Chapter Two
A full week passed before I heard news about Adam and it came from the most unlikely source. I had stayed home, in bed because I was feeling a little under the weather, or maybe, I was sick with love as Abby put it. I heard papa’s heavy boots thud on the floor before I smelt his distinct apple flavored odor approach to where I lay.
‘My fairy, are you feeling better?’ He asked feeling my forehead with his thick warm palms.
‘I will be better Pa, don’t you worry.' I answered in reply. 'Miss Sweeney made me breakfast.'
Miss Sweeney was our house help. She had practically raised me. According to Mom, Miss Sweeney's life was shrouded in mystery. Word in Smithville was, she'd murdered her husband and drowned his body in the Manistee River. Folks said, on that fateful day, she and her husband had had a bitter argument over something, but, to this very day nobody really ever got to know what the argument was about, and again, no one in Smithville ever got the courage to confront her. She never married again.
‘Then you are fine I presume.’ papa spoke while sitting heavily next to me on the bed. Papa, Mom, Abby and Amy had just returned from service at the local Garfield Country Church on that damp Sunday morning.
‘Pa, how was service today?' I inquired eager to hear him narrate the sermons, something he'd always done since I was little. The church gossip which usually was plenty, I was certain to get from mom and the annoying Amy.
‘Leila darling, I came straight to your room to discuss another matter.’ papa said in reply. I could sense there was a trace of bitterness in his speech, a cause for concern. My heart began to thump heavily against my chest.
‘Okay?’ I said anxiously, a little frightened.
‘I want us to talk about Adam Holloway.’ He said.
Dear reader, you cannot fathom how fast the fever left me at the mention of these words.
‘What is there to discuss papa?’ I inquired trying to stay calm and feigning a smile.
My thoughts filled with that little monster, Amy, who happened to share a bedroom with us and just couldn’t keep her big mouth shut. Often, I wondered if mother had her planted deliberately inside our bedroom as a spy.
‘You never mentioned to me or to your mother that one of the Holloways came over to my property last week.’
‘Pa, a number of people came to our house last week.’ I answered in reply. ‘I am not very certain which one in particular you are referring to, exactly.’
I was being coy. This was an extremely delicate subject and I wasn’t about to let papa have a free stroll. I was determined to guard what was left of my secret, with my life.
‘Don’t you play smart with me young lady,’ he said in a stern tone, ‘you know exactly who I’m referring to here.’
‘Honestly pa, I don’t remember speaking with anyone by that name last week.’
‘Leila I’m serious, he could have hurt you.’
‘Pa, I’m a grown girl. I’m capable of taking care of myself.’ I shot back.
‘I’m sure of that,' he replied, 'am sorry if you took it the wrong way, but all I’m saying is this, that boy is nothing but trouble. Stay away from him.’
‘Pa, I still don’t understand what you are talking about.’ I insisted now that I was on the offensive. I knew papa wasn’t the kind to dwell for long on matters of the heart, at some point, he would have to give up.
‘Okay, I’ll speak to your mother,’ he finally said, ‘maybe she will make you understand better than I do.’
And without mentioning another word on the subject, papa promptly excused himself. I had won the battle, I had kept my secret intact but deep inside me, I knew that a war had just begun.
Mother didn’t speak to me about the matter until late after dinner. We were seated in the cold, out on the porch, just the two of us. I think mother had made sure of that.
‘Leila dear, your father is very upset with you.’ She began.
‘Upset over what Mother?’
‘He says you two had a chat today but, you were adamant, actually in his own words, he said you lied to his face.’
‘Mother, I did not lie.’ I protested feeling agitated.
‘My dear, I know you to be a sweet girl.’ She said in her characteristic soft voice, ‘Your father and I did not raise a liar, and on the contrary, I believe you.’
Mom was playing the sympathy card and that hurt deeply because I knew that I was lying to her face too.
‘Sweetie,’ she said,’ today at service, we were accosted by that Holloway boy. He kept apologizing about mistaking our Lizzy for a work horse. He just wouldn’t let us be. He went on and on about how smart you were and how a fine young lady you had become. Leila dear, I still can't believe he said all those things right in front of your father.'
Friend, mother had disarmed me. All my defenses and pretentious fallacies suddenly went up in smoke.
‘Mother!’ I found myself saying. ‘He wasn’t rude to me.’
‘But you said you hadn’t spoken at all to him.’
‘Alright, you win,’ I said remorsefully, ‘we did speak, but only briefly, and that’s all I want to say.’
‘Dearest Leila, we are worried he may try to take advantage of you.’
‘Mother!’
‘Child, you may not realize it now, but there are lots of bad people out there.’
‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Look Leila, you are seventeen and there are things you do not know, things I must tell you, woman to woman.’
This conversation had become way too serious for me. I had to find a way out.
‘Mother, I am not interested in Adam Holloway in any way, shape or form if that makes you and Papa feel better, so you might sleep soundly in your beds.’
‘I do believe you darling, and I’m confident you will make the right decision.' She answered in reply, before adding, 'Alright dear, it's getting late and we need to go to our rooms and get some rest. It’s been quite a day for us all you know.’
‘Goodnight Mother.’ I said standing up to leave.
‘Come here, give me a kiss.’ She said.
Moving slowly towards her, she took both my hands in hers, held them in silence, and then asked,
‘Did he say he would return soon?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about Mom.’ I replied.