“Confession?” she asked.
“Promise?”
“All right, promise.”
“I am no minister.”
“Not yet, but you’re in Parris’ apprenticeship.”
“I am and I am not.” They began circling one another.
“What is this? A riddle?”
“All a ruse, I assure you.”
“A ruse?” She looked him up and down. “You’re staying in Parris’ house, going about the village with him on house calls, studying for the ministry.”
“Nay, I said I went off to Maine to study.”
“Studying what in Maine, war?”
“People.”
“People?”
“And the law of the Commonwealth.”
“Law?”
“Correct. British law.”
Serena took in a long, deep breath. “Then your coming in from Boston as Mather’s man to be apprenticed to—”
“A hoax, but you mustn’t reveal it to anyone.”
“A hoax?”
“Pretense more like.”
“Pretense,” she repeated. “You are not studying for the cloth?”
“I hope to be a barrister one day.”
“A magistrate?”
“A lawyer. A magistrate one day, perhaps.”
“Are you then a-a spy of some sort then? A spy for Increase Mather?”
“Aye, and I still have work to do in the parsonage house.”
He could see that she was trying to understand this news. “They say you were sent from Boston by Reverend Mather.”
“That much is true.”
“Old Reverend Higginson’s likely on his deathbed, and yet he’s somehow got our concerns heard in Boston, is that it?”
“You know more of politics than I would’ve guessed.”
“Then I am right?”
“I was sent here to illuminate the situation for Boston authorities; to clarify the exact nature of the problem in the village parish.”
She stepped away, staring out over the river again. In a moment, she was leaning into the boulder where he’d earlier sat, hoping against hope. This had always been their special place.
“Well?” he began. “Say something.”
“You’re here to ridicule and—”
“Nooo, never.”
“—and shame the villagers—”
“I tell you no, Serena.”
“F-For what they did to you and your father and mother.”
“I’ve not come with spite or vengeance in my—”
“And who’s to blame you?”
“Serena, I came back for you!” He leaned into her and kissed her, passionately and long. She returned his kiss. When they broke away, she blinked and said, “One moment I’m threatening you with a gun, and the next I’m kissing you. Some people might call that enchantment.”
“I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve put you through.” Jeremy stoked her light-dappled blonde hair with a nervous hand, but she did not pull away. “And I wouldn’t blame you for a moment putting shrapnel in me, turning up like this. But Serena, you must have gotten my letter?”
“I did.” Her eyes had filled with tears.
“That’s good. I’d wondered.”
“I read you were coming, but how could I believe it?”
He held her gaze. “And why not?”
She nervously laughed. “After ten years? Besides, my brothers, particularly Ben, are capable of cruel pranks, and . . . well your script has changed so much.”
“It has?”
“I compared it to the note you’d left behind.”
“You’ve kept that note all these years?”
“I took the recent letter for a cruel hoax and burned it. Threw it in the hearth.”
“I see.”
“Afraid to believe it.”
He held her again, unsure what to say and choosing silence. The brook warbled over rocks nearby like a tune. Birds chirped and chased one another about the leaves.
“I beat Ben over the head with it first, thinking it was his stupid prank.”
“Poor Ben.”
“When he wouldn’t confess, I assumed it was someone with far worse intentions.”
“Who’d be so cruel?”
“Plenty here-’bouts’re capable of nastiness, trust me.”
“To be so cruel?”
“Of all people, you ought know how hateful some of our neighbors can be.”
“Yes, but to be evil toward you? Sweet Serena.”
“Some in the village hate anyone with the name Nurse.”
“Hate you?”
“Our entire family.”
“But you’re the finest of neighbors.”
“And the most successful, the most smiled upon, and the wealthiest.”
He nodded, understanding. “Aye, I’ve seen it before—that green-eyed beastie.”
“This goes deeper than mere jealousy, Jeremy. Far deeper. I no longer go into the village for the stares and the gossip.”
“Has it to do with Mr. Parris?”
“It’s old sores and wounds, to be sure, even before Mr. Parris’ tenure, but that vile man knows how to play it like a harp one day and a trump card the next.”
“Thanks to my brief time under his house, I’ve no doubt that’s true.”
“Mother took the measure of him on first meeting.”
“A shrewd woman, your mother. Always a good judge of character.”
“Took the rest of us some time to catch up to her assessment, sure. Even Father, and I can tell you, this rift in the parish over the parsonage and its proper handling and ownership. Well, it’s caused a rift in our family as well.”
“I imagine it has in all the families.”
“Oh, some’re quite together on giving Parris whatever he wants.”
“But you are not?”
“I’m not
“And your mother’s assessment’s not changed in three years?”
“She’s of the same mind as Father and I. We’ll never agree to his ownership of the parsonage.”
“Must make for awkwardness on Sabbath days.”
