sweetest lips curled that way for
me. It was a powerful thing.
As the days
passed I saw her more. By Saturday she took all her meals with us. So we had
just finished dinner when we heard riders approaching. I could scarce believe
Jimmy and William would show. I went out to meet them. Jimmy had no sooner
stopped his horse when I grabbed him by the back of his pants and yanked him
off. He tried to kick me, I’ll give him that, but I wouldn’t have felt it het
up as I was.
So we went at it,
him and me, and I knew Gaylin was close, but he knew better than to try and
stop me. It was ugly right off. This had been three years coming. And now, to
ride up big as you please, blood flew from his mouth as I pounded his jaw. He
landed on his butt, but he rolled and got on his feet and I went straight for
his middle, hitting him like the big Number Nine.
He said, ‘Orff,’
as the air rushed out of him and his back slammed on the ground. I was
straddling him and punching left and right.
“Fight back,” I
yelled, blood pouring out of his nose and mouth, and even his hairline.
Gaylin and
William pulled me off then, but only because I didn’t resist. I wasn’t out to
kill Jimmy, least not if he was already nearly unconscious. Why hadn’t he
fought harder?
I yanked myself
away from Gaylin. William had let go right away, but Gaylin hung on. He favored
Jimmy, and would take it hard to see me, the villain, beat him so soundly.
I dabbed at my
own bloody lip with my knuckle, catching a curse just before I let it fly. I
turned away from Jimmy, for they were all flocking him now, including Allie. I
caught my breath. Ma, Pa, and the missus stood on the porch, Johnny too. They
were looking at me like I had let the beast out and they could see it.
I turned away and
walked around those pulling Jimmy to his feet. Allie said my name, “Tom,” as if
I was to be scolded. I went in my room in the barn and started to slam things
around. I’d go today. I’d just ride out of this Godforsaken place. I’d been
here too long. I hadn’t wanted to come here at all, if Pa wouldn’t have shown
up at the brickyard…why couldn’t they leave me alone? What did they want from
me?
“Tom.”
It was her. She
stood in my doorway. It threw me, I’ll admit. I tried to think of something to
do that would hide the way I felt. I was still so mad, but she dropped into
that like a boulder in my path, one that nearly fell on me and killed me.
“What…you
shouldn’t be this far from the house, Missus.”
She went to my
washbasin and poured some water from the pitcher into the pan. She wet my cloth
then, and walked toward me. She was moving slow, and sometimes touching what
she could to keep herself anchored, but she moved better every day.
“Sit,” she told
me, gesturing to the bed.
“No…I….”
“Sit,” she said
again, and I backed to my bed and sat.
“Ain’t right
you’re here….”
She put the rag
against my lip, dabbing at the blood. I winced, just to let her know she got it
wrong and shouldn’t be doing such a thing.
She dabbed at my
head then, and I guessed I had a cut there, too. Then she put her fingers in my
hair, and smoothed it back from my brow but I knew it wouldn’t stay, and it
didn’t, but she wiped over it with the rag, and it stayed some. Such emotion went through me…lust…or want , if that’s what lust is,
just the deepest wanting. I didn’t know it was in me so strong. I gripped the
edge of my bed to keep my hands off her. I knew I was swollen like a bull ready
to rut, but she didn’t know it, and I’d never tell. So I sat there hanging on cause I’d been through worse in the war, and I knew
self-control.
But that face…my
God. Was she fashioned just to torture me? If I ever was going to make my peace
with God it would be because he had made her and let me put my eyes on her
before I left this place.
So I sat there
like Johnny would, but nothing like Johnny would of course, and I let her work
me over
me. It was a powerful thing.
As the days
passed I saw her more. By Saturday she took all her meals with us. So we had
just finished dinner when we heard riders approaching. I could scarce believe
Jimmy and William would show. I went out to meet them. Jimmy had no sooner
stopped his horse when I grabbed him by the back of his pants and yanked him
off. He tried to kick me, I’ll give him that, but I wouldn’t have felt it het
up as I was.
So we went at it,
him and me, and I knew Gaylin was close, but he knew better than to try and
stop me. It was ugly right off. This had been three years coming. And now, to
ride up big as you please, blood flew from his mouth as I pounded his jaw. He
landed on his butt, but he rolled and got on his feet and I went straight for
his middle, hitting him like the big Number Nine.
He said, ‘Orff,’
as the air rushed out of him and his back slammed on the ground. I was
straddling him and punching left and right.
“Fight back,” I
yelled, blood pouring out of his nose and mouth, and even his hairline.
Gaylin and
William pulled me off then, but only because I didn’t resist. I wasn’t out to
kill Jimmy, least not if he was already nearly unconscious. Why hadn’t he
fought harder?
I yanked myself
away from Gaylin. William had let go right away, but Gaylin hung on. He favored
Jimmy, and would take it hard to see me, the villain, beat him so soundly.
I dabbed at my
own bloody lip with my knuckle, catching a curse just before I let it fly. I
turned away from Jimmy, for they were all flocking him now, including Allie. I
caught my breath. Ma, Pa, and the missus stood on the porch, Johnny too. They
were looking at me like I had let the beast out and they could see it.
I turned away and
walked around those pulling Jimmy to his feet. Allie said my name, “Tom,” as if
I was to be scolded. I went in my room in the barn and started to slam things
around. I’d go today. I’d just ride out of this Godforsaken place. I’d been
here too long. I hadn’t wanted to come here at all, if Pa wouldn’t have shown
up at the brickyard…why couldn’t they leave me alone? What did they want from
me?
“Tom.”
It was her. She
stood in my doorway. It threw me, I’ll admit. I tried to think of something to
do that would hide the way I felt. I was still so mad, but she dropped into
that like a boulder in my path, one that nearly fell on me and killed me.
“What…you
shouldn’t be this far from the house, Missus.”
She went to my
washbasin and poured some water from the pitcher into the pan. She wet my cloth
then, and walked toward me. She was moving slow, and sometimes touching what
she could to keep herself anchored, but she moved better every day.
“Sit,” she told
me, gesturing to the bed.
“No…I….”
“Sit,” she said
again, and I backed to my bed and sat.
“Ain’t right
you’re here….”
She put the rag
against my lip, dabbing at the blood. I winced, just to let her know she got it
wrong and shouldn’t be doing such a thing.
She dabbed at my
head then, and I guessed I had a cut there, too. Then she put her fingers in my
hair, and smoothed it back from my brow but I knew it wouldn’t stay, and it
didn’t, but she wiped over it with the rag, and it stayed some. Such emotion went through me…lust…or want , if that’s what lust is,
just the deepest wanting. I didn’t know it was in me so strong. I gripped the
edge of my bed to keep my hands off her. I knew I was swollen like a bull ready
to rut, but she didn’t know it, and I’d never tell. So I sat there hanging on cause I’d been through worse in the war, and I knew
self-control.
But that face…my
God. Was she fashioned just to torture me? If I ever was going to make my peace
with God it would be because he had made her and let me put my eyes on her
before I left this place.
So I sat there
like Johnny would, but nothing like Johnny would of course, and I let her work
me over
Similar Books
