Love or Justice (20 page)

Laurie barely noticed as she turned her face down to gaze at the vegetables, trying to decide if she had anything else remarkable to show him.

“Laurie, honey, why don’t you put all of those good vegetables in the pantry. They’ll be nice and cool in there until we can use them.” Emma pulled plates out of the cabinets.

“Oh, okay.” Laurie hurried away with her basket to the small doorway beside the refrigerator.

Dante grinned at his mother, raising his eyebrows. She returned the gesture. Dante let out the laughter he’d been denying. He never would have guessed farm life would suit Laurie so well.

“Can I help you, Emma?” Laurie bounced back into the kitchen.

“Why don’t you pour everyone some water? The men have been up on the roof all morning.” Emma busied herself with lunch.

Dante leaned against the counter. He smiled, watching Laurie pour water for him from the jug in the refrigerator. She went to hand him the glass and paused.

“What?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” His smile turned into a grin.

“Like that. Like I missed a joke or something. What is it?” She folded her arms, taking his water hostage. He cocked his head to the side.

“I’ve never seen you so enthusiastic.” He reached for his water.

“I shouldn’t be?” She stepped out of reach.

“No, no. It’s nice. I didn’t expect you would get so into gardening in one morning.” Dante plucked the water out of her hands. He fought the urge to kiss her. He wanted nothing more than to take advantage of the flushed cheeks and red lips the cold, fresh air had given her.

“Well, it was exciting. Emma and I had a very nice morning, didn’t we?” Laurie walked to the kitchen table. He almost followed her, but his mother distracted him.

“Where’s your father?” Emma glanced at him over her shoulder.

“Don’t know. Thought he came in with you. Want me to find him?” He shrugged.

“Yes, please. Tell him lunch is ready.” Emma busied herself in the refrigerator.

Dante walked toward the front of the house, but didn’t see him in any of the downstairs rooms. He went upstairs. He heard a barely audible whisper coming from his parents’ room. He looked through the old key lock, and saw his father talking on a cell phone. Dante had a pretty good idea what the call was about. His father hung up the phone. Dante knocked on the door.

“Dad? Are you in there?” He asked, more for his mother’s hearing than anything else.

“Be right down.” A muffled thump emanated from behind the closed door.

“Okay.” Dante was halfway down the stairs. His father wasn’t too far behind him.

“Where did you disappear to?” Emma whirled on him, butter knife in hand.

“I changed. Stained my shirt. You’re always yelling at me for it, so I went ahead and soaked it.” Albert’s jaw hardened as he cocked his head at her.

Dante turned and Albert did, in fact, have on a different shirt. He found himself wondering if there was a real stain or not. He figured he would just rather not know. If his father lied to his mother, then he did it for Laurie and himself.

“You finally listened to me. Our son has to come home for you to finally listen to me.” Emma shook her head in wonder as she picked up and carried Albert’s plate to the table.

“Well, I thought you’d be happy. If that’s the thanks I get, I just won’t do it all next time.” Albert sat down at the table with a frown.

“Then I guess you won’t have any shirts left, because I’m not helping you buy more any time soon.” Emma plunked his lunch down on the table with a pointed look.

“I don’t need your help to buy a shirt.” Albert shook his head, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“No, of course not. You’ll come home with a dozen shirts that are either too small or too big. Then you’ll ask me to take them back because you didn’t try them on in the dressing room.” Emma sat down, thunking her water glass on the table.

“You don’t need to try them on, Emma. That’s why they have sizes. If I buy a large I expect it to be a large.” Albert waved his sandwich in frustration. He was about to say something else, but Laurie’s choking laughter stopped him.

Albert and Emma looked across the table.

Laurie and Dante were snickering into their hands, hunched over their plates like schoolchildren. Laurie was almost purple, she was trying so hard to hold the laughter back.

“What do you two think is so funny?” Albert put his sandwich down.

“You two,” Dante replied through his laughter.

“Just you wait until you’re married. Then Albert and I will laugh at you.” Emma half-smiled into her tomato sandwich. There was a knowing gleam in her eye that made Dante edgy.

“Fair enough.” Dante lowered his eyes and bit into his lunch.

“Did you get the leak fixed?” Emma looked back at Albert.

“Yes. Now we can pull in the hay. Next, we need to get some more of that corn in the south field in.” Albert leaned over the table, taking a long drink of water.

“Good. Laurie and I are going to drive on over to the orchard.” Emma smiled at Laurie.

“Emma said they have some early apples. She wants to show me how to make an apple pie.” Laurie clasped her hands together.

“Now, wait a minute. How far is this orchard? Isn’t it on a neighboring farm?” Dante turned to his mother with a frown.

“Why?” Laurie’s face fell in an instant, and it made Dante miserable, but he just couldn’t let her go wandering off.

“Laurie.” He softened his tone. “You know why. I can’t just let you go off somewhere. Not after everything that’s happened.”

Laurie nodded, staring at her plate with resignation.

“Well, why don’t you two come with us? The corn can wait a day.” Emma looked sharply at Albert.

“Emma, the corn is as ripe as it gets. We need to get it in.” Albert shook his head. Emma’s look turned to a glare.

“It can wait one day, Albert.” Emma she gritted her teeth. “I promised Laurie we could go over to the orchard. I need to make sure the fungus we spotted the last time is gone. Do you want to lose our first apple crop over the corn?”

Albert rolled his eyes.

“No, dear.” He put his napkin on his plate, heaving a sigh.

“Can we?” Laurie looked to Dante, her hands clasped in supplication. He chuckled.

“Yes.” He rolled his eyes. “We can go.”

“Thank you!” Laurie jumped up from the table, and grabbed his plate for him.

“Let’s go pull out the apple baskets and put them in the pick-up truck before they change their minds!” Emma took Laurie’s arm.

The two women half-jogged down the hallway and out the front door. The door slammed behind them with finality. Dante and Albert looked at each other. For the first time in his life, Dante commiserated with his father.

“I feel like we just got hustled.” Dante ran his hands through his hair.

“We did.” Albert gave him a grim smile. “Come on. Let’s go apple picking.”

Dante chuckled as he got up from the table.

“There won’t be enough room for us in the pick-up.” Albert handed him a set of keys. “I’ll take the car. You can just follow me.”

Dante nodded. They walked out of the front door. Emma and Laurie had the baskets all ready, so he told Laurie to get in the pick-up. He got in on the driver’s side, started it up, and followed his father out of the driveway.

“Seems like you and my mom are getting along…maybe a little too well.” Dante gave her a sidelong glance.

“What do you mean?” Laurie raised her chin. She flashed him her sweetest smile, which contrasted with the wicked glint in her eye.

“Don’t,” he said, grinning. “Don’t even start. You know exactly what I mean.”

“She’s nice. I like your mom a lot.” Laurie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “How’s it going with your dad?”

“Fine, not much different than usual.” Dante shrugged. “Why?”

“No reason.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed. He could hear the lie in her voice.

“Laurie,” he said in warning. “Why?”

She sighed. He saw her roll her eyes in his peripheral vision.

“I think your mom’s worried. She said you two got into a fight a couple of years ago and that’s why you haven’t been back to visit.”

Dante grimaced.

“Well, I never knew where they lived.”

Laurie gave him a stern look.

“All right, so it was because of the fight we had.”

“I think she’s worried that if you two get into another fight you won’t come back again—ever.” Her words, couched in tenderness, cut him deep.

“I didn’t mean to,” Dante started. Then he heaved a sigh. “I didn’t mean to be away this long. By the time I had cooled off, I just kept getting more assignments. When I didn’t have assignments, I kept making excuses. But I shouldn’t have.”

He sighed again, mad at himself and feeling foolish.

“I know it was selfish, but I just didn’t think about how it might have been hurting Mom.”

“She understands, Dante. She loves you. I just think she’s worried. Maybe a little scared.”

He clenched his jaw, trying to focus on the road between his car and his father’s.

“Why do you have such a hard time with your father?”

“I don’t know.” Dante shook his head. “Because I’m stubborn, I guess.”

“I don’t think that’s the real reason. People usually get stubborn because they want something.”

Dante thought about that. He honestly didn’t know.

“I don’t know, Laurie. It’s always been this way. He says or does something and it just sets me off. I don’t know why.”

Laurie nodded, as they turned off the main road to another driveway. There were trees on both sides of the drive, ripe with pears. Laurie leaned her head out the window, her eyes as big as saucers. They pulled up to an old farmhouse. It was mint green with dark green shutters and a white porch. There was a brand new, white barn next to it, both sitting on a bed of emerald grass.

“That’s so beautiful!” Laurie sounded breathless.

It put the smile back on Dante’s face. It was beautiful, picturesque. It had a simplicity that just wasn’t possible in the dramatic landscape of Hawaii. Dante pulled the pick-up truck beside his parent’s car. They got out in a chorus of slamming doors.

“All right, Emma, where are these apples you’re so worried about?” Albert gave a nod toward the rows of trees behind the barn.

“The ones right behind the barn.” She led the way into the apple orchard.

Emma managed to look surprised when the apples turned out to be in perfect condition and ready to be picked. Dante and Laurie jogged back to the barn to grab a few apple pickers to help them harvest. Dante and Laurie took one line of trees while Albert and Emma took another.

After a few tries, Dante and Laurie mastered a system. Laurie would start with the low-hanging fruit on one side of the tree, while Dante would start with the other. Then Laurie would use the apple picker to scoop up the fruit for a while. Dante would take over, using his height and the apple picker to glean off as many ripe apples as possible. Finally, one of them would gently bend down the branches even lower, so they almost picked the tree clean of reddening fruit before they moved onto the next.

Dante and Laurie filled several heavy baskets to the brim. Dante looked down the line to see his mother and father slowly plucking the easiest fruit off the trees. They were taking their time, his mother walking over to the basket to lay each apple in, rather than tossing it as he and Laurie did. They had filled maybe one basket so far, maybe a basket and a half. They were laughing at something. Dante rarely ever saw his father smile, let alone laugh. He could hardly believe his eyes. Then his parents kissed. Dante was shocked.

“Awww,” Laurie purred from his right.

“I’ve never seen that happen. Never. Never in my whole life.” Dante looked away.

“Well, they’ve been together this long. They have to love each other. You were going to see your parents kissing at one time or another.” Laurie grinned at him.

“I thought they’d be divorced by now. They argue with each other all the time.”

“Do you mean yelling at each other, or just going back and forth like they have been?” Laurie glanced at him over her shoulder as she plucked another apple from the tree.

Dante furrowed his brow in thought. Then he grabbed the branch he was working on, and bent it toward the ground.

Laurie scooped up a couple of apples from the very tip, dropping them into the brimming basket below her.

“Like they have been. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them raise their voice at each other.”

“Well that’s just normal. My parents used to fuss at each other all the time. That’s how most couples are.”

Dante shot her a look of doubt.

“I guess I haven’t been around too many married couples.”

“You never did that with a girlfriend?”

“Haven’t had too many girlfriends.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” Laurie smirked at him over her shoulder.