“I’m Becky’s father, Eli Bidwell.”
“Nice to meet you, sir,” I said.
“Missed you at the store earlier today, but heard you had come through. Looks like you’ve cleaned up some since then. You gave my wife quite a stir, what with your face all tore up and blood all over.”
“I’ve had better nights,” I said.
“Hear you met my daughter, Becky.”
I nodded and took another sip from my drink.
He turned to look over at the dancers. “She and the Howard boy are gonna be married in June. Suppose you heard that already?”
“Told me this morning,” I answered. “She gave me a ride into town when my car got stuck out on the road from Point Washington.” The man kept staring at the dancers and didn’t answer me. He had his own drink in his hand and then seemed to remember he had it and looked down to take a swallow.
“Makes me wonder about young folks these days,” he finally said. “Becky there’s just 18 and ready to start livin’ with a man and running her own house. Don’t know how she’ll be with kids of her own runnin’ around. Sure thing Seth won’t be much help,” he said, a thinly veiled note of disgust in his voice. He lingered on, gazing at his daughter in silence for a bit and then turned back to me. “What are your plans down here, Coulter?”
“Just needed to get away from the city for a while. The Headleys are old friends and they’re letting me stay at their place,” I said, looking back towards town.
“Yeah, I’ve seen the Headleys when they’re down this way.”
“Thought I might do a little work on a book I’ve been writing.”
“You’re a writer?”
“Working on it,” I answered. “Headley place needs a new coat of paint, too.”
“Come by the store. Got everything you need. Even got lumber over at the mill if you have to replace any boards.”
I thanked him and he turned and moved off into the crowd. I thought for a moment about his low regard for his future son-in-law and wondered why he had given his blessing. It occurred to me there probably weren’t a lot of options for young women down in this remote place. Then I noticed a woman coming across the floor toward me and as she got closer I saw it was Louise Palumbo, the wife of my new acquaintance, Willie. She also had a glass in her hand and her walk was a little unsteady. Even as she stopped in front of me, she staggered some. She still had on the same revealing dress from earlier at dinner.
In a slurred and high pitched voice she said, “What are you doing over here all alone, honey?”
I nodded in greeting and held my glass up to hers and said, “Mrs. Palumbo,” hoping to remind her I wasn’t her honey. Her husband wasn’t far behind and he came up and put his arm around her.
“You two havin’ a good time,” Willie said in his heavy Jersey accent.
“I was just going to ask Mathew to dance, honey,” she said, and then I realized everyone must be honey to Louise Palumbo.
“I was just thinking it was about time we get back to the hotel, sweetheart,” he said. “It’s been a long day.” He took the glass from her and placed it on the rail.
She looked at him and I could see that in her inebriated state she was trying to focus on his face. “Sure honey, let me just go say goodbye to our hosts.” She walked away and both Willie Palumbo and I watched her stagger back across the wood decking, the sway of her hips hard to ignore.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Palumbo said without looking at me.I wasn’t quite sure how best to answer and then thought, what the hell. “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Palumbo.”
He turned back and looked at me with an appraising eye and didn’t say anything. When we both looked back his wife was in the arms of Seth Howard out in the crowd of dancers. Palumbo didn’t seem to react at first, but just stood there watching for some time. Then he said in a quiet voice almost to himself, as if he didn’t really care if I heard or not, “Always a blessing and a curse to love a beautiful woman.”
His words made me laugh as I thought about Hanna Wesley. He turned and looked at me with a questioning stare. “And that’s funny?”
I took another drink and swallowed, staring back at the big man from New Jersey. “Sorry Mr. Palumbo…” I started to say.
“Willie,” he reminded me.
“I’m sorry, but that’s part of the reason I’m down here in the middle of nowhere.”
“A young pup like you got lady problems?”
I nodded slowly, the face of Hanna clear in my mind, her smile a taunting and mocking vision. “And not the first time,” I said.
“Louise, she and I been married now almost ten years, my second wife. Met her in a club up in Brooklyn. She took my heart and I ain’t found it since. Better get her home,” he said slowly and then walked away toward his wife.
I watched as he moved into the group of dancers and stood beside his wife and Seth Howard, who didn’t notice him at first. He finally reached out and took her arm to pull her away. The Howard boy got an irritated look on his face and pushed Palumbo away. The big man fell back a couple steps and then stood there for a moment watching as his wife continued to dance with the boy. Then Palumbo started back toward the two of them, his chest all puffed out, obviously ready to do what he needed to do to get his wife away. Another man stepped in between. He was a big man, nearly a head taller than Palumbo and probably older by a few years. He stood and placed two hands on Palumbo’s chest, who immediately pushed them away. Angry words were traded that I couldn’t hear and then Seth Howard left Louise Palumbo to come over and join in the exchange.
Palumbo pushed the older man out of the way to get at Seth. He took a powerful swing at the boy that caught him flush on the side of the face, knocking him to the floor. I heard Louise scream and all the dancers backed away in surprise as Palumbo jumped on the boy and continued to throw punches at this face. Seth tried to get up to defend himself, but Palumbo was all over him and relentless in his attack. The big man, who I would later learn was Seth Howard’s father, was trying to pull him off. Then I saw Jonas Bidwell joining in.
Soon Rebecca appeared and was yelling at everyone to stop, tears flowing down her face. The music died down as the band members stopped playing to watch the brawl. I put my drink down and started over to try to help, wondering to myself which side I was supposed to be on. I pushed my way into the crowd and helped pull Palumbo off the young Howard boy who was now lying with his arms around his face trying to protect himself from the fury of his attacker.
We finally managed to get Willie Palumbo back on his feet as others held his arms. He turned to me and his face was a brilliant red. There was a dangerous rage in his eyes, saliva dripping down the side of his mouth. He kept struggling against his restraint and he was yelling at the boy that he would kill him if he ever went near his wife again. Rebecca was wailing now, kneeling beside her fiancé, Seth Howard, who was trying to get back to his feet, his face covered in blood and welts from the many blows Palumbo had inflicted. Louise Palumbo had backed away into a corner as she watched in horror, one of her fists stuck in her mouth and tears flowing freely down her face.
I took hold of the lapels of Willie’s jacket and shook him, trying to get him to calm down. He just stared back at me like he could kill me just as easily as Seth Howard. Finally, he shook free of the others holding him and pushed away from the crowd, breathing heavily with sweat shining and dripping from his face. The only sound was Rebecca Bidwell sobbing as she knelt next to Seth. Palumbo continued to back away and held out his hand for his wife to join him. She slowly came over and took his hand and then the two of them walked away into the darkness of the night toward town.
Chapter Ten
My first conscious thought the next morning was the sudden awareness my head was on fire with pain. The left side of my brain felt like a railroad spike had been driven deep inside. I moaned and rolled over in the bed trying to get my eyes to focus in the light coming in through the window in
the bedroom. On the nightstand next to the bed I saw a glass still half full of the amber poison from the night before. I pulled a pillow over my head to try to hide from the morning and the effects of my overindulgence from the past night. The memory of the fight between Seth Howard and Palumbo came back to me. I could still see the venomous look in the man’s eyes as we pulled him off the boy. I tried to piece the rest of the evening together and could only remember leaving soon after the fight and coming back to the Headley’s cottage. I reached over and found my pocket watch. It was a little past eleven o’clock in the morning. I managed to bring myself up into a sitting position. I held my head in my hands hoping to find some relief from the pain. I noticed I was still dressed in the clothes from the night before.
I stood and walked unsteadily into the main room of the cottage and over to the sink against the far wall. After pumping the well handle a few times, a steady flow of cold water began streaming from the spout. I cupped my hands to take several long drinks and then put my head under the stream, the cool wetness providing some relief. I took a towel from the wall and dried myself and then walked out the front door onto the porch. The sun was up high in the late morning and the heat of the day was building. Within moments my friend, Champ the mockingbird, landed on the rail and began jumping around, performing for what he hoped to be his next meal.
“Not now, pal,” I said weakly. In bare feet, I walked down the steps and across the hot sand of the front yard and then out through the gate. My first thought was that Lila Dalton might have some hot coffee over at the hotel to help with the hangover, but then decided I didn’t want to present myself in this condition. I looked down to the beach and then settled on heading in that direction. Large billowing white clouds floated slowly overhead on a strong breeze from the south. The wind’s direction pushed the surf up higher and large waves were booming onshore down ahead of me. I walked on, each step causing the pain in my head to explode all over again. The beach was empty and over at the beach pavilion there was only leftover debris from the party.
As I got down to the shoreline the breaking waves washed up over my feet. The water was still bracingly cold for early spring. I stood there for a few minutes looking out over the vast expanse of the Gulf of Mexico; large green waves rolling into white frothing curls as they came across the shallow sand flats near shore. The cold water helped me momentarily to forget about the pounding in my head, so I decided to venture further out. The first big wave that caught me square in the chest nearly knocked me over. I staggered back a few feet and yelled out at the shock to my body. I determined there was no turning back, so I started running out as fast as I could on one good leg in the waist deep water. As the next wave approached, I dove into the face of it and felt my entire body react to the chill. I came up on the other side of the wave and screamed again, diving back under as quickly as possible, hoping to adjust to the water’s temperature.
Soon I was out past the first sandbar, and as the water grew deeper the waves subsided into slow rolling swells. I was able to swim then, which helped to warm me even more. The water was a clear translucent green and I could see the rippled sandy bottom below with every stroke. I rolled over on my back to catch my breath and as I looked up at the sky I could feel the pain in my head was slowly subsiding as my brain was absorbed with other assaults to my senses. I rested there for a while, floating on the surface, being lifted up on the swells coming in. I closed my eyes to just feel the sensation of floating and breathing.
A bigger wave washed entirely over me and when I came back up to the surface I began treading water, now several feet in depth over my head. I looked back at the deserted shore and marveled at the beauty of the place, the striking white shoreline and dunes set off against the brilliant colors of the water.
Off to my left something caught my attention and the serenity of the place was quickly replaced with the paralyzing terror of a large dark gray fin in the water not fifty feet away. I stayed as motionless as I could without going under, watching the fin come toward me and then dip below the surface. I knew it was too far to try to swim in and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. Now only twenty feet away I could see the large mass of the fish coming toward me. It apparently noticed me and veered away slightly toward deeper water. Then it rose up out of the water again in a slow and graceful movement. I could see it was a dolphin, not the toothy shark I had first imagined. The animal crested again as it passed by me and then turned to circle back. I looked on in a mixture of both admiration and uneasiness as it made its way in a full circle around me before continuing on its route eastward down the shoreline.
As I watched the beautiful creature move on my breath began coming more easily and my heart settled back to a near normal rate. Then I realized I was still much too far out to defend myself from other predators much higher on the food chain than myself and I started back in toward shore. After making it through the high waves of the shore break I managed to make my way up onto the beach and I turned to sit, looking back out at the sea and the waves. I sat there shivering for a while, water dripping onto the sand and enjoying the feel of the sun as it slowly warmed my skin.
Later, I heard the sound of splashing and I turned to see Rebecca Bidwell galloping along the shore toward me up on top of Barley, the big brown horse, sending sprays of water out in all directions as they made their way. She pulled up beside me and both she and the horse were breathing hard. Barley pranced around, anxious to be back on their run. Rebecca climbed down and calmed the horse. She walked over to me with the reins in her hand. The happy glow I had seen in her face the previous day was gone, replaced by a dull sadness.
“Good morning,” I said as she approached. She sat down next to me, still holding the horse, but didn’t speak for a moment, just staring out at the water. “I’m sorry about your party last night, Rebecca.” I let the thought linger there between us.
Finally, she spoke. “I’m so mad at Seth, I could just…” She didn’t finish the thought, but instead looked down at her boots, where she was pushing up big piles of sand.
“I’m not sure what happened exactly, Rebecca,” I said. “I think Mr. Palumbo is a fairly dangerous man. Seth had better keep his distance.”
She turned to look at me. “Knowing Seth, that’s probably the last thing he’ll do.”
“Was he hurt badly?”
“Only his damn stubborn pride,” she answered.
We sat there for some time in silence and the horse wandered away a few steps, nuzzling the sand. I was thinking about the gun on Willie Palumbo’s belt and I knew Seth Howard may have more than he could handle with this man. “When is the wedding?” I asked.
“It’s on the first Saturday in June over at the church in Point Washington. About everybody in the county’s going to be there,” she said.
“Sounds like quite an affair.”
She looked up at me again. “You ever been in love, Mathew?”
Her question caught me off guard and I just stared back at her. I thought about the stunning irony of the question and my recent experience with Hanna Wesley and years earlier with a young woman in France. The familiar empty pain now returned in my chest. I noticed she was still staring at me. I nodded slowly and said, “I thought so.”
“Who was she?” The girl’s questions seemed to cut straight to the bone.
“Her name was Hanna.”
“That’s a pretty name. You only thought you loved her?”
I chuckled, looking out at the waves and then answered, “No, I guess I did love her.”
“What happened?”
“You’ve got a lot of questions,” I said, starting to get a little impatient with the conversation.
“Did she break your heart?”
I looked back over at Rebecca Bidwell and had to smile in sympathy at her innocent and probing questions. It occurred to me she was considering her own feelings for a man who had been carrying on with another woman the night before and almost had his
brains beat in as a result. Finally, I answered, “Yes, I think she did break my heart.”
“You’re not over her yet, are you?” she asked.
“No… no it’s going to take a little more time,” I said, and then managed to smile again. “Have you and Seth been together for a long time?”
“Since we were kids. Our folks are friends and our families used to get together all the time for dinner or some occasion. As we got older it just seemed to be considered a fact that Seth and I would be married, although lately my papa’s been pretty quiet about it. Marrying into the Howard family means a lot down here. Their family’s been around a long time and they have a lot of land and livestock and Seth can provide well for a family.”
She was looking out at the water again. I called her name to get her attention. “Rebecca, since we’re being honest, tell me about your feelings for Seth.”
She scratched her head and looked away, seeming to contemplate the question. “It’s just right we should be married,” she finally said.
“That’s not what I asked you.”
“Seth is a good man. He works hard and his family is… well it’s just that Seth has a hard side too, and I’ve seen a temper on him that could light up a brush fire.”
“Has he ever been mean with you?”
“Oh, we’ve had our spats, but I can hold my own,” she said.
“Yes, I imagine you can,” I answered. “Rebecca, one thing I’ve learned is you have to be really sure about something like this.”
She nodded back, but didn’t answer. Barley had wandered further away. She stood up and brushed the sand off her pants and her hands. “I better get going.” She walked over and picked up the reins and then climbed up on her horse. We looked at each other for a moment and then she kicked Barley in the sides. He jumped forward into a fast trot off down the beach.
I watched them move away down the shore and thought about the life ahead for this young girl. It was sad to think she may be on a path that would lead to far less than she deserved.
Grayton Winds Page 9
