it clear that the boy didn’t figure it would be kept anytime soon. From the grim expression on Orren’s face, Mattie concluded that Chaz was correct; a conclusion which did nothing to calm the butterflies beating madly in her stomach. She held her breath as Orren moved into his room and abruptly stopped, shock registering on his face. Mattie closed her eyes, biting her lower lip to stifle a moan of distress. Suddenly Orren rounded on her.
“I don’t believe this!”
Feeling sick, Mattie pressed a hand to her abdomen and quickly said, “I’ll put it all back, I swear. I’ll do it before I go home tonight.”
Orren lifted his hands to his hips. “No way!”
“But—”
Throwing his arms out, he whirled. “This is great! It’s wonderful! I can’t believe you did this without spending a cent!” Suddenly he whirled back. “You didn’t, did you? Spend any money, I mean, because if you bought stuff, it’ll have to go back. I can’t afford—”
“No!” she interrupted. “I didn’t buy a thing! I just sort of…rearranged stuff.”
He grinned and pivoted to take another look. “This is amazing. You’re a genius, Mattie, I swear you are! Man, I’m sure glad I didn’t throw any of this stuff away. I nearly stomped that pail there, and I can’t tell you how many times I meant to burn those old crooked fence posts!”
“I he’ped!” Yancy said around the thumb in her mouth.
“Me, too!” Chaz admitted proudly.
“They all did,” Mattie said, tossing a glance in Jean Marie’s direction.
Jean Marie clamped her jaw and glared at her, tears gathering in her eyes. She advanced on her father. “You don’t like all this junk, do you?”
Orren smiled, completely missing the import of the question. “I like it real fine, Red. Y’all did a good job.”
“But what about Mama’s curtains?” she cried.
Orren turned a confused face at Mattie. “I put them away,” she said softly. “I thought if…when the girls get a room of their own, they might like to use them in there.”
“Now that’s a good idea,” Orren said a bit too heartily, finally having divined the problem. “You’ll like that, won’t you, Red? Maybe we can put up one of those borders you see in all the stores these days, too.”
“And we can dye the curtains and bedspread to match,” Mattie offered helpfully. “With some pretty throw pillows and a nice scarf or two we could—”
Crying out in frustration and rage, Jean Marie tore from the room and out of the house. Sighing, Orren bowed his head in defeat.
“I’m so sorry,” Mattie said. “I didn’t realize how sensitive she is about her mother’s things. I shouldn’t have made any changes without consulting you first, either. Maybe we should put everything back.”
Orren shook his head. “Mattie, I owe you a debt of gratitude. You read me just right, figuring what I’d like and all, and you did a fine job in here. I never imagined what all you could do for us when I hired you! Makes me wish I could keep you on past the end of summer, but since everybody will be going back to school, you included…. Well, never mind that. The thing is, I like this room a whole lot better now than I ever did before, and Red has to accept the fact someday that her mother isn’t ever coming back. I wish I knew what to say to her to make her understand. Lord knows I’ve tried, and I reckon I’ll just have to keep on trying. But you don’t owe anybody any apologies. Now, if it’s all right with you, I’ll wash up and go talk to her while you get dinner on the table. My belly’s beating against my backbone, I’m so hungry, and whatever you’ve cooked up in there sure smells good.”
Mattie smiled and nodded. “All right. It won’t take long. The meat loaf’s done, and the macaroni’s almost ready.”
Orren licked his lips and made hungry noises while she turned away and headed for the kitchen. He slipped out the door a few minutes later, and soon after that returned with a pouty Jean Marie in tow. Her eyes and nose were red from crying, and her attitude had not noticeably improved, but she said nothing as she sullenly ate her dinner, then disappeared into the back of the house.
Mattie made short work of the post-dinner cleanup, while Orren spent time with the youngest two girls before putting them down for the night. When she gathered her things to make her usual low-key departure, however, Orren appeared to thank her once again for all she’d done.
“You are one talented young lady,” he said. “I don’t know anyone your age anywhere who could do what you’ve done. One of these days you’ll make a fine wife and mother.”
He hadn’t the least idea how dismaying his words were to Mattie. None of her efforts, she realized, had made him see her as the adult she was inside, if not outside. Perhaps it was time for another sort of transformation, this time of herself.
Chapter Three
It was just a sundress, and that’s exactly what Mattie told her father, patiently, unconcernedly, determinedly. He didn’t buy a syllable of it.
“That thing’s indecent!” he exclaimed, walking a circle around her, the better to become outraged by the strapless bandeau top and the short slit skirt that exposed the matching short-shorts. “You’ve worn bathing suits less revealing than that!”
“And will again,” she assured him nonchalantly. “In fact, if you prefer, I could wear one today and save myself the same hassle.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She sighed and flipped the long tail of her hair over her shoulder. “We’re going to lie out in the sun today,” she explained, delivering the well-thought-out excuse. “The kids should start swimming lessons soon, and I want us all to get a little sun first. I don’t want to have to change my clothes twice to manage it.”
Evans scowled but couldn’t argue with her logic. Amy stepped into the fray, lifting a loving hand to her husband’s shoulder, sending a knowing look to Mattie. “Honestly, Evans, you sound like the father of a twelve-year-old instead of a twenty-year-old.”
“She’s not twenty!”
“She’s closer to twenty than nineteen.”
“That dress would be indecent at fifty!”
Amy smirked. “Now I agree with you there, unless, of course, the fifty-year-old should have a body like a twenty-year-old. Give over, Dad. Your little girl is all grown up and has a perfect right to wear anything she wants.”
“Oh, and I have no right to voice my opinion, I suppose,” Evans sulked.
“You have as much right to voice your opinion, Daddy, as I have to ignore it,” Mattie said blithely, and with that she went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “See you tonight. Have a good day. Bye, Amy.” Trilling her fingers at her stepmother, she sauntered down the hall, ignoring the heatedly whispered conversation taking place behind her. Poor Daddy. How upset he would be if he knew upon what campaign she had just embarked!
Orren frowned at the Mattie who stood before him, busily pinning up her hair. If she was not careful that so-called dress was going to show more than it already did, and it showed quite enough already—more than enough. The sight of all that pale golden skin made him decidedly nervous. His hands were shaking, for pity’s sake! Not that he found her attractive exactly, not in the same way as he’d found Gracie attractive. Heavens, no. Gracie was sexy, blatantly so, almost embarrassingly so. She had often referred to herself as a “hot property,” and no one had ever argued with the assessment. Gracie breathed heavy sexuality and had from a very early age. He imagined she’d appeared more worldly and womanly at twelve than Matilda Kincaid did at twenty. There was something innocent about Mattie, something wholesome. Actually, coupled with her very