Clinton took her hand in his. “Miracles still happen; I’m living proof of that. The doctors said I would never walk again, so I made up my mind to never fuss about my limp.”
“What fixes damaged hearts? I mean, in a virtual sense,” Taryn asked.
“Love and lots of it,” Clinton answered.
Taryn hoped that someday love wouldn’t be in a virtual sense but in a very real one ... because she was falling in love with Clinton McEntire.
“Jorja, you can start talking while we wait on our food,” Irene said as she helped Ruby before sitting down beside her at the table for six. “I can’t believe you’ve kept this from me for all these years, but it sure explains why you don’t date. Have you talked to your parents about what happened?”
“No,” Jorja said in a low voice. “I was afraid that they would be disappointed in me for even going out to Amos’s old barn for that graduation party. I was too embarrassed to even tell you, for fear you would all hate me.”
Nettie Jones breezed into the Dairy Queen and waved a hand in front of her face. “I swear, if it’s this hot in June, I hate to see what July will be like.” She made a beeline toward the table, and Jorja had to battle to keep from rolling her eyes. “I take it that you-all were at the funeral. That was some letter that Amos wrote, wasn’t it? I’m glad he left his farm to you girls, though, but I got to admit, I figured he would let Forrest have it. But then, maybe Forrest ain’t too good with the management business. Now, I don’t know that for a fact. No sir.” She stopped for a quick breath and went on. “But Linda needs to taste a little humble pie after going around telling everyone what she intended to do with the money when ‘the old geezer’—her words, not mine—kicked the bucket. Anyway, I called our preacher right away and told him that Ford Chambers should be investigated, and if this is true, he shouldn’t be working with the youth. I think it’s the gospel truth, though, because Amos was as honest a man as ever walked.” She patted Jorja on the shoulder. “Well, y’all enjoy your dinner when it gets here. I came in for an ice-cream sundae. When you’re eighty-five years old, you can eat sweet stuff for dinner if you want.” She hurried to get to the counter before the large group coming in from outside could put in their order.
“If there was a committee for gossip, Nettie would be the president,” Ruby whispered.
“What in the ...?” Jorja gasped.
“That didn’t take long,” Taryn said.
“It’s good enough for the sorry sumbitch,” Anna Rose declared.
“No, it’s not.” Irene’s tone dripped icicles. “Nothing, short of being run out of town, is good enough for any of those three men.”
“I don’t know if I’m bewildered or if I’m happy,” Jorja whispered.
“You’ll figure it out in time,” Ruby told her. “But go on with your story.”
Jorja kept her voice low and the story short. “I still have nightmares about that night, but Anna Rose and Taryn are helping me. I don’t think we should be talking about this in public. Remember what you used to tell us, Nana Irene?”
“Which time?” Irene asked.
“Little corn has big ears,” Anna Rose and Taryn said at the same time.
Ruby giggled. “So do big corns.”
The same lady who had taken their order at the counter brought their food to the table and then leaned down and whispered, “Did y’all hear about Ford and those other two boys? Do you know who old Amos was talking about? That one name he heard?”
Jorja’s chest tightened. “Who doyouthink it might be?”
“I was at that party, and it could have been me. That jerk Billy Johnson would not leave me alone,” the woman said. “By the way, I’m Paula, and I was a couple of years behind you in school, Jorja. Ford and I ran into each other at a party a few years later. I never spoke up because I was too embarrassed—but nine months and one big spiked drink later, I had a baby. He’s blond and blue eyed, just like Ford. I confronted Ford about the baby when he was born, but he refused to do a paternity test. His dad offered me a settlement to keep my mouth shut, but I didn’t take it.”
Ruby laid a hand on Paula’s arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“It was tough at first, but I finished high school,” Paula said with a smile. “My son is the light in my world, but I’m glad Amos left that letter. If there’s other girls, I hope they are as happy as I am that someone stepped up and exposed that man for what he is. Y’all enjoy your food, now.”
Jorja sucked in a lungful of air and let it out very slowly. “So, I wasn’t the only one.”
Irene gave her a sideways hug. “How does that make you feel?”
“I hate that ...” Jorja hesitated and looked around the room before she whispered, “That young girls suffered, and I feel sorry for them.”
“I hope they all come forward now that Amos broke the news,” Taryn said. “The time has come for them—especially Ford—to have to face the music.”
“Are you preaching to yourself or to the world in general?” Irene asked.
“Both. But for the most part, I faced my fiddler long ago,” Taryn answered.
Jorja stiffened her spine and pushed her chair back. This had gone on too long, and Anna Rose had been right when she said that talking to others helped. Maybe it would do even more to visit with the girls who had been drugged that night. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
