Chapter 4

Vera was getting ready to dry and style Ruby’s hair when they heard the bell jingle over the door. Then they heard running feet, and before anyone could move, Lovey Cooper was in the work area. She went straight to Ruby without saying a word, leaned over and hugged her, and wouldn’t let go.

“I’m okay,” Ruby said as she patted Lovey’s shoulder.

Lovey turned Ruby loose, then stepped back and looked at her as if she’d never seen her before. “I can’t believe this happened to you…in our town. Blessings isn’t like this. I feel like we all let you down.”

“Blessings had nothing to do with my past,” Ruby said, and reached for her friend’s hand, but when Lovey saw the wounds on Ruby’s hands, she staggered backward.

Peanut leaped out of the chair and caught her just before she went down. “Sit here,” he said.

Lovey just kept shaking her head. “I feel like I never knew you,” she whispered. “I always knew you had a heart of gold, and you are one of the most giving people I’ve ever known, but I had no idea you had this kind of strength. My God, Ruby. My God.”

Ruby sighed. “Wasn’t a stranger. Might have been different if it had been. I’m okay. He’s in jail.” Then she glanced at Peanut. “But this has a silver lining. Found out who my secret admirer is.”

Lovey gasped. “You have a secret admirer! You never told me!”

“Didn’t tell anybody,” Ruby said.

Peanut sighed. He was ready to be out of this den of females. Every time a new one showed up, the same story was likely to be told. And yet he held up his hand, proud to stake his claim.

“It’s me, Lovey. I have loved her for so long that I thought it was already obvious to the world. I mean, I love this town as much as the rest of you, but when have I ever volunteered for stuff? And yet I have been on every committee in Blessings for the last year and a half just so I could hang out with Ruby.”

All of the women turned and stared at him.

“Well, it’s the truth,” he muttered.

They laughed.

He shrugged.

Vera turned on the hair dryer and grabbed her round brush.

“Sister, before I start this, do you have any sore spots on your head?” Vera asked.

Ruby shook her head.

They sat then, watching Vera work her magic without talking while Ruby closed her eyes and gave herself up to the warm air on her head, and the massaging bristles of Vera’s little round vent brush. Some days it was all about the small things, and today, having clean hair and a style was helping put the shattered pieces of Ruby together again.

* * *

Peanut got Ruby home within a couple of hours, then left her on her own as he went to run errands. His first stop was the bank to cash her check to replace the money Jarrod had stolen. Then he made a stop at the Piggly Wiggly for cans of soup and oyster crackers, and added a few other items with her in mind. All of the shoppers he ran into wanted to know about Ruby and sent their love.

When he stopped to get gas, he was once again fielding questions.

Arlene Purejoy came running out of the station carrying her can of soda and her purse. “Peanut! How’s Ruby? Was she hurt very bad? Is there anything I can do?”

“She’s hurt enough, but she’ll heal up just fine. I’ll tell her you asked, and if she needs anything, she can let you know.”

“Well then,” Arlene said. “I’d better be getting back to the mister. He’s a bear right now because he’s laid up, but then you already know that, don’t you?” she said, and hustled away.

Peanut was waiting for his tank to fill when a car pulled up on the other side of the pumps and Niles Holland got out.

Niles Holland was the president of the Blessings Country Club and dressed accordingly by never being seen about town in anything less than a custom-tailored suit. Today, it was charcoal gray with a silver brocade vest. Peanut thought it made Niles look like a riverboat gambler, but he was too polite to say so.

“Morning, Peanut. A bit of a chill to the wind today, don’t you think?” Niles said.

“Morning, Niles. It does seem a bit cool.”

Niles waited until gas was flowing into his tank before he turned around to talk.

“I hear you brought Ruby Dye home last night.”

“Nope. Wasn’t me. That was Chief Pittman. I was just along for the ride.”

Niles frowned. “Yes, well, mere details,” he said. “I heard she was brutalized. Was she raped?”

Peanut was momentarily speechless by the callous manner in which the question was asked.

“No, as a matter of fact, she wasn’t. But she did take a knife to her assailant and cut him up enough that if he was thinking about his dick, it would have been in fear she was going to cut that off too.”

Nile’s lips parted in shock, but Peanut was so angry he kept talking.

“He did manage to subdue her enough to get her in his car, but he was bleeding like a stuck pig when he stopped for fuel and she escaped on her own. He left the gas station in handcuffs, so I better not hear the word ‘rape’ come out of anyone else’s mouth. Do you understand me?”

Niles nodded.

The pump went off at Peanut’s car. He replaced the nozzle and drove off without looking back.

Still in a mood, he decided to stop at the florist and bring Ruby some flowers. When he walked in, Myra Franklin saw him and waved.

“Morning, Peanut! How can I help you?” she asked.

“I want a dozen red roses with all the trimmings, and in your prettiest vase. If you don’t mind, I’ll wait and take it with me.”

“Sure thing,” Myra said.

Waiting meant he was again fielding questions about Ruby. It had become obvious that, while everyone was so grateful she was alive and home, they wanted the grisly details. It pissed him off.

Just when he thought Myra was through trying to dig up gossip, she gave it one more try as she brought the arrangement to the counter for him to pay.

“How does this look, Peanut?”

He was struggling with his composure as he eyed it. It looked like roses in a lead crystal vase, but he supposed she wanted praise.

“It looks perfect, Myra. Ruby is going to love it.” He handed her his credit card.

Myra scanned it in and then handed him the receipt to sign.

“About Ruby’s face. Do you think she’s going to need any plastic surgery? I mean…I heard it was really messed up.”

Peanut signed his name and reached for the vase, then paused long enough to deliver a closing argument of true perfection.

“Well, Myra, that’s probably the biggest bunch of bullshit I’ve heard about this incident yet. She has a black eye and a cut lip. Any kid playing baseball could get hurt worse than that. I hope you told whoever is spreading such outright gossip to shut the hell up. That’s beyond rude. Don’t you agree?”

Myra’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“I’d better get home,” Peanut added. “Can’t have my girl alone for too long.”

He saw the shock wave roll through Myra as his words sank in. He’d just called Ruby his girl. That should feed the gossip mill for a while. At least they’d be talking about something true for a change.

He set the vase of flowers against the console in the passenger seat, holding on to it with one hand while he drove with the other all the way home.

He hoped the flowers cheered Ruby up, because he had seen how shocked she’d been by how public her kidnapping had become. The yellow crime-scene tape, the investigators from the county sheriff’s office coming to fingerprint and retrieve DNA samples, the public shame of being attacked by her ex-husband—as if she’d brought this horror upon herself and given Blessings a black mark as well. He hadn’t expected that reaction, and he wanted her happy again.

* * *

Ruby’s phone began ringing within minutes of Peanut’s departure. LilyAnn Dalton was the first caller to welcome her home.

“Ruby, honey, I’m guessing you’re not up to chitchat, but I wanted you to know how much Mike and I love you. We prayed hard to get you home, and you are. Mike wanted me to tell you that when you feel up to it, there’s a free massage waiting for you at the gym. Honey Andrews, the masseuse, said to tell you to just give her a call, and she’ll schedule you right in.”

“Thank you, LilyAnn, and tell Mike thank you too. I’ll be looking forward to that when I feel a little better.”

“Is there anything I can do? Can I bring food?”

“I’m good. Staying at Peanut’s home until I feel a little stronger. As for food, I have a couple of stitches in my lip so I’m on liquids for a while.”

“You’re at Peanut’s house?”

“Yes, I am.”

“As in ‘with him’?”

“As in.”

LilyAnn giggled. “That’s just about the best news I’ve heard in months. Is this under wraps or stuff to share?”

“My life is an open book,” Ruby said.

“Call me if you need anything. Love you,” LilyAnn said.

“Love you too,” Ruby said, and disconnected.

Fifteen minutes later, the deluge of calls began.

If it hadn’t been so painful, Ruby would have laughed. Every customer she had, every friend, every female member of her church inquired first about her health, and then wanted to know if it was true she was recuperating at Peanut Butterman’s house.

After an hour of calls, she began letting them go to voicemail. She was tired, talked out, and thirsty so she went to the kitchen for a drink. And after applying some lip gloss to her lips a couple of times, the stitches weren’t hurting like they had before. She had ice in a glass and a straw in her hand when Peanut came in the back door carrying a sack of groceries and a vase of flowers.

He paused just inside the door, smiling. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to walk into this house and see you here,” he said.

“I am happy to be here too,” Ruby said.

He set the groceries on the counter and then held up the roses. “Ruby-red roses for my Ruby.”

“Oh, Peanut. They’re beautiful, and you’re spoiling me.”

He set the vase on the counter, then leaned down until their foreheads were touching.

“Lady, you haven’t seen anything yet. I’m saving my best moves for when you’re well enough to handle them.”

Ruby sighed. The fact that she was fantasizing about getting naked with him made her ache.

“You are a dangerous man. You make me feel. I haven’t let myself go there in so long, and now you’re all I think about. I hope all this is what you call courting, because by the time I am well, the formalities should already be out of the way.”

Peanut’s heart skipped, just knowing she wanted to make love to him as much as he wanted her. He cupped her face, looking past the bruising to the Ruby he knew and loved.

“I think that can be arranged,” he said gently. “I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting any longer than necessary, since that almost sounded like a woman in need.”

Ruby wasn’t wasting another moment of her life hiding anything, including how she felt about him. “I wasn’t in need until you stirred everything up, including me.”

He slid his hands around her neck, then pulled her close.

“We have time, baby. This will all happen when it’s supposed to.”

“I know.”

He looked over her shoulder at the empty glass.

“What do you want to drink? I’ll make it for you. Are you getting hungry, honey? You’ve only had the milk shake. I bought soups. Let me get them out of the sack, and you pick the one that looks good, okay?”

“I was going to have water.”

“How about some sweet tea? I always have that made.”

“Sounds wonderful,” she said.

He poured some in her glass, then pointed to the kitchen table. “You sit, enjoy your drink. I’m going to put up the groceries.”

After he set the soups out on display, she chose tomato because it would be easy to drink through a straw.

A short while later, they were having lunch in the kitchen. After all the meals they’d shared over the past year and a half, this almost felt normal.

“Thank you for taking care of me right now, Peanut. But after I get my house cleaned up, I’ll go home.”

He frowned. “I don’t want to think of that.”

“But it’s what has to happen, and you know it,” Ruby said. “I need us to be on equal ground when we do this. It is a frightening thing to feel helpless. I don’t ever want to feel like I can’t take care of myself. I want you to love me because I’m me, not because I need protection.”

“I understand everything you said and why, but you need to know that, from a male point of view, taking care of the woman he loves is part of how a man shows that. So if I get all overprotective, just know it’s because I love you, not because I think you’re needy. Okay?”

She nodded.

“Okay then,” he said. “I bought ice cream. Do you want another shake, or would you want to try to eat some? The cold might feel good on your mouth.”

“Yes, I’d like to try eating it. Just a little dip, and if I can’t make it happen, then you’ll just have to eat it for me,” she said.

He grinned. “Just like I finish your pie, and your cake, and the other half of your cookie? Yeah, I can do that.”

One side of her mouth tilted upward in a slight grin.

“Gotta keep this fine, fit body in running condition,” he added, and got another handful of chips from the bag to finish off his ham-and-cheese sandwich.

She laughed and then grabbed her mouth.

“Damn. I’m sorry. Lawyer face, lawyer face,” he said, and patted her hand. “And speaking of lawyers, that reminds me… I have a pending court case in a few days, so I’m going in to the office after lunch to get the file and work on it here.”

“I don’t need you to—”

He held up a hand.

“But I need to, Ruby. I nearly lost you. I won’t ever take that for granted again.”

She lowered her head, humbled by someone so steadfast.

Peanut got up from the table and brought back one big bowl of chocolate ice cream and two spoons. “Saving dishes,” he said, and handed her a spoon.

Her eyes twinkled. “You are such a man,” she said.

“Thank you for noticing.” Then he pointed at the bowl with his spoon. “Ladies first.”

She took a little spoonful and eased it between her lips, savoring the sweet chocolate on her tongue.

“Ummmm,” she said, and got another spoonful before Peanut dug into the ice cream and took his first bite.

After they finished, Peanut loaded the dishwasher and then grabbed the car keys. “I won’t be long, sweetheart. Are you okay for a bit?”

“Yes. I’m going to lie down.”

“Then rest well. I’ll check in on you when I get back,” he said, and kissed the palms of her hands.

She shuddered at the feel of his lips on her skin, then watched him drive away before she lay down to rest.

* * *

Peanut drove straight to his office to find Betty Purejoy, his secretary, out to a late lunch. She’d left a note on the door that she’d be back at two p.m., so he unlocked the door and went inside.

His desk was neat—which meant Betty had been in—so he booted up his computer, sent the files he’d been working on to his laptop, and then signed off. He was getting ready to leave when the office phone rang. He debated about letting it go to voicemail, but then his conscience wouldn’t let him.

“Butterman Law Office. This is Peanut.”

“Mr. Butterman, this is Doctor Bennett at NextStep Memory Care in Savannah. I understand Elmer Mathis is your client.”

“Yes, sir, he is,” Peanut said.

“I am sorry to tell you Mr. Mathis passed away this morning, and part of his instructions were to contact you first and that you would know why.”

“How old was he?” Peanut asked.

“He was eighty-seven years old and had just celebrated his four-year anniversary with us when he passed. I also understand you are to notify his heirs.”

Peanut sighed. This was not going to be a pleasant event. “Yes, sir. You do have the information on where to send his body, do you not?”

“We do. He didn’t want a funeral, and we’ve already notified the funeral home in Savannah. They’ll be picking up the body shortly. They’ll notify his heir when the body will be transported to Blessings to be interred.”

“Tell them Melissa Dean is the person to call,” Peanut added.

“Yes, we know Melissa well and have her information. She’s been a faithful friend to Elmer.”

“She’s a good woman. She was his housekeeper for ten years before he was sent to your facility,” Peanut said.

“She didn’t miss a week coming to see him. Drove all the way to Savannah on her day off. Once a month, she cut his toenails and fingernails and had lunch with him. Even after he didn’t know who she was, she still came.”

“Does she know he passed?” Peanut asked.

“Oh, she was with him. She’d asked Hospice to notify her. Said she didn’t want him dying alone.”

“Okay,” Peanut said. “Then I’ll notify her later about the reading of the will.”

“Thank you, Mr. Butterman. You have my sympathies.”

Peanut heard the disconnect and then hung up. He sat a moment, thinking about a woman who’d given so many years of her time and life to an old man alone. The fact that she’d cared enough to be with him in his last hours moved Peanut. And in the same breath, it made him think of Ruby. Good. Faithful. Loving. She and Melissa Dean were women cut from the same cloth.

And then he heard the door to his office opening and his secretary calling out, “Mr. Butterman? Are you here?”

“In here, Betty.”

“What’s going on?” she said.

“Will you please pull the file we have on Elmer Mathis? He passed away this morning.”

“Oh, bless his heart. He’s been lost a long time. Thank God he’s not suffering that anymore.”

“Agreed,” Peanut said.

Betty went to the file cabinets, pulled Elmer’s file, and handed it over.

“You’re sure there’s nothing you need me to do?”

“Do I have free time for a reading of the will?”

Betty scanned his schedule. “Um…this Friday and next Monday are both open.”

“Then schedule Friday at ten a.m. for the Mathis estate. I’m calling the heirs this afternoon. Today is Monday. That gives them plenty of time to make travel arrangements. Unless they’ve moved, they all live in-state.”

“Yes, sir,” Betty said, and entered the date in his schedule. “Got it,” she said.

“Thanks, just keep regular hours here, and notify me if there’s any kind of an emergency.”

Betty nodded. “Yes, sir, I will. How’s Ruby? Is there anything I could do to help?”

“She’ll heal. I imagine it will take longer to get over the actual act of being abducted than the physical injuries she suffered.”

“God bless her. You tell her she’s become my new heroine. I am in awe of how she survived and escaped that.”

Peanut smiled. “I sure will, and while I’m thinking about it, I suppose you should know that we are officially a couple.”

Betty’s eyes widened, and then she clapped her hands and laughed. “I knew it! I knew it! I told my husband a month ago that you were attracted to Ruby Dye, and he didn’t believe it.”

Peanut shrugged. “I’m gone on her. What can I say?”

“Well, congratulations, boss. You have good taste.”

“Thanks. I think so,” Peanut said. “So, I’m headed home. Thanks for holding down the fort here.”

“No problem,” Betty said. “My best to Ruby.”

Peanut nodded as he left with his laptop and the Mathis file and headed home, but he couldn’t get the reading of Elmer Mathis’s will out of his mind. He had a feeling this was going to be a messy one.

* * *

Loretta Baird was at her favorite spa getting a pedicure. She’d already had a massage and a manicure and was checking her email when her phone signaled a call. She started to let it go to voicemail and then changed her mind.

“Hello.”

“May I speak to Loretta Baird, please? My name’s Butterman. I’m the lawyer for Elmer Mathis.”

Loretta frowned. “I’m Loretta Baird.”

“Ms. Baird, I’m sorry to inform you that your uncle, Elmer Mathis, passed away this morning at his care center in Savannah.”

“Oh really? That’s too bad,” Loretta said.

Peanut’s eyebrows rose. Suddenly Elmer’s final wishes were beginning to make sense.

“Yes, ma’am,” Peanut said. “The reading of the will takes place in my office at ten a.m. this coming Friday in Blessings, Georgia. If you are unable to attend, a letter informing you of the will’s contents will be mailed to you. Are you still at the same address in Atlanta?”

Loretta’s heart skipped a beat.

“Yes, but I’ll be there. Uh…can you tell me what he was worth?”

Peanut frowned. “No, ma’am, I cannot.”

“Oh well, no matter. I’ll see you Friday,” she said, and he heard her squeal “Score! Yay me!” before the call disconnected.

Peanut sighed. Nothing like loving family.

He made similar calls informing her sisters—Betsy Lowe, who also lived in Atlanta, and then Wilma Smith, who lived in Savannah.

By the time he’d made the last call, he was thoroughly disgusted. None of them had expressed sympathy or regret, but all three had asked what Elmer was worth.

There was only one more woman to notify regarding the reading of the will—Melissa Dean. He entered her phone number, listened to the rings, and was preparing himself to leave a voicemail when she answered.

“Hello, this is Melissa,” she said.

“Good afternoon, Melissa. This is Peanut Butterman.”

“Hello, Mr. Butterman.”

He heard both surprise and question in her voice and set out to clarify the call. “First, my condolences on Mr. Mathis’s passing. I know you were his caregiver.”

Melissa’s quick breath and then shaky voice told him everything.

“Yes, I was, and thank you. Even though he hadn’t known me for almost a year now, I will miss him.”

“I’m calling to inform you that you are named in his will. The reading will be this coming Friday. Ten o’clock in my office.”

“Well, my goodness,” she said, and then started to cry. “I’m sorry. This just makes it all so final.”

“Yes, ma’am. So, see you then?”

“Yes, of course, and thank you for the call.”

“You’re welcome, Melissa.”

Now that all of the heirs had been notified, Peanut got up to check on Ruby. She’d been asleep when he came home, and another peek into her bedroom showed she was still sleeping, so he went back to his office, booted up his laptop, and got back to work.