A Time for Everything (35 page)

There was a soft knock on the door and
dim yellow light beneath it. “Portia, honey,” Bessie asked gently.
“Can I come in?”

Portia got up, went to the door, and
opened it. Stepping back, she let Bessie in. The older woman set
the lamp down on the bedside table and turned to Portia, arms open
wide. Portia accepted her hug, resting her chin on Bessie’s
shoulder. She smelled like flour and thyme and wood smoke. She
smelled like Mama.

“
Did Harry hurt you,
child?”

Portia shook her head.

“
I don’t know what’s
gotten into
him
,
but Ezra told me about what happened at the party. Jonny’s asleep
now. He was pretty upset about it, too. But there’s somethin’ I
want you to know.”

“
What?” Portia stepped out
of Bessie’s embrace.

“
Honey, Beau ain’t
marryin’ Lydia because he wants to. He’s doin’ it to buy Lucy,
Tipp, and Sallie Mae’s freedom.”

As Bessie told her the whole story,
Portia sank onto the bed, trying to take it all in.

“
I know you’re hurt, but I
know my Beau wouldn’t marry that girl unless he had no other
choice. We asked him to help, and that must have been the only
option he had at the time. That don’t make it any better on you,
but try not to hate him. He loves you, else he wouldn’t have let
you anywhere near that dress.”

“
But… why did he want me
there when he knew I would hear the big announcement?”

“
I doubt he knew it was
gonna be announced in public, probably thought it would be kept
quiet. He ought to have known better. Dealin’ with Oliver Clemons
is like handlin’ a rattlesnake. Ain’t a question of
if
he’ll bite you. It’s
when.” She sat on the bed beside Portia. “I think Beau wanted you
there because you make him feel like Claire used to. I can see it
every time he looks at you.”

Portia glided her hands across the
lavender skirt of the dress. “I’ll miss you, Bessie.”

The older woman broke into tears and
wiped her eyes with her apron. “I’ll miss you too, honey, I’ll miss
you too.”

Before Bessie left her room, Portia
said, “One more thing.”

“
Yes?”

“
Don’t tell anyone about
Harry and what happened tonight. Emotions were high, and I think he
just got carried away.”

Bessie frowned but finally
nodded and closed the door behind her. Portia changed into her
nightgown, hung the beautiful lavender dress on the wardrobe, and
lay on her bed admiring it. Ever since Jake died, she’d
imagined
him
lying beside her, holding her tight. It was Beau she pictured
now, and as much as she wanted to hate him, his sacrifice made her
love him even more.

~~~~

Morning dawned, and
Portia got up to greet it. She woke Jonny and
told him to get dressed. Ten minutes later, they surprised Bessie
in the kitchen.

“
My goodness, you two’s up
early for a Saturday,” she said brightly, but Portia could tell her
joyful tone was for Jonny’s sake.

“
It’s time for my riding
lesson,” Portia said. “We thought we would take advantage of the
lovely weather and make it a full day.” Knowing she couldn’t say
much with Jonny there, she added, “How are Lucy and Sallie Mae? Any
better?”

“
They’re coming around but
will be at our place until the sickness passes.”

Portia nodded. Lucy and Sallie Mae
were taking refuge for now, maybe until after the wedding. She
couldn’t blame them. As hard as life had been for her, Portia
couldn’t imagine what poor Lucy had been through.

Bessie put her hands on her hips as
Jonny stuffed a bite of steaming biscuit in his mouth then danced
around, fanning his burnt tongue with his hand.

“
Serves ya right, bein’
all greedy like that.” She pumped him a cup of fresh water, which
he drank down in three gulps.

“
Thanks,” he said and
wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

Portia smiled at him. “Why don’t we
take a few biscuits and some jam with us and enjoy breakfast down
by the creek?”

“
Sounds like a nice day,”
Bessie said, but her lip quivered before she turned away to fetch
their supplies. “You two go and have fun now, you hear?”

“
We will, and thank you,”
Portia said.

She took the small food basket from
Bessie and followed Jonny outside. They headed to their favorite
spot under the big cedar down by the creek. After they’d eaten
their fill, they waded ankle-deep in the cool water. Jonny giggled
at the minnows nibbling his toes.

He looked up at her. “Ready for a
ride?” His eyes held a bittersweet sadness that tore at Portia’s
heart.

“
Ready as I’ll ever be.
You’re a pretty good riding instructor, you know.”

“
Thanks, Po. I guess when
I’m your age, I won’t have anything else to learn.”

“
Well, I’m not
that
old.” She laughed.
“But if you never remember anything else I’ve taught you,” she said
as they sat on the bank and dried their feet in the warm sunshine,
“remember that we never stop being students. Every day we are
granted is an opportunity to learn something new.”

“
I’ll remember. Always,”
he said.

~~~~

It was midnight
before the party died down, and Beau couldn’t
remember half of it. The look on Portia’s face as she heard the
news kept repeating in his mind. He didn’t blame her one bit for
slapping the daylights out of Lydia — he hadn’t heard the words
they exchanged, but felt certain they weren’t pretty.
Damn Oliver and his spoiled brat daughter.
Beau had promised to go through with the wedding,
and Oliver had promised to keep it quiet until then, have a simple
ceremony and be done with it. Of course, that part wasn’t in the
contract.

No doubt Oliver had planned it that
way the whole time — to make sure everyone in Lebanon, including
Portia, knew that he was marrying Lydia Clemons. A small wedding
would never do for his socialite fiancée. His life sentence would
be public knowledge from here on out.

Harry and Ezra didn’t say a thing over
breakfast, didn’t even look at him. Both of them gobbled down their
food and left without a word to work out in the fields. Beau was
glad, because he was in no mood for Ezra’s lectures or Harry’s
bullshit.

Unfortunately, Ezra caught him in the
barn as he gathered hammer and nails to repair the
shutters.

His pipe bobbed from his mouth as he
fussed. “What were you thinking, Beauregard?”

“
I’m doing what you wanted
me to, that’s what.”

“
I never wanted you to
marry someone you don’t love.”

“
Why not? Shit, Pa, look
at this place.” Hammer in hand, he gestured around them. “It’s
falling apart. Everything we’ve worked for, everything
you’ve
worked for is
going to hell and this is the only way I can turn it around.
Besides…”

“
Besides what?”

“
Never mind. I’ve got work
to do.” He hated keeping secrets from his own father, but this
time, he had to. Word couldn’t get out about the contract he had
signed, or Oliver might make good on his threats. He couldn’t risk
anything else happening to his family because of him.

“
I guess you know Portia
and Jonny are out riding. She loves that boy, Beauregard, and he
loves her too. He didn’t tear up her dress.”

“
How do
you
know that? Did he
tell you? He sure as hell ain’t told me anything.”

“
Have you given him a
chance? You’re not even around him long enough to have a
conversation should he start talking.”

Beau’s shoulders tensed so much his
wound threw a current of pain down his arm. The hammer fell to the
stable floor. He bent down, snatched it up, and brushed by Pa
without a word. “I told you I have work to do. I don’t have time to
argue.”

“
Fine, but you’ve broken
Po’s heart. And there ain’t no amount of nails can put it back
together.” He exhaled a puff of smoke, turned around, and walked
back toward the house.

Beau took the ladder down from the
hook. Ezra’s disappointment hurt more than the constant ache in his
shoulder. The old man had no idea how much he longed for things to
be different. In another time and place, he might have been able to
follow his heart and marry the woman he truly loved. He might have
been able to look at and talk to his son without feeling like a
complete failure.

Fighting against a knot in his throat,
he clambered up the ladder beneath one of the barn’s sagging
shutters. Staying busy was the only outlet he had to keep from
losing his mind again. He pried up one corner of a shutter, started
on another, and dropped the crowbar. It landed on the dirt below
with a thud.

“
Damn it!”

He made his way down the ladder, and
his feet had just hit the ground when he heard Portia’s frantic
call. “Beau!”

Peering in the direction
of her voice, he finally saw Jonny leading Jack up the hill, with
Portia walking her saddle horse beside him. Jack was
limping.
Not good.

Beau met them halfway. “What
happened?”

“
Snake. Just a big old rat
snake, but it scared Jack, and he threw Jonny,” Portia
said.

“
Are you all right,
son?”

Jonny nodded and with a trembling
hand, pointed to Jack’s right front leg.

“
He got his foot stuck in
some roots,” Portia said, dread filling her words as though she
expected the worst.

Beau bent down to take a look. As he
feared, it was broken just below the knee. He took the reins and
led the pony slowly to the stable and into an empty
stall.

Jonny followed and stood in the
doorway. His chin quivered. His eyes brimmed with fearful tears. It
reminded Beau of the day he had returned from the war, how he had
shaken Jonny and screamed those awful things at him before falling
to his knees at Claire’s grave.

Eyes squeezed tight against the
memory, he spoke over his shoulder to Portia. “Take Jonny back to
the house. I’ll take care of the horses.”

Jonny ran in and hugged Jack’s neck.
He buried his head in the pony’s mane and bawled, shoulders jumping
with each sob.

Beau stepped out of the stall and
gestured for Portia to follow. They walked just outside the barn.
Wind whipped some loose strands of hair over her face. She brushed
it back but never took her eyes off his.

“
You’ve got to take him
back inside,” he said.

“
He knows what you’re
going to do. Comfort him, Beau. Explain it to him.”

“
I can’t,” he said through
clenched teeth. “I can’t let him watch me... just take him to the
house.”

“
Stop underestimating him.
He understands life and death, but what he doesn’t understand is
why his father won’t talk to him, why you won’t tell him you love
him, and that you’re proud of him.”

Beau closed his eyes and scrubbed a
hand over his face. “What do you want me to say, Po? That every
time I look at him, I think about the day I came home, and it tears
me up inside? That I’m marrying his mama’s spoiled cousin because
I’m too damned broke to do anything else?”

“
Yes,” she said, her voice
rising and fists clenched at her sides. “Yes, all that, and tell
him you won’t send him away.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
Jonny heard Lydia and her
mother talking about sending him to military school.”

“
He told you
this?”

“
Yes, he’s been talking to
me for some time now.”

Deep down he knew all along, but the
truth hurt more than he thought it would. His son was talking to a
woman he’d only known a short while but not to his own father,
who’d held him seconds after he was born.

“
I suppose I should be
grateful to you, then, but that’s ridiculous. He’s not going to
military school. It’s not part of the deal,” Beau said.

“
Really? What better way
to ensure she’s got you all to herself?” Her voice broke, though
her chest heaved in an effort to stay calm. “I’ll leave willingly,
right now if you want me to, but promise me you won’t let them send
him away. He needs you, Beau, now more than ever. Please promise me
that.”

The gunshot startled them both. Beau
ran into the barn and to the open stall, Portia on his heels. Jonny
stood over Jack’s body, which lay still and quiet on the hay. He
cried so hard the gun quaked in his arms.

Beau reached out carefully, snatched
the gun, and tossed it into the corner. He engulfed Jonny in his
arms. He held his little boy, the only thing he had left of Claire,
and cried with him for the first time since she died.

He cradled Jonny’s head against his
chest. The dam of emotions separating them crumbled, and all the
things he’d wanted to tell him for so long came spilling out.
“You’re not going anywhere, you hear me? This is where you belong,
right here with me. I love you, son. I love you more than anything
in this world.”