The Saints of Swallow Hill(90)

Rae Lynn changed the subject and said, “How much farther, you reckon?”

Del said, “We’re almost there.”

Cornelia waved a hand in front of her face in an attempt to stir the air.

She said, “It’s too hot to ride squished together. I’m gonna ride in the back again the rest of the way.”

Rae Lynn wished she wouldn’t. It left her alone with Del, and while he’d not asked her anything this morning, she was aware he’d looked her way more times than she’d care for, as if he was on the verge of saying something. Small talk with him wasn’t what she wanted. She could imagine the questions that might come, what had she done before Swallow Hill, what was her childhood like, what about her parents, why had she done what she’d done . . .

She grabbed Cornelia’s arm. “Let me ride in the back. I need to stretch out. My back hurts.”

It didn’t, but she had to think of something.

Cornelia said, “Are you sure?”

Rae Lynn tried to joke. “Yes, I’m sure my back’s hurting.”

Of course Del wanted to help her, and she had to let him, or appear as if she wasn’t telling the truth by being nimble enough to climb up on her own. When he took hold of her upper arm to give her assistance, she thought he held it a second too long, but she didn’t want to seem rude by pulling away. She sat sideways against a wheel hub, so she could see where they were going, and where they’d been. She observed how Del and Cornelia got along, laughing much of the time and pointing things out to each other. She wondered what they talked about. Del slowed down at a crossroads, stopped, and got out.

He said, “Want to ride in front? We’re about there.”

She slid toward the tailgate and said, “All right.”

Of course he helped her off the back of the truck because of her supposed back problem. And, Cornelia hopped out so she’d have to sit in the middle, and gave her a look that she ignored. No one talked much those last few miles. When they turned onto a dirt path, Rae Lynn detected nervousness coming off of Del in the way he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. They bumped and rolled along the dirt drive leading to the house, and his head swiveled left and right. Rae Lynn was certain they could walk faster.

She said, “How long since you been home?”

“Too, too long.”

Acre upon acre of longleaf on either side of the land caught Rae Lynn’s eye. Del pointed out they’d been planted some time ago by his granddaddy and his pap. Next were corn and bean fields, and last, a split rail fence. The opening led to a white clapboard, two-story farmhouse with a slate roof situated beneath a few large elms and white oaks. Rae Lynn watched Del, who sat smiling a little, hands resting on the steering wheel. After a minute, he got out and stood by the driver’s door, still looking around. A woman came out onto the porch, along with a tall, rawboned man. Two children, a boy and a girl, stood on either side of him, and he rested his hands on their shoulders. The woman held a hand to her brow and eyed the truck with suspicion. She wore a pale-yellow dress, and over it, a pastel-flowered apron. She reminded Rae Lynn of a garden filled with the soft blooms of spring.

Del called out, “Don’t you recognize me, Sudie May?”

The woman’s hand dropped from her brow and she brought both to her cheeks, and her voice raised the question in her mind. “Del?”

He held his arms out like he was leading a choir.

“Del! It is you! Oh, my word!”

She came down the steps, ran across the yard, and launched herself at him with enough force to make him stumble backward, laughing. He caught her up and spun her around in a circle. Rae Lynn watched, wishing for such a connection. The man and children stepped off the porch as she and Cornelia got out and stood by truck. Cornelia self-consciously pulled the hat lower on her head, while Rae Lynn worried about being a bother to this family. Del, his arm still slung across his sister’s shoulder, shook his brother-in-law’s hand. Next, Sudie May introduced the children. Rae Lynn caught their names, Norma and Joey. Del squatted in front of the children and started talking to them, and when he did, the red muscle beating in the center of Rae Lynn’s chest quickened ever so slightly. Del stood, pointed toward her and Cornelia. He leaned over to speak to his sister and her husband. Rae Lynn tensed, and Cornelia gripped her hand so tight her knuckles cracked. Rae Lynn had never felt so aimless, so without a purpose and disconnected, until Sudie May came toward them, arms outstretched, like a mother welcoming home two long-lost children.





Part III

Nest





Chapter 31


Del


The sun struck his face in the same spot as it had back when he was a kid sleeping in this very room. The moment he opened his eyes, and realized where he was, he was filled with comfort and a sense of well-being. He sat up in his childhood bed, his feet bumping against the footboard. Two windows, positioned side by side, had the very same curtains, yellowed with age, and through them, the warm beam slanted across his pillow. Outside those windows was a familiar scene, one he didn’t need to get up to see. Elms, oaks, acorn trees surrounded the house, and then there were the fields everywhere else, up to the beginning of the longleaf woods.

He rose, poured water in the wash bowl, rinsed his face, ran his fingers through his hair, and put on his clothes. As he went down the stairs, his fingers trailed along the dark wood banister. On the bottom step, he stopped, encountering the spot where he’d carved his initials on the underside of the curved post back when he was about nine years old.