Chasing pearl, p.13
Chasing Pearl, page 13
He chuckled, but only briefly and still didn’t meet her eyes. “Right.” He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, then pulled her to him and hugged her tight, finally tearing his gaze from Don. “Is your friend okay?”
“Wilma’s my cousin. Jacob’s daughter. I hope so.”
“Really? Jacob? I don’t see him taking this well.”
“No. I reckon Jacob’s gonna jump on old Don with all four feet, like as not.” She took a moment and rested her cheek against his chest, taking a deep breath, bringing his smell deep into her lungs. She held her breath for a few heartbeats, then said, “I need to get inside, make sure she’s really okay, and see about getting her set up in my parents’ room.”
He walked her inside. She glanced into the corner and saw Wilma on the couch, rocking the baby, talking in quiet tones with the two police officers. Scarlett came out of the dining room and brought her an ice pack. She took the ice pack and let Scarlett take the baby.
Violet led the way to the doorway leading downstairs and keyed in the code. When she opened the door, she hesitated and looked at Chase. “We’ve never allowed guests down here.”
“I understand.” He stepped back and slipped his hands in his pockets. “No guests.”
Violet warred with herself. What was right and what was wrong? Finally, she gestured at the stairwell. “You’re hardly just a guest. Come on down. If Gran gets her back up, I’ll smooth her fur.”
She led the way into her family’s inner sanctum. She saw Chase looking around the living room, glancing at the closed doors. “That’s Scarlett’s,” she said, pointing, “mine, Gran’s, and that one over here is my parents’. My parent’s old room should be big enough for Wilma and the baby.”
Chase nodded. “Where does your uncle live?”
“Uncle Drew has a room above the garage. Lived there long before my daddy built this. Then he didn’t want to move when it was finished.” She walked over to the door to her parents’ room and put her hand on the handle. “I’ve not been in here since they died.”
“How long?”
“Six years last month.” She took a deep breath and walked into the room.
Violet didn’t know what she expected; maybe for all of it to look exactly the same. Instead of her mother’s tasteful decorating, bottles and jars on the dressing table, family portraits on the walls, her father’s jacket on the hook by the door, she walked into a plain, empty room. The bed had a bare mattress still covered in plastic. The bare walls gleamed with semi-gloss white paint. The carpets had vanished from the plain wood floor. The space smelled like new paint and old dust instead of her dad’s aftershave.
“I had it cleaned out about a year after they died,” Grandma Vi said from behind her. Violet whirled around and saw Grandma Vi peering up at Chase. “People came while you and your sister were touring that farm near Austin. We kept everything. It’s all boxed up in storage. It’s yours whenever you want to go through it.”
Violet knew why Grandma Vi had done that. She and Scarlett kept putting it off and putting it off until it was no longer an issue. So, their grandmother took care of business the way she knew how. And how Violet loved her for it. “Gran, you remember Chase Anderson?”
“Of course.” She nodded at him and pushed past the two of them. “Scarlett says you and Violet have taken a shine to each other.”
Violet shifted where she stood and brushed a finger over the scar on her chin. “Scarlett needs to skin her own buffalo and stop talking about things that don’t concern her.”
“Fiddle-faddle. I ain’t blind. I asked Scarlett about it.” She reached the bed and grabbed the edge of the plastic. “We need to get baby Donny a crib. Think you can rustle one up? There’s two or three out in the garage.”
Violet started to answer and realized Grandma Vi had spoken to Chase. “Yes, ma’am,” he answered.
“Good. Make it a good one. Sturdy. He’s going to be a strong boy.”
“Gran—”
“Go get bedding for this bed and bring down your cleaning supplies. We need to give it a good scrub before they move in.”
They both stood in the doorway. Gran finally said, “Now, girls. Get!”
Despite the circumstances, Violet laughed and rushed upstairs. Wilma stood in the living room, alone, her cheek pressed to the baby’s head.
“Hey, Shoog,” Violet said. She put her arm around her cousin’s shoulders. “Gran’s putting y’all in my parents’ old room. Go on downstairs. Take a long hot bath. Really soak. Meantime, we’ll get your room ready for you so you can just go straight to bed.”
She looked at her, eyes overflowing, tears streaming down her cheeks. “How long can I stay?”
Scarlett came upstairs just as she spoke. “Long as you need to. Forever, I hope. You’re safe here. Police are taking Donny away for now.” She glanced at Chase. “Need help with the crib?”
He shook his head. “I have tons of cousins. Cribs are one of my responsibilities at Christmas.” He looked at Violet. “You okay?”
She smiled, more brightly than the situation warranted. “Right as rain.”
Scarlett put her hand on the stair rail. “Need help getting the supplies?”
“If you can fetch the mop and bucket, I can tote the rest.”
Violet paused and looked at Chase’s retreating back before heading upstairs. Just before he went through the kitchen door, he also paused and looked back at her. Her heart skipped a beat when he winked at her and went through the door.
CHAPTER 9
Violet sat in the dining room fingering the scarf in Chase’s box, apparently oblivious to Chase’s carefully schooled gaze. He’d brought the box down to let her look at it one more time before he left in the morning.
“This is such a treasure,” Violet said. “I am so thankful it came to us and thankful you shared it with me.”
He smiled and gestured at her with his mug before taking a deep drink of his coffee. “I know why I’m thankful for it. It brought you out of your shell with me.”
She felt heat flooding her cheeks and looked down at the table. “I’m better inside my own head. I know that about myself. People who realize it always try to force my hand, but I’m happier not being forced.” She looked at him again. “It’s part of what makes me write, I think, because it gives me a way to express myself that I’d never do in front of people.”
“I get that. I’m not criticizing. What I mean is that I recognize and understand it. My mother’s an artist.” He reached over and covered her slim fingers with his strong hand. “I think she has a similar inside voice, though she is far from being an introvert.”
She wanted to pull her hand back but relaxed and just enjoyed the feel of his skin against hers. “I don’t want you to think there’s something wrong with me.”
His serious eyes bored into hers. “Violet, nothing could be more the exact opposite of what I think than that.” He sat back again, pulling his hand away. “Ever thought about writing full time instead of just in snatches?”
“Oh, all the time.” She dreamed of buying a cross-country train ticket and spending weeks of travel with a laptop in front of her. She thought of her bank account of her saved royalties from all of her books, thinking that one day she’d have the courage to just leave and make that journey. “It’s just flights of fancy. I have responsibilities. The Pearl is more than just a job, you know. It’s family.”
“I know about family.” He put the lid back on the box. “But if what’s best for you is something other than this, then your family should back you.”
Slim fingers of emotion gripped her chest and squeezed. She cleared her throat and stood. “I have never wavered on my commitment here. You’re the one who wavered with your commission. Just because you made a different decision than what you thought you wanted, you’re suddenly suggesting I give up everything in my life? Hardly fair, Chase.”
“I never suggested anything.” He stood, too, which meant that he suddenly towered over her. “I want you to be happy.”
“Happy? I’m happy. I have been happy as long as I can remember. Fulfilled, happy, and a steady cog in a smoothly operating machine that is my family’s inn. Why do you think I’m unhappy?”
He picked up the box. “I’ve seen the difference in you when you’re able to sneak a few hours of writing into your day. You’re more relaxed. You’re at ease. You’re happier. So, asking you if you’ve ever considered writing full time has nothing at all to do with me or my commission with the United States Army, and everything to do with a curiosity about the woman I happen to care for a lot.”
She shook her head. “If I had the freedom to write full time, I’d turn into a total hermit.”
He grinned. “Well, first of all, how do you know? You’ve never tried it. You’re just making an assumption. Secondly, that couldn’t happen if you were with someone who understood you and supported you a hundred percent.”
Before she could respond, he left the room. The door slid shut behind him.
“Well!” she gasped, then rushed after him. When she got to the front room, she saw no trace of him.
“You should go after him,” Scarlett said from the couch. She sat curled up in the corner, reading the edited manuscript of her ninth book Violet had given her that morning. She’d paused in writing the ending to number ten to work on the edits she received from her editor last week and finished applying them about three this morning. “He went upstairs.”
“I’m not going after him.” She threw herself onto the couch next to her sister. “What good would it do to defend my thoughts. It doesn’t change that he’s leaving in the morning.”
“True. He’ll still call a cab and make his way to the airport. Doesn’t mean he has to go alone.”
Violet snorted. “Yeah, right.”
Her sister raised an eyebrow but went back to reading. “Leave me alone. I want to find out whodunnit.”
Restive, she wandered downstairs and into her Gran’s room. Gran sat in front of the television, Donny cradled in her arms. “Hey, there,” Violet greeted, sitting on the ground next to the rocking chair.
“Hey, there, Violet,” Gran replied. Violet thought she had finished speaking and so she felt slightly surprised when Gran said, “Exactly why in the world are you down here when your young man up there is leaving in the morning?”
She sighed and looked at the carpet. “Because he’s leaving in the morning.” Grandma Vi put a hand on the top of her head. Without warning, a sob escaped her chest. “Gran, why am I not good enough?”
“Child, what does that mean?”
“He had a chance to stay here, but he’s going. Why am I not enough to keep him here?”
“Violet, loved one, you’ve known him for six whole weeks. Hardly a time-frame to make lifelong decisions. But, this is the twenty-first century. Distance means nothing these days, not like it used to. You still have time to get to know him.”
Grandma Vi was right, but it didn’t make the ultimate issue any better. “Get to know him even more? He’s going to stay in the army, Gran. It’s what God has called him to do. He told me that.”
“What do you think?”
Violet grudgingly nodded. “I can see it. Especially after the way he handled Don. He’s strong, but he isn’t violent. He’s clever, but he isn’t devious. He’s willing to lay down his life for our nation like his grandfather and great-grandfather before him. He’s a soldier. It’s in his blood.”
Grandma Vi was silent for several seconds before Gran said, “That’s rough. But that doesn’t stop you from going to him.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right. I can’t leave you.”
“You can leave me.” Gran put a hand under her chin and tilted her face up, forcing her to make eye contact. “This house, it’s paid for. Nothing says we have to keep it at all, much less keep it as an inn. Your sister’s catering business is enough to keep her happy if we don’t stay open. But, if we do, we have Wilma now. She’s not planning on leaving any time soon.”
“So, I’m that easily replaced? Is that it?” Tears fell unbridled down her cheeks and feelings of worthlessness overwhelmed her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It would never be the same here without you. But, the work will still get done. The importance is the happiness of my granddaughter at the end of the day.”
“Everyone keeps saying that,” she whispered. “But he’s willing to leave me, and you’re willing to replace me.”
“Violet Pearl, you take that back.” When Violet didn’t immediately take it back, Grandma Vi slapped the arm of her rocking chair, risking waking the sleeping infant.
“Fine.” Grandma Vi sat back. “Why don’t you think of you, just once, instead of him or me? Think of what you want and what you need without considering all of us first. Then you’ll know what you need to do.”
Thoughts overwhelmed her. Ideas, possibilities. She rose from the floor and kissed Donny on the head, then hugged Grandma Vi’s neck. “I love you, Gran.”
“I love you, child. Now, get! Before you wake up this sleeping baby.”
She walked slowly back up the stairs and got to the first floor just as Chase came down. He wore his Texas A&M shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. “You caught me just before I have to leave,” he said.
“Leave?” Panic fluttered to life inside her chest. “I thought you didn’t have to leave until tomorrow morning.”
His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. “I have the end of camp thing this afternoon. Remember? We’re tailgating at the stadium. Scarlett marinated steaks for me to take.”
Feeling stupid, she flushed with heat. “Right. Sorry.”
Scarlett spoke up from her perch on the couch. “Need me to get the meat for you? Or can you find it in the fridge?”
“Oh, no worries. I got it. Thanks.” He pulled a folded stack of bills out of his pocket. “Where do you want the payment?”
Scarlett stood and walked to them, holding her hand out palm up. “I’ll take it.” As she stuffed the money into her back pocket, she went back to the couch. “You have a car coming?”
“Yeah. Should be here any time.” He left them, disappearing through the dining room door. A few seconds later, he came back out, carrying a covered aluminum pan. “This?” Scarlett looked up from the book and gave a thumb’s up. He turned to Violet. “Can you come with me tonight?”
She smiled, pushing aside feelings of hurt and confusion, and said, “I’d love to.”
Chase sat in the folding camp chair and watched Violet watch the crowd around her. Her eyes shifted from people group to people group, unabashedly eavesdropping and staring. He wished he could hop inside her head and watch her people watch, see what she saw, get the processed information to see where she would take it.
“Coach,” Andrew Lighthouse said, holding a can of root beer in one 9-year-old hand and a s’more in the other. “I really liked playing football. I hope I can play this year.”
He leaned forward to be eye level with him. “You have talent, Andrew. Your dad and I talked about it. He’s going to get you started next year, for fifth grade.”
“Will you be back next summer?”
“I have to go back to the army, bud. Next year, I won’t have so much leave saved up. If I come back, it won’t be for the whole camp.”
He analyzed those words and realized he was totally fine with that. He’d drained his accrued leave for this six-week camp. Next year, he wouldn’t have more than thirty days, barring having to take time off for anything else.
“Well, hopefully, I’ll see you again. Bye!” He rushed off, unconcerned about leave or responsibilities of the adults around him. Chase looked over at Violet again.
Jacob walked up, so Chase pushed out of the chair and held his hand out. “Jacob? Thanks for inviting me. This was really an impressive camp you put together.”
“Don’t thank me. I should thank you. Half the parents signed up because your name was on the registration. I owe you.” He looked at Violet to ask after his daughter. “How’s Wilma? Does she need anything?”
Violet looked at him for a moment blankly then blinked. “Wilma. Right. Wilma’s good. Gran’s paying her full time, now, and she’s in my parents’ suite, so she doesn’t need a thing. What’s the word on Don?”
“No bail. Judge ruled he might be a flight risk.”
Violet laughed. “Same judge that sits next to your section at the Aggie games?”
“Well, now, I don’t see what that has to do with it,” he drawled, but he neither confirmed nor denied.
Chase shook his head. “Glad to see everything worked out for her. I know that was scary.”
Jacob turned to him. “I heard what you did. Looks like I owe you more than one.”
“Not even kind of. Any good man would have done the same.”
“Maybe. But you were the good man that took care of my baby girl. I owe you, Chase.”
Chase couldn’t contain himself. “Any man that could hit a nursing mother is scum. I just restrained him until the cops got there. That was easy.” He whispered, “It was harder to restrain myself.”
Jacob slapped Chase on the shoulder. “How did you manage? Not sure I could have held back.”
“By reminding myself that drawing his blood doesn’t fix anything. The only thing that can ever fix anything in this world is the blood of Christ.”
Jacob nodded. “Well, I have a feeling Don is going to have to get into a program. Maybe he’ll realize that there really is a higher power. He was a good man, once upon a time. Maybe he can find his way back.”
Chase waved at a family leaving the parking lot. “Looks like the end of camp. Do you need help cleaning up?”
“Nope. I have the varsity football team ready to hit it. We have to wait until the grills cool, so they’re going to come and scarf down any remaining chow and then break it down for me.” Violet stood and hugged Jacob. “Take care, cousin. I’ll see y’all tomorrow at church.” He held his hand out for Chase to shake. “You have safe travels back to paradise. Thanks again for all you’ve done.”
