The Road to Glory (26 page)

Lucy’s round tear-filled eyes grew even wider. "It is you!" Then they narrowed quickly. "Isn’t it?"

"Of course," RJ snorted through her own tears. "I look just the same and you look older than Methuselah and twice as wrinkled." She winced inwardly at what Leigh would think of the seemingly rude words, but got the reaction from Lucy that she knew you would.

"RJ!" Lucy opened her arms wide and accepted an enthusiastic hug from the pilot.

Leigh shook her head, slightly amazed at the scene before her.
You should get an Academy Award for this one, RJ.

"Don’t tell me I’ve finally died and you’re here to take me to hell?" Lucy’s voice didn’t sound the least bit fearful.

RJ laughed and shook her head. She knelt down in front of the big blue recliner that seemed to swallow her friend. "No, lass, you’re alive and kicking, just like always. Besides, and I hate to break this to you, my friend. But hell doesn’t want you. They’re afraid you’ll take over the joint."

Lucy smiled a smile so incredibly wicked that Leigh actually gulped out loud. "I wouldn’t want to take over, RJ. Only have a little fun." She and RJ burst out laughing at what seemed like an old joke. Though Leigh knew that was impossible.

Then, as though Lucy just realized something and despite the fact that she seemed to know it only seconds before, the look on her face shifted to one of abject grief. Fat and hot, tears rolled down her cheeks and she reached out and took RJ’s hand, squeezing it with startling strength. "You died," she said fervently.

RJ’s heart clenched as she slowly nodded.

Leigh moved forward, fascinated by the exchange. She allowed her hands to rest softly on RJ’s shoulders.

RJ sighed silently at the touch that unknowingly comforted her.

"I’ve missed you, Ruth Jean. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you." Lucy’s bottom lip began to quiver. "I tried. I –"

RJ was quick to calm her by gently wiping dry Lucy’s wet cheeks.

Unexpected tears pricked Leigh’s eyes. But she remained silent.

RJ sniffed. "I know. And I know you did everything you could. You kept me from drowning and being lost to the sea forever. The crash was just too much." She paused and wiped her own eyes after she finished with Lucy’s cheeks. Flashes of her crash came rushing back, bold and vivid, and she could almost feel the water trying to reach up and claim her. She swallowed painfully and pushed those thoughts aside. Now was not the time to relive that particular memory. There were others to be talked about in this place that were far sweeter. "I didn’t come here to talk about that. " Her smile was bittersweet. "I came to talk to my co-pilot, and I see you’re just as much trouble as always."

Weakly, Lucy slumped back in her chair. Her eyes flicked to Leigh, and a thought crossed her mind. "Why are you here with my niece Helen? If you’re sleeping with her, RJ, I swear I’ll kick your ass. I’ve done it before!" But the hacking cough at the end of her words did make them somewhat less threatening.

RJ snorted. "No, Luce, this isn’t your niece Helen. It’s my very dear friend, Leigh Matthews." She rolled her eyes and nodded before Lucy could even ask. "Yes, if you must know, we’re sleeping together."

Lucy looked at Leigh, who was fidgeting uncomfortably and trying to wrap her mind around the fact that RJ’s grandmother was a lesbian. And one who really slept around to boot. She wondered idly if that were the case how RJ’s mom ever came into being.

The old woman cocked her head to the side and examined Leigh’s face. "You’re not Helen?"

"No, ma’am."

"Why didn’t you just say so? I get confused sometimes, but I’m not deaf!"

"I tried but –"

"Young people and your lame-ass excuses!"

RJ jumped in to tease her beloved copilot. It was one of the simple joys of life that she’d missed most. "She didn’t say anything, you grumpy goat. Because you didn’t give her a damn chance. Just like always."

"Defending her, are you?" Lucy leaned forward and nudged RJ with a bony elbow. "And sweet on her too, I’ll bet. ‘Course, when you’ve slept with the entire Army Nursing Corps, I suppose you’ll eventually get so tired you’ve got no choice but to settle down or succumb to pure exhaustion." She glanced back up at Leigh. "And she’s a pretty one too. Not that I would expect anything less."

Leigh began to choke as she tried to stifle a laugh. By the sounds of things RJ’s grandmother was as big a handful as the tiny Lucy Gelland. She could only imagine the pair they must have made.

"I didn’t sleep with all of them," RJ protested half-heartedly. "Just the ones who wanted a
really
good time."

It was Lucy’s turn to roll her eyes and snort.

"And Leigh and I aren’t settling down, so don’t be planning the wedding just yet. Leigh doesn’t like me that much. She just wants me for my body." RJ turned her head winked at the trucker. "She rented it for a week or so."

"I take it you got out of hand and she gave that shiner? Damn, I haven’t seen one that sweet in years." Lucy winced at the lurid purple bruise.

Leigh blushed and gave the woman a small, slightly embarrassed nod. "But I swear it was an accident." She found herself also wanting to say that RJ meant more to her than a week of whoring fun. But the surprise words caught in her throat.

Thinking Leigh was upset about the comment about RJ’s eye, Lucy said, "Don’t worry, girl. Ole RJ’s had much worse and recovered nicely. Consider this accidental one a down payment for the next time when she really deserves a bop in the eye."

"Hey!"

Lucy slapped her knee and laughed long and hard. By the time she finished, however, she had something else entirely on her mind. "RJ," Lucy said quietly. "I need to thank you for something and let you in on a tiny secret I’ve been keeping forever."

RJ’s brows knit. "What secret could you possible have from me?" They had told each other everything. Or so she thought.

Lucy drew her fingertips across RJ’s cheeks then reached back and tugged on her auburn hair. "You’re wearing it shorter nowadays."

"That’s the big secret?"

"Impatient as ever." Lucy sighed. "I’ve always been just a little bit in love with you, RJ. Then and every day since then." She shrugged and smiled, her eyes twinkling softly. "Maybe it wasn’t such a big secret after all."

Leigh held her breath, waiting to hear how RJ would answer for her long dead ancestor, already feeling the slight churning of what she fully knew was an irrational jealously.

The tips of RJ’s ears turned red. "Ah, lass, you know I’ve always felt the same way." She smiled gently at Lucy, whose bright grin answered her back. "Though we surely were never meant to be together in that way."

Leigh blinked.
This is amazing. RJ’s one hell of an actress. I keep forgetting she’s not really her grandmother.

"No," Lucy intoned seriously. "We weren’t. But it didn’t stop me from loving you just the same."

"And that goes double for me." RJ rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. Just when she felt like she was about to unravel, she felt the gentle squeeze of Leigh’s fingers again, telling her everything okay. She reached up and absently patted one of the small hands. "You needed to come home and marry that flat-footed accountant you were always nattering on about. And by the looks of this room," RJ made a sweeping motion with both hands, indicating the dozens of photographs of happy people, "I’d guess that you did that very thing."

"As usual, RJ, you’d be wrong." Lucy’s voice grew stronger. "No, I didn’t marry Harold and that’s what I have to thank you for." The old woman reached over the stand next to her chair and picked up a small picture in a pewter, heart-shaped frame. She brought it to her lips and kissed it reverently before setting it in her lap and beginning a short tale.

"I don’t know how much you remember about us being fished out of the ocean when our plane went down." Lucy’s face turned a little ashen, but she pressed on. "You weren’t doing so good."

A grim look swept across RJ’s features, but when she noticed how intently Lucy was watching her face, she replaced it with a more mild one, even managing to smile reassuringly. "Go on, lass. It’s all in the past and can’t hurt us now."

Lucy asked Leigh to fetch her Kleenex from the night stand, which the trucker did, waiting patiently while trembling fingers pulled out exactly four tissues to blow her nose. "We were both Medevac’d to the island hospital. Me with a broken knee and foot and you ... well ... you." She sighed in bitter resignation and wiped the corner of her eyes with her Kleenex. Then, unexpectedly, a heart-stopping smile creased her still damp cheeks. "Your doctor was fresh out of his surgical residency and you were his first patient. He was a beautiful blond man from Chicago, my Max. He was gentle and wild and his eyes were bluer than a summer sky, just like your friend’s here." Lucy’s gnarled finger pointed over RJ’s shoulder to Leigh.

"Anyway, after you ... went and croaked! God dammit, RJ. I’m still pissed about that, you know!"

RJ crossed her arms over her chest and barked out, "It’s not like it was on the top of my list of things to do that day, Lucy!"

Leigh wondered if things might turn into an argument until Lucy continued speaking as though the outburst had never even happened.

"After you died, Max and I got so rip-roaring drunk that they locked us up in the stockade, in side-by-side cells. For a week! At first I was worried we’d kill each other. By the time the week was over I was more concerned about getting pregnant." She laughed softly, lost in her own well-savored memories.

RJ’s eyebrows crawled up into her hairline. "You both were in different cells, but you were still worried about getting pregnant?"

"Where there’s a will there’s way, Ruth Jean. As if I have to tell you that."

Leigh burst out laughing.

Lucy gave the young blonde a ghost of a wink. "Anyway, things on the island were crazy and then quiet and I guess they forgot about us there. Can you believe that?" She dropped her tissues into a wastebasket that sat alongside her chair. "We never were really apart after that, at least not in our hearts. He passed on two years and two months ago." She picked up the photo in her lap and proudly showed it to RJ.

It had clearly started as black and white with the color added later. Lucy’s red hair was flaming and her dark eyes fairly danced with merriment. Snuggled up to her cheek was a toothy, tow-headed man with a burr haircut and thin mustache. He was grinning like he’d won the lottery. As far as RJ was concerned, he had. "We have three children, six grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.
That’s
what I wanted to thank you for. My whole life."

Tears slipped down RJ’s cheeks and she smiled through them, laughing softly as she spoke. She felt a tiny piece of resentment she’d always harbored deep in her heart shrivel up and blow away at Lucy’s words. "Ah, lass, I’m glad some good came out of it then. It sounds as though you have a wonderful life and that’s really what matters most. I always wanted that for you. Max was a lucky fella to have someone like you loving him for so many years."

"Fifty-six years," Lucy clarified, her pride evident. "Fifty-six wonderful years of marriage." She handed the picture back to Leigh, who resettled it on the nightstand next to the bed. Then she looked to RJ and gave another wicked little grin. "You still a hard drinker?"

"Is there any other way?" The pilot nodded.

Lucy gestured with her chin, to the dresser across the room. "Leigh, in the bottom drawer there. There’s a bottle of good Irish whiskey, get it for me, will you?"

It was all Leigh could do to keep from laughing out loud at these two. RJ played her grandmother’s part perfectly and Lucy seemed to come to life as she talked about the old days. Leigh was glad she’d come with RJ. Lucy was nothing short of an endearing character, and the trucker realized that without women like RJ’s grandmother and Lucy she certainly wouldn’t be doing what she did for a living. Some women simply could not be made to fit into a mold and changed things for those who came after them, whether they intended to or not.

Leigh retrieved the bottle and found a couple of glasses, which she handed to RJ.

RJ glanced at the bottle and gave a low, appreciative whistle. "Whoa, lass! This is good stuff. How in the hell did you get this?"

Lucy smirked. "Leo’s a good boy."

RJ cracked the seal on the bottle and drew in a good whiff of the strong liquor. "Hmm, now that’s lovely." She poured a little into the glasses, handing one to Leigh and the other to Lucy. She winked. "I’ll take mine straight from the bottle, if you don’t mind."

"Yup," Lucy raised her glass in toast, "that’s my RJ."

The trio brought their glasses together before throwing back their drinks.

Leigh hissed as it burned a path down her throat.

RJ hummed her pleasure while Lucy licked her lips and shakily set her glass off to the side. She started to offer Lucy another, when the old woman shook her head.

"I’d better not, RJ. My granddaughter is due this afternoon and she’ll have a fit." She rolled her eyes in irritation. "But you and your lady friend can indulge as much as you like. I’ve been saving it for a special occasion and this is the most wonderful surprise."

RJ tipped the bottle toward Leigh, who shook her head. She was driving, after all, and the last thing she need was to get stopped for DUI. The pilot, however, could think of no earthly reason not to indulge. She never could resist the call of a good bottle of Irish whiskey and unrepentantly swallowed down another healthy swig.

"Leigh, has RJ ever bothered to tell you about the time she actually shot down two Jap fighters?"

Leigh smiled at RJ, wondering how she was going to get out of this one. She pasted on her most innocent look. "Why no. RJ somehow failed to mention that to me."

"Well," RJ coughed as her mind raced to find a way to toss the ball back into Lucy’s court. Finally, she shrugged and did her best to look humble. "That’s because I’m so modest, you see."

"Oh, bullshit!" Lucy and Leigh exploded at the same time.

Leigh bit her lip, realizing once again she was supposed to be talking to RJ’s long dead grandmother. Then again, it seemed like the women were an awful lot alike and she privately figured that RJ would probably end up a lot like Lucy. The old woman had a fire in her that was still burning nice and hot despite her years.