Deborah Camp (34 page)

“… gather here tonight to discuss the recent miscarriage of justice. Judge Langarten handcuffed the jury, forcing them to allow Mrs. Carry Nation to continue her reign of lawlessness in our town,” the Reverend Hampf intoned, his saggy jowls jiggling. Mrs. Hampf sat to his left, her back so straight it looked as if she had an ironing board shoved up her severely tailored dress.

Theo looked at Regina again. She dabbed at her face and neck with a lacy handkerchief. Her hand trembled. Worry for her shimmied through him. She would be upset by the nature of the meeting, but not this upset. Maybe she was dreading the time when she would have to stand and say her piece in front of these hostile townspeople. She had a problem with being the center of attention, although he couldn’t see a way she’d ever avoid that since she was of such beauty that heads turned when she entered rooms. With her sunny blond hair and sweet smile, she dazzled.

She’d worn her hair loose tonight. What was that in it? He narrowed his eyes, straining to make it out. A leaf? What in hell had she been up to?

A saloon owner stood, thumbs tucked under his suspenders, and cleared his throat. “What if we get her to sign a document promising she won’t be smashing any saloons? Would that solve the problem?”

“It might!” someone said, and another agreed.

“No!” Harriet Hampf erupted from her chair and moved to stand beside her husband. “Even if she did sign something, she wouldn’t honor it! She’s untrustworthy, I tell you.”

“You know her well, do you?” the saloon owner asked.

“I know her
kind
well enough,” Mrs. Hampf said, eyes snapping with malice. “My husband and I minister to the unstable whenever we can.”

“Oh, I see. She’s not right in the head?” the saloon owner asked.

“Hasn’t been for years,” Mrs. Hampf said. “Ever since her husband packed up and left her, she’s been out of control.”

Theo looked toward Regina, knowing she’d explode. She didn’t disappoint him. Rising from her chair, visibly shaken, she cleared her throat of nerves and all eyes swung in her direction. A moment before she spoke, Theo glimpsed naked fear in her face before she vanquished it. The girl had grit, he thought. Tons of it.

“That is a lie,” she declared, locking gazes with her fiercest foe, Harriet Hampf. “You don’t know Mrs. Nation. All you know is your own hatred.”

Mrs. Hampf gasped. “You don’t belong here.”

“I belong here as much or more than anyone else. If you want to know about Mrs. Nation, ask me or Mrs. Nation. I think you held this secret meeting so that you wouldn’t have to confront Mrs. Nation. You don’t want to know her because you might just like her or admire her.”

“I doubt that,” the Reverend Hampf said. “No one likes a strident woman.” He lowered his bushy brows to glare pointedly at Regina. “We know that Mrs. Nation is a menace and that’s enough for us.”

“That’s right!” a woman said from the front row. “She is a blemish on womanhood!”

“Shame on all of you for plotting to throw Mrs. Nation out of town,” Regina scolded. “Will you tar and feather her because she has taken a stand against the selling of alcohol? What’s next? Will
you burn the homes of people you disagree with? Eureka Springs is better than this. Where is the brotherly and sisterly love?” She gripped the back of the pew in front of her until her knuckles showed white. A shiver ran through her voice, hinting at the state of her nerves. “What does she do to you that is so terrible that you must speak against her—behind her back?”

“I’ll tell you!” Mrs. Hampf said. “She attracts undesirables to town. Troubled, angry men come here looking for their wives and children, which Mrs. Nation unlawfully keeps from them. It’s family business and none of her affair!”

“She should keep her big nose out of other folks’ homes!” a man shouted, shaking his fist in the air. “She’s got no right barging in between a man and his wife!”

“He’s right,” a man behind him shouted. “Family troubles shouldn’t be aired. They got to be settled within the family. Outsiders don’t do nobody no good. Her forcing herself on people makes matters worse and causes folks to split up instead of keeping the family together.”

“Family business?” Regina said, her voice suddenly stronger, but somehow more raw. “Let me tell you how
family business
can ruin a person.” Her eyes filled with tears and she tipped back her head to gather a deep breath before going on. “Oh, how different my life would have been if I’d had a Mrs. Nation in my town. If I’d had a safe harbor growing up, I’d be a better person, a happier person. I’d be m-married with children. I’d know how to give love and how to receive it. But I didn’t have a Mrs. Nation to go to—there was no safe place for me to hide. I was caught in a web and I couldn’t get out. Maybe if I’d had a wholesome place to live, I wouldn’t be so af-afraid of
everything—of laughter and love and other people’s opinions of me.”

“So you have problems,” Mrs. Hampf said, showing not one ounce of sympathy for the anguish Regina was so obviously experiencing. “Everyone has rough spots in life, dear. We’re talking about a woman who takes an ax to her problems. That must stop. Tonight!”

Theodore gripped the post in front of him and was on the verge of insisting they give Regina a chance to finish her speech when Irene Cooper’s father saved him the trouble.

“Let’s hear what Miss Rose has to say,” the banker said. Irene sat beside him, as lovely and cool as a perfectly formed icicle. “It can’t hurt any of us to listen.”

The banker’s prominence in the community silenced the angry squawking. Theodore looked at Regina, hoping she could continue. She touched a handkerchief to her lips, nervously cleared her throat again, and sighed.

“I was trying to explain …” She sighed again, struggling, screwing up her courage. “My family needed someone to interfere. My mother drank every day, all day. My father left us.” She glanced around, uncomfortably. “I grew up lying about my family. I told my friends and schoolteachers and ministers that I was happy and that my mama didn’t get out much because she limped. Sometimes I said she had rheumatism and sometimes I said she fell and broke her hip. I said that my father was a traveling salesman.” Her smile was so sad that it brought a lump to Theo’s throat. “I grew up scared and confused. I thought I could have done something to make my mother stop drinking and love me, take care of me.”

“That’s quite a sad story, young lady, but this isn’t a tent revival. We’re here to discuss a town
plague called Carry A. Nation,” the Reverend Hampf interrupted.

“If I’d had that
plague
in my life, things would be different for me,” Regina insisted, her voice rising, her tears drying up as her anger came to the fore. “Maybe I wouldn’t be ashamed of feelings or afraid of letting myself go.” She took a deep breath. “It would be so wonderful to just be myself and not worry that I might end up like her.”

Theo sucked in a sharp breath. He didn’t know if others followed her ramblings, but he did. She was afraid of ending up like her mother! He wanted desperately to go to her and take her in his arms. He wanted to tell her to stop worrying. She was a fine, strong young woman. He didn’t know her mother, but he did know that Regina Rose was no weakling to be ruled by liquor.

“Maybe if the town I grew up in had supported a place like Mrs. Nation’s house, I could have gone there. Then my half brother wouldn’t be a fall-down drunk and he wouldn’t have beaten his wife, hit his child, molested his sister and … and …” She stuttered to a stop, her eyes big and bright, her mouth misshapen with pain. “I’ve said too much. I didn’t come here to rattle the dirty skeletons in my family closet.” A sob worked up her throat. “But you must listen to me.” She pounded the back of the pew with her fists. “You can’t take a stand against innocent women and children. They need a place of peace. We all need that, but sometimes we can’t find it at home. Keep your open saloons, but don’t close Mrs. Nation’s doors to the women and children who can no longer live with drunkards. I beg of you.” She had to stop long enough to gather her last bit of composure. “Please, don’t do that,” she whispered, her voice finally failing her.

Regina turned and rushed toward the double
doors. Theo stepped forward and opened them for her. Her gaze met his, held for a moment, then she sobbed in despair and raced outside.

Whirling to face the room again, Theo stared at the Hampfs, his hatred for them boiling in his gut. “I’m not an overly religious man, but to hold such a meeting in church is, to my mind, blasphemy. Go home, all of you, and thank God for your happy homes and close families. Then think about those who aren’t so blessed. Will you add to their misery?” Then he hurried out to catch up with Regina.

“R
egina, wait!” Theo caught her arm and made her face him. “Don’t run from me. Not from me.”

“How did you know about that meeting?”

“I was invited.”

“Oh, naturally.” She tried to jerk away. “They’d want you there, wouldn’t they?”

“Regina, now simmer down and find the truth through all that pain you’re feeling right now. You know I’m not your enemy, right? You know I’m your friend.”

She stared at him a few moments before the fire went out in her eyes and she slumped against him. “Yes, yes, I know that. I’m sorry. I’m just so … you must think I’m about the most unfortunate accident on earth.”

“What? Stop that silly talk.” He flicked a finger against a dangling flower on her bonnet. “You didn’t seem yourself when you came in tonight. Has something else happened?”

“Yes. I saw Jack. Oh, I wish he’d just leave!”

“Jack? Where did you see him?”

“In the cool cave.”

“Oh, God. Did he hurt you?”

“Looking at him hurts me.” She retreated from
his embrace and dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about this here. I’m going home.”

“Regina, come to my place. You don’t want to go back home now, do you? They’ll be full of questions. Are you ready for that?”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “No.”

“Then come on.” He placed an arm around her waist and guided her down the boardwalk. “It’s a short walk and when we get there we’ll have a nice, long talk. Or we won’t talk. Whatever you want.”

She laughed a little. “You’re being terribly nice, Theodore Dane. What will people think?”

“I
am
nice, Regina Rose.”

Regina looked at him and smiled. “Yes, you are. You’re slick and ornery on the outside, but inside you’re just about the sweetest man I’ve ever known. Why don’t you want people to know that right off about you, Theodore?”

“Because then they think I’ll be soft as butter in the courtroom, and that won’t do.”

“Oh. So, if I’d met you under different circumstances, you would have been sweet as pie to me?”

“And you would have been sweet as pie to me,” he tacked on. “You weren’t a pound of sugar yourself, Mistress Rosy.”

“I confess.” She tried on an expression of contrition, but the smile in her eyes gave her away. “I’ve had to battle so many men that I guess I’ve been looking at every one of them as a fight to be fought. I’m changing my ways …” A memory blew out the sparkles in her eyes. “I mean, I was going to … I’ll try to change.”

Theo leaned closer to peer at her. “When we get to the house, you’ll tell me what happened tonight with Jack.” He made it a statement because he wanted her to open up to him. He wanted to
know her, every secret, every pain, every flaw. Superficial friendships had been fine with other women, but Regina was different. He felt that if he could make her trust him, he could win her heart, and for the first time in his life he wanted that from a woman. He wanted that from
this
woman.

His house came into view and he walked ahead to open the front door. She went inside and removed her tattered bonnet. She touched the flowers and frowned.

“I messed up my hat.”

“Did you and Jack fight?”

“Yes.” She sounded bone-weary. “We always fight.”

Theo took the bonnet and her gloves and laid them on the hall table. “Come in and sit down, Regina. Want some cider, water, coffee? I might have some tea around here someplace.”

“And what would you heat it on?” She sat on the sofa, prim and proper as could be, her legs to one side, her hands folded in her lap. “I saw that cookstove last time I was here. What a sorry sight! You’ve got mice living in it, for heaven’s sake. You and Eric have never fired up that thing.”

He sat close to her on the sofa and took her hands in his. “Talk to me, sweetheart.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Now don’t go feeling sorry for me or I’ll—I’ll leak all over you and make you wish you’d never poked a hole in this particular dam.”

“I think it’s time you let somebody feel sorry for you, Regina. You’ve been strong long enough. Let me be strong for you tonight, honey. I want to be that for you. I
can
be, if you’ll let me.” He squeezed her hands. “Regina, we’ve been foes more than we’ve been friends and that’s not what either one of us wants. Every time I tried to get close to you, that damned trial reared up in my
face. That’s over and done with now, so let me be what I’ve always wanted to be—your best friend.”

She smiled. “My champion?”

He considered that a moment and then grinned, liking the sound of it. “Yes. Your champion. I’m no good on a white, charging steed, and shining armor is too cumbersome, but I’ll gladly be your champion.” He sobered, gazing deeply into her eyes. “Before I carry your colors into battle, my lady, I must know the nature of the beast I’m to face. Did Jack molest you when you were a child?”

She sniffed and bit her lower lip. “Twice.”

“God, what liquor does to some men.”

“He was a boy, and liquor had nothing to do with it. He didn’t start drinking until
after
.”

“After? How old were you when all this happened?”

“I’m not sure. I guess I was eight or nine the first time and then maybe twelve the next time. The second time was in my room. The first time was in the outhouse. The landlord came around to collect the rent and he heard me screaming, so he hammered on the door and made Jack and me come out. I think he knew what might have been going on, because he boxed Jack’s ears and sent me into the house. He kept Jack outside and talked to him a good, long time.”