Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) (36 page)

A loud knock sounded on the door below.

“Well I wonder who that can be?” Rose said to herself from the kitchen where she was preparing dinner.

“Dayne?” Rose exclaimed from below. I dropped the pile of dirty clothes I had collected and tiptoed to my door to peek downstairs. Why was he so early, and why was he coming in the front door?

“What a nice surprise. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you on my doorstep,” Rose said, with the same sweet lilt her voice always carried.

“Good evening, ma’am. I hope I’m not interrupting dinner?” Dayne said, seeing the wooden spoon Rose held in her hand.

“No, not at all. Would you like to see Faye?” Rose asked wiping her hands down her apron.

“Please, if she’s home?” I loved how polite he was, such a gentleman.

“Faye? You’ve got a visitor.” Rose called from the base of the staircase. I could tell there was a smile on Rose’s face as she was saying this. “Oh, well, come on in, Dayne. How rude of me not to ask!”

“Thank you.” Dayne said as he stepped inside. I chuckled to myself, wondering what Rose would say if she knew the truth.

I had been listening to every word of the conversation below and not really thinking about having to go down myself. I looked in the mirror. A dirty old t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts was not an appropriate outfit to see Dayne in. I knew he didn’t care what I looked like, but he always looked so amazing. I had to at least make a little effort.

The only clean article of clothing in my closet was a pale blue sundress my mother had insisted I pack, just in case. I slinked out of my clothes, threw on the dress, my tiny pearls, and some mascara. Shoes? The only option I had was my cowboy boots. I had seen the look in the gossip rags April obsessed over, but I had no clue if I could pull it off.

I didn’t really have time to worry. Dayne was down stairs, and I was wasting time. I threw them on and glanced in the mirror. To my amazement, I looked like I had just stepped off the pages of April’s magazines. Funky, but cool. I combed my fingers through my hair, brushed on a coat of lip-gloss I had bought at the store and sprayed some perfume in a cloud before me and walked through it.

In two minutes I was out of my room and down the stairs, the cowboy boots clunking down the wooden steps. I slowed my pace as I reached the bottom, not wanting to seem too eager.

“Hey,” I said to Dayne when I reached the tiny den, suddenly unsure of how to act around him with an audience.

A smile took over his face as he walked straight over to me and kissed me, not bothered at all by our audience. “You look and smell amazing. I thought I was going to surprise you, but you look like you’ve been waiting for me all afternoon.” He winked at me, knowing how I wished away the hours until everyone was asleep and we could be together.

I glanced over his shoulder at Rose, hoping she didn’t pick up on the inside joke between us. She quickly glanced back down at the bowl in her hands, giving us what little privacy the open room offered.

Dayne looked especially handsome that afternoon. His normal work clothes were gone. Instead he wore dark blue jeans, cut so perfectly they were probably custom-made, a blue and white checked shirt and a perfectly tailored tan blazer. He was the epitome of privileged country life.

“What are you doing here?” I didn’t want to pull away from him, but I knew Rose was watching us out of the corner of her eye with great interest. “Do you want to sit down?” I said, turning to the couch in front of the fireplace. “Do you want something to drink?” I offered, completely unsure of what I was supposed to do in this situation.

He just smiled at me, entertained by my discomfort, enjoying how difficult it was for me to stay out of his arms and not making it any easier by smiling naughtily at me like he knew every secret I’d ever kept.

“Dayne, won’t you stay for dinner? We’d love to have you,” Rose said, filling the silence in the room.

“Thank you, Rose, but I was actually hoping Faye would let me take her to dinner. I hear we are the talk of Clonlea, but I still haven’t had the pleasure of taking Faye on a first date.” He held my hand and pulled me along behind him as he made his way over to the kitchen, where Rose was stirring a pot of noodles.

“Well, I think that’s a wonderful idea!” Rose said, elated at the thought of us making things official. “Faye, don’t forget a sweater. It’s going to get cold,” Rose said just like a mother would and winked at me like a friend would.

“Um, yeah. Ok.” I looked to Dayne, a little caught off guard by his plans. I didn’t even think I would see him for at least four more hours, and now I was going on a date with him? My first date ever? I didn’t have the first clue how to act.

I walked back up the stairs to my room in a bit of a daze, dumb struck by the events that had just unfolded below. In the privacy of my room I danced around like a fool letting out a little of the nervous energy that flowed through me…I was going on a date with Dayne DeLaney!

He chuckled from below. It really wasn’t fair that he knew so much about me. A girl needs to have some secrets.

I grabbed a sweater and joined him downstairs. He and Rose were talking like old friends, joking about the recent gossip around town.

“Am I supposed to give you a curfew?” Rose asked, clearly unsure of what her role was supposed to be, too.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked from her to Dayne. I didn’t know how this was supposed to go either.

“I’ll have her home by eleven?” Dayne offered.

“Sure, sounds good to me,” Rose said, not wanting to be overbearing. She turned away from the stove, wiping her hand on her apron. “You two certainly make a handsome couple. Right off the pages of a magazine,” Rose beamed like a proud mother.

I blushed and she gave me a hug, “Have the time of your life, girl,” she whispered in my ear.

“Thanks, Rose.” I squeezed her back tightly and couldn’t keep the smile off my face as we walked to the door.

We stepped off the porch, and for a moment I wondered how I was going to ride LeSheen in a dress. I was relieved when I saw the old Range Rover parked beside Phin’s little truck. It was a classic. At least 20 years old, but so lovingly cared for it looked like it had just driven off the lot.

“I love your car,” I said to Dayne as he held the door open for me.

“Thanks.” He whispered in my ear, a simple gesture that sent my body into overdrive. Whether it was the anticipation of our first date, or the nerves associated with making things public, or just because he was him, his breath blowing lazily into my ear did the craziest things to my poor stomach. It was all I could do to slide through the door and onto the seat.

It was so odd to be in a car with him instead of on the back of a horse. The inside smelled just like he did and a familiar song drifted from the speakers around us.

“I love Van Morrison,” I said, leaning over to turn up the radio. I sat back and immediately wondered if I should have. “I’m sorry, do you mind?” I asked, feeling so unsure of myself.

Dayne looked at me and smiled. “Relax, Faye. You’re with me.” He reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling it up to the console that separated us, knowing how badly I needed reassurance. As soon as he touched me, my worry blew out the open window with the breeze that sent my hair scattering. He held my hand there, driving with one hand down the little road that led into Clonlea.

“So, where are you taking me on this first date?” I wondered if it was obvious to him I had never done this before.

“I thought we would go to the tavern for dinner. Since I am pretty sure everyone there is talking about us anyway, I figured we would really give them something to talk about.” The sharp rays of the setting sun shone brightly in his eyes, highlighting them to an unnatural color. He squinted and lowered the visor.

“Are you sure?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. Hiding out at the barn or in the woods around Ennishlough was one thing. Half the town would be at the tavern on a Friday night. Was he really ready to take himself off the market like that?

“Positive,” he said, bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing it.

“Okay,” I said, thrilled that he wanted to make things so official, but horrified at all the scrutiny our appearance would bring.

He pulled to a stop in front of the tavern. A few of the girls instantly began to fix their hair when they saw the familiar car. He was opening my door before I had a chance to unbuckle my seat belt. I slid out of the truck, a wave of nerves gripping my stomach.

“Relax, Faye,” he whispered, leaning against me. “You’re here with me. Don’t worry about them. Just focus on me.” He tucked me under his arm and we made our way into the tavern.

A hush fell over the noisy crowd gathered for a Friday night as soon as we stepped in the door. The clink of a fork falling to a plate was immediately followed by the murmur of whispers told behind raised hands. I couldn’t force my eyes to leave the safety of the floor. I knew they couldn’t believe what their eyes were seeing. I wanted to turn around and run, back to the safety of his car, back to the privacy of our life lived away from these judging eyes.

“Two please,” Dayne said to the waitress, completely untouched by the behavior of the crowd around us.

“Um…yeah…sure,” the waitress said. Menus shuffled, then dropped to the floor at my feet. She stooped down to retrieve them. “Right, um, right this way,” she stuttered, unable to believe we were together.

“Don’t look so sad, Faye. People will think I’m forcing you to be with me. Think what that would do to my playboy reputation,” Dayne joked in my ear, hoping to cheer me up. I pulled my eyes away from the floor and glanced up at him for a brief second.

He held the chair for me. I noticed he made a point of looking all around the room before he sat down across from me, meeting the rude stares that had followed us to our table. Slowly the life trickled back into the room around us. Conversations started again and the room seemed to return to normal. I began to relax.

I looked up at Dayne. He smiled at me. His hand lay on the table. He turned his palm over, inviting my hand to his. I reached out to him and managed to glance around the room for the first time. Every face I turned to stared right at me, glaring at me, obviously talking about me. I smoothed my dress, worried it was showing something it shouldn’t. I fumbled with my hair, hoping it wasn’t sticking up. I shoved my cowboy boots further under the table, regretting my fashion forward choice for the evening.

I knew what they were saying.
Why is he with her? Is he blind? He could do so much better.
It wasn’t too hard to guess what was on their minds. I knew I wasn’t good enough for Dayne.

“Well, well. What are you two doing here?” A man who looked vaguely familiar stumbled up to our table, encouraged by the beer in his hand or maybe because he was dared to.

“Hey, Boyd. Just having dinner,” Dayne answered, being polite but also not encouraging the conversation to continue.

I recognized Boyd. He was the only man that had been happy to see Dayne win the arm wrestling contest the first night I was in Clonlea. Boyd stared at me with a stupid smile on his face. He looked back to Dayne and put his hand up to hide his mouth from me.

“Don’t blame you a bit Dayne. I hear American girls are easy!” Boyd attempted to whisper to Dayne, unaware that he was actually loud enough for half the room to hear.

Dayne’s hand tensed under mine, trying to control the fury surging through him. I squeezed it, reminding him where we were.

He took in a huge breath and exhaled through clenched teeth, his jaw muscles tensing and releasing as he stood up from the table to face Boyd.

Boyd stumbled back a few feet, surprised by Dayne’s reaction. “Boyd, I understand you’ve been drinking tonight, so I’m going to let that insult slide. But you need to understand that’s the only warning you get. If you ever speak about Faye like that again, we’ll be settling this outside.” He stared at Boyd, being sure his words sunk into the drunken brain. “Do you understand?” He was cool and collected despite the anger that was burning through him.

“Dayne, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just joking.” The man began to back away from Dayne, retreating to his stool at the bar.

Dayne nodded once, the intensity of his glare was frightening. He sat back down at the table and took my hand.

Life had drained from the room again, everyone staring at us in wide-eyed wonder. It felt like we were on a stage, under the bright theatre lights, everyone studying our every move. I looked at Dayne with pleading eyes, so uncomfortable, wishing I could crawl under the table and hide. He was still trying to calm himself. I began to tear at my nails, not knowing what to do.

He looked at me, reading the discomfort in my eyes and feeling the nerves that ran through my body.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said. I couldn’t have agreed more.

He took my hand and led me to the door. Tara was standing in our way.

“Oh, hey, Norah,” Dayne said as he breezed past. I just smiled at her, knowing her night had been ruined.

The old engine roared to life. Dayne turned in his seat to face me. “I’m really sorry about that, Faye. I totally overestimated these people. I thought they would at least let us have a normal dinner. What a waste of time.” He shook his head, disappointed at how the evening was turning out and landed a weak punch on the steering wheel