Wild Swans Read Free Page A

circles.”
    Ruby’s face, usually lined and tense, relaxed. She gave up on the stain and sat down at the table. She poured herself a cup of coffee and stared into it as if trying to divine the future.
    “Bette Poteet hosted the Olympian Ball this past January. I told her son Jessie, you know the one with the big Buick and the bad comb over? That one.” She paused for an instant and then continued. “I told him that I was interested in attending, and he said he’d be willing to escort me, for a price of course.”
    “Oh my God,” Cally gasped. “That’s scandalous. Did he really do that?”
    “Of course he did. What do you expect from men like him?” Ruby snapped. “So I promised him I would but after the dance, and he agreed. I spent two weeks pay on a ball gown, and I passed myself off as one of the Thibodaux from Slidell to those uppity northern Louisiana friends of theirs. Oh, I’m sure gossip was flung far and wide, but it doesn’t matter. I found my pigeon. He’s a handsome young man. His folks are oil people in Vivian. After a season of scheming and begging, they agreed to marry my Althie to their son.”
    “And what about Jessie?”
    “What do you think happened with Jessie,” Ruby snapped. “I left him stranded at the punch bowl. The nerve of that creature, thinking I would... Oh he’s still prattling around, wheezing and whining that I cheated him, even threatening to take what was offered, but he won’t. He’s a coward. And he won’t dare tell anyone about the bargain we made. Not if he wants his momma to find out what kind of weasel her son is. And believe me;” she said pausing at length, “his momma’s will is more important than my reputation.”
    “You’re playing with fire again, Ruby. Look at the disaster that happened before. Do you honestly want that to happen again?”
    Ruby shrugged and sipped her coffee. “That was a long time ago. I’ve wised up since then. Besides, it doesn’t matter does it? Althea has her Prince Charming waiting for her. In a few weeks time I can relax and stop worrying.”
    “No, now you have finances to worry about,” Cally replied. “You’ve put up a huge loan at the bank. How are we going to be able to pay it off?
    “That’s one of the reasons why I want you to come live with me. Mrs. Bristow has been very generous about letting you stay here with just the piddling amount you make at the store, but still.”
    “And what if I said no? What if I said I want to get married myself?”
    “You wouldn’t leave me, not after all these years.”
    “I’m still young, Ruby. And I don’t want to be an old maid my whole life. Maybe I want a life of my own. Maybe a rich man of my own, have you ever thought about that?”
    Ruby laughed out loud. “Fat chance.”
    “Stranger things have happened,” Cally said evenly.
    “Yes, to us, and those strange things are rarely ever good.”

Chapter Two
     
     
    “Well if that don’t beat all,” Cally said. She leaned against the deli counter and looked out the opened door. Ruby closed the cash register and followed her older sister’s gaze out to the dusty front drive where a black sedan of indeterminate make had arrived. A gentleman of equally indeterminate make and age stepped out. Cally looked at her sister who was scowling as she watched him extract a faded yellow carpet bag and a brown paper sack from the trunk.
    “Raggedy little man ain’t he?” Ruby commented.
    “Oh I don’t know. He don’t look all that bad,” Cally replied. She observed him as he walked up to the store. “I think he’s kinda cute.”
    Ruby shot her sister a glance. “How old are you?”
    Cally grinned as she watched the man approach. “Old enough to know better and young enough to do it anyway.”
    Ruby blushed. “Don’t you start.” She patted her foot impatiently as the man walked toward the store. “That’s all we need, a rooster in the henhouse. And you know he’ll start crowing as soon as he steps foot in