Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(73)

He scratched his arm and looked bored. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“You, of course.”

He felt as if he’d taken a sucker punch, which made it hard for him to respond as casually as he wanted. “Not a hell of a lot to take to the bank.”

“Quite a lot, actually. Unconditional love is very powerful.”

“I guess.”

“When you think back on your childhood, Kenny, I hope you give yourself credit for having survived so well. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting much worse parenting than you.”

“What about Torie?”

“At least Torie had unconditional love from one parent. You didn’t have it from either one.”

“What are you talking about? My mother worshiped the ground I walked on. That was the whole problem.”

“That wasn’t real love. There must have been a thousand strings attached to her feelings for you.”

She was right. He’d been expected to dote on his mother as if she were the only person in his life.

“Kenny, punkin’, you don’t want to go play with those white-trash boys. Stay with me. I’ll buy you that new radio-controlled airplane we saw on television. They’ll all want it, and you’ll be the most popular boy in the school.”

Instead, he’d been the most despised.

He tried to act nonchalant. “Yeah, I guess you might be right.”

“I’m something of an expert on the subject.”

He heard the slight edge to her voice. “I gather you’re not just speaking professionally.”

She shrugged. “Not entirely. My parents loved me, I suppose, but they loved their work more. I was quite lonely.” She pulled away from him and walked down to the riverbank. As he followed her, he was glad the shoe was finally on the other foot.

She smiled at him when he reached her side. “There’s nothing more boring than listening to successful adults whine about how mistreated they were as children, is there?”

“You’re sure right about that.” He picked up a flat stone and skipped it across the river toward the limestone bluff that rose on the other side. It hopped four times before it sank. “I guess I can understand why you might be a little peculiar when it comes to St. Gert’s. Just like I might be a little peculiar about Petie.” He skipped another stone, then looked down at her, feeling tense, although he wasn’t sure why. “So, once you tell the duke what’s happened between us, I guess you’re off the hook.”

She didn’t reply immediately. “I don’t know. He seems to believe what he wants to believe, doesn’t he?” Her forehead crumpled, and this “off with his head” look flashed in her eyes. “I don’t want to tell him what happened between the two of us! That was private, and it’s none of his bloody business!”

He smiled, selfishly pleased by her response. “You do seem to have yourself in a fix.”

She muttered something he couldn’t quite make out, but he thought he heard another bloody.

“I’ll bet I can hit that.” He pointed toward a boulder rising out of the water on the far side of the river and picked up another stone. He threw, but he was short. “Two out of three.”

“The water’s so clear here. This is the most beautiful place.”

“I’ve always liked it. I used to come here when I was a kid, right after I beat up somebody or bullied them until they cried.” He hooked his second shot.

“I’m sure you believed that, if you were bad enough, someone would eventually put a stop to it.”

“I guess.” He missed again. “One more.” The stone glanced off the boulder.

“Excellent.” She smiled. “And that’s what Dallie did, isn’t it? He put a stop to it.”

“Who told you that?”

“I put two and two together.”

“I guess I’ve had about as much psychotherapy as I can handle in one day. Besides, you’re the crazy one, not me. Just ask Father Joseph.”

She winced. “It’s a good thing I’ll be leaving soon. I’ll never be able to look that man in the eye again.”

He didn’t like to think about her leaving, even though, in some ways, he couldn’t wait to get her off his hands. “I’ll explain what happened. At least I’ll explain most of it.” He curled his hand around the back of her neck and rubbed. “If we still intend to get to Austin today, we’d better take off. We can stop at the house first if you want to change.”

“I’d like that.”

They drove back to the house, but the bedroom was too inviting, and they never did make it to Austin.

Torie had penned her emus at the back of her father’s property. At least her folly was out of sight here, if not out of mind. Before her divorce, when she’d lived in Dallas, she’d boarded them at a ranch south of the city, but that had gotten too expensive, and she’d talked her father into letting her move them here. There were eighteen of the ugly ostrich look-alikes now, with their long necks, dark sooty feathers, and spindly legs. Sometimes she tried to convince herself they were pretty, but generally she didn’t waste effort. She looked away from a nest with three more huge emerald eggs.

“That’s Elmer by the fence,” she said. “He’s one of the original breeding pair. And his lady Polly’s in the middle of the group over there.”