Page 44 of Handling Skylar
River looked at her momma, and I knew there was no disputing the Bylaws.
“It is,” River said between clenched teeth.
All right, then I have your challenge prepared. She picked up a large box on the table and with a triumphant look she handed it to me. You will find everything you need along with the directions. See that they’re carried out or you’ll be disqualified.”
At the end of the day, I took the box home with me. I hadn’t the heart to open it before I was in a safe place. I fully expected an explosion or, at the very least, jumpy worms to spring out.
But instead, inside was a wide brimmed straw hat, an authentic heavy Civil War era dress complete with a hoop skirt in a pale green with frilly sleeves and ribbons, gloves and parasol. I groaned softly and Jake who was working on his application to LSU looked over.
“You finally opened it?”
I groaned again, and he grinned. “What is the challenge?”
I picked up the book and a printed page. “I have to stand in the square for an hour a day reciting passages fromGone With The Windas Scarlett. I am to comport myself in the image of her to the letter so as to not dishonor her in the slightest. She does realize this book is one thousand and thirty-seven pages.”
“Sure she does. She’s trying to get you to quit.”
“Well, I won’t. I’ve readGone With The Windand loved it, so she can stick that parasol where the sun don’t shine.”
He rose and glanced in the box. Reaching down, he picked up the corset. “What is this?”
“It’s a torture device women wore back then,” I groused and when he looked at me, his eyes gleamed. Like some of the tops you wear—what are they called?”
“Bustiers? Oh, I see where this is going. You want me to model it for you?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“Men are so easy.”
“Pretty much. I like the whole boosting thing.”
It wasn’t that I couldn’t do this. I could. I wanted to fit in for Jake’s sake, but mostly I wanted to show Anna Kate she couldn’t push me around. Just because she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and she thought the sun, moon and stars revolved around her, didn’t mean squat.
“You’re not doing this for me, are you?” he said sitting down on the bed and pushing Scarlett away. “Because if you are, babe, there’s no need.”
I didn’t answer him right away and his expression altered, the amusement dying away. I finally said, my tone quiet, “Belles run in your family, Jake. I don’t want to be an embarrassment to you.”
“Never going to happen.” My past would disagree, but there was no need to bring it up. That was not a factor here in my new town. Here I had a clean slate.
He reached out, hooked me around the neck and drew me against his warm, hard body. Something sweet and wonderful washed through me, something that made me feel light and happy. I looked into his eyes. The world melted away, the air always heavy in the bayou, but it always seemed to double when I was close to this man. Silence fell between us, a silence underscored by the way our eyes communicated this delicious attraction between us, as if we couldn’t get enough, it was our lifeblood. I felt it in every pore of my body as it descended like a curtain, hot and silky around us.
My mind was a jumble of thoughts as I raised my head and that sensation of getting lost, but in a good way, filtered over me. I was falling in love with Jake, and there didn’t seem to be anything I could do about it. “I’m no Scarlett O’Hara. I don’t have the mean in me like she did.”
“No, you don’t. That is for certain. But, being cast as Scarlett, a determined, high-strung beauty with just the right touch of deceit and flirtation fits Anna Kate perfectly. You, on the other hand, are just a determined beauty.”
“And, you are a handsome, charming, devil just like Rhett.”
“Ah, I think I am much more like Ashley here, but I think there is a change in the wind. I need to channel Rhett if I’m going to be my own man.”
“You’ve made up your mind about what you want to do?”
“I’m going to get my Ph.D. and if my daddy can’t see my value, then I’ll start my own orchard.”
“I support you all the way, Jake. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
“You do it every day by being my sunshine.”
I reached for the thick book. “My mother swore by that book. Even though she wasn’t from the South, she identified with Scarlett’s strength and courage in all the trials she had to face and how she rose to the occasion. I do admire that, and I think I’ll emulate and channel that about her.”
