***
Amelia barreled through the front door and raced down the hall to her bedroom, slamming the door. Just preparing for bed, Rachel jumped at the sound, wincing at the pain in her shoulder. After changing into her nightgown, she left her bedroom, and reached for Amelia’s bedroom doorknob just as Rusty gave a brief knock, then entered the house.
He stood, legs spread apart, his hands on his hips. “Where is she?”
“Amelia?”
“Yep. Tell her to come on out here.”
His expression reminded her of how he looked right after he’d beaten the men who attacked her. Rachel moved away from the girl’s door and flipping her long braid over her shoulder, walked up to him. “What happened?”
He pointed to Amelia’s door. “I need to talk to that girl right now.”
She crossed her arms and shook her head. “No. Not until you tell me what happened.”
Rusty took his hat off and flung it on the sofa, running his fingers through his hair. “I caught her outside, behind the house, in the dark, with a boy.”
“And?”
“What do you mean ‘and?’”
“What were they doing? Talking, kissing, laughing, playing jump rope, what?”
He leaned in toward her. “Now Rachel, you might be a sweet, God-fearing woman, but you know right well they weren’t playing jump rope.”
She grasped his arm and dragged him to the kitchen and pointed to a chair. “Sit down.” Once they were both settled, she said, “Tell me what happened. Exactly.”
When he finished telling her the whole tale, she studied him for a moment, then burst out laughing. The look on his face after she laughed was more amusing than his righteous indignation at the young couple sneaking a kiss behind the house.
“What the hell is so funny?”
“Rusty, even I, as a ‘sweet, God-fearing woman,’ have probably snuck a kiss with a young man when I was a girl.”
“She’s fourteen years old!”
“Yes. Fourteen. In some cultures she would already be married with a babe or two. It’s what young people do. They want to understand the new feelings they have, the changes in their bodies.”
He put his hand up. “Don’t start talking about changes in bodies. I’m not prepared to hear any more about that.” He jumped to his feet and paced. “I’m responsible for that girl. If she gets herself in a family way, I’ll have to take a shotgun to some boy.” He turned and pointed his finger at Rachel’s face. “And I won’t be too happy if it’s my boss’s nephew, you can bet on that.”
“Rusty, for heaven’s sake, calm down.” Rachel stood and walked to the stove. “How about a cup of tea?”
“Tea? Don’t you have any whiskey?”
“No. I don’t have whiskey. Why would I? I’m making myself a cup of tea, and that’s all I have to offer.” She teased him with a smile as sh
e filled a pot with water. “I have some apple pie.”
“You talked me into it.”
Rachel cut two slices of pie, and added tea to the blue and white teapot she received as a wedding gift.
She placed it carefully in the center of the table. “This teapot is special to me. My sister, Ellie, saved money from her part-time job to buy this for me as a wedding gift.”
“Tell me about your husband.”
Startled for a minute, she paused to consider his question. Most days it was hard to even remember she’d been married. If it wasn’t for Will, she would probably forget about it completely.
“Billy was a nice man.” She stopped, amazed that she could think of nothing else to say. How awful that she couldn’t say more about the man she’d wed and shared a child with. It had been so long ago.