Small Town Girl (3 page)

E
very pew at the Rosey Corner Baptist Church was packed. Cardboard fans were waving all over the church as the people tried to keep cool in the unseasonable heat. Even Evie appeared to be wilting as she stood at the altar beside Mike while Reverend Haskell from the Christian church across the road read the Scripture about a man cleaving to his wife.

For way longer than Kate could remember, Rosey Corner’s two churches had always joined forces to celebrate special occasions. So it was fitting that Rosey Corner’s other preacher was performing the ceremony for Mike and Evie. Somehow kept it all in the family. At least that was what Mike said. No need to bring in somebody from Edgeville or Louisville. But Reverend Haskell did have a way of droning on and on. Kate had been to church with Aunt Gertie when she thought he might never get to the amen on his prayers.

He was giving them the full service today. He had to have covered everything the Bible said about getting married. Maybe twice. As if Mike didn’t know all that already. Kate let her eyes touch on Mike’s face. He looked happy. In spite of the heat. In spite of the other preacher’s long-winded droning. It was easy to see how much he adored Evie as he held her hand and waited for Reverend Haskell to pronounce them man and wife.

A naked feeling of longing stabbed through Kate. If only Mike were looking at her that way. If only she were the one standing beside him at the altar. Kate jerked her eyes away from Mike’s face. She was surely lower than the lowest worm to be thinking such thoughts on the happiest day of her sister’s life. Mike had chosen Evie. Kate had never even been in the running. She was just the younger sister.

Her eyes landed on Mike’s friend standing at the altar with him. Jay Tanner smiled at her, and she had the uncomfortable feeling the man had caught her unguarded look at Mike. That he was guessing things about her she had kept hidden from everybody in Rosey Corner. If so, he’d just have to guess again. She gave him a chilly look that didn’t dim his smile at all. Instead he looked like he might be biting his lip to keep from laughing. At her.

Let him laugh. She didn’t care. She lifted her chin and turned her eyes away from him back toward Reverend Haskell, who seemed to finally be winding down toward the end of the ceremony at last. She had the prickly feeling Jay Tanner was still watching her, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of looking back toward him.

She’d met men like Jay Tanner. Men who thought they could charm any girl they met just because the Lord had blessed them with good looks. Definitely not her type. She liked men who were sincere and loyal, true to their beliefs, strong and capable. A man like the man marrying her sister.

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.” Reverend Haskell looked up from his Bible to smile at Mike.

Mike didn’t smile back. He looked as serious as Kate had ever seen him when he turned toward Evie. Beads of sweat were leaking down from his forehead and sliding around his eyebrows, but he paid no attention. He lifted up the veil from in front of Evie’s face and carefully draped it back over
her hair. Then he stared at her for a long moment before he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I will love you forever, my beautiful Evangeline.”

Kate, standing so close beside Evie, heard his every word before he covered Evie’s lips with his. Kate couldn’t see Evie’s face, but she had to believe she was exploding with happiness. What girl wouldn’t be?

Mrs. Taylor started pounding out the recessional Evie had insisted she learn. The woman’s fingers stumbled over some of the notes, but nobody gave much notice. They were all watching their preacher tuck his new bride’s hand up under his arm to escort her out of the church toward their new life together. Every face was smiling. Sharing in the joy of the moment.

As Kate took Jay Tanner’s arm to follow the newlyweds down the aisle, she saw so many people she loved in the pews. Kate’s father had his arm tight around her mother as she dabbed away a few tears. Tori and Sammy were looking at each other as though wishing they were the ones saying “I do.” Lorena had jumped to her feet and clasped her hands together. Kate winked at her and Lorena’s smile got even bigger. She was practically sparkling.

A few seats behind them, she spotted Graham Lindell, who turned his smile from Evie to raise his eyebrows at Kate as though asking if she was going to be next. Kate gave her head a tiny shake, and his shoulders shook with a silent laugh. She searched on through the faces in the church until her eyes landed on Aunt Hattie in the back pew. The little black woman’s hands were lifted up toward the ceiling and her face was an explosion of happy wrinkles. Graham’s sister, Fern, was right beside her with her hair combed and wearing what looked to be a new dress. Even Fern was smiling as much as Fern ever smiled.

The whole church was practically pulsing with happiness. Kate could feel it hopping from person to person. She wasn’t a bit surprised when one of the men in the back corner laughed
right out loud. Everybody was happy for Evie. Happy for Mike. Kate was smiling too. Inside and out. How could she not on this day when her sister had to be the happiest girl in the world? And the luckiest.

Kate’s smile didn’t even dim when Jay Tanner gave her another amused grin as they reached the door of the church. What did she care what Jay Tanner thought? He’d driven in from who knew where. He’d be driving back out to the same place as soon as the festivities were over.

He wasn’t the kind of guy to let much grass grow under his feet. Mike told them Jay drove up from Nashville. And before that he’d been in Memphis. Not a man who would see anything of interest in a little one-store, wide-spot-in-the-road place like Rosey Corner.

They formed a line outside on the walkway. Evie claimed a receiving line after the wedding ceremony was every bit as important as the processional up to the altar. It was simply unfortunate the church faced toward the west. The sun was hitting them full force, and Kate hadn’t talked to three people before sweat rivulets began to slide down her sides. The fancy dress was going to be ruined. But at least she wasn’t wearing a black suit like the man beside her. He had to be melting, even if he did appear totally unbothered by the heat as he kept smiling at the people grabbing his hand and welcoming him to Rosey Corner.

Kate kept smiling too as they all squeezed her hand in turn, while giving her that knowing look and telling her she’d be next. She wanted to ask them, next to do what—faint from the heat? But she remembered her manners. It was Evie’s day, and Kate had promised her mother to be nice no matter how many people asked her when she and Carl Noland were going to follow her sister and Pastor Mike down the aisle into wedded bliss.

She even managed to keep her smile from flagging when Carl came out the door, his high cheekbones stained red. No
doubt he’d been getting the same kind of remarks inside the church that she was hearing outside. If so, Carl’s ears were readier to hear them. He was looking at her like a little boy staring at a plate full of his favorite cookies after he’d just been told he could eat them all.

She liked Carl. She really did. After all, they’d grown up together in Rosey Corner. Had heard each other recite lessons in school. Had waded in creeks catching frogs. Had climbed trees and played hide-and-seek in her yard. But she’d never given the first thought to falling in love with Carl. It wasn’t going to happen.

She tried to keep the dismay from showing on her face as he grabbed both of her hands and gave her a bashful smile. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy. Ordinary with light blue eyes and brown hair that even with pomade never seemed to lay right on his head. He’d shot up five inches his senior year in school, and even though that had been a couple of years ago, he hadn’t quite figured out what to do with his longer arms and legs.

But none of that was why she couldn’t fall in love with him. It didn’t have anything to do with how he looked. It was everything else. How he didn’t like books. How he couldn’t imagine going anywhere farther than Edgeville. How he had to ponder every decision until the cows came home. Even something as unimportant as which piece of pie he wanted at a church dinner. He had no imagination at all. Kate needed imagination the way a rainbow needed color.

She tried to gently free her hands, but he grasped her fingers tighter. His hands were damp with sweat, and when he swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbed a bit.

“Kate, you look beautiful,” he said, then stuttered a little as he went on. “I–I . . .”

“You look nice too, Carl.” Kate spoke up fast to cut him off. She had the horrible feeling that all the jibes from the church people were giving him the courage to pop the question right
there in front of everybody. No way could she let that happen. Not now. Not here. She smiled her best smile and managed to tug her hands loose at last. “We can talk later. You need to go give Pastor Mike your congratulations.”

He kept his hands reached out toward her for a few seconds before he awkwardly dropped them to his side. “Right,” he said. “Later.”

She didn’t let her sigh come out. She kept smiling as Mrs. Jamison stepped up to take Carl’s place and tell her what a nice wedding it was and wasn’t love a beautiful thing.

When at last Mrs. Jamison turned toward Evie to tell her the exact same thing, Jay Tanner leaned closer to Kate and kept his voice low as he said, “Later, eh? Carl is one lucky fellow.”

Kate pretended not to understand him as she smiled at the next person in line. By the time every person had come out of the church and wrung her hand and talked about how pretty everything was, her cheeks were frozen in a smile and her dress was sticking to her back. Evie didn’t appear to be faring any better. Her cheeks were bright pink, the curls she’d worked so hard to straighten were going kinky again, and her lipstick was gone, along with her smile. But Mike looked happy enough for all of them as he put his arm around Evie and started to pull her close to him.

Evie pushed him back. “Watch out, Mike. You’ll mess up my dress. I have to look nice for the reception.”

She sounded almost cross. Newly married to the most wonderful man in the world and already forgetting to be happy. It was more than Kate could imagine and she had to force herself not to reach over and give Evie a shake.

“You look nice. You look better than nice.” Mike reached for Evie again and captured her this time, holding her gently as though she were a priceless treasure.

“They’re all waiting for us.” Evie put a hand against his chest to hold him away.

“They don’t need us to enjoy your mother’s pies and cakes. Everybody there will have a full plate.” Mike’s smile got bigger. “In fact, why don’t we let Kate make our excuses and just get in the car and head for the hotel in Louisville?”

“We can’t do that,” Evie protested. “Whatever would we tell everybody?”

“We wouldn’t tell them anything. We’d be in the car on the way to our honeymoon. But Kate could tell them we were overcome by the heat. It wouldn’t be a lie. I’m warming up to the idea of being a married man for sure.”

“Why, Mike Champion! What a thing to say!” Evie flushed beet red. That was the thing about being a redhead and so fair skinned. Every emotion bloomed bright on her face.

Kate knew exactly what was going through Evie’s mind, and Kate’s own cheeks warmed a little too. Evie would be thinking about the awkward conversation their mother had with them both a few nights earlier. About honeymoons and what to expect.

None of it was new to Kate. She’d found out how babies came to be when she was twelve. She hadn’t bothered asking her mother. She’d gone straight to Aunt Hattie, who helped women birth babies all the time and who told answers straight out if she knew them.

“It sounds some strange when a body talks it out,” Aunt Hattie had told her after explaining the way things worked. “But it ain’t nothin’ for you to worry your head over. When you meet the right feller and get married, it’ll be natural as breathing.” Aunt Hattie narrowed her eyes on Kate then as she went on. “But you make sure you do wait for the right feller and let the good Lord bless your union before you step down that path. Ain’t much worse for a woman than being led astray by a fast-talkin’ man with no thought of settling down. Babies can come on quick.”

Evie had found the right man and had stood before the
Lord and her friends and family and promised to love, honor, and obey till death do them part. So even though her face was burning red, her eyes were soft, yielding, ready.

Mike’s face had a different look too—one Kate had never seen—as he said, “I’m your husband now, Mrs. Champion.” With eyes tight on Evie’s face, he laughed softly, a low throaty sound.

Kate turned her eyes away from them. The look they were sharing was too private. Something Jay Tanner must have noted too. He took hold of Kate’s arm and whispered loudly, “I think you’d better show me where those cakes and pies are, sister Kate. The loving couple seem to be in need of a little time alone. Or maybe a lot of time alone.”

Kate started away with him, but then looked back at Evie. “It won’t be right if you don’t come. Everybody expects you to be there.” She didn’t look at Mike. She couldn’t very well tell him what to do, but she could Evie.