"Is it?"
"I guess that comes close to summing it up."
"Remember the other night, when you turned the air-conditioner down low and
built a fire in the fireplace?"
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"Yeah? So?"
"I've become a whore in the parlor too."
Her face and inflection were so anxiety-ridden that he burst into laughter.
Hugging her hard, he rocked her back and forth. "You're some woman, Miss
Laura. Dear heaven, you make me feel good."
He kissed her again with feeling, then left his lips against hers to say, "I've got a
question for you, baby."
"What?" she asked expectantly.
He smiled that slow, arrogant smile she had come to know and love so well.
"What's for lunch?"
Chapter 9
The day of the party dawned gray and overcast. The low pressure system Laura
had expressed concern about had been officially upgraded to a tropical storm,
with winds in excess of fifty miles an hour circulating around its nucleus.
"I'm sure it won't bother us," James assured her when she mentioned it again
after watching the weather reports on television. "It's still miles offshore. Even if it
moves toward the coast, it will probably have blown itself out by the time it
reaches us. This is the first storm of the season, and that rarely amounts to much."
Laura pushed her worry into the back of her mind and forced herself into a party
mood. The atmosphere was muggy, but, as the day progressed, the humidity
seemed to lighten along with her mood. By late afternoon 22 Indigo Place had
taken on a festive air.
Mandy was almost too excited. Like a frisky puppy, she was underfoot and in the
way and driving everyone to distraction.
"Mother, could you please entertain Mandy so Laura and I can dress?" James
asked Leona when she arrived, wearing a dress he had bought her for the occasion.
She had had her hair and nails done at the beauty shop. She was long past vanity,
but knew that this evening was important to James and didn't want him to be
ashamed of her. The worry lines that had been engraved on her face years ago
were relieved now by smiles. She looked unusually pretty.
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Leona had been a frequent visitor to the house since the reconciliation with her
son. Laura hadn't asked James for the details of their reunion, but when he
returned home that day, he had held her for a long moment before saying, "You
were right. My mother is quite a lady."
Now Leona Paden smiled up at him fondly and took her granddaughter's hand.
"Don't worry about Mandy and me. We'll take care of each other, won't we,
Mandy?"
"Sure, Grandma! Let's go get Annmarie dressed for the party."
Leona led the child away, and James dashed upstairs to finish dressing.
"How do I look?" he asked Laura anxiously as he preened in front of the mirror.
"Should I wear something else?"
"You look casually elegant. In a word, perfect." He was dressed in moss-green
linen slacks, a shirt of the same color, but in a softer weave, and a cream-colored
linen sport coat. The woodsy colors complemented his eyes and hair. He had
never looked more handsome.
Laura draped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "Don't worry,
James. Everyone will be suitably impressed. And if they're not, who cares? They
don't matter." But she knew that it mattered a great deal to him what people
thought. After all, that had been the original reason for having the party.
"I don't want to look like scum playing dress-up."
Her heart swelled to overflowing with love for him. She ached for every time he'd
been slighted. Holding his face between her hands, she whispered, "You look
exactly like what you are, a successful businessman, a country gentleman who has
a lovely home, a father whose daughter worships him, and a husband whose
wife…"
"Don't stop there. A wife who what?"
Who loves you with all my heart, she wanted to say. Instead she coquettishly
cocked her head to one side and said, "Who wouldn't mind being on the receiving
end of a compliment, even an insincere one."
He subjected her to a leisurely inspection. Her dress was a vivid purple, a color
that didn't flatter most women. But the vibrant color intensified the blue of her
eyes, the rosy bloom in her cheeks, and the sunlit gold of her hair. The sleeveless
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dress had a ruffled neckline that cut straight across her collarbone, but was
scooped out all the way to her waist in back. The full skirt swirled around her
calves, almost touching the ankle straps of her white sandals. Her hair was piled
on top of her head and secured there with white camellias.
"You look ravishing. And I'm giving some serious thought to ravishing you. And if
you doubt my sincerity, well…" He grasped her hips and pulled her forward,
positioning his body against hers. "That's sincere."
His mouth was open and warm as it lazily moved over hers, sipping, touching her
lips lightly with the tip of his tongue. His hands flattened on her bare back and
stroked the smooth skin. Then one ventured to her breast and fondled it.
"Hmm, James, stop," she said, gasping, and tore her mouth free. "We can't."
He released her without a struggle. "As I've told you before, it'll keep."
His wink was suggestive, his expression seductive, and there was no doubt in
Laura's mind how they would celebrate after the party was over. She couldn't wait.
All James's anxiety had been for naught. He wasn't only accepted, he was
kowtowed to by everyone he met or with whom he renewed acquaintanceship.
People clustered around him. It was an effort for him to get around to speak to
everyone during the course of the evening.
Often Laura linked her arm through his with a surge of possessive jealousy when
female guests became a little too effusive in welcoming him back to town. She was
always gratified when James covered her hand with his own and pressed it
warmly. No matter how attractive and determined a woman was to win his notice,
his wife could always distract his attention.
If only he had told her he loved her, just once, Laura would have considered
herself the luckiest woman alive. But not even during their most impassioned
lovemaking had he ever said those three simple words.
Gazing up at his profile as he shook hands with Gregory's mayor and set a golf
date, Laura knew that what she had was enough. She had given him the
respectability he sought. His gratitude was hers, if not his love. That was sufficient.
He proudly introduced both his mother and his daughter to their guests. Hardly
anyone in town could associate the bedraggled widow of the town drunk with the
quiet, gracious woman who basked in her son's success and her granddaughter's
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affection.
The guests gorged themselves on gossip about their host and hostess and the
apparent regard they held for each other. They consumed the food, the drink, and
the scenery that 22 Indigo Place had always been famous for.
It was close to midnight before the last of them wandered down the lane toward
their parked cars, murmuring among themselves that the party had been the best
of the summer season and that it would be a long time before the Padens were
outdone.
"Ah, that feels good," Laura said, easing off her sandals. She had been on her feet
for hours. Sitting at the kitchen table, she worked the circulation back into her
toes.
"Here, baby, dig in." James set a plate heaped with food in front of her. "I didn't
see you take a bite all night." He had filled a plate for himself as well, and they fell
to eating hungrily. "Mother, you're spending the night here, aren't you?" he asked
Leona between mouthfuls.
"If you want me to."
"I do. Gladys has already fixed up the spare bedroom for you. Why don't you and
Mandy go on upstairs? You both look exhausted."
Mandy sleepily made her rounds, giving everyone a good-night kiss before she let
her grandmother lead her upstairs to bed. Gladys fussed over James and Laura,
admonishing them for not eating at their own party. As she went about cleaning
up the party debris in the kitchen, she kept their plates filled.
The back screen door squeaked when Bo came in, having seen to it that all the
lanterns and torches were safely extinguished and that the grounds were secure
for the night. He looked worried. "Laura, James, I just heard on the radio that the
storm has been upgraded to a hurricane."
Suddenly losing her appetite, Laura pushed her plate aside. She spoke her
husband's name, her voice sounding desperate.
"Turn on the TV." Gladys reached for the dials of the portable set she kept in the
kitchen so she could watch her favorite soap operas in the afternoons as she
worked.
Betty, as the storm had been named, was the major story on the late-night news
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shows. It had been a full-scale hurricane for several hours. Winds of over a
hundred miles an hour were reported by the Navy. Even on the satellite
photographs the storm looked fearsome and potentially devastating. The coasts of
Georgia and the Carolinas lay in its current path.
"Indigo Place." Laura, her face pale, her voice faint with terror, turned to James.
"What should we do?"
"There's nothing we can do tonight except get a good night's sleep," he said, taking
her in his arms. He patted her back as his lips moved through her hair. "And in
the morning, we'll reassess the situation. These storms can change course in a
matter of hours. "
The Burtons went to their quarters behind the main house, their shoulders
stooped with worry. James tried to lead Laura from the kitchen, but she dug in
her heels. "No, you go ahead. I'm not sleepy."
"You are not going to stay down here with your ear glued to a radio, Laura."
"Why not? I'm worried."
"So am I, but what good is it going to do to sit here and chart that storm? There's
nothing we can do."
She clamped her lower lip between her teeth and wrung her hands. "I can't just go
upstairs to bed as if this were any other night. It's like turning my back on Indigo
Place. Deserting it."
He looked at her as though she were a recalcitrant child and gently took her
shoulders between his hands. "What good will you be to Indigo Place if you
exhaust yourself? Come on, now. No more arguments."
She went reluctantly, but docilely. By the time he closed the door of the bedroom,
she had relinquished her willpower to him and moved like one entranced. Her
arms hung heavily at her sides. Since she was incapable of undressing herself, he
did it for her. When he had removed her clothing, he took his off quickly and led
her to bed. Beneath the covers, Laura shivered, though it was warm.
His arms went around her and pulled her against him so tightly that there was no
space between them. Then he loved her. And it had nothing to do with sex.
Sifting his fingers through her hair, which his own hands had let down, he
whispered to her in the dark, comforting, soothing words, until she stopped
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trembling.
His lips lay close to her temple and frequently he kissed it lightly, telling her how
much he appreciated the party she had given in his honor and what a success he
thought it had been. Finally, with her face nestling against his furry chest, she
drifted to sleep.
* * *
The news the following morning was grim.
Side by side, Laura and James sat on the leather sofa in her father's study and
watched television. All programming had been preempted in favor of news
bulletins regarding hurricane Betty.
Forgotten were the assurances James had whispered to her last night. Laura was
disconsolate at the thought of life without 22 Indigo Place, because that would
also mean life without James. The destruction of the house would be tantamount
house. No house, no marriage.
Gladys kept hot coffee in constant supply, though neither of them wanted
anything to eat or drink. Leona was asked to stay and help occupy Mandy. The
child couldn't play outside because it had started to rain. Inside the gloomy house,
she was bored and thereby contrary, adding to the strain on everyone's nerves.
Civil defense authorities urged people to evacuate the area when it seemed certain
that the Georgia coast would be the most likely place the storm would move
ashore. St. Gregory's Sound was already churning with turbulence.
"I won't leave," Laura said, stubbornly shaking her head. "I'll never leave Indigo
Place."
James's mouth twisted in irritation at her irrationality, but he said nothing. He
pulled on tall rubber fishing boots and a slicker and braved the elements outside.
The plywood he and Bo nailed over the windows of the house wouldn't keep out
the storm, but James felt that he had to do something or go crazy. He couldn't just
sit around as though he were keeping vigil at a deathbed. He hated not being in
control. It was frustrating that a storm had the upper hand.
Even though the exodus from the coastal towns had begun and traffic was snarled
on all the highways leading west, James managed to get several horse trailers
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through. Forlornly Laura watched from the front porch as the skittish horses were
led through torrential rains into the trailers and driven away.
Her despair was as thick as the
atmosphere. It took a supreme effort to draw the
heavy air into her chest, which was constricted with emotion.
"Will you help pack Mandy a bag? Mother might miss something she needs."
James had found his wife sitting alone in the parlor. All the windows had been
covered and the atmosphere was funereal. He didn't think Laura had heard him,
and he was about to repeat his request when she turned around and looked at him
with vacant eyes.
"Pack?"
"I'm sending Mandy and Mother with the Burtons. I got through on the telephone
and found a motel in Macon that isn't full yet. I made a reservation for them, but
if they're not there by the specified time, the room will be given to someone else."
She nodded vaguely and went upstairs to help Leona gather Mandy's things into a
suitcase. When they were ready to leave, Laura crouched down to kiss Mandy
good-bye.
"I'm not scared, but Annmarie is," the child said through quivering lips. "I told her
not to be afraid."
"You're both very brave." Laura ran both hands over Mandy's head.
"I don't want to leave you and Daddy, but he said you'd take care of each other.
Will you?"
"Of course."
"You won't be scared?"
"No. We won't be scared."
"I love you, Mommy."
Laura clutched the warm, vital, child's body against hers, actually drawing
strength from it, wishing she could be imbued with Mandy's faith. "I love you, too,
darling. Be sweet for Grandma and Gladys and Bo."
"Come on, Tricks," James said gently, breaking them apart. "You don't want the
motel man to give your room away to someone else, do you?"
Mandy's lips were trembling uncontrollably as Bo carried her to the car through
the pelting rain and handed her into the back seat and Leona's waiting arms.
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Pathetically she gazed out the rear window and waved at James and Laura until
the car rounded the bend and drove out of sight.
Laura's heart was wrenching, but she knew she was experiencing just a taste of the
hurt she would feel if James and Mandy left her life forever.
"I wish you'd reconsider, Laura. We ought to be following them to Macon."
Her jaw was set as she looked up at him stubbornly and shook her head. However,