The Woman They Kept (21 page)

Leanin's face paled further and
she put a slice of bacon in her mouth, chewing slowly. Rheannon
swatted at Harold's arm. “Harold! That isn't anyone's
business but theirs. Next thing you know you'll be asking them for
tips and positions.”

He put an arm around Rheannon
and kissed her on the forehead. “Rhea's not normally so
repressed about sex. I can take a hint though, I was just trying to
be friendly is all. We hardly know anything about our guests.”

Rhea turned a deep shade of red.
“Bedroom habits are not the place to start, Harold. How
about we start with, where are you guys coming from, where are you
going? Questions like that.”

“
Well,” Harold said
and then parroted Rheannon's voice. “Where are you coming
from?”

Gideon took a moment to swallow
the large bit of bacon he was chewing. “Oh, a ways away.”

“
And where are you going?”
Harold asked before turning to Rheannon. “See? These are
terrible questions, you don't get to know people at all with them.”

Rolanda covered Gideon's hand
with her own. Her eyes were large and watery, somber. “I
don't know that we do know where we're going, but we do have a few
things that we need to get away from.”

Rheannon's eyebrows raised.
“What do you have to get away from?” she asked.

The room got quiet as Rolanda
opened her mouth, blushed, and then closed it. Gideon didn't really
know how to answer that question either, he stirred at the potatoes
on his plate, the voracious hunger he had felt moments before
dissipating.

Harold cleared his throat
loudly, breaking the silence. “Rhea, I don't think it's a
topic they want to talk about.” He stood and grabbed plates
to take away, filling a pail to take down to the lake with the dirty
dishes. “There's not many that travel through here, it's been
years since the last one, we don't always keep up to date with our
social graces, my apologies if we've made you feel uncomfortable.
I'm a good judge of character, always have been, and I can tell you
ain't bad seeds. I won't press the point, but I will tell you that
Rhea's suggestion last night was a good one. If you're looking for
a place to start a new life, you could do far worse than Meadowood.
The place ain't on any maps I've seen, and we're all a pretty
tight-nit community.” Harold met eyes with Rheannon, they
seemed to have a quick conversation without ever opening their
mouths.

She turned to them after a
moment. “We had the favor done for us, we'd be happy to let
you guys set up shop here while you build a place for your own, I
think you'd find more than a few hands willing to help you out along
the way, too.”

Gideon looked between Rolanda
and Leanin. Rolanda was positively beaming, her smile wide as she
squeezed his hand. Leanin's face was more difficult to decipher,
she was still pale, as though the potatoes had taken a turn for the
worse in her stomach. “I think it's something we'll
definitely have to consider. For now, though, let's worry about
these chores that Rolanda woke me up so early to help out with.”

Harold grinned at them with a
twinkle in his eye. “It's a rather light day, I think I have
a nice little project for us boys to take care of.”

...

If he stayed very still, lying
prostrate on the feather stuffed mattress, the pain lessened
somewhat. If only his heart would stop beating the throbbing waves
of agony would stop pumping through him. Every part of his body
hurt, from his fingertips to his hair follicles. He had always had
a hard time believing in God, but today he believed in the devil,
and that devil's name was 'chores.'

Rolanda sat beside him on the
bed and began to rub his shoulders, eliciting another groan. “It
can't have been that bad, it was just cutting down a few trees for
firewood, wasn't it?”

Gideon moved his head in her
direction, unwilling or unable to move any other muscle. “Not
just a few trees. That sadistic son of a bitch seemed to want all
the trees. We cut and hauled so much wood...I don't even want to
think about it any more. I just want to lie here and die. Can you
help me with that? Just take a pillow and press it against my face.
Hold it there until I stop being in pain.”

Harold popped into the room,
shirtless, with sweat dripping down his chest hair. He was drying
himself off with a towel and his face was wide with a smile. “Quite
the workout, wasn't it? Thanks for your help with the wood, we
needed to get stocked up before winter comes.”

Gideon waved him away out of the
room and Rolanda continued to massage his shoulders. Her little
hands displayed a surprising amount of strength as she kneaded his
sore limbs. The tips of her hair tickled as it ran along his skin.
She stopped moving her hands and he opened his eyes.

“
Are you okay?”
Gideon asked, sitting up. Her eyes were squinted, her mouth pursed,
but her hands still touched him, never leaving his skin.

They made eye contact and she
gave him a small smile. “I just think that this place could
be very good for you and me. There's nothing left at home for
either of us.”

“
What are you saying?”
Gideon asked. He was glad that she hadn't moved her hands from his
body. Her touch, even in a non-sexual way, was calming, peaceful.

“
I still have a lot of
work to do,” Rolanda said. “Things still fade in and
out, but being here, in such a kind and caring environment, I think
it could be very good for both of us. I love you, Gideon.”

He allowed the possibility of
the life to unfold in his mind. They would both have to work very
hard, Harold could teach him to grow crops and raise animals, he
could build them a house. They could cook and eat what they
provided for themselves, passing evenings watching their future
children play out in the woods while they sat on chairs with Harold
and Rheannon drinking honey beer. They could put this whole ugly
episode behind them. There were certainly worse ways to spend a
life. “I love you too, Rolanda.”

She leaned over and their soft
lips met, she tasted of flowers and sweet blackberries. Time slowed
for them as Gideon brushed his fingertips through her silky hair,
resting them upon the back of her neck.

A choking sound came from behind
them and they turned, but the doorway was empty. Rolanda shrugged.
“Must have been the wind.” She lay down next to him,
her head in the crook of his arm, and they held hands, neither of
them saying or doing anything.

After a few minutes Harold came
into their room. His face was somber, his eyes crinkled at the
edges. He twisted the towel he had been cleaning himself with into
knots in his hands. “Sorry to bother you guys, I know you
probably haven't had much time to be alone. I think something's
wrong with your friend. She looked pretty upset a few minutes ago,
we couldn't really get out of her what had happened, but she went
storming off into the forest.”

Rolanda turned to Gideon, her
eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Gideon, you know her better
than any of us, do you know what's wrong with Leanin?”

He kept unblinking eye contact
with her, his mouth set in a frown. “I have no clue what
could be wrong with her. I'll see if I can't find out though.”

Rheannon gave him a flashlight
and a little wooden whistle for if he should get lost and it got too
dark. Gideon set off into the woods to try and find Leanin, leaving
the others behind. “Hurry back now,” Harold called
after him, “we'll have dinner ready in about an hour.”

Even for a man with no tracking
skills, Leanin had left him a trail he could follow. There were
twigs broken in a line and bootprints gouged out in the dirt.
Gideon followed, he didn't need the flashlight at first but the sun
set quickly, and soon he was hunched over with the lantern at the
ground to see where the trail went. When he finally caught up with
her she was sitting in an opening in the trees, a little grassy
knoll with a boulder at the base of a hill. She was sitting on top
of the rock, her legs crossed in a pretzel under her.

“
I knew you'd come for
me,” Leanin said. She smiled, though her eyes were cold and
hard as they ever were. “You need everyone to be okay, you
can't make a choice to save your life.”

“
Harold said you were
distraught.”

Leanin waved her hand as though
she were brushing away a fly. “This was the only way I could
get you alone. I saw you and Rolanda.”

Gideon felt the blood rush to
his face and he clenched his jaw. “What of it? We are
engaged to be married.”

Leanin stared at him long and
hard, her eyelids lowered, her teeth almost bared. Gideon looked
away. “Rolanda wants you to stay here,” she said.

He ground his teeth together.
The moon was beginning to rise, casting a shadow from Leanin and the
boulder she sat on. The grass looked grey in the low light. “Yes,
that's true. And I think that we could all have a good life here.”

She turned her head to the side,
the moonlight highlighting her sharp profile. “There it is
again, trying to be everything to everyone. Can't you see? There's
no room for me here. What am I going to do, make a cabin alone and
become a hermit while you and Rolanda fuck and make a family? Or is
it something else you had in mind? A harem maybe? Keep us both at
your beck and call, play us against each other? Manipulate us? One
big happy, fucking, family?”

Gideon swallowed hard. His
insides were beginning to tie themselves in knots. “It
wouldn't have to be like that. It could be very quiet and peaceful
here.”

Leanin stood, her shadow cutting
into the night sky. “Peace can be a real killer, Gideon.
When we got my sister back it was quiet and peaceful. Sure, my dad
began saying, in a real quiet and peaceful way, that Jenny was
broken, Jenny was damaged goods, Jenny was tainted. And you know
what? My mom stayed quiet the whole time, never spoke out against
him, just to keep the peace. I hated her for that; peace can be the
death of a person.”

He spread his arms wide. “What
do you want me to say, Leanin? I'm engaged to Rolanda.”

She leaped down from the boulder
and stood inches from him. He could smell cinnamon on her breath
and lavender wafting from her hair, her lips were slightly parted
and full. “Tell me there's no amount of electricity you feel
every time we're close to each other.” She stepped forward
and placed her palm upon his chest. “I can feel how fast your
heart is beating. Lie to me, tell me that you'd be perfectly happy
here and never wonder about what might have been between us.”

The smell was overpowering him.
He wanted to touch her neck, to kiss her collarbone, to breathe in
the scent of her hair. Swallowing hard he tried to ignore the
tightness in his pants. “I choose Rolanda. I choose peace.”

Leanin licked at her lips and
then was still a moment before breaking out into a large smile.
“Oh, come on. You look like you're terrified you broke me or
something. I'm a big girl, I can take a bit of rejection.”
She took one of his hands in hers, her palm was rough with scars.
“I do think it's a shame, a waste of a perfectly good life,
but you chose Rolanda, and I can respect that. Not everybody gets
to be happy.” She took his face in her hands. “I just
want one kiss, that's all.”

They kissed, and Gideon felt a
small explosion of emotion in his stomach that ran through his
fingers and his toes, leaving them tingling. He felt electric and
filled with life. He clutched at her, feeling her hard body pressed
against his, not wanting to ever let go.

There was no conscious thought
of what happened next. Their clothes came off and they fell to the
ground, writhing on the cool grass. He buried his face in her pert
breasts as she rode him, he grabbed and sucked at her nipples until
they were rock hard and she let out little gasps and moans. Every
time he slid out of her was agony but it was followed by the ecstasy
of thrusting back into her. When he came the orgasm was so powerful
it made him shudder and he filled her with himself as darkness crept
in around his vision. He collapsed on the cool ground and Leanin
lay next to him.

The rushing sound in his ears
slowly receded and he looked up over the treetops out into the clear
night sky where the first glimmer of stars were beginning to shine.
“We shouldn't have done that,” he said.

Leanin gave him a small smile
and pulled up her pants. “You shouldn't have done that,
Gideon. I have no qualms about it.” She leaned over and
kissed him on the cheek. “You should ask yourself if you
regret it.” She left him in the glade to get dressed. He
buttoned his pants and hurried after her.

...

Harold and Rheannon were waiting
in the kitchen when they got back to the house. Reheated bread and
stew sat on the table in four places, the fifth vacant. Their faces
were strained; Rheannon had wrinkles at the corner of her pursed
lips. She stood when they entered.

“
Are you okay?” she
said, grabbing Leanin's hand in her own. “You looked so angry
when you left, what happened?”

Leanin smiled and nodded. “I'm
fine, I just had some things to work out.”