Glory, Glory: Snowbound with the Bodyguard Page 6

  There were tears in Delphine’s eyes, even though she was smiling. “Heaven help me, Glory Parsons, if my conscience would allow it I’d beg you to stay. But I love you very much, and I want you to have the best possible life.”

  The bell tinkled over the door, and long habit made Delphine stand up and smooth her crisp apron. When she saw that the visitor was Jesse, however, she didn’t offer any of her standard greetings. She tossed her daughter a meaningful look and disappeared into the kitchen.

  Without being invited, Jesse dragged back Delphine’s chair and sat. The expression in his caramel eyes was guarded, and there was a stubborn set to his jaw. Glory sensed that he was full of questions, that beneath his calm exterior was an urge to grab her and shake her until she told him everything about her past.

  “You sure know how to clear a room,” Glory said, because somebody had to say something and it was clear Jesse wasn’t going to extend the courtesy first.

  He managed a rigid smile, and Glory noticed that there were snowflakes melting in his glossy brown hair. Jesse had never liked hats. “Ilene told me you visited her yesterday.”

  Glory drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Guilty,” she confessed, raising one hand as if to give an oath.

  He sat back in his chair for a long moment, regarding Glory as though he expected her to do or say something outlandish. Then he muttered, “I’m prepared to concede that Liza is our child.”

  “That’s big of you,” Glory replied smoothly, getting up from her chair and going behind the counter for a cup and a pot of coffee. She poured a cupful for Jesse, refilled her own, and returned the pot to its place before going on. “I assumed you’d come to terms with the idea, when you gave me those pictures of Liza. Thank you for that, by the way.”

  Now Jesse leaned forward, ignoring the steaming coffee before him. “What I’m not willing to concede,” he went on, as though she hadn’t spoken, “is that you have any right to interfere with Liza’s life now. She’s been through enough, as it is. I don’t want her upset.”

  Glory’s hands trembled as she lifted her cup to her mouth and took a sip. Delphine’s coffee was legendary, since she added a secret ingredient before brewing it, but the stuff passed over Glory’s tongue untasted. “I’ve never said I would tell Liza who I am,” she said evenly, once she’d swallowed. “I just want to spend time with her. And I will, Jesse, whether you like it or not.”

  Again, Jesse’s jawline tightened. He took a packet of sugar from the container and turned it end over end on the tabletop. “You gave her up,” he said. “You handed her over to the authorities and walked away. As far as I’m concerned you made your decision then, and you can’t go back on it now.”

  Glory’s instincts warned her to drop the subject for the moment. Jesse wasn’t feeling real receptive just then, and pushing would only make him more stubborn. “I hear you’re getting married.” She said the words as cheerfully as she could.

  He averted his wonderful brown eyes, gazing out at the drifting snow, and for a moment he looked so desolate that Glory wanted to put her arms around him and offer him whatever comfort she could. “You hear a lot of things in small towns,” he murmured. Then he pushed back his chair and stood. “You’re not going to give ground on this, are you? You’re going to insist on hanging around.”

  Glory felt color pool in her cheeks, and she knew her eyes were shooting blue sparks. She’d tried to be civil, but Jesse evidently wasn’t going to allow that. “Yes, Jesse,” she said quietly. “I’ll be staying in Pearl River. I have a job and an apartment.”

  “Great,” he rasped, shoving a hand through his snow-dampened hair.

  “There’s an old adage, Jesse, about accepting the things you can’t change. This is one of those things.”

  He bit out a curse word. “I suppose you’re planning to drag some big-city lawyer into this.”

  Glory straightened her shoulders. She was glad she was still wearing her suit, because it gave her an added air of dignity. “If necessary, I will. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

  Jesse turned and walked away without another word. The little bell over the door jangled angrily as he wrenched open the door and left.

  Delphine came out of the kitchen. “I have to hand it to you, Glory—you were diplomatic.”

  “I tried,” Glory answered. She wanted to go upstairs, throw herself down on the sofa and sob, but she couldn’t face the emotional hangover that would come afterward. She glanced at the clock on the wall behind the counter and sighed. “Do you need any help?”

  “Roxy will be coming in at the regular time,” Delphine replied sympathetically. “You’ve had a big day. Why don’t you get some lunch and then go upstairs and take a nice nap?”

  Glory chuckled, but there wasn’t even a hint of humor in the sound. “Do I look like such a wreck that I should be in bed convalescing?”

  “Yes,” Delphine retorted. But she was smiling.

  “Well, I’m not going to lie around with a rose in my teeth,” her daughter said firmly. “I have things to do. The first of which is to call the moving company and ask them to bring my furniture. Then I’d better do a little emergency shopping. I’m going to need some stuff to tide me over, in the meantime.”

  Delphine’s expressive eyes went wide. “Nonsense. You can just stay with me until your things arrive. I don’t want you camping out in some apartment, sleeping on the floor and eating your meals out of aluminum trays.”

  Glory took her coat from a hook by the door and put it on. Slinging her purse strap over her shoulder, she smiled and replied, “Mama, I called the Stay Awhile Motel, but there’s no room at the inn. You’re madly in love and about to be married. What you don’t need right now is a woebegone daughter sleeping on your sofa.”

  With that, Glory went out into the biting wind again and up the stairs to her mother’s apartment. After making the necessary arrangements for her belongings to be brought to Pearl River, she came back downstairs and climbed behind the wheel of her car. Praying her snow tires were as good as the people in the TV commercials maintained, she set out for the mall in the next town.

  There, she bought a sleeping bag and an air mattress, a card table and two cheap folding chairs, towels and other necessary household items. Then she returned to Pearl River, driving cautiously in the ever-wilder flurries of snow to the supermarket at the north end of town.

  She couldn’t help noticing that people were pointing to her and whispering. Glory was sure none of them knew about the baby she’d borne nine years before, but there was no question that the inevitable small-town speculation was going on. The general population was obviously wondering why she’d left town so suddenly all those years before, deserting “poor Jesse Bainbridge” without so much as a fare-thee-well, and whether or not she’d prove to be a problem where his new relationship was concerned.

  After she’d taken everything to her empty, chilly apartment and put it away, Glory went on impulse to Ilene’s bookstore. Heaven knew, the woman was nothing if not unconventional, but there was a quiet warmth about her that drew the troubled spirit. Glory had no doubt that the local bookseller was a trusted confidante to many people.

  Ilene was busy with a customer when Glory entered, but she still greeted her with a wide and welcoming smile and a “come-in” gesture of one beringed hand.

  Glory went to the shelves and busied herself selecting mystery novels. She had a passion for the books, especially if they boasted some unusual element, such as a vampire or a werewolf.

  “I take it you’ve talked to Jesse recently,” Ilene said softly, startling her newest customer. Glory hadn’t heard her approach.

  “You must be psychic,” Glory replied with a sigh.

  Ilene smiled and glanced at the books in Glory’s hands. “You don’t have to buy things for an excuse to talk to me,” she said. “I consider you a friend, and you’re welcome here anytime.”

  Glory felt quick, illogical tears burn behind her eyes, but she manage
d to hold them back. She held the books a little tighter. “I read a lot,” she said in a small voice.

  Ilene took her arm and gently ushered her toward the rocker and the warm stove. She shooed away the tabby cat and bid her guest to sit down. “What did Jesse say to you?” she asked, taking the other chair.

  After a pause, Glory replied with a despondent shrug, and said, “He thinks I ought to leave town.” Although neither woman had ever mentioned the fact, Glory knew Ilene was aware Glory had borne Jesse’s child, and that the child was Liza.

  Ilene sat forward in her chair, her hands calmly folded. “Will you?”

  Glory shook her head, arranging and rearranging the paperback books on her lap. “No. I must admit my mother suggested the same thing—that I just go on with my life somewhere else—but I can’t. Something inside insists on staying right here where I can be close to my child.”

  “Then that’s probably what you should do,” Ilene commented. “Do you plan to tell Liza who you are?”

  “No,” Glory replied quickly. “That would only confuse her. I just want to be her friend, and I don’t know why Jesse can’t understand that.”

  Ilene smiled. “He’s not trying, at least not at the moment. But I’m sure this has all been a terrific shock to him. After all, it isn’t every day a man finds out that his niece is really his daughter. Jesse must feel as though he’s wandered onto the set of a soap opera.”

  “I know,” Glory agreed with a nod. “Believe me, I didn’t expect to come home for Christmas and my mother’s wedding and find out that the baby I’d given away was right here in Pearl River, being raised as a part of the Bainbridge family.”

  With a chuckle and a responding nod, Ilene got up to brew tea. She returned minutes later with two steaming cups.

  “This time it’s chamomile,” she said. “That’s really soothing, you know.”

  Glory was all for anything that would calm her jangling nerves.

  “I’ll talk to Jesse myself,” Ilene said decisively, while her guest sipped herbal tea. “Perhaps I can get him to see reason.”

  “I’d be very grateful,” Glory said. “I don’t really want to approach Liza until Jesse gives me some kind of go-ahead, but I can’t wait forever.”

  “Of course you can’t,” Ilene agreed as an older man bustled eagerly in from the cold.

  Glory recognized him as Mr. Pellis, the principal at Pearl River High back when she and Jesse were in school.

  “Got any more of that tea, Ilene?” he demanded jovially, in that booming voice that had called a halt to so many food fights and hallway spit-wad barrages. “This weather is enough to chill a man to the marrow!”

  Ilene bustled back to brew another cupful, and Mr. Pellis turned his kindly gaze to Glory.

  “Aren’t you the Parsons girl?” he asked. “The one who took up two pages in your class’s senior yearbook?”

  Glory smiled, nodded, and started to stand, but Mr. Pellis gestured for her to remain seated. He took off his hat, revealing a perfectly bald head, and then his scarf and overcoat, and hung all the items up.

  “I’m retired now,” Mr. Pellis went on, taking Ilene’s chair. He tapped his temple with one finger. “But I remember things. You dated the Bainbridge boy, didn’t you?”

  Glory swallowed and nodded again. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Jesse found his way into virtually every conversation. After all, this was Pearl River, his hometown, and he was sheriff.

  Mr. Pellis chuckled and slapped his thighs with both hands. “Always thought you’d end up in the movies or something, you were so pretty. What do you do for a living?”

  “I’m a loan officer,” Glory replied, rising from her chair. It was getting late, and Delphine would be watching for her. “As of Monday morning, I’ll be working right down the street at the First National.”

  Mr. Pellis beamed as though she’d just been elected president and he was personally responsible. “Well, good,” he said. “I’ll stop by and say hello the next time I’m in the bank.”

  Glory’s smile was warm. “I’ll be expecting you,” she said. Then she paid Ilene for her books and went back to the diner.

  She was curled up on the couch, dressed in jeans, sneakers and a red turtleneck sweater, reading one of the mysteries she’d bought, when the telephone jangled.

  Startled, Glory jumped before reaching out to snatch up the receiver. “Hello?” she said a little uncharitably.

  “Hello,” responded a voice she immediately recognized. “This is Jesse.” He sounded weary and more than a little annoyed, and Glory guessed without being told that Ilene had talked with him. She held her breath, waiting for him to go on.

  After a long, electric silence, he did.

  “They still have that community Christmas Party every year, with the sleigh riding and everything,” he announced, each word dragged out of him by an invisible mule team. “It’s tomorrow night, and I was wondering if you’d like to go. I mean, it won’t be a date or anything, because Adara will be along, but you’ve been wanting to spend time with Liza….”

  Glory was well aware that, as a beggar, she couldn’t be a chooser. “Thanks,” she said softly. Sincerely. “I appreciate it.”

  “I don’t want you telling her anything.”

  Who, Glory wanted to ask, Liza or Adara? But she controlled herself because she was in no position to be making smart remarks. “I’ve already told you, Jesse—I won’t say anything to Liza that would upset her. You can trust me.”

  “I thought I could, once,” he responded in a distracted voice, and Glory closed her eyes against the pain of the jibe. “Listen, just meet us at the hill tomorrow night when the sun goes down. We’ll be somewhere around the bonfire.”

  Glory was nodding, and it was a moment before she realized Jesse couldn’t see her and said quickly, “I’ll be there. Thanks, Jesse.”

  “Right,” he answered in the clipped tone she’d come to expect from him. And then he hung up.

  Glory bounded off the couch, upsetting her book and the crocheted afghan she’d spread over herself earlier. “Yippee!” she yelled.

  The cry brought Delphine out of the bedroom, where she’d been dressing for a bowling date with Harold. “You won the lottery?” she inquired with a wry grin.

  “Better,” Glory crowed. “Jesse’s going to let me see Liza.”

  Although Delphine shook her head, her eyes revealed a mother’s happiness in her daughter’s joy. She came and took both Glory’s hands in hers. “Promise me you’ll be careful, baby,” she whispered. “This situation has a very high heartache potential—especially for you.”

  Glory was deflated for a moment, but she immediately perked up. “Jesse did make a point of telling me he was bringing Adara, but I’m not going to let that ruin things. He can marry King Kong, for all I care, just as long as I get to see Liza.”

  Delphine patted her daughter’s cheeks. “Like I said, be careful. Here be dragons, fair maiden. Big ones, with fire in their noses.”

  Glory chuckled and kissed Delphine’s forehead. “I’ll get through this without so much as a singed eyelash,” she promised.

  But Delphine didn’t look convinced.

  *

  Glory spent the night at her new apartment, staying up late to finish the first of the mystery novels she’d bought because she was too excited to sleep. The place was freezing cold when she awakened, and she shivered while trying to crank on the ancient steam radiators that stood under each window.

  Outside, the world was a wonderland of white velvet strewn with tiny diamonds. Snow mounded on top of the row of mailboxes across the street and the cars parked on the road.

  After taking a shower and dressing warmly, with long underwear under her jeans and flannel shirt and two pairs of socks inside her hiking boots, Glory donned a jacket and walked to the diner. Her breath made white plumes in the air, and the cold turned her cheeks and nose red.

  By the time she reached her destination, she figured she probabl
y looked a lot like Rudolph.

  Delphine greeted her as though she’d spent the night in an igloo in the Arctic, shuffling her to a table, pouring coffee for her, insisting that she have a hot breakfast.

  “You’re not used to this, after Portland’s milder climate,” Delphine fretted.

  Glory just smiled. She’d been on her own a long time, and Alan had never been much for making a fuss. It was sort of nice to have somebody taking care of her, at least for a few minutes.

  After breakfast, Glory insisted on staying to help with dishes and then the noon rush. She was living for that evening when she would see Liza, and if she didn’t keep busy in the meantime she’d go absolutely crazy.

  Once the lunch clientele had eaten and gone, however, things slowed down considerably. Glory called Jill, and the two of them went to a matinee showing of Gone with the Wind at the Rialto.

  “I’ve always said curtains make the best dresses,” Jill commented as she and Glory left the theater about two hours later.

  Glory chuckled. “Are you going to the snow party tonight?” she asked.

  Jill shook her head. “Normally I would. But I’ve got a hot date with a guy over in Fawn Creek. Wish me luck.” They crossed the street to where Jill’s car was parked—behind a four-foot pile of snow. “The mad plower has struck again.”

  A teenage boy came out of the hardware store wearing a heavy coat and blushing, either from the cold or from the presence of two women, to shovel a path for Jill. Soon Glory’s friend was driving away, tooting her horn and waving.

  Glory looked at her watch and groaned. It was still hours until it was time for the community party.

  Finally, however, the time came. She rode to McCalley’s Hill, which overlooked the town, with Harold and Delphine, who were bundled up and equipped with hot cocoa in a big thermos bottle. An enormous bonfire was blazing in the big clearing at the bottom of the slope, and already kids and adults alike were racing down the long incline on their sleds.

  When Glory spotted Jesse standing with Liza and a slender woman dressed in a stylish ski outfit, she was struck by a sudden attack of shyness. Now that the moment she’d been looking forward to for twenty-four hours had finally come, she wasn’t sure how to approach the trio, and she had no idea what to say.