Bent Road - Lori Roy [55]
Celia takes Elaine’s hand and looks back for Arthur, but he isn’t behind her. He has returned to his seat and is staring straight ahead. A few of those having already received communion and returned to their seats close their eyes and shake their head, as if sorry to have seen such a thing but certain that it needed to be done. As Ruth passes by, closer now because Celia has made her way to the front of the church, a pink stain smears her lips and left cheek. She slips back into the third pew, kneels and, with her head lowered in prayer, takes a tissue from her coat pocket and wipes the lipstick from her face.
Chapter 16
Daniel grabs the back of Aunt Ruth’s seat as Dad takes a sharp turn into Grandma Reesa’s drive. He falls to the left, squishing Evie, and when the car straightens, they both sit up and Evie punches him in the arm.
“Get off me,” she says.
In the front seat, Mama grabs the dashboard. “Are we in such a hurry?”
Dad doesn’t answer until he has stopped near the garage and thrown the car into park.
“This family,” he says, staring straight ahead, “will never go to St. Anthony’s again.”
The car is silent for a moment. Daniel watches for what Grandma Reesa might do because she is the one who cares the most about church. Instead, Aunt Ruth, whose lips are smeared with a pink shadow, speaks.
“That’s not the answer, Arthur. Not on my account.”
Dad slams his hands on the steering wheel. Mama, who is sitting in the front seat, and Elaine, who is wedged between Aunt Ruth and Grandma Reesa, both jump. Aunt Ruth presses her hands over her mouth, Grandma Reesa lets out one of her groans and Evie’s chin puckers. Then the car is quiet. Daniel closes his eyes so his chin won’t pucker like Evie’s.
“I think you should all hustle inside,” Mama says quietly. “Evie, you and Elaine help Grandma set the table. Daniel, maybe you can start a fire. A fire would be nice.”
Daniel nods. Aunt Ruth opens one door, Grandma Reesa the other. A blast of cold air shoots through the car as Evie and Daniel crawl out from the last seat in the station wagon. Before Daniel steps out of the car, he turns back. He wants to tell Dad that he saw Uncle Ray at the Buchers’ and that he is going to drive a grader. He wants to ask him about hunting for quail and pheasant and if it’s as easy to shoot a bird as it is to shoot a prairie dog. He wants to ask Dad to help him practice before the Bucher brothers take him hunting. But when Dad glares at him, Daniel knows not to speak. Instead, he climbs out of the car and closes the door behind him.
Waiting until the others have gone inside, Celia inhales, filling her lungs with crisp, dry air, and lays her hands in her lap.
“You shouldn’t have sent Ruth to sit with Ray,” she says.
Arthur crosses his arms on the steering wheel and rests his chin there. “One good snow will bring down that roof,” he says.
A few yards in front of the car, overgrown cordgrass, brown and brittle, has nearly swallowed up Reesa’s small shed.
“Lot of good snows over the years, I suppose,” Celia says. “And it’s still standing. Help me understand, Arthur. Why do that to Ruth?”
Arthur is quiet for a moment, staring straight ahead. “Are you sorry I brought you here?” he says, still looking at the shed and not at Celia.
His dark hair has grown past his collar, making him look younger and somehow stronger. Celia stretches her arm across the back of the seat and weaves her fingers into the dark waves.
“No. Well, sometimes.” She smiles but Arthur doesn’t see. “I’m glad we’re here for Ruth. And for our family. Elaine is certainly happy.”
“Yeah, Elaine’s happy.” He nods but doesn’t smile. “What about Evie and Daniel?”
Celia crosses her hands in her lap. “Happy enough. They’ll make more friends along the way.”
“That’s where we found her,” Arthur says, nodding toward the small shed.
“Who?” Celia says, sitting forward on her seat. “Do you mean Eve? You found Eve there?”
“Don’t know why Mother keeps it around.”
Celia falls back in her seat. “Right here. So