That Camden Summer (38 page)

The schoolroom door opened and Mr. Boynton stood before his pack of board members, who avoided eye contact with everyone in the hall.

"The inquiry is dropped-," he said simply. "Sorry, Mrs. Jewett."

The six school board members silently filed away, leaving behind five people with ample cause for smiles.

Gabriel hugged Roberta. Then Elizabeth. At her ear he said, "Thank you-, Elizabeth, from both of us. "

"You're welcome, Gabriel," she said, accepting the first hug he had ever given her before taking her place beside the husband who had loved her

7-

enough to stand by her through this ordeal and many others.

Daniel Harvey extended his hand to Roberta. "Mrs. Jewett, it's nice to meet you at last. I must say, I admire you already after listening to those children. I'd been brought on to defend you, but they were doing such a splendid job I wouldn't have dreamed of stepping in. Also, there's a little thing on the law books called defamation of character, and I thought if I let that school board go for a little while, they might do us a favor if we ever had to challenge them in court. Which I'm glad is not the case."

"Thank you, Mr. Harvey."

She thanked Mr. DuMoss also, then Elizabeth suggested, "Why don't we all gather at our house for a glass of sherry to celebrate? Roberta, I'd like to get to know you better. Gabriel, what do you say?"

He deferred to Roberta.

"That sounds wonderful," she decided. "But do I dare leave my girls alone?" They were all laughing even before Elizabeth replied, "The school board will probably find out and call an inquiry. "

Outside on the schoolhouse steps they encountered their children, who'd been inside when the meeting was abruptly called to an end.

Roberta opened her arms to all three ... plus Isobel. "Here they are, our obedient children who stayed home just the way we ordered them to. "

They all spoke at once.

"We did it!

"We saved you!"

"Mother, I was so proud."

"Oh, Mrs. Jewett, you won! You won!" Amid the celebrating there was a moment more somber when Roberta looked up and saw her three nieces hovering nearby. She went to them and hugged them3 too. "Marcy, Trudy, Corinda, thank you for what you said tonight." She wondered exactly what they knew about their father and hoped they were ignorant of his gravest faults, for their innocence was of far more importance than his guilt. "How is your mother?" Roberta asked.

"Just fine. "

"Will you tell her hello and give her my love?"

"Sure." "And tell her that I'm getting married soon." Corinda's eyes widened in excitement. "You are-, Aunt Birdy?"

"To Mr. Farley. But, shh! Don't spread it around here tonight. Wait till tomorrow, all right? We haven't told the girls YeCl

Corinda giggled as they parted company with Roberta's hand slipping from her niece's shoulders with a lingering melancholy. Gabriel came up behind her and sensed her sadness over the irreparable rift between her and her sister. He touched her waist and said, "It's hard not getting along with your family. I know because my mother's been standoffish all summer, and I've really missed her. But guess what." She looked back over her shoulder at his cajoling

'2n I

smile. "She came over yesterday and filled my cookie jar while I was at work."

"Oh, Gabriel, did she really?" "Ayup. "

"I'm so happy for you."

"So'm 1, actually. Think this means she's ready to meet you. Speaking of which, there's someone else here I want you to meet."

It was his sister-in-law, Aurelia, who, along with her husband, Seth, was invited to join the group heading over to the DuMosses' for libations. From Aurelia and Seth Roberta felt only open friendliness, as she did from the DuMosses. How fitting, she thought, on this night when my life takes a significant turn, that I get to know at least some of Gabriel's family.

The children strayed away in a group to walk to their various homes, leaving the adults to make their way to the DuMoss home in automobiles.

It was there, in the DuMoss parlor, after their first toast to Roberta's victorious evening, that Gabriel proposed a second toast.

"To my future wife," he said, chiming the rim of his cut-glass goblet upon Roberta's. "Three days ago Roberta consented to marry me."

Felicitations poured forth, accompanied by hugs and one seemingly sensible question from Seth. "Then why didn't you announce it earlier and save yourself all this unnecessary hell tonight?"

"She wouldn't let me," Gabriel replied.

"It's my nature to be stubborn," Roberta informed them all.

Gabe spoke into his sherry glass. "You can say that again." When the laughter had subsided he looked into Roberta's eyes while speaking to the others. "You see, she wanted to win out over the school board on her own merit, not because she would have a man to take care of her and her children in the future. But she's going to have one-, just the same."

"I can take care of myself, Gabriel Farley," she declared very clearly.

"I know you can. I've watched you doing it all summer. But two can do it better."

She grinned and said, "I'll concede to that," then touched his glass again while the others in the room looked on and felt as if they were privy to the inside workings of the relationship between Gabriel Farley and Roberta Jewett. The pair had a camaraderie that surpassed the usual fluttering hearts and damp palms of most courtships. And as for the stringent housewife-provider setup that prevailed in most marriages ... anyone in the room could see their marriage wouldn't be run that way.

She would crisscross the countryside in that sassy motorcar of hers, dressed in a white uniform. And he would probably be left to fend for himself in a house that didn't get cleaned as often as it should, and would eat late suppers inexpertly prepared, or learn to cook himself.

Elizabeth lifted her glass in an official toast. "To the future Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Farley!" And as many glasses touched, Roberta realized

she would have her first true Camden friend in Elizabeth DuMoss.

18

HEN Roberta and Gabe got back to her house that night, it was eleventhirty, the kitchen light was on and W

all four girls were eating divinity with spoons. "We tried to get it thick but our arms got tired beating it," Isobel explained. "But it's really yummy. Want some?"

"V7hat are you still doing here?" Gabe asked. These days when he questioned Isobel this way he did it almost breezily.

"I live here, didn't you know?" she replied cheekily, licking a spoon.

Gabe slung an arm loosely around Roberta's neck and said to his daughter, "Know something? You're going to. Tell 'em, Roberta."

She took a relaxed grip on his wrist and let her arm dangle from it. "Your father and I are going to get married."

"Heck, we knew that," Isobel replied, still sucking.

"Sure, we knew that," Becky seconded. "We just didn't know when," Susan added. "When, Mother?" Lydia asked.

Roberta deferred to Gabe. "When, Gabe?" "When do you want to?"

"When should we?"

Isobel answered, "Sooner the better so we can all live together."

10A

Roberta turned to Gabe again. "Where we going to live?"

"Here," he replied, as if he'd known all along. "Gonna knock a hole in that wall over there and add on a bedroom for us, and the girls can share the two rooms upstairs."

"I get Isobel in my room!" declared Susan. "Mother, does she?" Lydia whined. "I want her in nine. "

Rebecca dipped two spoons, which she handed to the adults. "Here, try some. Better get used to it, Mr. Farley, )cause sometimes that's all you get for supper around here."

"Oh, Becky, honestly," scolded Roberta, amused. "Don't tell him stuff like that. He'll believe you."

"And don't call me Mr. Farley anymore. How about Gabe?"

"All right, Gabe. How's the divinity?" "Mmm ... not bad."

"Who's going to stand up for you, Mother?" "Who wants to?"

Three hands went up. "I do, I do, I do!" Susan immediately disparaged her younger sister. "Don't be silly, Lydia, you're too little to be a bridesmaid."

"No, she's not," Becky defended. "Why couldn't she be the bridesmaid just as well as you?"

"I know. We'll draw straws," Roberta decided. "I've got a better idea," Rebecca said. "Let's draw spoons. Everybody lick your spoon off, and only one of us dips ours in the candy. Then we put them all in the clean kettle and you hold

12 C% J=

it above your head, Gabe, and the one with the divinity gets to be mother's attendant or bridesmaid or whatever you call it."

Gabe said to Roberta, "Is this what life is going to be like all the time, living with you four? Making a game out of everything?"

"Ever a game," she told him. "Always going for the fun in life so that when you take the deep six you do it with lots of memories." To the girls she said, "Somebody dip that spoon."

Lydia dipped. Gabe raised. And everybody drew.

Rebecca got the candied spoon, and Roberta felt a secret spark of pleasure: It was right that Becky stand up for her; after all, she'd been predicting and encouraging this union for some time. Everybody got a hug, though, along with an invitation to plan something special for the wedding ceremony, and to talk about where it should be held. It seemed natural to say yes when the girls asked if Isobel could stay overnight so they could begin the planning.

Minutes later, Gabe and Roberta were back out on the front porch in the dark, saying good night.

"You really are going to let the girls plan your wedding?"

"Well, sure ... some of it, anyway. We do everything together."

He took hold of her arms and pulled her toward him. "Roberta, you're something," he said, bending his head.

It was different, kissing as an engaged couple. Betrothal removed certain restrictions. His hands

I () Al

moved over her as if she were a fine piece of wood he had sanded and polished and was checking for smoothness. He stood between her and the yard, in the deepest shadows at the opposite end of the porch from the swing, getting more and more reckless as the seconds stretched into minutes with his open mouth plying hers and his hips riveting her against the wall.

Her arms were raised., her hands on his neck and hair until their breathing became labored and he began making inroads into her clothing. He had never done that before.

With her mouth and hands she pushed him away and whispered, "Stop, Gabe."

He freed her abruptly, sensing her rising fear. He could barely make out her face in the blueblack shadows.

"I'm not Elfred, Roberta. I won't hurt you." "I know . . . " she whispered, then as if to convince herself, "I know."

"But he's scared you, hasn't he?" "Some. Maybe."

He thought awhile, damning Elfred and fearing for the blight he might have left on his own and Roberta's future.

"Okay, well, listen . . . " He stepped back, catching her hands, holding them. "You're right. Best thing to do is wait with everything, prove the Benevolent Society wrong, eh?"

She kissed him on the corner of the mouth and said, "Thank you, Gabe, for understanding." Though they tried to pretend a small wedge

had not been driven between them, it had.

qC)7

Though they tried to pretend it would not be driven deeper on their wedding night, they knew it was a distinct possibility. Necking on the porch swing or in the shadows of the backyard with all their buttons closed was one thing; facing a marriage bed was another. He wondered if she'd delay their wedding interminably to avoid facing her own fears.

"So when can we get married?" he asked. "Oh" - she let out a puff of breath - "I don't know. How long will it take you to get an addition on the house?"

"Is it all right if I do that? We haven't even talked about it."

"Of course it's all right. I'd love to stay here, and your plan makes perfect sense. After all, Isobel has spent so much time here, and so have you, that it practically seems as if it's been our home already."

He thought about his work schedule. "Seth and I have got some jobs we've already agreed to do, so I can't start here for a couple of weeks. "

"Well" - she thought for a moment - "what about mid-November? We could set the wedding date for then."

It seemed light years away, but Gabe hid his disappointment and said-, "Guess that's all right. "

"That's it then. Mid-November."

"Roberta, I'd like to give you something - an engagement ring or a brooch. Should have had it for you tonight, but I thought you might like to pick it out yourself"

They both realized how different this second time was from their firsts, when breathless anticipation held no clouds, and proposals were delivered with the proper trappings. They wondered what had happened to the carefree couple who had entered the house to announce their intentions so jauntily less than a half hour before.

That couple reappeared on Friday when they went to pick the engagement ring - a modest diamond surrounded by four smaller diamond chips - and got back to Roberta's house to find it empty, for once. He took her to the living room settee and started kissing her, and hauled her across his lap, and bent her back into a corner against a loose pillow.

This time she stopped him immediately, dragging his hand away from her breasts the moment he made a move toward them, gripping him in a tight hug that forced his arms around her back, while willing her desire away.

Hugging so, like two in peril, they counted the weeks till their wedding, wondering if by then she would have overcome her aversion to being touched.

Afterward, and at other times between then and their wedding, he went away to wonder what ultimate damage Elfred had done, for she would go only so far before overt temptation became intrinsic fear. It ran through her sometimes when he least expected it, and he realized that as a groom, he had been given a more delicate second bride than first. Roberta would need an inordinate amount of patience and

understanding on their wedding night, and perhaps for many nights to follow.

The girls had something to say about waiting until mid-November. They wanted the wedding to be held on the front porch, and there was a good chance that by mid-November it could be covered with snow.