Carolina Moon

here to see you.”
    The door swung open, and J.R. Mooney filled it. The size of him always astonished Tory. How this big, brawny man had come from her grandmother was one of life’s mysteries.
    “There she is!” His voice was as big as the rest of him and boomed out as he made his grab.
    Tory was braced for it, and still lost her breath when he scooped her off her feet into his wild grizzly hug. And as always, the surprise came as her toes left the ground and the rib-cracking embrace made her laugh.
    “Uncle Jimmy.” Tory pressed her face into his bull’s neck, and finally, finally, felt home.
    “J.R., you’re going to snap that girl like a twig.”
    “She’s little.” J.R. winked at Betsy. “But she’s wiry. You make sure we got us a few minutes’ quiet in here, won’t you, Betsy?”
    “Don’t you worry. Welcome home, Tory,” Betsy added, and closed the door.
    “Here, now, you sit down. Want anything? Coca-Cola?”
    “No, nothing. I’m fine.” She didn’t sit, but lifted her hands, then dropped them. “I should have come to see you yesterday.”
    “Don’t you fret about that. You’re here now.” He leaned back on his desk, a man of six-two and a muscled two-fifty. His ginger-colored hair hadn’t faded with age, but there were thin wires of silver woven through the mass of it. The brush mustache that added a bit of dash to his round face had grown in pure silver, as had his woolly caterpillar eyebrows. His eyes were more blue than gray, and had always seemed so kind to Tory.
    Abruptly, he grinned, big as the moon. “Girl, you look like city. Just as pretty and polished as a TV star. Boots is gonna love showing you off.” He laughed at Tory’s automatic wince. “Oh now, you’ll indulge her a bit, won’t you? She never did have that daughter she pined for, and Wade just won’t cooperate and get married to give her little granddaughters to dress up.”
    “She tries to put a lace pinafore on me, we’re going to have trouble. I’ll go see her, Uncle Jimmy. I need to get settled first, get into the shop and roll up my sleeves. I’ve got stock and supplies coming in over the next few days.”
    “Ready to work, are you?”
    “Eager. I’ve wanted to take this step a long time. I hope the Progress Bank and Trust has room for another account.”
    “We’ve always got room for more money. I’ll set you up myself, and we’ll get to that in just a minute. Honey, I heard you rented the old house.”
    “Does Lissy Frazier hold the record for biggest mouth in Progress these days?”
    “She runs neck and neck with a few others. Now, I don’t mean to crowd you or anything like that, but Cade Lavelle wouldn’t hold you to that lease if you wanted to change your mind. Boots and I wish you’d come stay with us. We got room, God knows.”
    “I appreciate that, Uncle Jimmy—”
    “No, hold on. Don’t say ‘but’ just yet. You’re a grown woman. I got eyes, I can see that. You’ve been on your own some years now. But I can’t say as I like the idea of you living out there, not in that house. I don’t see how it can be good for you.”
    “Good or not, it feels necessary. He beat me in that house.” When J.R. closed his eyes, Tory stepped closer. “Uncle Jimmy, I don’t say that to hurt you.”
    “I should’ve done something about it. I should’ve got you out of there. Away from him. Should’ve got you both out.”
    “Mama wouldn’t go.” She spoke gently now, because he seemed to need it. “You know that.”
    “I didn’t know how bad it was, not then. I didn’t look hard enough. But I know now, and I don’t like to think about you being out there, remembering all that.”
    “I remember it wherever I am. Staying there, well, that proves to me I can face it. I can live with it. I’m not afraid of him anymore. I won’t let myself be.”
    “Why don’t you come on to the house, just for a few days then. See how you settle?” He only sighed when she shook her head. “It’s my plight to be surrounded by stubborn women. Well, sit down so I can do this paperwork and take your money.”
    At noon the bells of the Baptist church chimed the hour. Tory stepped back, wiped the sweat off her face. Her display window sparkled like a diamond. She’d carted boxes in from her car and stacked them in the storeroom. She’d measured for shelving, for counters, and made a list of demands and requirements she intended to take down to the realtor.
    She was working on the second