startled brown eyes met hers, luminous in the glow of the streetlight. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I can’t go away and leave my family without some help. I have an obligation to them.”
“Then we’re at an impasse.”
“Where do we go from here?”
“You know the answer as well as I do, Clark.”
“You mean we should stop seeing each other?”
“What else? Why keep turning a knife that will only cause deeper pain?”
“It will break my heart, but I’ll do what you say.”
“We won’t be seeing each other much now anyway, since you won’t be going to school.”
“We could meet on the mountain now that spring has come,” he said hopefully.
Beth shook her head, and Clark drew her into his arms and drained the depth of his despair onto her lips. “I thought this was going to be the happiest night of my life,” he said. “Instead, it’s the blackest.”
Beth held him tightly for a moment, savoring his closeness, then slipped out of his arms, and seemingly out of his life. With brimming eyes, she jumped from the car and ran up the steps and into the house.
Beth was startled when a horn sounded behind them, and realizing that Clark was driving more slowly, she lifted her head as he exited the interstate onto a secondary road.
“Please excuse my behavior, Clark,” she said. “Now that I’m back in Kentucky, I keep remembering incidents of the past I thought I’d forgotten completely. Believe me, I’m not usually so weepy.”
She sensed that Clark was grinning, although she wouldn’t look directly at him.
“I’ve never thought of you as a crybaby, but you’ve had plenty of reason to cry.”
“I’ve been thinking about the night I went with you to the prom.”
“I’ve thought of that lots of times, too. You sure were pretty in that white dress.”
“The pink corsage made it look nicer. You were so handsome in your new suit, and I was happy to be your date.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry the night had to end on a sour note.”
Clark patted her hands where they lay clenched in her lap. “That’s the way it should have been, so don’t worry about it. We can’t do anything about the past.”
Beth sighed, and cupped her fingers around his. “The rest of that year was the worst time of my life.”
“I know, and I wish I could have helped you more. I thought my heart would break when you moved away.”
Beth’s thoughts drifted back to the dismal closing days of her freshman year. Those were heartrending days without Clark’s attention—days that were only a prelude to what the summer held for Beth. In mid-June her mother had a heart attack and died before an ambulance could reach the hollow; and moments after John Warner realized that his wife was dead, he slumped in his rocking chair and, gasping for breath, also died.
For the two days prior to the funeral, Beth wandered around in a state of shock. Her half siblings flocked into the house, took over burial arrangements, insisting that the property belonged to them now; and legally it did, because John had deeded the property to his first wife before he’d joined the army during World War IL Beth had no desire to own the property, but she did need a home.
That problem was solved when Ella Blaine arrived at the house and said, “Pack your things, Beth, and as soon as the funeral is over, I’m taking you to live with me all the time.” Ella took a long look at the coffin of her youngest daughter. “But we won’t stay in Harlan County. There are too many bad memories for both of us here. I’m going to sell out and move to Prestonburg where my other children live—I only stayed here to be close to Mary.” Beth was heartened by that news, especially since Pam and Ray Gordon had also moved to Prestonburg, and at that distance, she would be rid of her half siblings, and unlikely to see Clark at all, although she did wish she could see him once more before she left the area.
Quite a large gathering of neighbors and family came to the funeral, most of them arriving a day early so they could participate in the double wake. When Beth followed the funeral procession out of the house, she saw Clark standing to one side, his brown eyes full of compassion. It was unheard of for a Randolph to attend a Warner funeral, and it must have taken a lot of courage to risk the hostility that would ensue if he were recognized.
After the graveside service, Beth looked around to see if Clark had gone. He was standing apart from the others, and she walked to his side.
He reached out and took her hand. “I’m sorry, Bethie.”
At first her throat was too tight for speech. Clark lifted a hand and wiped away the tears that ran down her cheeks, and his touch was rough on her face. That’s what the coal mines do to you, she thought bitterly. Only a month in the mine, and already, his hands were rough and scruffy.
“I’m leaving right away, Clark, to live with my grandmother. I’ll finish high school in Prestonburg.”
“The mountains are going to seem mighty empty without you, but I can see that it’s best for you to leave. Will I ever see you again?”
“I don’t know.”
After the shock of her parents’ tragic deaths had worn off, Beth had enjoyed living in Prestonburg. She’d made new friends, and her grades were above average. At times her wayward thoughts turned to Clark and the love they had known, but, with determination, she pushed the memories aside. She liked living near Pam Gordon, and she spent a lot of time at the Gordons’ house, especially when Ray was touring with his band.
Thinking of her friend, Beth said, “I stopped by Prestonburg to see Pam a couple of days ago, and learned they’d moved. Do you see Ray and Pam often?”
“Not as much as I did before I came to Lexington. Haven’t you kept in touch with Pam?”
Shaking her head, Beth said, “No, and I’m ashamed to admit it. As good as Pam was to help me when I was in high school, I should at least have sent her a Christmas card. I thought I was better off to forget people in Kentucky, but I’m beginning to have second thoughts about it.”
Yes, Pam had helped her buy clothes and supported her in everything she wanted to do, but they couldn’t agree about Beth’s friendship with Alex.
In the closing months of her senior year, her life changed completely when she met Alex Connor.
Alex was associated with the United States Foreign Service, and was in Kentucky to determine how the state’s products, particularly coal and tobacco, could be expanded into overseas markets. He had a temporary office in Prestonburg, and Beth was assigned to work there a few hours each week to fulfill the requirements of her business-cooperative course, whereby high-school seniors gained work experience in local businesses.
Alex seemed the embodiment of Beth’s dreams. He was educated, he was handsome—blond-haired, blueeyed, with a lean build—and he appeared to be captivated by Beth. They had several dates, and Beth soon found out that his aspirations matched hers. Her dream of reaching beyond Kentucky soared when she was with Alex.
“A few more years of drudgery like this,” he often said, “and I’ll have enough years of service to be transferred overseas. I want to see the world.”
On her graduation night, when Beth received the scholarship, her excitement was boundless, especially since she had a date with Alex and some other graduates for a gala dinner after the ceremonies. Beth thought she was well on her way toward her coveted goal, until she came face-to-face with Clark Randolph at the close of the graduation exercises.
He approached her, smiling, and because her heart raced at the sight of this man, whom she hadn’t seen since she’d left Harlan County, she was less friendly with him than she might otherwise have been. She was