The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.)

by Marnie Perry

  Hennessey’s answer came spontaneously and quickly, ‘Jackson.’ Later when he questioned why he had lied to his oldest, closet friend he had no answer.

  Carson said, ‘well keep in touch, bye, pal.’

  ‘Bye, Carson.’

  He thought about this conversation now, although he wouldn’t tell her about it of course. He felt an overwhelming sadness that he might never see his old friend again, unless Carson came to Scandinavia of course.

  He pulled himself together when she asked, ‘Sterling, are you all right?’

  His head snapped up and he looked at her vaguely for a moment then smiled and said, ‘yeah, sure.’ He opened the door and said, ‘shall we?’

  ‘Yes please.’

  She thought they might see the Carters leaving for their day’s fun but they didn’t. She couldn’t help but be pleased about that, she didn’t really want to explain Sterling to them, and they might ask where they were going and could they tag along, Sterling would not like that and neither would she, she wanted to keep him all to herself. This was his last day after all and she had two days left here in Eden counting today, plenty of time to visit with the Carters and the Youngs, and Dean too.

  They walked to the town to Hennessey’s car which was still parked in the hotel car park. As they walked through the town she hoped afresh that they would not see Annie or Dean or the sheriff. Annie because she did not want her to make jokes about “her young man” again and make Sterling uncomfortable and herself embarrassed. The sheriff because he didn’t seem to trust Sterling and if he told him to make sure he took good care of her Sterling might be annoyed again. And Dean because he did not like Sterling and the feeling was mutual, and also she didn’t like the look in Dean’s eyes when he looked at her, a look of concern and of warning.

  She didn’t want anything or anyone to spoil her day, her last day with Sterling Hennessey.

  They had almost made it to the car park when she saw Dean and the sheriff on the opposite pavement. She knew Sterling had seen them too but pretended he hadn’t, but Adela couldn’t just ignore them so she smiled and waved. The sheriff touched his hat in greeting which Adela thought was a nice gesture, no where else in the world, that she knew of anyway, did they do that. Dean merely nodded his head in acknowledgement of her greeting but even from this distance Adela could see his eyes narrow when they alighted on Hennessey. He bent forward and said something to the sheriff who looked at Sterling too and nodded. Adela’s heart sank as the sheriff began to walk down the few steps to the street, but to her relief he continued to walk down the street and away from them.

  It was barely perceptible but she saw Sterling’s shoulders relax as he walked next to her.

  She was herself relieved when they reached his car, he opened the door for her and she got in, when he was settled in the driver’s seat he started the engine and said, ‘I’ll bet he was thinking you might go and have tea with him again this morning.’

  She feigned ignorance, ‘who?’

  He turned to look at her, ‘your dear and close friend, old Deanie.’

  She hated herself but she was always amused when he called Dean that. She hid it though and said, ‘or maybe he was thinking that you would call on him.’ He turned to her his eyes narrowed, ‘after all you did tell him you’d call in his shop for coffee before you left, he’ll think you’re a not a man of your word.’

  His eyes narrowed still further until they were almost slits as he said, ‘the thought of upsetting good old Deanie fills me with such regret that I don’t think I’ll enjoy a single minute of this day.’

  ‘Oh? Then perhaps we ought not to go. Or better still we could go back and ask Dean to join us.’

  ‘I don’t believe there’s enough food.’

  ‘He can share mine.’

  He leaned towards her so that his nose was almost touching hers, ‘good old Deanie is sharing nothing of yours, Miss. Faraday, understood.’

  Her expression lost it’s mischievousness as she stared into his eyes, eyes that sparkled with intensity and meaning. She found herself nodding her head. Then he bridged the small gap between them and kissed her lips not softly as he had last night but firmly and possessively, reinforcing his warning. She felt a warm glow spread through her veins at his dominance.

  Her drew back and smiled at her, his eyes never leaving her face. She smiled back shyly and he settled himself in his seat and pulled out of the car park.

  As they drove she noticed he was going in a direction she had not taken before and asked, ‘where are we going?’

  ‘You’ll see, ‘he said maddeningly.

  ‘Well, knowing your taste in places to visit I know I won’t be disappointed.’

  He slanted a glance her way, ‘even last night and the CC club?’

  ‘CC club?’

  ‘Oh sorry, that’s the name of Carson’s club.’

  ‘CC? I thought it would be CB after his initials.’

  ‘His middle name is Carlton.’

  She chuckled, ‘Carson Carlton?

  He grinned in return, ‘yeah, poor guy. His mother wanted Carson and his father, Carlton, so they tossed a coin only it landed side on against the wall, but his mother said since the head was showing outwards she’d won, they argued until they reached a compromise and poor Carson ended up with Carson Carlton.’

  Adela was laughing now. ‘Carson is a lovely name, as is Carlton, but together they sound funny.’

  When they’d both stopped laughing he said, ‘you didn’t answer my question.’

  She frowned not understanding then said, ‘oh right. Yes, even the CC club was enjoyable too, it wasn’t your fault that those men got drunk and….’ She left the sentence unfinished and turned to look out of the passenger window.

  ‘Still, I feel some responsibility.’

  She turned quickly to look at him, ‘please don’t, that would make me feel guilty too and you wouldn’t want that would you.’ She added mischievously.

  The look he gave her was suddenly very serious and at the same time very gentle then he grinned, ‘no, I wouldn’t want that.’

  She cleared her throat nervously, ‘since we’re talking about Carson, can I ask if you’ve called him, or he you, about last night I mean?’

  Hennessey hesitated for a few seconds then said, ‘yeah, he called me this morning. He was concerned for you.’ He wasn’t going to tell her that Carson had also been angry and had given him a hard time. ‘He was upset that you had been injured in his club by three of his customers.’

  ‘I hope you put his mind at rest and told him that I was all right.’

  He cast her a curious look, most of the women he knew, or most anyone come to that, would at least sue the pants of Carson. But after everything that had happened to her she was more concerned that Carson not be upset that she had been attacked in his club. Amazing.

  She must have read something in his expression because she asked, ‘what, what is it?’

  He shook his head before saying, ‘you’re an unusual woman, Miss. Adela Anne Faraday.’

  Adela was so engrossed in the intensity of his gaze and his words that she did not notice that he had used her middle name…not right then anyway.

  But Hennessy did notice and looked quickly away silently cursing himself. To his relief she made no comment on his stupid mistake but instead said, ‘did…did you ask about those men, whether they were all right or…’

  He certainly was not going to tell her truth about that either so he said, ‘yeah, they’re okay. One guy had a concussion, another a broken arm.’

  ‘And the other, the one you…’ Again she left the sentence unfinished.

  ‘He’s still in hospital, he has severe bruising to his neck and a dislocated shoulder but other than that he’s okay.’

  Carson had not told him this of course, but he knew what he had done to the guy, the coma was probably a result of his being nearly choked to death. Still, no need to worry her about that.

  She was silent and he s
aid, ‘they’ll be all right, don’t worry, let’s not spoil this lovely day thinking about those ass…jerks. Okay?’

  She looked at him smiling, ‘well I hope Carson wasn’t too annoyed with us for disturbing his other customers, I wouldn’t like to be responsible for upsetting the nobility of Biloxi.’

  He looked askance at her for a moment then laughed out loud, ‘nobility, oh I have to remember to tell Carson that one, he’ll have to put up a notice, “Nobility only welcomed in the CC club.”

  She laughed too; glad they were no longer talking about the three men. As for himself he was relieved the subject was closed.

  As they drove they talked amiably about this and that, although Adela was still feeling a certain discomfort being this close to him again she tried not to think about what had happened between them last night, although that was very difficult. During the short silences Adela looked out of the window at the lovely scenery, wherever they were going it certainly looked green and lush.

  Half an hour later they came to small town not dissimilar to Eden. He stopped the car outside a small hotel. Adela’s stomach lurched and she looked anywhere but at him or the hotel. He read her mind and grinned. He said, ‘here we are then.’

  She looked at him her face rather pale. He said, ‘this place is called Silver Run.’

  Recovering her wits she said, ‘oh I’ve seen that on my map, it was one of the places I intended to visit but…

  ‘But what?’

  ‘I got kind of sidetracked.’

  ‘Oh really, and I assume I’m the side tracker.’

  She laughed despite her nervousness, ‘a very nice side tracker.’

  He laughed too then got out of the car and as usual he opened her door for her, she got out, looking anywhere but at the hotel.

  He said, ‘I thought we would take a walk first?’

  ‘First?’

  ‘Yes, give ourselves an appetite.’

  ‘Appetite?’

  ‘Yes, for the picnic.’

  She let out a sharp breath, ‘oh yes, yes of course, that sounds nice.’

  He almost laughed out loud at her part relieved, part disappointed expression. He had deliberately parked here so as to give her the wrong impression about their day together. Sometimes he surprised himself with the silly childish things he did to disconcert or embarrass her; maybe because she made it so easy and he liked to disconcert and embarrass her, he liked to see her blush. He said, ‘the park is very nice, it has a lake with swans and ducks.’

  ‘Oh really, I would like to see that.’

  ‘I thought so.’

  They crossed the street and made their way to the park. As they walked he said, ‘there’s a gazebo over there, and over that way is a bandstand where they play live music. Jazz mainly.’

  She said, ‘jazz? Oh.’

  ‘You don’t like jazz?’

  ‘Er, well, to be honest, no I don’t, not at all. My brother David is crazy about it though, but it’s never been my taste in music.’

  ‘Mine either.’

  Her head snapped up, ‘really?’

  ‘No, I can’t stand it actually, didn’t make me to popular at home where it was always being played.’ Again he asked himself why he had told her that personal bit of information but he was getting used to it now, telling her personal stuff about himself, maybe because he knew they would not be keeping in touch.

  She laughed he asked, ‘something funny?’

  ‘Oh no, it’s just that when we went to Biloxi last night I thought you were taking me to a jazz club and I wondered whether I should tell you I disliked jazz.’

  ‘Would you have?’

  ‘No,’ her reply was quick and honest.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.’

  His expression and tone were serious now, ‘you know, sometimes lying to spare someone else’s feelings isn’t always the way to go. I would rather you had told me, if you don’t like something I do or say I hope you would feel you could tell me. I would rather you were always honest with me.’

  Looking a trifle embarrassed she said earnestly, ‘I do feel that way about you, Sterling.’

  He smiled broadly well pleased. She was very thoughtful as they walked and soon they arrived at the lake and he said, ‘let’s sit here a while.’

  They did and watched people throw bread to the ducks who grabbed it greedily the way ducks do. They saw the swans gliding gracefully and proudly across the surface of the water. He said, ‘when I was a kid and used to come here there was a big black swan, we called him The Duke after John Wayne because he was always in charge. He would fight the other swans. One time he seriously injured one of them and there was talk about having him put to sleep, but there was a petition to save him. So instead they moved him somewhere else by himself.’

  ‘Oh that’s so sad, to be alone like that.’

  He looked at her concerned expression and said, ‘better than being dead though.’

  She looked across the lake and said quietly, ‘that depends I suppose on how much you value your freedom.’

  He frowned at her seriousness then said just as softly, ‘I suppose it does.’

  She turned to him, ‘what happened to him?’

  He looked at her for a moment not understanding then said, ‘oh, I don’t know, I left Mississippi not long after.’

  She nodded and they were silent for a moment before she said, ‘you don’t talk much about your life in Louisiana with your uncle.’

  He looked away and shrugged although he felt anything but nonchalant, ‘not much to tell really. He tolerated me and I obeyed him.’

  ‘Obeyed?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I’m sorry, but that’s seems a very old-fashioned, rather Dickensian word.’

  ‘He was a Dickensian kinda guy.’

  Adela saw the shutters come down over his face so did not pursue the subject, instead she said, ‘shall we go and look at the gazebo?’

  He was relieved she had changed the subject and smiling got up and held out his hand to her, she gripped his big, slender fingered hand and rose to her feet. Instead of letting go he pulled her closer to him and kissed her lips gently. When he was done he looked down at her seeing the desire flare in her eyes. She pursed her lips in that coy, shy way that set his pulses racing and his pants to tighten at the crotch. Gripping her hand he turned swiftly away taking her along with him, Adela had to almost run to keep up with him.

  They walked in silence until they reached the gazebo, once there he pulled her inside the gazebo and looked swiftly round, seeing no one he pulled her to him again and kissed her passionately and ardently so that she found it difficult to breath.

  The intensity of the kiss eased but he kept his lips against hers, she could feel his breath in her mouth and she wanted to breathe it in, breathe him in.

  He backed away slightly and his voice husky said, ‘I’m sorry, I got carried away again, I wanted you all to myself for a few minutes.’

  Her chest heaved as she said, ‘that’s...that’s all right, I wanted you to myself too.’

  He smiled that devastating smile that almost undid her every time. He took her hand saying, ‘come and sit down here.’ He led her to a bench that was propped against the far wall of the gazebo.

  They sat down and still holding her hand in one of his he covered it with the other. He concentrated on their entwined hands and taking a deep breath said, ‘I know what you were thinking back there by the lake, that I always shut down when you ask me questions about myself. I find it; have always found it, difficult to talk about the past, about my childhood. ‘He turned to look into her eyes, ‘but as I’ve said before it’s different with you, I feel this connection that I’ve rarely felt with anyone, except Carson.’

  ‘Sterling,’ she said softly, ‘you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to; I know how it feels to want to keep things to yourself.’

  He smiled gently, ‘I know, and that’s why I k
new you would understand my reticence. But I want to share some of it with you if you’ll allow me.’

  She nodded, ‘of course, Sterling, you can tell me anything, and I hope you know that it will always stay between us.’

  He raised her hands and kissed her fingers before gripping them tightly again. He said, ‘my father left us when I was four, I don’t remember much about him except that he was loud and abusive to my mother and me, I was glad when he went. We went to live with my maternal grandparents, they had a farm in Hattiesburg, life wasn’t easy, damn hard in fact, we just about made ends meet, but we were happy...for a time. I told you my mother died when I was seven and I went to live with my uncle, my father’s brother, in Louisiana?’ She nodded, ‘He was a strict man, a bully and a wife beater,’ he gave a wry smile, ‘like brother, like brother hey? Except with one difference my uncle was a bible basher, he adhered to the word of the bible, he demanded obedience and subservience from his wife and kids and that went for his brother’s son too.

  There were prayers in the morning and afternoon, before and after every meal, and in the evening he would keep us on our knees for hours sometimes. And of course church every day, twice on Sundays. If we so much as fidgeted during prayer we were beaten with a belt or whip.’ Another wry smile, ‘as you can probably guess I got more than my fair share, I was the consummate fidgeter.

  Needless to say when I was older I rebelled, got into trouble with the local law, nothing too serious, not then anyway, stealing apples from the neighbours trees, letting the cows out of the nearby fields, breaking windows, stupid, childish stuff like that. But there were severe penalties for all of those things. My uncle may have been a God fearing, law abiding man but he was also a cruel, vicious bully.’ He stopped here and looked away, ‘I don’t really want to go into too much detail of what happened back then, it’s all in the past now anyway, but it goes without saying that it was pretty rough being a child in that household.’

  Those bumps and scars she had seen and felt last night must have been the result of the beatings he'd received as a child. Adela felt her heart contract in her chest with pity for him, for a young boy who had just lost his mother and found himself in a household ruled with an iron fist by a religious zealot. And she knew there was much more he wasn’t saying. She felt her eyes fill and squeezed his hand in understanding and sympathy and said very gently, ‘I’m so sorry, Sterling that you had to endure that. I know what it’s like to live with a violent person. Although my mother never whipped me or made me pray for long periods of time. She was a lot of things, but I don’t think she was ever a hypocrite as your uncle was. People that inflict pain and humiliation on others in the name of God are worst than drunks or drug addicts in my view.’