Foxfire Light (22 page)

Joanna hesitated, then glanced at Linc. “Could you drive us back to the cabin?”

“Of course,” he agreed, making his own assessment of her mother.

The party was regaining its former level of gaiety. Hardly anyone noticed them leave as they walked around the house to Linc's car. In the passenger seat, her mother reclined against the headrest and closed her eyes. Her attitude silenced any conversation that might have been made during the short drive to the cabin.

They entered the log home by the front door, which had been left unlocked. “Why don't you sit on the sofa, Mother?” Joanna suggested. “I'll get you some aspirin and a glass of water.”

“Thank you.” It was a very subdued Elizabeth who sat on the cushioned sofa.

“I'll get them for you, Joanna,” Linc volunteered. “You make your mother comfortable.”

“Okay.” She was grateful for his offer, but at
the moment she was too concerned about her mother to express it.

Picking up a decorative pillow, Joanna plumped it to put behind her mother's head. The offer was waved aside with an autocratic hand.

“Would you telephone the airline for me?” her mother requested.

“The airline?” Joanna stared, then realized her mother was probably intending to book return passage. “We can do that later. Just sit back and rest—”

“Stop fussing over me,” she protested when Joanna attempted again to put the pillow behind her head. “I don't have a headache. I only used that as an excuse to leave the party.” Joanna straightened, irritated at the way she had been fooled. “Call the airline,” her mother ordered. “I want to make reservations on the first flight back to Los Angeles.”

“Mother, you just got here,” Joanna argued the necessity for doing it this minute.

“And Reece has ordered me to leave,” Elizabeth replied. She didn't have to fake the hurt look that wavered in her eyes.

“I can't believe that,” Joanna frowned in stunned doubt. “Why would he do such a thing?”

Her chin quivered. “He doesn't want me here. He thinks I'm trying to come between him and Rachel. All I did was offer to help and he accused me of interfering.”

“Were you, Mother?” She wouldn't put it past her.

“No,” she denied it. “I think Reece is making
a foolish mistake by marrying that woman. They have absolutely nothing in common. But I
was
making an effort to be nice. And he repays me by practically throwing me out. After all the years I've—”

The sentence was left unfinished as Linc returned to the living room, carrying a glass of water and an aspirin bottle. He brought it to the sofa.

“Here you are, Mrs. Morgan.” He handed them to her.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Linc waited until she had taken them, then glanced at Joanna. “We'd better be getting back to the party.”

Hesitating, Joanna glanced at her mother. She didn't know what was going on, or how much of her mother's story was truth. She couldn't have completely fabricated such a tale.

“You go ahead without me,” Joanna advised him reluctantly. “I'm going to stay with Mother a little while.”

“Is it necessary?” he frowned in sharp question.

“Something's come up.” Joanna couldn't tell him about it, not yet. “I can't explain.”

“All right.” But it was a grudging acceptance of her decision. “I'll see you later.”

Her teeth bit at the inside of her lip. Joanna knew he didn't understand why her mother needed her. She could read it in the impatient stride that carried him to the front door.

“There have been times in the past, Joanna,”
her mother sighed when the door had closed behind Linc, “when we haven't always agreed with each other but Fm so glad you're here with me. I've never felt so abandoned.”

It was the assurance Joanna needed to convince her she had made the right choice. She sat down on the sofa next to her mother.

“I still don't understand why Reece would do such a thing,” Joanna stated her confusion.

“Neither do I,” she admitted with a bewildered shake of her artfully bleached hair.

“But he must have given some other explanation,” Joanna persisted in her search for the rest of the story.

“Reece claimed he ... he only tolerated me because of you.” She lifted her tear-bright eyes to gaze at Joanna. “That hurt.”

She had never witnessed this display of vulnerability in her mother before. It touched her, moving her to a deep sympathy.

“Momma, I'm sorry,” she whispered.

“You will fly home with me, won't you?” Elizabeth reached out to tightly grasp her daughter's hand in an earnest appeal.

“Do you mean today? Now?” Joanna was startled, reluctant.

“Reece said he didn't want me here,” she reminded. “I have to leave now.”

“But—” Her troubled brown eyes glanced toward the front door that Linc had went out a few minutes ago.

“How can you hesitate?” There was a kind of desperation in her mother's question.

Her shoulders drooped in resignation. “I'll go with you,” Joanna agreed. “But I have to call Linc and let him know.”

“Linc?” She took her hand away from Joanna's. “Why should you tell him anything?”

“He's expecting to see me again and I—” She tried to explain.

There was a mixture of pain and scorn in her mother's expression. “Reece has his 'Daisy Mae.' Don't tell me you think you've found your Lil' Abner?” The acid sting was back in her mother's voice, if not at full strength. Joanna darted her an angry look. “Oh, I grant you he's a handsome man, if you go for the earthy type. But, Joanna, you barely know him.” Elizabeth tempered her criticism of Linc.

“That doesn't change the way I feel,” she insisted.

“No doubt you are attracted to him,” her mother conceded. “But, love? In a month, you'll forget what he looks like. That's the way it always happens with these holiday romances.”

It wasn't a holiday romance but there was nothing to be gained by arguing that point with her mother. She kept silent as her mother stood up.

“We haven't much time,” Elizabeth prodded at her. “You'd better go upstairs and start packing. I'll call the airline.” When Joanna continued to remain seated, impatience raced through Elizabeth's expression. “If you feel you have to call this . . . Linc Wilder, you can do it from the airport.”

*   *   *

With the car turned into the rental agency, Joanna slipped the receipt in her purse and hurried into the main lobby of the airport terminal. Her mother stood impatiently beside a display case.

“I have the tickets.” She handed Joanna hers. “They'll be boarding the plane in a few minutes.”

“You go ahead to the gate,” Joanna urged. “I'll be there in a minute.”

“Where are you going?” Elizabeth frowned.

“To call Linc.” She was already backing away in the direction of the phone booths. “It won't take long.”

“Be quick about it.”

The more she tried to hurry, the longer it seemed to take. Joanna rummaged through her purse for the change for the pay telephone, then waited impatiently while the phone rang. The housekeeper answered, and she had to wait again while the woman went to fetch Linc from the party. She almost sighed in relief when she heard his voice on the other end of the Line.

“Linc. It's Joanna,” she identified herself quickly.

“Hello.” Warmth was injected into his second greeting. “Are you ready to come back to the party? I'll come pick you up.”

“No. That is—” She was interrupted by the announcement of an arriving flight over the airport's public address system.

“Where are you?” Linc questioned.

“At the airport.”

“The airport? What are you doing there?” There was sharp confusion in his voice.

“Mother's flying back to California”—Joanna paused and closed her eyes—“and I'm going with her.”

“What?” It was a stunned reply. “Why?”

“Mother and Reece had a falling out and—” She didn't have time to explain. “It's a long story, Linc, and I don't have time to go into it.” She waited for him to say something, but there was only silence. “I just wanted to call and tell you goodbye before I left,” she added lamely.

“That's it, huh?” Linc challenged. “Just goodbye and it's been nice knowing you?”

“No.” She was half-angry. “Try to understand, Linc. Under the circumstances, I can't stay.”

“I understand all right,” he replied. “The message is loud and clear. You go ahead and enjoy your champagne flight back to L.A. I have guests and a barbeque waiting for me.”

Joanna knew what he was saying but she refused to acknowledge it. “If that's the way you feel—” she began indignantly.

“What do you expect me to say?” he cut in angrily. “You said it all, Joanna, when you said goodbye.”

The line went dead. Her fingers tightened on the receiver as she realized Linc had hung up on her. He hadn't even tried to understand her situation.

Slowly, she returned the receiver to its hook
and gathered up her purse and tickets. Tears were spilling down her lashes. Joanna wiped them away as she walked to the gate area.

The flight was already boarding when Joanna arrived at the gate where her mother was waiting for her. “Did you talk to Reece?” Elizabeth asked before Joanna could say anything.

“Reece? No, I didn't.” She shook her head, numbed by the pain inside.

Disappointment clouded her mother's face. “I thought... He might have ...” There was a dispirited shake of her head. “It doesn't matter. We'd better go. They've already begun boarding.”

The party was still going strong at the Wilder ranch but Linc had isolated himself from it. He stood alone at the deck railing. His gaze wasn't admiring the view of the lake and hills. It was fastened to the western sky. A half-empty drink was in his hand. He didn't hear Reece and Rachel walk up to him.

“Where's Joanna?” Reece inquired with curious concern.

It was the use of her name that penetrated Linc's mind. He turned to look blankly at his friend for an instant. Then his gaze lowered to the drink he was holding.

“She's gone.” His voice was flat—unemotional. “She called a little while ago to say she was flying back to California with her mother.” Linc downed a swallow of watered-down whiskey, unaware of the glance Rachel
and Reece exchanged. “Do you remember the talk we had awhile back, Reece—about all the responsibility that was suddenly mine after my dad died?”

“Yes.” Reece frowned, unsure what that had to do with his niece.

“All that's over with now,” he declared and exhaled a long breath. “Mom is with Dad, Sharon's married, and David is out on his own.” His gaze swept the ranchland. “This place practically runs by itself now. I don't have anyone to worry about except myself.” He looked at the glass again and shook his head. A wry slant of amusement lifted a corner of his mouth when Linc raised his glance to Reece. “I was wild as a young'un.” There was something absent, almost brooding that claimed his features. “It's been a long time since I've been on a good drunk.”

A
ll the furniture in the log home was covered with sheets, giving the place a ghostly air. Linc paused in the middle of the living room and glanced around. His features were drawn unnaturally taut, because for him, it was haunted with Joanna's ghost.

“Is that you in thare, Linc?” Jessie Bates pressed his face to the wire mesh of the screen door, cupping his hands around his eyes to peer inside.

“Yeah, it's me.” The reply was rough and unfriendly, showing the edges of a short temper.

Jessie didn't wait on an invitation, just opened the screen door and came in. “I heard the truck go by my place. I didn't know whether it was you or somebody snoopin' around so I thought I'd
better check.” He glanced around the house. “Is everything all right here?”

“Yeah,” Linc nodded curtly. “I promised Reece I'd check to see that it was all locked up.”

“I guess the newlyweds got off to Californy okay,” Jessie surmised.

“Yep.”

Jessie peered at him closely, partially lowering one eyelid. “You still grumpin' over Joanna, ain't cha?”

“Why don't you mind your own damned business, Jessie?” Linc snapped, not liking the personal observation. He stalked toward the door, not wanting to hear any more of Jessie's comments.

“I always figured you to be the kind of a man to take the bull by the horns.” Jessie followed him, baggy overalls and all.

“Is that a fact?” His reply was abrupt and loaded with sarcasm. Once outside, Linc waited until Jessie was on the stoop, then locked the door.

“I never guessed you'd turn out to be one of those tame fellas that let's a gal tell ya' how things is gonna be,” Jessie didn't let up. “You want her, don't ya?”

“Lay off, Jessie.” It was a tautly issued order.

“You jest don't understand women.” The Ozark character shook his head. “When they say 'no,' they mean 'yes.' And when they wanta stay, they go,” he explained, then paused to suggest, “If'n I was you, I'd go bring her back.”

Linc stared at him, irritated and tense, but he said nothing in reply.

The living room of the Morgans' California home was a cool green and white, furnished with an understated elegance. Looking very radiant and proud, Rachel sat on the armrest of a jade-green chair where Reece was sitting. Her arm was around his shoulder in a natural display of affection while his was curved around her waist in light possession.

A wistful quality crept into Joanna's smile as she looked at the couple. “Marriage certainly agrees with you two,” she said the obvious. “I don't even need to ask if you're happy.”