Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers] by With Heart Page A

at her mother who got to her feet and faced her angry daughter.
    “I do what I have to do,” she said firmly. “Miss Dolan pays for her meals if she eats here or not.”
    “She must pay pretty good. I saw a car out back when we drove up.”
    “It’s Miss Dolan’s car.”
    “She must be rollin’ in dough.”
    “She’s a nice lady, Clara. I won’t allow you to be nasty to her.”
    “She took my room, for God’s sake!”
    “How long are you going to stay?”
    “Is this my home or not? Should I write and ask if you have room for me before I come home?”
    “I’ve got to be goin’,” Johnny said. “But first I’d like a private word with Clara.” He took her arm and propelled her out onto the porch and let the door slam behind them.
    “Let go of me. You ain’t got no right to be pushin’ me around.”
    “I’ve always known, from the first time I saw you, that you are nothing but a worthless piece of shit. Until now I didn’t know just how rotten you are. You go off and leave your mother to raise your child when that little girl is your responsibility. She’s been workin’ like a dog to keep food in that child’s mouth. Then you have the guts to come back here and treat her like dirt.”
    “To hell with you.” She jerked her arm from his grasp and tried to get back into the house, but his back was to the door. “You’re not the boss of me. At least my kid ain’t a half-breed. I didn’t go out and screw some dirty Indian like your mama did.”
    “You’re pitiful, Clara. You’ve got a mother who loves you and a little girl who thinks you get up every morning and hang out the sun. What do you do, but go whoring around and come back to them when you’re broke. Has it ever occurred to you to come back here, get a job, and help your mother?”
    “What kind of a job could I get around here? You think I’d go out to the tannery and work with the blanket-asses? Well, think again, Mr. Johnny Blanket-Ass Henry.”
    Johnny held his temper even though he ached to slap her.
    “It’s decent work. If not that, you could help your mother with the ironing.”
    “You may be surprised to know that I’ve been singing in a nightclub down in Fort Worth.” Clara lifted her head and preened. “Ever’body thought I was really good. I just came home to get ready to go to Nashville and get on the Grand Ole Opry. When I’m a star, I’ll come back here and ever’body in this shitty one horse town’ll sit up and take notice of Miss Clara Ramsey.”
    Johnny shook his head. “You’ve got about as much chance of making it to the Grand Ole Opry as you have reaching up and touching the moon.” He walked off the porch and headed for his truck.
Like Isabel, she wasn’t going to listen to anything he said.
    “If you’re so much, Johnny Henry,” Clara called, “how come you’re drivin’ that old rattletrap of a truck?”
    Johnny glanced over his shoulder at the girl with her skinny arms wrapped around the porch post. He tried to muster up some sympathy for her, but it just wouldn’t jell. He thought of how his half sister, Henry Ann, had tried to reason with Isabel, and had offered her the opportunity to go to school and make something of herself. Isabel’s mind, like Clara’s, had been only on the pleasure of the moment.
    Johnny started his truck and drove away wondering what was going to happen when Kathleen met Clara. One thing was sure. From now on, she’d better lock her valuables in her trunk when she left the house.

 
Chapter Seven
    J ohnny parked his truck behind the newspaper building and, with a bundle under his arm, went in through the back door. Paul was breaking down a page from last week’s paper and throwing the lead into a bucket to be melted and reused.
    “I’m going to leave my truck back here tonight, Paul. I took my groceries back to the store and will pick them up in the morning. The store will be closed by the time I’m ready to go home.”
    “You could’ve left them