Chapter 84

Bolting the door seemed silly, but she’d promised Seth she’d lock it, so as soon as Rain was safely back inside the Green residents, she did so. She paused to take a deep breath and take in the ambience of the house, which seemed empty, before she turned to walk to the kitchen to lock the back door, as he’d instructed. No sound came from Mist and Walt’s room. Imagining that meant they were asleep, she didn’t go in to check on her friend. If there was a problem, Walt would let her know. Of that, she was certain.
The back of the house was mostly dark, save for one dim light on over the stove. Rain assumed she was alone in the kitchen until a small movement amongst the shadows at the round table they’d eaten at earlier caught her attention. She froze, her hand flying to her heart.
“Did I startle you?” Esther’s voice spoke into the darkness as she shifted in her chair, causing a thin beam of light to illuminate part of her face, a grin letting Rain know she thought the situation slightly amusing.
“Oh, a little,” Rain said, regaining her ability to speak as she was no longer petrified in place. She continued on her way to the back door, just a few feet from where Esther sat, apparently doing nothing but enjoying the solace of a blackened kitchen. “Seth told me to lock the doors when I got home… so I am.”
“Why is that?” Esther asked, turning to face her. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Rain’s eyes had adjusted enough to the dark that she could at least see Esther’s expression now. She contemplated sitting but didn’t. Taking off these heels and getting back into her regular clothes seemed urgent, even if that was only because it was an excuse to get back to how things had been before. She wished she could erase the dance from her history, from Seth’s history, as well, but she couldn’t. Still, putting on her jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt before he arrived home from walking Hannah seemed like a good way to pretend it away.
“Then why does he want the doors locked?” Esther wanted to know.
It was a legitimate question. Rain rested her hands on the back of the chair nearest her and said, “Because… Daniel Redd is a jerk, that’s why.”
A low rumble met her ears as Esther agreed with a chuckle. “Did he do something?”
“No. He tried to, but I’m stronger than I look.”
Esther wasn’t laughing now, as she realized Rain was serious. Her forehead creased. “Are you all right, dear?”
“I’m fine. I suspect he can’t say the same, though.” She thought of how she had heard snapping when she twisted his arm, how she’d used every bit of force she could muster to jam her knee into his testicles. Daniel Redd would stop and think for a long time before he bothered another woman in a deserted alley--or elsewhere.
“I’m glad to hear you’re all right, dear, but that is concerning.” Esther shook her head. “I do wish that Seth wasn’t so kind hearted. He ends up befriending these people who are not worth his time and effort. It’s really quite disheartening to watch. As a mother.”
Rain could imagine. “I don’t think Seth and Daniel are friends anymore,” she offered.
Esther nodded. “I don’t think Seth will be calling any of these folks friends for much longer. He’s leaving, you know? One way or another. He’s been planning to go find some farmland to call his own for years. Now that you’re here, well, I imagine he’ll change his mind, that he’ll go with you to Louis City, perhaps on to Quebec, and not come back for years. Maybe never.”
The melancholy tone of Esther’s voice had Rain’s mouth slipping into a downward pucker. She had no idea what it must be like to have a child and then see that offspring decide to go, to put thousands of miles between themselves and home, from their family, from their mother. But she did understand the feeling of loss. Not only had she imagined many times how she would feel if she were asked to give up her own child, the way all Mothers were in Michaelanburg, she’d also thought about how she had missed out on so much by not having her own parents in her life. Most of the time, it was only her mother she’d considered, but the more she thought about who that woman might be, the more it occurred to her to think about her dad as well. There was nothing happy about either situation, hers or Esther’s. But at least they both knew Seth was old enough to take care of himself and loving enough to keep in touch with his family.
“Seth hasn’t said anything to me about going on with us,” she said, hoping to relieve some of Esther’s fears. She hated to be the reason this mother and son were no longer under the same roof. She wasn’t sure that what she’d stated was true. Regardless of what Seth’s official plans were, she had a feeling he would continue to go with them, particularly if Adam was… delayed.
Esther smiled at her. “Regardless of where my son goes, I know it’s time for me to let him back out into the world. We’ve become close, all these years, living here, doing our part to protect the borders. It was Seth’s grandfather, my daddy, who insisted we give up the farm and come do what we could to make sure our friends and family in Oklasaw were always safe. Seth has his fighting spirit. I think that’s why he was so keen to help you, even before he knew for certain that you were who you said you were.”
Rain had no recollection of that since she’d been unconscious for much of those first encounters with Seth, but she could see that. He spoke fondly of his grandfather. It was a surprise to her that he wanted to go back to farming. “Why doesn’t he want to stay here? There might be plenty of opportunities to defend Oklasaw against Michaelanburg since we’ve come.”
“There are at the moment,” she said with a heavy sigh. “The fighting wages on. Above us… to our west. Mostly, our forces are taking shots at the Mothers from the shadows, attempting to pick them off and slow them down so that our more vulnerable neighbors out in the farmlands can take shelter. We haven’t suffered many casualties, and we have been able to slow them enough that Adam may have a good chance at completing his mission.”
The news that Adam had help in getting the tracker to the river was enough to make Rain relax slightly, though she was still on edge. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about the possibility that the reason he hadn’t called yet was because he’d already been taken out by the Mothers. Now, knowing that their enemy had been delayed, that there was a good chance they hadn’t reached him yet, gave Rain what she needed to force oxygen all the way into her lungs, something she hadn’t done all day.
Another comment Esther had made had caught her attention, though. “You said Seth’s dad didn’t want to be part of the defenses of Oklasaw?” she asked. She’d heard next to nothing about Seth’s dad. Again, the idea of what her own dad might be like, what might’ve happened to him, came to mind. “What was he like?”
A fond smile took over Esther’s face. It was clear she’d loved her husband very much. “He wanted to keep it simple, to stay out on our farm and provide for ourselves as much as we could. That’s what we did up until he died. Then, Grandpa decided it was time to do what he wanted to do, which was to come here and help with defense. We don’t do any fighting. But we do keep an eye out, as you know.”
Rain nodded. As much as Esther obviously loved the man she’d had two sons with, it seemed clear she didn’t want to stay on the farm too much either. Perhaps she found speaking of him painful. “What was his name?” she asked, wishing she could put a name with the made-up image she’d drawn to mind, a man who looked much like Seth, though older.
“Samuel.” Esther said the name like a mourning dove, cooing her loss. “His name was Samuel. He got ill when Peter was three, and died the next year. He tried to keep doing his work, tried to stay out in the fields, but he couldn’t manage after a few months. Then, it was all I could do to keep him in bed, raise two sons, and keep up with the farm work. Grandpa helped out as much as he could, but he had a limp from a previous farming accident, one of the reasons he was done with that sort of life. Anyway, it was hard there for a while. But we managed. Then, when Samuel said goodbye, we decided to move here.” Esther had tears in her eyes as she finished. She didn’t wipe them away, and they didn’t fall. After a moment, they disappeared, as if she’d willed them back inside of her, the way Rain imagined she had many times before. “Anyway, that was a long time ago.”
Rain took that to mean Esther was done speaking of the subject and nodded. “I’m going to go change clothes. Seth should be home soon. Thank you, so much, for all of the trouble you went to to help me experience my first dance. It’s something I’ll never forget.” That much was true--Rain wouldn’t ever forget it, even if it wasn’t anything at all like Esther had hoped.
Without responding at all to her remarks about the dance, Esther slid her phone across the table. “Here, dear. I’m going to bed. You best keep this. In case… Adam gets a chance to call.”
“Thank you,” Rain said with a nod. “Goodnight, Esther.”
“Goodnight, Rain, dear. Pleasant dreams.” Esther pulled herself up from the table and patted Rain on the arm as she went around her, headed down the hall to what had been Peter’s room before these strangers had shown up and upset everything. Now, Peter had been sleeping with Seth, Walt and Mist were in the guest room, and Rain had Esther’s room. She should’ve told the woman to go to her own room, that she’d sleep on the couch, but she knew Esther wouldn’t hear of it anyway, so there was no point in trying. Instead, she took the phone and headed back to the room she’d claimed to change her clothes.