As I draw to a close on the Ten Days of Flowers, I want to share one of the most important turning points in this story. Texas justice in 1971 was still raw and easily manipulated. Perhaps it still is, but this is a glaring example.
First, the shock Excerpt:
Norma burst into Darlina’s bedroom early on Tuesday morning as she was getting ready for work.
“Darlina! You’ve got to turn on the radio and listen to the news.” Norma’s voice shook.
“Okay, but why?”
“Luke’s been arrested for bank robbery.”
Darlina’s legs buckled, and she sank to the bed. “What?”
“I just heard it on the radio. They said he and two other band members, along with some other men who weren’t in the band, were arrested yesterday for robbing banks.”
“Oh my God! How could that be?”
“I don’t know, honey, but I’m damn sure glad you were out of there before they arrested him.”
“Poor Luke. I can’t even imagine him locked in jail. I need to leave early so I can pick up a newspaper.”
“I knew you’d want to know. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m just numb.”
She quickly finished dressing and ran to the bus stop. She couldn’t believe what Norma had told her. Luke would never rob a bank. There had to be some mistake.
The newspaper headlines blared, “Popular Local Musician Arrested for Bank Robbery.”
So, it was true. Her hands shook as she read. It gave specific arrest details, stating that the Texas Rangers had been investigating for almost a year. They accused Luke, Red, Preacher, Royce, Butch, and Joe of robbing a bank in Rising Star and one in Bangs. A jumble of thoughts ran through her head.
Second, A Conviction and The Promise Excerpt:
The headlines of the July 14, 1971, Abilene Reporter News hit Darlina hard. Brownwood Musician Given 50 Years For Bank Robbery. Shock rippled through her, making it impossible to force the next breath. She sat in her car in the parking lot at the Timex factory, her hands shaking.
She read the article twice before dropping the newspaper onto the seat beside her. Visions of Luke flashed through her mind. She saw his crooked grin, handsome face, how he would wink at her from the stage, but most of all, how he made such gentle, sweet love to her. Hot tears trickled down her face. Dammit, how could she go inside the stifling brick building and wind watches like nothing had happened?
Everything else be damned, she had to see him.
***
“Luke, please tell me if any of this is true?”
“No, darlin’, it ain’t. I’m bein’ railroaded for something I didn’t do. My lawyer’s filing an appeal. I’m glad you’re here. There are some things I need to say, and I want you to listen close.”
“I have some things to tell you, too, but you go first.”
Luke leaned back in his chair and rammed his hands through his hair. “I hope you understand now why I had to force you away from me.”
“Yes, but I still don’t agree with it. I would like to have helped you through this nightmare.”
“There wasn’t a single thing you could’ve done, and they most likely would’ve tried to drag you off into it too. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Luke, I miss you so much. I’ve been trying to get my life back, but there doesn’t seem to be much purpose without you.”
“That’s what you need to understand, baby. Hell, I’m thirty-five years old with a fifty-year prison sentence. You do the math. It may be a long time before I’m a free man again, if ever. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You’re young and beautiful, and you’ll make some man a damned good wife.”
The tears she’d been holding back silently trickled down her cheeks. “But that’s just it, Luke. I don’t want to be someone else’s damned good wife. I want to be yours.”
“Sweetheart, there is nothing on this earth I’d like better. You have to promise me that you’ll go on and forget about me.”
***
It was a promise Darlina tried to keep, as you will find in the following book, The Convict and The Rose.
I hope none of you have ever had to deal with this kind of skewed justice.
FLOWERS AND STONE PURCHASE LINK
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
