When Love's Gone Country

Chapter Twenty-Two



As the night wore on, the music seemed to get louder, the lanterns shone brighter and Courtney was convinced someone had spiked every available beverage, except water.

“Red said there’s a swimmin’ hole with a swing around here somewhere,” Jeremy said. “Do you think we can look for it tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Bobby said. “There ought to be somewhere to fish, too.”

“I brought my hunting rifle,” Brad said. “There must be something in season that we can shoot at.”

“Brad! I can’t believe you’re okay with killing innocent animals,” Meg said.

“Look out,” Courtney said. “You’ve got Meg’s dander up.”

“I’d eat whatever I shot. It’s not like I’m hunting just for sport.”

“It’s not like you don’t have enough money to go buy meat. There’s no need to kill defenseless animals.”

“You’re chowing down pretty good on that chicken. Someone had to kill it.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Plenty of animals have already been killed. Why add another one unnecessarily? And, before you answer, I already know why. It’s the thrill of the chase. Which goes back to your point about not being in it for sport. You are in it for sport. So why not just go shoot beer cans or clay discs?”

“Because they can’t get away,” Bobby said. “I think hunting and fishing is about survival. It’s you and nature out in the woods. What are you going to do, eat berries and nuts? No, you’re going to find a way to kill a small animal, probably a rabbit or a squirrel. Next is fire. You have to have a way to cook the meat. And, you need a water source and shelter. Once you’ve got all these things, you can survive. Humankind = 1, Nature = 0.”

“Not if I take away your gun,” Meg said. “You can survive on berries, nuts, seeds and other plant life. We don’t have to eat meat. It’s something we choose to do. I’m not even saying it’s wrong. What I’m saying is that I don’t like the idea of killing animals as a game.”

“Your point is understood,” Brad said, deciding to end the conversation before their friendship took a turn neither one would like.

“I need some air.” Meg headed toward the barn doors, grateful no one followed her. She wound her way through the orchard until she found the gazebo, then sat down on the steps. The moonlight filtered through the trees sporadically.

A snapped twig had her peering into the darkness. “Who’s there?”

“Just me,” Purity said. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“What was that all about back there?” Purity sat down next to her friend.

“I don’t know. Probably just all this stuff with Jacob.”

“I’m sure that has something to do with it, but I get the feeling there’s something more.”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s me, isn’t it? I mean, not me, the baby. It’s bringing up all kinds of feelings you’ve spent time putting away in nice little neat cubbies in your brain.”

“I’m really excited for you and Alex.”

“I know.” Purity held Meg’s hand.

“It’s just that I really wanted Bobby and I to have a baby. It’s so much harder than I thought it was going to be to watch you and Alex together. I’m so sorry. I’m a horrible friend.”

“You are not, don’t ever say that. I’ve been trying not to do anything to hurt you. Not talking about the baby. Not oohing and aahing over baby clothes. Trying to keep it all low key, but I could see the pain in your eyes. What can I do, Meg?” Tears spilled down Purity’s cheeks.

Meg sniffed away her tears. “There’s nothing to be done.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just the way it is. I hate it. Everything in me wants to have a baby. I love Jacob and Jeremy with all my heart, but I have room for so much more.

A woman at church told me that God doesn’t give babies to selfish women. Do you think I’m selfish?”

“Who in the hell said that? Sometimes I could just strangle so-called Christians. Meg, you are the least selfish person I know.”

“Then why? Why would God punish me like this?”

“It’s not a punishment. I hear you when you say it feels like it is, but I think there’s a bigger plan here, one that neither one of us can see. It was no mistake that Jeremy and Jacob ended up in your lives. I wonder how things would have been different if you were pregnant.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, would you and Bobby have wanted to adopt the boys if you’d already started a family together? Their past is hard enough to handle without adding a baby to the mix.

In the past few months, Jacob’s behavior has been unstable and he’s so quiet. That’s so unlike him. Having another kid in the house would have detracted from the time you and Bobby spent trying to understand both Jacob and Jeremy.

I’m not saying it’s right or wrong and I don’t have some crystal ball that can tell the future, but I believe God’s hand is in all of this, in all of us. There are too many coincidences and close calls to make me believe anything else.”

“I keep thinking that God might wait until things are settled and then allow me to get pregnant. Do you think that’s wrong?”

“Meg, you know I don’t do the whole right and wrong thing very well. There’s so much gray area. I think what you feel is what you feel. No right or wrong. Your actions, on the other hand, swing on the pendulum. Some days are better than others.

We all screw up, make poor choices, take paths we never intended to go down. We learn and grow and, hopefully, become stronger, in both our faith and our understanding of ourselves.”

“You have this way of never answering my questions, yet sounding so wise.”

Purity laughed. “I’m not sure how that happens.”

“I don’t begrudge you any happiness and I’ll be the first one to fawn all over that baby of yours, you know that.”

“I do.”

“But there will be times, like now, when it’s just too much for my heart to take without breaking.”

Purity nodded, wishing she could take Meg’s pain away. “One of the hardest things is seeing someone you love hurting and not being able to do anything to help. I love you so much, Meg. Please promise me that during those times when you’re feeling so low, you’ll talk with someone. It doesn’t have to be me. It probably can’t even be me because that would be insanely difficult. But, call Court or Sheila or someone. Even one of the guys, who we all know would just look at you, wanting to fix everything.

You don’t have to simply endure this alone. It’s just like we told Jacob. We’re in this together and we’re stronger together. It’s true for all of us.”

“I promise. You have to make a promise, too.”

“What?”

“That you won’t diminish your pregnancy joy. That you’ll laugh and press you hand to your belly when the baby kicks. Even that you’ll call me immediately and tell me. You’ll want to stop yourself, but don’t. Don’t treat me like I’m some fragile egg that will shatter into a million pieces at any moment. I won’t. And I want to celebrate with you.” She put her hands on Pure’s belly. “That’s my little niece or nephew in there being built.”

Tears pricked Purity’s eyes anew as the two women hugged.

“You’re my best friend,” Meg said.

“And you’re mine.”

“Well, that was a real touchin’ moment there,” a tall man said as he stepped from behind an apple tree. “Almost makes me wish I didn’t have to ask you ladies to come with me.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Meg said, standing up.

Purity stood by Meg. “You might as well turn around and go back to where you came from, mister.”

“Why, that don’t sound very neighborly. Don’t you city folk have any manners?”

Two men appeared on either side of the first man. “We’s lookin’ for the healin’ well.”

“I don’t know what—”

“Save it. We know ya been there. All’s you got to do is show us the way, then we let you go. Simple.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know three men who were shoved into a well today, would you?” Purity asked.

“This ain’t a question and answer period. Tie ‘em up.”

Meg and Purity struggled, but the men were strong.

“We’s gonna give you one more chance to be straight with us.”

“Or what?” Meg asked.

The man removed a knife from its sheath. The blade was at least a foot long and wide as a horse’s hoof. “Ya ever heard of bleedin’? I’m not talkin’ about scrapin’ your knee. There’s a way to cut a person, just so.” He made a motion with the blade. “You slice ‘em just right, they bleed on the surface, not all the way deep down.

Ya see, there’s layers in the skin. We go layer by layer. You tell us what we wanna know, you don’t get bled. You play us, we go deeper.”

“If you kill us, you’ll never find the healing well,” Meg said.

The man laughed. “All I got to do is find your men and tell ‘em we got you. They’ll start singin’ like a pretty little yellow canary.”

“So go find ‘em,” Purity said. “Why are you wasting your time with us?”

“We start with the weak ones first.”

We’ll see who’s weak, Purity thought. She glanced at Meg. “Should we tell ‘em?”

“I think we’d better. I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby.”

“Now this little lady is makin’ good sense. You should listen to her. Where’s the well?”

“I’ve only been there once, and it was dark. It’s where the river makes a double y. That’s how the ranch got its name.”

“I been to the river, there ain’t no well there.”

“It’s underground. It’s not exactly a well. It’s more like a spring. The water flows through a secret cave in the river up into a cavern. You have to swim down into it and then you swim up through the hole. It’s beautiful there.”

“Meg! Don’t tell him all this. You’re playing right into his hand?”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Keep your mouth shut!”

“Hey now, don’t you talk to her like that.”

“I’ll talk to her any damn way I want.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, that’s so. You got a problem with that?”

The man standing closest to Purity grabbed her tied up hands and shoved her against the side of the gazebo.

Pure gasped with the sudden pain.

“You need to learn some manners.”

“Not from the likes of you!” Purity spun around, catching the man off guard. Her hands found the handle of his knife and she pulled it from its leather holder.

He was about to holler when she kicked him hard in the knee and he went down. She quickly headed toward Meg, turned around and cut the rope binding her hands. Meg took the knife from her and sliced through Pure’s bonds.

“Hooey! We got ourselves a couple a fire crackers,” the man said, then ran toward them.

“Go to the barn,” Pure yelled, shoving Meg forward.

She took off running. “I’ll be back with help!”

“Go after that one,” the man said. “This one’s all mine.”