Morning Glory (13 page)

She set a heavy cast iron skillet on the stove and
started opening cabinet doors. "Pancakes? Eggs?
Both?"

"Pancakes sound good. Then I'm off to the office.
You still coming down town to shop today?"

"Oh, yes." She nodded.

"You'll come by the office to see me then?"

"Sure. If I bring lunch in a basket and the rain stops maybe we can go to the park and eat together with
Libby. She's missed you so much, Briar."

"Sounds good to me," he said. Maybe having family
near would erase that longing feeling in his heart to see
Clara Anderson again. He picked up the paper and
opened it, but didn't read a word. He'd known after the
kiss he'd shared with Clara that he had to leave.
Postponing the departure wouldn't bring anything but
more pain. He didn't know how it had affected Clara,
but he had an idea and she sure didn't need a man like
him to mess up her life again.

A little girl came down the steps and across the foyer
floor in a barefoot run. She slung herself into Briar's
arms and snuggled down into his arms. "Daddy!
Daddy! Can we still have a picnic today even if it's
raining?"

"Yes, Libby, we can have a picnic. You're coming to
the office, and if it's still raining we'll eat in the conference room. If it's not, we'll go to the park"

She kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you're home, Daddy.
I missed you"

"I missed you, too, baby." He hugged her close,
inhaling the sweet morning scent of her dark hair.

She pushed back and held his cheeks in her hands.
"And you'll never, ever go away and leave me for that
long again?"

"No, I promise I won't leave you for a month again,
baby"

She drew down her eyes and slapped at his arm.
"Don't call me `baby.' I'm four years old"

"Yes, ma'am," he smiled at his daughter.

"Pancakes ! I love pancakes" She hopped out of his
lap and ran to the table.

"Kids. Don't matter if they're boys or girls. They run
everywhere. Walking never does the job, not even if the
destination is only halfway across a room," Judith
chuckled as she set a plate of pancakes before Libby,
cut them into bite-sized pieces, then looked at Briar.
"Yours will be ready in a minute. I've got fresh strawberries. Want some on the top with whipped cream?"

"Sounds good. Thanks" Briar took his place at the
head of the kitchen table and waited. Life was good.
He'd made a fortune and he had family around him.
He'd get over the yearning for something he couldn't
have.

He ate breakfast, kissed Libby goodbye and went to
work. The morning went fast. Board of directors meetings. Reports from the new wells in Healdton and even
newer ones in Hewitt. One in Ragtown that was looking very promising. Cecil was doing well at the helm
out there, managing crews, signing new leases. He was
amazed when Judith and Libby opened the door into
his office. Judith carried a basket and Libby danced
around, her dark curls bouncing with every leap.

"We're going to the park," she sing-songed.

Judith patted Briar on the shoulder. "We even brought a blanket to put on the bench so you won't get
the seat of your pants wet"

A young man popped his head in the room. "Excuse
me, sir. This just came for you from Cecil. Thought you
might like to look at it before you take your lunch."

"Thank you," Briar took the oversized envelope from
him and opened it. He smiled brightly.

"Is it?" Judith asked.

"It is," he nodded. "Libby, come here and sit on my
lap. I've got something exciting to tell you. We're moving to Oklahoma"

"Is that at Pittsbird?" she asked.

"Pittsburg, not Pittsburd," Judith giggled at the child.
"No, it's way far away and we'll ride the train. Cecil
has bought a farm I wanted very badly while I was out
there and it has a nice big house on it. There's lots of
land where we can have picnics and you can even have
a pony"

Libby squealed. "And a kitty cat. And a puppy dog.
And, and, and-" Her four year old mind couldn't
think of another thing.

"All of it," Briar said. He and Judith had discussed
the idea of moving for the past two years and when he'd
come home from Healdton and told her about the country there, she'd been more than willing to go. He'd just
have to keep his distance from Clara and the whole
Anderson family.

"And a garden out back?" Judith asked.

"Vegetables or flowers?" Briar smiled up at her.
"Both. I want morning glories on the porch. Red
roses. Daffodils. Marigolds. Then I want a garden with
potatoes and beans, cucumbers, squash. All those
things Mother had in her garden. I'd thought if I ever
got away from that blasted garden, I'd never wish for
one, but here I am, just plumb giddy thinking about getting my hands in the dirt."

"Then we will have a garden," he said.

"When?"

"The house is empty. Anytime you are ready. I'm
going to sell off my leases in this part of the world and
move the whole Rose Oil Corporation to Healdton.
Cecil says here there's an empty building on Main
Street up for sale. We'll buy it for an office and he's got
a couple of good men in mind to help run it."

"Then call the movers and let's get this show on the
railroad. Think we could be there in a couple of
weeks?" she asked.

"What makes you so anxious?" Briar raised an eyebrow.

She kissed his cheek. "You, of course, darlin'. Seein'
you happy is my biggest desire."

The blush that filled her cheeks didn't escape his
notice, though. There was something more that made
Judith so eager to get out of Titusville and relocate to a
town as small as Healdton. He wondered what?

Libby could scarcely sit still long enough to eat her
fried chicken at the picnic. She talked nonstop about kitty cats and puppy dogs and could she take all of her
doll babies?

Too soon the picnic was over and the light-hearted
feeling of new adventures had to be put aside for the
mundane business at hand. With a kiss on Judith's
cheek and a fierce hug for Libby, Briar left them to go
back to his office.

"Now, princess, let's go home and get you a nap,"
Judith told Libby.

"But I can't sleep. I gots to get ready to go to
Opaloma," she said.

"That's Ok-la-ho-ma," Judith said slowly. "And a
nap will help you get ready. It'll make you all fresh so
when your daddy comes home tonight, you won't be
cranky"

"Okay," Libby pouted.

Later that afternoon while Libby slept soundly,
Judith sat down at the dining room table and wrote a
letter.

My dearest, dearest darling Cecil:

I could kiss you a million times and plan to as
soon as we get to Oklahoma. I don't care if it's a
boom town. I don't care if Healdton is small. If
you are there I shall be the happiest woman on
earth. Briar says we can possibly be ready to come
in only a couple of weeks. He must have already
had prospective buyers for the oil company on this
side of the world. You are a genius for getting the farm Briar wanted so badly. Remind me to give
you another kiss for that. Looking forward to an
evening wrapped up in the warmth of your arms.

Your loving,

Judith

Judith loved the farmhouse in Oklahoma. They'd
been there less than a week and she had already decided where she would plant roses, where the vegetable
garden would be and had already begun to badger Briar
about having a lawn party as soon as the house was put
together. The furniture had come to Ardmore by train
and then to Healdton by freight wagons. With the help
of a whole army of oil men, it had been arranged.
Boxes upon boxes still remained to be unpacked, but
that would be finished before long.

She arose early on Sunday morning and was already
in the kitchen when Briar stumbled in, still half-asleep
from all the work the day before. It had been a big day
and quite a change from their small house in
Pennsylvania. In amongst all the work they'd both lis tened to Libby run in and out the doors at least ten
dozen times in search of the big orange cat that came
with the farm. It was as round as a pumpkin and evidently there would be a whole passel of kittens soon.

Judith stirred the meat in a skillet. "Sausage gravy
and biscuits?"

"Sounds wonderful," he said absently.

"I'm letting Libby sleep a while longer. We don't
have to be in church until eleven o'clock and she's
played out. Poor little thing chased that cat around until
I thought she'd wear her legs off right up to the knees.
Briar, I love it here. I'm glad we came. It'll be a fine
place to raise Libby."

"Yes, it will. Oh, I meant to tell you, they have this
poetry reading thing at the library once a week. Clara
Anderson and her cousin Tilly go, along with a couple
of schoolteachers. Might be a way for you to get
acquainted."

`Briar, I can find my own friends. Going to church is
always a good start. Will Cecil be there?"

"He wasn't going to church when I left a month ago,
but then there was this sweet, young thing that stayed at
the boarding house who was trying to get her claws in
him and she goes regularly. She had dollar signs in her
eyes and a left hand that was itching for a wedding ring,
so if he hasn't outrun her, he might be going now to sit
with her. Or if he has outrun her, he might be going to
give thanks for good sturdy legs."

Judith literally paled. After all the things Cecil had written, she hadn't even thought of other women.
"Oh?"

"Yep, her name is Olivia and, honey, she is as flirty
as they come. Works at the bank as a teller. One of
those liberated women. Remember Myra Lucas. Well,
she'd make her look like a saint with a halo and wings,"
Briar said.

"No!"

"Yep, so if you see him sporting a brand new nose
ring and her finger is hooked in it, you'll know he's
done got himself a brand"

Judith didn't answer. She couldn't compete with
someone younger and prettier. She was thirty years old
and, by most standards, an old maid, even if it was
modern day 1917. All she'd ever known was keeping
house and taking care of Libby. She wasn't a sophisticated bank teller and she surely wasn't liberated
enough to go chasing after men. She'd been taught to
let them do the chasing.

"Daddy, is it Sunday?" Libby asked from the doorway into the kitchen. "Are we going to church?"

He opened his arms. "Yes, baby girl, we're going to
church."

"Not a baby," she protested, snuggling down into the
security of her father's lap.

Clara awoke with a start after dreaming of Briar
holding her closely in a field of clover out behind
Tilly's house. The sun had been shining, but there was a tornado forming in the southwest. She shivered even
as she sat straight up in the bed and wiped away a bead
of sweat from her upper lip. She could see the funnel
dropping, feel the stillness of the air and see the green
cast coming closer and closer.

She shook off the covers and inhaled deeply. "Just a
dream."

Reality came back to her in the form of the aroma of
cinnamon coming from the kitchen. Dulcie was making
breakfast. She opened the door out into the hallway.
Light shined from under every boarder's door and she
could hear them moving about. All but one room,
which was still dark: Briar's room.

Cecil had come around a few days after Briar had
left, but Clara had refused him flatly and there had been
a few other inquiries about renting the room, but she'd
turned them all down. She didn't want another man in
the house at all. Not as long as Olivia was there. And
she wasn't ready, not just yet, to give up Briar's room,
either.

Olivia had chased Cecil unmercifully for at least two
weeks after Briar disappeared. Cecil had managed to
keep ahead of her in the race until she finally gave up
and went after another oil man. One named Danny who
appeared to be quite taken with her. Being a natural
born flirt, she still batted her eyes and put a bit more
sashay in her step when any man was within fifty feet
of her.

Clara slipped out into the hallway and entered Briar's old room. She sat down in the rocking chair and
let her mind go back to that night. She liked the way
she felt when her lips touched his. Alive. Alert. Slightly
embarrassed but very happy. Most days she didn't even
think about Percy anymore. The suitcase was gone.
One day she and Tilly had taken it to Ardmore and left
it sitting beside the train station.

For a few days after he left she could still smell the
lotion he used after he shaved when she held a bed pillow, but then she cleaned the room and that was gone,
just like he was.

What kind of fool are you? she asked herself. Sitting
here thinking of a man who ran away after one kiss. An
oil man at that. One of those she'd declared war against
years ago.

She finally left the rocking chair and slid out the door
silently just as Bessie came out into the hall.