The Pastor’s Jezebel Lover (3 page)

“Stupid old cows,” murmured Erin, then fearfully looked up at her mother but was surprised when a flicker of a smile trembled on her lips.

“Well, they may be stupid old cows, but they have eyes in the backs of their heads. So next time you decide to pull a stunt like that? You better watch your back first.”

Erin frowned. Was her mother giving her advice how to break church windows and get away with it too?

Then Mom seemed to realize she was giving mixed messages, a big no-no in educational handbooks, so she stiffened again, and threw her daughter a stern gaze. “All I’m saying is that you can’t go around destroying other people’s property. How would you like it if Tommy or Jack came round here and broke your bedroom window, huh? And you had to sleep in the cold all night?”

She smirked. “Tommy or Jack wouldn’t dare. They’d know I’d beat the crap out of them.”

Mom shook her head and heaved a deep sigh. “Sometimes I think you got switched at birth, Erin MacKenzie. Where all this violence and aggression comes from I really don’t know. You sure as heck don’t have it from my side of the family.”

Erin braced herself for a speech about her no good father but fortunately Mom seemed more eager to get her to Father Ramon on time than vent her frustration over her husband. She gave her daughter a light shove in the direction of the door.

“Now shoot. Father Ramon is waiting for you. What will you tell him?”

“I’ll tell him I didn’t do it on purpose and—”

Mom brought her face close to hers, her eyes cold and hard. “What will you tell him?”

Quietly, Erin corrected, “I’ll tell him I’m very sorry and I’ll pay for all the damages.”

Mom gave a curt nod. “Straight to church and back. No hanging around with Suzie this time.”

“Yes, Mom.”

She stomped to the door, picked up her hat and gloves from the hallway dresser, and stepped into the freezing cold.

After heaving another long sigh, she finally set foot for the church, hoping Father Ramon would let her off easy, and tell her she didn’t really have to pay for the windows.

She liked the young priest, as did most everyone in town, but on this particular morning she wished she’d never ever laid eyes on him. His predecessor, Father Brown, had been far more prone to forgive and forget, but this guy? She had the distinct impression he would give her and Suzie a really hard time indeed.

And if she was truly honest with herself, she was even a little bit afraid of him.

People in town said he was a strange man who had done strange things in the past. There were even rumors he’d once killed a man.

Secretly she hoped he’d practice the age-old principle of turning the other cheek, and let her and Suzie off easy, but somewhere deep in her heart, she feared that he wouldn’t.

She just hoped he wouldn’t change her into a monster or something, as punishment for her crimes. Though if she really were a monster, she could come back to haunt Mrs Cooper and Mrs Burke and all those other old hags who made life miserable in the small town of Brookridge.

Resigned, she trudged through the thick blanket of snow on her way to church, and was glad when she finally spotted the soaring spire in the distance, shooting out from the houses.

Erin arrived at the church just in time to see her friend Suzie come walking up from the other direction.

“Suzie!” she yelled happily, and when Suzie spotted her from across the street, she waved back, her pixie face scrunching up to see.

Suzie didn’t see very well, and should be wearing her glasses all the time now, but stubborn little mule she was, she never took them anywhere, claiming they made her look like an owl, and a very horrible looking owl at that.

“Erin!” yelled Suzie, and started darting across the street to meet her friend in front of the old church.

Just then, Erin saw a car trundling down the road, its tires having a hard time maintaining their grip on the slippery surface. The streets had just been sprayed with a fresh coat of snow, and no matter how many times the town’s salt trucks got out, they couldn’t keep up with mother nature giving of its best at an abundance the small town had seldom seen in the recent past.

As the car rolled down the street, it seemed to speed up, its engine roaring.

Erin saw it happen in a flash, but even before the car hit her friend, she knew what was about to happen. It was like a bad dream, where you know something terrible is going to happen but you’re too stunned to stop it.

“No, Suzie!” she squealed, but the girl disappeared beneath the fender as the car hit her squarely in the midriff. What surprised Erin even more than the sickening horror of the accident, was that the driver didn’t even seem to brake.

Erin felt a terrible dread freeze her limbs for a moment, then she was on her feet and sprinting in the fresh snow toward her friend. She reached her in moments, and crouched down beside her limp body. Suzie had her eyes closed, and looked perfectly fine. No blood or other sign anything out of the ordinary had happened. In fact, it appeared she was just taking a little nap in the middle of the street, just because she could.

She shook her friend, placing a hand on the girl’s chest, then jerked her hand back when a voice shouted in her rear.

“Don’t touch her!”

Looking up, she saw a woman racing to, accompanied by Father Ramon.

Tears now flooded Erin’s cheeks as she brought her gloved hands to her face.

“Suzie,” she sobbed.

The woman knelt down beside her friend, and quickly and methodically started checking her. She seemed to know what she was doing, Erin thought, and stared down at the scene as if she wasn’t really there. As if she was in a dream, and all this wasn’t really happening.

“You better call an ambulance,” murmured the woman to Father Ramon.

Grim-faced, the priest stepped away from the road, and brought out his cell.

“Who are you?” managed Erin through her sobs. “Is she going to be fine?”

“I’m a nurse, honey,” spoke the woman, her fingers deftly examining Suzie’s limp body. “What your friend really needs right now is a doctor, and they will be here in just a moment.”

“Will she be fine?” repeated Erin.

Eileen looked into Erin’s face and saw the despair. Wondering how she’d break the news that her friend might not make it, she decided to give the young girl words of comfort instead.

“There’s something you can do for your friend, honey—what’s your name, by the way?”

“Erin. Erin MacKenzie. And this is Suzie Parsley. Tell me she’ll be fine, please, Miss? It’s all my fault. She saw me and started across the road. She didn’t see the car coming and…”

The girl broke down in sobs once again, and Eileen put her arms around her.

“Do you know how to pray, Erin, honey?”

Erin nodded, and folded her hands together.

“Pray to the good Lord that he may spare Suzie’s life, all right? Can you do that for me?”

Erin nodded again, and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, scrunching up her face, then started whispering something unintelligible under her breath.

Eileen didn’t risk moving Suzie, though her position in the middle of the street was fraught with danger. The car that had run her over had rolled to a stop against the curb, and blocked traffic, which was at least a good thing.

Luckily there wasn’t much traffic now anyway, because of the weather. It had started snowing again, and white flakes fluttered down all around her, quickly covering the car’s tire tracks.

She wondered briefly if the police wouldn’t have to take note of the tracks to determine culpability. As it was, both she and Ramon could bear witness, as could Erin.

A strange calm had descended on the street along with the white falling from the sky, and suddenly she wondered what had happened to the driver of the culprit car.

She didn’t want to leave Erin and Suzie, however. Glancing over, she noticed the driver’s side door of the car was open, but from this angle she couldn’t see if anyone was still inside.

Then she heard the sound of sirens renting the air, and Ramon came hurrying back.

“They’re coming,” he said quite unnecessarily, and crouched beside her, staring down at the unfortunate girl. Suzie’s face was completely pale now, all the blood drained, and Eileen feared the worst.

“How is she?” whispered Ramon.

She merely shook her head, then looked skyward, indicating the girl’s fate now rested in the hands of the Lord.

Ramon’s face was grave, and he gritted his teeth as his gaze turned to the car. Rising swiftly to his feet, he stalked over.

As the young priest looked into the car, he was shocked to find it empty, the keys still in the ignition and the engine running.

Whoever had caused the accident had panicked and ran. Probably, he figured, if the snow hadn’t prevented him or her from fleeing the scene in the car, they’d have done so. As it was, the police would swiftly find whoever was so callous as to leave a young child dying on the road.

He cursed inwardly the odd coincidence that had brought Suzie Parsley to be hit directly in front of the church. He’d merely invited both girls over for a stern talking-to, nothing more, but then fate had intervened, and doled out a much harsher punishment than befitted the girl’s crime.

A child prank, he’d assured Mrs Cooper and Mrs Burke when they’d complained about the two girls throwing rocks at the side of the church, and when he’d discovered a small window had been broken, he’d merely sighed and smiled. He’d been young once, and done worse things than accidentally break a window.

And now this. He stood, the door of the car in his hand, as the sirens of the ambulance drew nearer, watching Eileen bent over the little girl, gently stroking her forehead, and was touched by both the serenity and the love that was evident in her touch.

He knew her to be a trained nurse, but had never seen this loving side of her before. She usually closed herself off from others, until that moment just before in the sacristy, and now that he saw the love in her touch as she comforted both Erin and Suzie, he felt something tug at his heart, and the thought entered his mind that she would make one hell of a mother.

And one hell of a wife for a deserving husband, the little voice continued, and in spite of the cold, he felt a warm feeling spread through his bosom.

A deserving husband. Could he be that husband? Could he be that man for her? He was surprised at the swiftness with which his mind closed itself off from the possibility.

Of course she wouldn’t consider him marriage material. After all, he was what he was. The parish priest. She wouldn’t want that kind of life for herself, not when the entire congregation spoke ill of her. She wouldn’t—
he
wouldn’t allow her to subject herself to that kind of scrutiny and harsh criticism.

And yet… She looked so enchanting now, her cheeks glowing from the cold, her breath escaping in little wisps, and her lovely face so hauntingly beautiful…

Then she looked up, and gave him a sad smile, and his heart twitched. Whatever she might think of him, he definitely wanted to spend more time with her. A lot more time.

Then the nurses arrived with a stretcher, and she stepped back, allowing them to work on the victim of this unfortunate accident.

Moments later, the police arrived, and both he and Eileen were called upon to supply statements of what had happened.

The driver, so it turned out, was Jack Rafter, a businessman from Arlingville, a town a hundred miles from Brookridge.

The name sounded vaguely familiar to Ramon, but only when the police had left, and the tow truck had removed Rafter’s car to the impound, did he finally remember where he’d heard the name before.

Turning to Eileen, who stood shivering in the church entrance, he asked, “Does the name Jack Rafter ring a bell?”

When her eyes widened, he knew his memory had served him well, in spite of the vehemence with which she shook her head.

Jack Rafter, Eileen’s ex-husband, had suddenly reemerged out of the blue, before taking off faster than the speed of light.

Suzie looked just like an angel, Erin thought. A little angel that had fallen from heaven and now lay unmoving and silent on a bed of snow.

She touched her hand to the starchy sheets. Well, perhaps not snow, exactly, but still.

She was worried that Suzie looked about as white as the sheets she was tucked under, tubes leading from her face and hands to machines beeping by her side and a bag of some liquid suspended over her.

It contained medicine, her mother had said. Medicine that would make her friend better in no time.

Erin knew she was lying, for she’d overheard the doctor explaining Suzie’s situation to Suzie’s mother, Mrs Parsley. He said she had a fifty-fifty chance of survival, due to something bleeding inside. Erin wondered how something could bleed inside and you couldn’t even see it on the outside.

She just hoped Suzie would be well soon, and following the advice of that nice woman who had helped her and her friend, she prayed and prayed and prayed until she thought she could pray no more.

She looked up when the nice woman entered. Her name was Eileen, Erin knew, and she was a nurse. Or at least she had been until she had to stop being a nurse for some reason her mother hadn’t wanted to explain.

Eileen took a seat by the bed of the poor girl she’d found on the street outside the church. She was sad to see she was pale and unresponsive.

The doctor had told her she might not make it through the night, and she’d wanted to see for herself, feeling somehow responsible.

If her ex hadn’t been there, Suzie would be perfectly fine now. What had Jack been doing in Brookridge? Lord knows he had no business in town. He ran an investment company but had no clients down here.

The only other explanation was one she wasn’t willing to explore. He’d been in Brookridge to spy on her. To see how she was getting along without him.

But how had he known where she would be? Someone must have told him she’d be down at the church for choir practice; there was no other explanation.

But who? One of those gossipmongers the town seemed to be overrun with? It wouldn’t surprise her.