Half asleep and limp with pleasure, Caroline snuggled up to Tucker. She roused herself to trail a lazy line of kisses up his chest to his chin.
'I always thought propriety was overrated.'
'Stick with me, darlin'.' He curved a hand over her hip. 'You'll forget there ever was such a thing.'
'I think I already have.' Her lips curved against his shoulder before she rested her cheek there. 'Can we sleep like this?'
'Like babies,' he promised, idly rubbing her back. He didn't pay much attention to the roar of the car down the lane, or the slamming of doors, the pounding of feet up the stairs. If Dwayne was drunk, or Josie was peeved at whomever she'd been sleeping with, it could wait until morning.
But Caroline stirred and started to speak even as Dwayne began to shout Tucker's name.
'Shitfire. He does pick his times.' He kissed Caroline's shoulder as he rolled over and grabbed up his pants. 'Just wait right here and I'll go quiet him down.'
Tucker listened to his brother banging on doors and swore. He swung the door open and stepped out into the hall. 'Jesus H. Christ, Dwayne, you're going to wake up the whole house.'
'Already has,' Cousin Lulu said from her doorway. She was wearing a Redskins football jersey and a headful of purple curlers. 'I was having a right good dream about Mel Gibson and Frank Sinatra, too.'
'Go back to sleep, Cousin Lulu. I'll handle him.'
Wild-eyed, Dwayne burst out of Tucker's room. 'Doesn't anybody sleep in their own bed anymore? Get your gun, boy. We've got trouble.'
'The only trouble here is the beer you've been slopping down in McGreedy's.' Delia grabbed his arm and tried to haul him to his own room. 'What you need's a face full of ice to cool you off.'
Dwayne shook her off and rushed to Tucker. 'I don't know how much time we have. They're going to lynch Toby March.'
'What the hell are you talking about?'
'I'm talking about the Bonny boys and a bunch of their asshole friends going after Toby right this holy minute with a rope.'
'Oh, Christ.' Tucker saw Caroline come to the doorway, clutching her robe at her throat. 'Wait for me,' he said.
'I'm going with you.' Delia was halfway down the hall in her red-feathered peignoir before Tucker stopped her.
'You're staying right here. I don't have time to argue with you. Call Burke. Tell him fireworks are starting ahead of schedule.'
Delia stood as they clattered down the steps. She bristled until the feathers rustled.
'There are only two of them,' Caroline said from behind her. 'If Burke doesn't get there with help, it'll be only Tucker and Dwayne.'
Cousin Lulu examined her nails. 'I can still shoot Lincoln's face off a one-cent piece at five yards.'
Delia turned back, nodded. 'Get some pants on.'
Toby rolled over in bed when their old mutt Custer began to bark. 'Damn dog,' he muttered.
' 'S your turn,' Winnie said sleepily.
'How do you figure?'
'I'm the one who got up every night to nurse two babies.' She opened her eyes and smiled at him in the moonlight. 'Just like I'm going to get up with this next one in about six more months.'
Toby skimmed a hand over her still-flat tummy. 'Guess it's only fair I deal with the dog.'
'Get me a glass of that orange soda pop while you're up.' She patted his bare butt before he pulled on his undershorts. 'A pregnant woman's got cravings.'
'You sure did have them a couple hours ago.'
That earned him a giggle and another slap. Toby stumbled, yawning, out of the room.
He saw the reflection of the fire in the front room window, that glitter of gold and red on the glass that made his heart sink and his blood boil.
He bit back an oath, hoping to get rid of the obscenity on the lawn before any of his family could be hurt by it. He was a man of deep faith and did his best to love his fellow man. But in his heart was a cold hate for whoever had lit the cross on his land.
He pushed open his door, stepped out on his porch. And found a gun poked into his naked belly.
'It's Judgment Day, nigger.' Billy T.'s lips spread in a grin. 'We just come by to send you to hell.' Enjoying the power, he jabbed with the rifle barrel. 'Toby March, you've been tried and convicted for the rape and murder of Darleen Talbot, Edda Lou Hatinger, Francie Logan, and Arnette Gantry.'
'You're crazy.' Toby could barely get the words through his lips. The dog was quiet now, and he could see old Custer crumpled on the grass-dead or stunned. Rage came quickly, then he saw the rope John Thomas Bonny and Wood Palmer were swinging over the branch of a gnarled oak. Fear followed. 'I never killed nobody.'
'Listen to this, boys.' Billy T. gave a cackle while his eyes stayed dark and flat on Toby's. 'He says he didn't do it.'
Even through terror, Toby recognized that they were all piss-yourself drunk. That only made them more dangerous.
One of the others leaned on his shotgun and brought a pint of Black Velvet to his lips. 'Might as well hang him for a liar, too.'
'His neck'll stretch just the same. You nigger boys can dance, can't you?' Billy T. grinned until his eyes turned to slits. 'You're going to do some dancing tonight. Why, your feet ain't even going to touch the ground. When you finish dancing, we're going to burn your place to the ground.'
Fear turned Toby's bowels to ice. They would kill him. He could see that in their eyes. He would fight them, and he would lose. But he couldn't lose his family as well.
He shoved the rifle, felt the bullet sear his rib cage as it exploded. 'Winnie!' He shouted in despair and terror. 'Run. Get the children and run!' As he clutched at his wounded side, Billy T. brought the rifle butt down in his face.
'Coulda killed him.' On a nervous giggle, Billy T. wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. 'Coulda blown a hole in his belly, but that's not the way. We're gonna hang him,' he yelled to the others. 'Drag him on over.'
He saw the woman rush out, shotgun blasting. In her terror, Winnie fired wide. Billy T. backhanded her and knocked the gun clear. 'Lookie here.' He snatched the struggling woman around the waist. 'She's going to protect her man.' When she clawed at him, he struck her again so that she fell dazed to the porch. 'Hold on to her, Woody. Truss her up. When that cocksucker wakes up, we'll show him how it feels to have his woman raped.'
'I ain't raping no woman,' Wood muttered, already having doubts about the whole night's work.
'Then you can watch, too.' Billy T. reached down and yanked Winnie down the steps by the hair. 'Take hold of her, goddammit. John Thomas, you go in and bring those nigger kids out here. They got a lesson to learn.'
Winnie began to scream, one keening wail after another. She kicked and bit and clawed as Wood bound her hands behind her back.
There was a shout from the house, a curse and a crash. John Thomas staggered back out to the doorway, his shoulder seeping blood. 'He cut me.' Holding out one bloody hand, he stumbled to his knees. 'The little fucker cut me.'
'Christ almighty, can't even handle a kid.' Billy T. walked over to examine his brother's wound. 'You're bleeding like a stuck pig. One of y'all bind this up. Keep an eye on the house. That boy comes out, do what you have to do.' Near where the cross burned, Toby began to groan and stir. 'I'm going to do this myself. For Darleen.' He leaned over. One of Toby's eyes had swollen shut, but there was fear in the other. Billy T. fed on it.
It was power. He tasted it and found it heady. All his life he'd been second rate. Now he was about to do something important, even heroic. No one would ever look at him the same way again.
'I'm going to put this noose around your neck, boy.' He reached up and snagged it. Dragging Toby to a kneeling position, he pulled the loop of rope around Toby's neck. 'I'm going to tug it nice and tight.' He slid the knot down until it pressed evilly against flesh. 'But we're not going to string you yet. First I'm going to do to your
