Free Higher Than Eagles (Donovans of the Delta) by Peggy Webb Page B

and black, perked the old-fashioned way in an aluminum pot over a gas flame.
    Vashti watched her for a while before she spoke her piece.
    “You look like you haven’t slept a wink.”
    “I haven’t. I had to pack.” She took another fortifying sip of coffee. “Benjamin and I are leaving Biloxi today.”
    “Just like that.” Vashti snapped her fingers. “You’re going to tuck tail and run, just because Jacob Donovan has come to town.”
    “How did you know?”
    “Seeing the two of you together, it wouldn’t take an army intelligence officer to figure it out. It’s a mistake. That’s what it is.” Vashti banged the lid on the flour canister for emphasis.
    “It’s self-preservation. Jacob and I couldn’t make it together six years ago, and we can’t make it together now—not that he’d want to try.”
    “Ha!”
    “Besides, I need a vacation. You need a vacation.” She left her coffee at the table and went to cajole the older woman. “Where do you want to go? Just name the place, and we’ll go there. How about Florida? We’ll drive down to Orlando and take Benjy to Disney World. Or Mexico? Would you rather go to Mexico?”
    “I’d rather sit right here in Biloxi and watch Jacob sweep you off your feet and down to the altar, where you should have gone with him six years ago. That’s what I’d rather do.” She slung flour onto the dough board and pounded her biscuits with a vengeance. “‘Course, some folks I know can’t seem to see the forest for the trees. Always got to be running scared. Always got to be dragging this old woman around somewhere folks don’t know how to speak proper English. All that foreign jibberish. Can’t anybody talk the King’s English except Mississippians. It’s enough to make a body want to retire.”
    Rachel let her grumble. It was Vashti’s way. She’d protest long and loud, air her opinions four times each, until there was positively no room for doubt about how she felt. But she’d go. She loved Benjamin and Rachel too much to stay behind. Rachel was counting on that.
    Vashti turned from the dough board. “How soon do we leave?”
    “As soon as I can call Louie and tell him.”
     o0o
    Thirty minutes later Rachel had her boss on the phone.
    “It’s sudden, sweetheart. But I agree. A vacation will do you good.”
    “I know it’s short notice, Louie, but under the circumstances, there’s nothing else I can do.”
    “Take all the time you need, sweetheart. I’ll get the Crawdads to come in next week and fill your spot. They’ve been pestering me for months to give them a try.” He chuckled. “The Blue Bayou is considered the launching pad to success.”
    “Thanks, Louie.”
    “Anytime, sweetheart. Say, you didn’t mention where you’d be going.”
    “Somewhere as far away from here as I can get.”
    “Take my advice. Head north where the sun won’t fry your brains every time you step out the door. I got relatives in Jersey who’d be glad to see you.”
    “And I’d be glad to see them. But there’s a favorite little spot of mine on Lake George in Florida, close enough to Orlando to take Benjy to Disney World but far enough from civilization to be a real retreat. Maybe next time, Louie.”
     o0o
    The three of them were on the road by nine o’clock, Rachel driving, Vashti buckled in beside her, and Benjy bouncing against his seatbelt in the back, pretending the BMW was an airplane and he was the pilot. With the little boy providing the sound effects, they zoomed east on Highway 90, skirting along the edge of the gulf, heading to Florida.
    They took their first bathroom break at Pascagoula, less than fifty miles out of Biloxi. As usual, when Benjy was one of the travelers, the pit stop became a real adventure.
    “I bet they got a real gum ball machine,” he told his mother, tugging her toward the small service station.
    She smiled. “I’ll bet they do. Why don’t we go inside and find out? Are you coming, Vashti?”
    Vashti heaved