Jewel

by Beverly Jenkins

  Maddie said, “Well, I’m with Gail and Jewel on attending the meeting in Chicago, and if they won’t let us in, I’ll be raising hell right along with Jewel, and I have money to pay the fines for both of us.”

  So it was agreed, Gail, Edna, Maddie and Jewel would attend the suffrage meeting.

  When the remaining business items were taken care of, Gail turned the conversation to the reception planned for Sunday to celebrate Jewel and Eli’s marriage. When she asked for contributions, everyone eagerly volunteered to bring food except the Widow Moss. “I find it deplorable that your father would approve such a marriage. I’m sorry, Abigail, I know he’s your son, but no daughter of mine would marry an adulterer and a fornicator.”

  Before Gail could reply, Jewel replied coolly, “Then you are more than welcome not to attend.”

  The widow, who always looked like she was sucking on lemons, turned even more sour and stood. “If the meeting is adjourned, I’ll take my leave.”

  Gail’s dark eyes were blazing. “The meeting is adjourned.”

  The Widow Moss sailed out.

  Maddie muttered, “Old bat.”

  That brought on smiles. With their moods lightened, the remaining members refocused their attention on the reception.

  The meeting broke up an hour later and by then it was dark. Those who lived too far away to make the drive home would be staying overnight with the Quilt Ladies. As the women shared their goodbyes and the store began to empty, Jewel, Maddie, and Gail stayed behind to help Edna place the chairs back in the storage room and clean up the dishes they’d used for their cake and punch so everything would be cleared away when she opened the store in the morning.

  It was easy to see that Gail was still simmering over the Widow Moss’s denunciation of Eli, and in truth, Jewel was as well. “Wouldn’t it be nice if the widow suddenly inherited a fortune and moved to China?”

  Gail chuckled in spite of her temper. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

  Widow Temperance Moss was the bane of the community. She considered herself even more of a moral force than the Quilt Ladies and over the years her acidic tongue had lacerated everyone.

  Maddie folded a wooden chair. “Personally, I think Magic’s prank on her was the best of all time.”

  Before Nate Grayson married Dr. Lancaster, he made the mistake of hiring the widow to be a governess of sort to his adopted daughter Majestic, or Magic as she was affectionately known. Magic had been ten years of age in those days and she’d hated the widow in ways only someone that age could because the woman constantly berated the child’s manners, deportment, and parentage. Magic fought back by playing pranks.

  Chuckling, Gail said, “The day she sewed Temperance’s drawers together I thought I would keel over I laughed so hard.”

  “Put snakes in her bed, too, as I remember, and the next day rotten eggs in her Sunday bonnet,” Edna reminded them.

  They were all grinning now.

  Edna added, “But I know which incident Maddie is talking about. Everybody around heard about Magic putting cow manure in the widow’s slippers.”

  Gail could barely speak for laughing. “When she put them on they were already occupied.”

  They all howled as Gail continued, “Magic couldn’t sit for a week after the whipping Nate gave her, but the widow refused to teach her any longer so I believe Magic won.”

  Jewel did, too, and in solidarity she picked up her half-filled punch cup and raised it high. “To the feisty, give-no-quarter women of the Grove, of all ages!”

  “Hear! Hear!” the others declared, raising their own cups. They drained the contents and went back to cleaning up.

  Once they were done, Maddie looked over at her friends. “I should be getting on home before Blue comes looking for me.”

  They knew she was serious because on more than a few occasions her dogs had come to find her when she’d been late getting home. “They’re worse than a maiden aunt. Good thing I don’t have a man.” She waved and strolled out.

  Abigail and Jewel left right behind her so that Edna could lock up and retire to her rooms above the store. Outside, the night breeze felt good and the stars were like diamonds in the sky overhead. All of the businesses were closed, but Jewel assumed Eli and her father were still working on the Gazette because down the street she could see lights from the lanterns they were working by. She looked over at her stepmother who was now also her mother-in-law. “Are there a lot of people still holding bad feelings for Eli?”

  Abigail leaned on her cane and looked out at the night. “I’m sure there are, but unlike Temperance, most have the decency to keep it to themselves.” She went silent for a moment then said with soft pain, “He’s been trying so hard to repair his name and done a magnificent job, I think.”

  “He’s never going to please everybody.”

  “I tell myself the same thing, but…”

  For a moment Jewel waited for her to continue, but when nothing was said, she asked quietly, “But what?”

  Gail shook her head regretfully. “Just wish it had never happened. I spent a lot of years blaming Cecile, but in the end, Eli knew right from wrong. He made a choice and it’s one that will shadow his life for as long as he lives here.”

  “You want him to move away?”

  “Of course not. He’s my only child, but I,”—she sighed and shrugged—“I just wish it had never happened.”

  Jewel remembered the darkness she’d sensed in him the day they’d driven to the bluff. She slipped an arm around Gail’s waist and gave her a tiny squeeze. “He’s a good man. Even I know that.”

  “I think you’ll be good for him.”

  Now it was Jewel’s turn to stare out into the night. She thought of the way they’d parted earlier that afternoon and allowed herself an inner smile. “Why?”

  “Just a mother’s feeling.” She looked down into Jewel’s eyes. “Give it a chance.”

  “I’m keeping my mind open.”

  “That’s all I ask.”

  Adam drove up out of the darkness and called out, “You women done plotting to take over the world for one night?”

  They grinned and Gail tossed back, “Yes, but I’ve decided to run for president.”

  He pulled hard on the reins and the shock on his face was plain to see in the moonlight. “What!”

  Gail said to Jewel, “Your father is so easy to get.” To Adam she called, “It’s a joke, Adam, so pull your tongue out of your throat and let’s go.”

  “Abigail,” he said warningly, realizing he’d been had yet again.

  Smiling, she ignored the tone. “I’d like to get home before the sun wakes up.” She turned to Jewel. “One of the boys coming to take you home?”

  “Paul drove me in, but Eli’s supposed to be meeting me.”

  Adam answered. “He’s on his way. He’s putting the lanterns away.”

  As if one cue, Eli drove up in his buggy. “Sorry I’m late.”

  Jewel’s heart sang at the sight of him and her nipples stood up shamelessly beneath the old shirt she was wearing. She had no intentions of letting him know, though. His head was swelled enough.

  Eli was glad he hadn’t missed her. He like everyone else in town knew just about what time the meetings usually adjourned, but apparently they’d met later because he’d truly expected her to be gone already. “Can I still see you home?”

  His soft invitation made Jewel feel fourteen all over again. No matter how hard she tried to be on the outside, inside she was soft as lemon curd. “I suppose.”

  Jewel saw Adam and Gail watching with interest. “You two can go on,” she said. “We’ll be fine.”

  Adam turned the wagon around and the parents waved in parting. They disappeared into the darkness, and in the silence that followed Eli got out of his buggy and walked over to where Jewel stood in the breeze.

  He teased a finger down her cheek and she wondered if she’d ever be immune to what he made her feel inside. As it stood now, she rippled ever
y time he touched her and it didn’t matter the time or place.

  “How’d the fish turn out.” he asked.

  “Fine.”

  Without a word, he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. That done, he took her hand and walked her to the buggy.

  Chapter 9

  Silent, they drove through the night. Under the pale moon the trees lining the road resembled eerie specters and for Jewel the sight stirred up a long forgotten memory. “Do you remember the night I got lost playing Moonlight Hide and Go Seek?”

  “I do. You couldn’t have been more than, what, seven or eight?”

  “Eight. I waited for somebody to come find me, but no one did.”

  “The way I heard it, you were supposed to be in bed.”

  “Well, yes,” she admitted. “But when the boys were talking about playing after supper, I asked if I could join in and they all said I was too little, including Pa.”

  “So how did you expect to be found if nobody knew you were a player?”

  “Noah knew. In fact, he helped me slip out of bed while Pa was chopping wood out back, and I hid in the barn until it got dark. I stuffed some pillows under my bedding so Pa would think it was me, then when it got dark, I went and hid.”

  He chuckled. She’d been a force of nature even back then. She and his niece Magic had similar personalities. Both had needed full-time keepers while growing up. “You must have been scared after so long a wait.”

  “Not really, because I knew every inch of the Grove and I wasn’t afraid of the animals. My mistake was falling asleep.”

  Eli had been sixteen and drafted as a member of the hastily assembled search party. Men all over the Grove were awakened that night by Crowley sons banging on their doors and relaying the frantic Adam’s need for help. She was found the next morning asleep in the hollow of an old oak on Crowley land. “Did Adam punish you for sneaking out?”

  “Nope. Didn’t switch Noah either after he confessed to helping me. I think Pa was so glad to see me he didn’t have the heart and he didn’t want me to tell Mama about my adventure. She and Gail were away at a suffrage rally in Battle Creek and I’m sure he didn’t want to have to explain to her how he’d come close to losing her only daughter. More than likely she heard about it soon as she returned, though. There aren’t any secrets in the Grove.”

  No there weren’t, Eli mused. Back then he’d been trysting with Cecile and was as devoted as any lap dog; that hadn’t been a secret either. He wondered what ever became of the woman he’d willingly waded into hell for. Not that he cared, but he was curious as to whether she was still ruining lives or if she’d turned her life around like he’d been trying to? He certainly didn’t miss those years or the ones that followed.

  Jewel gave him a glance. Because he’d gone so silent she felt compelled to ask, “You all right?”

  “Just thinking about what I was doing in those days.”

  She sensed the darkness rising and remained silent. If he wanted to talk about it she’d let him, but it would be his choice.

  “How much of the story do you know?” he asked.

  “That you committed adultery with Nate’s wife.”

  “Again and again and again,” he admitted in hushed bitter tones. “Even after he returned home from the war, broken from being buried alive by the Rebs at Ft. Pillow, I kept seeing her. Nothing mattered but Cecile.”

  The memories inside Eli rose, bringing back the haunting shame. “When Nate found us together, he beat me almost to death. I didn’t fight back. I’d hurt him more than the Rebs, and I’d deserved it.”

  “But the two of you are better now.”

  “Thank God for Viveca. Had she not come to town and served as a bridge, Nate and I might never have found each other again.”

  “I’m glad you did.”

  “So am I. Did you know he once saved my life?”

  She hadn’t heard that story. “When?”

  “I was nine, so he would have been eleven. We were swimming one afternoon and a cramp crippled my leg. Had he not swum to my rescue I would have drowned,” he added darkly. “And I repaid that blessing by sleeping with his wife.”

  To Jewel it was obvious that he hadn’t forgiven himself, or made peace with his perfidy. She felt sorry for him and wanted to mover closer and offer what sympathy she could, but knowing he didn’t want her pity or anything resembling it, she stayed put.

  “I brought shame on my family, my name. My mother,” he whispered emotionally. “And not a moment of it can be changed.”

  He was right of course, but if Nate could see the way to settings things clear between them, Jewel hoped Eli would somehow find the means to salve the pain he was carrying inside.

  He glanced over. “So now you know all of it.”

  “I’m not sure I’m supposed to say thank you to something like this.”

  He gave her a small smile. “Perfect response.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “And one of the many things I like about you, Jewel Grayson—your honesty.”

  “You enjoy calling me that, don’t you?”

  “I do. Like the way it feels in my mouth.”

  She immediately thought of the way her nipples felt in his mouth and wondered if he’d phrased his response specifically for that reason. “Are you trying to be scandalous again?”

  “I think so. Am I being successful?”

  “Way too full of yourself, Eli Grayson. Way too full.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

  Amusement made her wonder if she’d ever win one of their bantering battles, but she didn’t hold out much hope. As she’d noted before, what she knew about these matters could fit on the head of a pin—although Maddie’s drawings had greatly expanded her knowledge. “Maddie did show me pictures.”

  “I gathered that.”

  “The Kama Sutra.”

  “Ah, the Holy Grail. Remind me to get her something special.”

  “Eli!”

  “Sorry.”

  “No, you’re not.” She was laughing. “This is very embarrassing.”

  “Sweetheart, nothing we’re going to do together is going to be embarrassing, at least not after the first time.” He circled an arm around her waist and gently urged her closer. “I keep telling you I’m not contagious.”

  Jewel didn’t put up a fuss and let herself be held close while he guided the reins with his free hand. She liked being cuddled against his side. His solid strength gave her a peace and contentment she never would have thought possible the evening the reverend pronounced them man and wife. “Your mother said she didn’t want big doings for the reception on Sunday, but she has half the women in the county bringing food.”

  “Let’s hope that’ll be enough, because more than likely everybody in the county’s going to show up.”

  “I’m not looking forward to it, truthfully.” She felt his shoulder tense in response, so she sought to reassure him. “Not because of why we’re having the reception, but because I’m not one for a lot of hoopla.” When his shoulder relaxed she smiled inside, glad she’d clarified her meaning. “I don’t even enjoy going to parties for other people.”

  Eli gazed down into her shadowy face. He’d thought she’d been protesting the marriage again and was glad to hear differently. “You just need to learn to let your hair down. Have some fun.”

  “I do fun things.”

  “Such as?”

  “I toss horseshoes with my brothers. We play chess, checkers, and baseball.”

  “But most of the time, you work.”

  “Because there’s work to do. I am the only female in the house, Eli. I also have my roses and my committee work. Having too much fun would put me behind.”

  “Would that be such a terrible thing?”

  Jewel raised up. “Let’s see how much fun you make time for once the Gazette starts publishing again.”

  “Touché, Mrs. Grayson.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

&n
bsp; He squeezed her with all the affection he felt inside. “You are something.”

  “And you’d do good to remember that.”

  He squeezed her again, “Keep sassing me and I’ll make you melt into your shoes. Again.”

  Jewel smiled against his arm.

  “Awful quiet.”

  “I’m not denying it.”

  “Denying that you’re quiet or that you like my kisses?”

  “Both.” She looked up and met his smile.

  “Well now. That’s good to hear.” His voice was soft

  “I knew it would be.”

  “Liking that lemonade, are you?”

  She nodded. “I am.”

  He let the reins go slack and the horse stopped. The breeze sweeping over them rustled through the trees like a whispered song, the chorus of nocturnal insects accompanied by the rhythmic chirping of the crickets its music, while Jewel’s thumping heart added a steady cadence of its own.

  Eli used the moment to glide a finger slowly down her cheek. He was filled with what the future could hold for them if they would just give it a chance. He wanted to tell her that but was unsure if he could find the right words. “Let’s see if we can make a life together, Jewel. Here and now. Do away with all the reasons and the whys, and see where we end up.”

  “I’d like that.” And it was the truth.

  He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, then brushed her ear, “I will provide for you, protect you, and make love to you, for as long as you wish to stay….”

  Jewel couldn’t breathe. The promise in his words and in the lips placing humid fleeting kisses on the edge of her jaw, throat, and trembling mouth stole her soul. Never in her life had she imagined a man whispering to her this way. The short fervent kisses ignited her senses. The hot pass of his hands making the old flannel shirt slide silently against her skin and over the tight tips of her breasts made the spot between her thighs awaken and pulse. When he eased her onto his lap she didn’t protest, she was too busy soaring.

  Eli had no idea why he wanted this woman so much; all he knew was that he did, badly. From the sweetness of her mouth to the way her nipples rose under his touch, he felt possessed. Placing licks and kisses against the bare skin of her throat framed by her open collar, he filled his hands with her shirt-covered breasts, lowered his head and bit them possessively while she moaned. Buttons were undone, and then he stopped. Chuckling and amazed by what she was wearing beneath the shirt he drew back, then played with the buds he couldn’t wait to taste. “Why are you wearing a man’s union shirt?”