She heard a curse, and Gabe reappeared, a scowl twisting his lips. He planted his hands on his hips, and as he stared down at her, she grew conscious of his height. She was five feet seven, but he made her feel small and disturbingly defenseless.
'In all the years I've known my brother, this is the only time I've seen him turn anybody away.'
'It's been my experience, Bonner, that even good Christians have a limit. For a lot of them, I seem to be it.'
'I don't want you here!'
'Now there's a news flash.'
His expression darkened. 'This place isn't safe for a kid. He couldn't hang around here.'
Was he weakening? She made up a quick lie. 'I have a place to keep him.'
Edward burrowed closer to her side.
'If I hired you, it would only be for a couple of days, just until I find someone else.'
'Understood.' She struggled to hide her excitement.
'All right,' he snarled. 'Eight o'clock tomorrow. And you'd better be ready to work your butt off.'
'I can do that.'
His scowl deepened. 'It's not my responsibility to find you a place to stay.'
'I have a place.'
He regarded her suspiciously. 'Where?'
'None of your business. I'm not helpless, Bonner, I just need a job.'
The phone rang on the wall. He went over to answer it, and she listened to a one-sided conversation that dealt with a delivery problem. 'I'll come in and straighten it out,' Mr. Charm finally announced.
He hung up the phone, then crossed over to the door and held it open. He didn't do it as a courtesy, she knew, but only to get rid of her.
'I have to go into town. We'll talk about where you're going to stay when I get back.'
'I told you it's taken care of.'
'We'll talk when I get back,' he snapped. 'Wait for me over by the playground. And find something to do with your kid!'
He stalked out.
She had no intention of staying around long enough for him to find out that she was sleeping in her car, so she waited until he drove off then headed for her Impala. While Edward napped in the backseat, she washed herself, then laundered their dirty clothes in a small tributary of the French Broad River that ran through the grove. Afterward, she changed into her tattered jeans and an old melon-colored T-shirt. Edward woke up, and the two of them sang silly songs and told ancient knock-knock jokes while they hung their wet laundry on low branches near the car.
The late-afternoon shadows lengthened. She had no food left, and she couldn't postpone the trip into town any longer. With Edward at her side, she walked along the highway until they had left the drive-in behind, then she stuck out her thumb as a late-model Park Avenue approached.
It was driven by a retired couple from St. Petersburg who were summering in Salvation. They chatted pleasantly with her and were sweet to Edward. She asked them to drop her off at the Ingles grocery store on the edge of town, and they waved as they drove off. She was thankful they hadn't recognized her as the infamous Widow Snopes.
Her luck didn't hold, however. She'd only been in the grocery store for a few moments when she noticed one of the produce clerks staring at her. She concentrated on choosing a pear that wasn't overly bruised from the mark- down rack. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a gray-haired woman whispering to her husband.
Rachel had changed so much that she wasn't recognized as often now as she had been in the first year after the scandal, but this was Salvation, and these people had seen her in person, not just on the television screen. Even without her teased hair and spindly high heels, they knew who she was. Swiftly she moved on.
In the bread aisle, a neatly dressed woman in her mid-forties with severely cut dyed black hair put down a pack of Thomas' English muffins and stared at Rachel as if she were looking at the devil.
'You.' She spat out the word.
Rachel remembered Carol Dennis immediately. She had begun as a Temple volunteer and eventually worked her way to the top, ending up as one of the cadre of loyal followers who served as aides to Dwayne. Deeply religious, Carol had both adored and been intensely protective of him.
When his troubles had become public, Carol had never been able to accept the fact that a man who preached the Gospel as passionately as G. Dwayne Snopes was corrupt, so she shifted the blame for his downfall to Rachel.
She was almost unnaturally thin, with a sharp nose and pointed chin. Her eyes were, as dark as her dyed hair, her skin flawless and pale. 'I can't believe you've come back.'
'It's a free country,' Rachel snapped.
'How can you show your face here?'
Her defiance faded. She handed Edward a small loaf of whole-wheat bread. 'Would you carry this for me?' She began to move on.
The woman noticed Edward, and her face softened. She stepped forward and bent toward him. 'I haven't seen you since you were a baby. What a nice-looking young man you are. I'll bet you miss your daddy.'
Edward had been accosted by strangers before, and he didn't like it. He ducked his head.
Rachel tried to get by, but Carol quickly angled her cart to block the aisle. 'God tells us we should love the sinner and hate the sin, but it's difficult in your case.'
'I'm sure you'll manage, Carol, a devout woman like yourself.'
'You'll never know how many times I've prayed for you.'
'Save your prayers for someone who wants them.'
'You're not welcome here, Rachel. A lot of us gave our lives to the Temple. We believed, and we've suffered in ways you could never understand. Our memories are long, and if you think we'll stand by and let you flaunt yourself here, you're very wrong.'
Rachel knew it was a mistake to reply, but she couldn't help defending herself. 'I believed, too. None of you have ever understood that.'
'You believed in yourself, in your own needs.'
'You know nothing about me.'
'If you showed any remorse, all of us could forgive you, but you still don't have any shame, do you, Rachel?'
'I have nothing to be ashamed about.'
'He confessed his sins, but you never would. Your husband was a man of God, and you ruined him.'
'Dwayne ruined himself.' She pushed the cart out of the way, and nudged Edward forward.
Before she could get away, however, a teenage boy came slouching around the end of the aisle holding several bags of potato chips and a six-pack of Mountain Dew. He was slightly built, with an unkempt dirty-blond crew cut and three earrings. His jeans were baggy, and a rumpled blue shirt hung open over a black T-shirt. He came to a stop as he saw Rachel. For a moment his face was blank, and then his expression hardened with hostility.
'What's she doing here?'
'Rachel's come back to Salvation,' Carol said coldly.
Rachel remembered that Carol was divorced and had a son, but she would never have recognized this boy as the quiet, conservative-looking child she vaguely recalled.
The teenager stared at her. He hardly looked like a model of religious devotion, and she couldn't understand such naked animosity.
She quickly turned away and discovered she was shaking as she headed into the next aisle. Before she'd gone far, she heard Carol's angry voice. 'I'm not buying all that junk food for you.'
'I'll buy it myself!'
'No, you won't. And you're not going out with those loser friends of yours tonight, either.'
'We're just going to a movie, and you can't stop me.'
'Don't you lie to me, Bobby! You had liquor on your breath the last time you came home. I know exactly what you and your friends are doing!'
