setting cereal on the table for herself and Kaye and had virtually taken over Rennie, diapers and all. When Lillybeth and then Season came along, it was Molly who rocked the croup out of them and fixed their peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. She was even the one to sign their school absence excuses.
By rights it should have been Kaye, as the oldest, who looked out for them all, but Kaye was preoccupied, too, with books as Mama was, but mostly with herself.
“I’m goin’ somewhere out of here,” Kaye said often. “I’m gonna study and be somebody.”
Kaye truly had been a scholar, achieving the highest grades of anyone before or since at Valentine High School. She received a full scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, but she came home sick after four weeks and never went back. She couldn’t bear to leave her home, although she never had admitted this. She liked to see it as circumstances conspiring against her.
On occasion Molly’s daddy, Lloyd Bennett, and later Stirling made stabs at being responsible fathers.
Molly’s daddy had been a charmer. He used to call himself a stockbroker. He bought and sold—brokered—cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, when he worked. Mostly, though, he drank. His efforts at parenting primarily consisted of cooking breakfast—his favorite being omelets stuffed with sausage and mushrooms and hot peppers—and taking his girls fishing. Kaye never would go, though, and Rennie had been only a toddler. The first and only time Daddy took Rennie fishing, she had gotten a sunburn so bad that Mama had had to take her to the hospital. After that Daddy wasn’t allowed to take Rennie anywhere for a long time.
Stirling, who had looked like a California bodybuilder, had focused his fatherly attention on their clothes. He’d had something of a passion for washing clothes, and he even could sew quite well. He had never cared where his daughters went in their clothes, or what they did, but he wanted them to be dressed nice at all times.
As the years had gone on, it had been Tommy Lee who got the fishing hook out of Molly’s head when her daddy had cast his line and caught her instead; Tommy Lee who took her to Doc Nordstrom’s office when she’d gotten bumped off a horse and broken her wrist; Tommy Lee who had taught her how to put out a fire in a pan of grease, and saved the house from burning; and taught her how to ride a bicycle and a horse; and how to drive a car with a stick shift.
It had been Tommy Lee who taught her to kiss, right out there in the horse barn, and it had been Tommy Lee who had taught her how to have satisfaction without going all the way, thus keeping her a virgin, when she wanted to give herself to him. And when they finally had succumbed to their long-denied passions, it had been Tommy Lee who had married her because he’d gotten her pregnant, as he saw it.
Molly couldn’t say for certain, but she suspected that she had been determined to get Tommy Lee to make love to her and get her pregnant. She had been frightened and ashamed right from the first that this could possibly be true, and she had told Tommy Lee straight away that he didn’t have to marry her.
But he’d said, “Of course I’m marryin’ you, Molly. Don’t be stupid.”
She had known he would say that, and truth be told she had counted on it. She had no idea what she would have done if Tommy Lee hadn’t married her. She had been seventeen and pregnant and with no job skills of any kind and no one but Tommy Lee to turn to.
They had gotten married at the Free Methodist Church, by Pastor Howell, who had christened Molly as a little girl. She had felt so guilty about being pregnant that she’d had to tell the pastor, but he only smiled and said it made no difference. Of course that wasn’t true at all. In those days, people still raised eyebrows at being pregnant, at least in little towns like Valentine, Middle America. Molly’s being pregnant certainly made a great deal of difference to
By rights it should have been Kaye, as the oldest, who looked out for them all, but Kaye was preoccupied, too, with books as Mama was, but mostly with herself.
“I’m goin’ somewhere out of here,” Kaye said often. “I’m gonna study and be somebody.”
Kaye truly had been a scholar, achieving the highest grades of anyone before or since at Valentine High School. She received a full scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, but she came home sick after four weeks and never went back. She couldn’t bear to leave her home, although she never had admitted this. She liked to see it as circumstances conspiring against her.
On occasion Molly’s daddy, Lloyd Bennett, and later Stirling made stabs at being responsible fathers.
Molly’s daddy had been a charmer. He used to call himself a stockbroker. He bought and sold—brokered—cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, when he worked. Mostly, though, he drank. His efforts at parenting primarily consisted of cooking breakfast—his favorite being omelets stuffed with sausage and mushrooms and hot peppers—and taking his girls fishing. Kaye never would go, though, and Rennie had been only a toddler. The first and only time Daddy took Rennie fishing, she had gotten a sunburn so bad that Mama had had to take her to the hospital. After that Daddy wasn’t allowed to take Rennie anywhere for a long time.
Stirling, who had looked like a California bodybuilder, had focused his fatherly attention on their clothes. He’d had something of a passion for washing clothes, and he even could sew quite well. He had never cared where his daughters went in their clothes, or what they did, but he wanted them to be dressed nice at all times.
As the years had gone on, it had been Tommy Lee who got the fishing hook out of Molly’s head when her daddy had cast his line and caught her instead; Tommy Lee who took her to Doc Nordstrom’s office when she’d gotten bumped off a horse and broken her wrist; Tommy Lee who had taught her how to put out a fire in a pan of grease, and saved the house from burning; and taught her how to ride a bicycle and a horse; and how to drive a car with a stick shift.
It had been Tommy Lee who taught her to kiss, right out there in the horse barn, and it had been Tommy Lee who had taught her how to have satisfaction without going all the way, thus keeping her a virgin, when she wanted to give herself to him. And when they finally had succumbed to their long-denied passions, it had been Tommy Lee who had married her because he’d gotten her pregnant, as he saw it.
Molly couldn’t say for certain, but she suspected that she had been determined to get Tommy Lee to make love to her and get her pregnant. She had been frightened and ashamed right from the first that this could possibly be true, and she had told Tommy Lee straight away that he didn’t have to marry her.
But he’d said, “Of course I’m marryin’ you, Molly. Don’t be stupid.”
She had known he would say that, and truth be told she had counted on it. She had no idea what she would have done if Tommy Lee hadn’t married her. She had been seventeen and pregnant and with no job skills of any kind and no one but Tommy Lee to turn to.
They had gotten married at the Free Methodist Church, by Pastor Howell, who had christened Molly as a little girl. She had felt so guilty about being pregnant that she’d had to tell the pastor, but he only smiled and said it made no difference. Of course that wasn’t true at all. In those days, people still raised eyebrows at being pregnant, at least in little towns like Valentine, Middle America. Molly’s being pregnant certainly made a great deal of difference to
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