“You found it by yourself?”
“No. They gave me this lantern and sent a boy to show me the way. Once we got there I told him I could manage.”
We tromped through the woods in silence for a few minutes. The music was louder now, and with the movement my feet felt warmer. I flexed my toes into the dirt of the forest floor and felt strangely comforted.
“Okay,” Jake said. “There’s the outhouse.”
“This looks almost right. Maybe farther into the forest.”
After a minute more of walking, my flesh became alive with goose bumps. Not anything to do with my talent but because the area looked familiar. “Around that tree,” I panted. I remembered vividly the shock of seeing Inclar lying in the dirt, and my stomach grew taut as I anticipated the body.
It was gone.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Jake asked.
“It was right here. I swear!” There was the tree beneath where Inclar had lain, the gap in the leaves where light had flickered down to his sightless good eye. “See, there’s an impression.” But the light from the lantern was too weak to show details.
Jake studied the spot doubtfully, moving the lantern slowly over the spot. He was probably remembering how terrible I was with directions, but I was sure we’d found the right place. It felt right.
“Are you sure he was dead?” Jake asked.
“I’m sure.”
“Did he have any wounds? Maybe he was just passed out.”
“He. Was. Dead,” I insisted, punctuating every word. With a shaky hand, I reached out and touched the tree, feeling nothing except the ancient calm feeling that pervaded the entire forest. I fell to my knees and scrabbled in the dirt, searching for something, anything, that might have retained an imprint of Inclar’s final moments.
“It’s got to be here. Something’s got to be here. He was dead. I saw it!” Even I recognized the frantic note in my voice. Had I been imagining all of it? Had Inclar even been here at all?
Jake grabbed my hands and held them. “I believe you.”
The words calmed me, and after a minute, he began brushing the dirt and decaying plant matter from my hands. The smell of the mixture was sweet and foresty; his touch was gentle and hypnotic.
After a moment, he pulled me to my feet and picked up his lantern. “Let’s get back.”
“What will I say about how long I was gone?”
“How about you saw a squirrel or something and followed it. Then you tripped and your light broke and you got lost. I found you when you called out.”
“I guess.” I was too mentally and physically exhausted to come up with an alternate scenario of my saving him, as I might have on another day.
We’d gone only a few yards when a light flickered in the distance, from the direction I thought might be the outhouse.
“Then again,” Jake said nearly under his breath, “we’ve both been out here a long time. And if a dead body really was here, we might need something more convincing to cover our tracks.” With a smooth motion, he stopped and pulled me into his arms.
And kissed me.
The kiss was warm and exciting and promising all at once. I felt as if I were on a roller coaster plunging down a vertical incline and yet cradled in a hot tub full of bubbling water. Not at all a casual kiss between friends. Not simply pleasant, but filled with mind-tingling, heart-pounding passion. The kind of passion that made a woman forget everything else. I opened my mouth to his, tasting him. Pushing myself closer.
I hadn’t expected this, but it was everything I’d thought it could be. Did he feel it too? Because, friendship or no, I wanted more than anything for this kiss to be real.
Chapter 15
“There you two are.” Korin loomed from behind the trees, looking large in the dancing shadows cast by his lantern, a bear of a man. “We were beginning to worry.”
Jake gave his spiel about finding me, and Korin put a comforting hand on my back as if I were an old friend. “I’m glad Jake found you. You’re probably freezing. Poor thing.”
“It’s better now with Jake’s jacket.”
Not to mention the kiss, but Korin didn’t comment on that, though he didn’t seem surprised, either. I remembered Harmony’s comment about Korin liking me. His calm reaction to Jake’s and my supposed closeness didn’t seem to validate her idea. Unless I’d taken her meaning wrong.
“Let’s get something warm into you. And on you.” Korin gently propelled me in the direction of the houses, or at least what I hoped was in that direction. “It gets quite cold out here at night even in the summer. We should have fixed you up better before sending you out into the wilderness like this. We’ll change all that tonight before you go to bed.” He gave a hearty chuckle.
I craned my neck, trying to see Jake’s face, but he was behind us now. No chance of glimpsing how he’d felt about our encounter.
The party was winding down when we returned, and Korin deposited me near a fire barrel before going off to find someone to assign me a bed. Jake had his hands shoved deep into the pocket of his torn jeans and didn’t meet my gaze. He looked almost like a stranger at that moment in his old clothes, his locs askew, but when I examined his brown face it was all Jake.
“What?” he asked, finally lifting his eyes.
“What was that all about?” I had to bluff my way through the question because it was what I would have done if it hadn’t meant anything to me.
“Making it look real, that’s all.” His dark eyes skidded past mine.
“It sure felt real.”
He dragged his eyes back to me. For a moment neither of us spoke. At last he opened his mouth, but I would never know what he was going to say because at that moment Korin returned with a large woman wearing a bright red dress.
“This is Scarlet,” Korin said. “She’s in charge of housing and clothing, so if you ever need anything in that respect, see her. She’ll get you both fixed up with clothes and a bed.”
She was big and beautiful and black, and I knew her instantly from the woman in one of Tawnia’s drawings, the time she’d been trying to sketch Victoria. All doubts that my sister was sketching scenes from real life were put to rest once and for all.
Scarlet placed her warm brown arms around me. “Ah, child. I heard you got lost.” I detected a slight southern accent in her honeyed voice. She was about my height and easily six times my width, but she wore her mass with a confidence that didn’t need excusing. Her face was round, and her eyes large and expressive. She was cuddly, for lack of a better word, and I loved her instantly.
I found myself leaning against Scarlet, letting her whisk me away from Jake to a bathing room inside the women’s side of the singles’ house where she already had water boiling on a big black stove. Apparently the indoor piping Harmony had talked of didn’t include hot water, but there was plenty of wood stacked by the stove and more where that came from, according to Scarlet.
“My, don’t you have the prettiest eyes,” she said as she poured water into a metal bathtub in a corner of the room.
“Thank you.” Pretty was a far sight better than weird.
“Would you like a cup of hot tea?”
“Yes, please.”
“Why don’t you get into the water, child, and I’ll bring it to you.”
I shed Jake’s jacket and my dress, sighing with pleasure as I edged into the hot water. A few minutes later, Scarlet gave me a humongous cup of herbal tea and left me alone to soak. Was it safe to drink? Well, nothing I’d eaten here so far had done any damage.
Sipping, I surveyed the room from the big tub, noticing the triple line of tiny cubbies full of toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and accessories. Next to that was the largest sink I’d ever seen, and a wide mirror.
I used a bit of shampoo from a large communal bottle on the nearby table, smelling the sweet scent of chamomile. The bottle had no label, and I suspected it was Harmony Farms’s own brand. The lump on the back of my head wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been Fr
iday morning, and as I gently washed the area, I remembered Shannon’s measuring it. Had he learned any more about the case? I wished I could tell him about finding Inclar.
Scarlet returned shortly with a stack of towels and a flannel nightgown that was long and billowy and comfortable. She clucked over a scrape on my big toe, bandaged it with deft hands, pulled socks over the bandaged foot and over the good foot, too, and finally toweled my short hair until it was almost dry.
“There now,” she said. “I bet that feels a darn sight better. You just brush your teeth right here, and then it’s off to bed. I took the liberty of movin’ some of your personal objects here earlier. We use this toothpaste. It’s biodegradable.”
I reached for the toothbrush in the indicated cubby and saw that it was indeed mine, complete with its yellow plastic cover. Somehow it didn’t feel awkward, her going through my things, though a part of my brain said that it should. I didn’t even mind sharing toothpaste with strangers. My sister would be appalled.
When I was finished, Scarlet put another arm around my shoulders and led me down a narrow hall to a small room with two wooden bunk beds and the same cheap linoleum floor as in the hallway.
“I’ve already put your things in the dresser,” she said, “except for what you won’t be needin’. And there’s more, includin’ a jacket and shoes, if you want them. We can’t have you catchin’ your death of cold. It may be summer, but nights are still cool here till August.”
I spied my suitcase on one of the lower bunks, a small pile of rejected T-shirts and Jake’s jacket lying nearby. My stomach tightened as I opened the case and saw that it was empty except for the wad of cash Ethan had given me, the useless cell phone, and the two-way radio that had been in the pocket of my dress.
My heart sank. At least Inclar’s key hiding under the lining still seemed to be safe. Maybe.
“I’m washin’ your dress,” Scarlet drawled. “Hope that’s okay. There was dirt on it. I’ll bring it back later. It’s a pretty thing for dances.”
Was she going to let me keep the radio too? Ethan had been careful to choose one that resembled a regular radio, but anyone who looked closely might understand its real function.
Korin appeared in the doorway. “Everything all set?”
Scarlet motioned to the suitcase. “I think Autumn here has brought us some things.”
Korin smiled as he scooped up the eight hundred dollars and the electronics from my suitcase. “Won’t need these. This phone is useless out here. The radio too. But we can sell them, and it will help support the cause.”
I wanted to ask what would happen if I didn’t stay.
He extended a paper on a clipboard. “This is the asset transfer paper. You’ll see that it’s conditional for the first year. Just fill in the blank with your legal name and sign it.”
Scanning the document, I saw the complicated wording did appear to be conditional, but it was confusing enough that it might actually be binding from day one. I signed the name Sandra Bernard with a hand that definitely didn’t resemble my own.
“We’re very happy you’re with us, Autumn.” Korin took the paper, glancing briefly at it. “I hope you will be content here.”
“Oh, I think she’ll fit in right well,” Scarlet said. She picked up Jake’s jacket. “You might want to return this to that young fellow.”
“Wait!” I reached for it. “Harmony’s flashlight is in the pocket. I dropped it and it broke. Will you tell her I’m sorry? I hope it can be fixed.” I uncovered half the flashlight, holding it with the jacket.
Korin didn’t take it. “Harmony lent you her flashlight?”
“Yes.”
He still didn’t take it but studied me. “You felt something when you touched it, didn’t you? What did you feel?” His voice was comforting and compelling, and I wanted to tell him everything. About his brother’s attack, Inclar’s conversation with Harmony, and his body lying in the forest. Korin had arrived with us, so it was unlikely that he was responsible for his brother’s death. Besides, I’d seen him give Inclar money, so there had to be love or some kind of connection between the two brothers.
Korin waited, but before I could spill everything, Scarlet took the flashlight and pushed it into Korin’s hand. “Hush, now. Stop grillin’ the child. Some rest is what she needs, and she ain’t going to get much of that if she don’t get to bed. Now get on with you.” To my relief, she shooed him out the door and partway down the hall.
He slapped at her hands as he left and said with a light note, “Scarlet, I don’t know how I’d run this place without you.”
“You just keep rememberin’ that,” she said.
When she came back to me, I was studying the bunk beds. I hadn’t expected so many beds in such a small room.
“Everyone shares in the beginnin’,” Scarlet said. “That’s part of the fun. Later you have a choice, though most of us still choose the bigger room and the company.”
This was a bigger room? Well, it was large enough for three feet between the two bunk beds and contained four narrow dressers, a small electric heater, and a built-in closet, so I guess that was their idea of luxury. I’d hate to see what the small rooms looked like. As for sharing, I didn’t mind since I needed to ask questions. I only hoped my roommates were willing to talk.
“So this half of the house has rooms for the single women?” I asked, wondering about Jake.
“That’s right. There’s a separate entrance to the men’s side. But we’re buildin’ a new house for families back through the trees on the other side of the square, so we women are gonna move over to the old married building soon and give this whole place over to the men. Then we’ll all have a bit more space. The men are sleepin’ on triple bunks right now.” She hugged me to her rounded bosom. “I’m so glad you’re here, child. You just let me know if you need anythin’.”
“Thank you.”
She released me, gathering up my suitcase and the clothes she’d marked for discarding. I sighed at losing my Hard Rock Café T-shirt from Las Vegas, but it was time for a new one anyway.
“I can’t keep my suitcase?” I asked, wanting to check for the key.
“Don’t worry. It just goes in a closet out there in the hall. Not enough room to store it in here. Come on, I’ll show you. Oh, but you can keep these.” She set down the suitcase and took my earrings out of her pocket. “We normally sell the gold and gem jewelry. But these are plastic, so you should keep them. We make prettier ones here if you’d like to learn how.”
I was glad to have them back. At least Ethan could still track me, even if I put the uncomfortable things in the pocket of my jeans instead of in my ears.
When Scarlet started to reach for the suitcase again, I beat her to it. “I’ll carry it,” I said. “You have the clothes. What do you do with those anyway?”
“We make them into rags. We don’t throw much away.”
I followed her from the room, awkwardly unzipping the case a little to check for the bulge of the key. Still there. I stifled a sigh of relief.
The closet was two doors down and stuffed with other cases, linens, cleaning supplies, and odd furniture. “This way if anyone ever needs to go anywhere,” Scarlet explained, “they have a case to use. We share them. I hope that’s okay.”
I doubted I had a choice, so I nodded. At least there was no lock on the door, which meant I could get Inclar’s key whenever I needed. It was safer in the case than in my room.
The outer door opened, and women began to stream in, talking and laughing, though in a more subdued manner than I’d expected from this college dorm setup. They greeted me as they passed, smiling and nodding.
“Autumn!” Spring came through the doorway and launched herself at me. “I heard you were lost. I’m so glad you’re back! Are you okay?”
“She was just a little cold and dirty,” Scarlet assured her. “But we fixed that right up. Now where’s that angel child of yours?”
“Oh, one of the women has him. He fe
ll asleep, so she let me lay him down in the kitchen by the stove.” To me, she added, “They keep a bed there for babies to sleep in while they cook. She said she’d bring him as soon as the dishes were done.”
“He’s in good hands, then. We’re all family here.” Scarlet turned back inside the closet and grabbed the frame of a wooden toddler bed, standing on end. “Think this’ll be big enough for your boy?”
“Oh, he’ll sleep with me.”
Scarlet released the bed. “Okay, but if you change your mind, it’s right here. Those little ones grow awful fast and wiggle a lot. A woman needs her sleep. Especially around here. Lots of work to do.” She clapped her hands. “To bed now, everyone. The mornin’ comes early, even on fast days.”
The women were already filing to their rooms. I guessed everyone had already used the outhouse, but I wondered what Spring would do with her son. Or maybe he was still in diapers.
Scarlet led Spring to the room across the hall from mine. “We’re not together?” Spring frowned, her eyes troubled.
“No, child, you’re in with me.” Scarlet placed her big brown arm around Spring’s thin shoulders. “At least until a private room opens up. I wanted to be sure to help with that little boy of yours. Been a long time since we had one that cute ’round here.” She winked at me, and I was glad to see Spring smiling again.
“I’m just across the hall,” I told her.
She hugged me. “Everyone is so nice. I feel so safe here. It’s exactly what I thought it would be.”
I wondered if she’d still feel the same after three days of fasting, and I also wondered if all the other women and men might be a little resentful at having to fast because of us, though I hadn’t seen anything from them that showed such emotion. Maybe they were accustomed to fasting often.
Back in my room, a girl with dark hair and slanted eyes was already in one of the lower bunk beds, wearing pajamas made from the same flannel as my gown. Her face was sharp, pointed, delicate, reminding me of the classic renditions of pixies or fairies.
“I’m Autumn,” I said. “I saw you earlier, but I don’t know your name.”
Touch of Rain Page 18
