Marrying Stone (26 page)

They had barely got the log base down against the ground before Jesse and Roe had already set up the new bed in the empty space that was to be the room.

"Might as well set it up to make sure that it fits in the room," Roe said. "I believe I'll sleep out there from now on. It's better sleeping outside than in the loft."

Meggie nodded in understanding.

"Jesse can teach me all the names of the stars while I'm snoring in the moonlight," he added, slapping his friend companionably on the back.

"I don't mind sleeping in the loft," Jesse answered. "That new bed is for you and Meggie."

Meggie blushed. Roe choked. And Onery nervously cleared his throat.

Other than that, Jesse's comment was ignored. As was every comment made around the cabin about marriage, weddings, and beds since the day that she and Roe had commenced their foolish deception.

Meggie stirred the blue pot once more. The cloth inside seemed sufficiently colored, so she moved the kettle away from the flames and banked the fire for the evening.

Reluctantly, she went to spread her pallet on the floor. Somehow all the thinking and talking that had been done in the last weeks about men and women had sparked something inside Meggie.

She hated to lie down on her pallet at night and close her eyes, but she couldn't put it off any longer. Daylight would be upon her soon enough and keeping her wits about her was important if she was to keep her thoughts to herself.

Tiredly she lay down and closed her weary blue-gray eyes. And as soon as she did, just as she expected, she started having those feelings about him again. The loving feelings, she'd begun to call them. They were sweet and warm and she both craved and dreaded them. She longed for the strength of Roe's arms around her. And continually she remembered his look when he'd seen her naked in the bath.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Meggie tried to blot out the memory.

She drew a deep breath and rolled over upon her stomach, burying her face in her arms. Willing herself to sleep.

Quietly, she caught herself listening, just listening. Roe and Jesse hadn't come back from gigging, unless they'd avoided the cabin and were lying out in the new bed. Meggie strained her ears trying to make out the sound of Jesse's snore, but heard nothing.

Pa's snore, however, was deafeningly loud and inexplicably, after living with it for more years than Meggie could recall, the sound kept her awake.

Disgusted, she stood up and in the darkness made her way to the door. On the porch the air was cool and still and the bright stars twinkled over the tops of the mountain.

She closed the door behind her and sat down on the step, tucking the skirt of her josie tightly around her legs for warmth.

Actually trying not to, Meggie listened for the sounds of men in the half-raised add-on. There were none. The gigging must be mighty poor for two men to stay out half the night trying to gather up a mess of frog legs.

IT WAS SO late, even the crickets were asleep as two men lay sprawled in the soft grass of a small clearing near the banks of the river. Jesse was still sucking on the remains of the earthen jug of donk. Roe's eyes were closed.

"What are ye doin'?" Jesse asked finally, half sitting to observe the man beside him.

Roe didn't open his eyes. "I'm just holding on to the grass and leaning against the ground."

Jesse chuckled. "That's donk."

"Why do you drink this?" Roe asked with a moan.

"I don't," Jesse answered. "Pa never let me, not even oncest. But I heard fellers talk about it lots and always wanted to find out for myself."

"Well, now we know." Roe did raise up a little then and with one eye glanced over at Jesse. "How come you aren't as drunk as I am?"

Jesse shrugged. "Guess 'cause I done threw up a couple of times."

Roe nodded and then wished that he hadn't. "That must be it."

A long, comfortable silence settled between the two men. Jesse took another long swig on the gallon jug. "They's lots of things in this world that I ain't done, but I'm a-wanting to do," he said.

"We all feel that way," Roe answered.

"But most fellers just ain't got around to doing all the things that they want. Some things, I just ain't never going to get to."

Roe was silent for a long moment. "I guess that's so, Jesse."

"I ain't fussing about it," the young man assured him quickly. "If I cain't never learn no book reading or figure my numbers above three, well, that's jest the way, ain't it?"

"I guess it is, Jesse."

"It does make me mad that I cain't have my own gun, nor earn money to buy me a dog." Jesse tipped the jug up high in the air, allowing the last drops of donk to cross his lips. "But someday," he said with the sincerity of a vow, "I'm gonna have a gun and a dog."

Roe nodded. "That's not a bad ambition, Jesse. I'm sure that as you act responsibly, your father will be more ready to let you have your own gun. And once you have a gun to hunt, well a dog will just make sense."

"Pa ain't gonna get it for me though," Jesse declared. "It's gonna be my gun and my dog and I'm gettin' 'em myself."

"I'm sure we'll all be very proud of you, Jesse."

The young man grinned and then, to Roe's surprise, threw back his head and howled at the moon.

"Lordy, this donk is something," Jesse said as he rose to his feet, took two steps, and then tripped over some hidden something in the high grass and fell head over heels and landed backward with a loud thump.

Both men laughed uproariously at what happened, until Jesse's laughter turned strained. "I've hurt myself," he told Roe, through hiccups. "Think I may have busted my leg."

Roe tried to stand up to go to him, but quickly decided it was much smarter to scoot across the grass. When he reached Jesse's side, the young man was still laughing at his antics, but there were genuine tears of pain in his eyes.

"Where does it hurt?" Roe asked.

Jesse showed Roe his ankle, which was already beginning to swell. Roe sat on the ground and took the other man's foot in his lap. Carefully he began to turn it.

"I don't think that it's broken," Roe told him. "But it's wrenched pretty bad."

Jesse nodded without speaking.

Roe looked around him with dismay. "I don't know how I'll manage to help you back to the house."

"Maybe I'll just stay here," Jesse answered. "It don't hurt much if I just stay still."

A wave of unwelcome nausea swelled in Roe's throat. He wished he could just stay still, too.

"I don't think you can just stay out here in the middle of the woods," he said as he looked around the clearing. His thinking almost as unclear as his eyesight, he tried to decide what was the best course of action. He was not steady enough on his own feet to carry Jesse to the cabin. But he worried that dragging him would surely cause a worse injury.

"You know, frien'," Jesse said, changing the subject. "You tole me that Men's always tell each other the truth."

"That's right, Jesse, they do," Roe answered only half listening.

"Well, I told you some of the truth, but I ain't tole you all."

"All the truth about what?"

"About the things I want, the things I ain't suppose to have but that I'm aiming to get anyway."

"Oh?" Roe asked, thinking that talking might be just the thing to keep Jesse's mind off his injury.

"It ain't just a gun and a dog that I'm a-wanting, Roe," he said quietly. "They's a bigger thing, a better thing, and Pa'd whoop me fer sure if he knowed I was thinking about it."

"What's that?"

"Someday, Roe," Jesse said in a cautious whisper, "I want to get me a woman."

"A woman!"

"Shhhhhh," Jesse quieted him. "Ain't no call for yelling it out."

"Sorry," Roe said. "I guess I was just surprised." Thinking for a moment, Roe shook his head. "No, I guess I'm not surprised. I don't think you'd be a man if you didn't
want
one," he said.

Nodding eagerly, Jesse blushed a little. "For the most they don't pay me no mind," he said. "But I can look and smell 'em just the same."

"Did you ever kiss one?"

His eyes widening in shock, Jesse shook his head negatively. "Pa says I cain't, never."

"Never?"

There was a faint sadness in his bright blue eyes. "Pa says that if'n I be kissing and squeezing on the gals, then they be thinkin' to marry. But there ain't no daddy on the mountain gonna want me for his son-in-law."

The simple truth of his words cut through Roe like a knife and was just as painful.

"A man would be lucky to get you in his family," Roe told him. "You're a hard worker and an honest fellow. A woman could do a lot worse."

Jesse grinned. "You're beginning to sound like Meggie, all right and ready to pitch a fit on my behalf." He shrugged and gave a light chuckle. "Pa says it's fate. Just like me being born simple. It's the way it is and it cain't be changed."

"Is that what you think, Jesse?"

The young man shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know what to think. Pa is most always right. But still, I want a woman." He sighed wistfully. "Did you ever want a woman, Roe?" Jesse asked. "Truth now, remember we are frien's."

"Yes, of course I've wanted women."

Jesse nodded. "I thought so," he said. "In fact, I think you spend a bit of time wanting my sister Meggie."

"Well, I… well, yes I suppose I've had feelings like that about Meggie."

"Yep, I could tell you both got it bad."

Roe's brow furrowed, but he didn't have time to respond before Jesse's next question.

"Have you ever covered a gal?"

"You mean—"

Jesse nodded. "Yep, I mean—"

Roe cleared his throat and gazed momentarily at the heavens before answering honestly. "I have."

"What's it like?"

Roe shrugged self-consciously. "It's nice."

"Nice?"

Laughing, Roe shook his head drunkenly. "Maybe nice isn't exactly the right word. It… it feels real good."

Jesse nodded. "Better than doing it with your hand."

Roe hiccuped with surprise and then chuckled. He shook his head slightly in disbelief. "Yes, Jesse. I'd say it's better."

"Did the woman you done it with smell good?"

He was thoughtful for a long moment. "Honestly, Jesse, I don't believe that I remember how any of the women I've been with smelled."

"You've been with more than one?"

"A few, just a few."

Jesse pondered that for a moment. "Pa says that most fellers say they been with a lot of women, even if it ain't so."

Roe nodded. "I suspect some do."

Jesse grinned at Roe with pride. "But you didn't notice how they smelled?" he asked.

"Mostly I guess they smelled sort of sweaty," he answered. "Sometimes they smelled like perfume."

"Perfume." Jesse said the word in an awed whisper.

"I don't particularly care for perfume," Roe admitted. "Too much of it makes me sort of sick."

Jesse nodded solemnly as he sat up straighten "So what does it feel like when you're inside a woman?"

"Jesse, I don't think we ought to be talking about this."

"You're my frien', Roe. If you ain't gonna tell me, then who is?"