“No, honey, I don’t hate you. I forgive you. In fact, you did save his life.”
Jenny just sat there in the dirt, tears welling in her eyes again.
“The question is, Jenny, do you still hate Hugh? Can you forgive him for what he did to your father?”
“Oh, yes, Martha. I already have. A hundred times over,” Jenny replied tearfully. “Hugh is the most wonderful man I have every known. And I know now that the only reason he did what he did was because he was forced into it. It was my father’s own fault for hanging with my evil uncle and his evil friends.”
Martha and Jenny rose, and stood there in the garden hugging each other, Jenny crying once again on the woman’s motherly shoulder.
Above them, just inside a second-story window, Mary had tears in her eyes as well. She had listened to the whole thing.
She had never heard such a long, complicated, sad story. But, she believed that Jenny had been mostly a pawn of her uncle, and that she was truly sorry for the part she had played in her uncle’s plans.
“Come on. Let’s do something fun,” Martha said.
Martha took Jenny’s hand and led her up to Mary’s room.
“You said you swim?” Martha asked.
“I love to swim,” Jenny replied.
Martha looked at Mary, and Mary read her thoughts. She opened a drawer and pulled out several sets of bikini tops and bottoms.
“How about these?” Mary asked. “You pick.”
Jenny looked them over, then made a choice. As she headed out the door to her own room to change, Mary handed her an over-large T-shirt to use as a cover-up for the trip down to the pool.
In her own room, she changed into the bikini top and bottom, and T-shirt, once again admiring Mary’s taste in clothes.
She joined Martha and Mary at the bottom of the stairs, they having already changed into their own swim suits.
At the pool, when all three had removed their cover-ups, Jenny couldn’t help but notice what shapely, toned figures both mother and daughter had.
Noticing Jenny’s expression, Mary said, “We keep in pretty good shape, what with all the work we do, and with the healthy, mostly organic food we eat.”
“And, you, young lady, have a beautiful figure,” Martha said to Jenny. “Does Hugh have any idea what you’ve got underneath those loose clothes you wear?” she asked, laughing, not realizing what a personal question that might be.
Jenny blushed deep red all the way from her face to her toes.
“Oh my,” Martha said. “Please forgive me. I shouldn’t have been so forward.”
“Well, no. We … uh. We’ve only just met. And, um …,” Jenny stammered, just not having the first clue what to say.
Martha and Mary exchanged knowing glances. Mary said, “Oops.”
Then Mary took ahold of Jenny’s hand, and ran toward the pool. “Last one in is a rotten egg,” she yelled as she turned loose of Jenny, and dove in.
Jenny dove in right behind her, sleekly, barely making a ripple.
“Race you to the other end,” Mary challenged when they had both surfaced. Then she took off in a fast, efficient Australian crawl.
Even though she had gotten a late start, Jenny quickly caught up to Mary, and then passed her, easily beating her to the other end.
“Whoo, boy,” Mary gasped. “You surely do swim.”
“Yeah, it’s one of the few things I’m good at. I was all-star on my high school swim team.”
“OK. Race me to the other end again … under water,” Mary challenged, thinking she’d have Jenny there.
Jenny grinned, knowing that she was faster under water than above it.
They took off. And, even though Mary was quite athletic and actually very fast, Jenny slid through the water like a sleek otter, and easily beat her there by a whole length.
“Wow. That’s impressive. How about if we don’t race any more, and just swim for awhile,” Mary suggested, knowing when she was beat.
Jenny thoroughly enjoyed the swimming. As she swam her laps she could feel the tension just wash away from her body.
She climbed out to join Martha and Mary on lounges. They were both pleasantly tanned from frequent swimming. Jenny realized that she could definitely use some color, and asked if she could swim a couple times a day.
“Sure, no problem. Who knows when Hugh will come back down out of the hills, and how long you’ll be here. You’re welcome to use the pool as much as you like,” Martha said.
As the three continued to lounge by the pool, they heard the older Hugh’s pickup come up the driveway.
Hugh and Roly climbed the stairs to the pool deck, and saw the girls there.
“I figured this is where you gals would be on this warm afternoon,” Hugh said.
And, always the outspoken one, Roly remarked, upon spotting Jenny, “Whooee, the scenery sure has improved around here considerably.”
“I resent that,” both Martha and Mary said simultaneously.
Jenny blushed furiously, while Roly tried to extract himself from his blunder, “Well … you know what I mean. It’s just that … oh, forget it.”
Then they all laughed.
After they had returned to their rooms and changed out of their swimsuits, Mary asked Jenny if she would like to go out to the horse barn with her.
“I’d love to,” Jenny exclaimed.
“OK, let me finish up with a little bit more studying, and then we’ll have some time before we have to help get dinner ready. I’ll knock on your door,” Mary said.
Jenny relaxed in the guest room easy chair, and lost track of time as she browsed through some of the books that were on the bookshelf.
As she had promised, Mary knocked on her door, and Jenny followed the young lady out to the horse barn. As they entered, a
