THE IMMORTAL, a Fantasy Romance by Linda Mooney - Chapter 5, The Deal

THE IMMORTAL

Chapter 5 - The Deal

            The next morning, Clea saw Jonah walking out of Joseph’s bedroom. He was bundled against the cold, with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He said nothing as he passed her. Not even to glance her way as he continued toward the kitchen and the back door.

Dropping the t-shirt she’d been folding from the basket of laundry sitting on the sofa, she followed him outside. “Where do you think you’re going?” she managed to ask. It promised to be a bright, sunny day with a hint of spring in the warming air.

            He paused and turned around to look at her with those amazing blue eyes. “It has come to the point where I can no longer take up room in your home.”

            She fought to hide her sudden disappointment. “You’re leaving?”

            “I have no choice, madam.”

            “That’s bull hockey and you know it!” she suddenly blurted out, and immediately reined herself back in. “I mean, you haven’t overstayed your welcome.” She gave him a weak smile. “You know the old saying about fish and visitors.”

            His warm smile caught her by surprise. “I know what you meant to say. Let me ask you this instead. How long were you expecting me to stay? Longer than those three days? How long were you going to allow me to take advantage of your generosity? To eat your food without payment or compensation? How long were you willing to put up with me until you grew tired of my company and wished there was a way to politely ask me to leave?”

            She stared at him. Although the thought had occurred to her more than once these past couple of days, she’d never actually entertained the notion of telling him to leave. Not yet, anyway. Clea opened her mouth to respond, but her mind seemed to freeze.

            Jonah sighed. “That is why I’ve taken the first step to alleviate you of that duty. I will be on my way. However…” He gave a humorless chuckle. “Do not be alarmed if at some point I unexpectedly reappear.”

            “Mr. Cobb…Jonah…” She reached out to him, caught herself, and quickly drew her hand back. “You don’t need to go…just yet.” She pointed to the house. “Let me fix you some breakfast first. Please. No sense heading out on an empty stomach. And you’ll feel better, too.”

            He glanced down at the stretch of road at the end of the gravel drive leading up to the house. After a few moments, he nodded. “Very well. You make a very convincing argument.”

            Clea let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as she reentered the house. He hurriedly cut in front of her to hold the screen door open before following her inside.

            “Take off that coat and have a seat,” she instructed, realizing she was using the same tone of voice she used whenever she was giving her son directions. She pulled the bowl of eggs from the fridge, setting it on the counter as she retrieved the skillet from the oven where it was stored. “How would you like your eggs?”

            “It matters not. I’ve had them raw when there was no other choice. As long as you don’t serve them to me that way, I shall be happy.”

            She looked back at him. He was teasing her, yet at the same time he was serious as he gave her another glimpse into his mysterious past.

            As the eggs cooked, she dropped two slices of bread into the toaster. “I’d offer you a choice of bacon or sausage, but we’re out, and I haven’t been able to get to the store.”

            “I will not miss them, madam,” he assured her.

            When the eggs were done, she shoveled them onto a plate, added the toast, and went over to the table to set his meal in front of him. Jonah raised an eyebrow at her.

            “Are you not joining me?”

            “I’ve already eaten. I had breakfast with Joey before he left for school.”

            The man nodded. “I recall hearing faint conversation earlier.”

            Clea returned to the stove where the kettle was heating. Pulling a tea bag from the box in the pantry, she placed it in a mug and added hot water. She then poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot sitting on the other burner, then took both mugs over to the table where she sat in a chair across from him.

            “The eggs are perfect. So is the toast,” he praised her, reaching for the jar of honey to sweeten his tea. The gesture reminded her she’d forgotten to put the butter and jam on the table and got to her feet but he stopped her. “Please sit back down, Clea.”

            “I was going to get you some butter and jam for the toast.”

            “I have no need of it. We have more important matters to discuss.”

            She took her seat again and lifted her mug of coffee to her lips, blowing on the surface before taking a sip. She winced. “Butter and jam aren’t the only things I forgot.”

            Her remark elicited another chuckle from him. “You forgot the sugar,” he commented. At her surprised expression, he smiled. “I’ve learned to be very observant. It’s a skill that has saved my hide several times in the past.”

            He waited until she’d taken a couple of spoonsful from the bowl in front of her, stirred them into her drink, then tasted it again to be sure it was to her liking before he continued.

            “Madam…Clea…you and I both know I cannot remain here for any long period of time. Eventually your neighbors will learn of my presence, and the thought of me besmirching your name and reputation is what helped me to decide I must leave.”

            Sitting her mug on the table, she kept her head bowed until she was able to come to grips with her emotions. She knew he couldn’t stay, but another part of her kept demanding, “Why not?” This day was inevitable, yet did it have to come so soon?

“You don’t know me, Jonah. You don’t know anything about me, so how can you assume I give a damn about what my neighbors would think if they learned about you staying here? Which, by the way, they probably already do, since Joey may have already let the cat out of the bag.”

            She lifted her face to meet his direct gaze. “There’s something about you I can’t put my finger on. But from the moment we first spoke, I knew I could trust you. I don’t know why or how, but if I hadn’t, I would have left you out in the cold in a heartbeat and never regretted my decision.”

            Jonah plucked a napkin from the holder on the table and wiped his mouth and beard. “Of that I have no doubt,” he admitted.

            “And now…” Clea took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to go. At least, not now.”

            “Madam...”

            “Shut up and let me have my say. Then you can decide what you want to do. Don’t think that I haven’t tried to think this through before now. I’ve spent hours lying in bed at night, wondering what the next day would bring. Whether you’d still be here come sunup, or if I’d find Joey’s bed empty because you’d popped out somewhere, voluntarily or involuntarily.” She tried to smile but was only able to offer a lopsided grin. Taking another sip of coffee, she continued as he silently watched her. No doubt studying her as he weighed every word she said.

            “Like I said, there’s something about you that makes me feel, I don’t know. I guess what I’m trying to say is ‘safe.’ I feel safe around you. More importantly, I feel safe when Joey’s around you. It’s like he finally has some sort of older male figure, almost like a father figure, that he can relate to. That he can…talk to…about man things. About things I can’t understand or help him with. Am I making any sense at all?”

            “Indeed, madam. You’re making perfect sense.” Pushing aside his plate, Jonah leaned over the table and crossed his arms in front of him. “Feel free at any time to tell me to mind my own business, but I have to ask. How long ago did your husband leave you? Or is he deceased?”

            She felt her face grow warm and knew she was blushing. Not because she was embarrassed, but because of shame. She couldn’t guess how he knew Eddie was no longer in the picture, but right now it wasn’t important.

            “He left me. Us. I don’t know if he’s still alive or dead.”

            “How long?” Jonah gently pressed.

            “Eight years ago. Right after Joey’s first birthday. Eddie worked at Randolph’s Mercantile. He was their head cashier. One evening, he never came home. I called the store, but it was already closed, so I called the sheriff’s department. They went to check and found the car still parked in the parking lot, but Eddie was gone. The store was empty.” She bit her lips, then added, “They said there was also a little over fifteen hundred dollars missing from the safe. After some more investigating, Mr. Randolph learned that approximately two hundred thousand dollars was unaccounted for at the bank.”

            “Money which Mr. Hatch had access to?”

            “Yes.”

            “And you’ve not heard from him since?”

            “No.” She shook her head. “And, trust me, if I had, I wouldn’t take two seconds to turn him over the authorities for what he put me and Joey through.” She took another couple sips of coffee. “I don’t know why he did it. I don’t even know if he acted alone. I just know he betrayed me and his son, and that alone is why… Is why I…”

            “You no longer love him,” Jonah finished for her.

            Clea grabbed a napkin to blot her eyes and sniffed. “Yes. Jonah, you being here is the first time in a very, very long time I’ve felt…I guess the best way to describe it is ‘secure.’ It’s like I can finally get a handle on things and focus on what’s important without having to constantly watch my back.”

            “Like your son.”

            “Yes. Oh, yes. So, I’m asking you to stay, even though I know I can’t stop you if you’re determined to go. No more than I can stop you from blinking out of sight.” She gave him that lopsided grin again.

            Leaning back in his chair, he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and stared at her for what seemed like eternity. She was about to get up to clear the table when he spoke.

“I will stay on two conditions.”

            A weird thought flashed through her head, and for a second she wondered if one of those conditions might be of a very intimate nature. Silently scolding herself, she inquired, “What are the conditions?”

            “The first one is that I need to arrange for my own quarters. I cannot keep depriving the boy of his own bedroom.”

            “Wh-where would you sleep?”

            Jonah pointed outside. “In the barn. I can build me a small room in the back that would give me ample space to live, and also give us all our individual privacy.”

            Hope fluttered in her chest, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. “And the second one?”

            “That I pull my own weight around here. Help with the chores. Help with the farm.” He pointed overhead. “Help with repairing those tiles I noticed were about to slide off the roof.”

            “You can do stuff like that?”

            He gave a bark of laughter. “Madam, if I were to make a list of every job I ever held during my lifetime, it would take you a year to read it. Just let me know what you need done. If I can’t accommodate you, I can find out from someone else how to do it.” Tilting his head, he smiled in that way she longed to see. “What is your decision, Clea? Do you agree to my terms or not?”

            She held a hand out over the table. “It’s a deal.”

            He took it, but instead of shaking it, he placed his other hand over hers and held it there. “You do know that at some point I’m going to have to leave, don’t you?” he gently reminded her.

            Clea nodded. “Yes, I do. But until that has to happen…” Her voice trailed off without finishing the sentence because there was no need.

            At that moment, a ray of sunshine came through the kitchen window to shine across the table and their clasped hands. Happy and relieved, Clea took it as an omen of better days to come.

            However long those may be.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Linda Website