"Stop it, Cage. None of that is true and I won't listen to any more of it. Have you been drinking?"
"Unfortunately, no. But I wish to hell I had been." He moved toward her and gripped her arm. "Jenny, wake up. They're smothering you. You're a woman, a damn good-looking woman. So what if you do something they disapprove of? You're not fourteen now. They can't punish you. If they did kick you out, which they never would, so what? You could go someplace else."
"Be an independent woman, is that it?"
"I guess that capsulizes it, yeah."
"You think I should cruise the honky-tonks the way you do?"
"No. But I don't think it's healthy for you to spend ninety percent of your time cooped up in Bible study groups either."
"I like doing church work."
"At the exclusion of everything else?" Agitated, he raked his fingers through his hair. "All the work you do in the church is admirable. I'm not taking anything away from that. I just hate to see you shrivel up like an old lady long before your time. You're throwing your life away."
"I'm not. I'm going to have a life with Hal."
"Not if he goes off to Central America and gets himself killed!" He saw her face drain of color and softened his stance and his tone of voice. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into all that."
She accepted his apology graciously. "Hal's the real issue."
"That's right." He clasped her hands. "Talk to him, Jenny."
"I can't change his mind."
"He has to listen to you. You're the woman he's going to marry."
"Don't place so much confidence in me."
"I won't hold you responsible for his decision, if that's what you mean. Just promise you'll try to convince him not to go."
She glanced toward the kitchen. Through the windows she could see Hal and his parents still grouped around the table, deep in discussion. "I'll try."
"Good." He squeezed her hands before releasing them.
"Sarah said you're spending the night." For some reason she didn't want Cage to know it had been she who had prepared his room for the overnight stay, airing it out that afternoon and putting fresh linens on the bed. She wanted him to think his mother had gone to the trouble.
"Yeah, I promised to be here for Hal's big send-off in the morning. I hope it never materializes."
"Well, anyway, Sarah likes having you sleep at home now and then."
He smiled ruefully and touched her cheek. "Ah, Jenny. You're such a diplomat. Mother issued the invitation and then told me to clear out all the football and basketball trophies from my bedroom while I was here. She said she was tired of dusting all that junk."
Jenny swallowed a knot of emotion and her heart went out to Cage. Only a few weeks ago she and Sarah had carefully folded clean cloths around Hal's sports trophies and stored them in boxes in the attic. For twelve years it had been clear to Jenny which was the favored son. But Cage had no one to blame but himself. He had chosen a way of life his parents couldn't possibly approve of.
"Good night, Cage." Jenny suddenly wished she could hold him. He often looked like he needed to be held, which was a ridiculous notion considering his reputation as the town stud. But was that kind of loving enough, even for someone as wild as Cage?
"G'night."
Reluctantly she left him alone and entered the house by the back door. Hal raised his eyes to her and indicated with his head that she should move behind his chair. He was listening attentively to what his father was saying about collecting a state-wide offering for the support of the refugees once they arrived in Texas.
Jenny, standing behind Hal's chair, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned down to tuck his head beneath her chin. "Tired?" Hal asked her when Bob stopped speaking. The Hendrens beamed on them proudly.
"A little."
"Go on up to bed. You'll have to get up early in the morning to wave me off."
She sighed and laid her forehead on top of his head, not wanting his parents to see the despair on her face. "I won't sleep."