The Making of a Gigolo (15) - Agatha Roberts

by Lubrican

Chapters : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18
19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36

Chapter Twenty-nine

The Independence Day celebration arrived. It would turn out to be, as had been the case in Granger in the past ... memorable.

Bobby arrived with Constance on his arm. That in itself, wasn't unusual. For him to be seen with her was quite common. But she didn't let go of his arm this time. She was quite possessive, in fact, even when it turned out that Jennifer and Candy had, indeed, found a couple of young men at the roadhouse and were at the picnic with those men. They were a little shameless about it too, which drew the attention of Ethyl, Gladys and their gaggle of stern-faced friends.

That only lasted until Agatha Roberts showed up. One of her arms was linked through that of the man walking beside her, and the other was burdened with a picnic basket. She walked into the park as if nothing was different about her at all, even though she had to waddle to get anywhere. Eyes went to that belly, and then to the man she was with. Eyes went to his left hand, and hers, searching in vain for rings there.

A scandalized hush fell over one group of women, all of whom stared at one of their own ... or someone who had been one of their own. They couldn't know that Jim was almost holding her up, because her knees were so weak. Had they looked more closely at the smile on her face, they would have seen that it was composed of muscles that were tense, and frozen in place, rather than being a natural smile that moved and shifted as the muscles moved and shifted.

She couldn't make herself go up to her old friends, and make a false inquiry as to how they were doing. She knew what they were thinking. Instead, she looked for Bobby. When she saw him, sitting with Constance, their fingers interlaced in a casually intimate fashion, she pulled Jim in that direction.

Mirriam saw her first, and her face lit up in a smile. She nudged Prudence, who was next to her, and said something. Prudence looked over and smiled too.

Those two smiles did more for Agatha than anything else could have. She knew they couldn't help but notice her condition too, but it didn't make any difference to them. She pulled Jim to the table and lowered herself carefully onto a folding chair across from Mirriam.

"I had to come say hello." She had wondered what she'd say in this situation. What she'd just said hadn't been one of the phrases she'd thought about using.

"All the way from Ohio just to say hello?" gasped Mirriam. "In your condition? That's insane!" Her face relaxed. "It's so good to see you, though. Congratulations!"

"Thank you," said Agatha shyly. She was aware that Bobby was only a few feet further down the table, but she hadn't been able to force herself to make eye contact with him. "This is Jim," she said.

"You know most everybody," said Mirriam in return. She turned to the man sitting on the other side of her from Prudence. "This is Professor Hamilton, who is boarding with us for the summer. He's a researcher and is studying the prairie grasses or some such thing." She looked back at the man standing with Agatha. She gave him what was obviously the once-over. "Well, Jim ... any man smart enough to latch onto this woman is a man welcome at our table." Her assumption that Agatha's condition was Jim's doing was clear. "There's lots to eat, so just dig in."

Jim started getting things out of the picnic basket Agatha had set on the table. Mirriam and Prudence peppered Agatha with questions about Ohio, and how she was doing.

"There haven't been any nibbles on your house," said Mirriam sadly.

"I'm doing okay," said Agatha. "It would be nice to sell it, but Harry got it from his parents when they died, and it's paid for, so it's not really a burden."

Her eyes flicked to Bobby, who was looking at her with a face she couldn't decide what communicated. There might be some surprise there, but otherwise his face looked almost sad. She couldn't believe he'd be sad for her. She'd found one of the men he had told her was out there, after all. She couldn't force herself to look at him longer. As her eyes slid back, she saw Constance looking at her too. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a small frown.

"Hi Constance," she said softly, and then her eyes came back to the women across the table from her.

Erica Bradford was the next to arrive, pushing a baby buggy across the grass with seven-month old Owen in it. She came and sat down next to Jim, across from Bobby and Constance, as if they had been expecting her.

"What a beautiful night," she said. "Have any of you seen Will or Christy?"

"That looks like them coming right now," said Prudence, pointing.

Everyone turned to look except Agatha, who couldn't turn that far any more. Will was striding along. The light reflected off the new mechanical clamp on his left arm. It looked a little like some kind of torture device, with the two sweeping hooks that he was able to open and close by moving the muscles in his shoulder. Christy held onto that arm, though, as if it were perfectly normal. He carried their picnic basket in his right hand.

"Captain Hook has arrrrived!" Will rolled the R and spoke with the gruff voice and accent that was clearly supposed to be that of a pirate. "Arrrgh, maties," he added, grinning. "Found meself a young lassie too. Methinks I'm going to make her into my serving wench."

"I hope you're not hungry, Captain," said Christy, dryly.

"Just kidding," said Will.

"No you're not," said Christy. She grinned, though.

The incident happened when Jim was escorting Agatha to get some homemade ice cream. He offered to go get it for her, but she said she needed to get up and move around, because her legs were going numb. They came face to face with Ethyl, who was leaving the table with a bowl of ice cream.

"I knew you were a hussy," said Ethyl, a superior look on her face.

Something in Agatha snapped. She'd been afraid of this woman, and what she thought for years. She felt like she'd been hoodwinked by her too. As she looked back on her friendship with Ethyl and the others, it looked like a drab and ghostly thing, full of unhappiness and discontent. Agatha hadn't planned on saying anything to her old friends at all. What was the point? But now, anger gave her the courage to say something. Her hand squeezed Jim's arm hard.

"And I knew you were a bitch," said Agatha.

"Well I never!" gasped Ethyl.

"That's right," said Agatha. "You never found what I found, because if you had, you wouldn't be the dried up bitter prune you are. You almost made me that way too. I feel sorry for you, Ethyl."

Agatha pulled at Jim's arm and stepped past Ethyl, with as much dignity as she could muster. She wished she didn't have to waddle like this in front of the woman.

"Good job!" whispered Jim.

"It wasn't nice," said Agatha, feeling shame that she'd been so rude.

"I forgive you," he said.

It was just as the dancing started that the next interesting thing happened. A stranger appeared, and walked straight toward the tables where Mirriam and her friends were sitting. He came up behind Erica and stood, looking down at her and smiling. When everyone else stared up at him, Erica finally turned around.

"Terry!" she squealed.

"I thought I'd come down here and see what all the fuss was about," he said, grinning.

Introductions were required, and made.

"And who is this?" he asked, leaning over the baby buggy.

"That's Owen," said Erica. Her cheeks were tinged with pink.

"I've heard a lot about you, little man," said Terry. "Where'd you get your looks? It sure couldn't have been your mother. You're a handsome thing."

There were long seconds of stunned silence, and Terry looked up, to see everyone staring at him.

"Just kidding," he said. "She's gorgeous. Anybody could see that."

People began to relax and he asked Erica to let him apologize by dancing with her. Mirriam and Prudence said they'd look after Owen. She stood and walked away with him toward the bandstand. As soon as she was gone they let the poor boy out of the buggy, to run around and explore.

The band started playing a slow song. Agatha stood up. Her face was flushed. Someone who didn't know her might have thought she had been drinking. She faced Bobby and Constance.

"Constance ... can I borrow Bobby for one dance?"

Connie's eyes widened. She looked over at Bobby, and then back to Agatha. Her eyes slid down to Agatha's bulging belly. Agatha had stayed at the B&B. Constance had been as astonished as her mother, when she'd seen Agatha there, because of her past associations. But later, she knew Agatha had changed. And Bobby had been there too, of course. Bobby had a tendency to change women.

Constance assumed something too, but it wasn't what Mirriam had assumed. She let go of Bobby's hand and then waved with just her wrist, letting her hand flip up twice. She looked disgusted, but her eyes were on Bobby. He got up, looking helpless.

"I know I should have told you sooner," said Agatha. Trying to dance with Bobby, even though it was a slow song, was difficult. She felt very odd, somehow, because having their baby sandwiched between them just felt very right, somehow.

"Why didn't you?" he asked. He had been looking stunned ever since she told him she was several months pregnant when she met Jim. She didn't have to tell him the baby pressed to his stomach was his.

"I knew you'd try to do the right thing," she said. She felt a moment of unease. How did she know that? She realized she'd just assumed it, and might be wrong. She didn't want to face that possibility, and went on before he could speak. "But I didn't want to do the right thing with you, Bobby."

"I see." It didn't sound like he was sure about that.

"I couldn't stay here, Bobby," she said. "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I don't love you. Not like I feel about Jim, anyway."

"You didn't hurt my feelings," said Bobby.

"I do love you," she said softly. "It just doesn't feel like the marrying kind of love."

"And you feel that with Jim?" he asked.

"He's hinted at marriage. I think he's scared. I'm not. If he asked me I'd say yes instantly," she said.

"He hasn't asked you?"

"No," she said. "Not really. But it's okay. What we have is very good, I think. Maybe that will happen, and maybe not. The only thing that's complicating it is that I feel a little bad about making George and Michelle put up with a baby in the house, though. I wish somebody would buy my house so I could move into my own place. At the same time, I keep hoping I don't need someplace of my own ... because of Jim."

"If you feel that strongly, why don't you ask him to marry you?" said Bobby.

She laughed. "That's not done, Bobby."

"This is the seventies," said Bobby. "I know for a fact that at least a few women have asked a man to marry them."

"What if he says no?" she asked.

The music ended, and they started walking back toward the tables.

"Do you think he might say no?"

They walked another twenty yards slowly as she thought about that.

"He loves me," she said. "I know that. And I love him. It's so strange, because it's all so new. I don't know what to think." She looked over at Bobby. "He's going to be my Lamaze coach."

"Sounds pretty serious to me," said Bobby.

"I want it to be," she said.

"And he came all the way here with you," said Bobby.

"He did." She laughed. "And he didn't complain, even though we had to stop a hundred times for me to go to the bathroom."

"You want me to ask him for you?"

She stopped and turned to stare into his face.

"You do, and I'll tell everybody here whose baby this is, Bobby Dalton!"

"I'm not ashamed of you," said Bobby. "Or of what we did."

She blinked. Then she smiled. "I should have known that. Never mind. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "I think I have you to thank for that fact."

Other eyes saw Agatha Roberts dance with Bobby Dalton, and tongues wagged. Those eyes saw her reach for Bobby's hand too, and assessed the ease with which she was next to him. There were gasps of dismay as upright, righteous women realized that evil had snatched another woman from the clutches of all that was good and decent. There should have been mourning ... but there wasn't. There were only hisses of condemnation.

Yet another person saw Agatha take Bobby's hand, and also assessed the familiarity with which she stood close to him. That woman also felt dismay ... and rage.

Constance didn't want to dance.

"I'm tired, and I don't feel well," she said, frowning at Bobby. "I'd like to go home now."

"I'll take you," he said.

"I know where I live," she replied. She got up and walked off.

Bobby looked after her and felt helpless. It was obvious that she knew, somehow, what Agatha had told him. She was a woman, and women got knowledge through strange and mystical methods.

Prudence stood up. She picked up her empty ice cream bowl, as if she were going to go throw it in the trash. She stopped, right by Bobby.

"Go after her," she whispered.

He looked at Prudence, surprise on his face.

"Don't let her leave the park alone," said Prudence.

"You know?" asked Bobby.

"I'm her mother," said Prudence. "Now go!"

<< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >>