'I reckon I am,' she managed through her laughter. 'Leastways, they all say so, don’t they?'
Her good humor only intensified his choler. Incensed, he pointed. 'You git up to the house and-and-' But he didn’t know what to advise. Hell, what was he, a midwife?
'I’m going, Mr. Parker, I’m going,' Eleanor returned jauntily. She punched out the dome of his hat and plopped it on her own head, where it fell past her ears. 'But how could I pass by without noticing you sitting there in the mud?' She reached down for Baby Thomas and Will barked, 'I’ll take care of them! Just get up there and see to yourself!'
She turned away, chuckling, and waddled up the path.
Damn woman didn’t have the sense God gave a box of rocks if she didn’t realize she should be flat on her back, resting, after the fall she’d taken. It’d take some getting used to, living with a single-minded woman who laughed at him every chance she got. And didn’t she know what a scare she gave him? Now that it was over, his knees felt like a pair of rotting tomatoes. That, too, made him mad. Getting watery-kneed over somebody else’s woman, and a stranger to boot! None too gently, he called after her, 'How long does this mud have to be on ’em?'
From up the path she called, 'Ten minutes or so should do it. I’ll fix somethin’ to help the itching.' She dropped his hat on the porch step and disappeared inside.
Will removed the boys’ shoes and let them play in the mud. He himself felt twenty pounds heavier with so much goo hanging off his backside. Now and then he glanced at the house, but she stayed inside. He didn’t know if he wanted her to come out or not. Confounded woman, standing there laughing at him while he was trying to calm down her howling kids. And nobody wore his hat. Nobody!
At the house, Eleanor set to work smashing plantain leaves with a mortar and pestle. You really don’t know a person till you see him mad. So now she’d seen Will Parker mad, and even riled he was pretty mellow-a good sign. What a sight he’d made, sitting in that mudhole with his dark eyes snapping. If he stayed, years from now they’d laugh about it.
She looked up and saw a sight that made her hands fall still. 'Well, would y’ look at that,' she murmured to herself. Will Parker came stalking toward the house with her two naked sons on his arms. Their rumps looked pink and plump against Parker’s hard brown arms, their hands fragile on his wiry shoulders. He had a long-legged stride, but moved as if hurry were a stranger to him. His head was bare, his shirt unbuttoned with the tails flapping, and he scowled deeply. What a sight to see her boys with a man again. Strangers scared them, but in less than a day they had taken to Will Parker. And in the same length of time she’d seen all she needed to be convinced he’d do all right at daddyin’, whether the boys were his own or not. He’d be gentle with them. And caring.
She watched from the shadows of the kitchen as he approached the house and paused uncertainly at the foot of the porch steps. She stepped out, noting that his pants and shirttails were dripping.
'Y’all washed in that cold well water?'
'Thought you’d be laying down.' His voice still hinted at displeasure.
'I had a pang or two but there’s nothin’ serious wrong.'
'Shouldn’t you see a doctor or something?'
'Doctor,' she scoffed. 'What do I need with a doctor?'
'I could walk to town, see if we could get one out here.'
'Town ain’t got no use for me, I ain’t got no use for it. I’ll get along just fine.'
Lord a-mercy, she was five months pregnant and she hadn’t seen a doctor? His eyes dropped to the dish she held. 'What’s that?'
'Crushed plantain leaves for the bites. But we better dry the boys off first. You mind doin’ one while I do the other?'
She was gone inside the house before Will could reply. A moment later she returned with two towels, tossed one to Will and sat on the bottom step with the other. While she dried Donald Wade, Will found himself balancing on the balls of his feet with Thomas between his knees. Another first, he thought, awkwardly drawing the child closer. Thomas was pink and gleaming and his little pecker stuck out like a barricade at a railroad crossing. He stared straight into Will’s eyes, silent. Will grinned. 'Got to dry you off, short stuff,' he ventured quietly. This time he didn’t feel as ignorant, talking to the little guy. Thomas didn’t yowl or fight him, so he figured he was doing all right. He soon learned that babies do little in the way of helping at bath time. Chiefly, Thomas stared, with his lower lip hanging. He had to have his arms lifted, his fingers separated, his body turned this way and that. Will dried all the cracks and crannies, going easy where the bites were worst. Thomas’s neck was so small and fragile-looking. His skin was soft and he smelled better than any human being Will had ever been near. Unexpected pleasure stole over the man.
He glanced up and discovered Eleanor watching him.
'How you doin’?' She smiled lazily.
'Not bad.'
'First time?'
'Yes, ma’am.'
'Never had any o’ your own?'
'No, ma’am.'
'Never married?'
'No, ma’am.'
They fell silent, rubbing down the boys. The mellowness inspired by the task spilled over in Will and softened his annoyance with the woman.
'You scared the hell out of me, you know, falling like that.'
'Scared the hell out of myself.' Her lazy smile continued.
'Didn’t mean to bark at you that way.'
'It’s all right. I understand.' After a pause, she added, 'Reckon you’re a little shivery in those wet britches yourself.'
'They’ll dry.'
Thomas stood complacently between Will’s knees, and Will had no warning until he felt something warming the cold denim on his inner thigh. He glanced down, yelped and leaped to his feet. Baby Thomas unconcernedly bowed his legs and continued relieving himself in a splattering yellow arc.
'Mercy, Thomas, look what you’ve done!' Eleanor pushed Donald Wade aside and came up off the step. 'Oh, mercy, Mr. Parker, I’m sorry.' She dropped a self-conscious glance to Will’s thigh. 'Baby Thomas, he ain’t trained yet, you see, and sometimes-well, sometimes-' She fumbled to a stop and turned pink. 'I’m awful sorry.'
Will stood with feet widespread, surveying the damages. 'Like you said, they were wet anyway.'
'I’d be happy to wash them for you, and I’ll get you something of Glendon’s to wear till they’re dry,' she offered.
He lifted his head and their eyes met. Hers were dismayed, his bemused. A smile began tugging at one corner of his mouth, a smile as slow as his walk, climbing one cheek until an attractive crescent dented it. He snickered. Inside him the laughter built until it erupted. And as Eleanor’s chagrin turned to relief, she joined him.
They stood in the sun laughing together for the first time, with the naked children gazing up at them.
When it ended a subtle change had transpired. Their smiles remained while possibilities drifted through their minds.
'So,' he said at length, 'is this how you initiate all the men who come up here to answer your ad?' he teased drolly.
'You never know what to expect when you got two this little.'
'I’ll remember that next time.'
'I’ll get them clothes of Glendon’s and you can take a pail of warm water to the barn.'
'Appreciate it, ma’am.'
For the moment neither of them moved. They stood rooted by surprise and curiosity, now that they’d seen each other in a new light. Her face radiated more than the reflection of her yellow dress. He thought about reaching up and touching it, thought about what her skin might feel like-maybe soft like Donald Wade’s and warm beneath the sun. Instead, he bent to retrieve his hat from the step and settled it on his head. From the safety of its shadow he told her, 'I’ve decided to stay, if you still want me.'
'I do,' she said directly.
The thrill shot straight to his vitals. For as long as he could remember, nobody had wanted Will Parker.
