Yesterday's Bride (5 page)

"Just another twenty minutes or so," Jason said, slanting her a sardonic glance. "I'm sure you can't wait to get there."

Without answering she rolled down her window and peered out. The car was passing through a small, rather stark town, its one main street lined with shops. Leigh hadn't visited this part of North Carolina before, but she could guess that this town existed solely to supply the needs of the surrounding farmers. From studying North Carolina history at school she knew that the central part of the state, the Piedmont, was primarily rural. An anachronism, she thought, picturing in her mind the urban sprawl so familiar in New York. Here was preserved something of the country as it must have been in the nineteenth century, when most of the United States was rural and industrialization was in its infancy. Maybe she would enjoy this forced exile, Leigh decided, because she would definitely be getting back to nature.

As the town was left behind, houses became farther and farther apart, most of them bordered by outbuildings and wide fields plowed ready for planting. Leigh liked the barns particularly, many weathered and dilapidated, but some covered in bright patchwork squares of a metallic material that glinted in the weak April sunshine.

"Jason, what do they grow here?" she asked, deciding that she needed some information if she was to be here for a while.

"Tobacco, mostly," he told her. "It's the most lucrative crop, but the government keeps a tight control over how much can be grown by giving the farmers allotments. Still, the profits from a summer crop of tobacco are enough to get many farmers through the winter."

He took one hand from the wheel and gestured toward the passing fields. "Lots of other things grow well too because of the rich soil. Let's see—corn, beans, peas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, all kinds of vegetables and fruits."

"Is that what you grow?"

Jason turned to look at her, a cynical expression on his face. "Why the sudden interest? You never bothered to ask before. You never even so much as visited the farm," he accused.

Leigh's mouth went dry. "You know that there wasn't really time, everything happened in such a whirlwind with us. I was in school, you were coming to see me weekends. We were trying to get to know each other."

"We didn't do a very good job, did we," Jason commented.

Leigh sighed and shifted uneasily in her seat. After a few minutes she tried again. "Well, what do you grow? I really am interested."

"All the things every other farmer around here grows. Tobacco and vegetables in the summer, peanuts and fruits in the autumn," Jason recited.

A puzzled expression on her face, Leigh asked, "What do you do in the winter if your crops are finished in the autumn?"

"I have a few sidelines," Jason explained. "Farming doesn't take up much of my time, Leigh. A good manager and tenant farmers free me to pursue other interests." He paused, then said softly, "It's difficult to make much money in farming these days, so I diversified. I had to be able to afford someone like you, honey."

Determined to keep things as harmonious as possible, Leigh ignored the jibe and waited for him to continue.

"Harrellsville, about ten miles away from the farm, is where most of my other ventures are located. I have a cannery where products from my farm and neighboring farms are preserved, and a long-distance trucking operation which distributes the canned goods."

Leigh was mildly shocked. She hadn't realized that Jason's undertakings were quite so extensive.

Suddenly he braked and turned into a narrow road lined with oak trees. Meadows and fields, geometrically bounded by rail fencing, stretched as far as the eye could see.

"Is this yours?" asked Leigh.

Jason nodded and pointed out the window. "This land has been in my family for generations, long before the Civil War. We almost lost it once." He quirked an eyebrow at Leigh as if to question her attention. At her nod he went on with the tale.

"My grandfather and his four brothers were each willed one hundred acres of land when their father died, thus breaking up the original five hundred acre holding. The property was further fragmented when three of the brothers sold their portions to move into town. Times were hard and farming was a tough way to make a living. The fourth brother died and his property was divided among various heirs, so eventually my grandfather was the only one left, and his dream was to restore the property to its original size. He was a determined man."

Jason gazed far into the distance as if seeing into the past.

"When the Depression came in 1929, the price of land fell drastically. My grandfather had a little money saved; he didn't trust hanks so he kept his savings in a strongbox in the house and thus didn't lose it when the banks failed. Little by little he bought back the land, a whole farm or an acre or two at a time. It must have been a laborious process. He used to brag that at one time, when things were at their bleakest, he paid only fifteen cents an acre. He eventually recovered the entire property."

As Leigh watched Jason's rugged face, she knew that he had inherited his grandfather's stubbornness and determination along with the five hundred acres.

Jason slowed the car. "We're here," he announced.

The fields had given way to a wide sloping lawn, emerald green and smooth. Crowning a small rise of land in the center of that carpet of green stood the most interesting house that Leigh had ever seen. It wasn't the most beautiful because of its irregularities. She uttered a soft sigh. This would have been her home if things had worked out differently. Sensing that Jason was waiting for a comment, she told him, "It's lovely. Quite, quite lovely."

Of white frame with black shutters, the house had obviously started out, many years ago, as a classically balanced dwelling, its severity softened by huge old boxwoods and masses of flowers. Several additions had been made, not wings exactly but rambling extensions, linked together by a long, shaded porch. Rather than hodgepodge, as one would expect, each addition added character to the house and the total effect was charming.

Jason brought the car to a halt near the front door and before Leigh could climb out tossed a small box in her lap, saying casually, "Better wear those. Folks around here are conventional."

Leigh lifted the lid to reveal her wedding and engagement rings which she awkwardly pushed onto her finger.

As they stepped onto the porch, Leigh shaking the wrinkles from her green knit dress, the front door opened and a tall, angular woman in bright pink stepped out. Quirking her lips into what seemed to be a smile, she spoke to Jason tartly. "It's time you were back. Took long enough."

Then she looked Leigh over, strong disapproval in her eyes. "This must be your wife."

Jason introduced Leigh to his cousin, Mary Smith, or Smitty as he said everyone called her.

The woman's answer was an inelegant "humph." She ignored Leigh's greeting and led the way inside the shining oak-floored hall, telling Jason over her shoulder that she would fetch the child.

Before she could reach the curving staircase, he had halted her with a hand on her arm. "What about some coffee first, Smitty? We've had a long drive."

Smitty turned around and disappeared through a door at the back of the hall.

"I gather she's upset because I'm here," Leigh commented.

Not bothering to deny her guess, Jason directed Leigh toward the double doors on the right side of the hall. Entering the living room she gazed around in wonder. Done in shades of green and gold, the room looked both elegant and comfortable, not a usual combination. And much-used, Leigh thought, noticing that the couch and several deep armchairs were arranged around a table scattered with magazines, and that a book lay open on the stool of the grand piano in the corner.

Jason was watching as she sank into the depths of the gold velvet couch. "The room suits you," he declared surprisingly.

Embarrassed and ill at ease, Leigh was glad when Smitty appeared with a loaded tray.

As they sipped their coffee, the silence lengthened.

"Do you live here alone?" Leigh asked abruptly in an attempt to relieve the tension she felt.

Jason raised black eyebrows. "Curious about my domestic arrangements, Leigh?" he drawled.

Choking on the hot coffee, she spluttered, "I was just trying to make civil conversation and you know it."

There was a slight pause before Jason replied. "Yes, I live here alone, except when Bob and Clare are between assignments." He added coolly, "My nights aren't lonely, though, if that's what you wanted to know."

Leigh's cup clattered into the saucer just as Jason rose from his chair. "We'll get some air while we wait for Smitty," he said, taking Leigh's elbow to guide her to the door.

Leigh pulled violently away from him. His touch was disturbing. "Keep your hands off me, Jason," she hissed.

"With pleasure, my dear," he said smoothly and led the way to the back of the house, through a pleasantly cluttered sun-room, and outside to a slate patio.

It was a lovely spot. Flowering pink and white dogwood trees were clustered around the patio and beyond it, visible through the trees, a kidney-shaped pool was under construction, being built from the same stone as the patio. Before Leigh had had more than a cursory glance around, Smitty was calling them to come inside the house.

In the hall Smitty was holding the hand of a plump little girl dressed in a blue pinafore, her shining brown hair pulled into a fat sausage curl on top of her head.

When she caught sight of Jason she ran to him, reaching up her arms to be held. He swung her up in his arms for a few seconds before depositing her again on her own two feet.

"Jody, I want you to meet your Aunt Leigh," he said. "She's going to be taking care of you for a while."

Jody turned a serious round face to Leigh, held out her hand, and said hello. Kneeling down until she was Jody's height, Leigh took the outstretched hand and as solemnly greeted the little girl. She didn't really know what to say to the child.

Suddenly Jody gave her a mischievous grin that reminded Leigh forcibly of Jason.
If she's like her uncle
, thought Leigh, her heart skipping a beat,
then I'm in for more trouble
.

Jason took Jody's hand and led her toward the front door. "Come on, Leigh, we'd better get going."

"Get going where?" Leigh asked, not moving. "I was under the impression that this is your house."

Jason turned to her, his voice silky. "Didn't I tell you? We won't be staying here. I'm having some remodeling done, a noisy business."

Leigh didn't trust him an inch. "From what I saw, the pool is far enough from the house for the workmen not to make too big a disturbance."

"Ah, but the pool is only the beginning. Next come the upstairs rooms. Hammering, sawing, clutter and dust. It would be too unsettling for a hothouse flower like you, my dear. Now Smitty here is tough as old shoe leather. Nothing bothers her, but you and Jody will be better off away from all the upheaval."

He raised a hand to ward off the protests she was struggling to make. "I've got just the place for us. Exactly what you need, Leigh, a quiet, little cottage. Come on." And with that he firmly herded Leigh and the child out to the car.

After Jody's luggage was stowed in the trunk, the child was installed in the back seat and Leigh in front and Jason drove swiftly down a road that curved around the house and its outbuildings. He passed two cottages standing close together and motioned to them without slowing.

"A couple of my tenant farmers live there," he volunteered. "You'll be able to walk down to visit them from our place."

Another mile or so and Jason pulled into the driveway of a small, square house, similar to the ones they had passed except that this one did not have the well cared for appearance of the other two. It badly needed painting and the yard was unkempt, filled with weeds and more bald spots than grass. Jason helped Leigh out of the car and swept her a mocking bow.

"Welcome to your new home."