Sadie's Surrender

by Afton Locke

  Murdock poked his head in and glared at her. “Have you decided on her punishment?”

  “Yes,” Henry replied. “She’s getting a one-week furlough.”

  The man’s face soured even more. “Awfully lenient for what she did, if you ask me.”

  “I don’t recall asking your opinion.” Henry gave him another stern look. “I can’t afford to lose an experienced shucker.”

  When they were alone again, Henry placed the books in a canvas sack and handed it to her.

  “Wait in the lunchroom until it’s time for your mother to go home. I’ll see you in one week’s time.”

  She gripped the bag against her belly. “Yes, sir.”

  “Be prepared to stay after hours so we can…discuss the books.”

  Her gaze slipped away from his. He was Caleb’s brother, and she was Pearl’s cousin. She surely knew what the couple had done in this building when Caleb gave Pearl cleaning work after hours. But that had occurred when his brother was the most powerful man in town. Before the Klan arrived.

  Henry would have to be stronger.

  What kind of fool was he? Given the way he felt around her, meeting here would be too risky. They needed a chaperone and to find a place far away from the prying eyes of the Klan.

  “On second thought, could I visit you at your home Sunday afternoon? Your mother will be there, then, won’t she?”

  “Yes. You can join us for dinner.”

  After she walked out, he sank into his chair. His encounter with Sadie left him weaker and more confident at the same time. The thought of seeing her again sent volts of excitement coursing through his body. He hoped the week, especially Wednesday’s Klan meeting, passed quickly.

  Finally, he had some hope for saving the company, but if he let this powerful attraction go too far, he’d surely lose it.

  * * *

  Sadie dragged the rowboat into the yard of her family cottage as the sun set. The sight of the turquoise clapboard building comforted her after her harrowing day. She sure wished they still had a man living here to do these rough chores, though.

  Speaking of men…

  Had Henry Rockfield really kissed her? The memory of it sent delicious shivers through her body. Looking into his placid, dark-blue eyes was like staring at the bay. Feeling his gentle fingers on her cheeks almost made her cry all over again. His concern for her life puzzled her even more. He had a bunch of female shuckers and most of the ones her age were a lot prettier.

  If she didn’t know better, she’d say he was sweet on her.

  Well, she was definitely sweet on him. He surely realized it when she’d opened her mouth against his. The taste of him reminded her of the sea. Being dragged into his office like a sack of flour had been the most humiliating experience of her life. She’d expected him to yell at her or worse, not engulf her with passion.

  She barely noticed the rough rope scratching her hands or the chill in the damp breeze. Had she dreamed the whole afternoon? Maybe she should throw oysters at people more often.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened at the plant, or do I have to choke it out of you?” Wilma demanded as she helped tie up the boat. “You ain’t said a word all the way home.”

  Mama had probably assumed she’d felt seasick, but it hadn’t hit her as hard this time. Imagining Henry’s strong arms around her had made the rocking tide more sensuous than sickly.

  “The weighman gave me a big, fat zero for my oysters, so I threw them at him.”

  Wilma clapped a hand over her heart. “Lord have mercy. You’re going to turn us into homeless beggars.”

  “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Mama.” Sadie shrugged and grabbed the sack of Henry’s business books. “I just got furloughed for a week.”

  “A whole week!” The older woman snorted. “I hope losing so much money will teach you a lesson about controlling that bad temper of yours.”

  She opened the front door and lit a lamp. “Don’t tell anyone, but Mr. Rockfield promised to pay me double.”

  “Double!” Mama rubbed her hands together. “I never would’ve believed it, but it looks as if you hooked him like your cousin hooked his brother.”

  “Hold on.” Sadie slid the books from the sack to the kitchen table. “He’s paying me to study these business texts for him.”

  And she would because she wanted to learn everything she could get her hands on. Such a powerful man had probably memorized them three times over. He just used them as an excuse to pay her. She’d never met anyone so generous, especially a white man.

  “Well, you’d better study them real good because your brains are about the only thing you’ve got going for you.” She poured two glasses of water. “You ain’t much to look at, and I’ve got more charm in my bunions than you have in your whole body.”

  Sadie pulled some chipped soup bowls from the cupboard. Although true, the words still smacked her in the forehead harder than an oar. Mama didn’t mean to be cruel. She’d lived with so much hard reality her entire life, it came out in everything she said.

  If only Sadie could marry again and move out. Spend her days with a soft-spoken man like Henry instead of Mama’s relentless barbed tongue. She and Buck had lived close enough to take care of her while still leading their own lives. Every day, she wished she was still married to him. But, today, she pictured Henry in his place.

  Fool. That man wouldn’t marry you in a million years, Sadie Johnson. Mama spoke in her head, too, which was just as bad as hearing her talk out loud.

  “He’s coming over Sunday so I can explain what I learned.” Sadie concentrated on setting the table to keep her temper in check. “Maybe you’d better cook. I’m probably not much good at that, either.”

  “Don’t worry. It’ll be the best meal he ever ate. We need all the help we can get.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad that’s settled,” Sadie said sweetly. She even remembered to smile the way Pearl taught her.

  What had attracted Henry to her today? A spring tide? But she knew better than to expect it to last. She’d never look like Pearl. Her mother had enough of her failures to harp on without adding his loss of interest to the list.

  Sadie didn’t need to tell her about the kiss.

  Chapter Three

  On Wednesday evening, Henry settled into a chair in the mayor’s high-ceilinged living room where the original initiation had been held. He always chose the back to be as inconspicuous as possible. Thank God they didn’t have to wear white robes to the meetings anymore. His made him itch inside and out. He kept it buried in his closet, out of sight.

  When Mayor Carter and his disgusting son, Jonathan, approached the podium on the dais, the familiar ache of heartburn bloomed in Henry’s stomach. Why had he come? If the others discovered he’d kissed a colored woman, they’d probably nail him to one of their burning crosses. When Caleb still lived in town, he hadn’t gotten past the initiation, but for the sake of Rockfield’s, Henry lived a double life.

  He dug his fingertips against his palm while the mayor reviewed their mission. Tuning out the words, he thought instead about Sadie’s womanly figure and her powerful eyes—so intelligent and emotional at the same time. The woman exuded strong passion in everything she did. Dan Short sat a couple seats ahead of him. Picturing him plastered with oysters made him want to laugh aloud.

  Seeing her lust for books brought a different kind of desire to mind. Was she reading them at this moment? How he’d love to stand behind her and clasp her shoulders. Watch her breasts rise and fall as she breathed. Pull the book away. Caress her. Capture her mouth until she surrendered again.

  The mayor discussed his road-building project next. Good. Maybe it would steer everyone’s minds away from racial tensions.

  “These roads will bring more white power to Oyster Harbor because we can afford cars and they can’t.”

  No such luck.

  Jon smirked as he unfolded a paper. “It’s time to go over o
ur list of current concerns.”

  The weighman raised his hand. Oh, crap.

  “Yes, Dan,” Jon said. “Please share the concern you spoke to me about.”

  The skinny man stood, turning to glare at Henry. “One of the colored women at work threw a bucket of oysters in my face. Instead of being arrested or fired, she only got a week’s furlough.”

  “Hmph,” the proprietor of the Sapphire Crab, the town’s best restaurant, exclaimed. “Sounds like a vacation instead of a punishment.”

  In seconds, every pair of eyes in the place nailed Henry to the wall.

  “Maybe Rockfield is sweet on her,” Short added.

  Jon grinned like a hungry shark. “Maybe we have a colored lover in our midst.”

  Words of hate flew around the room, echoing against the walls. Despite the cool temperature, sweat dripped down Henry’s torso, plastering his shirt to his body. Why couldn’t the floor open and swallow him up? Although he’d predicted it would probably arrive eventually, he’d dreaded the day that would destroy his charade. He wasn’t proud to admit attraction to a woman had brought him to this point.

  Last year, Sadie’s brother, Leroy, had been jailed because the town was convinced he’d raped the mayor’s daughter, Mary, in Baltimore. Instead of making a stand, Henry had worn his wretched white robe. He hated himself for it.

  He squared his shoulders, hoping no one noticed the cold shivers coursing through him. Although he wanted to tell everyone Sadie had an aging mother to care for, it wouldn’t help. He had a role to play and wasn’t about to lose Rockfield’s after fighting for it so long. Caleb and his unborn child needed him.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?” Jon asked Henry.

  “Sadie is an experienced shucker who usually knows her place,” he said slowly. “Because her mother depends on her, the lack of a week’s pay was the best way to punish her.”

  Assorted grunts filled the room.

  “If she misbehaves again, I’ll deal with her more severely.” He swallowed hard. “I run Rockfield’s. Not the colored folks.”

  “That’s well and good,” Jon said. “But I’ve found once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker. Her brother is little better than a wild animal. He threatened to attack me last year.”

  “Wasn’t that because you tried to kiss his future wife?”

  To attend the town’s art school, pale-skinned Rose had masqueraded as a white woman. Henry’s heart hammered. Taunting the Klan’s second in command was not his favorite pastime, but he had to do anything he could to keep the man’s evil power in check.

  “No need to go into that.” Jonathan’s pale face flushed red. “Motion for everyone to keep an eye on Sadie Johnson even when she’s not at work?”

  “Passed,” someone said.

  During the rest of the meeting, Henry’s pulse slowly returned to normal. He hoped she stayed safely in Crab Creek for the rest of the week. The next time he saw her, he planned to warn her, for her sake and his own.

  Were the men right? Was she a born troublemaker? If so, why did he want her so much? She had the power to ruin everything he fought for. Thank goodness her mother would be there Sunday to chaperone them.

  After Sadie taught him the contents of those business books, he had to keep her at a safe distance.

  * * *

  After dinner Sunday night, Sadie squirmed in her seat while Mama cleared dishes from the rickety plank table.

  “I’ll clean everything up later, Mama,” she insisted. “You look tired. Why don’t you go on to bed?”

  “Bed?” the older woman exclaimed. “Why, the sun has barely set.”

  She drummed her fingers on the table. “Mr. Rockfield is a busy man. We have to go over these books now.”

  Mama flung the dish towel over the nearest cabinet knob. “All right. I know when I ain’t wanted.”

  “Thank you for dinner,” Henry said. “It was delicious.”

  But Sadie had hardly tasted her favorite meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Sitting next to him at Sunday dinner, she couldn’t help pretending he courted her. She loved his quiet but deep voice and the manly way his strong hands—dusted with chestnut hairs—gripped the fork.

  She didn’t even mind the fact his shirt looked rumpled, as if he’d slept in it, or that his shirttail hung out in the back. The only thing bothering her was the tension in his jaw. He obviously regretted their kiss. Hadn’t she predicted his loss of interest? Here at sunrise, gone at sunset, like the tide. So why did the realization still punch her in the ribs?

  And if she was so damn smart, why was she so stupid about men?

  Get it through your head, Sadie Johnson. No man, black or white, will ever want you. Hadn’t her mother always said so?

  Mama finally left the room and closed her bedroom door. When Sadie lit an oil lamp, its glow reflected on the low ceiling. She wished for brighter light and a bigger space so their meeting wouldn’t be so cozy. Then she pulled the books from a nearby shelf and dumped them on the cleared kitchen table.

  The sooner the man and his books were out of her house, the better.

  Henry raised his eyebrows. “I take it you couldn’t make much sense of them, either.”

  For the past week, she’d read them all day and practically all night until her eyes turned red and raw. She’d scribbled so many notes, she’d run out of paper and had to write the rest on her bedroom wall. Hopefully, the memory of the kiss would fade from her mind eventually, but the knowledge would last forever.

  “They made sense.” She stacked them and shoved them toward him. “I’m sure they did to you, too. Thanks for letting me borrow them.”

  “If you want me to pay you for the week, you must explain them to me. Didn’t we agree on that?” He picked up the accounting text on top. “Let’s start with this one.”

  “Please don’t patronize me, Mr. Rockfield. I’ll take the money because I need it.” She drummed her fingers on the book cover. “But there’s no point in wasting your time while I pretend to teach you things you already know.”

  “I don’t already know.” Pain and confusion stole the peace from his blue eyes while they stared at each other for endless seconds.

  She lifted her hand and let it hover in midair. “Are you saying you don’t know how to read?”

  How in the world did he run a company? White children attended better schools.

  “I can read, but it’s tedious.” He opened the cover and read the first paragraph, slower than she would, but he got the words right. “I’m not sure what I just read.”

  She flipped some pages and pointed to one showing an accounting ledger sample of inventory. “What about the figures?”

  When he bent his head to study the page, a forelock of unkempt hair tumbled over his brow. Sadie stopped herself from brushing it back.

  He traced a finger down the columns. “It’s easier for simpler things like oyster counts. Especially if I write them myself.”

  His brow puckered with confusion, and he even rubbed his eyes.

  “You’d rather be on a boat, wouldn’t you?” She couldn’t resist laying her fingers on his thick forearm.

  The heat from his skin penetrated the blue fabric of his shirt. He glanced at her hand as if unsure whether he wanted it there or not. Couldn’t he feel the sparks arcing between them?

  “Yes. I can read the sea a lot better.”

  “Do you need glasses?” she asked, letting go of him.

  “No, my eyes have been checked. I’m just not cut out for books.” He shrugged. “So, you see, I really do need your help.”

  A handsome white man—the head of a company, no less—needed her. Even though he didn’t desire her anymore as a woman, it was nice to be wanted some kind of way.

  “Then we’d better get started.” She pointed to the stack of books. “Which one would you like to tackle first?”

  His blue eyes sobered even more in the lamplight. �
��Before we begin, I should warn you about something.”

  “Don’t say another word.” She raised her hand. “What happened between us in your office can never happen again.”

  “I’m glad you agree, but that’s not all.” His shoulders dropped. “You were mentioned at last week’s Klan meeting.”

  “Why?” A cold chill rolled through her from the unexpected news. She touched her mouth, where he’d kissed her. “How did they find out?”

  “They didn’t,” he replied. “But they’re not happy I gave you such a lenient punishment for throwing those oysters.”

  “Oh, that’s not good.”

  “They’re going to watch you for a while, at work and off work. Be aware of it every time you set foot in Oyster Harbor.” He grabbed her wrist. “Please behave yourself, Sadie, for you, your mother, and me.”

  She rested her other hand over her pounding heart. “I’ll try. Are you in trouble as well?”

  “No, but they’re going to watch me more closely, too.” He released her and stared at his hands. “Exactly what I don’t need.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Rockfield. I never intended to cause you any trouble.”

  “Make it up to me.” The way he said it and looked into her eyes erased the bad news with good.

  He still wanted her!

  “Not that way,” he said, pushing a book between them on the table.

  Disappointment ricocheted through her. Did she never learn? But his salty-musky scent was strong, as if he’d just disembarked from a rough sailing trip. She’d also noticed it when he’d kissed her last week.

  He did want her… Even if they couldn’t do anything about it, she would hold the knowledge close.

  Hours passed while she taught him what she’d learned from the books. He related each topic to the oyster business, which helped her learn, too. Between topics, they stood and stretched several times and she poured them water to drink. She and Mama couldn’t afford much else, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  Spending so much time alone with Henry was more intimate than their brief kiss at the office. It felt as if they’d sat together at this table for years. She’d never been this comfortable with Buck. Finally, she closed the last text and rubbed her eyelids.