Past Forward- A Serial Novel: Episode 15 (3 page)

“
Well, we can
’
t build a dog house tonight
.”

“
We can
’
t plow up a field either.
Too much work for so late.
We can do that Wednesday.
Tonight, why don
’
t we work outside on flower beds, the garden, rotate the fields for the animals…
”

Already, Chad felt lost
,
but his Willow was back.
She folded the tablecloths from the line and handed him a new basket
of wet ones
.
“
Why don
’
t you hang these and I
’
ll walk around and see what we need to do first
.”

Until twilight, they worked.
Chad rotated animals and picked weeds in her immense gardens.
The space was twice the size of the previous year
,
and it took all evening to get all of the weeds and tomato worms out of the garden
, even
working as quickly as he could.

Meanwhile, Willow scrubbed down th
e porch, weeded the flower
beds, and though it didn
’
t look much different, felt satisfied as moonlight replaced sunlight
. S
he stood up and dusted her hands, contented.
“
Well, that
’
s a good day
’
s work
.”

“
Well, especially for Sunday
—”

“
Oh!
”
Willow
’
s eyes widened.
“
Mother always thought we should limit ourselves once a week.
She wasn
’
t a strict sabbatarian
,
but she did think a day of less work was important.
I just forgot it was Sunday
.”

“
Well, we did enough.
We wouldn
’
t want to collapse in exhaustion
—”

“
Oh,
”
she interrupted excitedly.
“
But I sleep best when I
’
ve worked hard all day.
Crawl into bed, collapse, and don
’
t wake up until the sun rises.
It
’
s the best sleep ever
.”

Chad
’
s jaw attempted to drop
,
but he kept tight control over his stunned amusement.
As they climbed
the steps, he stifled chuckles, trying
to think of a way to remind her of other
possible
plans for the evening.
“
I had other ideas…
”

“
Game?
”

“
Um
—”
As delicately as he could, Chad made several suggestions for how they could spend their evening
,
which
caused Willow to blush and her eyes to grow wide
.

“
Again?
We don
’
t even know
if it worked or not
!
”

“Worked?”

She stared at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes.
“They now have ways to tell me if I’m pregnant in less than twenty-four hours?”

“Pregnant?”
He knew he sounded
like a parrot, but her words made no sense.

“That’s kind of the point of it all, right?
How can we know—”

“Oh, l
ass… we have to talk—”

Her laughter filled the room. Tears streaming down her face, she struggled for air between guffaws.
“You—oh, your—your face.”

“Why you little…”

Willow took one look at the expression on his face and ran. The hint of a limp as she thundered across the yard and vaulted the fence told him she was tired.
He
held back, waiting
.
She’d wear out soon enough, and he’d get her then.
Several times, she stumbled as she glanced over her shoulder to gauge his distance.

At the pool, she jumped—shoes and all.
Chad hesitated only long enough to kick his shoes and jeans off before he jumped in after her.
“You can’t get away from me, you know.”

“Who wants to get away from you?”
She winked.
“Especially before we know—”

“I was so confused.
I mean, I know you’ve had animals out here, so I—”

“I banked on that.”

He dunked her—twice.
She jumped on his back and
tried to get him, but found herself landing several feet away.
Willow surfaced, coughing.
“How did you do that?”

Chad laughed and swam to the bank and found a place to climb out.
“I don’t even know.
I—I just don’t know.”

“The water is cold.”

He stood on the bank and stared down at her as she treaded water and gazed up at him.
“So why are you still in it?”

“Because when I get out, I’ll be colder and you’ll just throw me back in anyway.”

The sun would be down before he could get back with dry clothes.
“So, do you want me to run for a towel or do you want to run with me to get a towel?”

After a few more seconds of observing him, she nodded to the rope.
“Throw it in.
I’ll go with you.”

To his surprise, she used the rope as an anchor to help her walk right out of the pool.
“I’ll have to swing out over it sometime.”

Landing near his feet, she shivered and pointed to his clothes.
“You might as well get dressed.
There’s no reason for both of us to freeze.
C’mon!”

They half-ran for a few minutes until Willow slowed to a stroll.
She slipped her hand in his and moved closer.
“It’s beautiful out here.
I wish it were late enough for fireflies.
We could have had an evening wedding with fireflies dancing around us like those twinkle lights Cheri put up in the greenhouse.”

“Yeah, like that made sense.
Who could see them?”

She laughed.
“That’s what I told her, but she wanted to do it.
I forgot to take them down.”

As they neared the house, she seemed to slow even more.
Chad gazed down at her, concerned.
“Lass, if you’re not ready… if it was too much too soon…”

She didn’t answer.
Willow stopped midstride and turned, wrapping her arms around him.
“I can’t believe I ever doubted that you wouldn’t understand—that you couldn’t know how to make me feel safe.
It’s so crazy.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.
I’m kind of making this up as I go
.
I just can’t stand the thought of you dreading—”

“It’s not that, Chad.
Not at all.”

“You’re hesitant to go back.
I can sense it.”

Again, she didn’t answer. Frustration filled his heart and anger welled in his spirit.
Fury at the men who had done this to her without ever speaking an unkind word or touching her in any way overwhelmed him until he feared she would notice. Two dead men and a woman in jail had warped her before she was even out of the womb. He should feel grief or compassion for the likelihood of their lost states.
All he could muster was relief, knowing that the God of mercy who would have saved them was also a God of justice.

“Remember what I joked about?” she asked at last.

“How could I forget.
I have to tell my dad about that, you know.
I just have to.”

“Go ahead.
I don’t care.”

Several more long seconds passed.
She did not speak.
“Lass?”

Again, she hesitated.
“Well, if I really thought that—just pretending I did—” her eyes rose to meet his.
“Would that make it good or bad that I would have been hoping that it didn’t quite work yet?”

A very different Willow left the sheep ranch outside New Cheltenham
,
cuddling a puppy and trying out names on her.
Chad remembered getting Saige,
and while Willow hadn
’
t been ambivalent toward the dog, she had not shown nearly as much interest in that pup as she did in this one.
Fluffy ears and puppy breath kept her mind and hands occupied for the fifty miles home.

“
She
’
s a black and white dog…
”

“
That
’
s astute of you
.”

Willow shoved him playfully.
“
Knock it off.
I think I
’
m going to name her Portia.
She
’
s as black and white as Portia
’
s interpretation of the contract in
Merchant of Venice
.”

“
Shakespeare.
You would
.”

The pup curled into her lap and settled down for a short nap.
Every mile that passed seemed etched in the story of their new life together.
Somehow
,
a change had washed over their relationship,
and yet everything was also the same.
Had they tried to explain it,
he suspected that
they both would have failed.