Read Online Hell With the Lid Blown Off by Donis Casey - Free Book Online Page B

companions toward them just as the crowd parted, and Alafair caught sight of a man with yellow hair, dressed in the most outlandish garb she had ever seen: kilt, blue bonnet, purse, tall socks, red ribbons, and all. She had never heard such hooting and hollering. A dozen men blocked his way, slapping his back and making bad jokes, but he took it in stride with a big smile, and gave as good as he got. He was still grinning when he made his way over to the women.
    â€œI do declare!” Alafair exclaimed, and began to laugh. She turned to share the joke with Mildrey Beldon, but she had disappeared. Martha and Josie joined the knot of gawkers next to Alafair.
    Ruth made the introductions. “Mama, you remember Wallace MacKenzie.”
    Alafair didn’t, really. Or maybe she just didn’t immediately recognize the elegant man with the floppy blond hair who was bowing over her hand. The last time she had seen Wallace he was an irritating and rather sneaky fifteen-year-old. “Sure, I do,” she said.
    Josie wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. “I heard you were home, Wallace. You’re dressed as fancy as the King of Diamonds, son! Whatever are you supposed to be?”
    Beckie was surprised. “Why, Josie, this is the very regimental dress uniform that my father brought with him when he came to South Carolina back in the fifties. Wallace is wearing his great-grandda’s kilt this afternoon just to please me, the dear bairn.” She looked proud enough to bust.
    Ruth leaned in and took her mother’s hand. “Wallace is wearing the outfit Miz Beckie showed us when we had dinner at her house,” she reminded her. “I told you about it, Mama.”
    From the wicked grin on Wallace’s face, Alafair thought that he was more likely wearing the outfit because he enjoyed making a spectacle of himself. He winked at her, confirming her suspicions. “Anything to please Gran,” he said.
    Ruth pushed forward the more soberly dressed, dark-haired youth who had arrived with them. “And this is Wallace’s friend from Vanderbilt, Randal Wakefield.”
    Dark-eyed Randal smiled and squeezed her hand gently. His quiet manner made Alafair look at him with a great deal more interest than she did the ebullient Wallace.
    Ruth Tucker
    The shadows were lengthening when the final prayer meeting in the Masonic Hall came to an end, and families were gathering themselves together, preparing for the trip home at the end of a satisfying day of fellowship. Ruth stood up from the piano and cast her gaze around the auditorium for a face she recognized.
    Her parents were nowhere to be seen. She could just see the heads of her brothers topping the crowd in the far corner, Gee Dub’s black curls and Charlie’s straight dark-blond, both leaning in toward a copper-gold redhead on their own level. Nobody but Trenton Calder had hair the color of a brazen sunset. She smiled and started toward them, almost shifting course when she caught sight of Beckie. At the last instant she noticed that Wallace was standing with his grandmother, and she managed to veer back into the crowd without being seen. She ran right into Jubal Beldon.
    A word occurred to her that would never have passed her lips. When did he show up? He must have come to take his mother and sister home after the service. Jubal gave a brief grin that revealed just a glimpse of crooked teeth. “Well, howdy, Ruth Tucker,” he said. “We meet again.”
    She opened her mouth to tell him that it was no pleasure, but Beckie’s advice about feigning disinterest popped into her head. She made an effort to move on without looking him in the eye, but Jubal wasn’t so easily put off. He seized her arm. “You handled yourself good out there on the road the other day. I like a brave gal. How about stepping outside with me for a nip of something more refreshing than lemonade and we’ll talk about it?”
    Later,