But Autumn could only cry—afraid that she might vomit because of the nausea his touch was causing to writhe in her stomach.
“But now…somewhere along the way, you stopped playin’ with me,” he continued. “Well, I ain’t ready to stop playin’ with you, Autumn Lake. You get that?”
He pressed his body harder against her own, even though she would’ve thought it was impossible. The sensation was vile, and all she could do was to pray for escape. All she could think about was Gentry and how angry he would be—how disgusted—if he knew what Riley was doing to her now.
“Autumn?” It was her mother’s voice. Vaden was calling from the boardwalk in front of the store. “Autumn?”
“Remember, darlin’…not a word,” Riley said. “Not one whisper.” He removed his hand from her face and crushed his mouth to hers, forcing her lips to part as he inflicted the most depraved, intrusive, vulgar, blasphemous kiss upon her.
She felt her stomach begin to heave with disgust and revulsion—heard her mother call her name again—and when Riley finally released her, growling, “Not a word, Autumn,” she ran from him—ran toward the back of the general store, to the old burn barrel her Uncle Dan kept there. And that was where she deposited the contents of her stomach, spitting and sobbing until she at last caught her breath.
She hurried to the rain barrel, washing her face and rinsing her mouth, as her mind frantically searched for some explanation she could give her parents for her appearance. And what of Gentry? She was ruined for him now! Riley had forced her into being the recipient of his vile kiss and made her a liar for necessity’s sake.
“Autumn?” her mother called as she rounded the corner to the back of the house. “Darling!” she exclaimed upon seeing Autumn’s condition. “What happened? Are you all right? Sweetie! What happened?”
“I-I think it was that wind-fell apple I ate before we came to town,” Autumn lied as tears streamed over her face. “I was so sick…so suddenly…and so sick, Mama,” she wept. “B-but I’m feeling much better now. Really. It’s passin’ now.”
“Oh, honey…are you sure?” her mother asked.
Autumn nodded. But as her father rounded the corner as well, she wasn’t so certain she could carry the charade far enough to sneak past her father’s uncanny intuition.
“You all right, baby girl?” Ransom asked.
Autumn nodded, forced a smile—forced her tears to stop, though she didn’t know how she managed it. “Yes, Daddy,” she lied. She hated lying to him, but she wouldn’t see anyone hurt on her account. “I just…I think I had a bad apple this mornin’ or somethin’…but I’m feelin’ better now already.”
Ransom’s eyes narrowed as he studied his daughter. She was lying to him. For the first time in her life, she was lying to him. Yet something told him not to press her—not yet.
Rubbing his whiskery chin with one hand, he said, “Well, let’s get you on home so you can rest.”
But Autumn’s reaction further assured him that all was not as it should be, for she turned to him, an expression of pure desperation apparent on her pretty face, and begged, “Oh, not yet, Daddy! Not yet. G-give me a minute to freshen up a bit…to feel a little better before I let…before we head home. Mama can stay with me just for a few minutes, and then I’ll be fine. Y-you just keep Gentry in the store a little longer…and I’ll be fine.”
“Autumn…” Ransom began. But he paused when he saw the pleading—the desperate pleading in her eyes. His little girl didn’t want Gentry James to see her all red-eyed and ruffled. Oh, there was more to it—he knew there was—but he’d bide his time a while. She’d tell him when she was ready. And yet a vision of Riley Wimber suddenly entered his mind—caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up—and he had to press, “Honey…is there anything else?”
But Autumn shook her head, brushed a residual tear from the corner of her eye, and said, “Just a little tummy-ache lingerin’ from a wind-fall I ate before we came, Daddy. I’ll be fine. Just give me a few minutes, all right?”
Ransom’s eyes narrowed. He glanced to Vaden and could see that his wife wasn’t any more convinced than he was that all that was wrong with their daughter was a stomachache. But their silent understanding of one another was there—just as it always was. Vaden agreed with him. They shouldn’t press Autumn—not yet.
“All right, then, sweet pea,” Ransom said, relenting. “You and your mama just holler when you’re feelin’ better. Me and Gentry will visit a while longer with your Uncle Dan and Aunt Myra. But let’s not leave too late. Tonight’s the harvest moon, my girls. We got somewhere to be later, now don’t we?”
Autumn nodded and forced a smile. With one final glance of reassurance from Vaden, Ransom exhaled a heavy sigh and strode away.
“Are you thinking on that mess with Riley Wimber, baby girl?” Vaden asked once Ransom was out of earshot. “I wondered if coming to town today might bring those memories back a little stronger than they have been in a while.”
“I’m fine, Mama,” Autumn lied, somehow forcing an amused giggle. “I just had a bad wind-fall, I think.” Smiling and smoothing the folds of her apron skirt, she asked, “Do I look all right yet?”
Vaden smiled halfheartedly, and Autumn knew her mother still wasn’t convinced she’d only eaten a sour apple. “Give it a few more minutes, darling,” Vaden answered, however. “And why don’t you just unpin your hair and braid it? I think Gentry likes it that way.”
Autumn’s smile broadened, and she was surprised at how much better she did feel at the thought of Gentry’s preferring her hair down and braided. “Do you really think so, Mama?” she asked—and not just in an attempt to distract her mother from pressing her about what the matter was. She really wanted to know if her mother thought Gentry liked her hair braided.
Vaden nodded. “Oh, yes! I’ve noticed the way his expression softens…how he gets all calf-eyed when you take your hair down in the evenings and begin to braid it.”
Autumn blushed. “Mother, what a thing to say! Gentry James has never been calf-eyed in his life, I’m sure!”
“Oh, I’m sure he has been,” Vaden argued, however, “because I’ve seen it.”
Autumn sighed as a tiny caress of comfort began to warm her heart a bit. Her mother was so beautiful—so understanding and precious to her. She knew dang well that neither of her parents believed her windfallen apple story, but she admired and loved them all the more for not pressing her when she could not have handled being pressed. The time would come when she could confide in them about Riley Wimber, his terrorization and molestations of her. But she needed time, for she did not doubt that Riley would follow through with his threats to harm someone she loved.
“Now, why don’t you splash a little more water on your face?” Vaden suggested. “And here.” Reaching into her own apron pocket, she removed a small peppermint coin candy. “Suck on this a minute,” she said, offering the piece of candy to Autumn. “We wouldn’t want Gentry moving in to steal a kiss and knowing you’d been ill, now would we?”
“Mother!” Autumn exclaimed, though her blush was too revealing and she knew it.
“Oh, don’t ‘Mother’ me, Autumn Lake,” Vaden giggled. “Your eyes were like two shining stars when you and Gentry arrived home from your ‘walk’ yesterday, sweet pea.” Again Autumn blushed. “What?” Vaden asked then. “You don’t think your daddy and I are smart enough to know that you are entirely smitten with Mr. Gentry James?”
“Mother!” Autumn scolded, glancing around to see if anybody was within listening range.
But Vaden Lake simply arched her lovely brows in a knowing expression and said, “And as for Mr. Gentry James’s feelings where a certain young lady is concerned—”
“Don’t say anything, Mama!” Autumn interrupted. “I don’t dare get my hopes up too high. I just don’t dare.”
“Well, whyever not, sweetie?” Vaden asked. “Don’t you know that anything is possible where love is concerned?”
�
�Maybe with you and Daddy,” Autumn said. “But you and Daddy, you both knew right away…the moment you set eyes on one another.”
“No. I knew right away,” Vaden corrected. “Your daddy, however, simply knew that I was gonna scramble up his life somehow, that’s all.” She caressed Autumn’s cheek with one soft hand. “So you go on and get your hopes up, my angel. Hope is what carries us through life. All right?”
Autumn nodded and began to unpin her hair. “But he’s awful handsome, Mama,” she sighed. “Awful handsome. It just doesn’t seem real to think he could…do you know what I mean?”
But Vaden Lake laughed. “Oh, darling…if there’s a woman in all the world who knows what it’s like to be in love with a sinfully handsome man…it’s me!”
Autumn smiled. Her mother was right. Gentry was sinfully handsome, just like Ransom Lake. All at once, Autumn could see herself in her mother’s eyes—imagine Vaden so twisted up over Ransom Lake that she could hardly see straight. Somehow her mother had managed to win her daddy’s heart, even for his sinful good looks, so why couldn’t she win Gentry’s?
She tried to force the sound of Riley’s voice from her mind—tried to shut out the feel of his hands on her and his threats. And though she couldn’t change what had happened, she could avoid Riley, and she could keep a secret as well. She could handle all the nausea in her stomach—and she knew it would return. She could keep her mouth shut about what had happened, protect her family and Gentry from not only harm but worry. It was harvest season, and everyone had too many other things to worry about. As long as she didn’t mention what had happened, her family and Gentry would be safe. And as long as she was never alone in town again, she would be safe from him as well.
Therefore, Autumn decided to keep her misery, her humiliation, and the disgust she felt with herself a secret. Everyone owned scars inflicted by life. She thought of her mother’s traumatic experience of being made to believe she’d been buried alive. If her mother could endure such a terrifying ordeal, then Autumn could endure the threats Riley Wimber had made—to her virtue and her family’s well-being.
With a sigh of determination to be strong, Autumn braided her hair and pinched her cheeks, and when her face and eyes were no longer red from crying, she accepted another peppermint coin candy from her mother, and the two walked arm in arm toward the wagon. All would be well.
And yet as Gentry helped her into the back of the wagon to head for home, Autumn found herself peering down the alleyway between the general store and the tailor shop. A wave of nausea and trepidation washed over her, but she swallowed the nausea, shooed away the trepidation, and simply settled into the wagon bed.
As she looked across the bed of the wagon to see Gentry smiling at her, she couldn’t help but smile in return. Those dimples! she thought. How could Riley Wimber’s loathsome behavior and threats continue to haunt her mind when Gentry was in her line of vision?
Autumn thought for a moment that maybe the answer to the incident in the alley that she knew would haunt her dreams was sitting there across from her in the wagon. All she had to do was to see Gentry’s smile—to know he was near—and Riley Wimber and all his threats and foul kisses could not harm her.
“I’m lookin’ forward to the harvest moon,” Gentry said as Autumn’s father slapped the lines at the back of the team and the wagon lurched forward.
“Are you?” Autumn asked, smiling at him.
“Of course,” he said, his smile broadening. “After all…you’ll be there, won’t you?” he flirted.
Autumn smiled, giggled a little. Yep. Gentry James—he’d left her breathless with just one sentence. What could poison like Riley Wimber do to her when a remedy like Gentry James was near to cure anything venomous?
She thought then of how wonderful Gentry’s kiss had been the day before. Riley Wimber hadn’t kissed her; he’d pillaged her mouth! Therefore, Autumn consciously decided to forget what Riley had done to her in the alley. She would simply gaze at Gentry—bathe in the memory of his hot, moist, truly affectionate kiss. And maybe—if heaven truly cared for her—maybe Gentry would kiss her again, perhaps that very night. Perhaps whatever residual haunting Riley’s actions may do to her soul would be vanquished by Gentry. Just one of his fascinating and blissful kisses would heal her—especially if it lingered—beneath the enchantment of the harvest moon.
Chapter Ten
“Oh, Ransom, this is just the perfect place! Just the perfect place,” Vaden exclaimed. Turning, eyes as bright as candle flames, she asked Autumn, “Isn’t this the perfect spot, Autumn?”
Autumn smiled and answered, “Oh, yes! And it’s right near Jethro, Clarence, and Clementine!’ Autumn and her mother embraced, giggling together with excitement. As she glanced over to see her daddy and Gentry exchange chuckles, shaking their heads with amusement at the goings-on of women, she sighed. Each time she looked at Gentry—each time he smiled—she could almost forget what had happened in town earlier in the day. Each time her stomach would churn at the thought of Riley Wimber’s mouth to hers—each time fear would leap in her bosom—Autumn found that all she needed to do was to gaze at Gentry a moment, and her soul would settle a bit.
“So let’s spread out the old picnic quilt right here, Ransom,” Vaden instructed, pointing to an area where the ground was clear of pumpkins and waning pumpkin vines. “Just right here in front of Jethro.”
“All right, honey,” Ransom said, still smiling. “Wanna help me here a minute, Gentry?”
“You bet,” Gentry answered.
Autumn sighed as she watched Gentry help her daddy spread the old picnic quilt over the ground. It was going to be a beautiful moonrise—simply beautiful. She winced a moment as Riley Wimber’s image popped into the forefront of her mind. But when she looked up, it was to see Gentry grin and wink at her.
“So you all do this every year?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah!” Ransom assured him. “Every year since Vaden and I got married…if the weather’s holdin’, that is, and if the clouds aren’t tryin’ to ruin it.”
“I’ve never even seen the harvest moon,” Gentry admitted aloud. Of course, Autumn already knew the sad fact, but her mother’s gasp would’ve made a body think he’d just admitted to murder.
“Gentry James!” Vaden exclaimed. “Surely you’re only teasing us!”
But Gentry shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he assured her. “This will be my first harvest moon risin’.”
Vaden smiled. “Then I’m glad you’re seeing it with us. Aren’t you, Autumn?”
“Absolutely,” Autumn said. “You’re bound to have a better time of it with the Lakes than you would any other family.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that one moment.” Again he winked at Autumn.
Oh, how she wished she could simply throw herself into his warm embrace! Somehow Autumn knew that, were she bound in Gentry’s arms, all the ugliness she’d endured in Riley Wimber’s would disappear. Autumn glanced to her mother and, for the first time in her entire life, realized that there was someone else she’d rather watch the rising of the harvest moon with—someone other than her beloved parents. The thought disturbed her. She’d always watched the harvest moon rise with her family. Every year the Lakes would haul the old picnic quilt and a basket of pumpkin cookies out to the edge of the apple orchard or into the best clearing in the pumpkin patch and watch the beautiful golden moon of autumn rise. It had been a favorite event for Autumn Lake for as far back as she could remember. To Autumn, the family harvest moon outing was, in many ways, as wonderful as Christmas Eve. Thus, as she inwardly scolded herself for having such a selfish thought as wishing she could linger with only Gentry beneath the large, warm “pumpkin in the sky” (as her mother liked to call it), Autumn realized the time had come to admit something to herself. The time had arrived for her to admit to herself that she was thoroughly in love with Gentry. She didn’t just like him or favor him above any other man she’d ever known. She wasn’t just infatuated by his charming ways a
nd unfairly good looks. Autumn had fallen in love with Gentry the moment she’d looked into the deep blue of his eyes as his head lay in her lap when he’d fallen from his horse that first day.
Autumn’s mother had always claimed that she herself had known she’d love Ransom Lake the moment their eyes had met in town on Vaden’s first day there. Though Autumn had wholeheartedly believed her mother’s story when she’d been a child, growing up had tainted her child’s faith, and she had, at times, wondered if her mother were exaggerating about the way she felt when she first saw Handsome Ransom Lake.
But now—now Autumn knew the truth—and with eternal certainty. Just as Vaden Valmont had known she loved Ransom Lake the moment she’d seen him, Autumn Lake had known Gentry James would own her heart the moment he’d fallen off his horse and looked up at her.
It was frightening to admit. For even though Gentry had her kissed the day before—more than kissed her, made love to her, Autumn realized as she reflected again on their moments in the bridge—it was so implausible that he would love her. Men were different than women, after all—creatures of physical strength and drive—while women were far more prone to lead with their heart rather than their fist.
Autumn was in love with Gentry! After a mere few weeks and one rainy half an hour spent kissing in the old covered bridge, she was admitting to herself that she was desperately in love with him! No other reason could account for her wishing she were alone with him at that moment in the pumpkin patch. No other reason could account for the fact that she often thought she would die when spring came and Gentry rode away from her.
As she watched her mother place the basket of pumpkin cookies on the picnic quilt, watched her father head over to Jethro to check on his ripening progress, watched Gentry striding toward her, his handsome face so perfectly embellished with two charming dimples, she knew she could not live without him. That somehow she must make him love her.
The Haunting of Autumn Lake Page 14