“I don’t need a Bible lesson, Father. I want you to answer me.”
“The deacons and I have been working with the local sheriff to bring an end to moonshine running in this county. We’re shutting the Duval clan down for good.”
“You can’t legislate morality. I know you pretend to, but you can’t. If people want to drink they’ll just get liquor somewhere else.”
“We can remove the temptation, and we will.”
“I don’t understand what your role is in this. If Boyd Cotton wanted to shut this down he doesn’t need you.” Lovey paced across the kitchen. This conversation was getting her nowhere.
“When these reprobates are brought to justice I will be on the podium with the sheriff, as a show of force. People will see that the church has power over their lives. They will be compelled to repent and seek God.”
“Pride. That’s what this is about. Pride and loss of control. You can’t control people, and it makes you angry.”
“I’ll caution you to watch your tongue, young lady. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you said you were with Miss Duval last night. And according to Sheriff Cotton, that’s not the first time. He’ll see to it that Miss Duval is no longer an influence in your life.”
Lovey knew that encounter with Boyd Cotton would come back to haunt her. She just didn’t think it would be at Royal’s expense. She’d been naïve.
“You don’t get to control my life, Father, or who I spend it with.”
“I’ve seen to it that a fine young man from the community has courted you and you will accept his proposal of marriage. I won’t have a daughter of mine given over to an illicit lifestyle.”
“Joe and I broke it off.”
“What?” Her father’s face contorted with the anger he was no doubt trying to keep in check.
“He knows I’m in love with someone else.”
“I won’t hear of this!” He slammed his hands against the table. “You’ll tell him you made a mistake. You’ll fix this right now.”
“I will do no such thing.” At some point during the conversation the power dynamic had shifted. Lovey found herself no longer on the defensive. No longer the timid child, seated on the church pew in awe of her father. It was as if she’d stumbled across the realization that she didn’t need her father’s approval. Especially if his approval required her to live a loveless life based on falsehood, just to keep up appearances. When his anger flared, she didn’t flinch.
“Too often it may seem that the wicked prosper, but the flourishing of the sinful is an illusion. If you throw in with that Duval clan you will be lost and I cannot save you. In the end we are all the sum total of our actions. Character cannot be counterfeited.”
“Indeed it cannot, Father.”
“Thank heaven and earth that your mother isn’t here to witness your behavior.”
Lovey’s blood boiled. To bring her dead mother into this simply to weight his argument with more guilt was the last straw. Her cheeks flamed with heat as she glared at her father across the kitchen table.
She went to her room, pulled a small bag from the closet, and began to shove some clothes and other small items into it. She stuffed the bag as well as she could on such short notice and headed toward the front door. She bolted past her father and out the door. He shouted from the porch as she reached the driveway.
“If you leave now. Don’t come back! You will be shunned from this house and this family!”
She stared at him for a suspended moment, willing him to regret those words for the rest of his life. For surely she knew her own mind and her own heart, and she would return neither of them to this house. She struck out on the road back toward town to find Royal. A sense of urgency quickened her pace.
❖
Royal sat drinking coffee at her mother’s table. She felt calm. For the first time in many days, she felt at ease with herself. She was stiff and a little sore from lack of sleep, but the night with Lovey had been magical. It had been as if they’d existed for a time in a magical cocoon protected from reality and sadness. Even though she would be mournful that they couldn’t be together again, she was grateful that Lovey had come to her when she’d been at her lowest. When she’d needed her touch the most, Lovey had come for her. That had to mean something.
Maybe Lovey did care for her in her own way. Royal understood now that Lovey cared about her, but it just wasn’t in her nature to go against convention. So Lovey would marry and have children, and Royal would go on with her life and look fondly back on their time together. The anger she’d been feeling had ebbed away with the soothing caress of Lovey’s touch. It had been very hard to leave her sleeping in bed, but Royal didn’t think her heart could stand to hear her say good-bye.
Royal knew she wouldn’t be able to stay here either though. She knew if she stayed, watching Lovey build a life with Joe would kill her. Hers would be a slow and painful death. She’d been saving most of her cash. She’d make a break for it after tonight’s run. Make a fresh start somewhere new, far from here.
“Where you been?” Her brother Teddy breezed into the kitchen, poured coffee, and swiped a biscuit from the skillet on the stove. He set the coffee down long enough to fold a piece of bacon over and press it into the biscuit.
“I’ve been right here all morning. Why?”
“No reason.” He stuffed his mouth and chased it with a sip of coffee. “I got chores. I’ll catch you later.”
Royal watched Teddy lope out the door and across the
