PluckingthePearl (21 page)

Pearl sipped her coffee as she waited for him to get to the
point. She couldn’t wait for Henry to leave so she could be alone with Caleb
again. Maybe family togetherness was not as wonderful as she’d first thought.

“You’re beautiful, charming and smart and you can really play
that piano.”

“But I’m the wrong color?” she asked. “Isn’t that what
you’re trying to say?”

Henry’s hand went limp and his spoon fell on the floor.
“You’re a fine woman. It’s just that your relationship is…well…causing trouble
for Caleb.”

Pearl sat ramrod straight as if he’d pressed the point of a
knife to the small of her back. “What kind of trouble?”

He picked up his spoon and fiddled with it again. “Well, as
you may know, there’s been a lot of change in this town lately.”

“The Klan?” she asked.

Henry nodded. “Caleb is really torn between you and the way
things are heading. Our daddy worked really hard to build Rockfield’s. I’d hate
to see anything happen to it.”

Headlight glare from a passing car swept across the room.

“Why would anything happen to it?” she asked. “To the rest
of the world, I’m just Caleb’s housekeeper.”

He sighed and rubbed his chin. “It’s just real hard on him
is all. The initiation ceremony is tomorrow night.”

Pearl frowned as something cold and sharp sliced through her
gut. “What initiation?”

But she knew. Oh God. She knew.

Caleb hadn’t lied when he’d told her he wasn’t a member of
the Klan but apparently he soon would be.

“The mayor is pressuring us to join the Klan,” Henry
replied. “If Caleb doesn’t do it, he’ll probably lose Daddy’s company.”

She put her hand to her numb lips. “I had no idea.”

“Rockfield’s is his life. Losing it would surely kill him,”
he declared. “I don’t want to see that happen.”

Pearl blinked as she pushed away her coffee. She longed to
shoo Henry out of the house so she and Caleb could enjoy their peaceful
sanctuary but that was gone now. The man sitting across from her had just
destroyed it.

“I know a lot of folks up the coast,” he continued in his
warm, melodic voice. “I could get you a nice job just as good as this one.”

The table spun as Pearl put her hands to her ears. Anything
to make those horrible words go away. Leave Caleb, the man she loved with all
her heart? She’d rather cut off her own foot.

“Housekeeper, nanny—whatever you prefer,” Henry mumbled on.

She glared at him, wishing she could detest him, but he
looked just as miserable as she felt. Sweat coated his face and the coffee
spoon was bent out of shape from his nervous hands. He’d clearly done this for
love of his brother and had nothing against her personally.

He fished a card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to
her. “Think about it and contact me. If you really love Caleb, I know you’d
want what’s best for him.”

Her hands shook so hard she could hardly take the card.

“And please don’t tell him we had this conversation.” He
stood. “Thank you for the delicious dinner. I-I’d better be getting home now.”

She nodded, unable to answer. Caleb met them in the parlor.
The jovial look on his face vanished when he saw theirs.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

Henry nodded. “Thank you both for a wonderful evening. I
really enjoyed it.”

After he left, Pearl hurried toward the kitchen to clean up
dinner but Caleb caught her by the arm and looked at her with a stony
expression.

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing.” She tugged her arm, trying to get free.

Caleb pulled her hard against him. “Don’t lie to me. You’re
upset and it’s written all over your face. I never should have invited him
here.”

She was inclined to agree but part of her was glad she now
knew the entire, ugly truth. It all made sense now—Caleb’s worry and strange
bouts of nausea. This time, she managed to pull free but ran upstairs to the
guest room instead of the kitchen.

She needed to be alone to sort this out but Caleb was close
on her heels.

“I need to be alone, Caleb,” she told him. “I don’t feel
well.”

She shut and locked the door, leaning against it and sliding
to the floor. Then she flung herself on the narrow bed and cried, ignoring
Caleb’s knocks.

Why hadn’t Caleb told her about the Klan initiation? Was he
really planning to join? Or did he plan to refuse, risking his company as Henry
feared?

She beat her fists into the soft pillow, wondering who she
was really angry at—Henry or Caleb?

Herself, she realized. She’d been selfish, too busy fretting
over her moments of humiliation and wounded pride to realize how torn Caleb
must be inside. Just by being in his life, she was hurting him.

If you really love Caleb, I know you’d want what’s best
for him.

Henry’s words twisted her insides as more tears leaked onto
the pillow. Racking sobs shook her entire body, reminding her of when her mama
had died. It wouldn’t hurt nearly as much if Caleb left her. Instead, the
responsibility was in her hands.

Caleb pounded harder on the door. “Open this door, Pearl, or
I swear I’ll break it down.”

When she got up and opened it, he pulled her into his arms.
“What’s wrong? You have to tell me what Henry said to you.”

She wiped her tears on her sleeve. “He didn’t say anything.
I swear.”

His eyes flashed blue fire as he searched her face. “If you
won’t tell me, then I’ll find out from him.”

When he raced down the stairs, she followed. “Caleb, wait.
Stay home.”

But the front door slammed harder than it ever had. She sank
to one of the steps and gripped the railing spindles with both hands. Now she’d
come between Caleb and his brother. Why did her love have to hurt him so much?

* * * * *

Caleb ran out of his house without a coat or hat but barely
felt the cold rain. He headed toward Henry’s small cottage and opened the front
door without knocking. As usual, an entire wall of hooks was crowded with
outdoor clothing and waterman’s gear, filling the place with the smell of the
sea.

His brother was sitting on the sofa, repairing a crab net.

“What the hell did you say to her?” Caleb demanded.

“Nothing.” Henry shrugged. “Did Pearl say I said something?”

Caleb went to the couch and hauled his brother up by the
armpits. “No, she’s not saying anything. She’s crying her guts out.”

Henry dropped the net and held up a shaky hand. “Now just
calm down. I was only trying to do what was best for you.”

Caleb dragged Henry toward the wall and held him there,
realizing he’d never treated his brother this roughly before. What was
happening to this town? To him?

“What did you say to her?” Caleb ground out each word
slowly.

“I-I just pointed out how hard it is on you being torn in
two directions.” Henry’s voice quivered as he spoke. “Especially with the
ceremony coming up.”

“So you told her about the initiation?”

“Damn. I guess it just slipped out.”

Caleb dug his fingers into Henry’s shoulders. “What else
just slipped out?”

“Nothing.” When Caleb shook him, he spoke again. “I just
offered to find her another job somewhere else.”

“You what?” Rage stronger than any he’d felt before gushed
through Caleb’s veins. This wasn’t an enemy like the mayor. His own brother was
working against him.

He struck Henry across the face. “You had no right!”

Henry lunged at him and drove a fist into his stomach.
Within moments, they were rolling on the floor, knocking down fishing poles and
a pair of oyster tongs, hitting each other until they finally stopped from
exhaustion.

“Don’t you see? She’s come between us,” Henry said, gasping
as he got off the floor. “You have to give her up, Caleb.”

“She didn’t come between us. You did.” Caleb stood too and
rubbed his sore knuckles. “Damn it, Henry. I thought you were on my side.”

His brother rubbed the top of his head and winced. “You’ve
known me for years and know I’ll do anything to avoid a fight.”

Caleb nodded. “So why are you acting this way? We need to
face the Klan united, not divided.”

“Because I can’t stand by and watch you throw away
Rockfield’s.”

“Is that because you want it for yourself?” Caleb asked.

Henry frowned. “No, I’d rather be in a boat but losing the
plant would destroy you.”

“It would,” Caleb admitted, “but don’t you understand? Pearl
is part of my life now. Losing her would destroy me too.”

Henry studied him for several long moments with serious
eyes. “I see that now. Caleb, I’m really sorry I upset you and Pearl. Apologize
for me, will you?”

“Thank you. I will.”

“From now on, I’m on your side,” Henry vowed.

When he held his hand out, Caleb didn’t hesitate to shake it
and pull his brother into a hug. The sound of wet tires from a passing car
finally penetrated the silence.

“Have you decided what you’ll do about the initiation?”
Henry asked.

Caleb shook his head. “Not yet.”

As he walked outside into the rain, he cursed the Klan under
his breath. If only it had never come to Oyster Island. But it had and it would
soon be time to choose sides.

He hadn’t realized until he’d said it aloud to Henry that
Pearl was just as important to him now as Rockfield’s. Before he’d met her, the
oyster plant was his entire life. Then she’d shown him love and a whole new,
exciting world, one he couldn’t give up. And yet without Rockfield’s, he’d have
nothing and be nothing. He wouldn’t even have the nice house he and Pearl lived
in.

He was soaked. Every muscle in his body ached from his
scuffle with Henry but nothing matched the pain in his insides from the
decision that faced him—his company or his woman.

Why did he have to choose between the two?

Pearl sat in Caleb’s parlor, wringing her hands. It seemed
the closer she got to Caleb, the more his life fell apart. With the Klan in
town, it would only get worse.

The Klan… Her mother had told her horror stories of things
she’d witnessed as a child—fires, beatings and even a murder. How could she
love him if he became one of them?

Seeing him in a white robe with a torch in his hand would
shatter her heart like a crushed oyster shell. Just the image of it made her
shudder. And how could he love her? They would be enemies by definition and
grow to despise each other.

Unless their love was strong enough to withstand it.

She sat nursing her worries until Caleb finally staggered
into the front door with blood trickling from his lower lip.

She rushed to his side. “What happened to you?”

“Henry and I got into a fight.”

“Because of me.” She touched his chin near the wound. “This is
all my fault.”

He caught her hand. “No, it isn’t. Henry and I discussed
this and he finally understands how important you are to me. He apologizes for
upsetting you.”

She hadn’t expected that but Henry did seem to be a kind,
decent man like his brother.

“Come upstairs and let me tend to you,” she said.

In his bedroom, he winced several times from pain when she
helped him undress down to his underwear. While he sat on the side of his bed,
she brought a bowl of warm water and wash towels from the bathroom. She stood
in front of him, dabbing his skinned knuckles.

“Your life would be so much easier if I weren’t in it,” she
said.

Caleb lurched, almost upsetting the bowl of water she held.
“My life would be boring without you in it.”

“Is boring so bad?”

He frowned. “What’s happened to you, Pearl? You’ve never
talked like this before.”

She shrugged as she dabbed at his bottom lip with a wet
towel. “Henry made me think. That’s all.”

“Well, don’t listen to him. I’ve a mind to go beat him up
again.”

“Don’t,” she said as she put the bowl and towels on the
nightstand. “There’s been too much trouble already.”

Caleb reached for her. “My wounds won’t heal properly unless
you kiss me.”

She pressed a delicate kiss to his mouth, careful not to
disturb the wound yet needing him more than she ever had. Her mouth brushed
over his moustache and moved to his cheek. Inhaling his breezy scent and
feeling the familiar texture of his skin burned the backs of her eyes with more
tears. Would they ever end? She believed she’d cried more tonight than she had
in her entire life.

He pulled back and looked at her. “Are you all right?”

She looked at him too, picturing him as if he’d already
joined that brotherhood of hate.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked.

They’d both been through enough for one evening. “You’re
tired. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“About the initiation?” he asked.

She nodded, unable to stop herself as she reached for one of
the white towels and draped it around his face.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Picturing how it’s going to be,” she said.

He flung the towel across the room. “Damn it, Pearl. I
should have told you instead of having you find out from Henry.”

“So you’re going to join?” She could barely talk with the
tight bands of pain crisscrossing her chest.

“I don’t know.” He looked down, shaking his head. “I keep
trying to figure it out but I’m running out of time. The initiation ceremony is
tomorrow night.”

She faced him and put her hands on his knees. “If you don’t
join, would you lose your company?”

Caleb nodded. “Probably.”

“And if you do join, our relationship would be over,” she
said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “Just the sight of me
would make you sick.”

He grabbed both her wrists and encircled them with his
fingers. “That will never happen. I will love you until the day I die.”

His pale eyes burned with the conviction of his words,
tugging at the tight bands surrounding her heart, but she couldn’t help
picturing those eyes looking through the holes of a mask. She tried to pull
away but he held her fast.

“You say that now but it would change you,” she exclaimed.
“If I saw you in one of those white sheets, I don’t think I could feel the same
way about you either. It would destroy us.”

His hands finally went limp, releasing her wrists. “Pearl…”

But she shook her head and headed to the guest room. They
might as well start getting used to being alone.

* * * * *

Caleb spent a restless night in his bed. It felt cold and
empty without Pearl in it. Driven by his churning thoughts, he hardly noticed the
pain from his movements. Despite the beating he’d gotten from Henry, what hurt
most of all was when Pearl had put that towel on his head. He couldn’t blame
her. The thought of her seeing him as one of those monsters drove a spike into
his chest.

How could he go through with the initiation ceremony this
coming evening? Maybe he could claim he was sick but that would only delay the
inevitable.

The sound of soft footsteps in his bedroom an hour before
dawn made him hold his breath. A deep sigh escaped him when Pearl climbed into
his bed and put her arms around him. He burrowed his face in her soft hair,
inhaling her earthy-sweet scent.

Despite everything that had happened the night before, the
sensation of her soft body against his cock made it harden. He needed this. How
did she know how much he needed this, especially today?

“Caleb,” she began.

He put a finger over her lips. “Don’t talk, honey. Just fuck
me.”

“But you’re injured,” she whispered.

He dragged her hand to his stiff bulge. “Does that feel
injured to you?”

“I want to talk about the initiation. I’ve been thinking
and…”

This time he put his entire hand across her mouth. “Not now.
Take off your nightgown and panties.”

“But—”

“I need to be inside your pussy. Straddle me.”

He tugged his undershorts down, releasing his hardness.
After she pulled her nightgown off, he took a moment to admire the dusky patch
of hair through the sheer fabric of her panties before she took them off too.
Her aroused scent wrapped around him like a ribbon.

He pressed a condom into her hand. “Put it on for me.”

Feeling her soft, deft fingers unrolling the sheath down his
length nearly brought him to a climax already. Needing her silky, wet pussy, he
grasped her hips and pulled her down on him. Once started, he couldn’t stop.

She moaned in surprise as he lunged deep. He swore he’d
never pushed himself so deeply into her body before. As her hands stroked his
chest, he watched the pearl on her ring and reached for the heated hollow
between her breasts to feel her heartbeat.

His woman, forever. No matter what happened tonight at the
initiation, that would never change.

Time shuddered to a standstill as their hips rocked together
in lock-step rhythm. For the moment, his world ended outside this room, this
bed and the sticky-sweet love they made. He got an even firmer grip on her hips
and drove into her, burying all his worries, one by one. All too soon, he
shouted with a climax he hadn’t seen coming and spilled every bit of himself
inside her tight depths.

Realizing she hadn’t come, he reached for her swollen bud.
With his cock still inside her, he rubbed the wet nubbin of flesh until her
back arched and she yelled with her release. He shuddered as her tight channel
gripped his spent cock with waves of pleasure.

“Thanks for visiting.” He pulled her shoulders down to him
so he could kiss her. “You have no idea how much I needed that.”

Using the towels from the nightstand, they cleaned up and
then nestled in each other’s arms.

“Can I talk now?” she asked.

He nodded.

“I’ve been thinking you should…join.”

Caleb leaned up on one elbow. “Did I just hear you
correctly?”

“If it keeps you from losing your company,” she said, “it
might be worth it. But only if you didn’t let it change you.”

“It wouldn’t,” he swore. “It would only be for appearances.
I think that’s all the mayor cares about anyway, a big show.”

“Then do it.”

Yet again, this woman had surprised him. Had she really just
told him to join the Klan or was he having some sort of strange dream?

“You can’t be serious,” he replied. “You truly want me to
join?”

She sighed and stroked the hairs on his chest. “No, but I
don’t think we have a choice. If you go along with the mayor in name only, we
can still have it all.”

“Are you sure? You were so upset last night.”

“That was my pride.” She pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth,
making his wound sting with bittersweetness. “I believe in our love.”

As moisture filled his eyes, Caleb pulled her so close and
so hard it made his entire body ache.

“So do I, honey. So do I.”

* * * * *

With his stomach twisted into a knot, Caleb entered the
mayor’s hilltop, brick waterfront home that evening.

The initiation ceremony. It was time.

He added his hat to the others on the table in the entrance
hall and entered the large living room. Dozens of excited male voices echoed
against the hard surfaces and high ceiling. Mr. Lewes, the jeweler and every
businessman in town was here.

Seeing Henry’s grim but familiar face gave Caleb comfort. So
did the sweet love Pearl had made to him this morning. Her stoic acceptance of
their fate made his eyes burn with emotion even now. If he closed them, he
could imagine her scent…

Henry shoved a bundle of fabric into his hands. “Time to get
dressed.”

Caleb couldn’t breathe as he unfolded the white robe. It had
a round emblem across the left breast.

It would only be for appearances, he’d told Pearl, but could
he really wear this and be the same man he always was underneath?

“Hurry and put that on,” Henry told him. “The ceremony is
about to begin.”

Caleb could barely get his cold muscles to work as he
struggled to put the foul garment on over his clothes.

Henry pulled the hood over Caleb’s head. “Don’t forget
this.”

What the hell am I doing?
Caleb wondered as he stood
with the other men, staring out through the two eyeholes. The nausea that had
hovered around him all day intensified.

The mayor, dressed in the same ridiculous garb as everyone
else, told them to get into a big circle and handed a new, white candle to
each. Before the empty hearth, three men sat behind a table. They must be the outsiders
but who would know the way everyone was disguised?

Cowards, Caleb wanted to shout. If these people had such
strong beliefs about white supremacy, why didn’t they have the guts to show
their faces? He was no better, he realized, always keeping up appearances to
save his business.

The mayor joined the men at the front and said some nonsense
about brotherhood and taking an important step for the future of Oyster Island.
When the ceremony began, Caleb’s stomach shimmered with nausea and a cold,
sickly sweat coated his forehead, neck and back.

When the men formed a line in front of the big table, Caleb
headed to the end of it. Weren’t appearances really lies? he wondered as he
watched the first man get down on one knee, bow his head and hold up his virgin
candle.

Caleb finally understood why Pearl had insisted on being
celibate when she’d first become his housekeeper. She couldn’t live a lie. One
of the officials said some words, lit the man’s candle and put his hand on the
man’s hooded head.

If he’d never met her, Caleb realized, this initiation would
be easier. He wouldn’t think twice about being false to save his business.

Just like that, the first man in line was part of the
brotherhood, a full-fledged member of the Ku Klux Klan. He stood up and walked
off to the side with his fists clenched and his chin raised with pride. In
moments, the man had changed from humble townsman to one of
them
.

Just as he would.

Pearl had changed him too, Caleb realized as he took a step
forward with the rest of the line. Her uprightness went beyond appearances. It
went to the core of a person, to one’s values. He was tired of sneaking around
jewelry stores and pretending he was the same as the rest of these men. He
wasn’t.

His thoughts hounded him as he continued taking one step
forward at a time. The closer he got to the front table, the more his blood
surged through his body with the intensity of a raging fever. He stroked the
virgin wick of the candle in his hand. Once they burned it, it would never be
the same again.

Neither, he realized, would he.

When it was Henry’s turn, he had to look away. They had
their own brotherhood. Would joining this new one change them? Remembering
their fight, Caleb realized it already had.

All too quickly, it was his turn. Now that the rest of the
men were initiated and stood to the sides with burning candles in their hands,
he wished he hadn’t chosen to be last. He was the only one left with the unlit
candle and everyone watched him, especially the mayor. The flames around the
room glittered in the man’s expectant eyes through the holes of his hood.

The official standing before Caleb cleared his throat,
hinting it was time to kneel. The scent of burning wax in the room fueled
Caleb’s nausea, making him pant for breath. With extreme effort, he knelt. The
words the man said blurred in his ears but he saw that flame coming at him in
the darkness. It represented the same flame that burned houses, churches
and…businesses.

He squeezed his candle almost hard enough to snap it in
half. It shook as the flame approached. Just before the fire touched the wick,
he let the candle fall. The sound it made as it rolled on the wooden floor
seemed louder than gunfire.