Diamond Duo by Marcia Gruver

against the rail, watching the residents dwindle and the shops thin out as they pulled away from town headed west.
    They’d gone less than a half mile before Magda leaned to whisper something to Mose, and he pulled up on the reins. When they came to a full stop, Magda gathered her things and stood up.
    “What are you doing, sugar?” Bertha called.
    “I decided not to go. It’s time for the noon meal. Mama will be looking for me.”
    “You can tell her you ate with me. It won’t be completely untrue.” She winked and pointed at Annie’s bag. “We’ll be eating candy.”
    “Mama won’t like it. She got mad the last time I did that. And she’ll mention it to your mama. I know she will.”
    Bertha narrowed her eyes, causing Magda to lower hers. “You’re scared, that’s all.”
    Magda looked ready to make more excuses but then traded her wilted demeanor for a stamp of the foot. “All right, then. Yes, I’m scared. There, I’ve said it and feel no worse for it. You would be, too, if you had any sense at all.”
    Showing interest in the conversation for the first time, Rhodie leaned forward. “What you afraid of, Magda?”
    Magda pointed an accusing finger at Bertha. “She’s taking Annie to the bluff.”
    Rhodie came alive. “To Lover’s Leap? I want to come!” Rhodie whirled to plead with her brother’s back. “Oh, Mose, can we go?”
    He shook his head. “Can’t, Sissy. We got three more loads to get done before nightfall.” He tilted to the left to gaze up at Magda.“But there ain’t nothing on the bluff to be scared of.”
    Magda regarded the top of his head with disdain. “What do you know, Moses Pharr? You’re dumb as a box of rocks. The main thing I’m frightened of is Papa finding out. Bertha should fear the same.”
    Bertha sighed. “I told you they won’t find out. If you don’t come along, you’ll miss all the fun.” She plied the bait that always worked with Magda. Food. “And don’t forget about the chocolate. You won’t get any.”
    Magda reached inside her drawstring bag and produced the piece Annie had given her in the store. “Oh yes, I will.”
    Bertha shrugged and looked away. “Go on home, then. I can’t stop you.” She angled forward, propelled by a sudden troubling thought. “But you’d better not tell.”
    The words seemed to rock Magda as if a cannon had gone off inside. She flailed a hand in Bertha’s direction while she struggled to find her words.
    In a true act of fearlessness, considering she still towered above him, Mose smiled and nodded up at Magda. “Yep, she’s bound to tell. Ain’t you, Magda?”
    Magda froze and fixed him with a disbelieving stare. Then she climbed down off the rig, muttering under her breath. When she reached the ground, she didn’t say a word to Bertha or anyone else before she flounced away in a huff. They watched her cut across the field and duck into the dense woods that lay east of her house.
    Annie’s low voice broke the silence. “Will she be all right?”
    Bertha glanced her way. “Magda? Of course she will.”
    “But she went off into the woods all alone.”
    Bertha laughed. “Ain’t nothing in that grove of pine with the boldness to stand up to Magdalena Hayes.”
    Annie shifted her eyes toward Bertha. “You just did.”
    She nodded. “Why do you think she’s so mad?”
    Annie smiled. Bertha looked toward the spot where she’d last seen Magda’s blue shawl bobbing through the trees, but all trace of her had disappeared.
    “What’s there to be so scared of?”
    She squinted up at Annie. “At Lover’s Leap, you mean?”
    Annie nodded.
    “Nothing, really. It’s a dark and moody place, a sheer bluff fifty feet high that plunges straight down to the water’s edge. The trees grow thick before it opens to the bayou, so not much light gets in. A lot has taken place there over the years. Even more things people talk about that never really happened.”
    Rhodie chimed in, her low voice laden with dread.