Morning Glory (23 page)

"It's said the good die young, so I expect we'll both
live to be old and gray and I don't intend to stop flirting until I draw my last breath. I hear someone on the
steps, so take your time deciding if you're going to
keep him. I'm not sure I'd want him anyway."

"You demon. You were just baiting me to see where
I stood with him!"

"Yep, I was and now I know." Tilly left Clara sitting
on the swing alone.

Briar returned, shirt changed and ready to dance. He
offered his hand to Clara one second, and the next,
Libby wrapped both arms around one leg and sobbed,
leaving wet patches on his trousers. "Daddy, make it
stop. Tell them all to go home"

Clara was on her feet instantly, kneeling beside
Libby. "Why? Libby, you were having such a good
time. Why should your daddy make them go home?"

"Acause," she sobbed. "Judy is going away."

"Give me a minute, Clara. Come here, baby, and let
me explain." Briar scooped Libby up into his arms and
returned the swing.

Clara backed up to the railing and leaned against a
porch post.

"It's not the family who's taking her away, Libby. We
talked about this. Remember? You're going to stay with
Clara and the ladies every day now" Briar ran his fingers through her dark curls.

"They came and she's going away. Make them all go
home now," Libby sucked in a fresh batch of sobs.

Briar looked up at Clara in exasperation.

Clara ached to take the child into her arms. Libby
was four and losing the only mother she'd ever known.
Clara had been nineteen and had the same hollow ache
in her heart when her mother died. She sat down on the
swing beside Briar and touched Libby's hand. "Honey,
Judith and Cecil are going to Texas. Not very far away,
and when they've got everything all fixed up, your
daddy is going to take you to see them for a whole
week. Until then, would you please come to my house
every day and keep the little ladies for me? They need
someone to take care of them. They get awfully lonely."

"But that's in the day. Who's going to stay with me
at night?"

"I am. I've always been there for you at night," Briar
told her.

Libby shook her head. "Sometimes you go away."

"Not anymore. This is our home. I'll be home every
night."

"But what if I need Judy? Clara, will you stay with
me at night?"

Clara's tongue affixed itself to the roof of her mouth
and she couldn't utter a single word.

"Libby, I'm sorry your Aunt Judy is getting married
and she and Cecil are moving away from here. I really
am, but Clara can't stay with you at night," Briar
soothed her.

"Please." Libby turned her blue eyes toward Clara
and stuck out her lower lip in a perfect pout. "Just one
night. What if I get sick in the night? What if one of
those mean things get in my sleep and-"

"I'll be here, Libby." Briar patted her head.

"I'll be glad to stay, but not tonight. You'll have all
the family around you all day and lots of cousins to
sleep in your room, so you'll be fine tonight. We'll talk
about it after church tomorrow. How's that?" Clara
said.

"Okay." Libby finally drew her lip in and gave them
a brilliant smile. "Tansy can sleep in my room. But
Clara is staying with me when they all go away."

"Whew!" Briar wiped his forehead when she'd run
off to join her cousins again. "Thanks, Clara. She'll
forget by tomorrow night. I'm sorry she put you in that
spot"

"And if she doesn't forget?"

"Then I'll just be firm. I may have to sleep in Judith's
room a few nights until she gets used to the idea."

"She's four. She's just a little girl. If she wants me to
spend a few nights here, I can. I don't want her having nightmares. Those mean things in her sleep must be
fears," Clara said.

"You can't stay here, Clara. Not just me and you and
Libby. There'd be talk," Briar told her.

She nodded. "Yes, there would"

"I'm divorced. I'm an oil man. I have a small child
who certainly isn't old enough to be a chaperone"

"Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?" she
asked.

"You. You cannot stay in my house."

"You stayed in mine."

Briar was getting more frustrated by the minute.
"Yes, but that was a different situation. You run an inn.
This is my private home."

"I'm staying with Libby until she's comfortable with
Judith leaving," Clara said and wondered where in the
devil the words had come from. Briar was right. The
rumors would be scandalous.

"I can take care of my child," Briar said stiffly.

"Are you saying you won't let me stay here to help
with her?"

Briar gritted his teeth. "That's what I'm saying. I
won't have her spoiled. She's already got her mother's
looks. I damn sure don't want her to have her attitude,
and spoiling her at this age will lead to just that"

Clara bowed right up to him. `Briar Nelson! I
thought that was ashes. Buried. In the past and all that
stuff. You've still got that woman sitting on your shoul der. Let Libby be whomsoever she wants to be. She's
only four."

"I won't spoil her."

"You don't spoil children with too much love, Briar.
You spoil them with too little discipline. What she's
asking is just love. Judith has been her stability when
you had to be out of town. It's not the time to discipline
her."

"She's mine. Not yours," he challenged.

"That's right, but I love her and she's not going to be
afraid. Besides, I have changed. You can't. You've got
an albatross hanging around your neck and her name is
Lorianne Lawdry. You're the only one who can take it
away. Not your family. Not even your child. I'm going
to go find someone to dance with and it dang sure isn't
you, Briar."

She waited a few moments to see if he'd answer her.
When he didn't, she walked away.

"Miss Clara, would you care to dance?" one of
Briar's employees asked.

"Yes, I would. You are?"

"Andy Matheson, ma'am. Met Briar the first day he
came to Healdton. He gave me and Danny and some
others a ride from Ardmore over here, then when things
didn't go well at Crystal Oil, he hired us," the man
explained as he waited for the musicians to gear up for
a slow song.

"I see" She stepped close to him when the fiddler hit the first whining notes of a hill song. She put one hand
on his shoulder and held out the other for him.

Clara fit right well into his arms but she was the
boss's territory and he'd never jeopardize his job for
any woman. He liked working for Rose Oil and there
was room for advancement. Cecil had just been made
manager of the new territory down in Texas. Andy was
eyeing the job he'd left vacant in Healdton.

"Briar's a good man to work for," he said as they
kept time with the music.

"I'm sure he is," Clara said.

"I'm glad to see Cecil and Judith get together. They
are so happy," he said.

"Yes, I'm glad they are together, also. Thought for a
while there when you first hit that gusher that Cecil
might take up with Olivia," Clara said.

"No, that was just Olivia flirting around. When
Danny went to Cecil and asked him about Olivia, Cecil
told us he had a woman back east. Course we didn't
know that it was the boss's sister," Andy told her.

"So are Danny and Olivia next in line for a wedding?"

"Could be, but he's sure enough outrun better chasers
than her," Andy laughed. The music stopped and he
stepped away from Clara in time to see Briar coming
across the yard, determination on his face and determination in his walk. Good grief, Andy sure hoped he
hadn't offended the man by dancing and talking to
Clara. "I thank you for the dance, Miss Clara. Maybe before night ends, we can have another one. Right now
I promised that young lady over there the next fast one
and I think the fellers are getting ready for a real stomp"

"My pleasure" Clara watched Andy almost run to
one of the older cousins. A girl of eighteen or nineteen
with cornsilk-colored hair and brown eyes.

"So how are you at fast dancing?" Briar asked, so
close behind her that she jumped.

She started toward Beulah and Bessie. "Not interested. I'm going to sit this one out."

He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him,
eyes boring into hers with steely challenge. "Didn't ask
you if you were interested. Asked if you could do it?"

"I can do anything." She shook his hand away.

"So can I," he said.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"So, I'll believe you can do a fast hill-country reel
when I see it." His very tone challenged her.

The fiddle and banjo music started in her shoulders
and traveled to her feet. She'd danced like this a few
times when she and Tilly were younger. Back when
they rolled up the rug in the parlor and Granny
Anderson taught them the dances of the hills in eastern
Oklahoma Territory. She began to whirl and twirl
around Briar, ignoring everyone around her and keeping up with every beat. She'd teach him to dare her to
try anything. He'd find it hard put to keep up with her
anyway. He had a millstone strapped to his heart. She
was as free as a bird.

"They're fighting," Beulah told Bessie.

"She can sure dance. Reminds me of her grandmother back when she was young"

"Think we'll have a wedding by Christmas?" Beulah
asked.

"Oh, it won't be that long. Maybe Thanksgiving.
She's not been this alive since that damned preacher
man left her sitting in front of the drug store. And to
think it took an oil man to wake up her up."

"Prince Charming with an oil company," Beulah
agreed with a nod. "You think we're too old to run a
boarding house?"

Bessie huffed. "You might be. I'm not. Old! I might
be too old to run `shine all over the country in one of
them fancy automobiles, but I could run that boarding
house standing on my head and cross-eyed. We'll give
Dulcie a raise and she'll stay on as cook"

"Dulcie's too old to ride a horse three miles every
morning out here to be Clara's cook so she'll stay with
or without a raise, but it would be nice to give her a little more money. And Clara can find her own cook. Girl
might dance like her granny but, honey, she can't cook
like Kate. I could do the cooking. Been a while but I'm
a good cook. Besides, Olivia's going to marry that boy
soon as she runs him to ground. All we'll have is the two
of us and them teachers. Pretty soon they'll move on
and then it'll just be me and you to rattle around in that
house. I know I can keep our body and soul together
until the good Lord comes calling for us," Beulah said.

"Countin' our chickens before they're hatched, ain't
we?" Bessie asked.

"Yep, but we can do whatever we want. We made a
cloth for the church and we been good a long time so
we can be pretty sure we're forgiven for our sins. Lord,
look at that girl. Didn't know she knew how to flirt so
good"

Bessie kept time with the music with her foot. "He's
still angry. Maybe we'll have to do a little meddling."

"I think she's got it under control," Beulah said.
"Here comes Libby. Come here, sweetheart, and let me
hold you. I need a nap. Maybe you can help me go to
sleep for a spell."

Libby crawled up in Beulah's arms. "I'll help you
take a nap" She popped a thumb in her mouth and nestled down into Beulah's lap.

"I know you will, honey" Beulah began to rock back
and forth and by the time the dance ended, Libby's eyes
were closed.

"You don't call that meddling?" Bessie asked.

"For an hour she won't be getting between them, so
I suppose it is meddling," Beulah told her.

"Look at Libby," Clara said breathlessly. "Beulah
has her asleep. You think you better rush over there and
wake her up since she's yours and not theirs?"

Briar motioned to the musicians. Another fast song
began. "So, you got enough energy for another one?"

"How about you?" she asked right back.

He took her hands and began to spin her around. "I
told you I can do anything."

"Anything but shut the door on the past"

He twirled her out and then brought her back into his
arms so fast the trees were a blur. "Don't you talk to me
like that."

"If you don't like it, then don't come around me.
Why didn't you shoot Lorianne? I would have helped
you bury the body"

"You are serious?" he asked.

She deliberately put two feet between them and
propped her hands on her waist, her feet still moving
without missing a beat. "Dead serious. I would have
shot Percy. And I'm staying here tomorrow night if
Libby is still afraid."

"Oh, honey, you are not. I'll call the new lawman and
have you thrown out. That should give you back your
fool's crown."

"You'd have to take that crown off your head to give
it to me" Clara swished her lilac skirt tail back and
forth like Coralynn was doing. She'd never had so
much fun nor felt so terrified. Briar could be so exasperating, but she was more alive than she'd ever been in
her life. She wondered if he really could put the most
beautiful woman in the whole United States out of his
mind and life. Especially when he had a living, breathing replica of her in front of him every day in the form
of a precious four-year-old daughter.