Part 31 (1/2)
”Position? Wasn't he of the elect?”
”Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Jerry. Phil's father and mother were among the great army of incompatibles. His heritage of misery as the child of divorced parents, tossed back and forth between their habitations, ruined his life but--but he made royally good at the last, poor chap.”
Jerry blinked furiously to rid her eyes of the tears which had flooded them at his tone. They rode on in silence. The road ran through the fragrant, chill quiet of dense pines, which creaked and swayed a mournful note in the slight breeze. When they emerged into the willow-fringed, sun dappled road again Courtlandt spoke.
”I want you to tell me everything that happened yesterday, Jerry. I--I know now that that elopement stuff was all a bluff but--but it was an infernally dangerous one. It was lucky for Greyson that an interest bigger than any individual was concerned in last night's work or--forgive me for my lack of faith and tell me what happened, won't you, girl?”
Jerry s.n.a.t.c.hed at her stampeding composure and dragged it back. Her answer was tantalizingly slow.
”That 'won't you' was a master stroke of diplomacy. Machiavellian, I call it. Had you demanded an explanation I wouldn't have given it. Where shall I commence?” She saw him stiffen at her levity but he had his voice well in hand as he answered:
”At the beginning.”
”Only on condition that there are no interruptions.”
”Then be merciful and tell your story quickly.”
Jerry began the recital of her adventures with her determination to amuse Peggy. She forgot herself, she was quite unconscious of the unevenness of Courtlandt's driving as the story unrolled of its own momentum. He did not interrupt with words but at times the car shot forward as though propelled by a furious impulse. They pa.s.sed Jim Carey herding some lank-bodied, big-kneed calves before him. He waved and shouted a greeting. As they entered the cottonwoods by the Bear Creek corral Jerry described the culmination of the wild ride on the track, her stunned amazement when she had heard Steve's furious exclamation behind her. Her voice was traitorously unsteady as she added:
”'O ye of little faith!' Even when I saw you there, knew that you had heard my explanation, I--I thought that--that somehow you would understand.”
”Why would I? You had told me that you had been engaged to Greyson. You never can tell what a man will do when he is mad about a woman, when he loves her crown of s.h.i.+ning hair, her eyes, her smile, the--the tip of her bare pink foot.” Memory sent a surge of red to his face. He brought the car to a stop in front of the shack. Beechy, his face white, his hair redder and more rampant than ever, called eagerly from the open window at which he sat bolstered up in a chair.
”Wait for me at the house. I shan't be long.”
Jerry nodded dumbly, and drove on. Courtlandt's words had set her heart beating a furious call to arms. What had he meant? Who was mad about a woman? He or Greyson? Whose bare pink foot? Involuntarily she tucked one suede shoe under her, her cheeks flushed warmly. He--he couldn't have meant her.
In the living-room of the cabin Jerry held the coc.o.o.n of soft flannel, which in turn held the Carey baby, in her arms. She laid her soft cheek against his.
”Isn't--isn't he the dearest!” she crooned as she felt the sweet warm thrill of his satin-soft skin against her face. Doc Rand, before the fireplace, flapping his long black coat-tails in time to his heel-and-toe teeter, blinked at her through lenses which had become unaccountably misty. His russet-apple face showed a new set of lines.
”I--I am so glad that he arrived safely,” Jerry observed innocently, punctuating the words with cooing sounds directed at the crease in the baby's neck. Indignation at the possible slur on his professional skill served as a safety valve for Rand's emotion which had been so unaccountably stirred by the sight of the lovely girl with the child in her arms. He had seen the same thing unmoved hundreds of times before, a woman with her face snuggled against a baby's.
”Arrived safely! Why shouldn't he arrive safely in a home like this?
Take it from me, the Almighty's going to pick his mothers carefully from now on. He's just had a demonstration of what ought not to happen in poor Denbigh's case. He'll find a way to make women realize what a great and glorious privilege it is to be the mother of an American citizen.”
”Of either s.e.x?” probed the girl mischievously.
”You've said it. The female of the species has got to take her share in the responsibility of the government. If we have another war, G.o.d grant we don't, the young women will be drafted to work, just as the men will to fight. There'll be no feminine slackers infesting the neighborhoods of the camps next time.”
”Hear! Hear!” applauded a low voice from the door. Doc Rand beamed at the newcomer paternally.
”Steve, you scoffer, come in! Take a look at what your wife has in that bundle.”
Jerry wished pa.s.sionately that she were a thousand miles away when Steve loomed over her but she didn't intend to let him suspect it. She pulled away the soft blanket that he could see better and challenged breathlessly:
”Isn't he a sweetie peach?”
”Isn't he--it--very red?” Courtlandt stammered in honest embarra.s.sment that he could not conscientiously voice a paean of praise of the beauty of the Carey heir. Doc Rand indulged in a denatured guffaw.
”Lord-ee, Steve, your mental propeller showered sparks of originality that time, didn't it? The baby isn't appreciated here; you'd better take him back to his mother, Mrs. Eagan,” as the nurse, beaming with full-moon effulgence, entered the room. Jerry smiled up at the portly woman as she laid the little bundle in her arms.