Page 19 of So in Love
“Hold on to your hats, because this is crazy.”Relieved her now-rapt audience had abandoned their former topic, Crystal launched into a retelling of everything she’d learned.With each revelation, everyone’s eyes widened a bit more.
Finally, Kelsey held up her hand.“This isbatshitinsane.The KKK?”
Crystal nodded.“Yep.”
Brooke shook her head.“Whoa.I’ve heard about the KKK in Oregon—there was a pretty big presence in southern Oregon in the 1920s, if memory serves.”She was from that area.“But I didn’t realize it was here too.”
Crystal pressed her shoulders against the wooden back of the booth.“Apparently it was everywhere in that time period—Oregon had the largest KKK presence west of the Mississippi.”
“That’s horrifying,” Kelsey said.
“But whatever was going on around the turn of the century was likely on a smaller scale.Darryl was surprised to find it and is doing more research.Obviously, we want to be able to definitively say whether the group was responsible for the fire at Bird’s Nest Ranch.”
“Bastards,” Brooke muttered.
“And the leader of the group was actually mayor of Ribbon Ridge at some point?”Alaina asked.“Damn, that’s a story if ever I’ve heard one.You going to write this, Crystal?”
Crystal had expected her to ask, but she still didn’t have a solid answer.“I don’t know.It is an intriguing story.”
Alaina gave her a long, probing look.“I can hear the hesitation in your voice.You can do this.Youshoulddo this.”
“I agree,” Brooke said.“When I think of Dorinda struggling with her husband, him dying, her opening a brothel which burned down—” Her eyes widened.“If the KKK set that fire, they probably murdered Dorinda.”
That was the part that bothered Crystal most, of course.She felt a connection to Dorinda for some inexplicable reason, even though she barely knew anything about the woman.Somehow Crystal just knew her story should be told.Maybe she had her answer after all.“Yes.And people should know.”
Kelsey sipped her cider.“I don’t disagree, but what a horrible event to publicize about Ribbon Ridge.”
“Good point,” Brooke said.
Irritation climbed Crystal’s spine.“Are you saying we should just ignore that it happened?”
Kelsey reacted instantly, her head shaking and her eyes widening.“Hell no.You better believe I’m going to include this in the history project.History is history—and it isn’t all pretty.”
“True that,” Alaina said, raising her glass.
They all offered a silent toast.
“I have to say, I can actually see this as a movie,” Alaina said.“Obviously there’s a lot we don’t know, and I don’t want to sensationalize anything, but it seems like this part of Oregon’s history should be told.”She looked at Crystal.“Maybe this is why you’ve felt so passionate about Dorinda.Maybe this was meant to happen.”
Crystal resisted the urge to roll her eyes.Alaina was a great believer in fate and serendipity and all that nonsense.She always used their friendship as proof.Without one another, Alaina would likely be a drug addict like her mother, and Crystal would probably be married to her dealer.Yikes, that was a dark thought.
The buffalo tots arrived, and they all dug in.Brooke dipped a tot into the ranch dressing.“I could see this being a movie too.Does that mean you’ll produce it, Alaina?”
Crystal, pouring ketchup onto a small plate, became momentarily distracted by Brooke’s question and too much flowed out of the bottle.Oh well.She loved ketchup.It wasn’t like she wouldn’t use it all.
Alaina’s gaze strayed to the plate.“I don’t know.It’s Crystal’s project.”
Crystal sent her a grateful look.Kelsey had started all this with her history exhibit at the library, then they’d all jumped in to help.But it had been Crystal who’d really connected with Dorinda and had continued the research—with Darryl’s help, of course.
Brooke looked a little uncomfortable.“I didn’t mean to suggest it wasn’t.”She sent Crystal an apologetic glance.
“It’s okay,” Crystal said.“It makes sense you would ask Alaina about producing.That is her job, after all.Well, one of them,” she added with a laugh.
“So what all do you know about this KKK group?”Alaina asked before popping a tater tot into her mouth.
“Not much.Just that the Grand Cyclops was mayor and then his son was mayor at the time of the fire at Bird’s Nest Ranch.And the group stretched as far as Lane County, which is where that letter originated.”Crystal had started her tale with the letter, as Darryl had done.
“Right, that Dell Beatty asshole,” Kelsey said.“What did you say the Grand Cyclops’s name was?”
