabbage for sauerkraut. Grandpa would take apples and pumpkins to the cellar. Have you always lived on a farm?” April asked.

“I lived in town all my life until I married Jethro. But I love living in the country.”

When Joe turned into the lane, April could see Julie’s house and the farm buildings beyond. The large house with its deep front porch was sparkling white; the barn and out-buildings were painted brick red. Big oak trees shaded the house and barnyard. From the branch of one hung a child’s swing with a board seat. Yellow pumpkins were visible among the dried vines in a large garden, at the end of which were several heavily laden apple trees.

It was a beautiful place. A peaceful place.

By the time the car stopped, Julie was on the porch holding Nancy in her arms, and Logan was running to meet Jacob.

“Come look, Jacob. Sally had her baby.” The two boys took off for the barn as soon as Jacob’s feet touched the ground.

“Hello, Eudora,” Julie called as she came out into the yard, her eyes on April. “Hello. I’m Julie.”

“I’m April Asbury.”

Julie was a tall woman with hair just a shade darker than Joe’s. Her dark brows were slightly arched. Lashes, long and thick, framed light brown eyes both quick and quiet.

“And who is this?” April stroked tiny fingers. The baby turned her face into her mother’s shoulder.

“Nancy Ann. She’s shy until she gets to know you. Don’t worry about the boys, Eudora. The men are out there, and I know Joe is dying to see what’s going on.”

“I’m not sure I should leave April with you,” Joe said. “I’m afraid that you’ll tell her all sorts of things about me.”

“I’ll tell her only the good things.” Julie laughed, then said over her shoulder as she walked to the house, “If I can think of any. Come in, April, Eudora. Sorry to be bringing you in through the kitchen, April. Our front door is seldom used by family.”

Julie settled her daughter in a canvas jumper hanging from a heavy spring suspended on a hook in the doorway leading into the pantry. As soon as the little feet touched the floor, the child began to jump.

“She’s showing off.” Julie smiled proudly. “Sometimes she bounces so hard her little bottom touches the floor.”

The kitchen was sparkling. On the long trestle table a white cloth was spread; in the center was a silver-based cruet set. High-backed chairs surrounded the table.

“Hello, Joy.” Eudora had placed her basket on the table and was taking off her hat.

April turned to see a young girl standing in the doorway leading to the other part of the house. She was the one Joe and Jack referred to as the
mutt
or the
brat
. She could coax the bark off a tree, Joe had said. April could see why. She was beautiful: curly blond hair, large blue eyes, delicate features.

“ ’Lo.” Joy spoke to Eudora, but her eyes were on April. “Joy, this is April Asbury, Dr. Forbes’s new nurse.” Julie made the introduction.

“And the one Joe’s got his eye on.” Joy came farther into the room. “You won’t stand a chance if he decides he wants you.”

“Joy! For goodness’ . . . sake,” Julie sputtered.

“I might have something to say about that,” April said. “Was that Rudy Vallee I heard on the Victrola when we came in?”

“We have several of his records. Do you like him?”

“I do. And Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman.”

“The harvest committee is meeting this afternoon, but I had to miss it.” Joy looked pointedly at April.

“Go close the lid on the Victrola, Joy.” Julie spoke calmly but with enough force in her voice that the girl left the room immediately.

“How are you coming with your quilt, Julie?” Eudora asked to fill the void that followed.

“Slow. I’ve not had the time to work on it lately. I was hoping to get the blocks put together so the Sewing Circle at the church could quilt it this winter.”

“I’ll be glad to help. I’ve not started my wedding ring quilt yet. I’m still collecting scraps.”

Joy returned and said to April, “I’m going to see the new colt. Want to come?”

“Yes, I would. I’ve never seen one the same day it was born.”

“Evan told Logan he could name it,” Joy said. “He’ll probably call it something dumb like Ice Cream or Christmas or Santa Claus.”

“If Evan said I could name it, I’d probably call it Birthday or Valentine’s Day.”

“Joy named the last one.” Julie followed them to the door. “I named her Marlene, after Marlene Dietrich, who was so beautiful in
The Blue Angel
.”

The double doors of the barn were folded back. April stepped inside and followed Joy down the center aisle to the far end where Joe and Jethro stood outside a stall. Jethro was holding his small son, who sat on the top rail. He nodded a greeting.

“Come to see the new arrival? She’s a beaut.” Joe held out his hand to April and pulled her up in front of him so she could see over the railing. Joy crowded in between her father and Joe.

The tiny colt was standing on wobbly legs. Jack was on his knees in the straw with one arm around the foal to steady him while he wiped him with a cloth. He looked up. April smiled at him, and he answered with a cocky grin.

Joe spoke to the man standing at the head of the tired mare. “Evan, this is Miss Asbury.”

“Glad to meet you, ma’am.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Joe’s voice, when it came again, was so close to April’s ear that she could feel his warm breath. “Not even an hour old and he’s standing.”

April was more aware of Joe close behind her, his hands on the railing in front of her hemming her in, than what he was saying.

“It takes us humans a year sometimes.”

“It’s mine, isn’t it, Daddy? I can name it, can’t I? Can I come in and pet it?” Logan was so excited he couldn’t stand still.

“Not yet, son. Stay out of the stall. Sally isn’t used to having a baby yet, and she might be afraid you’ll hurt it.” Evan spoke calmly to his son.

“I won’t hurt it, Daddy.”

“I know that, but Sally doesn’t know it yet.”

“I think I’ll name him Grace.”

“It’s a boy, silly,” Joy said. “You can’t name a boy Grace.” “How do you know, smarty? I don’t see anything hangin’ down. So there!”

“Shall we go?” Joe whispered in April’s ear. “It could get embarrassing very soon.”

April pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. She turned her face, and her cheek came against him. She moved her head quickly.

“There’s nothing like living on a farm to teach the kids about the birds and the bees.”

Joe took her hand and they walked back down the aisle. She blinked when they came out into the bright sunlight.

“This is a beautiful place.”

“One of the more prosperous farms in northern Missouri. Evan is a good businessman and a good farmer. He has studied every aspect of it. Uh-oh—here comes trouble.”

Out of the bushes beside the barnyard, accompanied by loud honking, came two large white geese on the run, their necks stretched, their wings spread.

“Stand your ground. If you run, they’ll chase you. All right, you two,” he said to the geese and got between them and April. “She’s not going to rob the place. Go along and find a bug to eat.” He shooed at them.

The geese strutted back and forth a time or two, heads up, tail feathers twitching, before they walked away as if they owned the farm and everything in it.

“Evan has seven of these critters. Two of them are usually here by the house. They are very smart birds and great watch-dogs. When a stranger or an animal approaches, they raise a racket.”

“Do they have names?”

“Julie named them after presidents: Thomas, Calvin, John, Georgia.”

“Georgia?”

“She couldn’t very well name a female goose George.” He winked at her and tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “One night Evan heard a commotion going on out in the yard. He looked out and saw a fox. Each of his seven geese had a mouthful of fox and was pulling in a different direction. The next morning he found no missing ducks or geese, and chunks of fox fur all over the yard.”

April laughed. “Poor fox. If he’s smart, he’ll think again before he comes back.”

“A gander will be particularly mean during nesting season, but the females will not bite you unless you mess with their nest.”

“That’s something I always wanted to know.”

“Smart mouth.” He moved his hand down her arm to hers.

“The reason they came out of the bushes today was because they didn’t know you and wanted to protect me.”

She rolled her eyes toward the clear blue sky. His grin was so endearing she unknowingly squeezed his hand and smiled back at him. Their eyes held until the sound of a motorcar coming up the lane drew their attention.

“Here’s Thad and the watermelon.”

“Shame on you for calling your sister a watermelon.” “Wait until you see her. If she doesn’t look like she swallowed one, I miss my guess.”

Jill Jones Taylor was a small girl with an infectious smile, a saucy, turned-up nose and shoulder-length dark blond hair. After the introductions had been made, Thad and Joe pushed each other around like a pair of bear cubs. Jill endured her brother’s teasing and gave back as good as she got.

Thad’s laughing eyes landed on April. “You look like a smart lady. You can’t be interested in this dirt buster.”

“Who said I was interested? I just wanted a ride out here to meet the Jones family. He tells me they are pillars of the community.”

“Well, now, that makes more sense. I can tell you a thing or two about—”

“Shut up, Thad,” Jill said softly.

“But, honey, you know how I hate to see a sweet, innocent girl get taken in by the Clayton County Masher. I’m just doin’ my Christian duty.”

“Don’t honey me, Thad Taylor. You can do your Christian duty by waiting until April gets used to us before you start your shenanigans.”

The day with the Jones family was one of the most enjoyable April had ever spent. She sat on the porch with them and listened to the talk about the river rising, cattle and grain prices, and the discussion between Evan and Jethro about what it would mean when Prohibition ended. Joe, Jack and Thad played catch, and the little boys chased each other around the yard.

Later they all gathered around Julie’s large table for supper. It was evident to April that she loved having them there. April was surprised at how comfortable she was with the family and they with her.

Furtively she watched Joe, trying to memorize the way his sudden smile changed his expression drastically. There were moments when she forgot to be wary, and her eyes caught his. He would smile and wink. At times she knew that he was watching her, and she had to remind herself that she must guard her heart. Joe Jones could very well be the man who would break it.

She listened to his good-natured banter with his brother and sisters. Not having a sibling, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

April hated for the day to end. It was twilight by the time they piled into the cars, waved good-bye to Julie and Evan on the porch and drove down the lane to the road. After they had dropped Jethro, Eudora and their tired, sleeping son at the farm, Joe pulled her over close to him and turned the car toward town.

Chapter 10

S
HIRLEY
P
OOLE PASSED THE PLATE
of cookies for the third time. Two of the young people on the porch reached to take the chocolate squares. Sammy Davidson, sitting on the porch railing, shook his head.

“You said Joy was coming.”

“You were there when I made the announcement, Sammy. I said if you can’t come, let me know. Joy didn’t say she wasn’t coming, so I assumed that she was. She’s only a little late. We can start without her or wait. It’s up to you.” Shirley sat down and smoothed her skirt over her knees. “While we are on the hayride, Mr. Oakley will build a large bonfire. He’s going to donate—”