Torrent Falls

by Jan Watson

  She whispered, “What are you doing here?”

  He started violently at the sound of her voice and leaped up.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, Dimmert, but you need to go to bed.”

  Even in the scant moonlight she could see his Adam’s apple bobbing, trying to come up with a word. “B-baby,” he stuttered. “Watch baby.”

  “Oh, Dimm.” He must have been watching for John to leave so he could take up his vigil. Copper would have liked to gather the young man in her arms and comfort him, but she settled for patting his arm. “Lilly’s fine. Darcy’s with her.”

  Nodding, he gave a funny little wave, almost a salute, before he turned and started toward his room in the barn. Star followed.

  Taking the seat Dimmert vacated, Copper sipped the cooling tea and thought of John’s story—John and Remy’s.

  The rooster crowed and Copper startled from sleep, jerking her hand and splashing tepid tea down her skirt. Cold and stiff, she stood and set the cup aside. She’d slept, what part of the night she slept at all, leaning against the porch railing. She could feel its imprint on her shoulder.

  Another day, she thought, as mist rose off the yard and Benny scratched about in the loft. There was breakfast to cook and Mazy to milk and a basket of shucky beans waited to be strung, but she needed a moment with the memory of her friend Remy. Pans rattled in the kitchen. Darcy was making biscuits. Leaning in the door, Copper asked, “Can you keep an eye on Lilly? I want to walk a ways.”

  “’Course I will. See what I come up with.” Darcy showed Copper a long knit string. “I’m going to tie Lilly to me until she learns not to wander.”

  “I don’t know if Miss Priss will cotton to being a puppy on a leash.”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t cotton to going through what happened yesterday again neither.”

  “Nor do I.” Reaching around the door, Copper fetched her walking stick. “I’ll be back directly.”

  She wished for time to hike to the cave where she’d first met Remy, but she had to settle for the place where she’d last seen her. Copper’s life had been so busy after she left the mountains for the city that she had not given much thought to her fey friend. It made her heart sore to think of how easily she’d left the very memory of Remy behind.

  The creek followed a dip and bend before Copper reached her destination. Right here, she thought, pushing aside dry weed stalks with her walking stick. I said good-bye to Remy right here. She could almost see Remy that long-ago day, one fist tapping her chest to remind Copper that the heart doesn’t forget.

  Cold air nipped at Copper’s nose, and she rubbed her hands together as she stood lost in reflection. She wished there were a proper grave to visit, but John had said they’d found very little left of Remy Riddle.

  A chill shook Copper. John said they’d buried Remy’s sky blue shawl with gold stars around the border. If Copper closed her eyes, she could almost see Remy’s delighted face when she found the shawl that Christmas so long ago—found it where Copper had left it for her to stumble upon. Things always had to be done Remy’s way.

  “I’m so sorry,” Copper said. “I’m sorry I lost you, Remy. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you needed my help.”

  Copper gathered a fistful of leaves and stepped down the bank to the edge of the creek. One by one she released the orange and gold and red leaves, watching them swirl through eddies and bump over rocks. “‘A friend loveth at all times,’” she whispered, her throat raw with unshed tears, “‘and a brother is born for adversity.’” She tapped her chest in the place right over her heart. “I’ll always love you, Remy. We’ll always be sisters.”

  In the spring she’d come back to this spot and plant a willow for her lost friend and maybe someday eye blossoms to choke out the thistles and weeds. She’d have Dimm make a small bench where she could rest and visit with Remy from time to time. It was little, she knew, but it was all she had to offer.

  Copper was lost in thought as the big wooden wheels of the surrey turned faster and faster. With her permission, Dimmert had repaired the light buggy, greasing the wheels and oiling the leather fabric until it was restored to its former glory. Now she sat clutching the bench to keep from being flung over the side as Star pulled them to Fairy Mae’s.

  “Dilly,” Lilly called from the backseat. “See Dilly, Mama?”

  “Yes, baby. Dilly is waiting with her mammaw.”

  “Now?”

  “Soon, Lilly Gray. Very soon.” The carriage bumped over a rock in the road, snapping Copper’s mouth shut like a coiled spring. “You sure this buggy can stand the trip, Dimmert?”

  Dimmert just ducked his head and pulled the reins, slowing Star to a trot.

  “Why, Mama?”

  Knowing better, Copper answered anyway. “Why what, baby?”

  “Why Star slow?”

  “So we won’t bounce so much.”

  “Why?”

  Copper rested her pounding head against the leather seat back. “Enough questions. Say your ABC’s.”

  Truth be told, Copper was as anxious to get to Fairy Mae’s as Lilly was. Dimmert had come back from one of his jaunts last evening with news that his sister Dance had left the safety of her mammaw’s to return to her husband’s house. Fairy Mae told Dimmert that Dance went willingly. She had a right, Copper supposed. She was a grown woman and could make her own decisions. But why?

  Lord, she prayed, please help me figure this out.

  “A B, A B,” Lilly warbled from the back. “A B, one two free, A B C!” Then blessed silence, for a moment anyway, until, “Why, Mama?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why Benny crow? Why kitty say meow?”

  “That’s just how God made them, Lilly. That was God’s plan.”

  Copper could hear the pop of Lilly’s thumb before she answered, “Oh.”

  Copper had to admit that sometimes she was very glad Lilly sucked her thumb. It seemed like the only time she was quiet. At two years old she was a precocious child who questioned everything.

  Even without the pretty summer flowers, the Whitts’ cabin was a warm and welcoming place, buzzing with children’s laughter and Fairy Mae’s pleasant countenance. Copper didn’t know how she could keep her humor this time, however; for Dance had left her infant son in her arthritic grandmother’s care.

  “How could she?” Copper asked. “I could have sworn Dance would never willingly lay eyes on Ace Shelton again.”

  “Honey,” Fairy Mae replied, “I cain’t figure them two out. Dance has always been that way about Ace. The day they was to marry I warned her she was crossing hell on a rotten rail, but she didn’t pay me no mind.” The old woman held her great-grandbaby over her shoulder and patted his back until she was rewarded with a loud burp.

  “He must have threatened her,” Copper said.

  “No, he didn’t. She set up nights waiting for him. I caught her at the window many a time.”

  Copper took Jay to change his wet nappy. After cleansing, she patted his bottom with a fine talcum. “Why?” she asked, sounding for all the world like Lilly Gray. “Why would she leave her baby?”

  Copper was sorry the moment the words left her mouth, for Fairy Mae’s sunny smile trembled. “Poor Dance. Her nerves have always been strung tight. That’s why she’s lived with me since she was just a tad. Dance does the best she can, I reckon.” Taking the clean and dry baby, she upended the glass bottle and stuck the India-rubber teat in his mouth.

  Copper was glad to see the vigor with which baby Jay went after the bottle. If he didn’t get diarrhea from the cow’s milk, he stood a good chance of living.

  Taking in the room crowded with children with a sweep of her arm, Copper asked, “How are you going to manage, Fairy Mae?”

  “The good Lord provides.” Her face crinkled in a smile of certainty. “We’ll make do.”

  “I can take Jay if you need me to,” Copper offered.

  “Bless your heart,” Fairy Mae said. “But we’re
all right for now. The young’uns do all the work. And it feels good to have a baby in these old arms again.”

  Copper knelt by the stool Fairy Mae’s feet were propped up on. She took a tube of sweet-smelling salve from her dress pocket and began to massage the crippled feet.

  Fairy Mae sighed. “That feels so good.”

  Copper had to give voice to her worry. “You know, Dance will have another baby way too soon now that she’s stopped nursing.”

  Fairy Mae laid her veined hand on Copper’s head. “Babies are God’s smiles. I reckon you cain’t get too many.”

  “I hope I can grow as strong in my faith as you.”

  “All you have to do is trust in His providence, child.”

  “Reckon Ace would shoot me if I go to check on Dance?”

  “If he was going to shoot you, he would have done it already,” Fairy Mae said. “He might sick that snapping turtle on you though.”

  Copper laughed. “Depends on how much he likes turtle soup.”

  It had rained during the night and turned colder. Copper could see her breath as she talked to Dimmert. He was comfortable enough now to talk to her, but it still seemed an ordeal for him to pull his words out of storage. “I wonder if Ace will be home this time of day,” she said.

  “Umm,” came from Dimmert, then a cough followed by, “Ain’t . . . umm . . . often there mornings.”

  “That’s what I thought. I figured he’d be off tending his still this early.”

  Star skittered on the trail made treacherous by slick leaves and mushy walnut hulls. High overhead, squirrels peeled the round green nuts, letting the hulls fall where they may. Squirrels were good farmers, eating some of the nuts and burying others to keep for the coming winter. Their nests looked like bad housekeeping, just piles of leaves stuck in the tops of barren trees. The overlooked walnuts, acorns, and hickory nuts planted here and there by squirrels would sprout as new trees in the spring.

  “I should have brought a gun,” Copper said. “There’s our supper overhead.”

  As if in answer, a gray squirrel chattered threats, snapping his tail repeatedly like a tiny whip. When that didn’t scare Copper and Dimmert off, he bounced from limb to limb, then tree to tree before disappearing.

  In truth they probably should have brought a gun. Who knew what Ace would do? But Copper felt guns would only worsen the tension between Dance’s husband and them. Hopefully she and Dimmert would come and go before Ace even knew they’d been there. They might be bringing Dance with them. It was up to her.

  No such luck. They caught Ace right in the middle of the yard. Or he caught them, depending on which way you looked at it. He stared and drew his neck down in his shoulders.

  “Mr. Shelton,” Copper hollered from the edge of the forest, “we want to visit with Dance. We don’t mean any harm.”

  The door of the cabin opened, and Dance peeked out. Ace stood in the yard for the longest time. His hand slipped in and out of his pocket. Copper wondered if he had a pistol. Likely so.

  “We don’t have any weapons,” she yelled. Unless you counted rocks. Dimm had so many in his pockets that he’d drown if he fell in the creek.

  The cabin door closed. Dance would be no help.

  Ace planted his feet and withdrew the pistol Copper rightly guessed he had. He didn’t aim it their way but made a show of spinning it on his forefinger.

  Dimmert reached into his own pocket. Ace should remember that deadly aim. He’d have Ace out cold before he could point his gun.

  “No, Dimm,” she whispered. Cupping her hands, she used them as a megaphone. “I have news of the baby.”

  The cabin door opened again and Dance stepped out.

  Ace dropped the pistol back in his overalls. He took a step their way and motioned for them to come.

  Dimmert slid down from Star and looped the reins over a tree branch before he helped Copper dismount.

  Ace met them midway through the yard. “If you got bad news, don’t take it to the porch. Dance cain’t take no bad news.”

  “Your son is fine,” Copper replied. “He misses his mama though.”

  “Don’t be telling her that,” Ace said. “Like I said, she cain’t take no bad news.”

  Over Ace’s shoulder, Copper could see Dance pacing the porch, front to back instead of side to side, and every time she approached the door, she reached out and touched the knob.

  “I guess you took out the turtle trap,” Copper said.

  Ace removed his greasy felt hat. His black hair spilled down over his eyes, and he shook it back with a practiced gesture. “I’ll talk to you but not in front of him.”

  “Dimmert, why don’t you go visit with your sister?”

  Dimmert didn’t budge but stood as straight as a sentry beside her. Why did men act so possessively? Not a one she ever knew, save her father, thought she could fend for herself.

  “Perhaps, Mr. Shelton, if you’d put down your gun . . .”

  Ace walked to the barn and disappeared into its shadowed depths. He came back with his pockets inside out.

  “Dimm?” she asked. She felt his hand meet hers as he slid a rock the size of a small potato into her palm. “All right then,” she said. “You can watch from the porch.”

  “Walk a ways with me,” Ace said.

  “Dimmert won’t like it if he can’t see me,” Copper responded.

  “I cain’t figure why everybody’s got me pegged for the devil,” Ace said, waving his arms around.

  “I’m willing to listen.” Copper walked with him toward the barn.

  “You all come in here and took my wife and stole my baby, and nobody give a thought to me.” Ace sounded angry, but he kept his voice down, reminding Copper of the first quiet whir from a rattlesnake. “I ain’t even held my baby. I only seen him once, and I had to spy to do that.”

  “Your son is fine, Mr. Shelton. He—”

  “Mr. Shelton,” Ace mocked. “What are you, a schoolteacher? Cain’t you talk like other folks?”

  Copper held her tongue, turned in her tracks, and started back the way they had come.

  He grabbed her shoulder. “I didn’t mean no disrespect.”

  A stone pinged off the barn door directly over his head. A warning from Dimmert.

  Ace put up his hands in surrender. “But I ain’t a cur you can just kick out of the way. I got a right to my family.”

  Copper faced him. “Mr. Shelton . . . Ace, I only did what I thought was right for Dance and the baby.”

  “Why’d you think you needed to haul my wife off to her mammaw’s?” His face was a study in self-pity. “You didn’t got to do that.”

  Copper shook her head. The man was as dense as mud. “When Dimmert brought me here to deliver your wife’s baby, I found her hungry. Hungry! And stuck in your house like a prisoner of war with a turtle for a guard. I believe it was the most inhumane—pardon me—meanest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Ace tossed his head. His hair took flight, then settled on his head. “The turtle was to keep her safe. She wouldn’t go out as long as it was in its hidey-hole. Truly, I never meant to leave her alone that long.”

  “Then why did you?”

  “Ain’t no reason to lie to you. Some lowlife found my moonshine, and it took me a time and a half to haul my still to a safer place. Seems like nobody respects nothing no more.”

  “I still don’t understand why you needed to keep Dance locked up that way.”

  “Seems to me that’s better’n letting her fall off a cliff or get lost back in the woods. Dance is . . . well, she’s peculiar. Takes these notions to wander, and then she cain’t find her way home. At night she has nightmares and walks in her sleep, but she don’t go far after dark, for she’s more scared of hoot owls than turtles, if you can believe that. I was trying to protect her, if anybody bothered to ask.”

  “That doesn’t make it right. You can’t treat a person that way.”

  “What’s a body supposed to do? I had to work. She went with me until sh
e got too big to climb the mountain.”

  Copper tightened her shawl around her shoulders. The weather was taking a mean turn. They’d have snow by morning. “You should have asked her family for help.”

  “I ain’t never relied on strangers.”

  “They’re your family too. There’s not a better person in the world than Fairy Mae Whitt.” Copper stomped her feet and rubbed her hands together. “Might we go in the house for a spell? I’m freezing.”

  “Surely,” he said.

  She kept pace with him, only stopping when they got to the porch. Dimm waited in the doorway. “There’s something else,” she said. “Dance said you burned her with the fireplace poker.”

  Ace shook his head as if he couldn’t believe she still questioned him. “I got up to stir the fire one night. It had been raining for days, and the house was damp and chilly. I was certain she’d take a cold, so I kept the fire going. She sneaked up behind me and hit me with the soup pot.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I whirled around and struck out with the poker. I never thought it was her. Tell you what, I took the knives out of the house after that.”

  Once inside, Copper sat for a while and took coffee with Dance and Ace. She wasn’t sure what to make of Ace’s strange story. Should she believe him or what she had seen with her own eyes? And did it matter what she thought? Dance had put herself back in this place of her own accord.

  Ace asked and so she told them about Jay, how he was eating well and growing bigger every day.

  A tear slid down Ace’s cheek, and he hid his face in the crook of his arm. “You reckon I could see the boy?”

  Pity stirred Copper’s heart. One thing she’d learned in the city as she worked alongside her husband with all manner of people who had all manner of needs was that everyone had a story. Even a pancake has two sides.

  Dance sat silently. She seemed to have no will of her own.

  Copper touched her arm. “Would you like that? Would you like to see your baby?”

  Dance sighed. “It don’t matter. Whatever you want.”