“If you plan to be here for a while we would love to have you visit our Do Your Bit Club at the church. We do a little of everything, from making baby quilts to canning food for the poor.”

“I’d like that, but … it’s hard to get to town from way out here.” Birdie sighed dramatically. Elsie whispered in her mother’s ear again. Birdie whispered back. The whispered conversation between mother and daughter went on and on.

Julie glanced at Ruth to see how she was taking her sister-in-law’s rude behavior. Poor Ruth. Her head was bent and she was busy pulling down the legs of the britches on the small boy on her lap. How long was she going to be able to put up with Birdie Stuart and her annoying child? Jill was right about this one. Julie could imagine what Elsie would be like when she was Jill’s age.

“Do you have a lot of cucumbers this year, Ruth?” Iona Birch asked.

“Quite a few. I’ve put up thirty quarts of dill pickles.”

“I’ve extras if you can use them.”

“Thanks, but I’m saving my canning jars for green beans.”

“I’m already canning beans,” Myrtle Taylor said. “Haven’t yours put out yet?”

“Oh, yes, the vines are loaded, but I’ve only got two hands.”

A slight tone of irritation tinged Ruth’s voice. “The girls help pick and the twins have helped some, though they carry on about it being woman’s work. Birdie is afraid she’ll get a freckle if she goes out in the sun.”

Julie’s eyes shot to Birdie. She wasn’t paying the slightest attention to the conversation going on around her. Her eyes were on the men getting ready to start the game. Evan was among them. Julie had not been aware that he had arrived. He must have come across the field on his horse and left it in the back lot. She looked back at Birdie and felt a sharp stab of foreboding.

The woman had to be terribly thick-skinned not to care about what Ruth was saying. She acted as if she were superior and far above the fray. She was polite and answered when spoken to but never made any overtures to be friendly with Julie or the other women.

She was strange and she was … awfully pretty.

Chapter 9

T
HE WOMEN
, except for Ruth Humphrey and Iona Birch, moved from the porch and out under the oak tree to watch the game. Iona’s baby was due in a few weeks. She settled herself in a chair with a cushion at her back and Ruth sat in the swing holding her sleeping child. Julie and Eudora occupied the bench with Birdie Stuart and Elsie, while the other women sat on the kitchen chairs.

The game started after a lot of joshing back and forth while choosing sides. During the first inning, Jack hit a home run. Joe hit a high ball caught by Thad Taylor, who let out a whoop and waved the ball at Joe. Evan hit a line drive. One of the Humphrey twins, it was hard to tell which one, tagged him out.

The game was played for the fun of it. When an eight-year-old hit the ball, Joe fumbled it to allow the boy to reach first base, then threw the ball that tagged him out on second.

Neither Jack nor Joe was on Jason’s team and when he came up to bat, Jethro got into position to run for him. Jason hit a ball out into center field and Jethro barely made it to first base. Julie glanced over to see if Birdie was watching her father and saw that her eyes were on Evan in left field.

“Good hit, Jason,” Eudora called.

The inning ended without Jethro making a score for Jason. Evan came off the field and headed for the water cooler. Birdie, with Elsie in tow, left the bench and went to intercept him.

“She’s not goin’ to miss a chance, is she?” Grace Birch murmured to Myrtle Taylor.

“I hope she gets someone soon or poor Ruth will go to the crazy house. Imagine having her in the house day after day. I’d go mad and bite myself.”

“That woman and Evan Johnson are two of a kind, if ya ask me.”

“My Oscar thinks he’s a good sort. Thad likes him, too.”

“Myrtle, he couldn’t be all right and be the son of Walter Johnson. I’m thinkin’ he’s a mite smarter than his pa and don’t let folks see what he is.”

Julie’s ears were burning and she had to bite her lip to keep from butting into the conversation she was overhearing. She had to tell herself that the Birches had had rough dealings with Walter Johnson and hadn’t taken the trouble to get to know his son. She glanced toward the water cooler, where Evan was handing the dipper to Birdie.

“It’s a real treat watching you play ball.” Birdie fanned herself with her handkerchief. “I just couldn’t wait another minute for a drink of water.” She drank daintily, then held the dipper for Elsie. After the girl took a sip of the water, she tossed out what water remained and handed the dipper back to Evan.

“I hope you’ll be hungry after the game. I brought an extra custard pie for you.”

“I’m sure that I will be.” Evan drank thirstily from the dipper. He was letting it sink back in the crock when Joy ran up and grabbed him around the legs.

“Whoa, little sweetheart.” He reached down and she grabbed his hand.

“Can I have a drink?”

“Sure.” Evan brushed the damp hair back from the child’s smiling face. He brought out a dipper half full of water from the crock and held it for Joy. She gobbled it, letting it run out her mouth and over her chin and onto her dress.

Elsie made a squeamish noise and wrinkled her nose.

“Swing me … pl-ease, pretty pl-ease—”

Evan laughed. “All right. Since you asked me so nicely.”

He took hold of the small wrists and whirled around several times until Joy’s feet left the ground. The little girl giggled happily and when she was on her feet, she grabbed him around the legs. Her pixie face grinned up at him.

“I like you.”

“I’m glad, because I like you, too.”

“When can I ride in your car?”

“We’ll figure out a time.”

“I gotta go tell Sylvie.” She broke away and ran to the children playing on the swing, leaving Evan to wonder if the child ever walked.

“Poor little thing,” Birdie said, her eyes following the little girl.

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m afraid she’ll have a hard life.”

“Why so?” Evan frowned.

“The child’s mother died right after she was born. Julie is the only mother she has ever known and she … she won’t be around much longer. She’s …ah …well …” Birdie lowered her eyes.

“Go on, Mrs. Stuart. What are you trying to say?”

“I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said before. I’m repeating what’s talked about by the neighbors. I’ve heard that she meets someone in the woods … someone from town that she doesn’t want her father to know about.”

Evan would have walked away, but he wanted to know just how far the woman would go to damage Julie’s reputation.

“Everyone around here seems to know a lot about other folks’ business.”

“She’s probably lonely and it’s exciting to meet someone that’s reckless and …fast. The little girl will be the one to suffer when she leaves.” Birdie had moved a step closer to Evan and lowered her voice to keep Elsie from hearing what she was saying. She looked up at him with round, sorrowful eyes.

“Are you telling me that Julie Jones is a loose woman? How would you know that, Mrs. Stuart?”

“I don’t really
know
. I’m just telling you what appears to be common knowledge among the neighbors here and even the people in town.”

Evan looked down at the woman, his face closed and tight. He had met her type before. He didn’t believe a thing she had said. She was a conniving bitch. If she thought to win favor with him by slandering Julie Jones, she was barking up the wrong tree.

“Mrs. Stuart, I have only one thing to say to you. You’d be smart to refrain from making slanderous statements about Julie Jones or any other woman.”

“They were not slanderous, Mr. Johnson. I’m not saying it’s wrong for a woman to try to better her lot in life. I’m merely telling you what I heard the first week I was here. I feel sorry for the girl.”

“Excuse me,” he said abruptly.

Birdie watched Evan walk away. It had irritated her to learn from one of the twins that Evan had brought Julie and the kids home from church. She had decided to plant a seed of doubt in his mind, in case he was interested in the farm girl.

She wasn’t pleased with his reaction to her news about Julie, but she wasn’t displeased. It would take a while for the facts to sink in and then he would realize that Julie wasn’t a woman he’d want to introduce to his friends over in St. Joseph. Ruth and Wilbur were sure that he was here only to look after his interest in the farm and before fall he would return to the home his grandparents had left him. Birdie intended that she and Elsie would go with him.

The game ended. The winning team was the one that the Humphrey twins and the Taylor boys were on. Jill and Ruby May, keeping score on a tablet, came in for a lot of teasing.

“How come my team never wins? Huh? Huh?” Jack asked, belligerently.

“ ’Cause you’re a rotten player,” Jill answered sassily.

“I bet ya cheated,” he yelled.

“I didn’t cheat, Jack. There it is on the tablet. You made four scores and that is all.”

“I made five scores,” Jack insisted to annoy his sister. “You didn’t count one of my home runs. Were you watching Roy and Thad and missed it? I made five scores, didn’t I, Ruby May?”

Ruby May, who had a terrible crush on Jack, didn’t know what to say. She nodded numbly.

“Come on, Ruby May.” Jill stomped her foot in angry frustration. “Next time my smart-aleck of a brother can keep score. Oh … he makes me soooo mad!”

Ruby May’s heart was thumping wildly because Jack had winked at her.

Julie asked Joe to bring out to the front porch the big crock she usually used to soak pickles in. Today she had used it to make the lemonade. When he returned, Evan was with him carrying the tub of ice. Evan chipped the ice and dropped large chunks in the crock, leaving the small pieces for the children who stood waiting with their hands out. Julie brought out the sack of tin cups they used when feeding thrashers. Eudora filled them with lemonade and Joe carried them to the table.

When the food was laid out, Julie noticed that Birdie stood at the table behind her custard pie and dished it out when it was asked for. Her father had already taken a piece and had gone to join the other men, where Pete Birch was talking and gesturing.

“Booze is pretty easy to get down along the river. Somebody up in the hills is makin’ a powerful white lightnin’ and the marshal is lookin’ the other way.”

“Anybody had any trouble with Walter Johnson lately?” Oscar Taylor asked.

“I don’t see much of him, thank God,” Farley Jacobs said. I heard he was down at Well’s Point the other night raising Cain. He got into a fight with that old river rat he hangs out with. I heard both came out with bloody noses. When they sober up, the fools forget that they were ever mad at each other.”

“Does the new policeman cover Well’s Point?”

“Hell, I don’t know. He don’t have enough sense to cover anythin’, to my notion. He’s touched in the head. Damn fool runs as if he was bein’ chased but he ain’t goin’ nowhere but up the road and back. Can you beat that?”

“He was out by our place this mornin’,” Wilbur Humphrey said. “Queerest sight I ever did see.” He snorted. “A grown man running down the road.”

“Thad met him in town the other night,” Oscar Taylor remarked. “He said they visited a minute, and he told ’im he liked the town just fine. Thad thought he was all right.”

“If the man ain’t got nothin’ to do but run up and down a road, I can’t see they need to pay him for that.”

“He turned around just above our place and headed back to town, runnin’ like he’s just knocked down a hornet’s nest and they was after him.”

“Might be he’ll throw Walter in jail next time he gets to actin’ up. That’s if they got a jail to throw him in.”

“They got one. It’s downstairs at the courthouse. They’ve needed a jail. It’s the one good thing the council’s done that I can see.”