It Happened One Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

set her glass down with a thump. “Now I am going to peel potatoes, and if I’m real lucky, my knife will slip and slit my wrist and everyone’s misery and disappointments will be over.”
    She stomped out of the library, knowing that her mother wouldn’t be far behind.
    â€œTattoo? You have a tattoo?” Marcie yelped, and put a hand to her throat in disbelief. “Dewey, did you hear her? Harley June has gone and gotten herself tattooed.”
    Dewey was feeling pretty good about things so far and chose to pour himself another shot of liquor.
    â€œMarcie, you go help Harley finish up supper now, you hear? I don’t know about Sam, but I’m feeling mighty peckish.”
    Marcie  threw  up  her  hands  and  bolted  after  herdaughter, muttering beneath her breath about morals and traditions.
    Sam felt sorry for what Harley was having to face, but there was nothing he was willing to do to change it. He wasn’t giving her up for anything or anyone, and the sooner that became evident to all parties concerned, the better off they would be.
    * * *
    â€œMrs. Beaumont, this fried chicken is delicious. You soaked it in buttermilk before you battered it, didn’t you?”
    To say Marcie was surprised by his question would have been putting it mildly. She had alternated between the certainty that her social standing in the community was forever ruined and the knowledge that her daughter was tattooed. Now, to hear this man—the man who had so smilingly announced himself as her son-in-law—ask if she used buttermilk to soak her chicken was almost ludicrous.
    â€œWhy, yes, I did,” she muttered.
    Sam nodded. “I thought so. My Grannie did the very same thing. Said chicken wasn’t worth frying without it.”
    Marcie was interested in spite of herself. The mention of ancestry in any form was of grave importance to her.
    â€œMy grandmother didn’t cook,” Marcie said.
    Sam frowned. “Wow. I’ll bet her husband had afine time with that. How on earth did her family get fed?”
    Marcie’s nose tilted upward to snooty and Harley winced. She knew what was coming, but figured Sam had asked for it.
    Marcie’s mouth pursed primly. “Why, they hired a cook, just like every genteel family did in those days.” Then she sighed. “Oh, for the good old days.”
    Dewey snorted. “You don’t clean your own house and you haven’t cooked a meal like this since last Easter, Marcie Lee, so don’t go all pitiful on us now.”
    Sam laughed, which insulted Marcie highly.
    Personally, Harley just wanted the night to be over.
    â€œI come from people who did their own cooking and cleaning,” Sam said. “I do my own, between shifts at the firehouse, of course.”
    Dewey leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table as he fixed Sam with a curious gaze.
    â€œSam, what made you want to be a fireman?”
    Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. Just always thought I’d like it.” Then he looked at Harley, wishing he could say something that would take that “shoot me and get it over with” look off her face. “And I do...like it, I mean.”
    â€œBut it’s so dangerous,” Dewey said. “I know this isn’t a topic for supper conversation, but were you working in Oklahoma City when that federal building was bombed?”
    The animation went out of Sam’s face, and when itdid, Harley felt as if something inside of her had twisted and cracked. She had a sudden urge to put her arms around his neck and cradle him to her breasts. He looked so—stricken.
    â€œYes. I was there.”
    â€œDaddy, would you care for another piece of chicken?”
    Dewey blinked. Harley was passing him the platter of chicken, and the look in her eyes ended whatever else he might have asked.
    â€œWell, uh, yes, don’t mind if I do.”
    Marcie wasn’t interested in