Free Morning Glory by Carolyn Brown Page A

said.
    "Oil is the future. There's no limit to what all this
will mean, Clara. It's not just gasoline for engines and
oil to heat houses. There's no telling what it will open
up for our children and grandchildren," Briar said.
    "What we had was a nice quiet life for the next
generation. I can already feel a change in the air. This
oil boom is going to destroy a way of life," she
argued.
    "But it will put a new and better way in its place," he
said.
    "I disagree. I liked Healdton just the way it was."
    "I like Healdton, too. Made an offer on this piece of
land but the owner won't sell to me," Briar told her.
    "I'm not surprised. I am surprised that she even sold
you the oil lease on it. If her husband was still alive and
she didn't need the money you wouldn't have even gotten a lease."

    "If I don't buy this property, I may look at another
one," Briar said.
    "Why would you want to live in Healdton?"
    "Looks like a good place to raise children to me," he
said.
    Children? Clara's heart skipped a beat. She'd always
wanted a big family. Raised as an only child, she'd
yearned for brothers and sisters. With the Percy ordeal
and looking thirty right in the face, she'd long since
given up on ever meeting that fanciful goal in her life.
She looked up at the tower getting smaller at the top
and imagined little boys climbing up three or four feet
and then throwing themselves into Briar's arms.
    That scoundrel would have the whole thing; a future
with children and grandchildren.
    Clara would hang onto a dying past with nothing but
a suitcase full of rotting clothing and a purse with a
loaded derringer inside.
    "Oh, Clara, isn't this just the most exciting thing?
Just look at all this stuff to get oil out of the earth. Who
would have ever thought it took so many men to get the
job done," Olivia gushed.
    Clara tried to sort out a heart full of jumbled feelings. "I've seen enough"
    A roughneck shouted at Briar. "Hey, boss, we just hit
a thousand feet. Thought you said this oil was layin' on
the surface"
    A rumble made Clara plant her feet more solidly on
the platform and grab Briar's arm. The rippling mus Iles under the shirt sleeve surprised her. He'd looked so
gangly that first day he checked into her boarding
house. But she didn't have time to think about the contrast in the way Briar looked and the way he felt; she
was instantly and literally swept off her feet. Briar
scooped her up into his arms and ran toward his car.

    The grumbling earth suddenly spit a flume of black
oil straight up into the sky. Men rushed every which
way to cap it off; some of them laughing at the nasty
crude covering them from head to foot, most of them
forgetting there were women close by and using language that would singe the hair out of the devil's ears.
All of them working together in a brotherhood of
activity.
    Briar and Clara were halfway to his car when the
wind picked up the oil and slung it in their direction.
Her dress was ruined and all she could think about was
the excitement of trying to outrun the gusher. Then
Briar slipped in the oily substance and the mud mixed
up together. His feet went out from under him and no
matter how hard he tried to get his balance it was
impossible to stay upright. He landed on his back, staring straight up at a splattering shower of oil coming out
of a cloudless blue sky. She wound up on top of him,
her hands planted firmly on the ground beside his head,
her face barely inches from his. Up that close, his lips,
which she'd originally thought too thin and severe, suddenly looked very desirable.
    Briar battled the urge to wrap his arms tightly around her and kiss her right there in front of the whole crew,
Olivia, and God Himself. Even with crude all over her
face and dripping from her hair, she was so danged cute.

    He apologized in a raspy voice. "Sorry, I hoped I
could get you out of it."
    "So that's what they mean when they say they've hit
a gusher." She tried to