The River Widow(53)
“I don’t know. I can’t say for sure.”
“Once you got away, maybe you could forget about all of this and what happened back at your old house.” Now he touched her neck. “Seems to me forgetting is the only way to get past the bad things in life.”
How could she forget? The worst thing had been Lester, and he in turn had led to so many more bad things. What had she missed before marrying him? What signs had there been? But she found that trying to remember was like trying to recall the fleeting thoughts that cross the mind while drifting to sleep. There—and then gone. And if she hadn’t married Lester, what would’ve become of Daisy? No, she couldn’t imagine Daisy ever slipping away.
Sniffling, she said, “I won’t forget her. Ever. And I’ll never leave her there.”
She had to go back, right now. Jack’s words, his touch, and his kindness had reminded her of the things missing in her life. Just as she had shown him what was missing in his. But she had to bury any longings he brought out in her. She stood, thanked him, and began walking away.
“Adah,” he said, and she stilled at the sound of her name on his lips again. “You forgot something.”
Yes, she’d forgotten to take him in her arms, tuck her face into his neck, then look upward and find his mouth.
She turned and witnessed the aching pain on his face. He opened his hand.
It was the deck of tarot cards.
Chapter Eighteen
As summer settled over the land, Esther Heiser seemed to be settling in as a future member of the Branch clan. She visited every Sunday for church and then had supper at the house and often spent additional evenings sitting in the parlor with Jesse, Buck, and Mabel. Once in a while she and Jesse took a drive or a walk alone. Whenever they were together Adah observed them carefully—they now seemed to share some genuine affection, which shocked her. She hadn’t thought either of them capable of caring for another person. But maybe the needs and desires of the human heart were universal, even among the Esther Heisers of the world.
As Jesse and Esther’s relationship appeared to be budding, Esther’s relationship with Mabel was absolutely blossoming. Mabel allowed Esther to help her in the kitchen, where the two women could be heard laughing and gossiping over the sounds of the teakettle whistling, grease sizzling, and utensils clinking against pans as they prepared luscious summer meals. They baked a lattice-crusted apricot pie and soft white bread.
Ever since the conversation about Miss Socks, Mabel had put up even more of a wall between Adah and herself, rarely making eye contact and speaking only when it was absolutely necessary. Jesse and Buck acted much the same, choosing to ignore the subject of Miss Socks she had broached but making it ever so evident they hadn’t forgotten about it, either.
Jesse was obviously still trying to impress. He had shed some weight from his massive frame and now asked for his shirts to be smartly starched. He loosened his tie but stayed in his church clothes all Sunday, at least while Esther was around.
On several occasions the women invited Daisy to join them in the kitchen, and it soon became apparent they were preparing for the day when Adah would be gone and Esther could take over as a substitute mother. Adah squeezed her eyes shut at the mere thought of that happening. She tried to see any signs of affection from Esther aimed in Daisy’s direction, but there were none. In fact, Adah often saw a heartlessness in Esther’s small joyless eyes as she gazed at the little girl, and Adah had to battle the urge to place her body between Esther’s and Daisy’s, as a bear would protect her cub.
Once, after a windy day and a long church service, Esther led Daisy into the parlor by the hand and sat next to her on the sofa, complaining that the girl’s hair was “a mess” and pulling out a comb from her handbag. She then proceeded to rake the comb through Daisy’s hair a little too roughly. And Daisy had always been so tender headed. When the girl protested and whined, Esther unstiffened her touch a bit but told Daisy to stop complaining.
Adah observed the interaction with silent astonishment. How could someone who worked with children all day long be so coldhearted?
As Esther continued to rake the hair back and off Daisy’s face, she said, “You should always pull your hair up to your crown and hold it up with combs. You have big features, so you need to get the hair away from your face. You’ll look prettier that way.”
Daisy frowned and then hung her head and bit her lip. Already she had learned to keep silent, even in the face of the Branches’ hurtful treatment and now Esther’s backhanded compliment. Adah’s skin crawled as she realized that the Branches were succeeding in breaking Daisy. Could these effects ever be undone? Or was it already too late?
One thing, however, soon became all too clear: Esther didn’t like Daisy any more than Mabel, Buck, and Jesse did. Maybe she disliked all children. But she was committed to seeing her romance with Jesse through to its end, or so it appeared. Her attention to her appearance, regular visits, and growing camaraderie with Mabel made that richly clear.
Adah longed for a private conversation with Esther, although she didn’t know why. She was clueless as to what she hoped to accomplish but couldn’t help clinging to the hope that Esther could, even in some small way, help her. Opportunities for them to be alone, however, were almost nonexistent.
One day Adah decided to charge forward, so she asked Esther if she’d like to take a turn around the lawn. It was the hottest hour, or near to it, on a warm, sunny day, so they both donned straw hats following Esther’s hesitant agreement to the stroll. Today Esther wore a dress Adah could tell was factory made of green rayon crepe and featured padded shoulders, a belted waist, and large yoke. Perhaps Esther was building up her trousseau.