Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy) (19 page)

“
Right,” Laura said trying to remember, “It was after you started your Junior year, it hurt him too much to lift the milk buckets. He gave in and went to the doctor.”

“
Did the doctor tell him that he had a heart attack?” Nora leaned back in her chair and stretched her legs.

“
He said that he must have had one at some time,” Laura stood up to refill her tea glass. “That’s when the doctor forbid him to lift anything over ten pounds. That’s also when we had to step up and carry the work load.”

Nora nodded remembering the back breaking work she and her mother had done trying to keep the dairy going.

“I’m not giving a diagnosis because I’m not anywhere near being a doctor, but from what I’ve read, it seems that Dad had congestive heart failure.” Laura said putting down her pencil.

Laura brightened up, “
Yes, that’s the words that the doctor said, congestive heart failure.”

“
Congestive heart failure is when a person has probably had multiple heart attacks which cause myocardial infarction. I’m guessing that he had a blockage to the heart that had been there so long that the part of the heart which had been blocked was either atrophied or it just possibly dead.”

“
My guess is,” Nora said softly, “that since he didn’t go to the doctor when he was having those flu like symptoms, that may be when he was having the heart attacks. Heart attacks can be so bad that they take a person immediately or in Dad’s case mild enough that he could excuse them but they still got him in the end.”

“
It was after we went to the doctor that he started trying to find a buyer for the dairy farm.” Laura started rubbing her eyes. “It was such a hard decision at the time. Necessary, just the same.”

Nora saw her mother grab her trembling chin.

Danny and Aaron came in the front door, “Anybody got anything to drink?” Danny asked. He stopped when he saw that Nora and his mother were in a serious conversation.

“
Did I interrupt something? Danny asked.

Aaron
stood at the door, rolling his eyes from one to the other like he wasn’t sure whether he should leave or stay.

“
Come on in, Aaron,” Nora invited. “We were talking about selling the dairy farm. You already know about that.”

He nodded and walked over and leaned against the cabinet near Danny.

“Are you sorry, Mom, that we moved to town?” Danny asked concerned.

“
It’s difficult to understand, Danny. I think your Dad and I made the right decision to move to town. Especially, since we weren’t able to work the dairy. I actually enjoy living here where everything is convenient for the three of us.” She rubbed the back of her neck as if she were trying to erase the memories.

“
My regret,” Laura explained, “is that your Dad and you children lost your inheritance. That land had been in the Ray family for five generations. It should have been yours.”

Danny went to his mother and put his arms around her neck and hugged her, “
You don’t worry about that land, Mom.”

“
Aaron and I are going to be football players. Someday we will go professional. Won’t we, Aaron?” he looked to Aaron for confirmation.

Aaron
shook his head earnestly.

Everybody will watch us play on television.”
He said as he waved his hands in a circular motion. “When I am rich, I will buy that land back. You’ll see.”

Laura smiled and kissed him, “
How about I get you thirsty boys some iced tea?”

Jeremy worked in his impromptu lab from early morning until Nora came by after work and they
would go to the evening meal together.

They sat across the table from each other at Pat
’s Café waiting on their food. Jeremy reached over to hold Nora’s left hand so he could watch the diamond glisten in the light.

He chuckled
remembering the time they told his Dad about their engagement. “Do you remember the look on my Dad’s face when we showed him your engagement ring?”

She laughed thinking about it, “
He came in after playing golf all day with some of his attorney buddies.”

“
You wore a dress with big pockets so you could keep your left hand hidden so he couldn’t see the ring until we found the right time to tell him.”

“
Your Mom was really good to not let the cat out of the bag until we were ready, even though she was so excited, she couldn’t keep the big smile off her face.”

“
Yeah, Dad was suspicious, he knew something was up but he didn’t know what.”

“
Fortunately your Mom sent the boys to the movies or out to friends, so they weren’t there to tell him because they couldn’t have kept it quiet.”

“
Yeah, Mom is amazing like that,” Jeremy said bragging on her. “She fixed these big sugar cookies with yellow and red icing on them.” He laughed, “I guess she wanted to sweeten him up.”

“
By the time she was through with him, he didn’t have it in him to get upset with us,” Nora laughed reminiscing.

Nora continued, “
She fed him his favorite meal, poured red wine in those tiny goblets. Then she made over him and flirted with him until he was so distracted, he almost forgot we were in the room.”

“
Then she told him that we had something to tell him.” Jeremy smiled, “When you showed him the ring, I said, ‘Dad, I’ve asked Nora to marry me.’”

“
That look on his face was priceless.” Nora shook her head with a smug smile. “You could tell he was unhappy about it. His face turned red, his eyes narrowed. Remember he sat up real straight in his chair like he just woke up. He pointed his finger at us like he wanted to say something but Samantha said, ‘Darling, I am so excited that our Jeremy is going to get married! Just think we’re getting our daughter we always wanted.’”

“
Then she grabbed the finger he had pointed and kissed it,” Jeremy remembered. “That took all of the sting out of him.”

“
In spite of how powerful he may be in the court room, she has him so wrapped around her little finger at home,” Nora said.

“
I can promise you, my beautiful Nora, things are exactly as he wants them.”

At
that time their food arrived. They had ordered roast beef, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, steamed carrots, iced tea and cherry pie ala mode.

“
This food looks so good!” Jeremy exclaimed as he dug in. “I didn’t realize I was this hungry.”

After they had eaten, Nora said, “
By the way, there is something that I need to tell you. This will be my last year at Oklahoma City. I found out that after the second year of medical school one fourth of students transfer to Tulsa to finish. Tulsa is where the doctorate program is, so moving there helps the students get started in the hospitals and get acquainted with the doctors and other people they need to know.”

Jeremy sat there in silence contemplating how this would affect the decisions he needed to make. “
Have you given any thought to when you want to get married?”

“
I have, Jeremy. Would you like to get married as soon as school is out in the spring?” Nora asked.

“
I would like to get married tonight,” Jeremy winked at her and ate the last bite of pie that she had left in her plate.

Nora raised her eyebrows at his non-answer, “
Me, too. Now, how about next spring?”

“
Well, Sweetheart, I am obligated to return to Harvard this year because of my project I am working on. My professor there will help me develop my ideas and set up the process to prove my theory. I’m not sure that one year is enough to fully process all the data necessary, but I believe that within a year I can set up something with Oklahoma University in Tulsa to continue in a greenhouse there.”

“
And?” Nora asked tapping her foot.

“
As for marrying you, if you want to wait until next year in the spring when we come home, then that’s the way it will be,” Jeremy said.

“
Thank you.” Nora went on to explain her reasoning, “I thought that by next year, well, at least we both will have two years of college behind us. It will give us time to set up a house to live in.” Warming up to her subject, “Jeremy, won’t that be exciting to have our own house?”

“
I promise you, my beautiful Nora. This will be the last time we will ever live apart and not have our own house.”

“
Jeremy, I don’t want it any other way.”

Chapter Seventeen

“School starts in two weeks,” Nora commented to Jeremy one day on her day off. “I’ve already turned in my resignation at the hospital. Saturday will be my last day.”

“
Why so early?” Jeremy asked looking up from his papers he was writing. “It takes me about one hour to pack and one hour to get to the airport.”

“
How much longer do you need for this report you are working on?” she asked. “The reason I asked is I wanted to spend the rest of my time with you but not in this tiny room.”

“
Well, that puts a different spin on things,” Jeremy smiled with a leer. “If you are through on Saturday, then so am I.” He put his arms around her and rocked back and forth, “What do you have in mind?”

“
I know this sounds really bold, but I have never had a vacation. Would you like to go on a road trip?”

“
Just the two of us?” he asked surprised.

She nodded her head, “
Yes.”

“
Not with out condoms! Nora.” He stepped away thinking about what their parents would think.

Her face turned red, and she shrugged.

He looked at her incredulously, “You’re serious!”

She nod
ded.

“
Nora, I have to think about this. God! Nora, look at me. I’m so turned on my pants don’t fit.”

She walked over and touched him. “
I’m ready, Jeremy.”

“
I will make this work, Nora.” Jeremy ran his hands over his face. “You be ready Sunday morning. Lord, I’m so horny, I can’t walk. If you want to wait until Sunday morning, you better go home right now.”

The
y had two days left before the trip, they spent a lot of time on the phone but Jeremy didn’t trust himself now that they had planned the deed. He told her to bring her swimsuit. He made some plans but he wouldn’t tell her what they were in case she accidentally spilled the beans. He didn’t want anyone to know where they were going, especially his mischievous brothers.

Their parents weren
’t happy about the trip but fortunately for Nora and Jeremy, their own misdeeds they had done at that age were still pretty clear. Not something they wanted to divulge either.

When Jeremy drove into Nora
’s drive way, she was sitting on the porch swing with her bag in hand. She got in the car and threw her bag in the back seat. She looked at him with a big grin from ear to ear. He leaned over and kissed her and said, “Me, too.”

He backed out of her drive way and headed south on HWY 69 to Chouteau then turned east on HWY 33
toward Locust Grove. Nora scooted as close to him as she could and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Nora thought
I don’t care where we go I just want to be near him
. She felt his warmth go all through her.

Jeremy interrupted her thoughts saying, “
I made reservations at this little motel on the other side of Locust Grove. They have individual cottages to rent. There is a natural spring that comes out of the side the hill and empties into a small gravel lined creek that flows behind the cottages. Have you ever been by there?”

“
Yes,” she said, “but we never stopped.”

“
It’s not a fancy place, but it does have some privacy.”

“
Sounds good to me.”

They drove eas
t through Locust Grove to the Pike Springs Motel located about a mile past town on HWY 33. Jeremy went to check in and get the key. Nora began to feel a little nervous. She began to twist her hands wondering
what did I get myself into?

Jeremy came back to the car and saw her sitting against the door clasping her hands together, “
Nora, if you’re not ready, we can wait on this.”

“
I’ll be fine, Jeremy, I need a little time.” Nora said, “I’ve had two days to get nervous since I talked to you Thursday evening.”

“
Let’s put our things in the cottage and take a walk,” he suggested.

They walked the length of
the creek, then they stopped and took a drink at the pipe spring. They watched little crawdads swim around and found a school of minnows swimming near the edge of the creek.