Show ay iy ta julia mcfarlane whose husband rich ltd ard disappeared in world wat war 1 leave leav ing ln her to raise two children klc itic and nd jill Is startled when 25 years year later d luring the second war he returns a and u d tells heui her lie he Is using the name of captain mickey ric marries sandra calvert a divorcee whom richard knew to be b ol of bad reputation she arrives at the farm to live and recognizes a picture ol of rich ard as that of mackay she and JIU jill quarrel and she bhe demands 1 that thai night cap captain in IvI mackey ackey arrives arrive tiling telling JUI jill who does not know who he Is that be Is taking sandra to ric ue he tells jill about the daughter ba h lost and the she tells him about her father sandra refuses to leave with him CHAPTER all right she snapped harshly the payoff there Is one I 1 suppose you come here out of the goodness of your heart beart rod mackeel Mac keyl he le looked at jill and smiled one lid sid edly she trust met he drawled she thinks theres a catch in it maybe she has had some disillusioning lusio ning experiences jill said it could be that she always known the right sort of people never mind the kind of people ive known sandra cried hoarsely at least no tricky heel has ever fooled me yet just tell me the gag all I 1 hate bate blundering into things I 1 suppose the gestapo has been abroad and right now Is the dramatic moment to produce the fatal papers it if only given me one more day rod mackeel one more day and a very elaborate military reputation might have gone crashing down in some very dirty ruins but you knew I 1 have had time to prove anything you you worked fasti what on earth is she talking about jill demanded of the captain her eyes bewildered ashes displeased with me jill he said blandly 1 I happen to know a few facts about a divorce our sandra once got in a little smelly town called piedras negras degras in mexico back in 1927 1 I think it sandra or was it 29 she bought the divorce cheap the way you buy things in mexico cheap stuff you look at in this country and she look too carefully at the divorce and of course after she married lieutenant colonel calvert and then collected considerable alimony from him and now that ashes married into the mcfarlane family shed like to forget the divorce and never hear bear anything about it again you mean age th e divorce any good jill asked but if it he know a thing about lit snapped sandra hes bluffing trying to force me to do what he wants me to do unfortunately tor for you my dear girl im not bluffing I 1 have to quote you the fatal papers now it if you dont mind id like to get started im still in the army im still under command and its getting late AU all right ill go she said but not with you you can take me as tar far as a bus station well you can relax now JUL jill im taking my obnoxious person out ot of your house you wont be degraded any more you you poor blind little foell she whirled away and went pounding up the stairs jill sat down abruptly 1 I wish stay until mother gets here she said faintly shell be disappointed at not seeing you arid and ls Is it true about sandras divorce that it legal or something her name happens not to be sandra the captain said her name was hattle hattie Scho fHe effie when she was married to a boy named bordine in kearney nebraska then she tired of him and got into burlesque and alter after that into vaudeville and a few years ago she showed up in san antonio and attracted a young major calvert who wanted to marry her so she got this quick divorce in mexico and bother to discover that the official who signed it taken his oath of office yet or remember that shed been married as hattie Scho fHe effie and divorced as sandra laverne mere legal details but quite important im glad jill said its a nasty thing to say but im oad glad will you give your mother a message from me jiu jill of course but they should be here any minute A soldiers time Is not his own you know but you can tell your mother not to worry about richard I 1 think hell come through this business all right I 1 think he has good stuff in him in fact im sure of it lies hes his mothers son an old beau carrie came to call ill tell her but what shall I 1 tell mother about you ile he smiled slowly and that same look of tar far places of things long remembered of bewildered loss came again into his eyes ile he reached tor for juls hand and held it just tell her that an old beau came to call he said striving for lightness one of 0 her dangling adorers she used to collect them the way a honeysuckle gathers bees just remember that jill it if she gets tough on you you tell her that one of 0 her last lovers came in fact act I 1 believe I 1 was the last before my father of course ill tell her captain mackey ill ten tell her that her last lover came to call and I 1 do thank you tor for concerning yourself with our family problems I 1 know that my mother would like to thank you too just give me a kind thought now and then will you JIU jill ill need it it where im going lie he heard sandras feet on the stairs and bent down quickly and kissed jill on the cheek check for my own daughter he said huskily jill stretched herself quickly on tiptoe and drew his head down and kissed him on the mouth and that she whispered is for my father goodby good by captain mackey sandra came dragging her bag down looking small and somehow 42 t and that she whispered is tor for ny my lather father frightened she said well good by jill I 1 suppose this makes you ver very y happy indeed no jill shook her head no it i it makes me a little sick sandra if you want the truth I 1 dont like you very much but I 1 hate having it end this way good luck anyway and goodby good by again captain mackey 1 I may write to you soon I 1 may have something to tell you sandra said grimly captain mackey picked up her bag and took her arm brusquely and hurried her out at the door he turned and looked back at jill a long look then he flicked a little salute the same gesture that spang made and went out jill sat limp and shaken when the car had roared oft off down the drive she wondered what would happen to sandra now but women like sandra always got along they knew their way about she stopped bothering about sandra then for daves car had turned in at the gate and she heard voices two mens voices it be she flew to the door and across the porch they were getting out of the car and dave grinned at her and said heres a dirty looking tramp we found downtown jill he 1 was asking th the e police how to get out to buzzards hill so we lust just brought him along ever see him before reunion with spang 6 gordon cordon jill gave a choking little cry and flung herself at the tall figure in the greasy flying jacket spang he caught her and held her tight he kissed her gravely on the mouth pure dumb luckl luck he said just a routine flight my navigator had to get some more hours in the air and right over this town the doggone oil line busted glad to see me jill oh spang she shivered happily you did come back how about turning the man loose so he can wash his face dave teased youve got grease on your chin and your nose too jill 1 I know spang must be tired and hungry julia said ill see what can be found in the kitchen get some clean towels jill jiu jill led spang upstairs to the bathroom sorry im such a mess he said pulling off the oil soaked flight jacket but I 1 worked an hour on that line before I 1 gave up and decided we had to wire tor for some spare parts lucky they had that little landing field out there it awfully lucky you have some spare parts along too it spang or have had to ox fix whatever it was and go on be noon tomorrow or maybe lat er before we can finish repairs depends on how fast they get the stun stuff to us so I 1 divided the gang up as watches tor for the plane and the i rest of us struck out for town and just as I 1 was asking that sleepy cop down there on the main corner where a place called buzzards hill was there were your you r mother and mr patterson pulling out 0 of a parking spot and the cop took me over to the car talk alk about my lucky starl here I 1 amt ami and we have twel twelve ve hours anyway 1 jill said happily corne come down when youre ready spang mothers getting something tor for you to eat they sat around the kitchen table while spang devoured scrambled eggs and warmed over biscuit it if the CO could see me now he said hed swear I 1 smashed that thai oil line on pur purpose hed give me a long lecture and remind me ot of those fellows on the other side who bring the big babies in on two engines and one ol of those on fire alre and an all that at stuff you have the english channel under you dave said oh id put up the routine argument 1 I 1 was trying to save an expensive plane and an expensively trained crew for the air corps they concede that youre right usually but they have to get you on the defensive first just to see if youve got the spirit to defend your decisions probably Is there one more drop of coffee in that pot mrs me farlane ill squeeze the handle hard julia smiled at him then she looked unhappily at jill were frightfully rude she sald said J jill we should have asked sandra to come down sandra spang repeated sharply sandra here she was married to richard Richar 4 julia said she came today or I 1 guess its yesterday now ric was shipped off somewhere and he sent her home to us spang was looking at jill with a troubled face but jill had bad jumped up and stood frozen with consternation Doo leyl she cried 1 I was so excited over seeing spang that I 1 forgot to tell you sandras sandra gone gone julia repeated incredulously jill you you 1 I do anything jill insisted she got rather nasty after you left and we exchanged a few acid remarks but nothing was serious then suddenly this officer came tor for her he Is a captain at ridley field dooley and it seems be knew sandra in hawaii and other places I 1 met him when I 1 went ment down there he said he used to know you dooley his name was captain roger mackey julia gripped the edge of the table she would not let her legs crumple under her she would not let herself cry out spang said old so he be came here did he you know him do you dave asked moving around the table to draw the younger eyes away from julia while she got hold of herself yes sir he was a personnel officer at the field not very popular with the men when I 1 was there 01 he said at first he was going to take sandra to ric jill explained and then when she refused to go he sprang some mexican divorce shed had on her it seems ric was her third husband dooley Doole yand and this captain mackey said he was quite sure the mexican divorce legal and that she married to ric at all she was pretty badly frightened I 1 could see she tried to keep captain mackey quiet with some vague threats or other but he made her go im so sorry yo you U here dooley he said he h e was an old beau of yours she said anxiously arent you pleased dooley I 1 thought be relieved to find she here any more yes im pleased she said faintly but im sorry sandra went away when I 1 was not here at least to say goodby good by odd that mackey concerned himself about ric spang said may be of course that he was somehow involved with the calvert woman dooley receives A ilessa message fy e oh nol no jill protested quickly lle he that sort of person spang not that sort at all and sandra hated him she told me so she really want to go with him I 1 got the feeling that she was somehow scared I 1 think he knew more about her than he told me he left a message tor for you dooley he said to tell you that you to worry about ric that ric was going to be all right he talked about his daughter that he lost and I 1 told him about my father and then he said I 1 was to tell you that your last lover came dooley he said he was quite sure he was the last before my father of course dooley you look funny dont you feel eel well too many things have happened to dooley all at once dave said TO BE CONTINUED |