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He grinned. “Too much good Texas air?”
She almost smiled as she said, “Yes.”
“I’ll check on you.” Then he didn’t leave. He watched her. He said yet again, “I’ll be back.”
A tear slid out of her eye.
He leaned over her and frowned. “What’s wrong.” A lead-in, not a question.
Her breaths became disorganized.
He was alarmed and said, “I can take care of anything that bothers you. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
“I was thinking of the baby I lost.” And big old tears slid from her eyes.
He sat down on the bed and lifted her onto his lap. He told her, “That’s tough. It makes you want to rail at God, doesn’t it? Go ahead. God won’t mind. You’ll eventually understand it all. That little kid might not have made it later, either. He might have—”
“—she.”
“—she might have gotten run over by a car or something awful like that And the kid just decided it wouldn’t be long enough, and you could have another.”
She asked, “How do you know?”
Her wet face was against his neck and her thin arms were around his body. He held her on his lap, sitting there on the bed. He replied, “My guardian angel explained it all to me just now.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“You’ve never talked to your guardian angel? Who do you quarrel with when you want to do something and the guardian shakes his head and says Nuhuh.”
There was silence. Then she said, “What did you want to do that the guardian said not to?”
“It’s too long a story to tell you, now. I’ll tell you the whole kaboodle another time. Why not lie here a while and snooze. I’ll wake you when I come back to lunch.”
“We’ll see.”
“Is it food or me you don’t like?”
“Food.”
“Well... We’ll let you watch me eat and you can go on starving.”
And again she said, “We’ll see.”
“Let me see your face. I can wipe tears away real easy.”
He leaned back and exposed her to the light. Her eyelashes were wet and her eyes were closed. She was too thin and very pale. His heart squeezed. “You’re a nuisance, do you know that? I’ve got all this work to do and here you are, lying on the bed and wanting atten—”
“I do not! You’ve been intrusive and bossy and obnoxious!”
He said, “Well, yes. You’re fragile and skinny and no threat at all so I could just go ahead and say what I wanted. Do you realize how seldom I get to say anything I want to?”
“Go nurse the lepers.”
“My grandmother said that! Who told it to you?”
“My grandmother.”
“Well, it’s one of those realities that you can’t knock down. It’s truth. There are always people who are worse off than us. And I think it’s real nasty to pull it out at a time of stress and wallop a perfectly upset person with such a comment.”
“Me, too.”
“You’d rather wallow in being unhappy.”
“Yes.”
He considered that with some elaborate thoughtfulness before he said, “I can see that. For a while. But the time comes when you ought to let the bad stuff go and look ahead. How long’s it been now?”
“Five months and two days.”
“Well, I can see you being upset the rest of that sixth month. Then I’ll expect you to straighten up.”
“Yes.”
“But you’ll have to begin eating again. You’re skin and bones.”
“I wanted to die, too.”
“Naw. You can’t do something like that. Nobody would understand and they’d all be irritated with you. You are strong and you—Hush! I’m talking—and you have to cope. It’s a real nuisance but that’s the way things work. You cope.”
“Damn.”
There on the bed, he held her on his lap and rocked gently. He commented, “If you get a quarter of the good stuff, you can’t complain. Lots of people have it worse than that. You’re killing yourself by not taking care of you. That’s dumb. No! Stop that! I’m giving you good advice that I’ve had. Straighten up and behave and quit feeling sorry for yourself. Let your lost baby go. Have another. Don’t compare them or think the first one would’a been perfect.”
With leaking tears, she had to shake her head and smile. She said, “You are so rough. I wonder if you’ve ever soothed a woman.”
“What the hell do you think I’m doing now? Here—hush—I’ve spent all this time straightening you out when I was supposed to go out and help a mare birth twins, and I’ve let that poor horse do it all by herself with only a dozen or so men with her, and I’ve given you all this valuable time to straighten you out! You’ve exhausted me. Move over and let me lie down, too. I’m worn to a nub!”
She shook her head and laughed through her tears. “You’re impossible.”
He said, “Since we’re in your bed and nobody’s around and I’m free, why don’t you smooth me down and make me feel better.”
She watched him carefully. She said, “Shame on you.”
He pried himself up and sighed very dramatically. “I did try.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll see you at noon. Behave. I’ll be back.”
She responded, “Don’t threaten me.”
He tilted his head back and considered her. Then he said, “Not right away.” And he patted the top of her head. And he left.
Ellen stayed in her room where she was isolated. She lay quietly and didn’t think or anything. She didn’t even sleep. But she did glance at the clock.
She ordered her lunch to be brought to her room. The crew did that easily. Mrs. Keeper viewed the tray and added another flower to it. She smiled at the one who would deliver it and said, “Good.”
Probably the most irritating thing about Mrs. Keeper was that she knew people, she did research, she contacted old friends of theirs, and she learned everything she needed to know in order to spoil one of her guests.
The tray delivered to Ellen was unusual. It had all sorts of goodies on it. Little samples. This and that. Who could resist?
Ellen was human. She did look over at the tray. She saw there was no napkin on it, so she also saw what was on the tray.
That was the sly way of Mrs. Keeper.
Ellen tasted this and that and ate more than she had in some long time. An apricot here, a kumquat there, a slice of banana, a square of a cut-up sandwich, which held lettuce and some mayonnaise. Lit tle bits and pieces of things. It was all alluring.
Wickedly so.
How was a woman to fade away in grief when someone brought a tray like that?
After noon, Tom came up to see Ellen. An empty tray was outside her door. Her door was not locked. He opened it softly saying, “You here?” But he did go inside her room. She was asleep. He considered her.
If it had been she who’d emptied the tray, it was their first victory. She needed some attention. He’d see to it that others hounded her with such care that she wouldn’t notice they were helping her.
He carried her tray back to the kitchen and bragged on the cooks for being so innovative. And he complained because he never got anything like that...as an appetizer! He talked to the kitchen crew and got all the various things he wanted to eat while he teased and complained that he was always ignored.
Knowing full well that Tom Keeper had his life...well, his food exactly as he wanted it, the crew only laughed at him... and with him. Tom was very humorous. He was especially so that day. How interesting.
Probably the most intriguing thing that Ellen found in that house was that the. Keeper cat jumped up on the porch railing and stretched out to ring the doorbell. That way the cat got attention right away and got inside without having to wait.
Dressed in a shirt and long trousers, Ellen was reading a book the next day and the doorbell rang. Mrs. Keeper called down, “It’s probably the cat, would you let him in?”
Ellen did go to the door and opened it but it was a woman her age. She was casually dressed. Her name was Lu Parsons and she was the sister of the throwback Andrew, but Lu lived in one of the ranch houses with the pilot Rip Morris.
Ellen smiled and said, “Come inside. I thought you were the cat.”
Lu blinked.
Ellen laughed softly and said, “I know. I wonder, too. But they’ve told me to answer the doorbell because it might be the cat They say that it reaches over from the railing and presses the doorbell. I just wonder if this is a joke they pull on guests.”
Lu grinned. “I’ll have to stay now just to see that.”
“I’d appreciate the backup. They are probably just giving us something to think about in this rather isolated place.”
Lu considered the idea and then agreed, “You’re more than likely right.”
Ellen moved slowly to a chair, indicated the other to Lu, and sat carefully.
“Are you all right? I’ve heard you were skinny as a rail, and you’re really elegant. Thin.” She considered thin, then she said, “You could use some padding. Have a caramel.”
Very sadly, Ellen told her guest, “I lost a baby.”
Lu knew that already. In their area, gossip hardly passed the original lips before everyone had heard it and knew all the details. But Lu didn’t say she’d heard that. She said, “I’m sorry.”
A great tear trembled on the bottoms of Ellen’s eyelashes.
Lu shook her head and told her companion, “Don’t you dare cry because I will too, and I get blotchy. What’s past is past. Look ahead.”
In halting words, Ellen said, “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”
“Look around and see all the other people who cope or need help.”
Ellen replied, “Right now, if I found someone else was grieving, I’d just cry more.”
Lu advised, “Go see Angela Becker. She has five kids and a very busy husband who is out and around and not available. She’s at her wit’s end. The kids are just one year apart. She’s going nuts. Why not go over and give her a fifteen-minute break?”
“Fifteen minutes?”
“It would be stark relief for Angela. She could catch her breath. Do it once in the middle of the morning and again in the middle of the afternoon. And, Ellen, do not get wishy-washy and stay longer. The fifteen minutes is all! Understand?”
“I’m...not sure...exactly how to deal with children. How old are they?”
Lu repeated, “Six months to age five.”
“My word!”
“I believe she responds to the phenomenon with that same kind of shock. If you do go, she could sit for fifteen minutes, without having to do anything or listen to anybody!”
Hesitantly, Ellen confessed with some caution, “I’m not very sturdy.”
“Neither is Angela.”
Slowly, Ellen rose from her chair and went to the window to look out at the other houses. “Which one is—Angela’s?”
Lu went over and pointed out the house. “Want to come along with me and see the house and kids? Then you could decide.”
“I’m not at all strong.”
“None of us is.”
Ellen asked, “Five children and the eldest is just—five?”
Lu nodded. She watched with great interest. How would the fragile woman respond?
Ellen said softly, “I’m not sure—I can handle—someone’s—children.”
Lu shrugged. “Kids are kids.”
