Song of the Road (17 page)

“The . . . presents were not much.”

“To me they were very special. Do you really want the hair ribbon back?”

“Did you plan to wear it?” she asked, and couldn’t hold back the giggle that bubbled up.

“Now, wouldn’t I be a bird with that ribbon in my hair? I may wear it around my neck under the bandanna.”

Suddenly, and unexpectedly to both of them, the hand on the back of the seat slid down to cup Mary Lee’s nape and pushed lightly. He bent his head; his mouth found hers and moved softly, gently over it as if she were the most precious thing in the world. She was too shocked to move. His lips pressed upon hers again, kissing her tenderly. Her mouth trembled under his. He released the pressure slightly.

“Have I ruined things?” he breathed against her lips.

Mary Lee felt her insides warm with pleasure as she looked into his quiet face and green eyes now anxiously waiting for her answer.

“Isn’t that carrying gratitude a little too far?” she managed to say.

“Gratitude had nothing to do with it. I wanted to kiss you because you’re pretty and sweet and spunky. If another man ever takes advantage of you like I have just done, I’ll beat him to a pulp.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Men aren’t exactly standing in line to kiss me.” She pulled away from him. “I must go.”

“Have I ruined things between us?”

“There’s nothing between us.”

“No, of course not. I understand.”

“No, you don’t. You think it’s because you’ve been to prison. That’s not it at all. I’ll be having a baby in a few months. No man in his right mind would see me as anything but a pregnant woman waddlin’ around —” Her eyes were bright, and her lips trembled when she spoke.

Jake’s fingers came up to cover her lips. “Then I don’t have my right mind. I see you as soft, pretty and sweet as a woman is meant to be.” His palm slid down to lie gently against the mound of her stomach. “This baby will be so lucky to have you for its mother.” He moved away from her quickly and opened the door. By the time he got around to the other side of the truck, she was out.

“You don’t have to walk with me —”

“I’m going to.” His hand cupped her elbow and pulled her close to his side. “You could stumble in the dark.”

They didn’t talk as they walked behind the cabins to the main house. Mary Lee’s mind was filled with what had happened in the truck and the joy she had felt when he placed his hand on her stomach. It was almost as if he wished that the baby growing inside were his.

She wasn’t aware that a man had come from between the first two cabins and stood waiting for them, until he spoke.

“Well, well, if it ain’t the jailbird and the bitch,” Frank Pierce said loudly.

Mary Lee felt Jake tense. “Don’t pay any attention,” she said quickly. “He’s goading you.”

“Got nothin’ to say, jailbird?”

“I’ll have plenty to say . . . when the time is right.”

“No guts, huh?”

Mary Lee kept a tight hold on Jake’s arm.

“You’ll find out when yours are strung between here and Sante Fe.”

“Once a jailbird, always a jailbird. It’s what ya’d expect from a breed . . . Indian or Mex.”

“You’re not half the man Jake is.” Mary Lee’s voice was rising with her temper.

To her astonishment, Frank unbuttoned his pants, pulled out his penis, and in the light from the window, began to urinate against the back of the cabin.

“You . . . crude son of a bitch!” Jake lunged. Mary Lee managed to get in front of him.

“Don’t, Jake! Please . . . please . . .” She put a hand on his chest to hold him. “Can’t you see it’s what he wants?”

As soon as she stopped his forward motion, Mary Lee spun around and, quick as a cat and with all her might, brought the edge of the cake plate down on the exposed part of Frank that was protruding from his britches.

He screamed and fell to his knees.

“You nasty old buzzard, I hope I broke it off!” she yelled.

“Oh, God! Oh, God!” Frank flopped over on the ground, clutching himself and yelling with pain.

“You’re trash! Plain trash. A hog’s got more manners than you’ve got. You thought to get Jake to fight you so you could call the sheriff. I’ll call him. I want him to see you, you slimy toad!”

“You fixed him. He’ll not be able to do anything for a while,” Jake said, a chuckle bubbling up out of his chest. “Serves him right.”

“He did it so you’d hit him.”

Frank lay moaning and crying. “Oh, Jesus —God in heaven — you bitch! You broke it.”

“Call her that again and I’ll stomp you where you lie,” Jake snarled. Then to Mary Lee, “He’s lucky it was you who hit him. I came within a whisker of it. I was mad enough to kill him.” Then with laughter in his voice, “Remind me not to make you mad at me.”

“To do that in front of us was so . . . nasty!”

“Gosh, Mary Lee, you really whacked him. I was hopin’ I’d get in a lick or two.” Eli moved out of the darkness with a big stick in his hand.

“Too late, Eli,” Jake said. “Unless you want to hit him while he’s down.”

“I’d rather he was on his feet.”

“What’s the matter with Frank?” Dolly came from the cabin followed by a man in bib overalls. Her voice was slurred, and she reeked of cheap whiskey. She squatted down beside Frank, then looked up at Jake and demanded, “What did ya do to him?”

“He didn’t do anything, Mama. I hit him with this plate. Eli, I think Mr. Santez’s station is still open. Will you go call the sheriff?”

“Ain’t you that jailbird?” the man said to Jake as soon as Eli took off on the run.

“You know who he is,” Mary Lee answered. “You and this no-good, trashy polecat were waiting for him.”

“Ya lettin’ a split-tail do yore talkin’?” the man asked Jake with a sneer.

“The lady is doing a pretty good job of it, and watch your mouth.”

“Or what?”

“Or sometime when you least expect it, you’ll find yourself with a couple broken legs and a mouth without teeth.”

“Help me,” Dolly said to the man with her. “We’ve got to get Frank to a doctor.”

“Leave him right where he is until the sheriff gets here,” Jake said with authority.

Dolly turned on him. “You ain’t tellin’ us what to do. You ain’t nothin’ but a jailbird.”

“He’s more of a something than that trash there on the ground,” Mary Lee said in a brittle tone. “Leave that skunk right where he is.”

“You takin’ up with this jailbird?”

“When did you ever care who I took up with?”

“Sh . . . it. First you take in that shitty kid, then this cattle thief. I want him arrested.”

“We’ll let the sheriff decide who should be arrested.” “Oh, God. She ruint . . . me—” Cradling his privates in his bloody hands, Frank curled up in a ball.

Lights from an automobile lit up the area.

“If that’s the sheriff, he was close.”

A car door slammed; then Eli and Sheriff Pleggenkuhle approached the group at the back of the cabin.

“What’s going on here?” The sheriff was a big man with a big voice.

“He was at the station,” Eli said in an aside to Mary Lee.

“They jumped him,” said Dolly.

“I hit him.” Both Mary Lee and her mother spoke at the same time.

“Help me, Sheriff. They’ve . . . ruint me —” Frank rolled over but didn’t sit up.

Sheriff Pleggenkuhle knelt down. “Let me see what happened.”

“They broke . . . it.” Frank moved his hands so the sheriff could see the damage to his private parts.

“I don’t know if it’s broke or not. It’s a bloody mess.” The sheriff stood. “Now, tell me what happened.”

“That jailbird did it,” Dolly said shrilly. Her thin shoulders were hunched; the front of her dress gaped, showing her sagging breast.

Mary Lee was mortified. “You weren’t out here, Mama.”

“What happened, Mrs. Clawson?”

“I went with Jake to take Trudy Bender home. He was walking me back to the house when Frank Pierce came out and tried to start a fight with Jake by saying nasty things to me. When that didn’t work, he . . . he exposed himself and began to . . . you know . . . against the cabin. I lost my temper and hit him with this plate. Jake didn’t touch him.”

“Did you walk up on him while he was doing it?”

“No, he deliberately unbuttoned his pants and moved over into the light from the window so I would see it.”

“Is that the way it was, Jake?”

“That’s the way it was.”

“That’s a lie. He did it.” Dolly pointed a finger at Jake. “They’re trying to make Frank move out. But he paid rent —”

“Mama, hush. You weren’t out here.”

“I saw it, Sheriff. Jake didn’t touch him.” Eli spoke from beside Mary Lee.

“Don’t believe what that lying, snot-nosed kid says. He’d jump in the fire if she told him to.”

“Oh, Mama, please. You’re making a fool of yourself.” “Have you been drinking tonight, Mrs. Finley?”

“One drink. Ain’t that right, Yancy?”

The sheriff ignored the man and spoke to Jake. “Got anything else to say?”

“No. I’d have wiped the ground with him, but she beat me to it.”

“Are you going to arrest her?” Yancy asked.

The sheriff gave him a disgusted look and spoke to Frank. “Can you get on your feet? I’ll take you to the doctor before I take you to jail for exposing your privates to this lady.”

“Why’re you takin’ Frank? He didn’t do nothin’.” Dolly stood protectively over the man on the ground.

Sheriff Pleggenkuhle ignored her and took Frank’s arm to help him up.

“Leave him alone.” Dolly tried to push the sheriff.

“Go in the house, Mrs. Finley, unless you want to go to jail for being drunk and interfering with an officer.”

“I ain’t either drunk!”

“I say you are. You smell like you’ve been swimming in a barrel of home brew.”

“It’s her fault. She come here . . . and took over. She hides the money and don’t give me any.” Dolly pointed a shaky finger at Mary Lee and began to cry.

Humiliated by her mother’s actions, Mary Lee turned her back and closed her eyes. Jake’s hand on her arm was all that kept her from reeling.

The sheriff told Yancy to take Frank’s arm. The two men lifted Frank to his feet and between them led him to the sheriff’s car.

After they had rounded the building, Dolly turned on Mary Lee. “Guess you’re satisfied now. You’ve been a pain in the ass and a thorn in my side since the day you were born. Scott couldn’t see anything but his
precious
little girl. You turned him against me. Now you’re gettin’ Frank sent to jail with your lies.”

“They were not lies, Mama.”

“You didn’t like him ’cause he didn’t bow and scrape to you like your daddy did. You ain’t goin’ to be satisfied till you take everything I got . . . my friends, my cabins. And ya got that jailbird helpin’ ya. I hope that damn kid you’re carryin’ comes out cross-eyed and bowlegged and gives you as much hell as you’ve given me.” Dolly spit out the words with pure hatred in her eyes as she looked at her daughter.

Mary Lee stood still as a stone after Dolly turned to follow the sheriff and Frank. Vaguely she heard the sheriff’s car leave. Eli reached out and took the plate from her hands. Tears that she couldn’t hold back blurred her vision as she stumbled toward the back porch. Jake, steady as a rock, was there, his hand clasping her elbow to keep her from falling.

Chapter 12

“D
ON’T LET WHAT SHE SAID BOTHER YOU
.” Jake’s voice, smooth and confident, came out of the darkness.

“She . . . she hates me . . .” Mary Lee’s words reflected the misery in her soul.

“You’re wrong, honey. She was drunk and upset over Frank. She doesn’t hate you.” His voice vibrated with tender concern. “No one in their right mind could hate you.”

Mary Lee squeezed her eyes tightly shut as tears welled and glistened on her lashes. Her heart swelled, and she thought she would choke with the effort of keeping the sobs from her throat.

“Not
you,
” he whispered.

On hearing his tender, sincere words, the flood of emotion she had kept in check for so long broke. She turned to him, buried her face against his chest and cried as though her heart would break. Jake’s arms went around her. He held her tightly against him and stroked her hair. She wrapped her arms around his waist, clung to him and sobbed.

“Don’t cry, little love.” The whispered voice was against her ear. “She didn’t mean what she said.” He held her close, his head bent over hers, his hand caressing her back.

“Yes, she . . . did.” Mary Lee had not felt such crushing grief since she received word her daddy had died.

Her tears soaked Jake’s shirt. He cuddled her to him, feeling her hurt, wanting to take it away and knowing there was nothing he could do.

Suddenly, he felt the movement of her child against his lower abdomen. He caught his breath. He thought his heart would stop beating. The fluttering continued for a minute or two. It was electrifying to feel the movement of the baby within her, even if it wasn’t his own. He closed his eyes, savoring the moment.