A Groom to Come Home To

Beth felt guilty deceiving her parents, but she didn’t once lie to them—she just didn’t tell them everything. She’d told her grandmother, though, that she wanted to go to the prom with Clark Randolph, and Ella had replied, “Why not? Why should you be punished for what happened more than a hundred years ago? Besides, I know the Randolphs—they’re good people and their son is a fine boy. Go and enjoy yourself.”

Pam mailed Beth an ankle-length white chiffon party dress, decorated with pearls on the bodice and neckline. It looked like new, as if it hadn’t been worn more than once. Beth’s mother was not demonstrative about her affection, but Beth knew that she was proud of her daughter’s looks, and she insisted that Beth have a new pair of shoes. So Beth bought a pair of white low-heeled sling pumps, and she was pleased with her appearance as she dressed for the prom.

When Clark came to pick her up, he brought her a corsage of pink carnations. He was dressed in a new blue suit, white shirt, and tie, and Beth admired his sturdy and finely made body, both wiry and strong. She had never seen him in dress clothes before, and she thought what a pity that he wouldn’t choose a profession in which he could appear so dashing all the time.

Neither Beth nor Clark knew how to dance, but they enjoyed listening to the music and watching the others. She had a good time, and it was an evening to remember, but when the prom was over, instead of driving back to her grandmother’s house, Clark drove along the highway for several miles. When he turned onto a secondary road, Beth gave him a quick look.

“Where are you going?”

“Beth, I won’t keep you out late, but I want to talk to you.”

After he parked the car, he put his arms around Beth, and he didn’t keep her in doubt about his intentions.

“I’ve told you that I love you, and now I want to propose. I want to marry you, Beth. I’m going to work in the mines next month, and I’ll be making good money. I can support a wife, as well as help out my family.”

Beth’s heart beat like a drum. The thought of marriage to Clark seemed like a happy dream. A dream that could actually come true. But she was determined that her mind, rather than her heart, would rule her. She moved away from him.

“Clark, I don’t want to get married. I’ve finally gotten my parents to agree to send me to high school, and I want to go to college if I can find a way. Besides, I’m only sixteen.”

“Lots of girls marry at sixteen, and you could still go to school,” he insisted. “We can live with my parents.”

“Live with your parents! What kind of life would that be?”

“I’ll need to help support my family, and it will be easier if we’re all under the same roof. Besides, if you’re going to school, you wouldn’t have time to take care of a house, and Mother wouldn’t mind.”

She put her hand over his mouth to stop his words, and he nibbled her fingers.

Steeling herself to ignore his caress, she said, “Clark, listen to me…. I don’t want to hurt you, but I tried to tell you once before. I’m not interested in marrying anyone right now, but when I do marry, it won’t be to a coal miner. I want to marry someone who will take me away from that kind of life—the fear of cave-ins like the one that disabled your father, the danger of diseases caused by being underground so much, the dread of losing your husband in a mine disaster. It’s a hard life.”

Beth hadn’t noticed any stubbornness in Clark before, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer this time.

“If you loved me, you’d be willing to accept my way of life.”

“That’s another way we differ. Most people I know believe it’s a woman’s duty to sacrifice every personal aspiration for the man in her life. I’m not willing to do that. My mother asked me once why I couldn’t be like the other girls in our neighborhood, and I told her I didn’t know. I still don’t know why I’m different, but I am. And you know how much I want to have a profession of my own. Besides,” she continued, “I haven’t told you that I love you.”

“But you do, don’t you?”

“I probably do,” she admitted quietly. His brown eyes gazing into her own shone with a hopeful light. But it was quickly extinguished when she added, “But I don’t see that loving you changes anything for me, Clark. I’m sorry.”

Without another word, Clark turned the car around and started back toward town. Beth longed to erase the misery reflected on his face, but she doubted that his pain was any worse than the agony in her own heart. Regardless of how much it hurt, she couldn’t do what he wanted.

When he stopped in front of the Blaine home, Clark took her hand and said, “I’m not mad at you, Bethie—only sorry that you don’t love me as much as I love you.”

“Let me ask you a question, Clark. You think I don’t love you because I won’t marry you and settle down in Harlan County for the rest of my life. If I married you, would you leave Kentucky and go with me to live in some other state?”

His startled brown eyes met hers, luminous in the glow of the streetlight. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I can’t go away and leave my family without some help. I have an obligation to them.”

“Then we’re at an impasse.”

“Where do we go from here?”

“You know the answer as well as I do, Clark.”

“You mean we should stop seeing each other?”

“What else? Why keep turning a knife that will only cause deeper pain?”

“It will break my heart, but I’ll do what you say.”

“We won’t be seeing each other much now anyway, since you won’t be going to school.”

“We could meet on the mountain now that spring has come,” he said hopefully.

Beth shook her head, and Clark drew her into his arms and drained the depth of his despair onto her lips. “I thought this was going to be the happiest night of my life,” he said. “Instead, it’s the blackest.”

Beth held him tightly for a moment, savoring his closeness, then slipped out of his arms, and seemingly out of his life. With brimming eyes, she jumped from the car and ran up the steps and into the house.

Beth was startled when a horn sounded behind them, and realizing that Clark was driving more slowly, she lifted her head as he exited the interstate onto a secondary road.

“Please excuse my behavior, Clark,” she said. “Now that I’m back in Kentucky, I keep remembering incidents of the past I thought I’d forgotten completely. Believe me, I’m not usually so weepy.”

She sensed that Clark was grinning, although she wouldn’t look directly at him.

“I’ve never thought of you as a crybaby, but you’ve had plenty of reason to cry.”

“I’ve been thinking about the night I went with you to the prom.”

“I’ve thought of that lots of times, too. You sure were pretty in that white dress.”

“The pink corsage made it look nicer. You were so handsome in your new suit, and I was happy to be your date.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry the night had to end on a sour note.”

Clark patted her hands where they lay clenched in her lap. “That’s the way it should have been, so don’t worry about it. We can’t do anything about the past.”

Beth sighed, and cupped her fingers around his. “The rest of that year was the worst time of my life.”

“I know, and I wish I could have helped you more. I thought my heart would break when you moved away.”

Beth’s thoughts drifted back to the dismal closing days of her freshman year. Those were heartrending days without Clark’s attention—days that were only a prelude to what the summer held for Beth. In mid-June her mother had a heart attack and died before an ambulance could reach the hollow; and moments after John Warner realized that his wife was dead, he slumped in his rocking chair and, gasping for breath, also died.

For the two days prior to the funeral, Beth wandered around in a state of shock. Her half siblings flocked into the house, took over burial arrangements, insisting that the property belonged to them now; and legally it did, because John had deeded the property to his first wife before he’d joined the army during World War IL Beth had no desire to own the property, but she did need a home.

That problem was solved when Ella Blaine arrived at the house and said, “Pack your things, Beth, and as soon as the funeral is over, I’m taking you to live with me all the time.” Ella took a long look at the coffin of her youngest daughter. “But we won’t stay in Harlan County. There are too many bad memories for both of us here. I’m going to sell out and move to Prestonburg where my other children live—I only stayed here to be close to Mary.” Beth was heartened by that news, especially since Pam and Ray Gordon had also moved to Prestonburg, and at that distance, she would be rid of her half siblings, and unlikely to see Clark at all, although she did wish she could see him once more before she left the area.

Quite a large gathering of neighbors and family came to the funeral, most of them arriving a day early so they could participate in the double wake. When Beth followed the funeral procession out of the house, she saw Clark standing to one side, his brown eyes full of compassion. It was unheard of for a Randolph to attend a Warner funeral, and it must have taken a lot of courage to risk the hostility that would ensue if he were recognized.

After the graveside service, Beth looked around to see if Clark had gone. He was standing apart from the others, and she walked to his side.

He reached out and took her hand. “I’m sorry, Bethie.”