Page 36 of Goodbye Paradise
“When, um…?” I said, afraid of making Daniel laugh again.
“Another two weeks. And already I can’t see my toes.”
“Your first?” Caleb asked.
Maggie turned to see our faces over the seat back. “Our first! We’ve been married about two years, and we bought our farm at just about the same time. The farm isn’t our full time work, though. Daniel is a carpenter and I help out a friend with her catering business.”
“Carpentry,” Caleb said as the truck turned onto a narrow highway. “I always wanted that job on the Compound. But I’m a mechanic instead.”
“Well, there’s steady work for mechanics. And the pay is good,” Daniel remarked.
“Is it? I have no idea. And I need a job, whether it pays well or not.”
Maggie turned our way again. “I know you’ll be eager to figure that out, but I don’t want you to panic. I told you on the phone last night that we had a room ready, and I wasn’t kidding. When we got married, I told Daniel that I was a package deal. If anyone came along from the Compound who needed a place to live, I wanted to be ready. I’m kind of stunned that nobody has turned up before. Has anyone else left, recently?”
“Yeah,” Caleb said softly. “There’ve been plenty. But none from your family.”
“Tell me about my family,” she asked.
Caleb cleared his throat. “Your mother is still doing her embroidery. There’s a new design from her on my mother’s tablecloth. Your father does his thing in the smithy shop. Something’s always breaking, so they keep him busy.”
“And Miriam?”
My stomach dropped, and I watched Caleb lick his lips. “She’s afraid. It sounds like they want her to marry soon.”
“Damn it,” Maggie swore under her breath. “I always hoped she’d find a way to marryyou. I’ve been praying for that.”
I couldn’t even look at Caleb then.
“…I mean, I know they wouldn’t allow it,” she said quickly. “They don’t give girls like Miriam to a twenty year old just starting out.”
Daniel made an unhappy noise. “It kills me to hear you say ‘give girls like Miriam.’ You can’tgivesomebody.”
“But they do,” I argued. It came out more forcefully than I would have liked. But I felt I needed to defend poor Caleb.
Daniel gave an exaggerated shudder. “I know. Butdamn.”
“Do I want to know who is asking for her?” Maggie asked.
“Not really.” Caleb said, his voice low. “It’s Asher.”
“Christ on a cracker,” Maggie said. “We have to get her out of there.”
“I want to try,” Caleb agreed.
Nine
Maggie and Daniel’sfarm was on a low, round hill. The barn was red, and set back from the road. A second outbuilding rose up in the rear, and the sign on it readDaniel Lacey’s Furniture. “Nice place,” I said as the truck came to a halt beside a white farmhouse. “Wow.”
“Oh, wait until a pipe bursts, or the wind starts blowing through the cracks in the walls,” Maggie laughed. “It’s cool and old, but it’s also old and cold. But we love it. Every creaky inch. Come and see.”
We stepped into a drafty little space that Maggie called the mud room, where all the shoes and jackets were hung. “We keep this door closed,” she said, opening the way into the kitchen, “because it keeps the drafts out.”
“Some of the drafts,” Daniel corrected.
The kitchen had wide plank pine floors, and an ancient refrigerator. But the cabinets and countertops looked new, and the other appliances gleamed. “We’re redoing this a little at a time,” she explained. “Daniel built all of the cabinetry.”
“Wow,” I said again. I was saying that a lot.
