Butch’s high spirits were somehow irresistibly infectious. “I’m sure I will be,” she said with a smile. “Have you two made any other plans while my back’s been turned?”
“He wants to go on the underground-mine tour,” Jenny said. “And to ride over to Tombstone to see Boothill. Can I go along, Mom? Please?”
“You could come, too,” Butch offered, looking at Joanna.
Joanna glanced at the clock over the refrigerator. “I’m afraid not. I’ll probably have to go into the office today, at least for a while.”
The look of disappointment that crossed Jenny’s face put a hole in Joanna’s heart. “I guess I can’t go,” Jenny said.
“Wait a minute,” Joanna said. “Just because I can’t go doesn’t mean you can’t. You can take the Eagle.”
With a sigh of satisfaction, Butch put down the vacuum cleaner motor, stood up, and sauntered over to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. “No Eagle,” he said firmly. “Jenny and I’ll wing it.”
“But…” Joanna’s tentative objection was immediately overruled.
He grinned at Jenny. “Have helmet and leather jacket. Will travel. But first, you’d better set the table.”
NINETEEN
Seeing that the waffle-making was in good hands, Joanna abandoned the kitchen for the shower. She was just starting to towel herself dry when Jenny pounded on the door. “Mom,” she said. “Phone. It’s Marianne. They’re home.”
Hastily pulling Andy’s old robe over her dripping body, Joanna took the call in her bedroom. “Hello?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Marianne Maculyea babbled happily. “There are two of them.”
“Two of what?”
“Two babies. Two girls. Ruth and Esther. That’s what we’re calling them. That was what was going on with Jeff-what he couldn’t tell me over the phone or write about, either. And it’s why he needed the extra company. He was afraid one of the officials might take offense and change his mind.”
Joanna was floored. “You have two?”
“‘That’s right. One of the nurses in the orphanage came to Jeff secretly a little over two weeks ago and told him about Esther. Ruth, her sister, was the baby we were supposed to get originally. Esther would have been left behind. The nurse told Jeff that without Ruth sharing her food, she was sure Esther would die-probably would have died already. Once Jeff knew Ruth and Esther were twins, he couldn’t bear to separate them.”
“Two. Why, Mari, that’s wonderful,” Joanna managed as Marianne Maculyea rushed on.
“You should see her, Joanna. She’s so tiny-so much smaller than Ruth. It is a wonder she’s still alive. They’re so different in size that you can hardly tell they’re twins. But they are. Ruth is already walking. Esther can’t even sit up by herself.”
“If they’re twins, how can they be so different?” Joanna asked.
There was a slight hiccup in Marianne’s happy rush of words. “Esther seems to have some… health challenges. She has a heart murmur of some kind. That’s why they weren’t going to let her go. And that’s the other reason Jeff was determined to take her. Left untreated, she’d be dead within months, maybe even weeks.”
As she listened, Joanna had dropped into a chair. In all the years she had known Marianne-from junior high on-Joanna had never once heard her friend blither, but that was what Marianne was doing now-blithering. Joanna felt her own eyes brimming with tears of love and concern.
“How serious a heart murmur?” she asked. “And can it be fixed?”
“We don’t know yet,” Marianne said. “Maybe, with proper medical care and some nourishment. We have an appointment with a cardiologist in Tucson for early next week. In the meantime, she’s eating like there’s no tomorrow. They both are. As soon as I saw them, I was worried about having only one crib, but Jeff said that’s how they sleep together. The nurse told him that when they separated them, they were both inconsolable. That the only way they could quiet Esther was by putting Ruth in the crib with her. I think that’s why the nurse told him in the first place.
“Jeff kept the whole thing a secret because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull it off. He was afraid there’d be some kind of last-minute hitch. He could have called once they got to the airport, but he didn’t. He decided he wanted to surprise me. Isn’t he wonderful?”
“He’s wonderful all right,” Joanna said.
“When can you come meet them? Do you want to come for coffee later on this morning?”
Joanna laughed. “Are you sure you want company?”
“Absolutely.”
“We’re about to have breakfast. We’ll stop by around ten, but just for a minute. Long enough to say hello. Most likely a friend of mine from out of town will be with us. If you don’t mind, that is.”
By the time Joanna got off the phone, breakfast was ready. Over breakfast she told Butch about Jeff and Marianne. Joanna and Butch were drinking coffee when the phone rang again.
“It’s Sue Espy,” Jenny said, holding her hand over the mouthpiece. “She wants to know if I can spend the night tonight.”
“Do you want to?” Joanna asked.
“Well?” Jenny said. Surprisingly enough, she was looking at Butch rather than her mother.
Butch looked uncomfortable. “Your mother and I haven’t had a chance to discuss it yet.”
“Discuss what?”
“I was talking to Jenny earlier about the three of us going out to dinner again tonight, but to a nice place this time.” Joanna turned back to her daughter. “It’s up to you, Jenny. If you want to go to Sue’s, that’s fine.”
Jenny put the phone back to her ear. She listened for a while. Finally she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “But I won’t come over until sometime later on this afternoon.”
Butch sighed and shook his head. “Stood up again,” he said. “Just my luck. How about you? Would you consider going to dinner with me anyway?”
“On one condition,” Joanna told him.
“What’s that?”
“We go in my car. I’m not built for motorcycles.”
The phone rang again, almost as soon as Jenny put it down. She answered and, after a moment, handed the receiver to her mother.
“Matt Bly, the composite guy, is due here at ten,” Dick Voland announced in his customarily brusque fashion. “We’ll go from here to the hospital to interview Deputy Long, and from there out to Elfrida to see the gas-station clerk.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” Joanna asked.
“Jaime Carbajal,” Voland answered. “I figured that would give me a chance to check him out and see how he does when he’s working solo.”
“How about if I meet you at the hospital?” Joanna suggested. “I need to stop by and see how Debbie Howell and Ted Long are doing.”
“All right,” Voland said, “but be advised. It’s just like I said it would be. We’re paying through the nose for this guy. I don’t want to waste any of his time.”
Once the breakfast dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, Jenny gathered up her overnight gear. Then she stood with on impish grin on her face while Batch Dixon zipped her into an oversized jacket and fastened on a helmet. “Ready?” he said.
“Ready,” Jenny returned.
To Joanna’s ear Jenny’s voice sounded strangely hollow and grown up, echoing through the plastic. As she watched Jenny climb onto the motorcycle and settle on behind Butch, Joanna felt her heart constrict. The idea of Jenny’s riding off on the thing was terrifying. What if something happened? What if there was an accident?
Jenny, on the other hand, was thrilled beyond bearing and waving with delight as Butch Dixon started the smooth-sounding engine.
“See you at Marianne and Jeff’s,” she crowed. “Bet we’ll beat you there.”
“No bet,” Joanna replied.
Butch grinned at her. “Don’t worry,” he told her over the drone of the engine. “There are old riders and bold riders, but no old bold riders. I’ll be careful.”