'Til Death (A Rebel Ridge Novel) (19 page)

“I don’t care what other people think. I got my own mind about
what’s right and what’s not.”

“Then we’re good to go,” he said.

Thirteen

“I
thought I’d let you know what’s happened
since I talked to you last,” Linc said. “I confronted Wes and Lucy yesterday. It
was pretty ugly, but at least now they know I’m here and why.”

“Good. I hope it gave both of them nightmares last night,”
Tildy said.

He chuckled. “Yeah, me, too. But it also set me to thinking
about something you said a while back. About the White family home being in
foreclosure and then it suddenly getting paid off.”

She nodded. “Yes, that did happen.”

“I don’t suppose anyone knew what happened?”

“I never heard anything beyond what Mrs. White said, that they
came into some money.”

“And that’s all she said?”

“It’s all I heard.”

“I don’t suppose you know what kind of money we’re talking
about?”

Tildy frowned. “Well, I can’t say how much they got, but I do
know how much they owed, because Mrs. White used to cry when she’d come get my
salve for her rheumatism. She kept saying they were no more likely to ever come
by four hundred dollars all at once, let alone the forty thousand they
owed.”

“Forty thousand! That’s a lot of money to owe on any land here
on Rebel Ridge. I wonder how they came to owe so much on land that had been in
their family for generations.”

“Her husband was a poor manager and hated to work worse than
anyone I ever knew. I think what happened is that he mortgaged it a piece at a
time until they found themselves without a single acre of land that was free and
clear.”

Linc listened as he drove, letting Tildy talk and nodding when
it was necessary, but he was convinced his next step was to find out where that
money had come from. But not today. Today was about chicken and dumplings and
putting another smile on Aunt Tildy’s face.

“Here’s hoping this goes well,” he said as he parked at
Frankie’s Eats. “Looks like we got here at a good time. Only three other
cars.”

“Church isn’t out yet,” she said. “It’ll be packed later.”

He put on his Stetson and then helped Tildy out of the truck,
shielding her from the cold wind with his body. She slipped her hand in the
crook of his arm, and walked into the restaurant with her chin up and a
satisfied smile on her face.

Sue Ellen was heading toward a table when she saw Tildy Bennett
come into the restaurant all dressed up. Then she saw the big good-looking
cowboy on the old woman’s arm and stopped. She knew who it was because she’d
heard the gossip, but she wouldn’t have recognized him as the cute boy her
cousin Meg used to date. Lord, but he had filled out just fine.

“Hey, Aunt Tildy! My, you look pretty!” Sue Ellen said, and
smiled at Linc. “Y’all sit anywhere. I’ll be right there to take your
orders.”

He recognized Sue Ellen, remembered she was one of Meg’s
cousins and was pleasantly surprised by the smile. He led Tildy to a booth along
the wall and then helped her off with her coat.

“This okay, Aunt Tildy?”

“It’s fine.”

He saw the others watching, but when they realized he’d caught
them, they quickly looked away. He sighed as he took off his hat and put it on
the seat beside him.

Sue Ellen showed up still wearing the smile. “I swear, Lincoln
Fox, I would never have recognized you. You sure did turn into a big,
good-looking man.”

He grinned. “And you’re still a flirt, Sue Ellen. I hope you
married a generous-hearted man who can handle it.”

She giggled. “All I can say is that my Jesse likes me just the
way I am. Now y’all know that Sunday dinner is just the chicken and dumplings
with two sides, right? We don’t cook anything else today.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Linc said. “We’ll take two dinners,
with whatever is for dessert.”

“That would be coconut-cream pie. And what would you like to
drink? Coffee or iced tea?”

“I’d like coffee,” Tildy said. “It’s right cold out today.”

“Make that two,” Linc said.

The diner began to fill up as their meal progressed. Everyone
knew Tildy and identified her dining partner by process of elimination, Lincoln
Fox being the only stranger in town who happened to be Tildy Bennett’s kin.

He’d expected the curiosity and suspected there was a good deal
of judgment with it. A couple of men made a point of staring straight at him and
didn’t bother looking away. No secret as to what they were feeling.

As Linc and Tildy were finishing their meal, the door opened
again with another couple coming in to eat, and Linc recognized George, the man
who’d run through the barbed-wire fence. When he saw Linc and Aunt Tildy, he
headed straight for them.

“Good to see you again,” George said, and quickly introduced
his wife. “This is my wife, Loretta. Loretta, this here is Lincoln Fox, Aunt
Tildy’s nephew. He helped cut off that wire. Lincoln, Loretta’s kin to the
Duroys, on the other side of the mountain.”

Lincoln stood up as the introduction was made, which did not go
unnoticed by the other women in the room.

“I don’t believe I know your people, but it’s nice to meet you,
ma’am.”

Loretta shook hands vigorously. “I sure appreciate what you did
for my George.”

“I was happy to help.” He glanced at George. “I trust you’re
about healed up?”

“Pretty much. It’s good to see you again. If you’re ever up our
way, stop in and say hello. I make a real good peach wine you might like to
try.”

“I will,” Linc said.

“We better seat ourselves or Sue Ellen will give our table
away,” George said, and led his wife over to the last empty table in the
room.

Linc sat back down, aware that the mood in the room had shifted
slightly in his favor.

Sue Ellen came sailing by with a trayful of desserts, took off
two servings of coconut pie and put them on their table, winked and left.

“She’s a caution,” Tildy said, and took a bite of the pie.
“It’s good pie, but I think it’s shy a bit of vanilla flavoring.”

Linc hid a grin. “You’re right, it is good pie, but not as good
as yours.”

She smiled. “Why, thank you.”

“You’re most welcome, Aunt Tildy.”

They finished their pie while talking about little memories
from the past. Linc was getting out his billfold to pay when an elderly couple
walked in.

The woman saw Tildy and headed straight for their table, much
like George had done, and once again Lincoln was on his feet as the old woman
began to talk.

“Hello, Tildy. My sakes, don’t you look nice. Is this here your
nephew, Lincoln...the one who hung Beulah Justice’s door, and set her up in wood
and propane?”

Tildy gave Linc an apologetic look. “Lincoln, these are my
nearest neighbors, Elvis and Jewel Thurgood.”

“Ma’am...Mr. Thurgood. Pleased to meet you,” Linc said.

Jewel squinted as she looked up. “Lordy be, but you’re a big
one, aren’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

Jewel took a deep breath and then started talking again.
“Tildy, you know how I am.... I believe in signs and fate...and since Elvis and
I are in desperate need of help, I consider this meeting fated to be. Elvis
can’t remember which is up and which is down these days, so I don’t trust him
with the tools anymore. He’s not much, but he’s mine, and I take good care of
what’s mine.”

Linc stifled a smile. Poor Elvis didn’t look as discombobulated
as Jewel claimed, but then again, it was hard to tell, because he was following
Sue Ellen to an empty table, leaving Jewel on her own to do the talking.

“What do you need?” Tildy asked.

“It’s my back stoop. It’s falling in, and I’m afraid to walk
out on it anymore, even though Elvis keeps going out when I tell him not to. I’m
afraid he’s going to break a leg and then I’d have to put him down.”

Linc blinked. “You don’t mean you’d shoot him?”

Tildy hid a grin. The expression on Linc’s face was
priceless.

Jewel frowned. “Well, Lordy be, no. That’s illegal. However, I
would have to put him down in the old-folks home in Mount Sterling, and Elvis
isn’t good with strangers. I am appealing to your Christian duty to help thy
neighbor as they would help you.”

Tildy frowned. “That’s not exactly how that goes.”

Jewel glared at Tildy, then shifted her gaze back to Linc.

“So will you fix up my back porch like you fixed Beulah’s
door?”

“Yes, ma’am, it would be my pleasure,” he said. “I’ll have Aunt
Tildy show me where you live and I’ll be there first thing in the morning to see
what supplies I’ll need to fix it, if that’s all right with you.”

Jewel threw up her hands. “Praise the Lord!” Then she realized
her husband was gone. “Where’s Elvis?”

Linc pointed to the table across the room, where Elvis had
taken a seat and was visiting with Sue Ellen.

Jewel gasped. “That old flirt. I’ll give him a piece of my
mind.”

She sped across the diner and took a seat with her husband.

“I’m so sorry,” Tildy said. “I didn’t know this was going to
happen.”

Linc chuckled. “It’s all right. But you have to come with
me.”

Tildy grinned. “Surely you’re not scared of one little old
lady?”

“I plead the fifth, and I see another car pulling up out in the
parking lot. We’d better get out of here so they can clean up this table for
someone else.”

“I’m ready when you are,” she said as he helped her on with her
coat.

He threw down a handful of bills that included a generous tip
and settled the Stetson back on his head as they started toward the door. As he
passed a tableful of men, one of them stated loudly what had been on the minds
of many in the room.

“’Bout time he left. I wasn’t in no mood to eat a meal with a
killer.”

Tildy stumbled and would have fallen if Linc hadn’t been
holding her arm. But before she could speak on Linc’s behalf, another man on the
opposite side of the room spoke up.

“You need to keep your mouth shut, Bill Staley. Wayne Fox swore
his grandson was innocent. I believed it then, and I believe it now. He wouldn’t
have covered up a damn thing for the person who killed his own son, and you’re a
fool if you think otherwise.”

And that was all it took. Like throwing a match into a pile of
dry leaves, the shouting began. Before it could become an all-out fight, Linc
raised his voice.

“Stop! All of you. This isn’t your war, it’s mine, and there
are no sides to take. Someone on Rebel Ridge got away with murder. I came back
to clear my name and get justice for my daddy.”

“What took you so long?” someone muttered.

That was when Tildy jumped into the fray. “That’s enough!” she
said loudly. “I know more about every family on Rebel Ridge than they know about
themselves, and I can state with some assurance that there’s not a one among you
who’s pure enough to cast the first stone. If there’s one thing I hate its
gossip and innuendo. This man here—the one you’re pointing fingers at and
thinking you know all there is to know about—has been through something few of
us will know on this side of heaven. Earlier this year my nephew died and was
brought back to life by nothing short of a miracle. He came back to Rebel Ridge
because his daddy came to him in spirit and told him to go home. There has been
no justice for my brother’s murder, and his daddy’s spirit is not at rest. Do
you hear what I’m saying? The next time one of you comes knocking on my door
wanting some healing, you better hope I haven’t heard that you were saying bad
things about Lincoln, because I’ll send you packing, no matter what your
misery.”

Lincoln put his arm around his aunt. She was so mad she was
trembling.

“Are you all right, Aunt Tildy?”

“Of course I’m all right. My belly’s full of good food and I’m
ready to go home.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said softly.

The diner was as quiet as the local bar on a Sunday morning as
they walked out, leaving the discord behind them. They drove from the parking
lot and headed home.

“I’m so sorry,” Lincoln said.

Tildy snorted beneath her breath. “I’m not. I had a wonderful
dinner with you, and that little bit of huff and puff did not ruin a bit of it.
But I am full as a tick and ready for a nap.”

He smiled. “If you nod off in the truck, I’ll wake you when we
get home.”

She sighed. “Pinch me if I snore.”

He laughed. “I know a wildcat when I see one. My daddy raised
me smarter than that.”

She laughed, and the sound filled the cab all the way to Linc’s
heart.

* * *

It was midafternoon, and the sun was hidden by the cloud
cover blowing in by the time Linc drove up to Meg’s house and parked. Honey was
on the porch barking as he got out.

“Hey, girl, you know it’s just me,” he said, and the
long-legged pup came hobbling toward him with her tail between her legs. He
squatted down and cupped her muzzle as he scratched at a spot behind her ear.
“Hi, baby...hi, pretty girl. What’s Meg doing? Huh?”

Meg guessed it was Linc when she heard Honey bark, and she came
out to welcome him. But when she saw him on his knees in the yard playing with
the dog, her heart melted. In her eyes, he was so beautiful. She ached at the
thought of loving and being loved by this man for the rest of her life.

A gust of cold air suddenly shifted her focus and she called
out, “Hey, you two!”

Linc looked up. Meg was standing in the doorway smiling. The
blue jeans she was wearing accentuated her long, lean body, and when he stood up
and headed for the house he had the strongest urge to take them off her.

“Afternoon, Meg,” he said as he stepped up onto the porch.

“Hi, you,” she said, and shut the door behind him.

As Linc began taking off his coat and Stetson, he noticed her
sweater was the same green color as her eyes. He hung the hat on the back of a
rocking chair and dumped his coat on the seat. His voice deepened as he wrapped
his arms around her, intending to just give her a quick hug.