“Funny. I thought of that commandment days ago after a painting theft. I guess Sunday School was good for both of us.”
Weevil smiled. “Sure didn’t like it at the time but now I’m glad my mother made me go. You’ve got to learn ethics somewhere.”
“One hopes.” Betty sat down to clean the underside of her saddle. “You know, I’m exhausted.”
“Emotion does that to you.” Sister looked out the window. “Is this spring ever going to really be spring?”
“It’s only mid-March.” Betty reminded her. “Some years the forsythias have bloomed by now. Other years we’ve been buried under two feet of snow. The changing seasons, well, they’re changing.”
“Gray and I truly owe you.” Sister again returned to gratitude. “I hope I can find a way to let you know how much I care, how much I trust you, and…” She teared up. “…how much I love you.”
Betty put her arms around her best friend. “You’d have done it for any of us.” She kissed her on the cheek. “The hell with social distance. We’re all together, anyway.”
Weevil laughed. “You two could be a sitcom.”
Sister wiped her eyes. “Weevil, you could be a movie star. Tootie, too. I’ll spare you hugs and kisses, but when this is over, watch out.”
They all laughed.
—
By six everything was in its proper place, cleaned up, hounds checked again. Betty crawled into her unbeatable old Bronco and drove home to her husband, to whom she told everything.
Running through the rain, Tootie said, “Weevil, come on with me. No point in driving in this.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” He ducked his head in his truck, a three-quarter ton, two years old, to fetch the box that Carter had put there a few days ago before all this.
Once inside her delightful cabin with a clapboard addition, she threw him a towel. He wiped his face.
“I’ve got a Crock-Pot Mom brought over. I’ll turn it on. I need to call Mom before Betty does.”
“Why would Betty call your mother?”
“She won’t be able to resist.” Tootie smiled.
Before she could call, Sister rang up. “Tootie, Gray made dinner if you’d like some. And Ben Sidell will be here tomorrow at two. He’d like to see us.”
“Okay.” Then, after declining dinner, Tootie called Yvonne.
Twenty minutes later she walked into her kitchen, where Weevil was stirring the pot. “Smells wonderful.”
“That took longer than I anticipated. Mom had a fit. I told her I was fine. I told her you were here, which made her feel better even though Carter is in custody. And I’m hungry.”
“Me, too.”
They ate the beef stew brimming with carrots, potatoes, peas, and parsley. Neither talked much about Carter. Done is done. Sooner or later the truth would be known. They talked about the hounds, about Tootie’s studies, about Weevil’s mother, who lived outside of Hamilton, Canada.
Finished, Weevil made a fire in the stone fireplace; laid in the mid-eighteenth century, it had warmed many people.
“Mom brought wine. I don’t drink, as you know, but she said you have to have wine, scotch, bourbon, gin, and vodka, as well as mixers. I actually have those drinks.”
“No thanks. If I take a drink I’ll fall to sleep. Apart from the rain and cold, it’s been quite a day. To make it more interesting, I have a little present for you that Carter found for me.”
“Carter.”
“He found exactly what I asked for, so crook that he is, I hope you like it.” He walked to his hanging Barbour, reached into the pocket, and retrieved a small box wrapped in silver paper, the ribbon being navy blue.
She took it. “Weevil, you don’t have to give me presents.”
“You’ve been a terrific whipper-in.”
She slyly smiled. “Does that mean you’ve bought something for Betty?”
He laughed. “Actually, I did, but it’s not the same at all.”
She unwrapped the box, lifted the lid. Two white pearl studs greeted her. “What?”
“Those are fake. You need them for hunting, as a lady wears pearl studs. But if you lift that little cardboard up, the real present is underneath.”
She flicked up the cardboard onto which the fake studs were affixed, placing it on the coffee table. “Oh. Oh, those are beautiful. Exquisite.” She beheld two pink pearl earrings, perfect pink pearls in size and luster, 8.5 millimeter. “Weevil, these are beautiful.”
“Hold them up to your skin.”
She did, couldn’t stand it, so walked to the mirror. “This is too much. Really.”
“You have helped me so much. It’s my first full year hunting the hounds. I couldn’t have done it without you and they will look beautiful on you.”
She put the pearls in her ears. Indeed, they did look beautiful on her, but then anything would. Tootie had all of her mother’s beauty with none of her mother’s vanity.
“Weevil, I like working with you. I like your gentleness and how you watch the hounds. You know what everyone needs and you’re kind to them, kind to people, and way too generous to me.”
The rain pounded on the standing seam roof. He pulled his chair closer to hers when she sat down because they had difficulty hearing.
“I ask you to give me a chance.” Weevil folded his hands together so he wouldn’t show how nervous he was. “You don’t date. You have your girlfriends from Custis Hall. I don’t know if you don’t like men or maybe you would rather spend time with a woman, but I ask you to spend time with me, and the pearls aren’t a bribe, that really is for whipping-in.”
An agonizing silence followed his declaration.
“My parents’ marriage was poisonous. And I saw the way men behaved around my mother. I…I don’t want that and I feel like I’d be a failure. The only good relationships I’ve seen are since I’ve been here, Sister and Gray and Betty and Bobby. It’s not that I don’t like men, but I have this fear, I guess fear and mistrust.”
He took a deep breath. “You’re honest. So I’ll be honest back. I know that. You hang back even in groups. That’s okay but not all men are pigs, and I take it your father was and is a real pig.” She nodded so he continued. “He cut you out of the will.”
“Mom will make up for it but he was awful, especially since she moved here.”
“I am not your father. Most men are pretty decent. Maybe sex-obsessed.” He laughed. “But decent. Do I want to go to bed with you? Of course I do. I’m not dead. What I really want is to hear you sing when you’re happy, to maybe breed and make horses down the road when you’re out of vet school. And I want to work with you with hounds. I know women say they can take care of themselves and I believe it, but I still want to take care of you. Don’t worry about sex. I can wait, but I hope you get around to it.”
She laughed. “I have no idea what to do.”
“Well, I can help you there.”
They both laughed.
She brightened. “What do you have for Betty?”
“Crystal fox-head earrings. I’ve been on an earring kick. Women like earrings. Marion found them for me. She’s been terrific, as has Betty.”
“The pearls are better.” She smiled, got up, and kissed him. Then she kissed him again.
He blurted out, trying to contain his body. “Tootie, I love you. You must know I love you.”
“I’m not worth it.”
“You are worth every breath I take. What is that line from the Bible, a virtuous woman is more precious than rubies? Change it to pearls.” Then he really kissed her.
That was all it took.
CHAPTER 37
March 15, 2020 Sunday