Redhead Meets Redneck: First Date (13 page)

“If you don’t believe me, just look at what the Good Book says in Second Corinthians 5:21 ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’  That word
might
is important cuz it means it’s not a done deal unless you do something. That something is stop believing that you are good enough to enter heaven, and instead,
believe
that Jesus died, and was punished, for y’all sins. If you do that, you will be a Christian. The Holy Spirit will enter your life and you will start seeing new attitudes and actions in your life.”

Laura wondered why they couldn’t have found a nicer church to hide from the terrorists, maybe an Episcopalian or a Lutheran church. Anything would be better than the Church of the Redneck Bikers.

Reverend Biker closed with a pray
er. Then, Laura grabbed William’s hand and started for the door.

The lady with the
cross tattoo turned and reached out her hand. “Good morning and welcome to our humble church. I’m so glad you came to visit us. My name is Laura.”

“Laura? Oh. Yes. My name is Laura also.”

“Ha, don’t that beat all. Hey, that’s a beautiful head of red hair you got. I wish I could do something with mine, but it always frizzes after I wash it.”

“You might
try some conditioner.”

“Yea
h, I thought about that, but I weren’t sure if it would do any good. But I’ll give it a try. Thank you for the tip. By the way, I love those boots. Where did you get them, sweetie?

“William took me t
o a place called Sam’s General Store. It’s up the road about—”

“Sammy’s? Ha, we go there a couple of times a year. Bit of a drive, but well worth it, if
you know what I mean. Harold, that’s my hubby, looks at the fishing gear and rifles, while I look at clothes. Then afterwards we hit Jo’s for dinner, they got the best chicken potpie. Well fancy that, you shop the same place that I do.”

“Right. That’s quite a coincidence.”

“Well, Lord bless ya, and thanks for visiting with us. Come back again sometime.”

Stepping towards the door,
Laura tugged harder on William’s hand.  The lady with her hair braided to her waist walked up and said, “Good morning, cutie. It’s nice to have some visitors. We don’t git many, but you’re always welcome. Next Sunday we’ll have a picnic after church, so be sure to come back again. Oh, and don’t worry about bringing any food. We always have too much. My husband brings his famous homemade peach-cheese-cake ice cream. Everyone loves it, and some people come just for it.” The young lady looked at the old man as she spoke.

“He
’s your husband?”

“Oh yes. I love him so dearly. Everyone thinks he’s my father, but he
’s my better half. We’ve been married eight years. Best years of my life. He rescued me from my father who, well, I hate to admit it, but my father beat me. Harold smashed his face in when he found out, then he took me to the justice of the peace that very same day and married me. He said, ‘That no good piece of dirt was never going to hurt you agin.’ To this day, I ain’t seen my father, and that suits me. So, I guess you could say that Harold is my knight in shining armor.”

“Uh
-huh, right.”

“By th
e way, my name is Louise.”

“My name is Laura.”

“Hey, what’s your boyfriend’s name? He sure is a hunk, tall and tough. Is he in construction? He looks like a bricklayer.”

“Sort of. William
owns a construction company.”

“Well, you found yourself a man with brains and brawn. You sure are lucky. Hang on to him. A good man is worth a lot. Hey, it was
nice to meet you, Laura. Come back next Sunday and visit us, and join us for the picnic. God bless you, and have a wonderful week.”

“
Okay, sure, you too.”

Laura turned to William, but he was talking to a two men about Harley flat
-head modification—something about boring flat heads, compression ratio modification, and detonation issues, whatever that meant.

Laura heard a squeaky voice in her left ear, “Miss . . . Miss.”

Laura turned and saw a small boy, about seven years old with bright red hair, standing next to a man. The boy continued speaking, “You look just like my mommy did before she died.”

“What?”

“Sorry, Miss. My son’s mother had a beautiful head of red hair just like yours. She died a year ago, and he misses her dearly.”

Laura knelt down so her eyes were even with his
. “What’s your name?”

“Tommy
.”

“You have the fines
t freckles I’ve ever seen,” Laura said.

“Yours are mighty purty to
o, Ma’am.”

“How old are you, young man?”

“Next month I’ll be seven.”

“What to you want for your birthday?”

“Mamma used to read me Dr. Seuss books that she borrowed from the library. I suppose, if I could have anything, it would be a Dr. Seuss book.”

Laura smiled. She
wanted to say more, but her throat began to tighten. She wiped a tear that was inching down her cheek. She took a deep breath, bit her lip, and held out both arms. Tommy stepped into her embrace. She quivered as she fought back the tears. Squeezing him tightly, she whispered, “You’re a brave young man. I hope you get that book for your birthday.”

Releasing Tommy
, Laura stared into his eyes and imagined how much joy this boy must have brought to his mother. She wanted to continue holding him, but it would have broken her heart to think about him any longer.

“
I’m so very happy I met you, Tommy.”

“Right back at
ya, Mom—er—Ma’am.”

Laura’s lips quivered
as she choked back more tears. 

“Laura, I suppose we should get on the road.” William’s voice snapped Laura back to the reality of the present and terrorists.

“Oh, right.”
Laura waved and smiled at Tommy as William’s arm slipped through hers and ushered her towards the door.

“You made a new friend?” William said.

“He’s such a dear little boy. I could take him home and keep him forever.”

William smiled. Not
just any smile, but a special smile. It glowed with an intensity she had never seen before.

“He
’s a charming young man. He’d be easy to become attached to.” William said.

William and Laura walked out the front door. T
he biker with the bulge under his shirt had a smile that showed a mouthful of crooked teeth. “Those friends of yours sure did ask a lot of questions. I acted down-right disgusted that they’d try to interrupt our church service by going in and looking for a young city couple that would never come to a church like ours. Ha, I should get an Emmy, or an Oscar.”

Laura felt a
sense of camaraderie with this strange-looking man. Why hadn’t she felt this way when they walked in?

***

William held her hand as he walked her to the back of the church where his truck was safely hidden. He opened the door for Laura and she stepped up and into the vehicle. He walked around the back of the truck, opened his door, and climbed in. He looked at Laura. Her head was bowed, and her hands were covering her face. She was convulsing with deep breaths and tears were flowing.

“Laura, Laura, what’s wrong?”

Her crying intensified as William struggled to understand what was bothering her.

“I—don’t—want—to—leave—those—people.” Her words came slowly.

“Why?”

“I—don’t—know. I didn’t—like them—when I went in. But afterwards—they seemed so normal—and needy.”

“Sounds like you have a case of the ‘I should have known that even rednecks are human beings’.”

Laura’s convulsing paused long enough to turn toward William and shoot him a stare that said
, “This isn’t the time to say I told you so.”

William, realizing her hurt, gave her a consoling smile.
“We should have a nice quiet drive to my sailboat.”

“You don’t think the terrorists
are following us?” Laura’s crying tempered slightly.

“They don’t have any
more tracking devices. We’ll be fine.”

“What if we get to your sailboat and—”

“We’ll have a nice quiet afternoon, then the general will come pick us up.”

Laura took several long deep breaths. She tried to calm herself because William was so insistent that the terrorists were not going to bother them anymore. But, if
that was true, why did William keep checking his rear-view mirror?

Speed bumps woke Laura
from a shallow sleep. Looking out the window of William’s truck, she saw a forest of sailboat masts. Gentle waves rocked each boat in rhythmical dances that slapped ropes against the masts, making wind-chime reverberations. She had never been on a boat before, except for a cruise she took once with Keisha and some of the office girls.  She knew William well enough that she began looking for the biggest boat in the marina.

“Which one is yours?”

“It’s at the far end of the dock where the water is deeper. Sorry, but it’ll be a bit of a walk.”

William shut off the engine and walk
ed around to open her door. Stepping onto the gravel, she stretched, yawned, and then strained to see the end of the dock.

William
glanced around the marina, then reached out and gently grasped her hand. Laura wondered how a muscular man like William could be so gentle when he touched her. She searched his eyes. Why hasn’t William married yet? Was there a problem with this handsome, rich, and gentle man? So far, Keisha’s instincts were right, William appeared to be quite a catch, well, except for the redneck part. But, there were lots of women who grew up around rednecks. So, why weren’t they chasing this man? Walking down the dock, hand in hand, she wondered what it would be like to spend weekends on William’s sailboat without the threat of terrorists.

At
the end of the dock, she noticed a sailboat mast that rose above all the others.  Beneath it was a long glossy white sailboat with lots of shiny dark wood on the deck.

“I
t’s beautiful. I love all the wood. And, how big did you say it is?”

“It’s fifty
-eight feet long, and it’s a blue-water boat, which means we can sail it across the ocean or around the world.”

Laura’
s mind began to race; did he just use the word
we
when he talked about sailing around the world?
I can’t wait until I get back and talk to Keisha.

William stepped on board first, then extended his hand as Laur
a stepped over the gap between the dock and sailboat.

“Does it always rock like this?”

“Most of time. If you are on the boat long enough, you’ll get used to it. Then, when you get off, you’ll think the land is rocking.”

Laura followed William down the side of the sailboat, walking on the dark wood
, looking at the copious ropes and wondering what each did. Near the back of the sailboat, he stepped down into a large recessed area with seating benches on both sides.

“This is the cockpit. We sit here when we
’re sailing the boat.”

He unlocked a door at the front of the cockpit
. Then he glanced around the marina in all directions before walking down a half flight of steps. Turning around, he looked up and reached out his hand. Laura took his hand and stepped down into a large room with a kitchen on the left, and a large seating area beyond that. The kitchen had chrome fixtures, granite counter tops, white ceiling and walls. All of the cabinets were dark wood.

“The wood is beautiful
. What kind is this?”

“T
he wood is teak. It comes from Burma, and is usually a light color, but I had it stained a darker shade because it makes a nice contrast with the white fiberglass.”

Laura strolled into the kitchen area and tried not to gawk. She casually ran her fingers over the smooth wood and chrome faucet. It suddenly hit
her; the kitchen on William’s boat was nicer than the kitchen in her house.

She strolled into the seating area beyond
the kitchen. On each side were facing sofas with thick white cushions. In front of one was a teak coffee table, and in front of the other was a large teak table that looked like it could be used for dining.

“There
’s a restroom on either side of the stairs, if you need it.”

“Two restrooms?”

“Actually, there are five.”

“Five!
I only have one in my apartment.”

William had a little-boy grin on his face. “Come up to the bow and see the rest of the boat.”