Disclaimer Note: The characters are that of SE Hinton the story is that of mine, as I would have seen it.
A/N. This one is a bit long but well worth it. Next Chapter I promise old faces come into the picture. Caution as there is a bit of drama, and some profanity
Chapter Twelve
"Meet the in-laws"
"Damn Cherry you are going to pace a hole in Dad's lawn." I said for the umpteenth time. "I'm the one that should be nervous."
"What?" she said oblivious, she had been in her own little world. "Oh I am not worried about that, it doesn't matter to me anyway what they think or say about you?" She smiled then before lighting up a cigarette. "I know the real you and that is all that matters."
"Oh my god," I heard a older female voice say. "Sherry is that you darling, and what are you holding?"
Cherry visibly cringed, I don't know if it was because of the woman's voice or maybe just because she had been called by her birth name. "Yes it is mother," She almost spat out. "Oh and this," she said and took a long pull on the cigarette. "Is just what it looks like, a cigarette."
I was looking at the man beside the woman as I leaned against the swing, trying to gage his reaction to all of this. He didn't say anything at first, and yet all I could think about was. 'Am I invisible,' cause I am here also. I cleared my throat then as Cherry was taking one last drag on her cigarette and then she turned to me and smiled.
"Mom and dad I want you to meet, Dally, I mean Dallas Winston." I saw the woman start looking me up and down then as if sizeing me up for a fight.
"Good to finally meet you." Her father said as he offered his hand for a shake that I should have never met.
"If you don't mind me asking what is it you do for a living?" I asked with as much a straight face as I could considering the vice like grip he had on me.
"Oh I am a surgeon, pediatrics is my speciality." He answered and all I could think was.
'Great I'll have to remember not to let him get anywhere near my kids.' That brought a smile to my otherwise contorted face then as I heard her mom say something to Cherry, and I saw that she was again lighting up. The tension was so thick, it would have taken a chainsaw to cut it, and then her father let my hand go.
"Can a father get a hug?" He asked and Cherry instantly went to his embrace.
"I know who you are." I heard her mom say then and I looked at her. "Yeah I've seen your picture and name in the paper."
'Here we go,' I thought then and help came from an unlikely source.
"So you made it." I heard dad's voice say then as he came around the corner of his house and he looked at the older couple. "You must be Cherry's parents, she has talked highly of you." I wanted to say something to dad before he took the other man's hand only to be polite I kept my mouth shut.
Looked as though it was a normal handshake then and I could only think. "Jeez, all Doctor's must have a handshake like that.'
"Sherry do you really have to do that?" Her mom asked and before Cherry could answer I heard her dad say.
"Clarice she is over eighteen and can do what ever she wants to." I know I must have had a shocked look on my face then only I quickly recovered as he added. "So just get used to it." He turned to Cherry then. "So this is the young man who has stolen your heart."
I saw Cherry nod with a smile and then dad had to ask. "That reminds me the date is when?"
"Next month," Cherry replied and I heard her mother mutter something under her breath and dad asked.
"What was that Ma'am?"
"I was saying not if I have anything to say about it." I saw Cherry's dad grab her mom by the elbow then.
"Excuse us," was all he said as we watched him take her off out of distance for us to hear.
I could tell though that it was a back and forth conversation only it seemed even until he walked back to us smiling. "You'll have to excuse her, she's been under a lot of pressure lately." That part sounded rehearsed but I let it go as he turned to dad. "My daughter says you are a doctor also, what's your speciality?"
"In this town I am general Surgeon, only one of a handful that we have here on staff." Dad said with a proud smile and all I could think was, 'oh brother they are going to talk shop the rest of the time.'
Then I heard dad say. "But lets not talk about that now, I promised the kids we wouldn't." He grinned then. "At least not till we got out on the lake maybe. That is if you fish?"
Cherry's dad began to smile. "So me a rod and reel and I'll show you relaxation."
Dad began to smile then. "Yep that's what I 've been trying to tell him," I saw him nod at me. "But all he does is work and stay home with Cherry here."
"Then while she is sleeping he goes out and robs and beats up people." I heard a female voice say then and I turned to see that Cherry's mom was rejoining us at the same time that I saw a hand go across her face.
The slap I swear sounded like it could have been heard all the way clean and clear back to Tulsa and even down to Dallas, as I looked and saw Cherry, her hand red like fire as her mom said. "Well Sherry if I never."
That was all it took then as I saw Cherry's face go as red as her hand. "Mother that is just it, you haven't even started. You come up here with some preconceived image of someone because of what you have read in the papers or what your high fluttin' friends in the bridge and ladies auxiliary club have gossiped about, and don't even let it go." She put her arm through mine then. "This man is more then what you know from reading the newspapers.
"He cares for me, for me!" She stepped forward then. "You hear that, for me, not because I am the daughter of some prominent doctor who has so much pull he can get anyone into college. No he loves me for who I am."
Her mom's cheek was back to normal then after rubbing it the whole time and when Cherry paused she cut in. "But can't you see it's all a ploy anyway, just until you get your..."
Cherry cut her off then. "My what, my trust fund that dad set up for me, not you." She pointed a finger at her mom's chest then and I swear if it had been a gun then there would be a murder on our hands. "Yeah I know all about that mother. How you wanted me to just go to school and then after graduation find me a nice young man to settle down with and have kids, a man of prominent statue that has plans to be a lawyer or doctor."
If her mother cringed she didn't show it as I heard Cherry go on. "Well it isn't going to happen your way mom. No here is the way it is going to be. I am going to continue on working my job that I have now, even after we marry and have kids." She smiled then. "Yes mom I work, the same as Dally does, oh but you wouldn't know about that. Well it's enjoyable, and we have great benefits, and as for that trust fund. Well it's going to roll over into the start of another one, one for our kids, mine and Dally's.
"Dad already set it up even." I saw her mother look at her dad then.
"You did that?" She asked, her dad didn't get a chance to answer though as Cherry said.
"Yes he did mother. You see he trust me and doesn't seem to have a problem with Dally here. After all it's like he said, 'The past is the past.' So mother let it go and enjoy life."
"What if I don't?" I heard the older woman ask and without hesitation Cherry said.
"Then I guess you want have the enjoyment of being a grandmother." I saw her light up a cigarette then and as if an after thought add. "But then again that won't be much of a change will it, since well lets see first there was the nanny's and then boarding school from Kindergarten on up. Hell I had to practically beg to go to Tulsa High, only reason you let me was dad bought me a car so I wouldn't be in your hair. You didn't want me around then and frankly bitch I didn't want to be around."
Even I was stung then, I had never heard that kind of talk come out of her mouth and then just like that her mother was looking at me and point that finger. "You," she looked at her husband then. "See what kind of bad influence he is on her?"
I saw Cherry's dad then and it looked as if he was suppressing the real face he wanted to make as I heard him say. "No Clarice I don't think Dallas here has anything to do with this. She makes a valid point, and while I may not agree with how she said it, well... If the shoe fits wear it."
I saw her mother then as she scoffed. "Well I can see she has you wrapped around her little finger, she always was a daddy's girl."
I thought he was going to take her head off right then .as he stepped up to her only to grab her arm. "I think we need to take a little ride." He turned to us then as he started off. "I'll be back."
They got in their car and started off and before I knew it Dad said what I wanted to. "Don't you think you were a little rough on her?"
Cherry stomped out cigarette then. "Dad I've been wanting to say that for a long time, today she just hit the right button." She turned to me then. "I didn't know she was going to be like that Dally I swear, if I had known then I wouldn't..."
I didn't let her finish as I said. "It was bound to happen Cherry." I saw her look at me then so I added. "Look while my past may not be something I am not proud of, it is something that is a part of me. All I can do is hope that people from that time can see that I am not the same as that person from then."
I kind of smiled. "Shoot I would have been offended if she hadn't been like that in the first place." I saw Cherry giving me another weird look and before I could answer dad said.
"I think what he means is that he is glad we got it out of the way, and that she didn't just act cold the whole weekend towards him and such."
"Yeah," I said concurring with him and then I looked at her. "I can see where you got your bluntness from now."
I saw a smile and then it was gone as we heard the sound of a car on gravel. It was the same car from before only her dad was the only one who got out. As he came towards us then I noticed he had taken off his suit jacket and tie.
"I must apologize," he was saying as he came up to us. "I didn't realize she was going to be in such a foul mood." He turned to me and dad then. "Did you guys say something about fishing earlier?"
I saw dad smile. "Yeah I think I did." He turned to me then. "You ready to go?"
I turned to Cherry then and before I could say anything she smiled. "Go ahead I'll be alright, after all someone has to get things ready here."
"Hey Dally you got something." I heard Cherry's dad say thirty minutes later after we had sat down on the bank in dad's favorite spot and then I felt the rod jiggle as Dad said.
"You'll have to excuse him, his mind is somewhere else." I started reeling in the fish then as I heard Cherry's dad say.
"You don't have to worry about Clarice son, I locked her away in the hotel."
"It's not her," I heard dad say. "He gets like that every time he's away from her."
"Oh," was all I heard her dad say then before asking. "My daughter tells me you are working with a crew drilling for oil."
"Yes sir," I answered and then added. "I just got a promotion also, if you want to call it that."
"Oh really,' dad said, I had not even had the chance to tell him. "So when did this come about?"
"I found out yesterday afternoon right after we left the rig." I replied, and added. "I was called to the trailer and thought for sure I had done something wrong, or that maybe they had found out about..." I let that trail off then before adding.
"Anyway when I got there the head man asked if I wanted to start working somewhere that is dry. So I start on Monday up on the rig itself as a roughneck or floor hand is the proper name."
"Where were you working before?" Cherry's dad asked and I said.
"In the mud, it's used to lubricate the drill and bring the bedrock up from the bottom."
"How's that snake bite?" Dad asked and before I could answer he looked at Cherry's dad and said. "One day a month or so ago he was out on the job and way I hear it he got bit by a snake, and took care of it all by himself without anyone knowing. Only way I found out was through Buddy after Cherry told him and he looked at it. Buddy is the doctor down in Dallas..."
"I know," Cherry's dad said then and I saw him look at me. "How did you take care of it, if I may ask."
"Well since it was while I was on lunch break I just took out my knife real quick after kicking the snake off, and then I cut out around the area it bit me in and well one of the other guys down in the pit he had some whiskey and without him knowing I used some of it on the area."
"Damn," was all I heard him say and then dad looked at me with a look I didn't care for saying.
"You are damn lucky I wasn't down there then or that I was tied up that weekend even. I would have come down there and tanned your hide. Did you even think about telling someone? What if the venom, had?..." He trailed off then. "Shoot I keep forgetting something."
He let out a laugh then and slapped his thigh before saying. "I would have done the same thing probably back in my younger days considering." He gave me that look again though. "But that still doesn't say it was the right thing to do."
"I know that now." I said in reply. "But at the time all I could do was go on instinct and that told me to take care of it and get back to work. There was bills to be paid and things in my life left undone." I stopped then and looked at them both before adding. "Yes I know now how close I came to not even having all of that, if in fact I had not done a clean job of taking care of it, and I was foolish. But well I learn as I go."
"Well I hope you had it taken care of properly." Cherry's dad said as his response and I replied.
"Your daughter made sure of that sir. That very same night when she saw it we ended up getting Buddy up out of bed. Of course he didn't mind but I sure did, after the reaming I took from him, well lets say that dad there was lighter on me then he was."
I heard dad let out a laugh then as I saw Cherry's dad smile and then his line jiggled signaling a bite.
He started reeling his fish in and that was the last we talked till they declared it was time to go back. After loading up the truck I got in the back and we were off.
Dad stopped at the supermarket down the road from his house and I saw him and Cherry's dad go inside. Cherry's dad came out a few minutes later and came up to where I was stretched out in the back. He was silent for a minute looked as if he was in thought about something and then I heard him say.
"You know I delivered those Curtis brothers, and Johnny Cade also." I looked at him wondering where this line was going as he added. "Hell I delivered just about everyone of the kids over there on that side of town." I saw him prop his foot up on I guess the back tire then. "You see back when I first became a doctor wasn't many places their parents could go for help. I did some moonlighting down at the hospital for that reason, made it known that when people from there came for help I was to see them."
"But why?" I asked and then kicked myself only to see him grin.
"Cause I was like them at one time," I saw him take something out of his pocket then and noticed it was a plug of tobacco as he cut off a piece and put it in his mouth. "Yep," he said after a minute. "Just the way I remember it." He smiled then. "I used to do this back in the day, before I went off to college and then met Clarice."
He got that far away look again and I almost didn't here him say. "Bet you didn't know I even delivered you." I was ready to say something then only he asked. "Did your mother ever tell you why she came to Tulsa after New York?"
"I thought it had to do with all the trouble I was getting into." I said honestly and he looked at me.
"That was part of it, but the real reason was me." Before I had the chance to ask he said. "She and I dated in high school before she moved away." He looked away then and a minute later I heard him say. "Yeah she got herself a scholarship to Julliard up there, and I was... Well I stayed and went onto OSU, we kept in touch for a while and then... Well we lost touch, I got lost in pre-med and then well you know." I nodded cause for some reason I did and then he said.
"Next thing I knew she came back to Tulsa, said New York just didn't have it anymore. By that time I was married to Clarice and well you know." Again I nodded and he went on. "She did tell me though that she was pregnant and that the man had gone off to fight in the Pacific theater of the war. That was how I came about delivering you." He looked at me then. "But you didn't know your old man was shot down over the ocean."
"Mom never said much about him." I replied honestly and he said.
"She got a call not long after you turned two, New York was calling, they had a show for her a ballet that was right for her. Well she packed you up and left right then." He looked at me then. "When was the last time you talked to her?"
"The day she left out of the house and said she couldn't stand it anymore. I never got the chance to ask what and for the longest time I didn't care. Looking back on it like I have though I guess it was all the trouble I was getting into though. Have you seen her?" He gave me a look I had not seen in a while, one that made me want to grab a hold of something as I heard him say.
"You might want to brace yourself then." He started to turn away then only he looked back at me. "She left for New York that night, what she couldn't stand was me being married to Clarice, and yeah your being in trouble all the time was a part of it, but she also couldn't stand the being in Tulsa again after all that time in New York, guess you could say it spoiled her.
"I didn't even realize she was gone till I went to a conference one day up there and what do you know. I was down on Broadway and bumped into her as she was coming out of a theater. To say that she was surprised was an understatement. We had lunch that afternoon and she told me then about everything.
"I had to leave the next day and well that was the last time we talked. I saw her again though." He said and then again that look so I braced myself as he said. "I got a call from up there one day, someone had come out of a store in Greenwich village after robbing it and there was gunfire. She was in the middle of it." I felt his hand on my shoulder then. "I had to go up there and identify her."
"When was this?" I asked and he said.
"Not even two, three days after you and Cherry disappeared."
That hit me like a ton of bricks and it took a moment before I looked at him. "To the best of your knowledge did she suffer."
"I've seen the report if that is what you are asking, and no it seemed to be instant."
"Good," I said and looked at him. "Don't get me wrong, I am sorry and yes I feel bad. But.." I had to catch myself then before saying. "To be honest, after the hell she went through on earth I can say honestly that she is in a better place, and maybe just maybe with my old man."
"Yeah she probably is." I heard him say then before adding. "A week after I got back from taking care of things up there I got a visit from an attorney, seems she left a will."
"What did it say?" I asked for some reason and he said.
"I don't know really." I gave him a look then and he said. "That was right after I had talked to my daughter after... Well you know, and once she had told me what was going on I knew. So I told the lawyer that when I had the chance to say something to you I would pass it along."
"Is she," I croaked and cleared my throat. "I mean is she buried up in New York?"
"No I brought her home," he said and added. "When you are ready I'll take you there."
"Thanks," I said then and that was when I heard dad yell.
"Are you going to just lay in the bed there all day or help me out." I hopped out of the truck and ran to the door. "It took them forever to clean the fish." He said as I grabbed two of the sacks he had leaving him with just one. "Now lets get home and eat."
I sat in the back of the truck once again on the ride back thinking about what Cherry's dad had said and yes I was glad, glad that mom didn't have to go through all that I had put her through, I was sad also that she wouldn't be able to see Cherry or how I turned out. We got back to dad's house and no sooner did we get things unloaded did he declare that he had forgotten something and left again.
"Have a nice time?" Cherry asked and I looked at her.
"Lets just say that it was interesting."
We walked into dad's living room and there was her dad sacked out on the couch, nap time. "Let's go outside and you can start up the grill." Cherry said guiding me that way. "I already have all the other stuff made."
I got the grill fired up in no time and then I was lost in my own thoughts and walked off a little ways."Hello earth to Dally," I heard Cherry say and I realized I was in my own little reverie.
"Uh," I said trying to cover up just that and she asked.
"What really happened at the lake?" I saw her light up a cigarette then as I said.
"It's not what happened at the lake but afterwards." She gave me a funny look and I had to smile before saying. "We have a lot more in common then you think."
I laid it all out then, everything that is except about her dad and my mom's high school years. "Damn," I heard her say when I was done and then she added. "Now that explains some things."
I gave her a funny look then and she said. "Well one night I walked in the house and heard him and mom, they were yelling at each other. I don't think they knew I was there, I remember mom telling him to go and do whatever he wanted to, and just leave her." I saw her smile then. "That was the beginning of when I found out all about my mom."
She took a drag on her cigarette then. "Speaking of that, how do you feel about what you know, I mean about your mom?"
I looked off then. "Okay," I said and then I turned back to her. "I mean at first I was glad that she went quickly, and such. But then I was a little sad. Sad that she didn't have the chance to see you and how I turned out, and then I realized something."
"What was that?" She asked and I smiled.
"Well that she is in a better place and also that she can see exactly how everything turned out."
"So no regrets or feelings about going back."
"Back where?" I asked. "To Tulsa, of course now that it's safe." I looked at her then and saw the expression on her face so I added. "You mean about going back to.." I saw her nod so I pulled her close. "No babe you have my word on that."
Right then a horn sounded and we looked back to see Dad's car pulling to a stop. He stepped out and then low and behold Cherry's mom did too. I saw then that Cherry's dad had just stepped into the frame of the back door as dad headed him off while beckoning me also. At first I was hesitant and then I heard Cherry say.
"Go, I'll be alright," she must have seen dad also as I heard her add. "This is something that has to be done, me and her."
I gave her a kiss on the cheek then and whispered. "Please try not to kill her. I don't want to have to marry you in prison." I saw her smile.
"I can't make any promises that I can't keep." I was worried then only she gave me a shove so I went.
I didn't go far into the house, As matter of fact I stopped just inside the door and leaned against the wall. I wanted to hear if she needed me. 'Yeah,' I thought. 'Like that was going to happen. She wasn't the same Cherry I met at the drive-in that night.'
I had almost fell asleep there against the wall when the screen door squeaked behind me. "It's safe to come out now." I heard her say and so I turned and took a step outside to see her smiling. "I knew you would be there."
We walked over to the picnic table, and she sat me down. I watched then as she went about finishing the preparations she had been doing earlier and almost didn't here her mother's voice.
"Uh," I said. "Excuse me were you saying something."
I thought I almost saw a smile as she said. "I was just saying that it seems I have misjudged you and that I apologize for that."
"Water under the bridge." I said in dismissal only Cherry was there saying.
"No let her speak Dally."
I saw then that dad and her dad was there then as her mother looked at me. "Sherry was right earlier I was going purely on what I read in the papers and stuff I heard. I never gave you a chance to speak much less tell me your side of the story. After having time to think about it I can see that I was wrong.
"I have also heard so much good stuff about you also. I can see that you have so to speak turned a new leaf and that you have the best of intentions for Sherry." I couldn't help but look at dad then and yes there was a slight grin as I heard her add. "So I hope like I said you will accept my apologizes and we can start again."
I got up then and went around to her with my hand stuck out. "Hi I am Dallas Winston, I am from Dallas Texas and plan to make your daughter the happiest woman in the world."
I saw her get up, take my hand and then a second later say. "Hell give a woman a hug... No make that give your future mother in-law a hug."
I did just that and almost had the wind squeezed right out of me before her father said. "Okay Clarice you can let him go, his eyes are bulging."
She did and everyone busted out laughing even me. We ate then and all the conversation was as guessed centered on us, Cherry and I. After eating we went inside the house and sat around some more. It was when we laid down that night in dad's spare room after seeing them off to the hotel that the inevitable question came out of Cherry's mouth.
"What do you think turned her around?"
"Dad," I said simple as that and then it was off to dreamland with her holding me tight.
