Chapter 31Peggy Warner
Chapter 31
Peggy’s Wish
Peggy Warner
P eggy drove as fast as she dared with icy conditions starting to dust the road. Excitement buzzed through her. Tonight, she’d danced with her cowboy in front of everyone, even her parents. And then they’d sneaked off before the party was over to be alone together. She didn’t think her parents even noticed she was gone.
She felt like a wild teenager.
Pulling up by the garage, Peggy ran up the steps to her apartment, turned the TV on, and ran back down. When her parents got home, they would think their daughter was watching a movie or getting ready for bed. Everyone knew Peggy was the quiet one. The one who needed time to herself after socializing all day.
They would not climb the stairs after a party like tonight. Her parents would leave her alone, and after thirty minutes, they’d be settling in for the night.
With no outside light for the neighbors to see her, Peggy moved down the steps as quickly as she could. Duke’s truck pulled up at the back of the garage. After she jumped in, he silently backed all the way to the county road before he turned the headlights on.
Neither said a word, but both were smiling in the dark.
After a few miles, he slipped his hand in hers and whispered, “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
She whispered back, “Me too.” Then she laughed loudly and joyously. “Why are we whispering?” she nearly shouted. “We’re alone. There’s no one here but us.”
Duke barked out a laugh. “I don’t know.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “Where are we going?”
It was so dark she could barely make out his face. “I don’t care, Duke, as long as I’m with you. Anywhere is perfect.”
He turned the radio on low, letting the sound swirl through the pickup as gentle background music. They just drove for several miles and traded stories about siblings and their first childhood jobs. She might not be able to see his kind gray eyes, but feeling her cowboy next to her was enough to keep a smile on her face.
After a while, Duke straightened in his seat. “I’d like to take you somewhere. We could stop at that pizza place, where the bar is still open. Or we could go to my folks’ place. It’s not much but it could be ours someday. We could fix it up and turn it into your dream home.” He paused but continued before she could respond. “Honestly, I don’t care where we go. I just want to be alone with you for a while.”
Leaving the party had been easy. The problem was neither had thought of where they’d go after.
She slid over next to him. “I told you. I just want to be with you, cowboy.” After another long pause, she whispered, “Show me your folks’ place.”
“I haven’t seen it in months.” He laid his hand on her knee. “It might look a little rough, but it’s one of the few things that’s mine.” Their eyes met in the dim light of a streetlamp as they passed it by. “I’d love to share it with you.”
“I want to see where you grew up.”
“All right, Peggy. It’s not far but it’s over the county line.”
She heard the smile in his voice and cuddled closer. Happiness settled over her, and she closed her eyes, soaking it in. Peggy was next to her cowboy. They were alone and sharing parts of their lives with each other. She couldn’t ask for more.
Peggy was almost asleep on his shoulder when he finally slowed the truck into a turn. “Here it is.”
She straightened and was surprised to see how big the old brick house was. Two stories with a chimney climbing up one side of the roof. Even in the dark she saw a two-car garage and another building big enough to be a shop. The fenced-in yard was the perfect size for a gaggle of growing kids. She could picture a swing set on one side and a pool on the other.
A few trees were down in the front. A few windows were cracked but boarded up. The railing on the porch was broken. The grass was overdue for a cut.
But Peggy was smiling as she bounced in her seat. Duke’s house was just right to raise a family. “It’s perfect.”
He shook his head. “When my folks died fifteen years ago, the family came in one weekend. They all took what they wanted. No one fought over anything. Mom lived with practical things. She had no treasures. Dad didn’t have much land to ranch. He didn’t want to grow anything. Just wanted space from the neighbors.”
Duke pulled to a stop near the large wraparound porch. “My dad worked hard and paid his taxes several years ahead. As far as I know, my brother and sisters never came back to this old place. No one wanted to keep it up. And when I turned thirty, the family signed the house to me as sole owner. I figured they thought I’d never marry so I might need a place in my old age.”
He cut the engine. “I always carry a key just in case someone wants to take a look at it, but no one has for years.”
Peggy squeezed his hand. “Can we go in?”
He hopped out of his truck and lifted her down. Slowly he pulled her into the unlit garage. “I know it’s not much, but it’s yours if you want it.”
She cupped his face in her hand and brought his lips to hers. The kiss was soft and sweet. “I’d cherish it and you.”
She nearly squealed as Duke swooped down and lifted Peggy up into his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you over the threshold, of course.”
Peggy laughed as he carried her to the back door. The key needed a bit of wiggling before the door swung open.
For a moment all was in place. As if someone still lived here and forgot to come home. A kind of calm had settled inside.
Duke placed Peggy back on her feet, and she wandered around the family room as he moved to light a lantern. A layer of dust lay over everything, but the room was in order.
He stood, almost touching her, and whispered as if someone might hear his words, “I’m the youngest. The only one who didn’t move away. My siblings all said they’d come back every summer for a reunion but no one ever came.”
She recognized a loneliness in him that she felt in herself. She circled her arms around his waist and held him tight.
“The family met in Dallas once and another time we all went to Red River, New Mexico. A few Christmases in New England, but they never come back here. I come over and clean the place every summer.”
He threw his arm over her shoulders and held the lamp high as they walked through the house. All the books were gone. The doilies were all gone too, if there ever were any on the tables. No toys. Nothing in the closets.
She took one step up the stairs and turned.
Duke waited.
“Can I ask for one thing before I see the rest of the house?”
“Yes. We can stop or not.”
She waited for a while, then she said, “I love looking at the house, but, Duke, why have you never moved in here yourself?”
He glanced around the space. “This place is meant for a family. And just me alone, well, it’s not enough.”
“I think you’re more than enough.”
Duke set the lantern down with a thud and wrapped his hands around her arms, pulling her against him. For a moment she wasn’t touching the ground. “Peggy May Warner, you make this house my home.”
His kiss was not gentle. It was strong and hungry.
And she didn’t mind at all.
He pulled her off the stairs but didn’t let go. “I know I should go slow but I love you so.”
They kissed for a while, then she said, “I love you, too, cowboy. I always will.”
He laughed and said, “You shouldn’t, Peggy. All I’ve got is a good horse and a house no one wants. I’ll probably never have much money. A pretty lady like you could do better.”
“I don’t care. I want you. There is no better.”
Duke’s fingers ran over the wall, tracing imprints of pictures that were no longer hanging there. “My parents were happy here. I can never remember either one yelling at the other. But my dad would yell at us kids. If we started arguing, he’d say, ‘Go outside and don’t come back until you learn to act right. And don’t forget the door locks at ten.’ ”
She laughed. “Did you ever have to sleep outside?”
“More than a few times with my brother. We hit each other until we hurt all over. Then we went to the door and it was locked. We had to lay on the porch, dripping blood, until dawn.
“Dad didn’t look at us, but Mom said we had to clean up and get ready for school before we set the table for breakfast. We were so mad that my brother forgot what we’d been fighting about. I remembered but it no longer mattered.”
Peggy climbed the steps and slowly walked down the hallway. The parents’ room. The girls’ room, and the last room was the boys’. Two half-beds, both a foot too short for a full-grown man.
She stood near the window, looking out at the dead garden hugging the back of the house. “When did you leave home?”
“Right after high school to work the rodeo circuit. In winter I was a day worker. Mr. Kirkland paid great and he’d let me take off early in the summer for any out-of-town rides. Staten was just a kid then and most of the time in the way. But the old man paid him a day’s wage if he worked with us until quitting time.”
He sat on one of the beds, and dust settled over him. “After a few years I figured I’d never make it big in the rodeo. I told Kirkland I’d like to work full time. The old man didn’t hesitate. He doubled my pay as well as my responsibility. Then he smiled and offered to hit me in the head now and then for free.”
She laughed, sitting next to him on the bed. “Do you miss the rodeo?”
“Riding in it? No, not at all. But I like to watch when I have free time. I’d be happy to take you if you want to go. Houston has a huge one coming up.”
“I’d love to see one big rodeo, but Mom said my older sister needs me soon. I sat for her with her last kid. I was babysitter to two children, house cleaner, cook, and caregiver. When I left, she paid me with a coat, not money. She said by not paying it would help me on my taxes.” Peggy shook her head.
“Do you want to go help your sister?” He held her shoulder tight against him.
“No. She’d hasn’t spoken to me for two years. No pictures. Not a word. But I know everyone expects me to help.”
“Do you want to go with me instead? You could tell them you’ll be out of town.”
“Yes, but my mother won’t let . . .”
He ran a finger over the seam of her lips. “Honey, you’re twenty-seven years old. You can do what you want to do. It’s okay to do things for yourself now and then.”
They sat for a while on the little bed as she cried. She couldn’t stop the tears. She felt helpless and hopeless. And the dam had broken. She wanted to be with Duke. To spend all of her time with him. To go to rodeos with him. To build a life with him. But she’d never told her parents no before. She’d never gone against what the family expected of her. She’d never done anything for herself.
Finally, Duke asked, “What do you want? Right now, Peggy? Name it.”
She wiped her face. “I don’t know.”
His voice lowered, and the deep timbre of it melted over her. “Yes, you do, honey. What do you want? Tell me.”
She couldn’t say a word. A lump was stuck in her throat and she couldn’t get the words past it.
He looked at her. “You are the prettiest, kindest woman I’ve ever met. You’re always thinking and doing for others. But just this once, tell me, what would make you happy, Peggy? You .”
A tear slowly rolled down, over her cheek. “I want to be with you,” she heard herself say.
It was true. She’d never wanted anything more.
When he didn’t say a word, she touched the wound on his face.
“I’ll heal, dear. But you can see that I’m not handsome. If I take my clothes off you’ll see several other scars all over.”
She smiled. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not your face I see; it’s your heart. It was as clear as day when you laid next to me at the cemetery.” She leaned in closer. “But for the record, you’re perfectly handsome to me.”
Duke crushed her to his chest and claimed her lips with his. When he pulled away, they were both struggling for air.
He stood and pulled a huge quilt from a box in the corner. He floated it over her, then climbed beneath it. “Peggy, nothing is going to happen here tonight but talking. If we’re going to get married someday, we have to talk first.”
“I agree, but you have to kiss me now and then. Since I had one, I can’t get enough.” She planted her lips on his cheek. “That is my demand.”
He studied her with a smile and nodded once. “I am more than happy to meet it.”