“Anyhow, we take off walkin’, and I had no idea we’d be this long in getting here! Seems like we just wandered around for hours, circling around and switching back, until Howard starts to act suspicious, and then we just came up to a clearing, and there yew were, not a stitch on, dancin’ with your panties!” She giggled. “It was so funny! Yew coulda been standin’ in your own bedroom, yew jist looked right at home, pickin’ out your pretty pink panties with the little lace flowers on them!”
“Okay,” snapped Geneva. “I get the picture. I’m ready to go back.”
“Oh, great! But I don’t know how in the world we’re going to make it back with yew sick and all, and I’m so tired I could just lay down and die right here!”
Sally Beth did not look tired in the least. She looked like she had just walked away from the cosmetics counter at Belks. Her fine, fluffy hair was perfectly arranged into a towering pouf, and her eyes were as bright as a child’s. And how had she walked for five hours up a mountain in those minuscule, jeweled sandals? Her feet were even clean!
“I don’t feel sick anymore, Sally Beth. Howard’s been treating me with medicinal herbs, and I think I’m well enough to get home. We have the horses here.”
They took a long time to get back to the cabin. Geneva willed herself to take each step. Howard had done what he could to protect her reputation; now the rest was up to her. She said a silent thank you to him as she opened the cabin door.
They all stared at her, all but Howard Knight, who busied himself at the fire and did not even turn his head as she entered the room. “Geneva!” cried Howard Graves at last. “I’ve been worried sick about you. How are you feeling? Goodness, you’re so pale. Howard here told us how sick you’ve been. Sit down.”
She sat carefully, keeping her eyes down.
“I’m so sorry we surprised you like that. Howard said you’d been begging for a bath but this was the first morning he’d let you go down to the creek since your illness.”
She glanced at Howard Knight. He was concentrating very hard on something in the pan over the fire. The joy she had seen in his face an hour ago had vanished. He looked pale and haggard, and when at last his eyes glanced up and met hers, they were full of grief.
Suddenly, she did not care what anybody thought. She only cared that she was in love and that her lover was in pain. She wanted to run to him and embrace him and see the joy suffuse him again. She remembered the passion from the night before, and nearly cried out in her anguish. She still wanted him! She didn’t care who he was or where he lived. No one had ever made her feel like she had felt in his arms last night. Never had she transcended herself, had moved into a sphere where she had stopped thinking and calculating and just let herself be carried along, as if she were riding on flaming horses. Nothing but feeling for him, nothing but happiness and fulfillment flooded her heart when she looked at him. She would tell them all the truth now, and she would stay here with Howard forever. It was enough to know that she loved him and that he loved her.
She looked at the expectant faces. “Everybody, it’s true that I’ve been very sick. And Howard here has taken care of me, but I want you to know that last night…”
Howard Knight’s voice broke in. “Miss Geneva, I think it’s time for another cup of willer bark tea. We don’t want yer fever comin’ back, now. And since you’ll be goin’ back today, I’d like ta give ye some herbs ta take with ye. They’re out back. Come on, and I’ll explain how ta brew em up.” He addressed the others. “Yew all go on and eat. I know yer about starved to death, and there ain’t enough room around the table for all of us. Miss Geneva and I’ve been mincin’ since early this mornin’ and we ain’t hungry right now. Come on, ma’am.” He picked up a cup from the hearth, and taking Geneva’s arm firmly, he ushered her out the back door.
They stood on the back porch facing each other for a long time before he spoke. Geneva did not like what she saw in his face. Such sorrow. She could not bear to see it after the gladness of the morning.
“Howard,” she began, but he placed his fingers on her lips and whispered, “Now hush. They believed me when I told ‘em yew’ve been sick and out of yer head. Let it sit at that.”
“Howard, I love you! I want to stay here with you. I don’t want anything to do with him!”
“Hush. Yes, yes, I know. I know yew love me. Yew loved me last night, and yew love me right this minute, and I can’t tell ye what that means to me. And maybe ye’ll even love me tomorrow, and when I think of that, I find such hope in here.” He put his fist to his chest, then paused, and his face clouded.
“But there’ll come a time when I’ll be nothin’ but an embarrassment to ye. An embarrassment and a regret. I know that. What could yew see in the likes of me? I cain’t hold a candle to ye. I can’t hold yew. Ye’d be miserable, and I can’t live waitin’ fer the day.”
“No!” she protested.
“Yes. Now, yew just go on down that mountain with that feller and yew fergit about me.” His eyes glistened with unspilled tears. “I ain’t sayin’ ye need ta marry him. I’m just saying ye need time ta figure out what ye want. Ye need a chance ta find yer own happiness.”
“Howard, I found it last night. Please.”
“You ain’t been listening to me, darlin’. We’re too different.”
“You mean you don’t want me? You don’t love me?” He was breaking her heart.
He almost smiled. “Geneva, I’ve wanted yew since the minute I first laid eyes on ye. And I’ve laid awake nights lovin’ yew ever since yew chased me around the barn alaughin’ at me. A man kin love a shooting star all day long, but that don’t mean he kin have it. He kin grab onto it maybe, for a minute, and he kin feel its flame aburnin’ him with such sweetness that he can’t think of nothin’ else, but that don’t mean he kin take it to his heart and make it a part of him.”
She fell silent, grieving at his words.
He swallowed hard. “Now, I been thinkin,” he began, and his voice shook. “Ye might could git pregnant, and I know ye don’t want that, complicate things even worse. Ye kin drink this,” he said, indicating the cup filled with a vile-looking liquid, and it’ll stop anything that might be started.” He drew a shaky breath and licked his lips.
Pregnant? Geneva had not even considered the possibility. Last night had taken her so completely unaware, she had been so overcome with her desire that she had not thought of any possible consequences. Not pregnancy, not Howard Graves, not even any tomorrow. She stared at the cup.
“Take it,” he urged. His hands were beginning to shake. “It might make ye a little sick at first, but that’s all. Yew won’t know one way or the other. Yew kin just think there never was no baby.” He saw the pain in her face. “There probly ain’t, anyway,” he added gently.
She lifted her eyes to his. Tears were streaming down, but his face was impassive, unreadable. It looked like water running over a stone. She felt the wetness of her own face as she stared at the cup in his hands, wondering if she might at this moment be carrying Howard’s child. The thought was unbearably sweet, and she felt her heart lift, but when she looked at his face and saw nothing but blank sorrow, she lifted her hands to take the cup. When she touched it, she suddenly felt the weight of a burdened and miserable spirit. Never had she felt so much a sense of sin, the horror of the wrongs she had done to this gentle man and to herself. He still held the cup, then, slowly, as if he were willing himself to die, released it to her. Without a word she lifted it to her lips and drank the bitter death. He watched her drain it, then silently disappeared into the forest.
She was completely alone. So great was her despair that she did not even allow herself the luxury of crying. Tears were for cleansing, and she knew she could never be cleansed of this pain, this guilt which rose up and enveloped her like a slimy black shroud stinking of corruption. She leaned her head against the pillar and felt despair engulf her so completely that her senses finally dulled.
Howard Graves opened the back door.
“Geneva, darling. You look so sick. Come inside and sit down. I’ve never seen you this pale. Please, come inside. I’m worried about you.”
“I’m okay, Howard. Just tired.” She lifted her eyes. “I want to go home now. I can’t stay here any longer.”
“Of course. We’ll leave right away. Could you eat a bite first? We could put you on a horse, and the rest of us can walk. We’ll make it.”
“Yes. Ask Howard if he’ll saddle up for me,” she said wearily. I’ll be fine. But I’m not hungry. Just let me lie down for a while.”
She could see the concern in his face. “Certainly. Let me help you inside.”
She could not lie down. Her body was not ill; only her heart was sick and heavy with grief, and it made her too restless to lie still. Tossing on the herb-scented bed, all she could think about was Howard’s hands on her, and the way they both had been so transformed by joy. The bitter cup and the tears in her lover’s eyes loomed before her. She rose and paced the floor.
“Feeling better?” asked Sally Beth.
“Yes, some.”
“Well, good. Let me fix your hair a little. You’ll feel a whole lot better in a jiffy. Here. I got a brush, and a curling iron, and oh, Lordy, all kinds of things in here.” She rummaged around in a huge purse, pulling out all manner of beauty aids. Geneva looked at them dumbly.
She started to shake her head, no she did not want her hair fixed, but was startled by a sudden explosion and the “thwak!” of splintering wood.
“Hey!” yelled Jimmy Lee. Everyone looked up in time to see several window panes explode. Lilly screamed, looking horrified at her hand, which held only the handle of a cup.
“Oh, hell! Somebody’s ashootin’ at us! Hit th’ floor!” Jimmy Lee shouted. “Git away from the winders! We been ambushed!”
Everyone dived for the floor, everyone except Sally Beth, who simply moved to the center of the room directly behind the big oak front door and sat down on one of the tree-stump stools. She plopped her huge purse in her lap and waited demurely.
There were terrible growling and snapping sounds out on the front porch. Jimmy Lee cursed, then dived for the door, flung it open, and within two seconds had dragged in Lamentations and slammed the door behind him. The dog was snarling and snapping. As soon as Jimmy Lee released him, he resumed what he had obviously been doing out on the front porch: chasing his severed tail with all the frenzy of a maddened beast. Lilly screamed again and huddled beside Howard Graves in the corner of the room. Sally Beth put her fist on her hip and gazed around her, a puzzled expression on her baby doll face.
“What is it?” cried Howard Graves. “What’s going on?”
Jimmy Lee crouched by the front window and peered out. “Don’t rightly know. Somebody’s after us.” He raised his head slightly and shouted through the broken window, “Hey! Hey yew!” He waved his hand in the direction of the roaring dog. “Shut up, Lamentations!”
“Hey yersef!” came a female voice.
“Whatcher want?” called Jimmy Lee
“I wanna kill yew, Jimmy Lee Land!” came the voice. “I’ll teach yew ta be runnin’ around on me!”
There was a silence except for the sounds emitted by the frenzied dog. “Myrtle?” Jimmy Lee said at last. His voice had lost a good bit of its strength.
“I’ll kill ye, yew bastard. Runnin’ around on me, air ye? I tole ye I’d kill ye, and I meant it. I seen ye with them little yeller haired thangs. Yew cain’t git by with that!”
“Lamentations! Quit it! Igod, yew are the dumbest damn dog I ever laid eyes on. Somebody gimme somethin’ ta knock some sense into that animal.” He put his face near the window. “Myrtle!” he shouted. “Did yew foller me up here?”
“Haw. I sure’s hell did. Follered ye since early this mornin’. I seen ye with them hussies. And now I’m gonna kill ye!” The last sentence was punctuated with another blast. The windows were gone, so all anyone heard was several pellets embedding themselves in furniture and walls. Lamentations renewed his effort to destroy his rear end. Already there was fresh blood drenching the stump.
Howard Knight burst in through the back door. “Lord amercy, Jimmy Lee,” he said, his voice full of disgust. “First ye bring three people up here, knowin’ ye ain’t even supposed to talk about this place, and now ye let yerself be followed by that damn woman. Now git on out there and tell her to quit shootin’ at us. Somebody’s likely to git hurt!”
“Chap, I cain’t go out thar now,” whined Jimmy Lee. “Hell, she’s mad enough to kill me. Yew heard her!”
“Jimmy Lee, I’m mad enough ta kill ye. Now yew talk some sense into that woman before I start shootin’ back! Lamentations, shut up! Jimmy Lee. Cain’t yew shut that dog up?”
“I’m acomin in!” came the voice outside.
“No yew ain’t!” shouted Howard Knight. He yanked his rifle from the wall rack and held it loosely. “I got a loaded Winchester right here, and I’m aimin’ it right at this here winder, and I swear I’ll blow yer head off if yew so much as come into the clearin’.” He slapped at Lamentations with a dishcloth. Geneva wished he really would point the gun. This did not look like the time or place to be bluffing.
There was a long silence from outside. Finally Myrtle spoke again. “Awright. I ain’t comin’ in. Jist send that no good somebitch out here and let me blow his balls off. Yew do, and I won’t shoot no more.”
Long pause. Lamentations slowed down. Howard whacked at him halfheartedly a few more times with the towel, then turned to Jimmy Lee. “Well,” he said. “Yew heard her. Git on out there. She’s gonna blow us all to hell if yew don’t.”
Jimmy Lee squirmed. “Aw, Chap. She might really do it. Yew see how mad she is.” His face brightened. “Yew go talk to her.”
Howard’s disgust grew. “She don’t want me, yew idiot! I go out there, it’ll just make her madder. Now quit bein’ a coward and go on out there!”
“Chap, I swear, I never seen her this mad. Last time she got mad at me she liked to have broke me in two. What if she shoots me?”
“She ain’t gonna shoot yew. She just wants ye ta tell her ye love her and ye ain’t been messin’ with anybody else. Now go on!”
Another shotgun blast pelted the cabin. Lamentations took off after his tail again.
“Huh uh,” Jimmy Lee shook his head. “I’ma waitin’ thisun out. Lamentations!”
Sally Beth suddenly stood up. “Well!” she exclaimed. Looks like we’re gonna be here awhile. No need jist sittin’ around. Geneva honey, yew jist come on over here, and I’ll fix yer hair while we’re waitin’.”
This is it, thought Geneva. The most absurd situation I have ever been in in my entire life. I might as well get my hair done. If I get killed, at least I’ll look decent. She sat herself down on Sally Beth’s tree stump.
“How about a nice little French braid? Or I’ve got a curling iron right here in my purse. Oh, my! What did yew wash yer hair in? It smells like mint! Oh, Geneva, yew got knots in here! It’ll take me forever to get all these tangles out!”
“Yew comin’ out, Jimmy Lee?” The voice from outside sounded dangerous.
“Now, honey!” shouted Jimmy Lee. “Yew know I won’t come out long as yer threatenin’ to shoot my balls off. Soon’s yew calm down, I’ll come out and we kin talk peaceable.”
“I ain’t gonna talk peaceable! I am gonna shoot yer balls off. Goddam man. I leave yew fer one minute and yew take off after ever hussy fer miles around. I know all about that woman yew’ve been runnin’ after. And now yew got her up here, and yew expectin’ me not to git mad? Come out here and take what’s comin’ to ye!”
“I think she’s talking about yew, Geneva,” said Sally Beth conspiratorially, working patiently at a troublesome tangle. “Jimmy Lee’s said some pretty nice things about yew. Word’s bound to get out.”
Howard Graves appealed to Howard Knight. “Looks like she could be here for awhile. Any chance we could escape out the back? Did you get the horses ready?”
A shadow of a smile passed across Howard Knight’s sorrowful face. “Yeah. I got ‘im ready. All saddled up. They’re probly halfway back home by now.”
“You mean?”
“Nothin like a shotgun blast to spook a horse. I chased ‘em more’n half a mile, but they meant business.”
“Shit,” said Howard Graves. “Lamentations, shut up!”
“I think a French braid will be best. Yew need a conditioning bad, and I hate to dry it out more by rolling it. These cordless curling irons get a lot hotter than the regular kind. Yew want the braid to go under or over?”
Howard Knight fluttered the towel around Lamentations’ head. The dog slowed, then dropped in his tracks, panting. “Good dog,” he commented absently.
“Over,” decided Geneva.
“Okay. Yew can put on a little makeup while I’m working. Look there in my bag. I think the rose coral lipstick will be best. It will give yew a little glow. And that peachy blush. And yew need eyeliner, bad, girl. Your eyes have jist disappeared!
Lilly joined in. “No, I think eyeliner looks tacky n the woods. Sally Beth, you look all painted up like a Bourbon Street whore. No wonder that woman out there thinks Jimmy Lee’s cheatin’ on her.
“Jimmy Lee? Yew comin out? I kin sit out here till dark, and then I kin come in and git ye. I do, and they won’t be enough left fer chicken feed.”
“Lilly, I do not look like any Bourbon Street whore! Yew don’t even know what a Bourbon Street whore looks like! Yew’ve never even been to Memphis.”
“New Orleans, Sally Beth,” sighed Geneva.
“New Orleans, either.”
“I’ve seen pictures!”
“Yeah? Where?”
“National Geographic.”
“Well, that’s not the same! They probly fixed themselves up nice ‘cause they knew they were getting their picture taken.”
The Women of Jacob’s Mountain Boxed Set Page 29
