Promise To Keep

by Rainwater, Priscilla Poole

  Rolling her eyes, she shrugged her shoulders dismissively, not wanting to discuss it. Pouring a glass of juice she replied, “Max always used to send them to me every week, while we were married. He started sending them to me again, right after I moved in here with yo….after I moved in here. Don‘t ask me why.”

  He sat back sipping his coffee, staring at her over the coffee cup, and his gaze made her uneasy. So… that pansy-ass does want her back…he thought. “Don’t know too many men who would send their ex flowers, unless they want them back.” he answered. Looking at the flowers, he had a nearly overwhelming urge to snatch them up and toss them in the trash.

  Aisha almost believed he was bothered by the attention Max was giving her. Almost. Nah, he’s just making small talk…she thought. Changing the subject she said, “Would you like to see what I arranged for the fertilizer? The buyers I mean? It’s really simple. A friend I know with the Department of Agriculture gave me some help, and information that I needed.”

  “Sure, I’d like to see what you came up with.”

  His words brought a big smile to her face. She quickly wiped her hands and mouth with a napkin, got up, and grabbed a thick folder from the counter. She was obviously excited that he was interested, and without hesitation, began to explain what she had done.

  With a steady gaze he looked at her, and inhaled deeply, which turned out to be a mistake. Her scent, the smell of sandalwood and cocoa butter, was intoxicating, and he had to fight the urge to pull her closer to him.

  She showed him several greenhouses that were already interested in purchasing from them. Carefully, she explained the steps that would be taken in the processing of the fertilizer. Finally, she proudly pulled out the logo for her little enterprise. On the letterhead, envelopes, and shipping labels, was what she proudly called “Celtic Earth Knot,” and embossed in gold letters were the words, ’Riley Farm.” Well what do you think?” she asked as she finished.

  Connell felt a swell of pride, uncertain why. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that this lovely woman had adapted so quickly to an entirely different lifestyle so quickly and fluidly, in spite of all the trouble she had had with him in the beginning. She was strong, flexible, intelligent, and lovely. And to his astonishment, he realized those attributes, combined, were quickly becoming a powerful aphrodisiac for him.

  Feeling himself begin to grow hard, he quickly got up and poured himself another cup of coffee as a distraction. Slowly, he mixed cream and sugar with it, until he had calmed down somewhat. Finally turning back around, he studied her as she nervously played with her folder, almost as if nervous of him rejecting her hard work. And he couldn’t blame her either, not after the way he had been behaving after she had first moved in. “Sounds good. But I’m worried that you’ve been pushing yourself too hard, last night was proof of that. Just don’t over do it.” he warned her as he leaned against the counter to finish his coffee.

  She flushed at his comment, the thought of him carrying her to bed once again resurfacing. “Ok. I really don’t mind though, it feels good to help you.” Smiling, she looked up at him shyly.

  Their gazes locked once more, and time seemed to stand still.

  He set his empty cup down on the counter absentmindedly, and sensed, rather than felt, himself move towards her, as if in a trance. In his haze he was dimly aware he was becoming aroused once again, but at the moment he wanted nothing more than to snatch her up and find out if their first kiss so long ago had truly been as passionate as he remembered.

  With wide eyes, Aisha watched as he advanced on her. Oh God….he wants to…kiss me…she thought, and suddenly felt her stomach flip-flop. Her thighs began trembling, and demurely she clamped her legs closed and caught her breath.

  He was almost on her when she leaped from her chair so fast it went crashing over backwards. In a panicked voice, she began babbling. “Look at you, you need a hair cut, you look just like Shaggy from The Jetsons!! And we need to get this mess cleaned up in here, the dogs…I mean Jonus ….will be here any minute for breakfast, and I haven’t even started yet. Did you feed him before I woke up? The dogs, I mean. The DOGS, did you…. have you fed them yet……?“ she trailed off, feeling like a complete idiot, and also disappointed that she had let the moment pass. “Uh, let me get my scissors and comb, it really does need to be cut.” she finished lamely, wanting desperately to have the moment back. But the moment was lost. He was standing there with a look of hurt and rejection stamped plainly on his handsome face. Suddenly, she felt like crying.

  Connell shook his head and sighed. That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear….he thought numbly, feeling completely deflated. He watched as she shuffled off, her eyes cast downward, to get her hair cutting instruments, then busied himself with putting on a fresh pot of coffee for Jonus. He fed the dogs, and as he did that his thoughts drifted to the emotional changes that were going on between the two of them. They had went from: Never speaking to one another, unable to stand being in the same room with each other, barely acknowledging one another’s existence, to living with one another, arguing, an awkward truce, to this, feeling a pull towards one another that both had felt so long ago. And it was scaring the hell out of him.

  Too soon! It’s too soon to be thinking this way, feeling this way! Does she really feel the way I do too, or am I kidding myself? he thought as he went back inside and pulled his shirt off so it wouldn’t be covered with hair. Walking to the sink, he stuck his head under the tap and wet his hair.

  Aisha returned and pulled out a chair, motioning for him to sit. When he took the seat she ran her fingers though his hair slowly, her nails scraping his scalp. She felt him shiver, and suspected he was feeling the same things she always felt whenever he touched her, even by accident.

  They both were silent as she cut his hair, both lost in their own thoughts.

  After she finished, he stood and looked at her like an awkward schoolboy as she brushed the hair from his shoulders. Why does she make me feel this way? No one has made me feel so…inept…he thought miserably. She gave him a smile reminiscent of the ones that had melted so many of her hopeful suitors in college, and now, all these years later, he knew how those guys had felt. Right then she could have asked him to strip buck naked and go tap-dancing through broken glass barefoot, and he would have done it without hesitation.

  She looked him up and down, and with a nod of approval said, “There now, you look great. A real heartbreaker.”

  Her gaze settled on his bare chest, amazed that even though he had been inactive for months, his body was still hard, like chiseled stone. No wonder Jenny always told me she couldn’t get enough of him…God how I wish he would just wrap those huge arms around…she thought, suddenly ashamed. It was still too soon after Jenny’s death, and she felt as if she had betrayed her friend all over again. Damn it, just don’t go there! All right, so I need a man, sure. Maybe I’ll call Max and go spend the weekend with him, just for old times sake. But this one here, I just better keep my distance…she told herself, and immediately felt bad for wanting to use her ex-husband as an excuse to forget someone else. Or try to forget, anyway.

  Grabbing the broom, she put all her effort into sweeping the hair off the floor.

  “Well, guess I better go see if Jonus is awake. We should get pretty much caught up with everything today, maybe we’ll be able to take a day off tomorrow, huh?” he said, a small part of him hoping she wouldn’t want him to leave.

  “Sure, sounds good.“ she mumbled, continuing to sweep non-existent hair from the floor.

  *******************************

  “Come on in Aisha! Daddy knows where all the good crawdads are!” Abby shouted as she ran towards the creek located on the south end of the farm.

  Aisha loved the area, it was heavily wooded, and was almost as nice as the area where their pond was located. The whole place made her feel so grounded, the land looked almost the way she imagined the creator must have meant for them to enjoy. Quiet, clean, and
relatively untouched. She snapped a picture of Abby and Connell splashing in the creek, looking for the elusive crawdads, whatever they were.

  Connell smiled as Abby bent, resting her little hands on her knees as he turned a rock over, searching for their prey.

  Looking up to where Aisha was sitting on the blanket watching them, he smiled at her.

  Smiling back at him, she was suddenly glad she had accepted his offer to join them. She had did her best to avoid him this morning, but after his mother had picked Shawn up for the weekend, and with Jonus gone off to spend the weekend with his brothers fishing and boating, she couldn’t find a good excuse to not join them, short of hurting Abby’s feelings. Or his. And the day was unseasonably warm and pleasant.

  “Come on down here, lazy bones! Abby wants to show you how a master crawdad catcher does it.” he called to her, trying to entice her to join the fun.

  She stood, kicked off her Ked’s, then bent to pull the legs of her sweatpants up to her knees. She didn’t know what these crawdad things were, but judging from the snickers the two of them were trying to stifle, decided to approach them warily. Stopping at the edge of the creek bank, she said, “Alright, let me see this amazing…whatever it is you called it.“

  Connell leaned over a large rock on the muddy edge of the creek bank, then glanced at his daughter slyly, who was doing her best to stifle her mischievous giggles.

  “Just wait Aunt, Aisha , you’ll love them …this is some goooood eatin’.” she said.

  Aisha looked back and forth from Connell to Abby, thinking they were going to have a bit of fun at her expense, but couldn’t fathom exactly what form it would take. After more giggling, she finally put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “Come on now, I’m not stupid, you guys are pulling my leg, right? There IS no such thing as a craw….thingamabob. Right?”

  Connell gave her an exaggerated look of hurt, as if offended she would think they were lying, “We wouldn’t do that to you. You have to fish around for them in the mud. Let me show you.”

  Bending over once more, he overturned more rocks, finally found what he was looking for, and dug his strong hand in the mud. He smiled furtively as she stepped forward and leaned over, her curiosity getting the best of her.

  “Open your hand.“ he instructed.

  “Uh uh, no way, you show me first.“ she said, shaking her head distrustfully.

  “I promise, they’re harmless.“ he replied. “C’mon, this is a test you have to take, if you wanna’ consider yourself a real farm gal. Or, do I detect a little too much city-slicker blood in you still?” he taunted.

  Knowing he would never do anything to actually hurt her, she slowly extended her hand and opened it.

  Abby was nearly beside herself with excitement.

  He placed the creature in her hand and she looked at it in disgust, but amazed at the same time. Hey, it looks just like a miniature lobster….she thought, just as one of the tiny pincers clamped down on the meaty portion of her index finger.

  She screamed and nearly wet herself as she frantically shook her hand and backpedaled in the mud, going nowhere at the same time. She slipped and fell on her backside just as the tiny creature was finally hurled loose, where it landed in the water with a faint “plop” and swam away frantically. The bite hadn’t hurt, it had just surprised her and scared ten years off her life. “THAT WASN’T FUNNY YOU TWO!!!!!” she screamed as Connell roared with laughter and Abby squealed. She felt like crying, she had been shaken so badly.

  “Ohhh, heyyy, calm down now, they’re harmless, just like I said. I would never hurt you, you know that, right?” Connell said as he reached for her tentatively, wanting to help her to her feet.

  With a half-sob, and still angry, she reached her hand out for his help.

  “That’s bette..“ he started to say, realizing her ruse too late.

  With lightening-like reflexes, she scooped up a handful of mud and hurled it into his hair, where it made a satisfying “SPLAT.” The surprise on his face was so comical she fell back, no longer angry, and laughed like a mad woman.

  Giggling, Abby scooped up a handful and hurled it in her direction just as she ducked.

  Suddenly they were all embroiled in a real-life mud-slinging contest, splashing back and forth through the water, ducking, slinging, and being hit occasionally. It ended with them chasing Aisha to the blanket, where they all fell down, still laughing, but gasping for breath.

  Calming down at last, all three of them sprawled on their backs, basking in the warm sunshine, not caring they were covered with mud.

  “You guys should have told me you were looking for crayfish, I knew what those were, I had just never heard them called what you called them. Must be country-boy and girl slang. But I’m still not eating them.” Aisha finally said.

  Connell put one arm behind his head while he wrapped his other around Abby, letting her rest her head on his chest. Absently, he twirled a lock of her long hair around his finger.

  “We don’t eat them either, we just hunt them for fun, just like I did when I was Abby’s age. We never hurt them, and the fish we catch out of the pond, we usually throw back unless we’re in the mood for a fish fry. Abby was teasing you about eating them.” Connell explained.

  Abby let out a long yawn and snuggled closer to her father, and fell asleep shortly afterwards.

  Aisha raised up on her elbow. Looking at them warmed her heart. As big and powerful a man as he was, he looked so loving and gentle laying there with his dozing child snuggled against him. She looked away, her heart aching at the thought of never being able to bear children of her own. She would never know the joy of feeling a young life growing inside her, never know the joy of comforting her child as he did.

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  Shaking her head, she gave him a sad smile, blinking her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t start crying. “Nothing, just enjoying the day.”

  She’s not a very good liar… he thought. Raising his head a bit, but careful to not disturb Abby, he looked in her eyes. “Are you happy here?” he asked in a soft voice.

  Titling her head, she studied him. How could he ask that, of course I’m happy with him…she thought, but instead said, “Yeah, I am. It’s fulfilling to be able to help with the children.“

  Connell was disappointed with her answer, but didn’t press her. Seeing a bit of dried mud marring her beautiful skin, her reached over and gently wiped it away from her cheek.

  She was surprised at the contact and flinched, but resolved herself to not pull away. His strong, calloused hand lingered on her cheek, and for a moment she closed her eyes, savoring the touch, but the racing of her heart made her pull away finally.

  Jumping up, she backed away from them, with a dazed look in her eyes. “Dinner….I need to go get dinner started.” she said, and turned to leave. She would have ran, if not for the fear of looking like a foolish schoolgirl, and hurting his feelings as well.

  “Where’s Aisha going, daddy?” Abby asked groggily, her gray eyes trying to focus on him.

  Standing, he lifted her in his arms and reached down to grab the blanket. “She’s running hon. Again.” he answered.

  “What?” she asked, obviously puzzled.

  “Never mind sweetheart, let’s get to the house and get you cleaned up.” he said.

  ***********************************************

  Aisha hummed as she checked on the country fried steak and milk gravy. The side dishes, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, were already prepared and sitting on the warmer. These were dishes Jonus had said were among his favorite, and she had cooked them as a kind of “official welcome.” She had wanted to make the night really special for him, so she had invited Helen and Ben, who were always fun to be around. And just to avoid strife, she had reluctantly asked Megan.

  Frowning, her thoughts drifted back to the last conversation she had had with Megan, several nights prior. She had been at the house, alone, Connell had taken the kid
s into town for ice cream and she had stayed behind, needing a little time to herself. Megan had showed up unexpectedly, and as soon as the older woman had walked through the door she could tell she was in a pissy mood.

  Without even a “hello” she had asked, “How long do you plan on staying here?”

  She had gotten a little angry over the brusque, rude greeting, and had replied testily, “I plan on staying for as long as Connell and the children need me. Why?”

  “Listen, I appreciate everything you’ve done for them, I really do, but it’s time Connell stood on his own two feet again, how else is he going to be able to find another suitable wife? He will eventually get the…urge to start courting again, you know. He can’t do that with you here, for obvious reasons.“