AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Walt giggled. “Yeah, we’d keep the kitten and give Mama away.”
Charlotte put the last plate on the table and took her seat with her family. “You’d better find a kitten who can cook then.”
“Maybe we should keep your mama, don’t you think? No one else cooks quite like she does.”
Seeming to consider it for a moment, Walt finally said, “I guess we can keep Mama.”
“You’re so kind,” Charlotte said, shaking her head. “Was it your idea to get this boy talking?”
After the milking was done, they put Walt to bed together as they always did, and Earl waited until they were out of his son’s room before discussing what had been on his mind all evening. “I think you need to know something I learned today.”
“What’s that?” she asked, taking his hand, and pulling him toward the parlor. What she really wanted was to simply take him to bed, but it was too early for that.
“I asked the men about your husband. And what kind of things he said about you.”
“Uh oh. Did people think kindly of him?”
Earl shook his head. “No, he was hated by pretty much everyone. They said he was mean and always threatening the men who worked for him, going so far as to threaten to whip one of them.”
“That’s terrible! I had no idea.”
“There’s more,” he said, dreading the next part of the conversation they must have.
“Worse than that?”
“I think so.” He shook his head. “He told everyone in town that the man who raised you would invite men over, and they would take turns with you, with the old man watching.”
Charlotte’s jaw dropped. “Why would he say things like that about his own wife? That never happened. No one ever visited! Not once!”
“I know that, and you know that. If you’d been treated that way, you’d be scarred in ways no one can see, like my Patsy. No, he said it so no one would ever try to take you from him. Everyone said he was short and ugly…”
She shrugged. “He certainly wasn’t the most attractive man I ever met, but he wasn’t a bad man.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Sighing she shook her head. “No, it sounds like he was a bad man. A very bad man. I wish I’d known it was happening so I could argue with it. Does that mean that Ada and Cassandra have heard the rumors?”
“They most likely have, I’m sorry to say. But it also means they don’t believe them, or they wouldn’t be spending time with you.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“I can’t believe he lied about me that way.” She looked at him, a thought occurring to her. “You don’t believe the rumors, do you?”
“Not one little bit. How could I?” He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her toward them. “And even if they were true, they wouldn’t bother me. I think you’re a good mother and an even better wife. It doesn’t matter much what brought you to this point in your life. I will help you get rid of the rumors, though. It’s the least I can do.”
“You’ve been so good to Walt and me. I’ve never known anyone who was kind just for the sake of kindness and not trying to get something in return.”
“I hope you realize I’m kind to you because I love you, and not just because I think I should be.” He shook his head. “I had no idea you and Walt would make me fall in love so quickly.”
She grabbed him in a bear hug, holding him close. “I love you too. I thought I loved Howard, but I think I just became used to him. You? I love you with everything inside me. It shouldn’t have happened so fast, but it did, and I can’t regret even one moment of you in my life.”
“Didn’t we agree to go slowly on all this the day I arrived? Weren’t we both in love with people who had passed?”
“We both thought we were. Now we know better.”
He chuckled. “I’ll always love Patsy a little, but you’re right. It’s very different than the love I feel for you. I think I put Patsy on a pedestal. I would never do that with you, because I so badly want to drag you down and have my way with you.”
“As long as you remember that if you have your way with me, it means I’m also having my way with you.”
