A Groom to Come Home To

She stared at the man for a few minutes—incredulous that he would expect one person to do all that work. And a person with so little professional experience, besides.

“It sounds rather overwhelming, but I’m hardly in a position to refuse,” she replied honestly.

Shriver laughed lightly. “I’ll admit I would be disappointed if you refused this assignment, but I also know that if you aren’t willing, aren’t excited about the project, it won’t be successful.”

“Of course, I’ll accept it and do the best I can. It sounds as if it could be a great benefit to the miners and their families. Where’s the clinic located?”

“Near Shriver Mine No. 10 in Harlan County.”

Beth clutched the arms of the chair as dizziness swept over her, and the face of Milton Shriver faded before her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, as he rose to assist her. “Are you ill?”

She waved him back to his chair, swallowed with difficulty, and tried to force a smile. “You gave me quite a shock. I was born in Harlan County and lived there until I was sixteen years old. Memories of my childhood aren’t pleasant, and I’d hoped that I would never have to live there again.”

Shriver’s face showed his surprise. “When you graduated from high school in Prestonburg, we naturally assumed that was your home. I didn’t know that you had any connection to Harlan County.”

“It’s been home to the Warners for over two hundred years, but I moved to Prestonburg with my maternal grandmother after the death of my parents.”

“Under these circumstances,” he replied kindly, “I won’t hold you to your agreement to take over the clinic, but I would like for you to take a week to look over the situation before you reject it completely. I’ll have one of our executives accompany you to Harlan County and show you the clinic and the area where you would work. He’s an expert on conditions in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky. Just a minute, I’ll have him come in—he’s planning to take you to lunch.”

Shriver walked to a door that opened into an adjoining office.

“Will you come in now, please?” A man then appeared in the open doorway, and at first, Beth didn’t recognize him; he looked so different from the man she had once known.

“Beth, I want you to meet Clark Randolph, although Clark tells me that you’re already acquainted. Clark will be your supervisor—your contact with the company.”

Again, dizziness assailed Beth, but she struggled to her feet, wanting to run away, and the face she had once known so well blurred before her. This couldn’t be Clark—no longer a miner, but a well-groomed executive, dressed in a dark business suit, silk tie, and white shirt, looking right at home in the headquarters of Shriver Mining Company.

But when he walked toward her, she knew it was Clark. Clothes couldn’t change his graceful, easy tread, and his steady and serene gaze, which held her spellbound when he held out his hand. “Hello, Beth.”

“Hello,” she squeaked, and her voice sounded unnatural. Desperately needing some link to steady her nerves, she gripped his hand tightly, and even in the trauma of the moment, she noticed that his hands were not rough to the touch as they had been the last time she’d seen him.

Why had she ever come back to Kentucky? If she had taken a job elsewhere, she could eventually have repaid Shriver Mining the amount of the scholarship.

Milton Shriver looked from one to the other, his eyes keen question marks. Try as she would, Beth could not control her emotions. Clark had expected to see her, and he seemed to be at ease. In such a short time, how could Clark have progressed from an underground miner to the position he held here? Beth felt as if her face had a plaster cast over it, and she could hardly move her lips when she turned to Shriver.

“When do you want to see me again?”

“This afternoon or tomorrow, after you and Clark have had an opportunity to talk over your work.”

“I guess I’ll need to check into a motel if I’m going to be here a few days.”

“That will be at our expense, Miss Warner. Clark will take care of it for you.”

“Thank you.” Without looking at Clark, Beth turned and walked out into the hall, but she could hear his footsteps behind her, and when they reached the front office, he said to the receptionist, “Stephanie, I’ll be out of the office for a few hours.” The woman favored Beth with a sharp glance, and Beth wondered if Stephanie could sense the tension between herself and Clark.

Clark opened the door for Beth, then took her arm as they went down the steps. Her nerves tightened at his touch.

“We’ll go in my car,” he said, and he led her to a red sport-utility vehicle, which had Shriver Mining Company emblazoned on the door. When she stepped inside, the last vestige of control to which she had so tenaciously held, deserted her, and she dropped her head on the padded dashboard and sobbed—hard, wrenching sobs that shook her entire body. As far as Beth could remember, she hadn’t cried since she’d left Kentucky, but now she couldn’t stop as she sobbed out the frustrations and disappointments of a lifetime. Clark remained silent, though from time to time she felt his strong hand tenderly touch her shoulder or stroke her hair.

Last night, she had determined to forget the past, but as Clark drove quietly out of the parking lot and accessed Interstate 64 heading east, Beth’s thoughts turned to the tumultuous incidents that had taken her away from Warner Hollow.

After the Christmas when Clark had declared his love for her, eastern Kentucky had been plunged into two months of inclement weather that closed the schools for weeks, and when they reopened, Beth was marooned at her home in Warner Hollow for an additional two weeks.

Consequently, she fell behind in her studies and her grades weren’t nearly as good as they had been the first semester. She rarely saw Clark. They exchanged a few words on the school bus and passed an occasional note, but there was no opportunity to discuss what had happened between them on Christmas Eve.

When spring came, Clark signed up for the softball team, and he practiced after school and played on Saturdays. He took his father’s car to school so he could have transportation home after ball practice, so he didn’t often ride the bus.

One Friday afternoon in late April, however, Clark boarded the bus, and he sat beside Beth and slipped a note into her hand. She secreted the note in the pocket of her jacket, but she went to her bedroom as soon as she could and read his words: “Meet me at the tree stand, Sunday afternoon.”

Beth was excited to have the opportunity to see Clark again, and she thought about it constantly until it was time to meet him. She hurried up the mountain, and she was panting when she reached their rendezvous, disappointed to find that she was there ahead of Clark.

He came before too long, apologizing. “We were late getting home from church this morning, and we have another meeting tonight, so I can’t stay long.” He drew her into his arms. “I’ve missed you.”

“Same here. I thought the winter would never end.”

They climbed the ladder and sat on the platform. The sun shining through the tree branches showing the first signs of foliage was warm and relaxing.

“Looks as if the squirrels used our place as a kitchen table this winter,” Clark said as he brushed acorn hulls and hickory-nut shells from the wide boards.

He sat beside her, with his arm around her shoulder, and Beth leaned against him.

“Beth, will you go to the prom with me?”

She drew a quick breath. “Oh, I wouldn’t dare. It might start the feud again.”

“Who’s left to fight? Hardly any Randolphs live around here except my family, and we aren’t going to be involved in a feud.”

“My half brothers would pick a fight with anyone. As you may have gathered, I’m not very proud of my relatives. My sister, Luellen, doesn’t like me, and the two boys are always in some kind of trouble. They would sue you in a minute if they thought they could make any money off you.”

“We don’t have any money, so I’ll risk it. Will you go with me?”

“Let me think about it.”

Wanting very much to attend the prom, Beth asked her mother for her permission, omitting the fact that freshmen couldn’t go unless they went with an upperclassman.

“You’d need a new dress, I reckon.”

Her heart lightening, Beth said, “I can send a letter to Pam, and she could pick out something suitable at that secondhand store. I’ve gotten through this year with the clothes she helped me to buy. She’ll know what I need, and it won’t cost much.”

Beth felt guilty deceiving her parents, but she didn’t once lie to them—she just didn’t tell them everything. She’d told her grandmother, though, that she wanted to go to the prom with Clark Randolph, and Ella had replied, “Why not? Why should you be punished for what happened more than a hundred years ago? Besides, I know the Randolphs—they’re good people and their son is a fine boy. Go and enjoy yourself.”

Pam mailed Beth an ankle-length white chiffon party dress, decorated with pearls on the bodice and neckline. It looked like new, as if it hadn’t been worn more than once. Beth’s mother was not demonstrative about her affection, but Beth knew that she was proud of her daughter’s looks, and she insisted that Beth have a new pair of shoes. So Beth bought a pair of white low-heeled sling pumps, and she was pleased with her appearance as she dressed for the prom.

When Clark came to pick her up, he brought her a corsage of pink carnations. He was dressed in a new blue suit, white shirt, and tie, and Beth admired his sturdy and finely made body, both wiry and strong. She had never seen him in dress clothes before, and she thought what a pity that he wouldn’t choose a profession in which he could appear so dashing all the time.

Neither Beth nor Clark knew how to dance, but they enjoyed listening to the music and watching the others. She had a good time, and it was an evening to remember, but when the prom was over, instead of driving back to her grandmother’s house, Clark drove along the highway for several miles. When he turned onto a secondary road, Beth gave him a quick look.

“Where are you going?”

“Beth, I won’t keep you out late, but I want to talk to you.”

After he parked the car, he put his arms around Beth, and he didn’t keep her in doubt about his intentions.

“I’ve told you that I love you, and now I want to propose. I want to marry you, Beth. I’m going to work in the mines next month, and I’ll be making good money. I can support a wife, as well as help out my family.”

Beth’s heart beat like a drum. The thought of marriage to Clark seemed like a happy dream. A dream that could actually come true. But she was determined that her mind, rather than her heart, would rule her. She moved away from him.

“Clark, I don’t want to get married. I’ve finally gotten my parents to agree to send me to high school, and I want to go to college if I can find a way. Besides, I’m only sixteen.”

“Lots of girls marry at sixteen, and you could still go to school,” he insisted. “We can live with my parents.”

“Live with your parents! What kind of life would that be?”

“I’ll need to help support my family, and it will be easier if we’re all under the same roof. Besides, if you’re going to school, you wouldn’t have time to take care of a house, and Mother wouldn’t mind.”

She put her hand over his mouth to stop his words, and he nibbled her fingers.

Steeling herself to ignore his caress, she said, “Clark, listen to me…. I don’t want to hurt you, but I tried to tell you once before. I’m not interested in marrying anyone right now, but when I do marry, it won’t be to a coal miner. I want to marry someone who will take me away from that kind of life—the fear of cave-ins like the one that disabled your father, the danger of diseases caused by being underground so much, the dread of losing your husband in a mine disaster. It’s a hard life.”

Beth hadn’t noticed any stubbornness in Clark before, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer this time.

“If you loved me, you’d be willing to accept my way of life.”

“That’s another way we differ. Most people I know believe it’s a woman’s duty to sacrifice every personal aspiration for the man in her life. I’m not willing to do that. My mother asked me once why I couldn’t be like the other girls in our neighborhood, and I told her I didn’t know. I still don’t know why I’m different, but I am. And you know how much I want to have a profession of my own. Besides,” she continued, “I haven’t told you that I love you.”

“But you do, don’t you?”

“I probably do,” she admitted quietly. His brown eyes gazing into her own shone with a hopeful light. But it was quickly extinguished when she added, “But I don’t see that loving you changes anything for me, Clark. I’m sorry.”

Without another word, Clark turned the car around and started back toward town. Beth longed to erase the misery reflected on his face, but she doubted that his pain was any worse than the agony in her own heart. Regardless of how much it hurt, she couldn’t do what he wanted.

When he stopped in front of the Blaine home, Clark took her hand and said, “I’m not mad at you, Bethie—only sorry that you don’t love me as much as I love you.”

“Let me ask you a question, Clark. You think I don’t love you because I won’t marry you and settle down in Harlan County for the rest of my life. If I married you, would you leave Kentucky and go with me to live in some other state?”

His startled brown eyes met hers, luminous in the glow of the streetlight. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I can’t go away and leave my family without some help. I have an obligation to them.”

“Then we’re at an impasse.”

“Where do we go from here?”

“You know the answer as well as I do, Clark.”

“You mean we should stop seeing each other?”

“What else? Why keep turning a knife that will only cause deeper pain?”

“It will break my heart, but I’ll do what you say.”

“We won’t be seeing each other much now anyway, since you won’t be going to school.”

“We could meet on the mountain now that spring has come,” he said hopefully.

Beth shook her head, and Clark drew her into his arms and drained the depth of his despair onto her lips. “I thought this was going to be the happiest night of my life,” he said. “Instead, it’s the blackest.”

Beth held him tightly for a moment, savoring his closeness, then slipped out of his arms, and seemingly out of his life. With brimming eyes, she jumped from the car and ran up the steps and into the house.

Beth was startled when a horn sounded behind them, and realizing that Clark was driving more slowly, she lifted her head as he exited the interstate onto a secondary road.

“Please excuse my behavior, Clark,” she said. “Now that I’m back in Kentucky, I keep remembering incidents of the past I thought I’d forgotten completely. Believe me, I’m not usually so weepy.”

She sensed that Clark was grinning, although she wouldn’t look directly at him.

“I’ve never thought of you as a crybaby, but you’ve had plenty of reason to cry.”

“I’ve been thinking about the night I went with you to the prom.”

“I’ve thought of that lots of times, too. You sure were pretty in that white dress.”

“The pink corsage made it look nicer. You were so handsome in your new suit, and I was happy to be your date.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry the night had to end on a sour note.”

Clark patted her hands where they lay clenched in her lap. “That’s the way it should have been, so don’t worry about it. We can’t do anything about the past.”

Beth sighed, and cupped her fingers around his. “The rest of that year was the worst time of my life.”

“I know, and I wish I could have helped you more. I thought my heart would break when you moved away.”

Beth’s thoughts drifted back to the dismal closing days of her freshman year. Those were heartrending days without Clark’s attention—days that were only a prelude to what the summer held for Beth. In mid-June her mother had a heart attack and died before an ambulance could reach the hollow; and moments after John Warner realized that his wife was dead, he slumped in his rocking chair and, gasping for breath, also died.

For the two days prior to the funeral, Beth wandered around in a state of shock. Her half siblings flocked into the house, took over burial arrangements, insisting that the property belonged to them now; and legally it did, because John had deeded the property to his first wife before he’d joined the army during World War IL Beth had no desire to own the property, but she did need a home.

That problem was solved when Ella Blaine arrived at the house and said, “Pack your things, Beth, and as soon as the funeral is over, I’m taking you to live with me all the time.” Ella took a long look at the coffin of her youngest daughter. “But we won’t stay in Harlan County. There are too many bad memories for both of us here. I’m going to sell out and move to Prestonburg where my other children live—I only stayed here to be close to Mary.” Beth was heartened by that news, especially since Pam and Ray Gordon had also moved to Prestonburg, and at that distance, she would be rid of her half siblings, and unlikely to see Clark at all, although she did wish she could see him once more before she left the area.

Quite a large gathering of neighbors and family came to the funeral, most of them arriving a day early so they could participate in the double wake. When Beth followed the funeral procession out of the house, she saw Clark standing to one side, his brown eyes full of compassion. It was unheard of for a Randolph to attend a Warner funeral, and it must have taken a lot of courage to risk the hostility that would ensue if he were recognized.

After the graveside service, Beth looked around to see if Clark had gone. He was standing apart from the others, and she walked to his side.

He reached out and took her hand. “I’m sorry, Bethie.”

At first her throat was too tight for speech. Clark lifted a hand and wiped away the tears that ran down her cheeks, and his touch was rough on her face. That’s what the coal mines do to you, she thought bitterly. Only a month in the mine, and already, his hands were rough and scruffy.

“I’m leaving right away, Clark, to live with my grandmother. I’ll finish high school in Prestonburg.”

“The mountains are going to seem mighty empty without you, but I can see that it’s best for you to leave. Will I ever see you again?”

“I don’t know.”

After the shock of her parents’ tragic deaths had worn off, Beth had enjoyed living in Prestonburg. She’d made new friends, and her grades were above average. At times her wayward thoughts turned to Clark and the love they had known, but, with determination, she pushed the memories aside. She liked living near Pam Gordon, and she spent a lot of time at the Gordons’ house, especially when Ray was touring with his band.

Thinking of her friend, Beth said, “I stopped by Prestonburg to see Pam a couple of days ago, and learned they’d moved. Do you see Ray and Pam often?”

“Not as much as I did before I came to Lexington. Haven’t you kept in touch with Pam?”

Shaking her head, Beth said, “No, and I’m ashamed to admit it. As good as Pam was to help me when I was in high school, I should at least have sent her a Christmas card. I thought I was better off to forget people in Kentucky, but I’m beginning to have second thoughts about it.”

Yes, Pam had helped her buy clothes and supported her in everything she wanted to do, but they couldn’t agree about Beth’s friendship with Alex.

In the closing months of her senior year, her life changed completely when she met Alex Connor.

Alex was associated with the United States Foreign Service, and was in Kentucky to determine how the state’s products, particularly coal and tobacco, could be expanded into overseas markets. He had a temporary office in Prestonburg, and Beth was assigned to work there a few hours each week to fulfill the requirements of her business-cooperative course, whereby high-school seniors gained work experience in local businesses.

Alex seemed the embodiment of Beth’s dreams. He was educated, he was handsome—blond-haired, blueeyed, with a lean build—and he appeared to be captivated by Beth. They had several dates, and Beth soon found out that his aspirations matched hers. Her dream of reaching beyond Kentucky soared when she was with Alex.

“A few more years of drudgery like this,” he often said, “and I’ll have enough years of service to be transferred overseas. I want to see the world.”

On her graduation night, when Beth received the scholarship, her excitement was boundless, especially since she had a date with Alex and some other graduates for a gala dinner after the ceremonies. Beth thought she was well on her way toward her coveted goal, until she came face-to-face with Clark Randolph at the close of the graduation exercises.

He approached her, smiling, and because her heart raced at the sight of this man, whom she hadn’t seen since she’d left Harlan County, she was less friendly with him than she might otherwise have been. She was looking toward the future now—she could spare no thoughts on the past. Why did he have to show up now and remind her of what she’d given up?

“Congratulations, Bethie,” he said. “I wanted to see you graduate.”

“But how did you know?”

“Ray Gordon and I are friends. I ask him how you are and what you’re up to.”

Had Ray told Clark that she’d been dating Alex?

“He’s never mentioned your name to me.”

“I figured you didn’t want to hear about me, so I asked him not to say anything.”

Apparently Clark had come straight from the coal mine because he was dressed in jeans that were none too clean, and his brown hair was long and tousled. His hands still had the sheen of coal on them. Looking over Clark’s shoulder, Beth saw Alex heading in her direction. She just couldn’t introduce him to Clark, who reminded her of things she was determined to forget.

“Thanks for coming, Clark. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve made plans for a graduation party.”

Perhaps it wasn’t only her words, but the careless, unfeeling way she had spoken, that made Clark gasp, and left Beth with a memory of the hurt, reproachful look in his brown eyes that had haunted her dreams and waking hours for years afterward. The evening that she had anticipated with so much pleasure turned into a great disappointment, and even now she couldn’t look back on it without inward agony. Coming on the heels of her humiliating treatment of Clark, Alex had told her that he had been assigned to overseas duty, making it obvious that he didn’t intend to make any commitment to her. But the crushing blow of the evening came when she looked more closely at the scholarship she’d been awarded and found that she would be obligated to return to Kentucky after she received her college degree.

Chapter Three

Beth was startled when Clark laid his hand on her shoulder. “Beth, are you feeling any better yet?”

With difficulty, she returned to the present and shook her head.

He reached for his cell phone and dialed.

“Stephanie, this is Clark. Please tell Mr. Shriver that Miss Warner and I will not return to the office this afternoon. She will see him tomorrow morning.”

He dialed again. “This is Clark Randolph, Shriver Mining Company. Please make a reservation for the next two nights for Beth Warner, at our expense. She will check in later on this evening.”

After he finished his phone calls, Clark drove for several miles in silence. “Beth,” he said at last, “we must go somewhere and talk. We can go to a restaurant but it won’t be very private. Do you have any objections to going to my apartment?”

“Your apartment will be fine. I’m too upset to be seen in public right now.”