Читать книгу Shadow of Turning - Valerie Hansen - Страница 12

The dark-haired young woman hiding behind the tangle of wild honeysuckle vines along Hawkins Mill Road watched Chancy reclaim her van and drive away.

She’d missed bidding on the collage with the keys because the stupid auctioneer hadn’t recognized its value. When he’d bunched it with all those other pictures from the Hawkins estate, the crowd had pressed so close she hadn’t seen that it was included in that lot until it was too late.

She sighed and blinked back tears. Well, at least she knew where her picture had gone and who had it. That was something. She would have approached the buyer and offered to purchase the small collage right away if she hadn’t been afraid of calling undue attention to it. Now, she wished she had marshaled her courage and done so.

What she couldn’t understand was why she hadn’t been able to locate it in the pile of goods the buyer had left behind or later, in the van. It had to be there somewhere. She’d seen the woman carry it off amid all her other purchases, but then she’d lost track of it.

“I was just too frantic,” she reasoned. “I didn’t take long enough to look through all those things properly. I shouldn’t have gotten scared and returned the van till I was positive.” Well, it was too late now. Her hands were trembling and she felt sick to her stomach even though she hadn’t remembered to eat that day.

“What now? What would Sam do?” she wondered aloud.

A shiver of remembrance skittered up her spine and made the fine hairs at the back of her neck prickle. A better question was what would Sam do to her in a couple of weeks when he got out of prison? If she didn’t get her hands on all the keys she’d so recklessly lost, she knew she’d be in terrible trouble.

Her dusty blue sedan was parked in the driveway of an abandoned house just down the road. Since there was nothing more she could do with regard to searching Chancy’s van or antique shop today, she was going to get in her car and head for Mountain Home to buy back the other two collages.

“Please, God, let them be there,” she prayed under her breath. If those pictures, too, had been passed to new owners she didn’t know what she was going to do.

Tears of frustration threatened again. She fought them back. Who did she think she was, calling on God for anything? Her whole life had been one sin after another so why would He care what happened to her? She should be thankful no one had caught her driving that van and had her arrested. Instead, she was asking for more favors. What a fool she was.

Alone now, she climbed out of the overgrown ditch and onto the roadbed where she could dust off the legs of her jeans. It was a little early in the season for chiggers but chances were she’d picked up dozens of ticks or other insect bites by hiding in the brush. Well, that couldn’t be helped. A few itchy places were a small price to pay for having gotten away with car theft.

She smiled slightly. Maybe, when Sam came home and she told him about her escapade, he’d actually be proud of her.

“Not unless I get all his keys back,” she countered. That was enough to spur her into a trot. The sooner she drove to Mountain Home and picked up those other pictures, the sooner she could be back in Serenity and resume her search there.

Ted and his old dog came off the porch together to greet Nate and Chancy when they drove in and parked their respective vehicles.

“I see it was her van,” Ted said. “I watched you pick it up.”

Nate pulled the keys from the ignition and handed the ring to his grandfather. “Yes. And I suggest you not leave your keys in the truck anymore. It’s too chancy.”

She joined them with a slightly embarrassed grin. “Was that a pun?”

“What?” His brow knit. “Oh. No. Sorry. I didn’t think about that being your name. It was just good advice.”

“In this case I’m afraid I have to agree,” she said, sobering. “I don’t know what this world is coming to. We never used to have to worry about anything like that in Serenity.”

“Wrong,” Nate replied. “You always needed to, you just refused to see things clearly until today when you were forced to. Overlooking crime won’t make it go away, it just makes you a more likely victim.”

“Cynic.”

“Realist is more like it.”

Ted chuckled. “You two sound like Hester and me when we’re arguing about something. Come on. She’s nearly got supper on the table. We’d best go in.”

“I’m sorry to have made everything so late,” Chancy said. “I can’t imagine who had my van.”

The old man’s bushy gray eyebrows arched over twinkling eyes. “You know, if y’all were teenagers, I’d think you’d made up a tall tale so you could go joyridin’ instead of come on home to eat.”

“We didn’t!” Chancy insisted.

Ted laughed again. “I know. I keep a pretty close watch on the neighborhood and I didn’t see that van over there till a few minutes before you called and I told you about it.”

“Did you see who brought it back?” Nate asked.

“Nope. Sorry. But I do know for sure it wasn’t sittin’ there the whole afternoon.” He looked to Chancy. “If you told the sheriff it was stolen you’d best tell him he can quit lookin’ for it.”

“That’s right. I totally forgot!” She pulled a face and grimaced at Nate. “And that’s not all I forgot. You’re right about us being too complacent around here. I was so glad to get all my things back, including my purse and cell phone, I never thought about not touching the steering wheel or door handle to preserve fingerprints. I imagine the sheriff is going to be really upset with me.”

“If the thief is a kid, as I suspect, it’s probably just as well,” Nate said. “I can remember a few times when I was glad the law in Serenity wasn’t as thorough as a city department might be.”

She eyed him incredulously and saw a light of recognition in his eyes. After asking her to keep quiet about his youthful escapades, he’d just intimated he’d been in trouble and had therefore done exactly what he’d warned her against! It was funny to see a guy who was now so straight-laced struggle to think of a way to cover up his careless comment.

“Well,” she drawled in his defense, “boys will be boys. Since there was no harm done I guess it’s just as well I messed up the fingerprints. I’m sure we’ve all done a few things we aren’t proud of when we were growing up.”

Ted laughed as he led the way into the farmhouse. “I have tipped a few outhouses in my time,” he confessed. “But don’t you dare tell Hester. Her pa was sittin’ in one of ’em when I shoved it over. I thought it was her big brother in there. He’d threatened to beat me up if I kissed his sister and I was meanin’ to get him back for it.”

Chancy covered her mouth to muffle her giggles. “You didn’t!”

“Yup. I surely did. Boy, was that old man mad. He came boilin’ out of there ready for a fight. I hightailed it for the barn and hid till he went back in the house. Talk about scared. I was sure he’d find out and keep me from marryin’ Hester, but if he knew the truth he never let on.”

She started to follow Nate and his grandfather into the kitchen when she remembered she’d left her purse in her van. Again. If Nate realized what she’d done she’d be in for another of his lectures and that was not number one on the list of things she’d like to hear.

“You two go ahead,” she said. “I’ll be right with you. I just need to run back to the van for a second.”

“Make yourself at home and come on in whenever you’re ready,” Ted said magnanimously.

Nate followed his grandfather into the kitchen and they both hung their jackets on pegs on the wall. Hester was at the stove, warming the food, and Nate gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as he peeked over her shoulder. “Mmm. Something smells good.”

“I hope it’s still fit to eat,” she said. “What in the world’s been goin’ on, anyway?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Where’s Chancy?”

“She went to get something out of her van. She’ll be along in a sec.”

“You be careful you don’t say anything unkind to her or upset her, you hear? She’s had it pretty rough these last few years.”

“She has? Why?”

Lowering her voice, the older woman took him aside to explain, “Her folks were killed by that tornado that blew through here a couple of years ago. Remember it?”

“Sure. It mostly took the tops out of the trees. If I remember right, it was only an F-1 on the Fujita scale. I didn’t realize Chancy’s parents were involved.”

“Well, they were. She took it pretty hard when she lost ’em both at once. She’d been on her own for a while before that but I think she blamed herself just the same.”

“For an accident of nature? Why would she feel responsible?”

“Because she wasn’t there to talk them into taking cover, I reckon. Her ma and pa used to fight all the time and she’d do her best to calm ’em down. I wouldn’t be surprised if those two hardheaded parents of hers were squabbling with their last breaths.”

Nate nodded. “I see. Thanks for telling me. It’ll keep me from putting my foot in my mouth.”

In the background his grandfather cackled. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. You did a fair job of eatin’ your shoe when you were talkin’ out in the yard a few minutes ago.”

Chancy grabbed her shoulder bag, used her cell phone to quickly explain to her friend Louella what had happened, then called the sheriff to end the stolen-vehicle search.

Slamming the van door, she glanced at her reflection in the dusty side mirror. Any lipstick she’d had on in the morning was long gone and the ever-present freckles on the bridge of her nose stood out like spots on a hound dog. She looked about sixteen and felt at least fifty, maybe older. What a day this had been!

Pausing to remove her dusty sweatshirt and smooth her hair, she tried to convince herself it didn’t matter what she looked like. She was among friends, people who would accept her as she was. That was one of the things she liked best about living in a place like Serenity. Folks took each other at face value.

Then again, Nate Collins wasn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill resident, was he? He was as handsome as any man pictured in magazine ads and twice as interesting; him with that dark, wavy hair and those coffee-brown eyes that seemed to see right into her. Too bad she didn’t look at least as presentable as usual, wasn’t it?

Disgusted that she’d even think about wanting to impress Nate, she stuck out her tongue at the image looking back at her from the small mirror. Who cared? Certainly not her. As a matter of fact, she was glad she was so plain and natural-looking. Hopefully, that would convince him she wasn’t interested in him the way so many of her contemporaries had been when he’d lived here as a high-school senior.

In a way, Chancy felt as if she’d suddenly reverted to the awkward girl she’d been back then, particularly in the pit of her stomach. For some reason her long-banished teenage butterflies had reappeared and were creating a storm of flutters the likes of which she hadn’t felt for years. That was silly, of course. She was far from being a child and had plenty of hard-earned maturity to call upon in a situation such as this.

She straightened, squared her shoulders, tugged the hem of her T-shirt over her jeans-clad hips and headed for the house. If she hadn’t been worried about hurting Hester’s and Ted’s feelings she’d have climbed into her van and driven away. The notion was appealing. Then again, it wouldn’t accomplish a thing in the long run. She still had to deal with Nate long enough to get her auction purchases unloaded from Ted’s truck. Besides, everyone was waiting for her in the kitchen. The only gracious thing to do was swallow her pride and join them.

She patted the dog in passing, then entered the house and started across the small living room, following her nose toward the delicious smells coming from the country kitchen. In the few strides it took her to get there she laid aside her purse and reclaimed her confidence.

“Sorry if I kept y’all,” she said brightly, concentrating on Hester. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not a thing,” the older woman said with a smile. “Table’s set and everything’s hotted up. Just grab a chair and let’s eat.”

Ted was already seated at the rectangular dining table at one end of the kitchen. Nate held a chair for Chancy then tried to do the same for his grandmother.

She shooed him away. “Nonsense. I got work to do. Y’all just sit down and let me take care of this.”

Ted laughed. “Might as well mind her. When Hester gets a bee in her bonnet she’s as stubborn as a mule.”

Apparently amused by the mixed metaphor, Nate waited while she made two more trips to the table carrying a bowl of mashed potatoes and a dish of dark gravy with a ladle. Then, she settled into a chair next to her husband and Nate took the only remaining place, next to Chancy.

Chancy felt as if someone had plugged her finger into a fence charger. She knew if her hair hadn’t been pulled back into a ponytail, it would be standing straight up. The fine curls at the nape of her neck certainly tickled enough!

She kept her eyes on the red-and-white checkered tablecloth as she carefully placed a paper napkin across her lap. Off to one side she saw a flash of movement. Nate had started to reach for his fork, then had stopped abruptly.

She blinked nervously and bowed her head as Ted began to say grace over the food. Obviously Nate wasn’t used to praying before a meal and had nearly forgotten that his grandparents always said grace. How strange it must seem for him here. And how sad it was that he didn’t really fit in, that he probably never had. No wonder he was so determined to get his family to leave Serenity.

Her personal unease forgotten, Chancy began to pray silently for him. Lord, Nate has missed so much. Please show him how happy we are here and help him to understand, to share in what we’ve found.

Those simple thoughts calmed her fears and replaced them with an amazing tenderness toward the man beside her. It wasn’t she who needed to remember that she was acceptable just the way she was, it was Nate. For all his worldly polish and education, he was still needy, still on the outside looking in. Perhaps he always had been.

She would befriend him while he was here, she vowed. And maybe, just maybe, she could help him see why his grandparents were so content; why it was so very wrong to insist that they leave their perfect little home and move to unknown, unfamiliar territory.

Surely, given the facts, Nate would change his mind. After all, he was a thinking human being with the same God-given instincts they all shared. Just because he was a well-educated man didn’t mean he wasn’t approachable. Or did it?