Behind the Altar: Behind the Love Trilogy (15 page)

“The appliances are so
beautiful,” Leah said to Susie as they sat on the porch rocking and drinking
iced tea. After she’d served lunch, she stopped by the barn, but everyone was
gone for the day. The appliances were all in place. It meant she didn’t have to
face Dean, but it also meant she couldn’t share her pleasure with him.

“I’ll try and get
over there tomorrow to see,” Susie said. “You must be so excited.”

“I am.” Leah stared
out onto the front lawn that needed mowing.

“You don’t sound like
it.”

“I’m very happy with
the appliances, but things are a little out of control with Dean and me. I’ve
made a mess of things.”

“Join the club. Reggie
and I had a big fight last night about Mable or rather why he never told me he
was with her.”

“That was a long time
ago, Susie. You two weren’t even together when it happened. What does it
matter?”

Susie rocked and
looked out at the same neglected lawn.

“I need to get out
there and mow. It doesn’t matter, except Mable was someone who came into
conversations quite often in the early years of our relationship. She was a mess,
and it was so awful when she killed herself.”

“I have an idea,”
Leah said. “Let’s go down to the tavern and have supper. You’re not going to
mow today, and you can tell Reggie you forgive him for whatever you think he
did. Besides, he said he had some supplies for me he can’t use.”

“I guess we could do
that. He’s serving spaghetti and meatballs tonight—my favorite.”

“Then let’s go.” Leah
really did want to get the supplies, and a part of her hoped Dean would be
there having dinner. She wanted to apologize to him as well.

“What about Dean?”
Susie said. “He could be there.”

“That’s all right. I
need to apologize to him, too.”

When they walked into
the tavern, only a few tables were filled with folks spiraling spaghetti onto
their forks. Charlie sat at the bar. Dean was nowhere in sight, even though
Leah had seen his bike outside. She decided he must be in the bathroom.

They sat at the bar,
and Reggie came over to them. Susie and he looked at each other, and Leah felt
as if she was intruding.

“Reggie, I came to
get those supplies you mentioned,” Leah said more to break the tension than
anything. “Are they in the back?”

“In the storage room
off the kitchen,” he said. “The boxes are in the center of the room with your
name on them.”

“I’ll start loading
them into the van while we’re waiting for dinner,” Leah said as the two
continued to stare at one another. “I’ll have the special, and to celebrate,
I’ll even have a glass of wine. You choose what kind because I don’t have a
clue.”

“This is quite a
night,” Susie said. “Bring out your best red.”

“You’re my best red,”
Reggie said as he reached for Susie’s mop of red curls. “Don’t you ever forget
it.”

Leah rolled her eyes
and jumped off the stool. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to coo at one another
while I do the heavy lifting.”

“Get Dean to help you
out,” Reggie said. “He’s probably in the bathroom.”

As she headed for the
storeroom, the door swung open almost hitting her in the face. Sally Jean barreled
past her, buttoning her blouse over a red lace bra. When she saw Leah, she
started laughing.

“This is good. You
came just in time. I was just the opening act,” Sally Jean said. “He’s all
yours. You two deserve one another.”

Leah stared after her
wondering what she meant, but she didn’t have to wonder long when she walked
into the storage room to see Dean buckling his belt. She looked up at his face
and saw a red welt over his cheek.

“Leah, what are you
doing here?” Dean asked as he moved toward her.

“Get away from me.
Sally Jean? You did it again; you went from me to Sally Jean in one day.”

“It’s not like that,”
he said. “Nothing happened. I got a little drunk, but then nothing happened.
What do you care? You ran off this morning back to my brother, as if nothing
happened last night.”

“If I could take it
back, I would. I can’t believe I came down here to apologize to you.”

“Let me explain. I
was so angry at you this morning when you left like that. I did something
stupid by coming down here, but I didn’t do anything with Sally Jean.”

“You bastard,” she
said. “You expect me to believe you after seeing you practically with your
pants down? You’re as bad as Geraldine and Jacob said you were. They both
warned me, but I took up for you. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

She turned and walked
out of the room fighting the tears that threatened to overflow onto her cheeks.
She would not allow him to see her tears. As much as it hurt her, Dean had
taken care of the biggest dilemma of her life. She knew what she needed to do,
and she needed to do it before she changed her mind.

She walked out the
front door and went straight to the van. She pulled out of the parking lot,
forgetting about the supplies, her dinner, and Susie. All she could see was the
red of Sally Jean’s bra and Dean’s hands on his belt buckle when she walked
into the room.

Leah drove to the
parsonage. Jacob answered the door on the second ring of the doorbell.

“Hi Leah,” Jacob
said. “I was in the kitchen getting dinner. Want to join me?”

Leah didn’t answer.
She reached up and put her arms around Jacob’s neck and pulled him down close
to her. She began kissing him, and he pulled her inside and shut the door.

“What’s this all
about?” he asked.

“I think it’s about
time for us to figure things out,” she said. “I’m not sure we can make a
decision about our future unless we figure out if this is even going to work.”

Jacob leaned down and
kissed her. He inserted his tongue tentatively into her mouth, as if asking
permission. Her mouth opened wide to welcome him. She pressed against him.

“Let’s go into your
room,” she whispered when they pulled apart.

“Are you sure?” he
asked.

She nodded her head
and looked at him with tears glistening in her green eyes. “Yes, Jacob. I’m
sure.”

They walked back to
the bedroom single file. When they were behind closed doors, they each began
undressing without speaking. Jacob gasped when he saw Leah naked in front of
him.

“You’re beautiful,”
he said. “I never imagined how beautiful.” He continued to stare at her as if
unsure what to do next. He’d only managed to remove his shirt, revealing a
white chest devoid of hair and very little in the way of muscle.

She walked toward him
and began undoing his pants, and she immediately noticed he was soft.

“Is there anything
wrong?” she asked.

He turned from her
and went to sit on the bed. His pants were unzipped but still remained up
around his hips.

“Leah, I don’t think
I can do this,” he said.

“Why not? Is it me?”

“No, it’s not you.
Absolutely not. That’s how bad this is. You are the most beautiful woman with a
body sculpted by God and that thick hair. Any man would be all over you right
now. But I’m not any man.”

“What is it, Jacob?”

“I’m damaged goods,
Leah. She did this to me.” He pointed down at his flaccid penis.

“I don’t understand. Who?
Geraldine?”

He winced when she
said the name. He kept his eyes scrunched closed.

“What did she do to
you?”

“Please leave.”

Leah began putting
her shorts and tank top back on, but she knew she couldn’t leave him like this.
“Did she hurt you?”

“I can’t get excited,
unless it’s with her,” he said with his head in his hands. He started sobbing.

“Jacob, it’s not your
fault. She’s a monster, and we need to get you help.”

“No, I can’t tell
anyone else about this; promise me, Leah.”

“I promise, but I’m
not going to abandon you, either. Is this the first time you tried it with
someone else?”

“No, but I thought
with you it might be different,” he said. “And when you kissed me at the door,
I felt something stirring, and then when we came back here, it all stopped.”

“Is this the room
where she did things to you?”

“Yes. Ever since Dean
left.”

“I am so sorry,
Jacob. So very sorry, but maybe it’s the room, this house.”

He shook his head.
“I’ve tried with others in different places. It’s always the same.”

Leah let it rest
about who the others might be, but a picture of Sally Jean in her red bra came
to mind. She hoped she wasn’t one of the “tries” he’d had.

“You need to get on
with your life, Leah. Don’t worry about me.”

“Jacob, I think your
father knew, and that’s why he left you the money to get help and to get away.
That’s what you have to do. I know you don’t want to tell anyone else what
happened, but let’s find a really good therapist—you can afford the very best
in the world—and then you can decide if you want to share anything. This isn’t
the life you want, is it?”

He looked at her with
tears running down his face. “I don’t know any other way. Since I was fifteen,
Leah. Fifteen. Ten years of my life with my father right here in the house, and
then when I was the minister. Even with you here.”

“It continued after I
moved in?”

“She said we needed
you, so no one would ever suspect how we felt about one another.” He shook his
head and scrunched up his mouth. “She thought I loved her as much as she said
she loved me. She said it was God’s plan for us to be together that way.”

“And you believed
her? God doesn’t work that way.”

“I didn’t know what
to believe. You helped me finally stand up to her, but I live in fear she’s
going to come back. I changed all the locks, and they’re going to put locks on
the windows later this week. I installed a security system, too.”

“Do you think she’s
dangerous?”

“Before she left, she
told me she was going to kill us all:  You, Dean, and me,” he said. “She said
she’d do it when we least expected it.”

“We need to tell the
police, Jacob. We can’t handle this on our own. Have you contacted the police?”

“I don’t think they’d
believe me. The Sheriff is a good friend of Geraldine’s.”

“We have to find
someone who will listen. I’m going to ask Reggie. I don’t have to tell him
anything besides the threat. Reggie will help us. He’s a good friend.”

Jacob gave her a weak
smile and nodded.

“Are you going to be
all right here alone?” Leah asked. “You could come and stay at Susie’s tonight,
until the windows are secured.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll
turn on the security system after you leave.”

“OK, I’ll call you
later,” Leah said.

“Leah, I think we
should break off our engagement. I never could have married you. I don’t feel
anything but friendship for you. I know you feel something for Dean; and he
already declared his love for you. Why don’t you go to him?”

“I would, but I think
it’s too late.” Leah said.

She gave him a kiss
on the cheek. He walked her to the door, and she heard the click behind her as
she went to the van.

Leah drove back to
Susie’s house. She wasn’t sure she could face the tavern and Dean tonight. She
called Susie when she saw she wasn’t home yet.

“Do you need me to
come pick you up?” Leah asked.

“What happened? You
flew out of here and didn’t even take the supplies.”

“I needed to see
Jacob. I forgot that I told him I’d come over tonight. Is Dean still there?”

“Dean? No, he left
awhile ago. Why?”

“No reason, I just
wondered if he took the supplies.”

“On his bike? No, I
don’t think he took them. What’s going on? You sound funny.”

“I’ll be there in a
minute then. I need to talk to Reggie.”

“OK, but I drank your
merlot. It was pretty good.”

When Leah made it
back to the tavern, the place was almost empty except for Susie at the same
stool with a glass half-filled with wine in front of her. Reggie stood behind
the bar. He straightened up when Leah walked toward them.

“Leah, I didn’t think
the meatballs were that bad,” Reggie said when she hopped up on the stool next
to Susie.

“I’m sorry. Are there
any left? I haven’t eaten anything today, and I’m starving.”

“Sure, I can get you
a plate,” Reggie said. “I’ll be right back.”

“What happened?”
Susie said as soon as Reggie walked in the back. “Why did you leave?”

“Dean. I caught him
and Sally Jean in the storeroom. He was buckling his belt, and she was
buttoning her blouse.”

“That’s why she left
so suddenly,” Susie said. “I thought she didn’t want to see me because she’s
been flirting so much with Reggie.”

“I went to see
Jacob,” Leah said. “I really need some advice from Reggie.”

“And here I thought I
was your best friend,” Susie said. She raised her glass for a sip. “What’s
going on? What happened with Jacob?”

“Nothing. He told me
something.”

Reggie came bearing a
plate heaped with spaghetti and meatballs. “Now you tell me if this isn’t the
best thing you’ve eaten in awhile.”

“It’s the only thing
I’ve eaten in awhile, so it’s bound to be the best,” Leah said as she stabbed
her fork into a meatball. She chewed for a few minutes, while Reggie watched.

“It’s the best
meatball I’ve ever had,” she said, and Reggie grinned.

“Do you want that
glass of wine now?” he asked.

“Better not. I need
to ask your advice.” She swirled spaghetti around her fork and stuffed it in
her mouth before continuing. “Remember when you said Geraldine threatened you
back when Dean left town?”

“Sure, she came at me
with all her claws out.”

“What did you do? Did
you report her to the police?”

“No, I just kept my
mouth shut. Why?”

“You know about the
will, right?” When Reggie nodded, she continued. “Afterwards, she told Jacob
she was going to kill Dean, him, and me. Jacob’s spooked but thinks it’s
useless to report because she’s friends with the Sheriff.”

“Not anymore,” Reggie
said. “I heard she tried to have Dean arrested when he came back, and the
Sheriff refused. She threatened him, too, and he had her thrown out of his
office, telling her he’d arrest her if she ever came back.”

“Then he’d probably
take the threats she made seriously?” Leah asked.

“Probably so. I think
you’d better get it on record,” Reggie said. “I’ll be staying at the house with
you two, but what about Dean? We should probably warn him.”

“Let Sally Jean tell
him,” Leah said with her mouth full of another meatball.

Reggie raised his
eyebrows, and Susie shook her head.

“I’m going to call
him,” Reggie said. “Don’t you two leave here until I close up. I’m going to
follow you back to the house.”