Six Miles From Nashville (19 page)

Bill tried to think of a good way to explain things to her. “First of all, you are very pretty
, and now you are on your way to being a wealthy woman.”

She pursed her lips. “I don’t think anyone would believe I would be wealthy when he first met me.”

“Did you not hear me tell you that you are beautiful? Beauty gets to a guy long before money does.”

“I
never thought I looked any better than anyone else.”

“That’s one reason we ...uh men think you are pretty.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she said.

“Say ‘thank you’. Then you’re done.”

“Thank you, Bill.”

He sat on a large chair in the corner of the room. “Will you be okay?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want to write
something?”

She laughed and said, “You mean something like ‘Your Cheating Heart’?”

“It fits.”

Tears filled her eyes as she looked across the room at him. “Can you tell me something? Why do men cheat like that?”

“It’s not always men.”

“Okay. Why do people hurt one another like that?”

He paused before he replied, “Because we don’t want to live like the Lord wants us to live.”

She continued watching him.

“What I am saying,” he continued, “is that people look past the things Jesus taught. We don’t want to call the things that are sinful, sin. Everyone these days talks about free love. I know you understand what this means. Just because people of today think everything goes, doesn’t mean that it is right or acceptable to God. God’s Word never changes. The things He named as sin in the Bible are never going to change. It is a sin to lust. It doesn’t matter if you act on that lust or not, lust is still sin. It is a sin to lie and cheat on your spouse. I’m sorry to preach here. You know this because you know the Bible.”

“It is unnerving to see it personally. I never thought I would be the ‘other woman’. It isn’t something I would ever want to be.”

“You didn’t know,” he said.

He watched the emotions play on her face. “Do you think Johnny will come to see you again?”

She got up from the piano bench, sat on the sofa, and leaned back on the cushion. “I don’t know what to think about him. He is such a good person. He is committed to his mother and father and the farm. It occurred to me the last time he came to visit that whoever he married would always be last place. The farm will always be his first love.”

“True.”

“I mean, he is a good Christian man, but I want more. I want him to also be a little crazy over me. I know that love isn’t like the love songs that are written all the time, but I want...something. Mama always said that a man will never love you more than he does before he marries you. After that, they don’t pay much attention to you. If that is true, Johnny would never ever see me again if we got married.”

“
Your mama is right. People try harder to please one another before they are married. It is futile to think that you can make someone change into the person you want them to be.

“
People always wondered about me and Sweetie. You know, she was over fifteen years older than me. She never would admit that it was fifteen. She always said ten, but I didn’t care. People thought I was after her money. I did love her and she loved me.”

“I know. You guys were sweet together.”

“I have been thinking about Sweetie and our marriage. I was sixteen when we married. Did you know that?”

“She told me.
”

“I thought I had grown up love for her until lately. You see, I lived in a world without kindness or love. Both my mother and father were incarcerated. Us kids were parceled out to family members. If we caused any trouble, we were turned loose.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I was half starved when Sweetie found me. She was good at taking in strays.”

“I know. I was one of them, remember?”

“Yes, you were. She fed me and gave me a job in the kitchen of her cafe. She was a very lonely woman. We talked the night away. She let me stay in the apartment where you lived. After a few months, I knew I was in love with her. She loved me too. We went to the judge and he married us. He knew I wasn’t old enough to get married, but he looked the other way and signed the paperwork.”

He continued, “We loved each other until the day she died. I never thought anything different until after she died. I realized that she had mothered me a lot. She took care of everything and made the decisions. I’m not saying she didn’t care what I thought about things, but I let her do what she wanted.”

Betty agreed, “She
treated me like a daughter.”

“Well our daughter w
ould have been thirteen had she lived.”

“I know. I am sorry for you.”

“Thanks. It was the first real sorrow I ever experienced.”

“So how old are you?”

“Thirty one. I had sixteen wonderful years with Sweetie.”

Betty felt sorry for him. “Did you ever find any of your brothers and sisters?”

“I did. Most of them ended up in prison just like our parents. Some of them died with complications from addictions. The only one who amounted to much died giving birth to her baby. There is no one left that I care to connect with. Maybe one day I will see them, but I am not ready yet.”

“I hope to see my brother some
day. I can’t believe that he died over there in the war,” she said.

“Don’t give up.”

“I won’t.”

“Speaking of family, what do your parents think of your success?”

“Daddy is proud, of course. Mama uses it to her advantage if she can.”

“You have a great talent.”

“Aw, you say that to all the girls,” she said laughing.

He stood. “I guess I better go and get something done. Would you like for me to stop by and pick you up for church on Sunday morning?”

“Sounds good. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I’m taking the day off and going fishing. There are times I need to get away from the noise and reconnect with God all by my lonesome. I hope you don’t mind that I haven’t invited you to come with me.”

“We all need time like that. Time off sounds like a good idea. I don’t think I will even answer the door or the phone tomorrow.”

He kissed her on the forehead and left her. She turned on the television. The Lawrence Welk show was on.
Mom will be watching this.
She changed the channel to  “That Girl” and sat down on the sofa to watch.

Wouldn’t the people who think I am rich and famous laugh if they knew that my biggest
pastime is watching TV?

She laughed at her own jo
ke and stretched out on the couch. Before the show was over, she was sound asleep.

Sometime in the middle of the evening, she awakened. She went into the kitchen and fixed herself a grilled cheese sandwich and opened a can of soup. She had wondered what it would be like to h
ave a microwave oven to heat things up instantly, but twelve hundred dollars was a crazy price to pay for a soup warmer.

She sat at her table and offered a quick prayer of thanks before she ate her small dinner. Afterward, she picked up her phone and dialed her mama’s number.

“Hello.”

“Hi Mama.”

“What’s wrong? Why are you calling?”

Betty took a deep breath. “I
just wanted to know how you and Daddy are.”

“We’re fine. How is Nashville?”

Betty tempered her excitement. “It is a pretty city with a lot of talented people.”

“We heard you on the radio on our way to the Dixie Dog for hamburgers.”

“You did?”

“Daddy thought you sounded really good.”

“Have you been staying busy?”

“Yes. Everyb
ody wants to stop me and ask about you.”

“Is Daddy there?”

“No, he is meeting the bread truck at the store.”

“Oh.”

“Well, I better let you go before your bill is too high to pay.”

“
Okay, goodbye Mama.”

“Bye.”

The phone clicked before she was ready to hang up. Her mother was always afraid of long distance prices. It kept her from talking to the people she loved. She didn’t like to write, so Mama just tended to lose touch with people.

She
went to the refrigerator and got out a can of Pepsi. It was cold and went well with the sack of Doritos she craved for a snack. She turned on the television in time to watch the Friday Night Movie. It was a murder mystery that held her attention.

She wondered where Bill would go to fish tomorrow. She never thought he did much except work. He deserved a chance to rest.

When she finished the movie, she went to her bedroom and slipped between the covers. She decided to pray as she lay there. Her intentions were good, but she fell asleep after the first sentence she prayed, “Lord, show me what to do. I want to follow the plan You have for me. I want more attention than what Johnny wants to give me. I still feel something for Bill and I don’t know what to do...”

Chapter 21

Betty awoke to pounding at her front door. She jumped up and opened it quickly. Gage stood before her with a flirty grin on his face.

“Can I come in?”

It irritated Betty to go through her explanation again. “Gage, you know I don’t let men come into my apartment.”

“That is not true. You let Bill come and stay most all afternoon yesterday.”

She crossed her arms in front of her. “How would you know that unless you were watching me?”

He pulled the screen door open and stepped through
, pushing her backwards and almost knocking her down. “Don’t try to act like you are a prude. I know better.”

“Gage,  you have to leave.”

“Betty, you can trust me. If you don’t know that by now, I don’t know how to prove myself to you.”

He crossed the room and sat in the old recliner in front of the television.

“Gage, I would rather meet you at the cafe next to this building.”

“I really just need to talk with you. I am in a bind and need to borrow some money.”

Betty wrung her hands and cleared her throat. “Gage, I...I don’t have more then five dollars in my purse.”

“That’s not true. I know you have money
now that you are a big star.”

“What is wrong with you?”

He laughed hysterically and yelled, “I want money. I need it.”

“Are you on drugs?”

“No, are you?”

“Of course not,
” she gasped.

“I borrowed money from the wrong guy. I had to have it for a family emergency.”

“Really!”

He spotted her purse on the sofa and  rummaged through it. He found
only four dollars in the change purse. “What is this? Where is your money?”

“
I don’t have any. Right now, we are putting all our money back in the business.”

He was stomping
around the room opening drawers, and went into the kitchen to see if she had money hidden in there. “Don’t you have any ‘mad money’ or something put away for a rainy day?”

“Let me get it. She opened the door to the coat closet and found her heavy coat hanging in the back
. She kept her eyes on him as she grabbed hold of the cold steel of her loaded revolver.

In one fluid motion she pointed it at his chest. “It is loaded, so don’t mess with me,” she said in a quiet voice.

“I don’t believe you,” he said.

“You better believe it. It wouldn’t be smart to test me.”

He started sweating, “I thought you were a Christian!”

“I am being very Scriptural by being wise as a
serpent and harmless as a dove. This serpent will bite you.”

“All right. I will just leave and we c
an act like this never happened,” he said as he edged toward the door.

“No. You are going to sit rig
ht here and wait for the police.” Her voice was steady and cold.

She grabbed her phone with her free hand and dialed the operator. “I need the police to come to the Westside pawn shop apartment at the top. I just caught a thief in here and am holding him at gunpoint.”

It seemed they heard sirens as soon as she hung up the phone. Two policemen came to the door. Betty yelled, “Come in. He is right here.”

“Ma’am, put down the gun.”

She accommodated them and set the gun on her desk. “This man forced his way in here and tried to rob me.”

“She knows
me. She is just mad at me.”

“Yes, I know him and
he knows I don’t allow men in my apartment. He pushed his way in when I told him I wouldn’t let him in.”

The police put cuffs on him and led him out of her apartment.