Morning Glory (19 page)

"Mercy, no wonder everyone is already in bed. This
is the latest I've been out in my whole life," she said.

He sat down in the big white rocker and patted the
one beside it. "Since you've already broken the record,
come and sit with me a spell. I need some quiet."

Part of Clara was still too wound up to sleep and
wanted to sit beside Briar for a few minutes. The other
part said to run inside, bar the door to her house and her
heart, stay in her room the whole next day and never,
ever keep Libby again. The latter part lost the battle
when she sank into the big rocker and looked up at a
sky sprinkled with stars sparkling like diamonds, the
moon hanging there in the midst of them.

"Talk to me," Briar said.

"I have talked to you several times today. What do
you want to know?"

"Why is it that you despise oil men so badly?"

"I've been thinking about that," she frowned.

"Why?"

"Because of what you said about the past and the
future. I guess it's because they represent the future. Tilly calls it progress. The future terrifies me, Briar.
Absolutely scares the devil out of me. Forgive the language. Ladies are supposed to talk all nice, aren't they?
The past disappointed me. The future petrifies me, so I
just transferred all those feelings over to oil men and
hated what they stood for. Does that make a bit of
sense?"

"More than you'll ever know. I did the same thing
with the coal mines in Kentucky. I fancied myself in
love with a young lady. Janey Jones. We were both fifteen. Now, that's a bit young for a man to be thinking of
marriage, even in the mountains of Kentucky. But it's
not for a girl. My best friend was eighteen. Luke
Watson. He'd already gotten a job in the mines so he
had an income. Janey and Luke eloped one weekend. I
had no idea they were even seeing each other but there
it was. On Monday they came home, settled down as a
married couple. My heart was broken so I ran away
from home. I shifted the whole thing over to the mines."

"How? The mines didn't make her marry your friend."

"Yes, they did. They gave Luke a job and provided
him with a miner's shack so Janey could have a home.
She would've waited for me to find a job outside those
mountains if there hadn't been mines to give Luke a
job. It's a thin excuse, isn't it?"

"About as thin as me hating oil men and oil wells
dotting the land," she nodded.

"So have you changed your mind about oil men now
that you realize what you were doing?"

"Have you changed your mind about the mines?"

Briar inhaled deeply. "I think I have. I'm ready to go
home again. The mountains are calling to me. I want to
see the place where they laid Dad and Momma to rest,
and visit my brothers and sisters. I still like Healdton
and I wouldn't want to live in Kentucky again, but I'm
ready to go home. I'd like to go before next summer.
The railroad would take me within fifty miles of home,
but that fifty miles is near impassible in the winter. So
it'll probably be next spring or summer before Libby
and I can go"

"If you can change then I can," she declared. "But
it's scary, isn't it? Not having something to hate and
blame for all your unhappiness. Sounds like I've been
living in a child's world, doesn't it?"

"Some folks live in that kind of world their whole
life and never realize why they hate certain things and
make the decisions they do. Maybe we are the lucky
ones, Clara"

Clara pondered over that for a while as a weight lifted from her soul. She was still thinking about how easy
it had been to let go of the past when Danny and Olivia
tiptoed down the walkway and up to the door.

Clara held a finger to her lips and shook her head at
Briar.

"Be very quiet. If Clara finds me out this late, she'll
evict me for sure," Olivia whispered between one kiss
after another.

Clara was afraid her crimson face would light up the whole darkened corner of the porch, so she covered it
with her hands, leaving only a slit between her fingers
so she could see the two lovers in the moonlight.

Danny hugged her closer, running his hand up and
down her backbone as his lips met hers again. "Then
you can just move in with me."

"Oh, I couldn't. No one would ever talk to me
again," Olivia giggled.

"Then I guess I'd have to make an honest woman out
of you," Danny said.

"Is that a proposal?" Olivia gasped.

"It could be," Danny said. "I wouldn't let you live on
the streets, Olivia. What would you say if it was?"

"I think we've both had a bit too much of that hooch
you bought from Cyrus. We'll talk about this when neither of us have had a drink." Olivia kissed him once
more and slipped inside the door.

After Danny disappeared into the darkness, Briar
reached out and removed Clara's hands from her face.
"So are you going to kick her out? She's broken the
rules of the lease."

"No, I'm not. She's rebellious, but she's young and I
don't want her to marry just because she has no place
to stay," Clara said.

Briar kept her hands in his. "Double standard?"

"You're talking about me tossing you out if you were
late, aren't you?"

"I am," he said.

"I'm almost thirty, but I'm still learning." She smiled
and withdrew her hands, even though she would have
liked to leave them resting in his until dawn, just to see
if the warm feeling surrounding her heart would last
that long.

"Does that mean you don't hate me anymore?"

"Yes, I think it does, Briar. And now it's time for me
to go inside. Thank you for today. If I tried, I couldn't
begin to tell you what it has meant to me"

"Thank you for taking care of Libby, Clara. She's
been happier today than I've ever seen her. I think she's
fallen in love with you. It'll make the hole Judith leaves
behind so much easier to bear." He arose and extended
his hand to help her out of the rocking chair.

All it took was a gentle jerk when she was standing
and she was in his arms, pressed against his chest so
close that he could feel her heart beat. His own kept
perfect time with the speedy thumping.

She looked up to see his expression, to see if he was
laughing at her clumsiness. But instead of humor, there
was softness in his dark eyes as he bent forward to kiss
her. It set her mind to whirling, her heart into triple
time and turned her stomach to a quivering bowl of
nerves. It ended much, much too soon, but she was still
in his arms, the warmth of his breath on her neck, causing chills to skip up and down her backbone.

"Goodnight, Clara," he whispered in her ear as he
released her.

She nodded because she couldn't say a word as she
touched her lips with her fingertips, trying to keep the
feeling, the brilliance of the night, the day, the kiss
forever.

As soon as Tucker parked the car, Clara was swept
away by a whole gang of women, taking her upstairs to
Judith's room. They all talked at once but the gist of the
rush was that Judith had changed her mind about what
song she wanted played when she walked down the
aisle on Briar's arm.

Clara didn't mind one bit. She still hadn't figured out
just how she was going to face Briar that day. She'd
been giddy and perplexed in turn since awakening after
a near sleepless night. Briar must like her a little bit or
he wouldn't have kissed her again. That first kiss, the
night Percy's widow had knocked on her kitchen door,
could have been chalked up to a "feel sorry for Clara"
kiss, but the second was real. At least that's what she'd kept repeating all night as she touched her lips again
and again. He'd actually wanted to kiss her.

"Thank goodness you are here" Judith paced the
floor, barefoot, in her wedding dress, with her hair
hanging down to her waist. "Do you know that song
that came out a few years ago? Ball composed it. It's
called `To Have, To Hold, To Love."'

"Know it well. Played it often. It's been one of
Dulcie's favorites since she first heard it. She thinks if
I play it enough, someone will come along and sweep
me off my feet," Clara said.

"Good. That's the one I want played as Briar walks
me down the aisle," Judith was all but wringing her
hands. "I'm so nervous I could just cry, Clara. How do
I look? Do you think Cecil will think he's made a mistake? I'm so scatterbrained today, I may not be able to
say my vows."

"We told her it's all normal. All brides get jittery on
their wedding day. I'm just thankful she hasn't gotten
hives like I did. When I said my vows all I could think
about was scratching my neck and arms," Franny said.

"I wouldn't know normal if it jumped up and bit me,
so I'm not much help there," Clara said. "But I do think
maybe he'll be more convinced he's marrying the right
woman if you put on some shoes and fix your hair."

"Oh, that's terrific! I've only got an hour and my
hands are shaking. How am I supposed to fix my hair?
Clara, can you fix my hair? Just sweep it up in the back
and-"

"I can't believe you said that," Franny laughed.

"What?" Judith jerked her head around in question.

"That word. Terrific! I've had a time keeping my kids
from using it. It's just slang and Richard really doesn't
like them to get in the habit of using vulgarity," Franny
said.

"Chalk it up to bride's nerves. If I was getting married today, I would have probably said, `Well, hell's
bells.' That's what Tilly and I got into the most trouble
for when we were growing up," Clara said.

"And. We. All. Thought" Judith's eyes got wider and
wider until they fairly well looked as if they would pop
out, then she began to chuckle. "You. Were. So," she
hiccupped. "Prim. And. Proper." She said each word
between gasps and hics.

"Me? Not me. I'm the village fool who says bad
words at times," Clara said and then changed the subject. "You sure you want me to do your hair? There's
probably sisters and sisters-in-law standing in line
who'd do a better job"

"No, I want mine fixed just like yours. Swept up with
a few curls on top with my circle veil sitting around
them," Judith said.

"Well, then sit down right here. It would not bode
well if you were late to your own wedding."

"If you've got the hairdo under control, we're going
back to the kitchen and make sure things are going
smoothly there. If you need anything, just grab a kid
and send a message to us. There's plenty of them run ping about underfoot." Franny ushered the women out
of the room, leaving only Clara and Judith.

"Thank goodness they're all gone even if it's only a
little while. They mean well, and Lord knows I want
them here, but I've got to have a few minutes of peace
and quiet or Cecil is going to think he's marrying a
lunatic," Judith sighed.

Clara pointed to the velvet covered bench in front of
the oak vanity sporting three mirrors. "I love all the
noise and confusion. Don't think I could ever get
enough. But then I wasn't raised amongst so many people. I suppose it could get overwhelming after a while."

Judith handed her the brush and lifted the lid from a
box containing hairpins. "Yes, it could and does.
Especially after being away from it so long. Someday
I'm going to cut every bit of this stuff off. Can you just
imagine how wonderful it would be not to have to fix
long hair every day? I'd give anything for enough nerve
to wear a bob like the women in the Sears catalog"
Judith fanned her dress tail out, sat down on the vanity
bench and watched Clara deftly pull her hair into an
upsweep and coax the ends into a bundle of curls. Then
she picked up the snow-white lace veil from the back of
a rocking chair and crowned Judith.

"It's perfect. Thank you for fixing my hair," Judith
said. "I'm glad for a few minutes alone with you to
thank you, too, for what you are doing for Briar.
Keeping Libby. I've had that child since she was four
weeks old. She's like my own and the hardest thing I'll ever do today is drive away and leave her. Cecil and I
offered raise her for Briar, but he won't hear of it. I
didn't think he would, but my heart is half broken just
thinking about leaving her. It gives me great comfort
knowing you will be keeping her. She really loves you,
Clara"

"And I love her," Clara said. "I promise I'll take
good care of her. But I'm not totally sure who takes
care of who. She is already the prize toy at the Inn. The
two B's, that would be Bessie and Beulah, my widow
ladies who were friends with my grandmother, think
she's the grandest thing ever to come along. My
schoolteachers, Nellie and Cornelia, can't wait to get
home and play with her. She's in good hands, Judith.
Don't worry about her."

"Briar promised to bring her to Texas for a week
after Cecil and I are married a month. He's got to come
down there on business and he said I could keep her a
whole week"

"And we'll miss her terribly that week, but we can
share," Clara said. "Time to begin the music. I'll send
Franny up to help you with those shoes."