by E A Lake
“Oh my dear, you’re so thin. And you look a fright.” See, she knew what we were.
“We’ve been sick,” I replied. “We haven’t felt well enough to do much of anything lately, much less take care of ourselves.”
She knelt in front of me, opening my jacket and sliding it away. “Let’s get these things off of you. Susan”—the other woman had just entered the room— “please help Miss Jones with her coat and gloves. Let’s move the table so we can pull the couch closer to the fire so they can warm up better.”
The two women worked in unison, removing our outer layers and gawking at our threadbare clothing. Mrs. Hulton shoved the coffee table aside, and the pair pulled the couch within three feet of the flames. It felt wonderful.
“Now, little sips and little bites,” Mrs. Hulton insisted as she placed the tray of tea and biscuits between Sunshine and me. “The biscuits are made from rice, so they should be easier on your digestive system. But your poor stomachs won’t be able to take much all at once. So please try and go slowly.”
I noticed her face tense as she checked me over in the light of the fire. Her head shook in small fits, and she rose.
“Susan, go get two basins of warm water and some towels,” she said, chasing the young servant girl from the room. “And some of the salve that we have from the Amish.”
The girl trotted away, and Mrs. Hulton knelt again between us.
“Let’s get your faces washed up and something on those chapped hands of yours,” she said in the sweetest of tones.
I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off with a quiet shush.
She took my hands in hers. “Mrs. Turner. Your beautiful hands… They’re all chapped and bleeding. We must get something on them. I won’t have my neighbors, my friends, suffering like you have. I just won’t.”
I sat quietly as she paced before us. When her patience ran out, she left the room to find Susan, I assumed. That left me pondering two questions.
What had we done to deserve such kind treatment from this woman, aside from surviving in our pathetic form? And more importantly, where was Mr. Hulton? After all, we were here to see him, weren’t we?
Chapter 76
We ate and sipped and warmed by the fire. Every few moments, Mrs. Hulton would rise up and dash off for this or that. It was as if we had our own personal attendants. Never before had I felt so special, so well taken care of—at least not since I’d been on my own, and that was 20 or more years back.
They washed our faces and our hands. When we looked chilled, Mrs. Hulton sent Susan to grab several afghans for additional warmth. I could get used to this, I remember thinking, even though I knew it was temporary if not somewhat strange.
Mrs. Hulton was in the middle of cleaning and trimming my fingernails when I heard the door in the back of the room open. Sunshine turned to look, but I was mostly content to watch our hostess pamper me.
“I found them,” a voice announced—Mr. Hulton’s, I recognized. “They were right where you said they’d be. Under that pile of crap over in the…”
The pause caught me off guard. But not his wife. She continued on as if I was the only other person in the room.
“What the devil are you doing, Rena? Manicures?” Mr. Hulton didn’t sound pleased.
Without looking away from my hands, Mrs. Hulton replied. “They have both been ill and starving, Rickard. We just helped clean them up a little and gave them a bite to eat.” She glared at her husband for a long silent moment. “Give them a chance to feel human again. They were almost dead, you know.”
Hulton was in my field of vision, and he stared back at his wife as if he had a terse response. Instead of speaking though, he bit on his lower lip. Finally, he rolled his eyes and took a seat in his very own chair.
“Sometimes, Rena, I think you go a little overboard with things,” he said, tapping the rolled-up papers against his leg. “I’m sure tea and biscuits would have been just fine with—”
Her head snapped around, and she met his eyes with her own fiery pair. “They were dying, Rickard. Our neighbors were dying as we sat idly by. I can’t imagine what would have become of them if the weather hadn’t broken. They haven’t had food for almost a month.”
I wasn’t sure how Sunshine felt, but my throat tightened as the couple squabbled.
“It’s just been a little more than a week,” I inserted with a small smile to Mr. Hulton.
“Really more like two,” Sunshine added, not bothering to look up. “If you want to be honest about it.”
His left hand came to his chin, and he tapped it a number of times, his eyes floating between each of us and then out a window facing west.
“We have business to take care of, Rena,” he finally said, sounding indifferent. “We didn’t invite them here for a spa day, you know.”
She shot him a loud grunt and went back to rubbing salve between my fingers. “And all that can wait until Susan and I are finished. It won’t be much longer.”
He slid forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t have all day to watch you—”
“It won’t be much longer, Rickard!” Mrs. Hulton spat through gritted teeth. She flashed me a smile to show her anger wasn’t in any way directed my direction. “We’re almost done. You are listening, darling—aren’t you?”
The man who ran this section of Minnesota—almost all of the county, as once designated on a map—and whose word was gold within a five-day ride shook his head slowly and sat back in his leather chair.
I guess we knew who ran this household.
When the women finished tending to Sunshine and me, Susan placed all of the equipment on a tray and scurried out the back door.
“Make sure the guard knows I don’t want to be disturbed, Susan,” he shouted as the door clicked shut.
He glared at his wife, his face looking as if he’d just sucked on a lemon. “Don’t they know how to say yes, sir, dear? I mean, a simple response would go a long way in keeping me happy.”
She nodded and smiled at her husband. “Well, that’s quite an impossible task, Rickard.”
He opened his palms to the sky, dropping the papers from his hands. “Is she mute? Is that the problem?”
Her eyes, and smile, returned to us. “I was speaking of keeping you happy, dear.”
Watching him closely, I witnessed frustration from a man who had always seemed unflappable to me. But then again, I wasn’t his wife.
He reached down and picked up the papers from the floor, the ones he would hand to me shortly, along with a pen he would magically produce. I was about to lose my son, and though it killed me, I had no other options.
“We may as well get to it, Mr. Hulton,” I said, sitting up as straight as I could. “No sense in putting off the inevitable. You know how dire things are for us. I understand what needs to be done.”
His eyes narrowed and shifted from side to side. He glanced at his wife and then at me.
“I’m not sure what you’re speaking of, Mrs. Turner,” he replied, sounding truly confused.
“Slowly, Abby,” Sunshine whispered through tightly clenched teeth. “Remember the farm.”
I sat up straighter than before and turned to face him. “In exchange for my son, you’ve offered to supply Sunshine and me with supplies for our lives. Further, you’ll send a team to go and search for my daughter and bring her back to me.
“The papers you’re holding. I’m sure that’s what they entail. Perhaps in a little more detail. But that’s the gist of it all, isn’t it?”
Sunshine leapt from her spot. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Abby! What part of not giving away the farm didn’t you understand? Why don’t you offer to bear him and Lasky a child while you’re at it?”
The room went silent as all eyes focused on Sunshine. Slowly, she sank back into her spot next to me, probably embarrassed.
“I have no idea what either of you are talking about,” Mr. Hulton responded. He gawked at his wife. “Rena, do you?”
<
br /> Straightening her dress first, she cupped her hands in her lap. She was the most elegant woman I’d ever seen—before or after The Darkness.
“Perhaps you should explain why you’ve asked our neighbors here today, Rickard,” she answered. “That might clear up any confusion.”
As a group, we all turned and faced our host. It was time to get down to business, no matter how dirty it became.
Chapter 77
Rising from his chair, Mr. Hulton began to pace before us. The massive fieldstone fireplace was the backdrop as he halted and looked at me.
“It has come to my attention that the past fall and winter haven’t been easy for you and Miss Jones,” he stated. I couldn’t tell if he was sympathetic to our cause or gloating over the fact that he held all the knowledge and power.
“I could have stepped in earlier, I suppose,” he continued, pulling his hair back over the top of his head. I noticed in his other hand was clutched those damned papers, still.
“It really wasn’t your problem,” I countered in a moment of bravery.
He nodded once then twice. “Yet here you are.” Yeah, there was that minor detail.
“When I contracted with you for Luke’s labor…” His eyes clenched as he paused. “Walker, I should say. When we made our agreement, I never dreamt that you would lose your husband.”
“The bastard deserted her,” Sunshine added with a nasty tone. “She didn’t lose shit. He was the shit.”
The Hultons stared at her, wide-eyed. They were most likely shocked by her foul language, something that I rarely noticed any longer.
“Yes,” Mr. Hulton said. “We can all agree that Mr. Turner was a shit, as Miss Jones so eloquently stated, for deserting his wife. Further, the taking of their daughter as well can be viewed as nothing but cowardly. I have absolutely no regard for the man. He’s dead to me.”
“As he is to me,” I added quickly.
“And he left you in a terrible spot,” Mrs. Hulton inserted. “Just dreadful.”
Mr. Hulton shot his wife a tight-lipped smile. “Yes, dreadful. But that doesn’t change the circumstances at this time, does it, Mrs. Turner?”
A shot to the heart, albeit gentler than I had expected, it was nonetheless a grim reminder of my present situation: no husband, no son, no daughter, no food, no wood… no hope.
“Why don’t you just give me the papers to sign, and let’s get this over with,” I demanded, staring straight into his dark eyes. “There’s no sense in beating around the bush or playing any games. You have desires, and I, no we, have needs.”
He glowered at me for a few long breaths. If I had to guess, he had a whole, long diatribe he wanted to spew before getting what he wanted. Rickard Hulton had won. He knew it; I knew it; everyone in the room knew it. What was the sense in elongating the process any further?
He extended the papers so they nearly touched my face. “These papers?” He was toying with me, and I was in no mood for it.
“Yes, those papers,” I replied bitterly. “Just give me a pen. I’ll sign them, and then you can tell me what I’ve done. But let’s be honest here. What kind of a mother loses two husbands, a daughter, and a son? The answer, Mr. Hulton: one that doesn’t deserve a family in the first place. So let’s get this over with.”
He shrugged and looked at his wife. Withdrawing the papers from directly in front of me, he studied them again. Sighing, he held them out at arm’s length and slowly, all the while his eyes locked on mine, tore them in half. Turning, he tossed the contract into the flames.
Both Sunshine and I gasped. Watching the paper curl and blacken in the hearth, I saw our chance for survival turning to ash.
What had I done?
I leapt from my spot, clutching his arm in my shaking hands. I had to fix this immediately!
“Mr. Hulton,” I begged. “Please, if I’ve offended you in any way, I ask for your forgiveness. Don’t do this to me. I don’t want to die. We don’t want to die.”
He glared at my hand on his arm. For a moment, I worried that he might strike me. If that’s what it took to get him to reconsider, then so be it. Begging was easy; any punishment that might follow was probably deserved.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Mrs. Turner,” he said softly. His tone juxtaposed his expression. “Maybe if you sit down, we can discuss this in a calm manner.”
“We’re starving to death,” I pleaded. “We have no heat. The house is a wreck. If the cold doesn’t get us, I’m afraid the mice and rats will.”
He removed my hand from his arm, gently. “Really, Mrs. Turner, if you’d just take a seat—”
“Do you want blood?!” I shouted. “Is that what it takes? Haven’t I suffered enough? What can I possibly do to convince you to take my son and just let me live. Miserable, loathsome, completely pathetic. But still alive.”
Before I knew it, Mrs. Hulton stood next to me, stroking my back. “Mrs. Turner, please sit down. You’re becoming so excited you’ll collapse. You haven’t been well. You mustn’t become so upset. It’s not good for you.”
I turned and clutched at her shoulders. “Please, make him draw up a new contract for Walker. I’ll sign anything; I’ll do whatever he wants. Do you want me to call him Luke? I will; all you have do to is ask.” Tears began to leak out. “You don’t understand how desperate we are. You have no idea.”
The Hultons glanced at one another and then at me.
“You’re not well, Mrs. Turner,” Mr. Hulton said.
“No shit,” Sunshine added from the couch. “She ain’t been herself for a while.”
My host and hostess each looked at her.
“Well, you probably already know that,” Sunshine added, flipping her hand at them. “Ain’t been easy—that’s all.”
“If you sit, Mrs. Turner, we can discuss Luke’s contract further,” Hulton said.
“Walker, dear,” Mrs. Hulton inserted. “Walker, her son.”
He nodded and led me back to the couch. “Yes, Walker. And if you’ll listen, I’ll tell you all about our new deal.”
It didn’t matter what kind of deal he offered, my son already wasn’t mine.
Chapter 78
I sat, but only because I needed Mr. Hulton to see that I was agreeable. I wanted him to understand that whatever he asked, I would do. It was probably the only way either Sunshine or I would see summer.
“Now, I’ve ripped up Walker’s contract,” he began, standing in front of me with a hand in one of his pants pockets, “and that’s the end of it. Do you understand?”
I did, but I didn’t. Swallowing hard first, I nodded once. “But if you’ll just reconsider, just for a moment, Mr. Hulton—”
His eyes narrowed instantly.
“Please,” I begged. “Please give me another chance.”
He looked confused. He stared at his wife for a moment; she didn’t have the same expression on her face. Hers was more kind and gentle. “Rickard, please explain to Mrs. Turner what you mean. I don’t believe she’s following you yet.”
“I have no need for Walker any longer,” he added in an odd, far-off tone. When I looked up at him, he had turned away.
The situation was worse than I could have ever imagined. Not only was he turning us out in the cold, but he had for some reason decided to turn his back on Walker as well. Now three of us would suffer and die together.
“If he’s done something that has offended you,” I cried, “just tell me. We can make it right somehow. Please give us a second chance. Please!”
I tried not to sob, but I couldn’t hold my anguish inside any longer. I was meaningless and pathetic, just as they had probably always assumed. And now they knew for certain.
Someone sat next to me on the couch and took my hands. I thought Sunshine had slid over to comfort me. However, when I looked down, I noticed the pale hands and green dress of Mrs. Hulton giving me solace.
“Walker’s done nothing wrong,” she pleaded in a kind voice. “It’s time for him
to come home. It’s so obvious that you need him now more than ever.”
My head spun to face her. “What?”
“What?” Sunshine added, louder than I had.
“The debt is settled,” she continued. “Walker’s coming home to stay… for good.”
My eyes opened wider. “What?” None of this made any sense.
Sunshine bounded up. “Praise Jesus!” she screamed.
Mrs. Hulton nodded and smiled at her. “Yes, Miss Jones, praise Jesus.”
I glanced up at Mr. Hulton. “But what about the remaining time? I could never repay you for that.”
“What remaining time?” Mrs. Hulton asked, squeezing my hands.
I looked back at her, my eyes still covered with a fine layer of film. “He has six months to go on his contract. I know that for a fact. It’s so engrained on my brain I can practically count the days.”
“It’s actually eight months, Mrs. Turner,” Mr. Hulton countered. “But after some reconsideration…”
He had my attention. What he… what they were suggesting was too good to be true. But if it was true, what strings were attached?
Fresh tea and biscuits were ordered by Mr. Hulton before he would continue. He took his spot on his throne, the chair as regal as he. Mrs. Hulton insisted on remaining on the couch, between Sunshine and me.
When all of the servants were gone and it was just the four of us, he cleared his throat and set his teacup on the coffee table.
“Over the past month, I…” He looked at his wife and smiled. “We have been talking about Luke.” He seemed embarrassed for a second. “Walker, I’m sorry. Rena pointed out a flaw in the original contract that I had never considered.
“It seems that when we made the deal, I agreed to take care of four people for the period of one year.” He paused and glanced at his open hands. “But things have changed… as we are fully well aware of.”