Bent Road Part 14

"Well, from the sounds of Ray," Reesa says, motioning toward the closed doors, "things are not fine."

"n.o.body's worried about Ray right now," Arthur says, shaking Jonathon's hand and slapping him on the back. "Ruth is in there." He nods toward her room. "Doctor checked her out. The baby's fine. She can come home in the morning."

"Seems that Ray plans on being the one to take her home. He knows, doesn't he?" Reesa scans the room before finally resting her eyes on Celia as if she wears the most blame. "He knows about the baby?"

"He does," Arthur says, pulling a speck of fuzz from Celia's hair. "You okay?" he asks.

Celia swallows and nods.

Reesa snorts, shaking her head at Celia and scoots Jonathon away from Ruth's room, sending him back down the hall to stand with Elaine. "Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again," Reesa says, taking Jonathon's position as guard. "I think Ruth should move in with me."

Arthur wraps one arm around Celia and rubs his forehead with his other hand. "No need for Ruth to move anywhere. She's fine where she is."

"Ray is going to come knocking now that he knows about the baby. She needs to live farther away. She needs to move home."

"Ruth is not living in that house." Arthur's voice is calm but his body is rigid, and the arm around Celia's shoulder is like a clamp.

"Maybe it's not such a bad idea," Celia says. "Only because you seem to upset Ray. Maybe he'd be less upset by Ruth living with your mother."

"And you think we should care about making Ray happy?" Arthur says.

Down the hall, Daniel sits alone, his shoulders slumped, his head in his hands.

Shaking his head at Daniel, Arthur continues. "You think I give two G.o.d d.a.m.ned cents about making Ray happy?"

"I think nothing of the sort. But I do know we're trapped in a terrible place. All of us, but mostly Ruth and her sweet baby. You were the one who said you wanted to keep the peace. I want whatever will keep Ray away from them."

Celia doesn't want to say it, or even admit it to herself, but mostly she wants Ruth to move so Ray will never come near her house again. She doesn't want him near Evie. Doesn't want him to start thinking that Evie is close enough to Eve, something that he might have thought about Julianne Robison.

"I will keep Ruth and this family safe," Arthur says to Reesa. "And keeping the peace ended the second he found out about the baby."

Reesa takes a breath to say something back to Arthur but stops when the door opens behind her. Ruth peeks through the small opening, hiding her body with the door, and motions for Arthur to come inside.

Jonathon stands next to Elaine, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other c.o.c.ked on his hip as if he is wearing a holster and gun and is ready to draw if Uncle Ray returns. When Dad disappears into Aunt Ruth's room, Jonathon turns to Daniel.

"You okay, sport?" he says.

Elaine looks at Daniel, too, as if she were Mama and he were Evie.

"I'm fine," Daniel says and shoves away the hand that Jonathon holds out to him. "I can stand by myself."

Jonathon steps back. "Suit yourself."

Daniel stands from his chair and, crossing his arms over his chest, he leans against the wall. Ian says that the morgue is in the bas.e.m.e.nt floor of the hospital and that's where the police will take Jack Mayer when he and Daniel shoot him dead. He says they'll take Julianne there, too, if they ever find her. He says that maybe he and Daniel will sneak into the bas.e.m.e.nt morgue to see them both. Next time, Daniel will be ready for Uncle Ray. He is a good shot, a d.a.m.n good shot, probably even better than Jonathon. Just like he told Mama and Aunt Ruth the night Uncle Ray showed up at the house asking for dessert and a jump start. He could make a real mess of Uncle Ray with Dad's shotgun. Next time, he'll d.a.m.n sure be ready.

Ruth shuffles across the cold tile floor in her paper slippers and crawls into bed, using her good arm to hoist herself. Behind her, Arthur walks into the room and the door falls closed. With her head, she motions toward a wooden chair sitting in the corner of the room. Arthur moves it next to her bed and sits in it backward, straddling it with his legs-the way he sat as a boy. The moonlit room eases the creases around his eyes and because his hair has grown longer, like it was when he was a teenager, he looks younger. Tired, perhaps a little scared, but young again.

"We haven't talked much since you moved back, just you and me," Ruth says, wanting to touch Arthur's hand. "But I'm always around, aren't I?"

"Glad to have you. You know that."

"I do." Ruth rests both hands on Elisabeth and smiles when she feels a familiar flutter. "Do you remember how Eve used to tease you for having so little to say?"

Arthur nods.

"But when you did decide to talk, she always listened. She said you were worth listening to because you made darn sure you had something worth saying before you said it."

"Be nice if that were true."

"It is true, Arthur." Ruth reaches out and rests one hand on his. "I know you'll take care of us. If you say it, I know it's worth listening to."

Arthur drops his head into his folded arms.

"I know it's true. And I know if you could have saved Eve, you would have."

For a moment they are silent.

"What happened to Eve was not your fault," she says. "I know you think it was. I know Father made you think it was. But it wasn't. You were a boy, Arthur. No more a man than Daniel is now." Ruth touches Arthur's cheek and lifts his face. "I listened to you, Arthur. So now you listen to me. There was nothing you could have heard. Nothing you could have seen. It was a terrible thing, but you can't save her by saving me."

"I should have moved back home earlier. Shouldn't have left you alone for so long."

"All these years, I was afraid that you thought like the others. So many in town believing that Ray hurt Eve all those years ago. Like Floyd. All of them believing I married the man who killed my own sister. But he didn't, Arthur. I know he didn't. I promise that I'm certain of that. I hope you never believed like the others." Ruth lowers her eyes. "I hope that isn't what kept you away for so long."

Arthur drops his head, shakes it from side to side and exhales. "You're too forgiving of me. Far too quick to forgive."

"We all did the best we could," Ruth says, lifting Arthur's chin and smiling down on him. "I'll tell Floyd everything. I don't know what Ray was up to that night, I really don't. But I'll tell Floyd everything." She squeezes his hand. "I'd like to stay with your family, if you'll still have me, if you think it's best."

"Good enough," Arthur says.

She smiles and lays both hands over her stomach. "Her name is Elisabeth."

Arthur stands and nodding his head, he says, "Elisabeth, it is."

Chapter 20.

Celia leans against the kitchen sink and rubs her tailbone. Two days since she fell in the hospital and it's still sore. The aches and pains won't last much longer but every time she kneads a sore spot, she feels Ray on top of her again, pressing into her thigh, smiling down on her. Wishing she had never suggested they meet Ray at the cafe, she swallows and tightens the belt on her robe. When Ruth asks if Celia is feeling all right, she smiles, embarra.s.sed that Ruth would be worried about her, and turns to face her family. Arthur, wearing his denim coat and work boots, reaches up and catches the kiss that Evie throws from across the kitchen.

"You sure enough about me leaving today?" Arthur says, tucking the kiss in his pocket. Evie giggles.

"We'll be fine," Celia says and follows him to the back door. "Not much choice really." Standing together at the top of the bas.e.m.e.nt stairs, she kisses him and, as he climbs into his truck, she calls out, "We'll lock up tight."

Before walking back inside, Celia looks toward Ray and Ruth's house. Ruth says he'll drink for a good long time once he gets started but eventually he'll remember there's a baby to contend with, and he'll come again.

Back in the kitchen, sitting at the table, Evie breaks off a piece of biscuit and shoves it in her mouth. "When will the poppy mallows bloom again, Aunt Ruth?" she says before her mouth is empty.

Celia frowns and shakes her head at the bad manners.

The poppy mallows were the first flower Ruth taught Evie about because a thick patch grew every year in the ditches alongside their new house.

"We'll start to see them as early as April," Ruth says, snapping the lid back on the box of oatmeal with her good hand while keeping the sore arm tucked closely to her body. "But sometimes not until May. Depends on the rain. And how early spring comes."

Celia shouts for Daniel to hurry along or he'll miss the bus, and then she gently touches Ruth's hand. Ruth nods that she is doing fine.

"They're Aunt Eve's favorite, right?" Evie says, stirring her oatmeal and testing the temperature by touching a small spoonful to her upper lip.

"They were were her favorite," Celia says. "A long time ago. Remember?" her favorite," Celia says. "A long time ago. Remember?"

Evie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as if smelling a bouquet of flowers.

"You do remember, Evie. Don't you? You remember about Aunt Eve being gone?"

Evie smiles. "Sure," she says. "May I be excused?"

"You may. But hustle along or you'll miss the bus."

"Thanks," Evie calls out as she skates across the wooden floor and slides into her room.

Daniel pulls out his lunch and lays it on the cafeteria table. Ian does the same. Both boys have similar lunches except that since Aunt Ruth came along, Daniel has better desserts. He slides an extra oatmeal raisin cookie to Ian's side of the table even though he knows Ian won't eat it.

"Did you hear?" Ian asks, pulling the waxed paper off his sandwich and holding one half to his mouth. "About Nelly Simpson's car?"

Daniel shakes his head.

"Police found it near Nicodemus. It's all over the newspapers." Ian glances around the crowded cafeteria and whispers, "You know about Nicodemus, don't you?"

His mouth full of ham and cheese, Daniel shakes his head again.

"It's where all the coloreds live. Every one of them in the county. Proof positive Jack Mayer took that car. Took it and drove to Nicodemus where he must know pretty much everyone."

Daniel takes another bite.

"Folks there will help hide him."

"My mom says I can still come tomorrow," Daniel says because he doesn't know anything about Nicodemus and doesn't know what else to say.

Ian takes a bite of his sandwich and sets it aside. "You going to bring your dad's shotgun?"

Daniel nods.

"Your .22 won't do you any good. Not for pheasant hunting. My brothers say if you have a shotgun, we can be the pushers." Ian pokes his elbow into the center of an unpeeled banana. Its guts squirt out both ends. He does the same thing every day and throws it away so his mom will think he ate it. "You know about pushers and blockers, don't you?"

Daniel shakes his head.

"Blockers stand along the road, blocking the pheasant, and the pushers walk across the field, pushing the birds so they get squeezed between. Being a blocker is no good. Blockers get hit by buckshot if they're not careful. Pushing is best. Pushers flush out the pheasant, take an easy shot. We want to be pushers."

Daniel holds up a hand and shakes his head when Ian slides his uneaten sandwich across the table. A few months back, when Ian first started giving Daniel his leftovers, he took them. Ida Bucher made her sandwiches with double mayonnaise and extra thick slices of cheese, but when Daniel began noticing that he could see Ian's backbone through his shirt and that he wasn't growing like everyone else in the grade, he stopped taking Ian's sandwiches, no matter how much mayonnaise Mrs. Bucher used.

Ian wads up the sandwich in its waxed paper wrapper and drops it into his lunch bag. "My brothers say we'll be hunting late-season pheasant. They're the hardest to shoot. Early-season pheasant are stupid. They get shot straight away. But late-season pheasants, they're the smart ones. You got to be tricky to get the late-season birds. My brothers say that if we're smart enough to get us some late-season pheasants, we'll go hunting for Jack Mayer."

Daniel starts to ask why early-season pheasant are stupid but stops because a group of kids breaks out laughing. At first, he thinks they're laughing at Ian, but the kids are sitting two tables over and couldn't hear Ian talking about Jack Mayer and Nelly Simpson and late-season pheasant.

"What are they all laughing at?" Ian asks, putting the rest of his lunch back in the brown bag his mom packed it in and squishing it down with both hands.

"Don't know," Daniel says, thinking Ian looks a little blue. Or maybe it's the gray light from an overcast sky. He turns toward the laughter as a couple of kids at the next table stand. He leans to the left and sees her.

Two tables down, sitting by herself as she always does at lunch, Evie is wearing one of Aunt Eve's dresses-the blue one, the one with ruffles and a satin bow, the one she said was her favorite. The dress is too big and falls off her small, white shoulders. She tugs at it, gathering up the collar where it has torn away at the seam. She smiles as if she doesn't hear the kids laughing. She smiles as if Aunt Eve is sitting across the table from her. Daniel throws down his sandwich, jumps up and runs two tables over.

"Hi, Daniel," Evie says.

Turning to the kids sitting at the other end of Evie's table, Daniel says, "Shut up. All of you, shut up." Then he looks back at Evie. "What are you doing?"

"Eating lunch," she says, laying out two napkins-setting a place for two people.

"Why are you wearing that dress?"

Evie smiles and shoves a piece of peanut-b.u.t.ter-and-jelly sandwich in her mouth. "It's my favorite. Aunt Eve's favorite, too."

"You shouldn't be wearing that, Evie. It's all torn and it's not yours."

Two tables away, Ian is watching them. He still looks blue.

"You're going to get in trouble."

Evie takes another bite and dabs one corner of her mouth with her napkin. "No, I won't. Don't be silly." She stands to show Daniel how she rolled up the middle of the dress and tied it off with the sash. "See, I made it fit. I fixed it myself."

Daniel stands and holds out his arms, blocking the view of Evie modeling her dress. "Sit down already. Does Mama know you're wearing that?"

"Aunt Eve said I could."

"Aunt Eve said?"

Evie nods. "Yes, Aunt Eve said."