The Saints of Swallow Hill(99)

“Don’t pay me no mind. Keep going, don’t lose her.”

I’m trying not to.

Out loud, he said, “I hope this is the right way.”

“Me too.”

There was a curve here and there, and he slowed to a crawl, afraid he’d come around one and there she’d be. The road was lined with pines, and he pointed them out.

“Mostly loblolly and a few pond pines. Ain’t seen not one longleaf.”

Cornelia barely grunted. He looked left and right, and suddenly braked.

“There’s a barn over yonder.”

Cornelia said, “I wonder if we’re on the right track.”

He crept forward and spotted another shape among the tree trunks and brush. He nudged Cornelia’s arm and pointed.

“A house.”

“Sure enough is.”

He stopped and cut the engine off.

“Let’s walk the rest of the way.”

Cornelia nodded, and they got out, leaving the doors open. She cinched the belt on her housecoat tighter.

She grumbled, “Ain’t I a pure d fool traipsing about the countryside in my nightgown and housecoat. No matter at this point, lead the way.”

Del kept close to the edge of the woods, and Cornelia tucked in behind him. After a minute, he stopped and pointed out Rae Lynn’s truck. Where it was parked told him she’d been to this house before. It wasn’t in the drive like she was visiting, it was parked under a pine, near an old chicken coop, and beside the coop was a shed. The cab of the truck was empty. He stared at the narrow house, which to him looked abandoned. There was the front door and on either side of the door, a window. It was a long, narrow house, one Del was familiar with. Shotgun style. There was a wooden planter off to one side where flowers grew, although most had been taken over by weeds. In the quiet, he could hear the pines above his head, a slight wind creating the soft whisper he loved so much.

Suddenly, Rae Lynn came from some area off to the side of the house, beyond where the planter set. She was crying. Not soft crying, but heaving sobs that reached their ears. Both moved forward, wanting to go to her, except a man came out of the house, and Del threw out an arm out to stop Cornelia.

He said, “Damn. Sudie May was right.”

Rae Lynn appeared shocked, as if she hadn’t expected to see him. From his vantage point, Del weighed his adversary while his heart splintered like old wood.

The man called out, “I knew you’d be back.”

Rae Lynn wiped her eyes and said, “What’re you doing here? ”

“Waiting on you.”

Del whispered, “Who’s he?” and Cornelia whispered back, “Ain’t sure.”

The man said, “You’re back on account of me, ain’t you?”

Rae Lynn gestured in the direction where’d she’d come from and said, “I come to make proper arrangements.”

The man came down off the porch, thumbs hooked in his pant pockets. Del didn’t like how he stared at Rae Lynn. It told him they had a past. This man knew her well enough to be acting like he was. He was a fool for having followed her, but he’d wanted to know, and now he did. He and Cornelia should leave, if possible. He glanced around. The woods were thick, and as long as they stayed off the path until they were around the curve, no one would ever know. He pointed back the way they’d come, and Cornelia gave him a questioning look.

He mumbled. “Let’s go,” but she shook her head and held up a finger.

The man came close to Rae Lynn, and Del couldn’t bear to watch. Here it was, the grand homecoming. She’d returned to her life, and to whoever this man was. Whatever their differences, whatever had set her on the run down to Georgia was over now. He had to let her and his dreams go. She was back home, where she belonged.

Rae Lynn yelled, “Butch!”

Cornelia nudged Del’s shoulder. “Law, it’s Butch!”

Del didn’t know who this Butch was, he only saw how he held Rae Lynn, his arms all the way around her, hugging her tight. But, she wasn’t returning his hug. Instead, she struggled, only she might as well have been trying to push a building over for all the good it did her. Del didn’t like that, not one bit. He rushed forward, Cornelia right behind him.

Del called out, “Hey, Rae Lynn!”

The man called Butch immediately released her. She backed away from him and glanced over her shoulder at Del and Cornelia in surprise, and relief. They went to stand by her side. This man was as stunned as she was at their sudden appearance.

He said, “Who the hell are you?”

Del asked Rae Lynn, “You all right?”

Breathless, she said, “I’m fine.”

Butch directed his attention back to Rae Lynn. “Oh. I see how it is. You with him now, is that it?”

Cornelia put a protective arm around her and said, “That’s right.”

Butch tilted his head.

“I wonder when this all come about?”

Del followed Cornelia’s thinking and said, “Does it matter?”

“I bet you ten to one she ain’t told you what happened to her first husband, now has she? Wonder what you’d think about that?”

Cornelia said, “She told me. She told me about you too, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Butch had the grace to flush red.