“I’m ready whenever you are.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Royal tested the foam cap on the boiler. Deciding the beer was ready, she secured the cap to start the process where the alcohol vapors traveled through the coil and then liquefied and dripped into the large pot. She knew it would take about three days for this next mixture to be ready for bottling. If all went as planned, she wouldn’t be here to see this mix delivered. But she was going through the motions because she didn’t want any trouble from Wade before she was ready to leave.
The sun was dropping behind the ridge when she began to gather things up. She had just thrown a bushel crate in the trunk of her car when she looked up and saw Teddy approaching on horseback. It only took a few more seconds for her to realize that Lovey was seated behind him on Midnight.
What the hell? She stood dumbstruck as Teddy assisted Lovey with her dismount. Lovey slid off the back of the horse, the hem of her dress catching against the saddle as she dropped. She quickly adjusted it after landing on her feet.
“Lovey, what are you doing here?” Royal couldn’t decide if she was happy or angry. Teddy should have never brought her up to the still. Why had he done that? She gave him a questioning look as he turned his horse to head back down the hill.
“Don’t look at me. She said it was urgent so I brung her to ya. She’s been waitin’ for you nearly all afternoon.”
“Thank you, Teddy.” Lovey brushed her hands against her skirt. She moved over to where Royal was standing, frozen like a statue.
“Lovey, what the hell are you doing up here? You can’t be here. If my uncle Wade sees you he’ll kill me and probably you as well.”
“I needed to talk to you. It’s important and it’s urgent.”
“Well, come on. We’re not going to talk here. Get in the car.” She ushered Lovey toward the car and pulled away quickly, heading back down the steep rutted roadway. After a few moments, she took a side road, and when she felt they’d put enough distance between themselves and the still, she pulled off the road and got out of the car. She began pacing back and forth in front of the car with her head in her hands.
“I can’t believe this. Lovey, I can’t see you right now. I’m barely keeping it together as it is. What are you doing here?”
“Defying convention.”
“What?” Royal turned to look at her, mid pace. That she’d quoted the poem Royal had sent through the mail wasn’t lost on her.
Lovey was beside her, matching her step for step until she stopped. “Royal, listen. You left this morning without me telling you that Joe and I broke it off.”
“What?”
“Joe and I, we broke it off.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m in love with someone else.”
Royal stared at her. Hope surged in her chest. Could this really be true?
“Who are you in love with?” Royal had to ask because doubt wouldn’t allow her to hope that the object of Lovey’s affection might be her.
“I’m in love with you, Royal.” Lovey placed her hands on Royal’s arms. “I’m in love with you. I think I have been since that night I found you hanging upside down in your car.”
“But…what about your father…what about all the things you said to me about why we couldn’t be together? What’s changed?”
“Everything has changed because I have changed.”
Royal ran her fingers through her hair and blinked back tears. “Don’t play games with me, Lovey. I can’t take it right now.”
“I’m not playing a game with you. I’m serious. I told my father that Joe and I aren’t going to marry. He knows I spent last night with you.” She dropped onto the wide front bumper of the car. “He told me if I left to come find you that I shouldn’t come back. And so here I am.” She looked at her folded hands in her lap.
Royal sat next to her, leaning against the front of the car. “I’m at a loss for what to say.”
Lovey laughed. “I thought you daredevil poets had a line for everything.”
“Apparently not.” Royal leaned forward and put her face in her hands.
“Royal, look at me.” Lovey stroked her back. “Look at me.”
Royal turned toward her.
“Royal Duval, I’m madly, deeply in love with you. Please say you feel the same way about me. I’m so sorry it took me so long to—” Her words were cut short as Royal pulled her into a passionate kiss. They stood up, never breaking their kiss, with their bodies pressed fully against each other. Royal gathered the fabric at the back of her dress in her fingers and pulled her close.
“Oh, Lovey. I love you too.” She whispered the words against Lovey’s cheek.
“Listen, Royal. There’s something else.”
“Besides being madly in love with me?”
“When I got to the house this morning, Boyd Cotton was there with my father.”
Royal pulled away so that she could see Lovey’s face. “What?”
“They have some plan that I admit I don’t fully understand, but the delivery tonight isn’t real. They’re trying to trap you and your uncle.”
“Are you sure?”
“You have to believe me. You can’t make this run tonight. That’s why I had to find you, to warn you.”
“Okay, listen, it’ll be okay.” Royal put her arm around Lovey and led her to the passenger side of the car. “Let’s just get back to the house. I need a minute to absorb all of this and think it through.”
Royal climbed into the driver’s seat and sat for a moment studying Lovey. She wanted to believe everything that Lovey was telling her. Especially the part about being madly in love, but she worried that her optimism was too quick to accept this change of heart. As if reading the doubts on her face, Lovey spoke.
“I’m so sorry for everything I put you through.”
Royal looked down at Lovey’s hand on her thigh. She
