He left the tent and wandered to the wagons, started to enter one of them, and stopped. He saw her between the wagons, though she couldn’t see him. It was the girl from last night, the one with long, silky hair. His fingers moved unconsciously, stroking her long, soft, lovely hair.
Haverstock sat by the open door of his wagon, eating mechanically, as if hunger were an unwelcome intrusion. He watched the Minotaur and knew the danger point was rapidly approaching. Louis had said he was on the trail of a likely prospect. He would have to speak to Louis and make sure…
His eyes narrowed suddenly when Angel walked by with Tim on his shoulder.
“Angel!” he snapped. “Come inhere.”
Angel stopped and turned, apprehension in his ruby eyes. Tim whispered quickly in his ear. Angel mounted the steps and stood in the doorway of the caravan.
“Where have you been?”
“We didn’t want to disturb you,” Tim said hesitantly, “so we were in my wagon playing cards.”
“Where’s Henry?”
“I don’t know. Neither he nor the Minotaur were in there.”
“Angel, take Tim back to his wagon. Then come in here and have your breakfast.” He looked intently at Angel. “We have some work to do.”
Angel nodded and descended the steps. Tim held on to Angel’s snowy hair and looked back at the dark man barely visible through the open doorway. There was worry on his small doughy face.
Tim’s sleeping quarters were in a small packing crate set on the end of Henry’s dressing table. After Angel left him there, he paced up and down the table among the scattered cosmetics, hobbling on his crooked leg. His reflection matched his every move in the dressing table mirror.
He stopped and released his breath when Henry came in.
“Where’s Angel?” Henry asked, sitting on the stool.
“With Haverstock. Henry…”
“What was all that about at the creek?”
“I’m trying to tell you. That girl fell. Her foot slipped on a rock and she fell. Angel grabbed for her, but she stopped falling before he touched her. His hand was six inches from her when she stopped falling. I’ve always told you it was Angel who had the gift and not Haverstock. I was right! It’s Angel and not Haverstock. I saw it.” His tiny voice grew more excited. “Angel is really the one. Haverstock just uses him under hypnosis.”
“You’re sure? There’s no mistake?”
“There’s no mistake.”
“And the girl? She saw it too? Was that what that was all about, that supernatural business?”
“Yes, didn’t she tell you?”
“No.” Henry gnawed on his lower lip. “She didn’t say anything about it. She just said it must have been her imagination.”
“Do you think she meant it?”
“I don’t know.”
“She told me she didn’t believe me when I suggested that. I didn’t know what else to say to her. That’s why I called you down. Do you think she’ll tell anyone?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think she’ll be hanging around anymore. I told her our poor Angel was simple-minded. If she had any lustful designs on him, that should cool it off.”
“That should do it.”
“It seemed to be doing the job, then, I don’t know… a funny thing happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“She started laughing. She was going up the path in a proper pique; then she started laughing. It was very peculiar.”
11.
Evelyn leaned the bicycle against the porch railing and went into the house with the bundle from Mier’s Dry Goods. She walked through the front room into her parents’ bedroom. Bess looked up from her sewing machine.
Evelyn handed her the bundle. “Here’s the material.”
“You sure took your time,” her mother scolded mildly.
“Sorry, Mama,” she said and plopped into the gold overstuffed chair. “I… ah… I was talking with someone.”
“It couldn’t have been Sonny Redwine, could it?” Bess teased.
“No… it couldn’t,” she said. Her mother looked disbelieving and Evelyn decided it was just as well.
Bess unwrapped the bundle and spread the yellow percale on the bed. “Rose Willet called. I told her you’d call her back.”
“Thanks, Mama. Mama…” she hesitated “… do you think it’s kinda odd that Sonny asked me out last night?”
“In what way, dear?”
“Well, I’ve known him all my life, and he never asked me out before.”
Bess smiled. “Maybe it just occurred to him how pretty you are. He’s always been shy.” She put pins in her mouth and spread a tissue-paper pattern on the yellow material.
“I was thinking a while ago if, well, if I had to marry somebody in Hawley, who would it be?”
“And who…” Bess took the pins from her mouth. “And who did you decide on?”
“Nobody. But I was thinking, what if Sonny had thought the same thing, if he had looked around to see who in Hawley he would want to marry, and… well… picked me.”
Bess shook her head, pinning the pattern to the material. “Sonny’s a little young to be thinking about marriage.”
“He’s the same age as me.”
“I know, dear, but it’s different for a girl. Girls are more mature at eighteen than boys.” She looked up from her work. “Are you and Sonny getting serious?”
“No.” Evelyn shrugged. “I mean, I’m not in love with him or anything, but I like him well enough, I guess. I’ve just been thinking… Rose told me about Grace Elizabeth and Wash Peacock and it made me feel kinda sad, and I wondered, if I couldn’t find anybody I wanted to marry, if you and Daddy would make an arrangement for me like the judge did for Grace Elizabeth.”
Bess chuckled. “You know we’d never do that.”
“I know, but you don’t want an old maid haunting the house any more than the judge does.”
“Hawley’s not the whole world. What’s got into you today? Isn’t it a little early for you to start worrying about being an old maid? Girls don’t get married as young as they did when I was your age.”
“Yeah, but if I don’t go to college this fall, I don’t know where I’ll ever meet anyone new.” Images of Angel and Tiny Tim and Henry flicked through her mind.
Bess looked up and frowned. Evelyn thought for a moment her mind had been read by her mother.
“I could go to the big city and become a career girl,” Evelyn said quickly, “but the way it sounds on the radio, everybody is out of work these days. Well…” she chuckled “… I guess I’ll have to hang around the depot and check out all the drummers coming to town.”
“Evelyn!” Bess said, then she stopped working on the pattern and sat on the edge of the bed. “Has Dad talked to you about college this fall?”
Evelyn felt a knot forming in her stomach. “No… but I know he’s worried.”
“Oh, Evie, darling, I didn’t know how to tell you,” Bess said with a catch in her voice. “I know how much you’ve been looking forward to college, but we’re pretty sure there won’t be enough money. If things get as bad as your father thinks they will, all the money we’ve saved will have to go to the farm. Your father is afraid things will be bad for several years, the way it looks. What little we can spare will have to go to your brother so he can finish his last year. We wouldn’t even have enough for that if he wasn’t getting that football money. There just won’t be enough for both of you, and it’s more important for a boy to get a college education than a girl. I’m sorry, dear.”