Chapter 15
“Come on in and make yourself at home,” Darlene said when Nash and Clara entered the house through the back door.
Clara stopped and took a deep breath. “Something smells delicious. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing like the aroma of fresh baked bread,” Darlene said with a smile. “Thanks for offering. I never turn down help. You can set the table while I whip up some cream to go on the peach cobbler that we’re having for dessert.”
“Fresh bread and cobbler in one meal?”
“I told you that you wouldn’t be sorry you agreed to come have dinner with us.” Nash grinned and then kissed her on the cheek. “Need my help, Granny?”
“No, Son, I don’t. You can go on in the living room with your grandpa and let us women talk about you.” Darlene chuckled.
“Yes, ma’am.” Nash smiled again. “But don’t believe all the stories that she’s going to tell you, Clara.”
Darlene popped a dish towel toward him. “Get on out of here, or I’ll tell her some tales that will have her runnin’ for the hills.”
“I’m going.” Nash laughed out loud and dropped another kiss on Clara’s cheek. “Don’t believe everything she tells you. I wasn’t that bad.”
“Was he?” Clara asked when he had cleared the room.
“No, honey, just a little on the ornery side like most boys are,” she answered.
“He was a fairly good boy, and he grew up to be a really wonderful man. We were hoping he would study business and agriculture in college, but his father swayed him over to the law field. But he’s found out that’s not where his heart is, and we’re right happy to have him back here in Ratliff City.
” She stopped to take down a stack of four plates and hand them to Clara.
“Silverware is in that drawer.” She nodded in the direction of the sink.
“Tell you the truth, we’ve been wanting to size down the ranch since we are getting up in years.
I guess if the good Lord opens a door, we’ll be ready to walk through it, but for now, we’ll just stick close to our boy. ”
“He really likes working at the bar,” Clara said.
Darlene pulled the hot rolls out of the oven and turned it off, then slid the cobbler inside. “That will warm it up right nice just in time for dessert. And you? Do you enjoy working at the Chicken Coop, too?”
“Yes, ma’am, I really do. Coming to Ratliff City might be the wisest decision I’ve ever made.” Clara wished she could be impolite and ask for a roll while they were steaming hot.
“That’s good. I’ve always enjoyed being a rancher’s wife. Enjoying what you do is called success,” Darlene told her.
“You sound a lot like Aunt Bernie,” Clara said.
Darlene turned on a hand mixer to whip thick cream and talked above it. “That is one good woman right there.”
“I think so.” Clara smiled. “She’s been like a savior to me.”
Darlene turned off the mixer and put the bowl of whipped cream in the refrigerator.
“Honey, you ain’t the only one Bernie has given a helping hand.
There’s lots of folks in the town that has needed a little something through the years, and she was right there with advice or maybe a handout to pay a utility bill, or lots of other things.
A few years back, I told her that the church’s old piano was past the days when it could even be tuned.
A brand-new baby grand showed up the next week.
When I asked her about it, she told me that she had no idea how it got there.
She might not be sitting on a pew every Sunday, but she’s a fine example of what a true Christian should be.
You are lucky to have her in your life.”
“Don’t I know it,” Clara agreed.
***
After dinner, Clara helped with cleaning up, and then the two older people walked Nash and Clara all the way out to his truck.
The sweetest memory that Clara filed away in the back of her mind was the way that the Darlene and Hoot held hands.
If she was ever in a committed relationship, she hoped it would last as long as theirs had and that she would still be in love with her partner.
“I would invite you to stick around longer, but Grandpa baled hay yesterday and we really want to get it all in the barn before it rains again.” Nash started up the truck and left a trail of gray dust behind the vehicle as he drove down the dirt road toward the bar.
“I’ve never hauled hay, but I’m willing to learn. Next time you need a hand on a Sunday afternoon, just let me know,” she said.
“Thanks,” Nash said. “Grandpa still likes to use the small rectangular bales and keep them in the barn. I bet you could drive the truck and trailer really good, so yes, ma’am, I will definitely call you if we get another cutting this year.”
The way the time passed when she was with Nash seemed to go in warp speed. Before she could even think to ask about what another cutting meant, he had parked his vehicle at the Chicken Coop.
“Man, I could get used to this kind of treatment,” she muttered to herself as she watched him walk around the front of the truck and then open the door for her. He kept her hand in his after she slid off the seat and nodded toward the silver SUV in the parking lot.
“Those are Texas tags,” she said.
“Think it might be some of your relatives come to haul you back to the Panhandle?” he teased.
“Nope,” she answered. “But it might be one of Aunt Mary Jane’s girls on their way home for a few days.
I would love to see either Rae or Bo. It was like a breath of fresh air to talk to Endora and Luna.
I can’t wait for you to meet all of them.
Maybe we can go down there for Thanksgiving dinner.
Aunt Bernie says they all come home for the holidays. ”
He stopped and kissed her on the forehead. “Darlin’, I would be glad to go meet your family, but I’ll have to decline for dinner that day. I can’t leave Granny and Grandpa alone. How about we have dinner with them, and then supper with your folks.”
“Do you think we’ll be together that long?” she asked.
“I hope so,” he whispered.
“If we are, how about we just combine our families? Darlene and Hoot can go to Spanish Fort with us,” she suggested.
“I’d like that, and I think Grandpa and Granny might, too.”
“You want to come in and say hello to Aunt Bernie?” she asked.
“I can’t stay but a minute. Grandpa was headed out to the fields after he waved goodbye to us,” Nash said. “But it would seem rude not to at least speak to her since she let me have you for most of a day.”
Clara led him into the living room, stopped dead in the doorway, and stared at her mother and grandmother. Surely she was hallucinating. Even if Myra or Luke died in a tragic accident, they would have called, not come all the way from Fritch to give her the news. “What…how…why?” she stammered.
“They surprised me, too,” Bernie said. “They say they are going to the Paradise tomorrow to make nice with Mary Jane. I don’t believe them for a minute.”
“What are you doing here?” Clara finally got a full sentence out, and then remembered that Nash was still holding her hand.
She turned to him and said, “I’m so sorry.
This is my mother, Marsha, and my grandmother, Vernie Sue.
Mama, this is Nash, who hopefully will be my boss when Aunt Bernie sells the Chicken Coop to him. ”
“Oh, I’m going to sell the bar to Nash all right, since he’s proven that he loves it as much as I do,” Bernie answered.
“It’s right nice to meet y’all. You have a beautiful daughter, both inside and out. I have to go help get some hay into the barn this afternoon, or I would stick around a while,” Nash said and planted another sweet kiss on Clara’s cheek. “Darlin’, call me later?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a long, lingering, and very passionate kiss. “Take that to the field with you and think of me.”
Nash grinned and nodded. “I would anyway, but I appreciate that little added bonus there.”
When Clara heard the back door close, she crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face her mother and grandmother. “Now what in the hell are you doing here?”
“That is no way to talk to your elders, and don’t use foul language when you ask me a question, and you shouldn’t be kissing a man in front of us like that.” Vernie Sue stopped and sucked in some air before she went on. “You were raised better than that, but I guess Bernie has taught you…”
“Whoa!” Clara held up a palm in protest. “Aunt Bernie has been nothing but kind to me. You are the one that taught me not to depend on relatives.” Her blood was nearing the boiling point, and if they bad-mouthed Bernie again, she would show them exactly what kind of blistering hot words could really roll out of her mouth.
“You are unappreciative and…” Vernie Sue started again.
“Shut up, Mama,” Marsha said and then stood up, crossed the room, and wrapped her arms around Clara. “I’m sorry about that. I came to tell you that I’m sorry for my behavior, not fight with you. And Mama has gone back on her word to be civil, so I’ll apologize for her, too.”
Clara’s whole body went stiff. She couldn’t make herself wrap her arms around her mother and forgive her for the past, no matter how hard she tried.
Marsha stepped back and sighed. “I guess a simple apology isn’t enough.”
“I told you so,” Vernie Sue snapped. “She’s just like Bernie—unforgiving and mean.”
“Thank you for that,” Clara said. “I’ll take it as a wonderful compliment.”
“Let’s go home to Fritch,” Vernie Sue said. “I don’t imagine we’ll get any better reception at that brothel where Mary Jane lives.”
“A private word, Clara?” Bernie asked in a quiet voice as she stood and led the way to the kitchen.
Clara followed her but kept going right on out to the backyard. “Aunt Bernie, what is really going on? Why are they here?”