Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (22 page)

“You are?”

“Yeah. I figured it was going to be too embarrassing if the baby had to wear those lame clothes she got as shower presents. Besides, they’re so big they probably won’t even fit the kid for a couple years yet.”

“Well, thank you, Charolette, that’s nice of you. You know, I really like you after all.”

“If by after all, you mean because you thought I was a freak and a tramp, don’t worry, I’m used to it.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. But if I can ask you – I
notice you have a lot of tattoos.”

“Yeah, I like tats and my mom doesn’t care since she’s got some herself.”

“Really? Did your mom ever want to have any of them removed?”

“No, she likes them.”

“Well, if she did want to get one removed . . . would it be possible?”

“Maybe, but I think it’s hard to remove them and pretty painful. Most people just get them turned into something else.”

“Really.” Laney had never considered that. But maybe that was an idea. “And do you know of a place – maybe outside of town that someone could get that done if they wanted to?”

“Mrs. Taylor, J.D. told me about the tattoo on your ass. If you want to get something done with it, there
’s a place called Pitter Tatters in Dowagiac. It’s about a half hour’s drive from here. It’s a good place you can trust and it’s run by my mom’s friend. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about you getting something done with the tat on your ass. I gotta go now, bye.”

“Thanks,” Laney said, raising her hand as Charolette hurried away
, not sure she wanted to even go near a place called Pitter Tatters. “No secrets in this little town, that’s for sure,” she said to herself.

“No secrets about what?”

Laney cringed when she heard Mabel’s voice from behind her. She turned, to see not only Mabel but a half dozen women from the Ladies of Leisure Club with her.

“Mrs. Durnsby, so glad you could come. All of you. I have a special tea set up and some goodies. Why don’t you come in?”

The entourage entered and Laney looked down the block, happy to see Candace hurrying toward her, and waited.

“Sorry I’m late,” said Candace. “Lunch ran a little late at the restaurant today. It seems everyone saw that
TV clip with the goats on the roof and all decided to come today, of all days, to witness them for themselves.”

“No problem,” said Laney. “And thanks for watching the shop while I try to
schmooze my way into the town’s gossip circle.”

“Good luck,” said Candace
. They walked inside to find Mrs. Durnsby about to leave.

“I thought you said we were having t
ea and discussing the bake sale,” the woman complained.

“We are,” said Laney.

“I see that nothing is prepared and I really don’t have time for this. As president of the town’s fund raisers, I have a lot on my plate.”

“Well, Charolette said she and the boys set it up,” said Laney looking around the room.

“Are you speaking of the tramp, Charolette Burnham?” Mabel sounded disgusted.

“She’s really nice once you get to know her,” Laney said. And when she was sure the women were all going to leave she directed them toward the stairs. “I believe we’ll be having tea upstairs today,” she said, leading the way and hoping to hell that the kids really set up the party
like they said they did.

Sure enough, when she got upstairs, the table was set and everything w
as ready. The most important tea party she would ever throw was set up right on the table that she and Judas had made love on. She cringed, thinking things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

“Oh, this looks lovely,” said Mrs. Durnsby, walking over toward the table.

“Yes, actually Charolette set it all up. She has an eye for flair,” Laney told her.

The table looked beautiful. It was set with quilted pastel placemats that Laney was selling in the store, and atop each placemat was a unique antique teac
up with a matching saucer. The silverware was tied together at each place setting with purple and pink ribbons with a bright colored zinnia tucked inside. And on the center of the table on a large crocheted doily was an antique teapot with painted wildflowers, some Depression Glass dishes filled with bite-sized snacks, and a tall cut-glass pink vase filled with all sorts of fresh wildflowers.

“Flair isn’
t the word I’d use,” said Mabel. “And I was talking about the actual table, not Charolette.”

“
Yes, it is gorgeous,” said Pearl Kramer who was also a member of the club.

“It’s looks so shiny and slippery,” said another
of the women.

“Oh, it’s slippery all right,” said Laney with a smile.

“Let me feel it,” said Mabel, running her beefy hand over the table in the exact spot where Laney had had a screaming orgasm. “Something about this table excites me.”

“Yes,” said Laney. “I know what you mean. Well, shall we all sit dow
n and have some tea and goodies? The treats are pistachio and cranberry filled oat bran muffins, and the other snack is the new and soon-to-be-famous birdseed bars. Candace and Levi baked them for us at the diner. I normally eat things that are healthy, so I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” said one woman. “They look inviting.”

“Delicious,” said another, biting into one.

“I think we should have some of these
birdseed bars at the bake sale this year,” said Mabel holding one up to inspect it after having taken a bite. “After all, they are delicious and we could raise a lot of money for the fund we’ve started for building a fire station in Sweet Water.”

“Great idea,” said Laney. “And I’m sure Candace would be happy to donate her time and I will pay for the ingredients myself.”

“So how is your antique shop doing?” asked Mabel curiously, or perhaps she was just being nosey.

“Not so well,” Laney admitted. “I still need to get established.”

“Well, maybe you should have something else going on here to draw customers in. Do you have any actual skills?” Mabel dabbed at her mouth with the napkin.

“Well,” said Laney, trying to ignore the fact the woman just belittled her. “I wanted to open a medita
tion center. I had one back in Big Rapids and people loved it.”

“A what?” asked the old woman
.

“Meditation. I use crystals and burn incense and play relaxing music.”

“That sounds like works of the devil,” said Mabel, standing up quickly. “Ladies, shall we go?”

“No, please stay,” Laney
cried out, getting to her feet.

“Hello, anyone up here?” Judas filled the doorway
, blocking it with his body, causing Mabel and the others to stop in their tracks.

“We were just leaving,” said Mabel. “Did you know your wife wants
to start an occult worship center?”

“A what?” asked Judas, looking at her curiously.

“A meditation center,” Laney told him. “But it’s not the works of the devil.”

“
Of course it’s not. Won’t you be joining us for a free session?” Judas asked Mabel.

“I will not! N
ow move aside and let me through.” She tried to push her plump body around him, but Judas leaned his arm on the doorframe and blocked her path.

“Mrs. Durnsby, I invite you and all the women here to at least come try it just one time.
No charge. And then if you don’t like it, I’ll accept your decision.”

“Never,” she spat.

“Well, honey, maybe in exchange, Mabel could pick out something from the shop?” Judas asked, looking over to Laney.

Laney knew she had to do something quickly, or there’d be no saving this situation.
“Of course. I’d be happy to give you anything in the shop if you will just come with the rest of the ladies for one session,” she told her.

“Anything?” asked Mabel, eyeing up the table.

“Anything,” Judas answered for her.

“Then I’ll take this gorgeous table and chairs,” said Mabel.

“Oh, you don’t want that,” said Laney, feeling the blood rush to her face from embarrassment. “It’s old, but not really worth that much at all.”

“
Then you shouldn’t mind giving it to me. I like it,” Mabel said smiling at the table and nodding her head. “Something about it excites me. If it’s not part of the deal, then the girls and I won’t be coming for a session.”

“Let her have it,” Judas said under his breath.

“But . . . but I don’t think she really wants it,” said Laney.

“Of course I do,” snapped the woman
. “Didn’t I just tell you that I adored it? Now is it a deal or not?”

“It is, Mrs. Durnsby,” said Judas with a smile. “And once you eat dinner on that table you’ll like it so much I’m sure you’ll want to use it for other things as well.”

“Other things?” Mabel walked over to the table and ran her hands over the finish once again and sighed. “The only other thing I’d like to do is lie on it since it looks so inviting. But that’s something that no one would ever do on a table.”

“Don’t be so sure,” said Judas, looking over to Laney and winking.

“All right, Mrs. Durnsby, the table is yours,” said Laney, biting her bottom lip and throwing a daggered look at Judas. She just hoped to hell the old woman would never learn the truth about what had really happened atop that table.

Chapter 21

Three nights later
the little upstairs room of Laney’s shop was packed to the brim with townspeople. Mabel told everyone about her beautiful table that now occupied the center of her dining room, and all the women in town decided they wanted to come look at antiques all of a sudden. Laney had made several large sales that day and a lot of smaller ones as well. And Candace had taken time from her restaurant to come over and help her since Laney’s shop was so busy. It was amazing how much influence one old woman really had on the entire town.

“And I’m
even going to invite Reverend Black to dinner and use my new table some time next week,” she heard Mabel telling the women. Just the thought of it made Laney’s butt hurt and she gently touched her backside where her new tattoo was healing.

She’d gone to
Pitter Tatters, the tattoo parlor Charolette had told her about, and the man did the procedure right there at that moment to her surprise. Now instead of a spider on her bottom end with the words
Laney loves Spyder
, it was contorted into a sheriff’s badge and she’d only had to have a few of the letters changed. Now it said
Laney loves Silver
instead.

She had managed to avoid making love to Judas the last few nights because she wasn’t ready to show him what she’d done. Now she only hoped he wouldn’t be madder than before by the fact she’d used his
middle name of Silver on her behind.

“All right, everyone, please have a seat on the pillows,” she called out, pointing to the
brightly colored pillows placed around the floor. Since the table had been removed they had much more space now. When everyone was settled, Candace helped her pass out crystals for them all to hold and Laney turned the lights down low and lit a few candles. She burned some flowery incense and turned on some relaxing music as well.

“Am I
too late?” Judas came walking into the room still dressed in his uniform.

“You’re goin
g to meditate?” Laney asked, surprised he was there at all.

“Of course I am
,” said Judas, settling himself atop a pillow right next to Mabel. “And Pete sends his blessings and Zeb and Levi say hi. If Zeb hadn’t had to take Pete to the airport to fly back to South America and Levi wasn’t watching all the kids, they’d be here to meditate as well.”

“Really?” That seemed to make Mabel more receptive
to the idea. “Well, if a minister, a mayor, and a lawyer, as well as the sheriff condones this, then maybe it’s all right to try it after all.”

“All right everyone
,” said Laney once they were all settled. “Now I want you all to close your eyes and take some deep breaths and just release any pent-up feelings inside you.”

She heard a lot of sighs in the room
, and as she guided everyone through a meditation, the vibes in the room actually changed and became much calmer. Maybe too calm, as Judas had been leaning back against the wall, and at one point he started snoring and she went over and kicked him slightly in the leg to wake him up.

Thankfully, the
women hadn’t seemed to notice and were much more receptive to a guided meditation than she thought they’d be. It was over in half an hour, and Laney waited till everyone had opened their eyes again and then she slowly turned on the lights.

“I feel so relaxed,” admitted
Mabel.

“So do I,” said
Evelyn Thropmeyer, another school teacher who came with Valerie Wolf. “I was getting upset thinking about all the problems I’d be dealing with again once school started, but now I feel an inner peace.” Evelyn was one of the younger women of the group, about the same age as Laney, and she was pregnant.