Nether Regions (16 page)

“It must be time,” she entreated to the powerful minions of the Universe. “Since you brought her to me and gave me this craving.”

She wasn’t sure whether to thank them or curse them.

Her fingers brushed across the soft cotton fabric caught taut across the mattress. So smooth, like the inside of Delora. She had relived that brief moment of possession time and again. The sensation of slipping her hand inside would wash across her unexpectedly, snatching her breath and causing her to drop everything just to remember it in detail.

If she tried hard, she could capture a little of Delora’s scent. Her smell was an intriguing blend of lemon, fried food and cigarettes. Delora had stayed until about four in the morning. About midnight Sophie had led the sleeping woman to the bedroom, all the while muttering calming words. Then Sophie had cuddled her close as they lay together and all protestation vanished. Sleep had returned to the smaller woman, but Sophie had lain awake a long time, part of her thrilling to the physical closeness, allowed at last to hold Delora. Another part of her chewed worry until it was bitter gall.

Then, just before daybreak, Sophie had awakened to Delora’s panic. With whispered apologies for the intrusion, Delora tried to hurry away so she wouldn’t be missed at home. Sophie had practically barred the bedroom door.

“You can’t go yet,” Sophie whispered firmly.

Cradling her wounded hand, which must have hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, Delora stared wordlessly at Sophie with wide eyes.

“I know why you need to go and you can go,” she whispered. “Just let me take care of that, okay? I don’t want you hurting, Delora. Fifteen minutes, I promise.”

Delora lowered her head and nodded assent. They walked together through the dim house, and Sophie gave new fire to one lone candle. She gathered supplies while Delora waited next to the wooden worktable.

“How’d you do this?” Sophie asked quietly.

Delora remained silent but watched Sophie with avid eyes, only hissing once when Sophie straightened the break and bound it to the splint. Sophie’s eyes found Delora’s, and their gazes locked. Sophie saw so much there and she ached to kiss the other woman. Delora’s expression silently welcomed her. Yet after a long moment, Delora looked away, nervously, toward the door.

Sighing, Sophie finished and pressed a bottle of pain pills into Delora’s other hand. “One every four hours and lots of water, okay?”

Delora nodded but returned the bottle to the worktable and turned away. She opened the door with care and stepped through.

“Delora?”

She turned back and studied Sophie’s face.

“Watch out for deer. They’re everywhere this time of the morning. Be careful.”

Delora smiled and Sophie’s heart took wing.

Now, arising for the second time, sweeping her legs over the side of the bed, Sophie stood and moved to the bathroom, wondering how her newest patient was doing. Her workload was light, but she did need to go into town and check on Alvin. Maybe, just maybe, she’d have a little time to stop in and see Delora too.

Chapter Twenty-Three

A group of mourning doves had taken up residence in the shrubbery in front of Spinner’s Fen. Their cooing conversation usually welcomed Delora—at least until her crunching footsteps announced her closeness and silenced them. Today they were strangely quiet, the only evidence of their presence the sporadic flutter of wings.

Long a believer in omens, Delora paused on the gravel walkway. What did this silence mean? Such quiet, after more than a year of noisy greetings, had to be significant. She was not a seer, however, and had no easy answers. She slowed her pace and studied what she could see of their gray and white bodies through the heavy leaves.

There was no indication by the sound of what the message entailed. Sighing, Delora moved past. There was work to do. Annie had called earlier to say she’d be late. This didn’t worry Delora. She had opened the greenhouse many times on her own.

Moving to the heavy front doors, she laboriously propped them open, then took her time arranging the sale items to their best advantage on the shelves flanking either side of the doorway. There was no rush, really. She wouldn’t water the bigger plants in the back until Annie arrived.

When all were arranged to her satisfaction, she walked around the fragrant greenhouse, randomly choosing good-looking midsize potted plants to place out in front of the building.

Delora liked being alone at Spinner’s Fen. It was as if her hearing grew more acute. Without Annie there, even quiet, slow-moving Annie, the air was more rarefied, not cluttered by bodies displacing the sound.

Listening to the whisper of dry grass rubbing against the greenhouse wall, Delora continued on, her movements silent and precise. Watching out for her bandaged finger, she set out flats of adolescent tomatoes, their spicy leaf-kisses welcome on her skin. Neatening the rows of gardening books, she found a misplaced praying mantis. Crooning to her, Delora studied the beautiful young creature, marveling at the fine work of nature. She felt blessed to have been able to see—and have time to study—such a well-structured insect.

“Go on with you,” she said finally as she walked outside and placed the mantis in a blooming Rose of Sharon bush. She was fiddling with the watering apparatus, preparatory to watering the inside plants, when she heard a car engine approach.

Expecting Annie’s truck, she was surprised to see a small silver car meandering up the drive toward Spinner’s Fen. Delora dropped the hose, realizing she needed to give the customer her full attention. To her surprise, Sophie Cofe unfolded herself from the small car.

The two women stood and regarded one another for a long time. The healer woman’s presence once again affected Delora powerfully. Her heart hammered rapidly in her chest as she drank in Sophie’s appearance. The long mane of blond hair was bound into its usual untidy braid, but her cheeks were unusually pink from time spent in the sun. Her eyes were still warm as they studied Delora, waiting for her to speak.

Delora took in Sophie’s long lean body clad in faded jeans and a simple, pale blue T-shirt and felt as though she couldn’t speak.

Sophie shifted restlessly, although her welcoming smile never faltered.

“I wanted to check on you.” Sophie’s voice was soft, bearing a strange intimacy that moved Delora in the center of her being. The voice compelled her to new heights of feeling and her breath fractured as it left her lungs. She still could not quite get words out.

Sophie waited, but when it became evident Delora wasn’t going to answer, she shifted her stance and her smile was empathetic, understanding. “So, you’re okay.” It was a statement, not a question, and she let her eyes leave Delora and roam across the greenhouse. The gaze returned to Delora moments later and Delora felt as though a warm blanket had engulfed her.

“You know where I work,” Delora breathed finally.

Sophie nodded. “Yes. All of them.”

Delora was pleased that Sophie would go to the trouble to find this out.

Sophie moved closer to a hibiscus and gently teased the edge of a blossom. “I need rue. Do you have rue? I need to fill a bare patch.”

Delora could have kicked herself. Of course Sophie was here for plants. She felt chagrin for making Sophie wait. She wanted to do a good job for this magnificent woman. She found her voice and discovered it to be low, filled with vibrancy. It matched Sophie’s tone, low and sexy.

“Over here,” she said, moving to her left. Sophie followed silently, but Delora felt as if the air between them swelled with other words, a language new to her but compelling.

She led Sophie to a collection of good-sized rue in pots. Rue was hard to start and hard to grow for long in containers so these had been on their way to the perennial garden out back.

“How many do you need?” she asked.

Sophie knelt and examined the plants from underneath, careful not to touch the leaves, obviously knowing about their blistering effect. “I’ll take three.”

She indicated the bandage on Delora’s hand. “How’s your finger feeling?”

Delora smiled down at the other woman, wanting to touch her but so very afraid. Suppose all this chemistry between them was in her imagination only? Suppose Sophie was put off by Delora’s admiration, her scars?

“Oh, okay,” she stammered, remembering acutely how tenderly Sophie had bandaged the hand after Delora woke in her arms in the early morning hours. “It’s much better. Thank you.”

She paused, searching for a new subject. “I’m glad these babies found a good home. They’re scheduled to be put in the ground tomorrow. Be sure and get them out of the pots as quickly as you can and give them lots of leg room.”

Sophie rose and was standing very close to Delora. “Will do,” she whispered. She moved even closer and their eyes met just as Annie’s truck rattled into the parking area.

Both women sighed, realizing another precious encounter had been thwarted.

Delora bent and lifted one of the pots and Sophie hoisted the other two.

“Sophie, how are you?” Annie exclaimed as she left the truck. “You and Beulah need rue, I see. How’s she coming along?”

“Good,” Sophie replied. “Some days it’s like she’s never been down.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. They say the brain is incredible, able to recover a good bit after a stroke.” She helped Sophie load the rue in the backseat of her car, then fetched the other from Delora and loaded it as well.

“I read that too. It’s like it creates new pathways and communicates with the body through different channels than before,” Sophie agreed.

“Well, if one’s willing to try. I think a willing spirit is a big part of it.”

“Well, that describes old Beulah to a T now, doesn’t it?”

Annie laughed and agreed as she moved to the side of the greenhouse.

“Her money’s no good here, Delora,” she called as she disappeared.

Sophie already had money in her hand; she shook her head and motioned for Delora to take the money and be quiet about it. Delora shook her head no, so Sophie grabbed her hand and pressed the money into it.

“So, you’re okay? Sure?” Sophie asked in a low whisper.

“Much better,” Delora replied, her hands automatically placing the money in the money box and making change of the same amount. She continued to study Sophie’s dear face. When she extended the bills, Sophie took it by placing her large callused left hand below Delora’s so her palm cupped the back of Delora’s hand. Sophie’s right hand moved to collect the change and for a brief moment, Delora felt encased by Sophie’s power, her presence. It was breathtaking. Moments later, she was gone with a promissory smile.

“I really like Miss Sophie,” Annie said sometime later. They were eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches that had been warmed by the sun. Delora hadn’t fully recovered from Sophie’s visit. Her head felt stuffed with wool.

“You know, she got my dad well from pneumonia while he was at University Hospital getting pins removed from a broken ankle. The docs there weren’t making much progress so Mama called the healers. Here comes Miss Sophie with her packets of herbs and thermos of hot water. She spread mustard and onions on his chest, tied onions to his feet and had him drink this awful tea made from thyme and God knows what else. And don’t you know he got well in just a few days. The nurses said his room smelled like he’d been eating hot dogs.”

She laughed and balled up waxed paper into a tight wad. “It’s amazing what those healers can do.”

“It is,” Delora agreed. She knew Sophie’s hands intimately; the thought of them—and Sophie’s eyes—stayed with her the rest of the day.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“They’re having an affair.”

“Who?” Bucky’s puzzlement showed even through his mangled voice.

“Louie and Rosalie.”

“No shit! What are you talking about?”

Delora sighed and glanced at her booths, assuring herself they were okay. Marina was on a bank run, so Delora was minding the entire diner. Everything was going smoothly so she had taken the opportunity to give Bucky a quick call.

“I saw them the other night, going at it,” she explained.

“No! What did they say?” His disbelief echoed in her ear.

“I didn’t let them know. I snuck out after I saw them.”

“Oh no, you should have said something. This is a perfect out for you. If he’s fucking around it’s grounds for divorce, Delora.”

“I know, Bucky.” She lit a cigarette with her right hand, holding the phone carefully in her left. Sophie had splinted her finger and taped it to her ring finger so holding the phone in her left hand was awkward. “I’m just not ready to go there yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is he or is he not sleeping around on you?”

“Yes. But he has every right. I can’t be there for him anymore. I don’t care if he is making it with Rosalie. I certainly don’t want him.”

There was a long silence. Bucky sighed finally and spoke bitterly. “So, what did you do? Nothing?”

“I went to Sophie’s.” She drew on her cigarette and studied the customers again. They seemed okay, but she knew she’d better not stay on the phone too much longer.

“Where?”

“Remember the healing woman? From the bayou? I went there and we…talked. She splinted my broken finger too.” She placed the cigarette in the ashtray under the counter.

“You have a broken finger? When did that happen?”

She sighed and noticed that one of the couples had finished and were coming to the register to pay. “It’s a long story. I’ve gotta run. You know…”

Bucky waited a moment. “What?”

“I think maybe I am what you said. I mean, there’s definitely something there. I just wanted you to know.”

“Call me later, okay?”

“Okay, will do. Love you.”

She closed the phone and dropped it into her pocket. She thoughtfully touched her bandaged fingers, then turned a brilliant smile on the customers.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Louie was waiting for her at the edge of Manahassanaugh Park in his usual spot. He liked a specific bench over on the eastern edge of the park. Though he never explained why he chose this spot, Delora felt it was because he could sense that it was more secluded on this side than on the busier western side. The younger folk tended to congregate on the western half because they had closer access to the playground equipment and food kiosks.