by Afton Locke
“Excellent,” Caleb told her. “Take it off now so Mr. Whitley can pack it up in a nice box for Mrs. Abbott.”
When they got home, he couldn’t wait to close the door behind him and shut out the nasty, bigoted world. Under his own roof, he made the rules. He hung up his hat and pulled the ring box out of his jacket pocket, hoping this moment would erase their difficult morning.
He’d dreamed of this moment for days and had even rehearsed what he wanted to say to her. They were about to come as close to marriage as they could possibly get. His mouth went as dry as a nervous schoolboy’s.
But she shook her head as she took off her coat and eyed the box in his hand. Maybe he should wait for a better time but he couldn’t rest until this ring was on her finger where it belonged. He opened the box and took the ring out.
“Pearl, honey,” he said, reaching for her hand. “This ring means—”
Tears splashed her cheeks as she shook her head harder. “Please don’t, Caleb. I don’t want that ring.”
He was so shocked he nearly dropped it. “What the hell do you mean you don’t want it?”
She put her hand to her mouth, which twisted with emotion. “It wasn’t worth it. Those men said such awful things about us and the jeweler didn’t want my black skin touching his precious merchandise. As if I’m dirty or something. I was so humiliated!”
The sick anger returned when he pictured Murdock’s mocking face and those signs on the hardware store she hadn’t even seen.
“So was I but we can’t let them ruin this.” He reached for her hand again. “Just wear it.”
“What’s the use?” She snatched her hand out of reach. “So we can have some meaningless, pretend marriage? That ring isn’t going to make all the hate go away.”
She ran upstairs and slammed the door of the small guest room. The sound of it hit him like a blow to his chest. Nearly blind with fury—at himself for putting her through such humiliation and at this lousy town—he squeezed the metal circle in his hand and then threw it against the wall as hard as he could.
* * * * *
On Sadie’s wedding day two days later, Pearl fixed her hair in the round guest room mirror, trying to think of an excuse to avoid attending. She certainly felt ill enough. After their argument about the ring, Caleb hadn’t even come home to sleep. She’d avoided his empty bedroom too, preferring this small, simple room decorated in wallpaper patterned with violets.
She looked down at the ring she now wore day and night, tracing her finger over the pearly tip. Finding it on the floor downstairs had cracked her heart into pieces. She’d knelt over it and cried, realizing how badly she must have hurt Caleb with her refusal to wear it.
He’d been about to make his deepest commitment to her yet and she’d cheated them both out of that precious moment. So what if it would be a mock marriage? The love they shared was more than most people had.
The front door opened, and predictably her body came to life with quick breaths and tingles. Fixing her hair for the last time, she put on her hat and headed down the stairs. Caleb’s face looked drawn and sick as it had before. Wherever he’d been, he hadn’t enjoyed himself.
He looked up at her from the bottom. “Where are you going all dressed up like that?”
The guarded expression on his face told her he noticed the fact she’d worn her original Sunday-best dress instead of the one he’d given her.
She stopped mid-stair and gripped the smooth banister. “It’s Sadie’s wedding day, remember? Leroy is meeting me with the boat.”
“Right. I’d forgotten.”
Hesitantly, she walked down the remaining stairs and held out her left hand, which trembled. “I want you to know I never take it off.”
Caleb hooked a finger under her hand to inspect it. “I wouldn’t have given it to you if I’d known how much pain it would cause.”
“I’m sorry, Caleb,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“I’m not hurt.”
Then why did his voice sound so dead? “But you didn’t come home for days. I worried about you.”
Realizing he wasn’t going to say much, she held him instead. The strength of his arms as they pressed her hard against him communicated what his words couldn’t.
“I want to take you to the wedding,” he said.
That was the last thing she expected. “But it’s just my family. You—”
“Wouldn’t belong? Wouldn’t feel comfortable?” he asked. “I don’t care. If we’re going to be a couple, we need to be part of each other’s families.”
Pearl touched his face lightly in wonder. “Are we taking your boat?”
“No, I’ll ride with you in Leroy’s boat since he came all this way.”
She blinked, unable to believe her ears. “Aren’t you worried about what people will think if they see you with us in a little rowboat?”
“I don’t give a damn what people will think.” He winked at her. “Besides, after what I put you through the other day, it’s the least I can do. Just give me a minute to change.”
Caleb went into his bedroom and emerged wearing a black three-piece suit with a blue silk tie. Heat raced across Pearl’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. He looked so wonderful in that suit she wanted to drag him back into the bedroom and rip it off.
“How handsome you look all dressed up,” she said.
He tugged uncomfortably at his collar. “Thank you but I don’t wear this very often. Simple clothes suit me better.”
She arched a brow. “No fancy boat, car or clothes? I thought you liked to keep up appearances.”
“To a point. If you think I have plain tastes, my brother is even worse.” He swatted her bottom. “We’d better get to that wedding.”
At Oyster Harbor’s pier, Leroy looked surprised when Caleb got into the boat but his eyes were filled with admiration and respect.
“Give me one of those oars,” Caleb said as he took his seat. “I’ll help you paddle.”
Leroy shook his head vehemently. “No, sir. I don’t reckon you should do that, Mr. Rockfield. My arms will get us there.”
Pearl was thankful Caleb’s hat and overcoat helped hide his identity. They didn’t need more trouble like they’d experienced the other day. When they neared the church, she frowned when she saw groups of people milling around outside.
“Why aren’t they all in the church?” she asked. “It’s too cold to be outside.”
Leroy pointed at the front lawn. “Could have somethin’ to do with that.”
“Oh my God,” Pearl yelled when she saw the smoking black cross.
Caleb stood, rocking the boat. “I don’t believe this.”
As soon as the boat hit land, Pearl scrambled out and ran toward the figure in the white dress.
“Oh, Sadie, what happened?” she asked as she hugged her.
Sadie’s veil fluttered in the strong breeze as tears streamed down her face. “I can’t believe the Klan is here. Why would they ruin my wedding?”
Buck, the groom, hovered nearby, looking worried as he conversed with other men in the wedding party.
Even Aunt Wilma looked shaken. “Some of our neighbors said they saw it burning last night.”
“But why?” Pearl asked as the smell of damp, charred wood burrowed into her head. “There’s been no trouble here, has there?”
“No,” Wilma replied, “and they didn’t touch the church neither. It’s like a warnin’ or something.”
Reverend Palmer joined them and eyed Caleb with wariness and suspicion. When Pearl looked at the guests, she realized they all shared his expression. Caleb looked as out of place here as she had felt in that jewelry store.
“Maybe this gentleman knows somethin’ about this,” Reverend Palmer said. “We don’t want any trouble, sir.”
Everyone stared at Caleb, wanting answers. He shook his head, looking even paler and sicker than he had the night she’d coaxed his cock to get hard.
“I don’t know who could h
ave done such a thing or why,” he announced. “I just came to attend the wedding of my housekeeper’s cousin. If I’m not welcome here, I can wait outside.”
The reverend’s eyebrows lifted and some of the suspicion vanished. “Of course you’re welcome. Let’s all go inside now and get on with the wedding.” He eyed the cross coldly. “We’ll clean this up later.”
While the others filed into the church, Pearl stayed behind with Caleb who swallowed often.
“Caleb, you look too ill to even be here. What’s wrong?” she asked but that familiar dread clawed her back again. “You know something.”
He took her arm. “Let’s go inside like the reverend said.”
“Is this the secret you’ve been keeping from me?” she asked. “Is this why you’ve been so ill and worried lately?”
She stared at the cross and back at him as realization pressed around her.
“Oh God.” She clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling sick herself as something terrible occurred to her.
“Please tell me you’re not a member of the Klan,” she said.
When he looked away instead of answering, she fell to her knees in horror.
Chapter Nineteen
Caleb rubbed his forehead. He’d never wanted to tell Pearl about the Klan. With her cousin’s wedding about to start, there wasn’t much time to explain. A burned cross was the last thing he expected to see here. Good God. What was happening to this town?
He took her hand and pulled her up. “Let’s sit on that bench over there and I’ll try to explain.”
With her hand still over her mouth, she shook her head as she followed him through crunchy orange leaves that dotted the green grass.
“I’m not a member of the Klan,” he told her. Yet.
She shivered from the cold, making her lips tremble. “But you do know something?”
He nodded and looked down at his feet. “That meeting with the mayor wasn’t about seagulls. It was about bringing the Klan to Oyster Island.”
Realization appeared in her eyes. “So that’s why you’ve been acting so strange lately. Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
He squeezed the cold hand in her lap. “I didn’t want to worry you but I wish now I had.”
She pointed to her pearl ring. “If we’re really committed, we’re supposed to share everything with each other.”
“I know and I’m sorry.” He looked at the ugly cross. “This was a hell of a way for you to find out.”
She looked at it too. “But why did they do it? There hasn’t been any trouble.”
“I believe it’s a preventive warning for the blacks and propaganda for the whites,” Caleb said.
Her hand clawed at his. “Caleb, I’m scared.”
“This activity will die down eventually.” He covered her hand with both of his and looked into her frightened eyes. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you or your family. I promise.”
He hoped it was a promise he could keep.
She looked at the church where soft strains of organ music poured outside. “We’d better get inside or we’ll miss the ceremony.”
Caleb felt chilled from his gut to his toes as he walked into the church with her. Not only had he lied to her once about the Klan, he’d just lied again. She still had no idea about the initiation.
In one mere week, he’d have to choose which side he was really on, a decision that would change their lives forever.
* * * * *
Pearl and Caleb sat in the back of the church. With her emotions already in an uproar from the burned cross, her eyes burned with tears when she watched Sadie walk down the aisle in her white dress. Leroy escorted her since Uncle Charlie was too ill to attend.
What Pearl wouldn’t give to be in her cousin’s shoes. How ironic that Sadie used to be so jealous of her. Now it was the other way around. Sadie got to marry the man she loved in front of friends and family. She and Caleb, on the other hand, had to sneak around in private. It wasn’t fair.
As Sadie and Buck recited their vows to each other, tears ran down Pearl’s cheeks. She never should have come. For some reason, she couldn’t endure this ceremony. Her muscles twitched, aching to run out of the church.
She gasped when soft cloth brushed her face. Warmth dissolved in her chest under Caleb’s kind blue gaze and smile as he dabbed her cheeks with a handkerchief. It reminded her of the day they’d met.
Without a word, he touched the pearl on her ring, as if pointing out they had a commitment just as strong as marriage. Then he held her hand, something they wouldn’t dare do in the white community.
If they married, she knew they would face a lot more than a burned cross.
After the wedding, Pearl and Caleb went to the cottage to visit Uncle Charlie. It felt strange to be there again after she’d been gone for so long. The tiny house couldn’t be more different than Caleb’s spacious one.
Wilma rushed around the cottage, straightening things up. “Mr. Rockfield, it sure is an honor to have you visit us.”
Caleb took off his hat with a flourish of respect. “I thought it was about time I got to know Pearl’s family better.”
When Pearl helped Wilma pour water into cups, the woman pointed to her left hand.
“Girl, what you got on your hand?” She bent closer and squinted at it. “That’s the biggest pearl I ever see’d.”
When Pearl exchanged a look with Caleb, he nodded. They were safe here.
“Caleb gave it to me,” she said proudly.
Wilma grinned knowingly. “Well, you must have done somethin’ right.”
Pearl’s cheeks prickled with embarrassment. Now she wished she’d taken the ring off before coming here. Her aunt probably thought she’d earned that ring in bed. Maybe she had.
“I love her,” Caleb declared as he put his arm around Pearl. “If circumstances were different, I’d marry her too.”
Wilma dropped the cup she was holding, spilling water all over the floor. Pearl looked at Caleb, stunned by what he’d just said in front of her family. She couldn’t believe he’d taken such a risk. He knew how Aunt Wilma’s innuendoes made her feel and he’d finally ended them.
She’d never loved him more than she did at that moment.
“Of course, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that our private business stays private,” Caleb added.
Aunt Wilma attacked the wet floor with a rag. “That goes without sayin’, Mr. Rockfield. We won’t say a word.”
Uncle Charlie stirred in his chair by the fire.
“He’s wakin’ up now,” Wilma told them quietly. “He tires quickly, though.”
Pearl and Caleb went to his side.
“How you doin’, child?” Charlie’s voice sounded extra rusty because he’d been asleep. “Come closer so I can get a good look at you.”
Pearl bent and kissed her uncle’s cheek, shocked at how gaunt he looked.
“Do you remember working for me a couple of years ago?” Caleb asked him.
Charlie looked lost but only for a moment. “Mr. Rockfield? You came all the way to see a sick old man?”
Caleb smiled and looked at Wilma who stood protectively close to her husband. “Do you all have everything you need?” he asked. “Are you warm enough?”
She nodded. “Them new building materials really helped out. They was from you, weren’t they?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “If you need anything else—anything at all—let me know.”
“You’re a fine man, Mr. Rockfield,” Wilma said, “even if you are white.”
Everyone laughed, including Charlie.
Leroy emerged from his room. “Are you all ready for me to take you back now?”
Pearl nodded, forgetting her earlier jealousy of Sadie’s wedding. She’d never dreamed she’d stand in this cottage in front of her family openly declaring her relationship with Caleb. The warm acceptance that surrounded them made her chest so full it nearly burst.
It was as if they were married. This
day had turned out so wonderfully she’d even briefly forgotten about the Klan.
* * * * *
A few evenings later, Pearl bustled around the kitchen, preparing oyster stew and delicate pastries. Although the tasks filled her mind, she still couldn’t stop thinking about how wonderful Caleb had been with her family. It was almost as if they’d married that day instead of Sadie.
If only the miserable cloud of the Klan didn’t hang over the house like the rain outside. Caleb still acted distracted as if he hadn’t told her everything.
He came into the kitchen and grabbed her arms as she rushed from the counter to the oven.
“Slow down,” he said. “You’re going to get so exhausted you’ll fall asleep in your plate.”
“This evening has to be perfect,” she replied. “I still can’t believe you invited your brother to dinner.”
“I thought it was time you met each other. Henry is the only family I’ve got left.”
Pearl stirred the thick, buttery stew, satisfied it was ready. Her pulse raced a hundred miles an hour and she realized the thick dress Caleb had given her wasn’t suitable for the heat of cooking.
This wasn’t her family, it was his. A strange white man would sit at the table and probably judge her. She hoped he wouldn’t be as bad as the Abbotts.
“I hope he likes me,” she said.
Caleb bent over the pot and sniffed the stew. “He’ll adore you. You two are the most important people in my life.”
Pearl set down the spoon. “What does he know about us?”
“Everything.”
That made her pulse beat even faster. Much of the time Caleb had been out of the house she knew he’d spent with his brother. They must have discussed her. It felt strange to finally see the other piece of Caleb’s life. Pride filled her chest. He must think highly of her to share it.
She gasped with shock and pleasure when two strong hands cupped her backside.
“I love the way your sweet little ass looks in this dress. Remember the fun we had when I bent you over the oven?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she exclaimed as flames of desire came to life in her abdomen.
He stroked her hip. “I’m looking forward to helping you clean up after he leaves.”