"What?" Ashley was now tense. Was he going to confess that he subdued her and killed her for his own safety?
"And abusive. I tried to hide it from Jorja when she was growing up but she has seen her mother in various states of... er... agitation. It wasn't until a year and a half ago when Rosalie pulled a knife on Jorja for not washing the dishes that I realized that something had to be done. She was getting worse. She would hurt somebody if she wasn't stopped. So I arranged for a vacation."
"Oh God," Ashley put her head in her hands.
"And we met in that accident," Ruel finished weakly.
Ashley hung her head. She couldn't look at him. "Did you kill her?"
"No." Ruel sighed. "No. I did not. Ashley, look at me."
Ashley slowly held up her head. It felt heavier than her body.
"Do you seriously think that I could with a clean conscience lead God's people if I were a murderer?"
"I don't want to think so," Ashley whispered. "But I can't help but think that her death was too convenient and our meeting after that even more so."
Ruel sighed. "About that. I have always wanted to confess this to you."
"What?" Ashley stiffened again.
"I saw you before that convention. I saw you at your store. You were walking to your car. I was passing by and I stopped and watched you for a long time, while you moved something from your car and back again and I sat there and I wished that I was single and we could talk. I noticed that you had no ring on your finger. I even inquired about you and heard that you were a divorcee."
"Really? How long ago was this?" Ashley's heart was doing that weird tripping thing again when she was nervous.
"Two years ago." Ruel moved before her and held her hands in his. "Ashley, I think we were meant to be together. I love you with all my heart. I can't imagine a day in my life without you in it."
Was this two years ago when he was planning to kill his wife? Ashley's hands trembled in his. And Ruel lifted them to his lips.
"You are so beautiful and kind and all mine." Ruel kissed his way up to her arms but Ashley wasn't feeling anything, really. He reached her lips and was breathing hard by the time Ashley registered what he was doing.
She pushed him away.
"Not tonight, Ruel. I have a million and one things on my mind right now."
She walked toward the room, a heavy, listless feeling in her stomach. Something was not right here. Something was definitely off.
*****
They went to pick up Jorja a day later. Ashley had spent the day before avoiding Ruel. She had picked up Ariel and Alisha and they had spent almost all day shopping. He had disappeared till late in the evening. He had also slept in the guest room and he was looking wounded, as if she had done something wrong to him.
As far as Ashley was concerned he should be happy that she was coming back with him to Primrose Hill. She was still not sure about his account of the Rosalie story and she was even further in doubt when Nadine had urged her to get the story straight before she became another dead wife.
Lord, this is not good, Ashley breathed under her breath and glanced at Ruel. He looked the same, tall handsome fine features; he smelled the same, Brut perfume; but he was not the same to her anymore. It was amazing how her emotions had been tied up in him when she had thought that he was perfect and good. Now she wasn't even sure that she loved him!
She now was looking on Ruel as her punishment for crimes past, not the redemption that she had expected him to be.
Had she really loved him or had she been grateful somebody, a man of the cloth, could hear her story and still want to marry her? But as she was finding out, there were no guarantees with men. She only had God to depend on.
Also, a little part of her was thinking that she deserved this, a flawed man; after all, she had thrown away her first marriage in a fit of selfishness, strung her husband along for years and literally broke him down.
Seeing Brandon happy and contented with Nadine and growing her children she had thought was torture, but this was her real punishment. She was with a potential wife killer. Maybe she was next, as Nadine had implied, and maybe she deserved it.
They drove up to the curving driveway of the Kincaids’ house and were met at the front by Norma, who was not looking pleased. She was also uncharacteristically underdressed in a dress that looked stained and washed out, and her hair was in a loose bun.
She greeted them abruptly. "Ruel, Ashley. Sorry for my appearance; I was about to dye my hair."
Ashley smiled. She had never really given it thought that in order to maintain her jet-black hair Norma must have done something to it. After all, she was fifty.
"Listen," Norma said, "your girl, Jorja, is pregnant."
Ashley gasped and leaned on the car.
Ruel was looking at Norma as if she had two heads.
"Yup. Pregnant." Norma shook her head. "I caught her chucking up her food this morning. I forced her to take a pregnancy test this afternoon and it was positive. She claims she is four weeks along."
Ruel hadn't spoken yet but his face was a picture of surprise. "Who could it...where is she?"
Norma pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Downstairs packing. I asked her who was the father and she started crying. I don't know, maybe you can get it out of her. If I were you I would get in front of this. That is how you handle problems, slam them down before they can grow into bigger problems."
Norma was almost shaking with indignation. "Can I tell you how utterly embarrassing for you this will be, Ruel?"
"Yes," Ruel sighed, "I imagine it will be an embarrassment. People will wonder how can I lead the church when I can't rule my own house. I say find out who the father is and then get them married as soon as possible."
"Maybe we are jumping ahead here," Ashley said, trying to inject some sanity into the situation; she had never seen Norma so worked up. "We should talk to Jorja first, before we talk marriage and all of that."
Norma snorted. "When my girls were that age they didn't even know what sex was; now your girl, the pastor’s kid, is doing it. Preposterous, I tell you."
Ruel sighed.
He looked totally trampled on, like he was at a loss as to what to do. Ashley's heart melted. She hated seeing him this confused but she didn't move to comfort him. Maybe Jorja's pregnancy was the least of his worries right now.
Chapter Thirteen
"Whose child is it, Jorja?" They were all sitting in the living room. Jorja had just finished a dramatic crying jag that Ashley suspected was not totally real. She was making sounds without looking remotely sorry.
Ruel was holding on to his temper by a thread. Ashley watched as he clenched his hands together and then unclenched them.
"I didn't even know that you were having sex. I stupidly thought that..." his voice trailed away. "You are going to tell me who this guy is, or you can’t live here anymore."
"Ruel!" Ashley said, alarmed.
"That's just the way it is going to be," Ruel said harshly. He was livid. "She's old enough to get pregnant. She's old enough to live on her own."
"But Daddy!" Jorja started crying afresh. "I don't know who the father is. It could be anybody. I like men. I sleep with them. They tell me that I am pretty."
Ruel's face took on a crazed mask that made even Ashley afraid.
"Give me names," Ruel gritted out. "Names. Now."
Jorja seemed as if her whole body was trembling. "There is Oliver..."
Ashley closed her eyes and shook her head. Oliver Allen--she had expected more from him. Honey Allen was going to go crazy; he was her prized baby, her sheltered only son.
"Who else?" Ruel asked harshly.
"Conroy and Owen—oh and the guy I do music lessons with, Gary."
Ruel was frozen speechless.
Ashley had to intervene now though, before Ruel did something foolish. She was feeling as shell-shocked as he was. "Conroy Coke and Owen Kincaid…"
"Jorja, go to your room now," she said hoarsely.
"Go now!"
Jorja scrambled up and almost ran to her room.
Ruel clutched his heart and then slumped in the sofa. "I can't process this...my daughter is a slut...this is my fault, all of this is my fault. I need to go…"
Ashley watched as he stumbled toward the study. She was left in the hall with a bemused expression on her face.
****
Breakfast was a solemn affair, filled with tension. Ruel's eyes were red, it seemed as if he hadn’t slept, and Jorja hunched over her cereal, looking as if someone had whipped her within an inch of her life.
Ashley was also feeling weary; she hadn't slept all that well last night either. She had been running through the names of the men who Jorja had said were potentially her baby's father. It just seemed bizarre.
The kitchen was silent except for the clanking of the spoons on the bowls. Ruel wiped his mouth and said to Jorja quietly, "I know you were lying last night just to make me mad. Now just be honest and tell me who it is that knocked you up."
Ashley almost smiled at the term that Ruel used. He must be off his game to be using words like 'knocked up’. She had never heard him talk like that before.
"Jorja!" He slammed his fist down on the table, which made both Ashley and Jorja jump. "You can't go around trying to destroy the reputations of these men. It is malicious. Now tell me, who is it that you had sex with? Was it Oliver Allen?"
Jorja nodded, her head almost down in her plate.
Ruel got up. "Well then, I am going to have a talk with Honey Allen today."
Jorja didn't move. She was still hunched over like a dog that had been kicked too many times and didn't have the energy to respond.
"Maybe I should go with you," Ashley suggested.
"Okay." Ruel wiped his hand over his face in a gesture of defeat. "I want to catch Honey before she leaves for work."
****
Oliver was in the greenhouse when he heard the commotion at the front of the house. His mother was yelling "No! No! No!" at someone, like she had just heard devastating news.
He dropped the water can and ran around to the sound of her voice.
He was shocked to see Pastor Ruel and Sis Ashley in the front yard. Pastor Ruel didn't look so good. He looked ruffled. His tie was askew and Ashley looked troubled.
Her eyes connected with his and he read discomfiture and disappointment. He wondered what he had done. He didn't have to wonder long.
His mother turned around and looked at him. She was quivering. Oliver knew what that meant. She was seriously angry. He ran through all of the things that he could have possibly done and he couldn't come up with anything. At least not anything that would involve the pastor and his wife.
"Oliver Nathan Allen." His mother spit out his full name. "Did you have sex with Jorja Dennison?"
Oliver froze. His eyes swung from his mother to the pastor and then to Ashley.
"No." His voice was weak when he said it and he could almost see the doubt flashing across his mother’s face. "No!" He said it louder and stronger.
His mother staggered where she stood and she inhaled and then exhaled loudly.
"Well Pastor, you heard, my son is not a potential candidate for your daughter's paternity lottery. Maybe you should check Owen Kincaid or Conroy Coke."
Ruel looked at Ashley and then back at Honey. "What are you talking about?"
"I saw things," Honey said, "that have me drawing certain conclusions. I was even going to talk to you about your daughter's obvious and blatant flirtations with these men."
Honey looked at Ashley scornfully. "And you as female guardian—you let that young girl out of the house in the tightest of jeans and t-shirts. She was acting like a mini-whore around Conroy and we saw what looked to be Owen's vehicle parked at the side of the road, with her presumably in it!"
Jorja was pregnant. Oliver felt a tinge of disappointment and then incredulity; she had really slept with one of those old men.
He had felt dirty even thinking about the possibility of sleeping with Jorja when he had seen her flitting around the office and now here it was, a reality.
Pastor Ruel did not say a word. He walked back to the car, his back ramrod straight, like someone who was dealt the harshest blow and didn't know what to do. Oliver felt like going to offer some comfort but he doubted that that would be welcomed right now.
Ashley lingered though. She looked at Honey. "I am sorry about this. Jorja had a list of men that could have been her baby's father. Oliver's name was first."
Honey grunted. "Just don't drag my son's name into any of this mess. Don't include Oliver's name with that girl’s. I mean it."
"I understand." Ashley looked at Oliver. "Sorry again."
Oliver nodded. "It's okay. I wonder why she said me, though; she hardly spoke to me these past couple of weeks."
"That's because she was busy doing other things with other people. She might be hiding the identity of the real father too." Honey snorted. "If it is Conroy's so help me, I'll kill him. As for Owen Kincaid, I am sure Norma would do the same. Do us all a favor, Ashley, and tell Pastor Ruel to be very sure before he goes hunting for the father."
Ashley nodded again and then looked over at the garden. "I seriously love those yellow flowers."
"They are daffodils." Oliver volunteered the information because his mother still looked as if she was steaming.
"They are gorgeous on the walkway," Ashley said appreciatively. "You know there was a poem about them, called the Daffodil Poem? I only remember the lines "I wandered lonely as a cloud, That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils…"
"I know it too. We had to recite it at school. It’s by William Wordsworth," Oliver grinned. "I can give you a couple of plants."
"Thank you, Oliver." Ashley smiled at him. "I am very happy that you are not mixed up in this situation."
Honey lost her militant stance when Ashley said that. Her hands, which were curled in defiance, fell to her side.
"Goodbye." Ashley walked toward the gate, stopping to look at the plants before getting into the car.
His mother looked at Oliver when they drove off. "You are sure that you never touched this girl?"
"Yes." Oliver rolled his eyes. "Unless I was asleep or something."
Her lips trembled a tiny bit, a barely perceptible movement, that showed how the news must have affected her.
"Do you think Conroy slept with her?"
"I don't know, Mom."
"But you think it's possible?" Honey whispered.
Oliver sighed. "I don't know. I just don't know."
Chapter Fourteen
Church again. Regina slid into the back row and looked around. The attendance was looking more scanty than usual this morning.
She had left Primrose Hill exactly five weeks ago but she hadn’t missed it. She had vowed not to come back but unfortunately she had left her things in the guesthouse, including her house keys. She knew that Lynette would be at church and sitting at the back. It was her usual place.
She was just going to pick up her keys and collect her things, especially her beloved expensive camera that was in her suitcase, and then leave. She had two more weeks of vacation. She would spend it in a place that was not so dangerous to her well-being.
The doctor had told her that she had shown an acute reaction to something up here and that she should be very cautious with everything until she could figure it out. She was not going to take that chance again.
She slid beside Lyn, who gave her a broad, happy smile. It struck Regina that Lyn maybe the only person in Primrose Hill that would give her that welcoming smile.
Ashley obviously had not taken her warnings about Ruel seriously and was still with him. She had gone out on a limb and appealed to Brandon, of all the people in the world, to talk some sense into her but she had not heeded the warning.
She was sorry that she had intervened in Ashley's twisted, messed-up world. She didn't want somebody who wo
uld prefer to stay with a murderer than come with her. Even though she loved Ashley to the point of obsession and would do anything for her, this exit strategy for Ashley was something she would have to put on hold for now.
"Hey you," Lyn whispered, "you missed a lot while you were gone."
Regina frowned. "Like what?"
Lyn chuckled. "Jorja, the pastor's daughter, is pregnant."
Regina groaned. "Don't tell me that the father is Oliver. I liked him."
"Oliver? No." Lyn shook her head. "Girl...you'll be surprised when you hear this but my friend Hilma who works at the clinic overheard Honey Allen on the phone asking Conroy Coke if he was the one responsible for the pregnancy. Apparently there are several candidates."
Regina's eyes widened.
"And the first elder’s name is on the list." Lyn almost smacked her lips in glee. "Owen Kincaid is in trouble."
"No," Regina whispered, "that can't be true."
"I more than believe it." Lyn's eyes were shining with excitement. "Didn't I tell you that I saw his computer? He loves teenage girls. He has all sorts of naked young girls on there; they look like they are barely of age. Maybe he is acting out his fantasies."
"That's sad," Regina murmured, "if it's true. I don't take delight in hearing these kind of things, Lyn."
"But then again it could be Conroy Coke," Lyn said, ignoring Regina. "He has been celibate for years. Maybe the celibacy got too much for him."
"Lyn!" Regina growled. "I just want my keys. I am going to get the rest of my things and go. There's a yacht party I want to attend tonight. I need to get back in Kingston before they leave the harbor."
Lyn cut her eyes at Regina. "You have become a sour puss. Don't you realize that the mighty Kincaids are about to fall? Didn't you say you were going to out them?"
"I don't care about them anymore," Regina said. "If there is a God, he will surely not allow this lot to be working in his church. He will reveal all some day."
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