Bone Deep (22 page)

Sarah said smoothly. “Tom is proving very helpful around the farm. I don’t mind having him here. I’m sure we don’t need to put Mr. Taylor to any trouble, or you either, for that matter.”

“Yes, but
my
dear, this is really not the solution,” Mrs. Brighton
sai
d. “If you want to hire ... this man
to do farm labor
, that’s one thing, but he can
no
t continue to live here. It’s not seemly.”

The reverend nodded. “Your moral character will come under fire, no matter how innocent your intentions.”

“I understand that. I’m willing to take the chance.”
Sarah was proud of her calm, even tone when her body was nearly trembling with rage. The oh-so-polite offer of help came with a heavy anchor of judgment weighing it down.

The
Brightons
seemed nonplussed and remained silent for a moment
,
and
then the reverend tried a new tack. “Perhaps Tom
should
make his own decision about
his future.” He
looked at
Tom, who had remained
mute
throughout the conversation. “What
are
your plans for the future? Do you plan to stay around
Fairfield
or will you be moving on?”

Once more Tom glanced at Sarah, but she
c
ouldn’t answer for him this time.
She’
d done far too much speaking on his behalf and wanted to hear how he would answer the questions.

“I want to stay here,” he finally said. “I like working on the farm.”

“You do understand that your living in this house is very damaging to
Mrs. Cassidy’s
reputation
. People won’t like it,
”
Brighton
said. “Would you be willing to
let
me find someplace else for you to stay?”

Tom
stared
his clasped hands a moment then looked back up. “I don’t want to make trouble for her. Would it be all right if I stayed in the barn?”

“I’m afraid that won’t stop people talking.”

Sarah
interrupted
. “Reverend, I appreciate your concern, but as I said, I’m happy with the arrangement we have here. People who choose to gossip are already doing so
.
I don’t know if moving Tom somewhere else is going to stop them.”

Brighton
exhaled loudly
, his pastoral patience wearing thin.
“
Well,
I can’t force you to change your mind, but I’ll
still
talk to Linus Taylor and see if he’d be willing to help out
—in case you change your mind
.”

T
he Brightons rose to leave
at last
.
T
he minister shook Tom’s hand
but
his wife avoided
touching him. B
efore Mrs. Brighton walked away, Tom looked at her intently and froze
just for a
second. Neither of the Brightons noticed, but Sarah saw.

The
Hudson
’s wheels churned up gravel and dust
as the car drove away.

Sarah turned to Tom. “
Did you see something about Mrs. Brighton
?”

He shook his head. “It’s her business.”

Of course that piqued
her
curiosity even more, but she dropped
the subject
and slipped her arms around his waist.

“Don’t mind what they said.
I don’t want you to move out.
The kind of people who gossip aren’t ones I care about anyway.”

He held her with one
arm
and stroked her hair away from her face
, studying
her features as though memorizing her. “People can make things hard. If they’re angry enough, they could even hurt you. I should go.”

She stood on tiptoes and covered his mouth with hers,
stopping his words
. “If you think I’m doing
you
some sort of
favor letting you live here, you’re wrong. I’m being purely selfish. I want you here. I haven’t been this happy since before
John
died and I am not going to lose you.”

He gave a little half-smile and hugged her tight,
burying
his face
against h
er neck.

I will
not
let you go
, she repeated to herself.
I’m finally starting to come alive. There’s no way I can go back to being half dead again.

Chapter Eleven

They spent most of Sunday afternoon in the garden digging up potatoes and removing stripped corn stalks and cabbage stumps. At the end of their work they were filthy
,
and Sarah suggested a
nother
swim in the pond even though the day was chilly. She loaded a picnic hamper
,
and they walked across the field.

At the pond’s edge they both stripped unselfconsciously and swam naked in the cold water.
After racing
the length of the pond
, they
circled each other, drawing closer and closer until they
floated
in the water face to face
. H
azel eyes stared into blue, until finally Sarah broke
the intense connection and threw
her arms around Tom’s neck.

He cupped her bottom and pulled her against him. She
wrapped
her legs around his waist and kissed his wet lips, tasting pond water.
H
is back was smooth and slippery beneath her hands. Cool water lapped her body, sending shivers through her.
The moment was delicious and perfect. Only a few weeks ago, Sarah hadn’t imagined she’d ever feel such happiness again.

Tom’s tongue dipped delicately between her lips. She touched it lightly with her own. Then their mouths fused together hungrily and they didn’t pull apart until both were breathless.

Sarah
gazed
into Tom’s eyes
, which
reflected the sunlight like a prism making a thousand shades of blue. Her heart
ached at the strength of her feelings
and
the
words she wanted to say
filled her throat and
choked her
.
I love you.

She leaned down and kissed him again.

He waded out of the pond, carrying her.
After drying off, they spread their towels
on the ground. Tom lay on his back and Sarah straddled him, looking down at his face and not even seeing the markings anymore but only the features beneath them. She leaned to kiss him, her
pussy
brushing against his
erection
, generating delightful tingles.

A
rustling in the bushes across the pond
was
followed by a titter of suppressed laughter. Sarah’s head
jerked
toward the noise
and
she threw her arms across her naked chest.

M
uffled voices and
the patter of
running feet came from the stand of trees.

Sarah
scrambled off of Tom, grabbed his shirt
from the grass
and
covered herself with it.
Tom sat and
pulled
one of the towels
over
his
groin
.
But b
y the time they were covered, the sounds from the woods had faded.

“Damn!
Damn, damn, damn.” She
’
d been so stupid and careless to use this pond
as if
it w
ere
a private pool when she knew local kids sometimes came for a
swim
. She
’
d thought the day was too cool
and
that
it was too late in the year to expect anyone to be there.
She should’ve known kids would have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Sarah
kicked the picnic hamper, knocking it over and spilling ham sandwiches
onto the ground
. “Damn!”
H
er stomach twisted
in knots
. Kids would
whisper the story to
other kids and eventually an adult
would find out. S
oon the whole community would know. It would no longer be
just a
rumor that the Cassidy widow had taken the tattooed man from the carnival as her lover.

Tom crouched to pick up the sandwiches. He righted the basket and looked up at her with anxious eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No. It’s all right.
”
S
he
dropped
to her knees to help. “I want people to know about us. I do
. J
ust not
in this way
.” She picked up a sandwich and brushed d
irt
off the waxed paper. “But it’ll be
all right
. People will get used to
us being together
. They
’ll
have to.”

The following afternoon,
Grace
’s Ford
pulled into Sarah’s driveway again. She was out of the car before Sarah clipped the last clothespin to the flapping sheet on the line.

“Is it true?” Grace shook her head without waiting for an answer. “How could you be so
dumb? So
careless? The Weiderman boys told all the kids at school
what they saw at the swimming hole
. Th
os
e kids who weren’t afraid of having their mouths washed out with soap told their parents and now every
body
knows
, the whole town, probably the whole county by now!
”

Sarah closed her eyes. Less than a day and the gossip had spread through the community like wildfire. She
’
d expected it, but having her expectations
become
fact was a hard slap in the face. She had been fooling herself
in
thinking people would take this affair lightly.
And it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d been caught with someone as respectable and upright as Andrew Harper. Good Christian people didn’t condone extra-marital sex—particularly when their children caught an eyeful.

Tom came out of the barn balancing a ladder on his shoulder
. He
stopped when he saw Grace
,
set down the ladder and came over.

“Tom, this is Grace.

Grace cocked her head slightly regarding Tom then held out her hand to shake his.
“Hello.”

He shook
her hand
the way the minister had done his yesterday,
with
a
vigorous
two-handed pump
.
H
e was learning social behavior as he went along, mimicking other people since he had no
frame of
reference for manners.
By watching Sarah, he’d learned how to eat politely. Now apparently he was patterning Rev.
Brighton
. Tom’s
resiliency in re-shaping himself after years of living
a stunted life
was remarkable.

Grace’s dimple flashed in her round cheek as Tom gravely shook her hand and Sarah knew he
’
d won her over.

“All right,” Grace said, turning her attention to Sarah. “I’m not here to scold but you’d better know it’s going to be like the Antarctic or
h
ell next time you go to town. People are either going to give you the silent treatment or tear into you.” She added reassuringly, “Not everyone. There are some who think the whole thing is none of their business.”

“But you can count them on one hand, right?
And they’re both named Cunningham.”

Grace shrugged. “Anyway, I can’t st
ay
long. I’m running an errand in Hooperstown but I wanted to let you know what’s
happening
.” She patted her purse. “Also I have what we talked about the other day.”

“Oh.” Sarah looked at Tom, “Could I talk to Grace alone for a moment?”

He bowed his head toward Grace. “Nice to meet you.” He offered her a small smile before
going to pick up
the ladder.