The Widow of Saunders Creek (28 page)

“Hey, there,” she said.

She sat as regal as a queen high on her chestnut mare, Pinecone. Her cowboy hat shaded a pair of sunglasses. She wore blue jeans and a sleeveless shirt that revealed defined, deeply tanned arms. “Hey, there,” I said, hoping my tone didn’t reflect the dread I was feeling.

“Catch,” she said, and tossed down a round, basketball-sized watermelon. “From Daddy. He says thanks again for offering the firewood. They’ll need it.”

I caught the watermelon. “Tell him thanks.”

Pinecone nudged me. Ava laughed. “Look who misses you.”

Reaching up, I rubbed the horse’s long face. “More likely she misses the sugar cubes I used to bring her. But I’m fresh out today.”

“It’s okay. She’s gotten fat this spring. All that fresh grass in the field and no one to make her exercise.” She smiled, flashing beautiful white
teeth. One thing about Ava, she was beautiful. She’d grown from a cute child to a pretty teen to a beautiful woman. At thirty years old, she made Hollywood beauties look as though they were just trying too hard. Her straight dark hair blew around her face a little, and she definitely made a pretty picture. But pretty had never been our problem. And despite my appreciation of her beauty, I was wary of this impromptu visit.

She climbed off the horse, and I averted my gaze as her shirt slid up, revealing her midriff. Thankfully, she pulled the shirt down.

“What are you doing here, Ava?”

Her eyes clouded with what I thought might be hurt. “I’m here for two reasons. First, to say good-bye. I’m heading back to St. Louis tomorrow. Mom’s all better, and the store is pretty much ready for the onslaught of customers.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t exactly sorry to see her go. “When will we see you again?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? I thought I’d help out in the store over the summer solstice, but Mom hired a girl to help.” She took a long breath. “So Thanksgiving, probably.”

Ignoring my clear inability to respond, she continued. “The other reason I came is to apologize for what I said about Jarrod.”

My heart went out to her, and I offered her a smile. “It’s okay. Actually, your comment helped me work through some things. So I guess I should be thanking you.”

I opened the door to the chow hall and stood back as she ducked under my arm and walked in. “Thank goodness it’s cool in here,” she breathed out.

“I just turned off the AC, so it shouldn’t warm up too quickly.”

She raised her eyebrows and turned to look at me as we headed toward the kitchen. “Why’d you turn it off? It’s melting out there.”

“I’m knocking off early. I have a retreat to go to.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it’s last minute.”

“Well, I should go, then,” she said, but something about her demeanor seemed different. More subdued. It was clear something was troubling her and she’d come to talk.

“I have a few hours,” I said, motioning her to the bar stool and moving around to the refrigerator. “I have water.”

“That’s perfect.”

I lifted two bottles from the shelf, shut the door, slid hers across the counter, and leaned forward, resting on my elbows. “So what’s bugging you?”

Her gaze jerked to mine, then she grinned as she opened the bottle. She lifted it to her lips and stared at me as she took a long drink. “Well, I sort of do have something to tell you.”

Defenses rising, I eyed her, determined not to let anything she said make me mad.

But I could see her eyes beginning to mist. Ava wasn’t a crier. She never really had been, so I knew this mattered and that it likely had nothing to do with me. I walked around to the other side of the counter and pulled her into my arms. She felt small. Thinner. “You okay?” I asked as she sniffled against my shirt.

She breathed out deeply. “I’m pregnant.”

My heart sped up at the news and not in a good way. I pulled her away from me and stared at her. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Four months.”

“I couldn’t even tell.”

“I have a tiny baby bump, but not much yet.”

“Where’s the baby’s dad?”

“Back with his wife.”

I stared into her eyes, a little shocked, I had to admit. “A married man?”

She gave my chest a light punch. “Hey, no judgment.”

“Okay, sorry.” My head was still wrapping around her news. “Just processing.”

“Anyway, for your information, I didn’t know I was dating a married man. He told me he was divorced. Turns out he was only separated, and two days after I got back from my last visit here, he realized he still loved his wife and didn’t want to marry his pregnant girlfriend.”

“Wow. I’m so sorry, Ava.” I couldn’t be sorry about a marriage reconciled, but the thought of anyone treating Ava like this got my back up. “What does the wife think about her husband fathering a child during their little break from marriage?”

“She doesn’t know, and he asked me not to contact him.” She gave a bitter laugh. “First he tried to buy me off. And when I told him to go to you know where, he changed his tactics and told me he is willing to give up all parental rights.”

I couldn’t believe how calm she was being about it all. “Well, too bad, right? You’re going after him for child support, I hope.”

She scowled at me as if she couldn’t believe I’d had the audacity to say such a thing. “No way. I’d rather support the baby on my own and have him out of my life for good. It’s his choice.” Her eyes spilled over, and I pulled her back in.

“Well, I’m proud of you for keeping the baby. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”

“No. I don’t want to know until the baby is born.” She pulled back again. I grabbed a handful of napkins from the counter and handed them to her. “But Mom used a pendulum across my belly. She says it’s a boy.”

“Well, then.”

“Don’t start,” she warned, giving me another little punch, and I knew she was doing better. “I’ve never known my mother’s pendulum to miss in predicting the sex of a baby.”

I let her comment slide. No sense giving my opinion about the old folk practice. “I guess now that you’re going to be a mother I better be a little nicer to you.”

“That’s right, and if he truly is a boy, I might name him after you.”

“I’d be honored.” I reached forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Somehow, before I quite knew how, she was in my arms again, and her lips were on mine. She wrapped her arms around mine, snuggling herself closer to me. Corrie’s face flashed to my mind. I grabbed Ava’s wrists and gently pushed her away. “Ava …”

Tears filled her eyes. “You know, I’d hoped you might want to marry me out of pity and help me raise the baby.”

I opened my mouth, but she held up a hand. “Don’t. I would never have let you do it anyway. Besides, even if you haven’t figured it out yet, I know you’ve fallen for Corrie.”

Even though I wasn’t inclined to share my feelings about Corrie with her, I didn’t bother to deny it.

She nodded. “So you have figured it out.”

“I’m still figuring it out.” I smiled.

“She was pretty shaken up yesterday after Mom and your aunt Trudy did that reading.”

A jolt hit me full in the gut, and I almost doubled over. “Why were they doing that?”

Narrowing her gaze, she looked me straight in the eye. “Well, they didn’t shove their way into the house and tie her up. Why do you think they were there?”

“Corrie asked for a reading?” Didn’t she know how dangerous that could be? “So what happened?”

“Mom and Miss Trudy found the highest concentration of energy in the master bedroom, so we all went up there.”

“You too?”

“How else would I have known about it?”

I wanted to help Corrie avoid the slippery slope that someone could start down after opening herself up that way. “Anyway, tell me what happened. Did something … manifest?”

“You mean did some
one
manifest?”

I wasn’t going to dignify her comment with a response. “I guess I mean, how is Corrie?”

The smug expression fell from Ava’s face. “Jarrod, or whatever, spoke to my mom about an incident on the porch swing where Corrie was drunk.” She finished off her water and stood, tossing the bottle into a large rubber garbage can at the end of the counter. Then she turned to me slowly, in her dramatic way. “She had a panic attack and ran out of the house. Her sister took care of her. Miss Trudy was pretty disgusted.” She gave a short laugh. “I doubt she’s ever going to speak to Corrie again.”

I was pretty sure she would. Aunt Trudy never held a grudge.

“Well,” Ava said, “I’m going to go so you can do what you need to do. Thanks for taking time to talk.” She headed to the door. “Good-bye, Eli. I’ll see you in a few months. Say hello to Corrie for me,” she tossed over her shoulder. “You know you’re hotfooting it over there as soon as I’m out of sight.”

Corrie’s Jeep sat in front of her house when I pulled up a few hours later. The retreat began at seven, and I had just enough time to tell her I would be leaving so there was no need for her to show up to help out at the camp, in case she had any intention of doing so after two days of silence. I couldn’t leave for another day and a half without at least seeing her, hearing her voice, knowing she was okay.

Lola answered the back door. “Eli. How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been fine.”

She stepped aside and welcomed me in. “It’s good to see you.”

“Thanks, it’s good to see you too.” I tried not to be too obvious about looking for Corrie as we walked down the hallway, past the kitchen. “I’m going to a retreat this weekend, but I was hoping to see Corrie before I go.”

As if on cue, Corrie appeared at the living room door. “Hey, Eli,” she said. Her smile seemed genuine enough, but there was a hesitance in her eyes that gave me pause.

“Is that for us?” Lola asked, pointing at the watermelon. I nodded and handed it to her. “It’s a re-gift.” A sheepish grin tugged at my mouth, and I felt like a dope for bringing Corrie something so stupid.

“Great,” Lola said. “We love watermelon, don’t we, Corrie?”

Corrie nodded. “Thank you. We’ll put it to good use.”

Lola headed toward the kitchen. “Can I get you something to
drink, Eli?” she asked in her soft southern tone. “I think we have tea and Coke.”

I shook my head and found it hard to look away from Corrie, whose eyes had never left mine. “No thanks, I have to get on the road. I can’t stay.”

Corrie’s eyebrows rose. “Going somewhere?”

“Branson, for a men’s retreat.”

“Oh. Sounds like fun.”

“Should be.” Being at a loss for words wasn’t typical for me, and I found it extremely disconcerting. She stared at me, as though waiting for me to get on with it and get out.

“I just wanted to check on you before I go. It’s been a couple of days, so …”

“I know. I’m sorry I haven’t called.”

The tension in the room was palpable. I wanted to go back outside and do this better—I’d leave the watermelon in the truck, for starters.

“I’ll be gone until Sunday, so …”

“Everyone needs to get away every now and then.”

The awkwardness was crazy considering how well we’d come to know each other. And as much as I tried to convince myself that I was only there to say good-bye, I had a much more important reason, and I couldn’t leave without telling her.

“Listen, Corrie,” I said. “I heard about—”

“I knew that’s why you showed up.” She glared at me and flounced to the couch. “Feel free to sit down, but I can’t handle a lecture, Eli. Today’s been hard enough already.” She dropped onto the couch. She grabbed a couch pillow and clung to it. I knew enough about psychology
from my seminary course work to recognize a defense mechanism. Stung, I sat in the rocking chair, trying not to be hurt that she needed to protect herself from me. “I have no intention of lecturing you. I just want to make sure you’re fine.”

“Well, I am, except for the fact that I freaked out and passed up a chance to hear from Jarrod.”

Leaning forward in the chair, I rested my forearms against my thighs and met her gaze. The last thing I wanted to do was lecture her. But how could I express my concern over her unwillingness to hear the truth?

“You’re not going to tell me that the things I’ve been experiencing haven’t been Jarrod, are you?” Her tone was defensive, but she seemed small and vulnerable.

“Do you truly believe they are?”

“I honestly think they could be. He told me he was glad to see I hadn’t had anything else to drink since that night on the swing. How could that not be Jarrod? I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t think you have.”

I shook my head. “Not even my mom.”

“See?” Her eyes pleaded with me to say it was okay that she was welcoming a demon to stay and play house with her. But I knew better, and I didn’t think she would be so conflicted unless she knew better too.

“At the risk of sounding like a nag, let me just help you put things in perspective. Don’t you think any spirit, whether or not it was Jarrod, would have seen you on that swing? They’re liars and deceivers, and this one is presenting itself in the form of your husband so you’ll let it stay and interact with it. It’s amusing itself at your expense.”

She shook her head. “There were so many things we missed out on because he was gone so much, so maybe he came back to make it up to me. That’s the kind of guy he was.”