Magic City Read Online Free

slightly apart, “Come. Feel how soft a hired hand’s bed is.”
    The packed earth floor shifted beneath her feet. Mary fought an urge to run.
    â€œYou believe in dreams, don’t you, Mary?”
    The cow was lowing again. Sadie whinnied, kicked her stall.
    â€œI’ve been dreaming of you,” said Dell.
    A slight breeze blew through the planks. The lamp dimmed. Dell’s hands spanned her waist, making her feel small, delicate. She shivered as he lowered his head, kissing where her breasts swelled above her bodice.
    â€œMary.” His hands clasped hers. “Mary.” She hadn’t known her name could sound so lovely . Walking backward, whispering, “Mary, Mary,Mary,” Dell tugged her toward his bedding, to the L-shaped corner where he lived. His spare shirts and pants, his silver-buckled belt hung neatly on a row of nails. “Mary.”
    He pulled her to her knees, feathering her face with kisses.
    Emotions rocked her. She’d slipped inside her dreams and felt shielded from loneliness, soothed from the ache of being unloved .
    Dell began unbuttoning the front of her dress.
    â€œDon’t.”
    His fingers undid another button.
    â€œDon’t, Dell.” What a fearful, old hen she was—scared of Dell’s desire, scared of getting pregnant, scared of her own passion. If she gave herself to a man, she’d be giving him everything. She wanted Dell more than anything. But he hadn’t said he loved her. He couldn’t really love her.
    â€œI can’t.”
    Dell’s fingers kept moving, releasing the last button. His hand slipped inside her slip, stroking her breast. She shoved him. “Stop it, Dell. I can’t.”
    Dell sprawled on his back, his face streaked by light poking through rotting wood. He tucked his hands beneath his head, studying her.
    Fingers trembling, Mary buttoned her dress. But, then, she couldn’t move. Folding her legs beneath her, her thigh brushed his hip. The contact burned. She felt foolish saying no to the only man who’d ever wanted her. Despite Pa’s warnings, no boy had ever tried to lift her dress. With each passing year, she’d grown more invisible to men.
    Mary clasped her hands. Her dress stuck to her skin. Dell’s space was like a burrow, hidden from the barn’s door, angled diagonally across from the animals’ stalls.
    â€œI’ll be late for work,” she said, staring at her hands, telling herself she had to get up, get out.
    â€œWhat do you work for?” Dell’s fingers stroked her knee.
    â€œMoney. Same as you.” She exhaled. “Started during the war. Didn’t stop when Jody came back.”
    â€œCrippled Jody.”
    â€œDon’t,” she said angrily. “Don’t ever say that.”
    Dell laid his head in her lap. He brushed her hair forward, gently stroking the strands over the rise of her breasts.
    Mary blushed guiltily, thinking how strange that if Jody hadn’t lost a leg, Pa wouldn’t have hired Dell, and she wouldn’t be here dreaming of being loved. Oil men said Tulsa was a “magic city.” A boom town. But her family had always been poor. All the wells Pa had dug came up dry. The only magic she’d ever known was here, right now—a handsome man seeming to want her.
    She felt overwhelmed by the heat and weight of Dell’s head pressed against her legs, by his mouth turned inward, lightly pressuring her belly.
    She touched his hair, marveling at the blond silk.
    Dell pulled her head down toward his; her back curved like a bow. “Kiss me, Mary.”
    His eyes were darker now, midnight blue. She was scared again. She plucked threads in her hem.
    â€œI have to go to work.” Still she didn’t move. Didn’t leave. A man had never treated her as if she were pretty. She jabbered, “Last week a man gave me two dollars. Can you believe it? I closed the elevator cage. Shifted the