Читать книгу Silent Night in Dry Creek - Janet Tronstad - Страница 10

Jasmine pulled the white curtain back from the kitchen window and looked out at her father’s farm. She wished she could just forget about Wade Sutton. The view out this window usually soothed her. Late-day shadows made the deep red barn look almost black. Even though it was winter, there was very little snow. Behind the barn, a mixture of dried wheat stalks and tall weeds spread over the slight hill. Night would be here soon, but she could still see well enough.

Just looking out that far made her eyes feel restful after being in prison for so long. There were no concrete buildings or search lights in sight. Unfortunately, what her eyes kept coming back to was the new post on the hill. She could barely see it in the gathering dusk, but she knew it rose up in the area to the left of the barn where the barbed-wire fence trailed up the hill.

Most of the wire fence on Elmer’s ranch sagged comfortably, but that particular section was stretched tight and kept in good repair. He said he wanted the divide clear between his land and the Sutton place.

Her father was a stubborn man. Clarence Sutton was another.

Several weeks ago, Clarence’s old donkey had wandered out of its barn, down the road and into her father’s lane. The animal had probably been looking for something to eat, but her father believed his neighbor had deliberately sent the donkey over to do mischief. Clarence, he said, always knew where his animals were and the donkey had a reputation for biting people. It had taken a bucket of oats to lure the donkey back to her barn and Clarence hadn’t even come out of his house to say a proper thank-you.

Last week, in retaliation, her father had dug a hole and put a twelve-foot metal cross on the top of the hill that divided the two ranches. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, today he’d taken several heavy-duty electrical cords and ran them from the barn up to the cross so he could wrap strands of Christmas tree lights around it. Now, in the evening, he could walk out to the barn and flip a switch and the cross would flash with white and yellow and clear lights. It would all look like a big golden cross that some televangelist would use.

Jasmine shook her head as she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see her father walk into the kitchen from the living room. He was wearing jeans and a dark denim shirt with snap buttons. His white hair was plastered back and he had a look of glee on his weathered face. “Time to turn on those lights.”

“Maybe you should wait and talk to Mr. Sutton before you do that,” Jasmine said. “He might not like them and—”

She’d told her father she was going to dinner at the Walls’, but she hadn’t told him she was being picked up by Wade. The way her father fumed about that donkey of Clarence’s, she doubted he’d be any more welcoming to the man’s grandson. If everything stayed calm, though, there was a chance her father wouldn’t see who was driving the car. He might just assume it was the sheriff behind the wheel.

“I’m celebrating Christmas. If old man Sutton doesn’t like the lights, he can just look the other way.” Her father picked a jacket off the coatrack by the door. “I got those special outdoor bulbs and I intend to use them—outside where they belong.”

It suddenly struck Jasmine that the reason the people of Dry Creek might be so excited she was in the pageant was because they hoped she’d work a miracle between these two men. Maybe she should give it a try.

“It’s not right,” Jasmine declared when her father had his hand on the doorknob. “Christmas should bring people together. Decorations aren’t something you use to annoy your neighbors.”

Elmer turned to her. “Of course, Christmas brings people together. That’s why I put the thing up there. Besides, an old sinner like Sutton should get down on his knees instead of complaining about Christmas anyway.”

“You’ll be using a lot of electricity with those lights.” Jasmine tried a different argument. She didn’t want to hear another list of Mr. Sutton’s shortcomings. “And they’re not energy-efficient bulbs.”

“I’ve got nothing better to do with my money than pay the electric company,” Elmer said as he opened the door. “I’ve already bought you that Christmas present and you won’t take the rest.”

Cold air came into the room.

“I’m practicing poverty,” she said. She was working on all of the attributes of the Christian life. She’d found a pamphlet and she was targeting the hardest ones first. “I don’t need more money.”

Elmer had started to walk through the door, but he turned around to look at her. “That’s why I’m buying you—”

“I don’t need jewels, either,” Jasmine added quickly. Her father had shown her the picture of a ten-thousand-dollar diamond-and-ruby necklace that he said he was buying for her. Ten thousand dollars! She hoped it was an empty promise.

“Every woman needs jewels,” Elmer snapped back. “It gives her security. I should have given some to your mother. And my wife, too.”

With that, he stomped out into the darkness.

Jasmine looked up at the clock on the wall. She didn’t want to argue with her newly found father again tonight. She knew it was guilt that was driving him and she’d have a hard time making him understand.

She didn’t care what holiday it was, real people didn’t wear necklaces like that. Not unless they wanted thieves to buzz around every time they walked out of their houses. Besides, she wanted to walk by faith. Her father was wrong; a woman wasn’t pushed to have as much faith when she had that many diamonds hanging around her neck.

She’d have to talk to her father later just to make sure he understood. In the meantime, Wade would be here in five minutes. She had planned to do a quick check on her lipstick so she stepped to the oval mirror hanging in the hallway.

She didn’t know why she was making such a big deal of her appearance since this wasn’t a date, but she wanted to look her best. Not that Wade would care if she wore a brown paper bag over her head. Her hand stopped. She wondered if she was guilty of the sin of vanity.

She sighed. She’d never thought there were so many pitfalls in the Christian life. Trying to make oneself worthy of God’s acceptance was not easy. People kept saying God didn’t care if she was an ex-con, but she just didn’t see it that way.

Jasmine took her perfume bottle out of her purse before she realized. Of course, that was it. It was amazing that she hadn’t seen it. No wonder Wade didn’t offer any friendliness. She was an ex-con. He was a lawman. He probably saw them as oil and water; sin and righteousness—good and evil.

Well, that was probably best for both of them.

She went ahead and sprayed perfume on her wrists. She was determined to be like the other women in Dry Creek and she looked to Edith for inspiration. The older woman wore rose-scented perfume, so Jasmine kept with a light scent. Since Edith wore dresses, Jasmine had bought a couple of plain shifts at a thrift store in Billings. She no longer wore clothes with much color and she kept her shoes sensible.

Jasmine had started to go back to the kitchen when she saw headlights flash through the window. At least her father was still out in the barn. Hopefully, he’d stay out there until she was gone.

She pulled her coat off the back of a chair where she’d placed it earlier. Her coat was the one thing she hadn’t been able to replace yet. Oh, well, she thought as she turned to the kitchen door, it would have to do. She shouldn’t care what Wade thought about the way she dressed anyway.

Wade wondered what was wrong as he drove up to Elmer’s house. On the drive out here, he’d thought nothing had changed in the decades that he’d been gone. The land was just as dry as it had always been and the gravel road had as many ruts. But he’d barely gotten out of Dry Creek before he saw a glowing light in the distance. When he turned off the main road to go down Elmer’s lane, he saw that someone had put what looked like Christmas lights on a cross standing on the hill that divided Elmer’s land from his grandfather’s place.

Wade wondered why anyone would bother with lights way out here in the middle of nowhere since not that many people drove down this county road. The one person who would see the cross most often would be Wade’s grandfather. Those lights must shine right in front of the porch where his grandfather sat every evening about now.

Wade started to chuckle as he stopped his car in front of the house. So that was it. The cross would make his grandfather crazy. No doubt about it. The two old men had never gotten along. They must still be going at it.

The back door to the house opened and Wade saw Jasmine standing there. The day had grown darker and light streamed out the door behind her. Her red hair was spikier than it had been earlier and her black leather coat had what looked like metal rivets along the sleeves. She stood there a minute and Wade almost wished he could keep an eye on her like Carl wanted. Guilty or innocent, she was definitely his kind of woman. It would be a pleasure to watch her awhile.

He sat there, just enjoying the sight of her when—without any warning—a gunshot ripped through the silence. Wade looked over at Jasmine. She seemed frozen in place. With all of the light behind her, she made a perfect target.

“Get inside!” he yelled.

The sound of the shot had come from the north, so Wade bent down and drove his car as close as possible to the doorway where Jasmine had been standing.

“Lose the lights,” he ordered when he saw they were still on in the kitchen. He didn’t want someone shooting at the windows. He wondered if Lonnie had a problem with Jasmine and had sent someone to—

He shut off his car and opened his passenger door. Then he folded himself down and slid across the seat, stopping to pull his gun from the glove compartment as he passed.

Another shot rang out. That one sounded like it came from the direction of his grandfather’s back porch and Wade relaxed a little. His grandfather was probably just shooting at a coyote or something. But a wise lawman didn’t assume anything.

The night was dark and now that Wade’s car lights and the ones in the house were off, he had to rely on his memory as he tried to sprint to the kitchen door. He hadn’t run anywhere since he’d started therapy and his whole leg was throbbing in protest.

Wade twisted the knob and opened the door.

He stepped into the dark kitchen and something soft wrapped around his neck.

“A-a-rgh,” he gurgled in protest. The only light in the room was an illuminated clock that hung on the wall and it didn’t make anything but itself visible. The band around his neck loosened and he could tell it was an arm encased in leather.

He leaned back a little, preparing to make one of his defensive moves, when he realized he was settled into a womanly softness that was kind of nice. He was breathing better and, now that the lights were off, there was no reason to move. Besides, he could smell the perfume.

Maybe he got a little too comfortable in the dark leaning against her, because she whispered suspiciously. “Is that you?”

Now how did a man answer that? “Depends on who you’re expecting.”

He felt Jasmine shift her body as she took a step backward. Unfortunately, she didn’t warn him and his body twisted to go with her. A muscle cramp in his leg seized him and he could hardly breathe. He clenched his teeth to keep from hissing in pain.

A small glow of light entered the room. Jasmine had reached back and opened the refrigerator door.

“Are you all right?” she asked now as she moved away from him slightly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just—”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said hoarsely as he reached out to put his gun on the counter so he could massage his thigh. Now he could see why no one wanted to hire him until he’d conquered his leg spasms. He wasn’t healing as fast as a younger man would. If a killer had been in the room, Wade would have been helpless to stop him.

“I’m sorry,” Jasmine said as she moved closer.

The pain was leaving and in the light coming from the refrigerator he saw her misery. In the darkness, her eyes were pools of worry. He reached out and brushed her cheek, thinking to comfort her. “Who taught you about that defense hold anyway? You’re pretty good at it.”

“My old boyfriend, Lonnie,” she whispered.

He could feel her breath on the back of his hand and it sent shivers down his spine. Then she looked up at him. She was beautiful. Without thinking, he bent his head down. She raised herself up on her tiptoes. He dipped farther down. He knew they were strangers and it was only the relief she was feeling that drew her close. But he was going to kiss her anyway. He just wanted to look at her a second or two longer before he did.

Then, without warning, the kitchen door opened with a crash.

Wade lunged toward his gun. He barely felt the pain in his leg, because of the panic inside. He’d grown soft. He’d assumed his grandfather had been behind the gunshots, but this wasn’t the old man. He and Jasmine were going to die and it was all his fault.

“It’s okay,” Jasmine said quickly.

Wade thought she was talking to him until he saw the man in the doorway more clearly. Even with all of the shadows, Wade recognized Elmer as he stood there, looking ready to do battle, with a barnyard shovel in his hands.

“You all right?” Elmer asked as he flipped on the overhead light switch.

“We’re fine,” Jasmine answered as she stepped a little closer to Wade.

Elmer arched back like an attack cat.

“Who’s he?” he demanded.

The older man didn’t sound the least bit friendly, and Wade couldn’t blame him. He carefully moved his hand away from the gun on the counter.

“He came to take me to dinner,” Jasmine explained.

“He needs a gun to do that?”

“No, of course not.” Jasmine took a step away from the counter as though she’d just realized a gun sat there.

“I’m sorry to disturb—” Wade began.

Then Elmer’s fierce scowl disappeared. “Why you’re little Wade Sutton! I haven’t seen you since—”

Elmer stopped and had the grace to look flustered.

Wade nodded. “Since the day my grandfather drove my dad and me away with enough shotgun blasts to rattle the entire county. As I recall, you were mending fence and had a first-row seat.”

When he was fifteen, his father had come back from prison. He had lasted two weeks on the farm before he had a knock-down fight with Wade’s grandfather. When his father left, Wade had gone with him. He’d never returned to the farm, not even to see if the new wheat he’d planted that spring had yielded the harvest he’d expected.

“Well,” Elmer murmured. “You were a good kid even if you and your friends were messing with my Cadillac.”

“You knew?”

Elmer grinned. “I could hardly blame you for wanting to sit inside. That Cadillac was something back then.”

Wade relaxed. He was glad the man didn’t ask about his father. But then everyone in Dry Creek must have heard his father ended his crime spree in a shoot-out with the police a few months after they’d left the farm. It was the day Wade had turned sixteen and he’d begged his father to take him along. He was so glad to have his father back, he would have gone anywhere with him. His father had refused, saying he wanted Wade to stay on the right side of the law and have a decent life.

“Your grandfather always did try to solve his problems with a shotgun,” Elmer continued. “I figure that’s him shooting at the cross. I saw one of the lights go out so he must have gotten off a good one.”

If the shooter was aiming at the cross, it had to be his grandfather. At least that meant it wasn’t someone like Lonnie Denton. “You’ll have to report it to the sheriff.”

“Can’t be anyone but your grandfather,” Elmer said as he studied Wade again. “The only set of lights coming down the road was yours. It’s too dark out for someone to drive in unannounced.”

Wade nodded. He supposed that was true, too.

“I’ll give the sheriff a call after you’re gone. No point in putting it off. I already unplugged the lights and your grandfather never leaves his porch until the seven-o’clock news comes on the television.”

Wade remembered. Nothing gave the old man a better excuse to drink than the problems of the world.

“Yeah, well, I guess we should be going.” Wade noticed that Elmer was still taking his measure. Not everyone in Dry Creek would trust a Sutton these days, even if they were willing to take up a collection on his behalf.

“You take good care of my daughter,” Elmer said.

Wade looked at Jasmine. Her face was flushed. He wished he’d kissed her even if her father had been crashing in the door. It probably would be his only chance and he’d always regret not tasting her lips.

“I can take care of myself,” she said.

Elmer grunted.

“He’s just giving me a ride,” Jasmine continued. “I have some special lights on order for my motorcycle. I can’t drive it at night until I get them.”

Wade wondered why she didn’t just say she was suffering his company because the sheriff had forced them to ride together. Carl was probably laughing his head off about it right now.

“You shouldn’t be driving that bike at all,” Elmer sputtered. “A lady should ride in a car. If you don’t like driving my old Cadillac, I have a Bentley in the garage, too. And a few others.”

“I do fine with my motorcycle,” Jasmine said as she spread her hands. “I don’t need things. Not in my new life.”

Wade grunted. He wasn’t about to ask any questions just now, but he did wonder what story she’d spun for Elmer. Everyone wanted things. He didn’t trust someone who said otherwise.

“I’ve got my car outside,” Wade said as he reached over to pick up his gun from the counter. He moved his leg again and grimaced in pain.

“Here,” Elmer said as he held out a hand.

Wade took the help to steady himself. So this is what he’d come to, he thought. Depending on others like he was an old man.

“I forgot you’d damaged your leg,” Elmer said. “That’s why you can’t work.”

Wade tried to push the pain away. It was like he figured. Everyone knew about his problem. “I can get a job. Soon.”

“Well, until you do—I put in twenty bucks.”

Wade forced himself to give a short nod of thanks. He didn’t want to have to explain to every person in Dry Creek why he couldn’t take their charity. Maybe he’d ask the pastor to put a notice in the church bulletin offering to return the contributions. Maybe then they’d leave him alone.

“You need to take care of your leg,” Jasmine said as she led the way to the outside door. She picked up a small jar of jam that was sitting on the counter.

“Hostess gift,” she announced proudly.

Wade nodded. For someone who wasn’t into things, she sure knew how to spread gifts around. It was probably what made people think she was so sweet.

He picked up his gun and followed her to the door only to look back at Elmer. Apparently, Wade wasn’t the only one feeling a little down. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

The old man didn’t say anything.

Wade opened the car door for Jasmine and she slid inside. They were at the gate leading to the main gravel road before he decided he had to know. “So was everyone there when they passed the hat for me?”

“Uh…”

“I’m a grown man. I can take care of myself.” Wade looked straight ahead. The heater was going in his car and the dials on the dash were lit up. There was nothing but darkness outside the car.

“You should take the money anyway.”

Wade looked over at her. He couldn’t see her eyes in the darkness.

“You could consider it a Christmas present if you want,” she added.

“If the people here wanted to give me a Christmas present, it would be socks.” Wade suddenly remembered the many pairs of socks he’d gotten as a boy from the people in the church here. Sometimes, he’d also get a shirt or a jacket, too. Maybe that’s why the money stung so much. He’d already received so much from these people. The kids might have believed his stories about the Christmas presents his grandfather gave him, but the adults knew better. They probably even knew there hadn’t been any cake or turkey or apple stuffing.

“If they wanted to give me the money, they could have at least asked me to dig a ditch or something. That’s honest work,” Wade muttered half to himself. “I can’t see where they think following the Christmas angel around could be anything at all.”

“What?”

Wade heard the surprise in her voice and could have kicked himself. He was not himself tonight.

“They wanted you to follow me?” she asked.

“I could be mistaken,” Wade said. “I—ah—it might have been one of the wise men.”

Jasmine wasn’t paying any attention to him. “I can’t believe they’d ask you to follow me. What do they think—that I’m going to steal from somebody?”

“Oh, no,” Wade said. Now he’d really done it. “The sheriff made it very clear that no one suspects you of anything. I was to protect you.”

“From who? I can take care of myself.”

Wade didn’t know how to answer that. “The sheriff had a hunch. That’s all. He’s worried about Lonnie.”

“Lonnie’s in jail.”

“I know.”

They were both silent for a moment.

“I don’t need anyone to follow me around,” Jasmine repeated. “I’m trying to start a new life and be a regular person—”

Wade had the alarming feeling she might cry.

“Well, don’t worry,” he said. It was the only comfort he could offer. “I’m not doing it.”

“I should hope not,” Jasmine said, and that was the last conversation they had until she pointed out the turnoff to the sheriff’s house.

Wade knew he was leaving tomorrow, but he didn’t want anyone to be upset when he did. Especially not Jasmine. He’d been stealing glances at her all the way down those lonely roads. He had the shadow of her profile clearly in his mind. He told himself it was in case he ever needed to pick her out of a lineup, but that wasn’t it. He stole another glance at her. He just wanted to remember her.

“If you ever get down around Idaho Falls, be sure and give me a call,” he found himself saying. “We could maybe have dinner or—”

She turned to look at him indignantly. “You don’t have to ask me out. Or follow me. Or anything.”

“Okay, well—” Wade knew when to step away from the firing line.

“Thanks anyway,” Jasmine said, none too politely. “It was kind of you to offer.”

It was crazy of him to offer, Wade figured. But he’d done it anyway. He supposed it was just because, back in the kitchen, he’d felt some emotion stirring. It was probably all that talk reminding him he’d once been the angel. He’d put that experience completely out of his mind. Who wanted to remember the time they’d mortified themselves in front of everyone they knew? But maybe some vestige of it had clung to his soul anyway.

He pulled the car to a halt in front of the Walls’ house. The windows were decorated with Christmas lights and tall wooden candy canes lined the path up to the front door. Light and laughter spilled out the windows.

Even when he’d been in the pageant, he’d dreaded Christmas. Wade wondered if he was ever going to be on the right side of the holiday. He glanced over at Jasmine. He wondered if she knew she had a frown on her face as she marched up the sidewalk to the house. Then he realized he had one, too.

At times like this he wished he had someone to arrest.