Web of Dreams (Casteel 5)

. Still in a daze, I followed Luke to his truck. He opened the door and helped me in and then we started back to the circus. I just sat there, clutching my suitcase to me with my left arm and hugging Angel against me with my right.

"Don't worry, Leigh," Luke said with

assurance. "I'll be sure to get you to the train on time tomorrow. There's a gas station up ahead on the right and it has a pay phone on the side. Do you want me to pull up there so you can call your grandmother and tell her you're gonna be a day late?"

I didn't respond. I barely heard him speak. I felt like someone stuck on a merry-go-round, spinning from one side to another but getting nowhere.

"Leigh? Don'tcha think you should call her so she won't worry when you're not on the train?"

"Oh, Luke," I said, unable to hold back the river of tears that s slight to flow freely over my cheeks. "My grandmother doesn't know I'm coming. I'm running away!"

"'What?" He slowed down. "Running away?" He turned the truck onto a side road away from the traffic and stopped. "So that's why you didn't have much travelin' money. Well, why are you runnin' away from home, Leigh? Sounds to me like you were livin' high on the hog back in New England."

I cried harder. He slid over on the seat and embraced me tenderly.

"Hey, take it easy. It's all right. If a sweet and lovely person like you wanted to run away, it has to be for a good reason."

I couldn't control my sobbing. It seemed to have a mind of its own, making me shake and quiver in his arms. It made me cold and my teeth chattered. Luke tightened his embrace and ran the palm of his hand up and down my arm to warm me.

"Easy," he said and kissed me softly on

the forehead and then brought his lips down my cheeks to kiss back the tears. I caught my breath and swallowed. "I've run away a hundred times myself. Heck, in a sense I'm runnin' away now, but I always manage to find ray way back somehow. You will too. You'll see," he added with encouragement.

"I don't want to find my way back," I snapped.

He nodded.

"Boy, it must've been bad."

"It was bad," I said. I took a deep breath, sat back and told him all of it. . .my parents' divorce, what I learned about my mother when I overheard her conversation with Grandma Jenkins, what Tony Tatterton was like, what Earthy was like, and what it was like modeling for the portrait doll. Then, I cried again and told him how Tony had raped me and how my mother wouldn't believe it when I told her.

"And when I found out that I was pregnant, I ran to my mother, thinking now she would have to believe me, but instead of helping me, she blamed it all on me. On me!" moaned through my tears.

Luke had turned off the engine and backed against the door of the truck listening as quietly as a church mouse. overcast night sky made it very dark in the truck. We were away from the headlights of other cars and street lights. He sat there in a dark silhouette, but I could sense how somber and thoughtful he was when I paused.

"I thought these kinds of things happened only to the hillbilly people, people in the Willies. I guess bein' all that rich ain't always what it's cracked up to be," he said. Then his voice turned stern. "I wish I had that Tony Tatterton right here. I'd twist his head until his neck twanged like a broken guitar string."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. He had such a colorful imagination.

"See? I knew I could make you feel better. Anyway, I'm sorry now I fed you all that junk food at the circus. You ain't in no condition for that. I'm taking you right to this diner I know on the way back to the circus. It's all homemade cookin', just like my ma's. In fact, the place is called Ma's Diner."

"Oh, I'm not hungry now, Luke. I'm just very tired."

"Sure. It's understandable. I know what," he said snapping his fingers. "I'll get you a room in a motel so you can be comfortable. A bed a hay in a circus tent ain't no place for a girl who's havin' a baby," he declared firmly and reached for the ignition key.

"Oh Luke, I can't let you spend your money like that. I saw how hard you work for every penny."

"You ain't got no say about it," he replied and started the truck again. I realized there was no arguing with him. When Thomas Luke Casteel had made up his mind about something, he was stubborn and determined. "You need a proper night's rest and comfortable bathroom facilities. Some of these places got television, too," he added and headed the truck back to the main highway.

He asked me to tell him more about Farthy, so I described the size of the rooms, the maze, the olympic-size pool and tennis courts, the stables and the private beach. He whistled through his teeth and shook his head.

"I knew there were rich folk, but not that rich. Sounds like this Tony Tatterton owns his own country."

"Just about."

"And he makes all this money making toys for rich people?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes," I said. "But they're very expensive toys."