Dorothy Garlock (7 page)

The door opened while he was toeing off his muddy shoes. A slim young woman stood there. Doc sucked in a deep breath, and his heartbeat picked up speed. She wore a faded gingham dress and, on a face the color of ripened wheat, a broad smile of welcome. Her features were delicate and her amber eyes large, clear and shining. Thick dark hair was held back from her face with a ribbon.

Doc stood there, his eyes devouring her face, for a full minute before he breathed, “Caroline. Oh, Caroline . . .”

Chapter 5

“I
F IT DOESN
’
T STOP RAINING
, it’ll be Christmas before we get the corn out of the field.”

Joe sat at the table in his sister’s kitchen holding her year-old daughter on his lap while she cooked the noon meal.

“I remember the year when we had to leave it until after Christmas. Papa was afraid it was too wet and would grow mold.” Julie stopped by to wipe the drool from the baby’s chin.

“That year we picked just enough for seed and had to dry it on corn dryers hung in the barn loft. We let the hogs and cows eat out of the field. Had a nice fat deer around Christ-mastime.”

“Evan said we might as well feed it this year. A bushel of corn won’t be worth much. Wheat is twenty-five cents a bushel. Oats only ten cents. Thank goodness we’re not cotton farmers. They’re only getting five cents a pound.”

“Beef and hog prices are so low that some fool suggested the government go around to the farms, pay a measly price for the animals, then kill and bury them in order to bring up the price.”

“Evan told me about that. He doesn’t think Roosevelt will do it, although he’s determined to bring the country out of this slump.”

“He has his work cut out for him. Twenty-five percent of the workforce is unemployed. A man would have to sell nine bushels of wheat just to buy a pair of boots.”

“We’re lucky, Joe, that we live here on a farm that’s paid for. We’ll at least have plenty to eat.”

“Yeah, but unless prices come up, banks will be taking over those that have mortgages.” Joe held his niece up and away from him. “Hell and damnation, Nancy Ann Johnson! You’ve wet a bucketful.”

Julie laughed. “When she lets go, it’s a stream. Don’t worry, you’ll dry.”

“These are my next to good pants.”

“Going somewhere? I thought you’d come to spend the day.”

“I’m going to town,” he growled.

“Can I go, Joe?” The voice was followed by the slamming of the door leading to the rooms upstairs.

“Hello, brat.”

“Cleaning done already?” Julie asked.

“All but changing the beds.” Joy set the bucket of cleaning supplies on the floor and leaned the broom against the wall. “I’ll have it done before dinner. Can I go to town with you, Joe?”

Sixteen-year-old Joy Jones, the youngest of the Jones children, had gone to live with Julie and Evan when they married. Julie had taken care of the girl since the day she was born and was the only mother Joy had ever known. She was a small, slim girl with a mass of blond curls and large blue-green eyes. She had been doted on since birth, but Julie had tried hard to keep her from being spoiled by her older brothers and sister.

“Honey, I’m going horseback.”

“I don’t mind. We could walk. We walked to town before we got a car.”

“You’d be in mud up to your knees. Besides, I might want to stay in town tonight.”

“Well, shoot!”

“Do you have books to return to the library? You should have told Evan—”

“I want to see Mrs. Poole.”

“Whatever for?” Julie wiped her hands on her apron and lifted Nancy from Joe’s lap.

“She’s helping with the Y.P. harvest party. I’m on the committee, and I’ve got a fantastic idea I want to tell her about.”

“The young people at the church,” Julie explained to Joe when he lifted his brows in question. “Joy, you didn’t tell me that you were on the committee or that Mrs. Poole was in charge. I thought Opal Patterson was.”

“Mrs. Patterson had to bow out for some reason or other. When Mrs. Poole took over, she chose me, Sammy Davidson, Richard Myers and Evelyn Bradbury to be on the committee. Sylvia wanted to be on it, but Mrs. Poole chose Evelyn, who doesn’t know anything about parties.”

“I take it you do?” Joe teased.

“I know more than a twelve-year-old. Sylvia and I can’t figure out why she wanted Evelyn to help her plan the party.”

“I didn’t know that Sammy Davidson went to our church.” Julie pulled a clean diaper from the clothes basket.

“He does now.” Joy batted her eyelashes coyly.

“Our little sister is out recruiting for the Lord.” Joe threw his arm around the girl, whose head came only to his shoulder. Joy wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You’ll take me to town?”

“Sneaky little brat!” He kissed the top of her head. “Who are you meeting in town?”

“Who knows? It’s Saturday.”

“You might cramp my style, brat.”

“You’re seeing a girl?”

“Maybe.”

“Dr. Forbes’s new nurse? Eudora said she was a beaut.” “Eudora was right. She’s a beaut and smarter than a roomful of lawyers.”

“Then she’s too smart to have anything to do with an old clodhopper like you.” Joy pushed herself away from Joe and out of his reach.

“Hey, watch it. You just asked me for a favor.”

“You said no. Didn’t you?”

“I was fixing to say it was up to Julie.”

Joy hurried to hug him again. “Oh, in that case, nice brother, sweet brother, handsome brother—”

“Imp!” Joe held her away from him.

Having changed Nancy’s diaper, Julie dropped it in the pail of water beside the washstand and handed her daughter back to Joe.

“All right, kid, don’t you dare wet on my dry knee,” Joe growled at the baby, then softened his words by nuzzling his nose in her soft hair.

“I don’t mind you going to town, Joy, but Joe doesn’t want to ride herd on you all day.” Julie returned to a pot on the stove and poked the potatoes with a two-tined fork.

“I’ll stash her someplace until I’m ready to come back,” Joe said.

“You’re not to go wandering all over town.” Julie’s voice was stern when she spoke to Joy.

“Sylvia is going to the library. I’ll meet her there.” “Honey, I doubt if the Taylors will go to town today. The roads are too muddy.”

“They’ll go in the wagon.”

“All right. But Joe, you’re to keep an eye on her. Toughs from the river dives come uptown on Saturday. Oh, dear, what if it storms?”

“You’re a first-class worrier, Sis. I’ll take care of little sister. If she gets feisty, I’ll flip up her skirts and tan her behind.”

“Thanks, Joe. You’re the sweetest brother in the whole wide world. I’ve got to finish upstairs.” Joy kissed him soundly on the cheek and fled.

Julie turned. Her hands were folded in her apron. “You know how dear she is to me, Joe.”

“I know, but you’re going to have to give her some slack. She’s got a good head. She’s growing up and feeling her oats.”

“I know what it feels like to be sixteen, full of enthusiasm, with the world waiting to be explored. Her dreams can be shattered, her life turned upside down in a second. I don’t want that to happen to her. I want her to experience all the stages of growing up, falling in love, marrying and having a family.”

“You did that, Sis.”

“But it was a long hard road, Joe,” Julie said sadly. “I really never thought it would happen. At times I have to pinch myself. I have a wonderful, loving husband. We have two healthy children and I have Joy with me. Jill is wildly in love with Thad. Jason is doing well and Papa is happy. I wish you and Jack would find someone to love and settle down.”

“Sis, you’re a romantic at heart. Love as you see it doesn’t happen for everyone.”

“I’m surprised that Shirley Poole is working with the young people.” Julie switched the conversation because she was near tears. “She’s always been so standoffish. I never dreamed that she’d be interested in doing anything with the church young people. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the woman laugh.”

They both glanced toward the door at the sound of heavy steps on the porch. Through the screen they could see Evan removing his boots.

“Howdy, Joe,” he said when he came into the kitchen, but his eyes sought his wife. “Before you ask, sweetheart, I didn’t forget to get the spool of thread.” He reached into his pocket, then hesitated. “You did say number forty? Black?”

“Evan Johnson, I said number fifty white and you know it.” She put her hand in his pocket. His hand held it there when he bent to kiss her, then allowed her to pull the package out. She peeked inside, then pinched his arm. “You stinker, you’re a bigger tease than my brothers.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Sauerkraut!”

“Sauerkraut?” He grasped his wife’s shoulders and held her away from him. “Tell me she’s just getting even with me, Joe. She knows I hate sauerkraut.”

“We’re having corned beef pie, if you ever turn loose of me so I can put the crust on top and get it into the oven.”

“My favorite. I’ve trained her right, Joe.” Evan plucked his daughter off Joe’s lap and held her up over his head. “How’s my little dumpling?”

“Better watch it. She’ll drool on you.” Joe stood up and shook the wet spot on his pants. “Water comes out of that kid from both ends.”

“Did you wet on your Uncle Joe?” Evan crooned to the baby. “Good girl. Don’t worry about his growl. He likes to growl about something.”

“Did you go by Papa’s?” Julie asked after Evan had sat down. “I thought you’d bring Logan home with you.”

“He and Jacob were building a house out of cardboard boxes right in the middle of the kitchen floor. They were having so much fun I couldn’t take him away until they finished their project. I’ll go back over this afternoon and bring him home.”

“How was Jacob?”

“He’s still pale, but getting his strength back. He was holding his own with Logan.”

“Typhoid almost killed him. I was afraid he’d never come out of it.” Julie filled the coffeepot from the teakettle on the stove. “But Eudora never lost faith. She said that God wouldn’t be so cruel as to take him when she had waited so long to have him.”

“I picked up some news in town.” Evan bounced his daughter on his knee. “The city council is looking to hire a new police officer.”

“Yeah? What happened to Burkhardt?” Joe asked.

“I hear he’s put in for a job as guard at the state pen.”

“I hope he works harder there than he did here. He’s not the officer that Corbin was. The saloons down in Shanty Town are almost wide-open.”

“Corbin will recommend Jack for the job.”

“Jack?” Julie set the bowl of potatoes on the table. “Jack doesn’t know anything about law enforcement.”

“Corbin volunteered to train him, mother hen.” Evan winked at Joe.

“What do you think, Joe?” Julie asked.

“Corbin recommending him and Jack getting the job are two different things. But if he got it and Corbin trained him, he would be a damn good officer. One thing about our brother is that when he takes on something, he goes into it whole hog. If the town hires him, they won’t be short-changed.”

“I don’t know—he’d have to carry a gun.” Julie went back to the stove. “Papa needs him—”

“Papa doesn’t need him and Jack knows it. He needs to do something that will make him feel worthwhile. He can’t mourn the rest of his life because his baseball career didn’t pan out.”

“I told Corbin that I’d speak to a couple of the councilmen on Jack’s behalf. He’s concerned about Jack’s drinking lately.”

“He isn’t the only one,” Joe said. “Jack drinks because he’s at loose ends. He needs something to work for. He’s been drinking more since he broke up with Ruby.”

“Corbin asked me to talk to him and see if he’s interested.” Evan looked at his wife to get her reaction. She was busy at the stove. “I’ll do that when I go over to get Logan.”

“Jobs are pretty hard to get. He’d be a fool not to go for it. Everyone thinks this depression will get worse before it gets better.”

“Would
you
take the job if it was offered?” Evan asked Joe. “I’d have to think about it. I’ve got my money tied up in the bull and the land I bought with Thad. Jack needs the job more than I do. He talked about going into the army, or into one of the work projects Roosevelt talked about while he was running for office. But it’ll be a year before a government project gets off the ground.”

“Evan, put Nancy in the high chair. Joe, call Joy to come down for dinner, and you men wash up.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Joe headed for the wash bench.

After putting the baby in the chair, Evan grabbed his wife around the waist and kissed her.

“Evan . . .”

“Stop worrying, little mother hen. Jack can handle himself. He’s not a kid anymore.”

“Joe, stop!” Joy clutched her brother’s arm. “I’ll get off here.”

“I’ll take you on downtown, honey, and let you off by the drugstore.” Joe loved teasing his little sister. He always got a rise out of her. She didn’t disappoint him.

“Don’t you dare!” Joy screeched. “Stop this horse. I’m not riding into town on a
horse.
Stop and let me down.”

“Why? Are you ashamed of my horse? He’s not sway-backed. He’s got good teeth.”

“Please. Stop teasing and let me get down.”

“Well, if that don’t beat all. You’re just getting too uppity for words.” Joe pulled to a stop, got down, lifted his sister off the horse and walked beside her.

“My . . . skirt was up over my knees.”

“So what? You’re just a kid. Nobody would notice.”

“I’m not just a kid. There would be plenty to notice. Some girls my age are already engaged to be married.”

“You thinking on getting married?” Joe looked down at her. She was very pretty, and in a couple of years she’d have her pick of the men in town. But he wasn’t going to tell her that now.

“Silly. You know I’m not.”

They crossed the railroad tracks and turned toward the feedstore, where Joe would leave his horse in a pen.

“I’ll go on down to the hardware store and see Mrs. Poole.”

“Hold on. I’ll go with you.” Joe removed the saddle and carried it to a lean-to shed.

Joy stamped her foot in frustration as soon as her brother’s back was turned.