Beverly Barton - Silent Killer

The car horn honking reminded them that Seth was waiting in the Jeep Cherokee. Jack slipped his arm around her waist.

If only every day could be like this.

Erin had come to the park with Clay. As far as anyone knew, they were merely acquaintances and this was just a friendly date. Her on-again/off-again sexual relationship with Clay was their private business, something neither of them advertised. Love had absolutely nothing to do with how they felt about each other. All her love, every ounce her heart held, belonged to John Earl. He was everything to her. If only he would realize how much better she would be for him than that insipid Ruth Ann. The woman was practically a saint, or at least John Earl thought so. It wasn’t enough that she was raising two children of her own, but now she had taken in Melissa Hovater and the entire town marveled at her kindness. Even Clay had made some stupid comment about what a great person John Earl’s wife was.

“The woman has a heart of gold, doesn’t she?” he’d said. “Can you imagine her becoming a foster mother to a girl who’s suspected of killing her own father?”

Erin knew that John Earl wasn’t 100 percent in favor of Missy living with them. He hadn’t actually come right out and said it, but Erin was good at reading between the lines. Sometimes she could almost read John Earl’s mind. He was concerned about the Hovater girl’s influence on his own two daughters, and Erin couldn’t say that she blamed him. Felicity was already a handful, a bit of a wild child who seemed to enjoy embarrassing her devout, highly respected parents. And Charity, although quiet and rather moody, seemed to be a paragon of virtue, like her mother.

“Here’s your peach ice cream.” Clay held out the two scoops in a cookie-dough waffle cone, one of Erin’s favorite desserts. “Better start licking.” He chuckled. “It’s already melting.”

She took the cone from him, smiled and ran her tongue around the edges. “Thanks.”

“It’s hot as blue blazes. Why don’t we find us a nice shade tree somewhere?”

She caught a glimpse of John Earl as he and his family settled themselves around one of the concrete picnic tables near the outdoor grandstand set up for the bands and singers. When the love of her life put his arm around his wife’s shoulder, Erin cringed. Damn that woman!

“What’s the matter, sugar?” Clay asked.

“Huh?”

His gaze followed hers, and he grunted. “Give it up, baby doll. Old John Earl won’t ever be yours.”

She snapped her head around and glared at Clay. “Never say never.”

“You’re living in a dream world. That man’s not going to cheat on his wife, and even if he did, he wouldn’t leave her.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. You never know what might happen.”

Ruth Ann might get run over by a bus. Or one day, John Earl could wise up and figure out what he was missing. The one thing Erin knew for certain was that sooner or later, one way or the other, he would be hers.

Ruth Ann had been reluctant about encouraging Missy to join the family today for the Fourth of July celebrations at the park, but John Earl had insisted. After all, if Missy had stayed at home, Ruth Ann would have felt obligated to stay with her. For the past few weeks, since that poor child had been living with them, he had noticed subtle changes in his entire household. His mother-in-law, seldom cheerful or easygoing, had become sullen and irritable. It was apparent that she disapproved of John Earl and Ruth Ann becoming Missy’s foster parents.

“Don’t you think you have enough to deal with as it is?” Faye had asked him. “I feel sorry for the girl, for what her father put her through, but God help us, it’s unfair for anyone to expect Ruth Ann to be a mother to Missy. Don’t you understand that she’s reliving all her own horrible memories?”

“She may be reliving her past with her father,” John Earl had said. “But at least she’s dealing with it while she’s awake. Her nightmares have stopped-or haven’t you noticed? Ruth Ann hasn’t had more than a couple of bad dreams since Missy came to live with us.”

Where Missy becoming a member of their family seemed to have had a positive effect on Ruth Ann, it had had a negative effect on Faye and on Felicity, who seemed to resent all the attention her mother lavished on Missy. Charity was the only one who appeared to be unchanged. She was as she’d always been, his sweet, steady, tenderhearted daughter, who did her best to please everyone.

“Do I have to stay here with the rest of you?” Felicity whined. “If I promise not to get in trouble-”

“I’d rather you didn’t wander off,” Ruth Ann said as she and Faye spread the checkered tablecloth over the concrete table. “We’re going to eat soon, and I don’t want your father to have to search the park for you.”

Felicity glowered at her mother and then turned to her father. “Daddy, please.” She glanced at her wristwatch. “It’s eleven now. Just tell me what time to be back, and I promise I won’t be late. I want to hang around some of my friends and not get stuck with…” She rolled her eyes skyward. “With my family.”

He knew she had stopped herself short of saying “with Charity and Missy.” His daughters possessed different personalities, and although they’d been close as children, they had grown apart during their teen years. And in the past couple of years, Felicity occasionally acted as if she hated her sister.

“Be back here at twelve-thirty.” His gaze connected with Ruth Ann’s, and he immediately recognized that look of disapproval in her eyes.

“Thank you so much.” Felicity gave him a quick hug and then all but ran off into the crowd. He turned to Charity and Missy. “Why don’t you two take a walk, look around and enjoy the day? Just be back here at twelve-thirty.”

“That’s a good idea.” Charity turned toward a somber Missy.

“I’m not sure,” Ruth Ann said. She laid her hand on Missy’s shoulder.

“Teenagers do not want to be stuck with their parents all day,” John Earl told her.

“Come on, Missy,” Charity said. “I saw Seth with his mom over at the waterfall. We could go say hi.”

“All right,” Missy replied and followed Charity, who glanced over her shoulder and gave her parents a reassuring look, as if saying I’ll take care of her.

As soon as the girls were out of earshot, Faye grumbled as she removed a gallon of sweet tea from one of the picnic baskets they had brought from home. “Mark my word, that girl is going to be trouble.”

“Mother!” Ruth Ann glared at Faye.

“For heaven’s sake, it’s not that I don’t feel sorry for her.” Faye laid a package of white paper napkins on the table and reached into the basket for the plastic forks and spoons. “But she is not your responsibility, and you can’t work miracles, you know. You cannot change what happened to her.”

“Of course I can’t. No more than I can change what happened to me. But I can help her to stop feeling guilty, to stop blaming herself for what her father did to her, just as John Earl helped me.”

“I tried to help you,” Faye said. “I did my best.” Faye slammed the boxes of forks and spoons down on the table, and then turned abruptly and walked away.

Ruth Ann heaved a deep sigh.

John Earl placed his arm around her shoulders. “Everything will be all right. It’ll just take time for Faye and Felicity to adjust to having Missy as a part of the family.”

She looked into his eyes. “I hope you’re right. Felicity’s behavior and her attitude in general seem to have gotten worse lately.”

“Give her a little more of your undivided attention and she’ll come around.” He kissed Ruth Ann’s forehead. “Why don’t you take this opportunity to walk around and absorb some of the Fourth of July spirit in the park? I’ll finish up here and put the food out a little before twelve-thirty.”