Finest Hour (20 page)

“That’s right,” said Tanner. “You’ll want to lower the bucket down until it hits the water table, and then let it slowly sink. Once it’s submerged or nearly so, pull it back up.”

“And the weight of the water will push the stopper down,” he said, putting it all together.

“You got it.”

“How much water will we get with each dip of the bucket?”

“With that length of pipe, a gallon or two. You can make a longer bucket, but it’ll get heavy, plus it might go beyond the well casing, and that could make it a pain to pull back up.”

“All right, here goes,” he said, lowering the rope.

The bucket disappeared into the well, and a few seconds later, they heard a soft splash as rope went slack.

“Let it fill for a moment,” instructed Tanner.

After a short time, Barret hauled it back up. When he hoisted the bailer bucket out, it was full of water.

“It works!” cheered Haley.

Barret carefully poured the water into a large plastic jug that she had brought out. As soon as he had it poured, he turned to Tanner and offered his hand.

“You, sir, have just saved our lives.”

Shaking his hand, Tanner said, “Nah, you’d have figured something out. Country folks always do.”

“I’m not so sure. Truth is, I was getting ready to go out hunting for water from other houses, and that might have gotten me killed. This keeps me here with my family where I belong.” There was something about the way that he said
family
that sounded a little pained.

Tanner nodded. “Glad I could help.”

Barret set the bailer bucket beside the well and guided everyone back up toward the house. He and Haley went inside, promising to return with some honey. When they came back out, instead of honey, Barret was carrying two white bee suits and a metal smoker can.

“We’re happy to give you as much honey as you can carry, but I was talking with the missus, and she thought that your daughter might be interested in seeing how we harvest it from the hives.” He glanced over at Samantha. “What do you say? Would you like to learn about bees?”

“Does it involve getting stung?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

He chuckled. “Not at all. These suits and gloves will protect us.” He turned back to Tanner. “Would you mind if I show her how it’s done? It might come in handy one day.”

“Sounds like a great idea.” Tanner could teach her many things, but harvesting honey was not one of them.

“If you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Raines,” said Haley, “perhaps you could help me with something inside the house? That’s okay, isn’t it, Barret?”

He looked at his wife for longer than the question required, but then offered a heartfelt nod.

“Yeah,” he said. “I think he’d be the perfect one to help.”

Haley’s hands were shaking as she clung to the screen door, watching her husband cross their thirty-acre farm.

“If you’re uncomfortable with my being in the house,” said Tanner, “I’m happy to wait outside.”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“You seem awfully nervous.”

She forced a smile, but it didn’t begin to hide the fact that something was bothering her.

He sighed. “I really hope that you and your husband aren’t up to something, because I can promise you that it won’t end well, for either of you.”

Tears came to her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For making you worry about something like that. We’re good people, honest.”

He nodded. “All right. Then, what’s bothering you?”

“I, uh—I have a favor to ask you, and I’m nervous. That’s all.”

“What’s there to be nervous about? You said you needed my help with something. So, I’ll help.”

She turned to face him.

“It’s not that easy.”

“I have been known to do difficult things from time to time. Let’s hear it.”

She smiled, and this time it was more genuine.

“Yes, your daughter told me about some of the difficulties you’ve faced. She thinks you hung the moon.”

“That doesn’t sound like my Samantha.”

“She also said that you’re big and sweaty and have the morals of an absolute degenerate.”

“Now
that
sounds like her.”

“Even so, you’ve got one special bond with that kid.”

“We do all right.”

“You know… you and Barret are about the same size.”

Tanner sucked in his gut.

“More or less.”

“My husband’s a wonderful man.”

“Why do I sense there’s a ‘but’ coming? Is he beating on you or something?”

“Oh, God, no! Barret wouldn’t raise a hand to me if his life depended on it.”

“What is it then?”

She paused. “Do you think I’m pretty?”

Tanner felt his face flush.

“What kind of question is that?”

“A simple one.”

He shrugged. “You’re all right.”

She smiled. “You’re not much of a flatterer, are you?”

“What’s this about, Haley?”

“Would you…” She swallowed. “Would you be willing to take me to my bedroom?”

Tanner began to push past her.

“Sorry, darlin’, you got the wrong guy.”

“Please,” she said, grabbing his arm. “Hear me out.”

“You’re not the only lonely woman in the world, but believe me, a fling with a stranger isn’t going to scratch that itch. Not for long anyway.”

“It’s not like that.”

He stood in the doorway, waiting for her to explain.

“We, my husband and I, we want a child.”

Tanner suddenly felt like someone had punched him in the gut.

“We’ve tried for years. Something’s wrong with his… you know, his seed. We planned to see a specialist, but then the pox hit. Now…” she looked down at her hands. “Now, there’s nothing for us. No family, ever.”

“Look, lady, I’m not going to impregnate you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Why not? Are you… fixed?”

“Bite your tongue, woman.”

“I thought all men liked sex. Am I too ugly for you?”

“Yes, men like sex, and no, you’re not too ugly. Truth is, my standards have always been pretty flexible. Even if they weren’t, you’re no ugly duckling.” He couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over her tight figure.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“This isn’t about sex. Not really, it isn’t. Plus, I’m not the kind of man to…” He hunted for the right words. “…to take liberties with another man’s wife.”

“But, it wouldn’t be—”

“Besides, even if I said yes, you’d have to live with that guilt. It would eventually come out, and your husband would never forgive you.”

“You don’t understand. My husband and I
both
want this.”

“Excuse me?”

“He and I discussed every possible option, and this is the only way we’ll ever have a child. He’s a good man, a proud man, but he wants a family more than anything in this world.”

Tanner took a step back into the kitchen.

“You’re telling me your husband is okay with you having sex with another man?”

“Not just any man. But with you, yes.”

“He told you this?”

“He did.”

“I don’t believe you.” Even as he said the words, he knew that she wasn’t lying.

“Go out and ask him. It’ll embarrass him, but he’ll tell you the same.”

“I’m not going out to ask your husband if he’s okay with my sleeping with you.”

She placed both hands against Tanner’s chest.

“This isn’t easy for me either. I swore an oath to be faithful to my husband. But I’ve accepted our situation, as has my husband.”

Tanner hunted for words, and not finding them, stood speechless.

“Look, Mr. Raines, the favor that I’m asking is the single most important thing you could ever do for us. More important than the water. More important than anything.”

“Talk about causing performance anxiety,” he mumbled.

She smiled and pressed up against him.

“I’m sure you’d do fine.”

Tanner started looking for a way out.

“You don’t even know that it would work.”

“Not a hundred percent, I don’t. But the timing is perfect. My cycle—”

He raised a hand. “I live by a strict policy of not talking about women’s cycles.”

She laughed and shook her head.

“Sissies, every last one of you.” She reached down and took one of his hands in hers. “Please, I won’t bite.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

She smiled, and this time it was more relaxed, filled with hope of a happiness that might yet come to be.

He let out a sigh. “This is nuts. You know that.”

“Yes, but will you do it anyway? Will you help us to have a family?”

After a fencing match between morality and lust that lasted much shorter than it probably should have, he yielded.

“I’ve always been a man who knows when to say yes.”

She brought his fingers to her mouth and kissed them.

“I promise I’ll try not to make it too terribly unpleasant.”

He grinned. “That, darlin’, was never my concern.”

The Jenkins had quite the beekeeping setup. At the far end of their farm stood three tall wooden hives, each made up of several smaller boxes stacked on top of one another. A flat metal cover capped each hive to keep the rain out.

“The first thing we need to do is get the smoker going,” Barret said, dropping the suits to the ground and inspecting the metal can.

“Does the smoke hurt the bees?” Samantha didn’t like the idea of gassing anything to steal their food.

“Not at all. It just calms them down a bit.” He packed some dry hay into the smoker and lit it. As soon as white smoke started puffing out, he said, “We had better put on the suits now. The smoke helps, but bees can still be rather unpredictable.”

She picked up the smaller of the suits and carefully slipped it on. The hood came all the way up over her head, allowing her to see through a thin fabric mesh. When they were both ready, Barret led her closer to the hives.

He tipped up the cover on the first hive and gently blew smoke down into the box. Samantha saw a thick matting of bees inside.

“My goodness!” she exclaimed. “How many bees are in there?”

“A hive of this size has about fifty thousand bees.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of bees. How much honey do they make?”

“It depends on how busy they’ve been. We usually pull about a hundred pounds of honey from each hive.”

“A hundred pounds! That’s more than I weigh.”

Barret smiled. “Bees are very hard workers.”

“I would say so.”

He puffed a little more of the smoke into the hive, and she leaned around to get a better look.

“Where do they put it all?”

“The honey is in the smaller supers up top. The brood combs are down below. That’s where the queen lays her eggs.”

“We’re not going to bother the queen, are we?”

“Oh, no. If we did that, we’d be asking for trouble.” He lifted off the topmost lid, revealing a row of wooden trays filled with honeycombs. “Each of these is called a frame.”

“Is that where the honey is?” she said, pointing to the honeycombs.

“That’s right.”

“But if we take their honey, won’t they starve?”

“Not if we leave them some.” He grabbed one of the frames and lifted it out. A small cluster of bees still clung to it, but he gently brushed them back into the hive. “Here,” he said, holding the frame out to her. “We’ll use that empty super over there to carry a few of these frames back to the house.”

When Samantha took the frame from him, she nearly dropped it.

“It’s so heavy!” she exclaimed, grabbing it with both hands.

“It should be,” he laughed. “It’s full of honey.”

She studied the front of the frame. The top of the honeycomb was covered with a white substance that looked like soap.

“What’s the white stuff?”

“That’s beeswax. The bees use it to cap off the honey.”

She rubbed it with her finger.

“How do you get it off?”

“We cut it off with a knife and then use an extractor to spin the honey out. If you don’t have an extractor, you can scoop it out and use a strainer to filter the wax. That way is slower, but it still works.”

“And that’s it? You don’t have to boil it or anything?”

“Nope. Honey is one of the most natural foods you can eat. The stuff you’d get from stores was heated and filtered to make it all look and taste the same. But real honey, like this…” he said, holding up a second frame, “this stuff is full of flavor and nutrition.”