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 Five

The next day was a day of further education for Agatha. Breakfast finally settled her down after a night of tossing and turning that included a number of thoughts she was quite sure she wasn't supposed to be having. They weren't all about Bobby. She spent a lot of time reviewing her relationship with Harry, which she thought was stupid, since he was dead and gone. She also thought about her friends. She had to admit to herself that they were most likely her ex-friends, now. She thought about Matilda feeding her baby, and the obvious closeness that involved, between mother and child. A month ago she would have been scandalized if she'd seen a woman breastfeeding in front of others. But what she'd watched couldn't possibly be put into the category of "wrong." It was too beautiful.

She also thought of Bobby. He hadn't meant what he'd said the way she'd first interpreted it. She knew that. What bothered her now, and what she couldn't even begin to understand, was that for some reason she wished he had meant it that way.

The routine of breakfast banished her worries, though. She was surprised when other people arrived at the house to join in breakfast and that they were there to help Bobby finish the interior walls of two more rooms that would become part of the B&B. She knew who Prudence Harris was, of course, and her daughter as well. Her initial feelings upon seeing the woman with her illegitimate children were negative, but she pushed them away. Meanwhile, Prudence's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw Agatha. Instead of feeling smug, however, Agatha felt guilty.

"Agatha is boarding with us for a few days, while her new furnace is installed," said Mirriam, as if it were just simple news.

"I see," said Prudence, who obviously did not see. She looked away. "So where is the slave driver who ordered us to come labor for him?"

"Haven't seen him this morning," said Mirriam, serving up eggs with biscuits and gravy. "The twins are already gone."

"We stayed up late, working on a puzzle." Agatha blinked. She couldn't believe she'd spoken.

"I'll go get him," said Constance, taking a step. She stopped. "Should I take a glass of cold water with me?" she asked, grinning.

"You have to work for him today," said Mirriam. "Just remember that."

"Hmmmm," said Constance. "Maybe I should rethink that plan." She smiled again and went out of the kitchen.

Prudence looked over at Agatha, curiosity plain in her eyes.

"So ... you're getting a new furnace ..."

"Get up, lazy bones!" yipped Constance, whipping the covers off of Bobby. She stopped, staring at his morning boner. She told herself she should have known he'd sleep naked. She'd forgotten what he looked like too. She backed up as he raised his head and squinted at her.

"It's tomorrow you're supposed to be here," he groaned. "Not today."

She ignored his nakedness. "No it's not. You said today and we're here, so get your lazy butt out of bed and teach me to finish drywall."

"Why do you hate me?" he moaned, rolling over and curling up into a ball.

She went to stand next to the bed.

"I don't hate you, you oaf! I should, the way you torment me, but I don't."

She started pinching him all over his exposed skin.

He moved like lightning and she wasn't prepared for it when she was pulled over, to lie half on top of him as he hugged her to him, trapping her arms next to her body. He started tickling her with the fingers on the hands that were wrapped like iron around her. She was helpless, but she struggled anyway, grinding her breasts against his chest. The only thing she could do was bite his nose. She clamped down harder than she meant to and he went still.

"Okay, okay," he said, into her chin. "I give up." His hands left her alone and his arms relaxed. She let go of his nose and lifted her face up, putting her hands on the bed next to his armpits. Their faces were inches apart as she stared into his eyes.

He lifted his head and planted a soft, quick kiss on her lips.

"I'll get up," he said, when he was done.

She climbed off of him, but stood there waiting, as he got up and got dressed.

Neither of them seemed to mind his nakedness.

The education continued for Agatha as she learned that not only was Mirriam willing to accept her, despite their past ... differences, Prudence and her daughter were too. Not that she had anything against Constance. She'd properly married, though Agatha couldn't remember seeing her husband around for quite some time.

When Constance brought Bobby back to the kitchen, he seemed to ignore Agatha. Once again she was immersed in an atmosphere of easy jocularity as they all ate breakfast together.

Then Bobby and the Harris women went off to work on the rooms, leaving Mirriam and Agatha in the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" asked Agatha. It was the decent thing to do.

"You're a guest," said Mirriam. "We don't make our guests work."

"Bobby never told me how much you charge," said Agatha. "Not that it matters, I suppose. I didn't want to go to a motel."

"We'll work something out," said Mirriam. "You're in a bind. It's not like you're on vacation, kicking up your heels." She stopped. "Come to think of it, you can work for your board. I've got laundry to do and these dishes. You want to work so you don't have to pay?"

"I couldn't do that!" said Agatha.

"Oh," said Mirriam, a little stiffly. She'd forgotten how snooty Agatha and her friends were. "Of course not."

She might as well have told Agatha what she'd been thinking. It was plain on her face.

"I didn't mean it that way," said Agatha, defending herself. "You run a business here. I'm sure you depend on the money you make, and you've fed me too ... supper I mean. I couldn't possibly do enough work to make up for all that."

"Oh," said Mirriam again. She felt her face get hot as shame claimed some of her blood supply. "Forgive me. I guess I'm just not used to dealing with ..." She stopped and looked away, flushing harder.

"I'll do the dishes," said Agatha. "We can find something else later."

Mirriam turned around, her face still dark.

"Done," she said.

As it turned out, Agatha found plenty of things to do that morning. She was used to cleaning, so she simply thought about the things she did at home and did them here. She was cleaning the blinds in the living room when Mirriam came in.

"I'm so embarrassed," said Mirriam. "Those haven't been cleaned in ages."

"It's nothing," said Agatha, enjoying actually being able to make a difference. "I'm surprised my blinds haven't worn away as much as I clean them. I don't really have anything else to do, since Harry passed."

"I guess the children kept me busy when Joe was killed," said Mirriam, automatically.

"Joe?" Agatha's question was automatic too. She'd been too young to pay attention to a drifter named Joe, when he'd been around.

Mirriam thought long and hard before saying anything. It occurred to her that some of the people Agatha was friends with probably already suspected who some of Joe's children were anyway. So what did it hurt?

"He was the father of my daughters," she said.

Of course Mirriam's daughters had been the topic of gossip many times, as well as the sons and daughters of a number of other residents of Granger. Agatha had listened avidly to much of that gossip and conjecture.

"All of them?" she asked, wondering if that was going too far.

"I was in love with him," said Mirriam, biting the bullet. If the woman was a spy, she'd have only old news to confirm. It was too long ago. It didn't matter anymore. "He couldn't put down roots, but I loved him anyway." She wrung her own rag out, thinking back on the man she was discussing. "Couldn't resist him, really. He just made my heart do flip flops."

Agatha wondered what that feeling might be like. The only flip flops her heart had done was on her wedding night. Harry had nailed them down in her stomach. The pain had, anyway. The passion in Mirriam's voice as she remembered this man ... this man who wouldn't marry her ... was still fresh and deep. It was obvious that Mirriam still remembered her love for him. Agatha wondered what that was like too.

"It wasn't like that with Harry and me." It was out of her mouth before she realized it.

"I'm so sorry," said Mirriam. It was an automatic response. But it was also an opening ... the kind of opening many women welcome, when they want to talk about something.

"I don't know what happened," sighed Agatha.

"You were young," said Mirriam.

"I just did what I thought I was supposed to do," said Agatha.

"Is that why you never remarried?" Mirriam blushed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

"I can't remarry," said Agatha automatically.

"Why in the world not?"

"My friends would never ..." She didn't finish. She blinked. She looked at Mirriam, who was looking at her with sad eyes. "I guess I just thought I couldn't do that," she finished.

"Well, the stable of men available in this town is mighty puny," said Mirriam. "I can tell you that."

That almost shocked Agatha. This woman had a four year old little boy!

"You wanted to get married again?" she asked.

"Oh, I thought about it," said Mirriam. "I seem to be cursed to fall in love with men I can't have." That was the way she thought about it. No one knew who Theodore's father was and she planned on keeping it that way. "I've made some pretty silly choices along the way, it seems." She felt like she was trivializing her own family. "Not that I'm sorry, mind you," she said, in their defense. "I love all my children. I loved them all the time. It was hard, sometimes, but I've always been proud of them."

Again Agatha was stunned. She'd expected this woman to be ashamed of what she'd done all those years. And yet, she sounded almost proud. It occurred to Agatha then that she had cause to be proud. She'd done it alone, and her children, Agatha had to admit, were pleasant ... no, more than pleasant. They were nice people. That jarred her sensibilities, somehow, but she knew it was true. Bobby had been nice to her. The girls, in the short time she'd known them, had seemed completely normal other than the fact they had no husbands. She thought of Harry. She wouldn't wish that on any woman, with child or not. She immediately felt ashamed that she'd thought that.

"You want to help me get lunch ready?" asked Mirriam.

Agatha did.

That afternoon was more of the same, as the two women sank into what could only be called a cleaning frenzy. Mirriam was embarrassed by the condition of her house, once she saw what kinds of things Agatha did. She'd never worried about it before, but somehow she felt like she had to prove something to this woman she'd ignored for years. It wasn't exactly a competition, but both women worked hard. Mirriam tried to keep up with Agatha, who was trying to do enough work to feel like she was paying her own way.

Both ended up exhausted, when it was time to start supper.

"I have a meatloaf frozen for just this situation," said Mirriam. "We'll boil some potatoes to go with it and open a few cans of vegetables."

Agatha worked on a salad while Mirriam took care of the other things. When the workers straggled in, both women turned around. Prudence had been painting and had paint all over the sweat suit she was wearing. When Agatha looked more closely, she saw that there were actually several colors of paint on it. There were paint spatters on her face and hands too. Constance was covered with a fine coating of white dust, from her head down to the tops of her shoes. She'd been wearing a dust mask and only the circle around her nose and mouth was flesh colored.

"I need a shower," moaned Constance.

"Go take one," said Mirriam, laughing.

"I didn't bring a change of clothes."

"You've worn the girls' clothes before," pointed out her mother's best friend.

"Guess I have at that," said Constance.

"Need any help?" asked Bobby, grinning.

Constance slapped at him, raising a cloud of dust, which he was covered with too.

"Cad!" she accused. "How dare you toy with my affections!"

"It wasn't your affections I was thinking of toying with." He grinned wider as he jumped back.

Constance ignored him and turned to Mirriam.

"Keep him here, please. I'd like to be able to take my shower in a relaxed fashion."

It was then that they all, at about the same time, remembered that Agatha was there. Almost as if they had rehearsed it, they turned to look at her together. Her eyes were wide open, as was her mouth, which was fixed in an "O."

"He's such a kidder," gasped Prudence.

Agatha closed her mouth and blushed under the eyes of all those present. It had been so calm! They had acted so relaxed about it all ... all of them! It was as if this was the normal way Bobby acted and they all knew he was kidding.

Bobby broke the tension by turning and bowing to Constance.

"My apologies, milady," he said gravely. "Sometimes I forget myself." He turned and then bowed to Agatha. "Madame," he said, just as gravely. "I have been unpardonably impertinent. I shall await my flogging out back."

Then he simply walked out the back door.

Everything had started moving again with the thud of the back door closing. Prudence stated her intent to find a rag to clean her face and hands. Mirriam almost fell all over herself to help her do that. Constance simply left the room. Agatha was left to stand and wonder about what she'd just seen. Mirriam and Prudence went into the utility room. She could hear them gasping in hushed tones. It was obvious they were embarrassed.

But the tone everything had happened in had sounded like friends bantering. Admittedly, she had never heard banter like that ... somewhat shocking banter, she thought. But it had clearly been in fun. Even his comment about waiting for her to come out and flog him for his impertinence was unquestionably in fun. She had been included in the fun!

On impulse she went to the back door and looked out. He was bent over, shirtless, at a water spigot that stuck up out of the ground and was washing himself clean. Again, on impulse, she looked around. There was a fly swatter hanging on a nail by the back door.

She pulled it down, opened the door and marched toward Bobby.

He looked up, obviously surprised when he saw who it was. Then he saw the fly swatter in her hand.

"You're not actually going to flog me," he objected.

"You were impertinent," she said as she stopped. She looked at his glistening chest. It looked nothing like Harry's. "Bend over," she ordered, still letting impulse guide her actions. To her astonishment, he did, presenting his backside to her. She whacked him once with the fly swatter and then her courage deserted her and she ran toward the back door. She felt the giddy laughter welling up in her as she ran, not knowing if he was chasing her or not. She was even more astonished when she realized that something inside her wanted him to chase her.

That was washed out of her body as she saw Prudence and Mirriam, standing in the open doorway together, their mouths sagging. She stopped, almost skidding on the dirt, staring up at the two women.

Prudence coughed ... then giggled.

In seconds, all three women were cackling, bent over because they were laughing so hard.

Bobby just looked at them, shook his head, and went back to cleaning up.

It was as if a great weight had been lifted from Agatha's shoulders. The feeling of acceptance was palpable ... unquestionable. Only Constance and the twins, when they got there, didn't understand why Prudence and Mirriam had accepted Agatha into their circle of friends. That it had happened was obvious ... they'd seen this kind of thing happen before. The girls just didn't know why.

That didn't seem to matter, though. Constance sat next to Bobby and, during supper, leaned over to put her shoulder against him and lay her head on his shoulder.

"I'm tired," she said in explanation. "You worked me half to death today."

"We got a lot done," said Bobby, unrepentant that he was apparently a harsh taskmaster. "Those rooms will be ready in another few hours."

"Well don't expect me to work on them," said Constance, sitting back up. "Not today, anyway. You've squeezed as much blood out of me as you're going to get."

"Just wait until I make the barn into the apartments I have planned," he said. "That will take weeks of work! Heh, heh, heh." He twirled the ends of an imaginary moustache.

Because Mirriam was the only one who knew about this plan, that required him explaining it to the others. The twins seized on the idea immediately.

"We could live out there!" they squealed.

"Me too," said Bobby.

The twins groaned theatrically. Only Agatha didn't understand how hollow those groans sounded. Prudence, and Constance too, for that matter, had taken one look at Joseph and knew who his father was. It had happened before. Prudence understood completely how it could happen. Constance held her counsel on the matter.

Prudence and her daughter left right after supper. The twins went off to feed their babies. Theodore, who had been "helping" Prudence paint all day, was taken by his mother to the laundry room to try to get the paint off of him without hurting him too much.

That left Bobby and Agatha alone. Bobby started to wash the dishes and Agatha, still in cleaning mode, simply joined him. They worked quietly, side by side, both familiar with the tasks needing to be done.

When they finished, Bobby wiped his hands.

"Want to finish the puzzle tonight?"

"I guess so," she answered.

They had been at it long enough that the twins were finished feeding and playing with the babies in the living room, while watching TV, when Agatha spoke.

"I really do have to confess something to you," she said.

"What's that?" he asked.

She looked around. She didn't know where Mirriam was.

"Can we go outside?" she asked. She was amazed that she didn't feel nervous at all.

"Is it that serious?" he asked.

"I think it is," she said.

She confessed her whole plan, standing and hugging herself, by the water spigot where she had swatted him on the butt and become one of Mirriam's friends. She confessed that she'd intended to make herself available for him to seduce her. She confessed that she'd planned on having her friends watch, while he accepted the money. She confessed that she had planned on exposing him to the entire community by having him arrested for prostitution.

He didn't believe her at first. When she apologized over and over again, even crying, he was convinced.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked, finally.

"Because I was so stupid," she said, wiping her eyes. "You're not like we thought." She stopped. "Well, Mirriam is, and your sisters, I guess ... but it doesn't matter! You're all good people and I wanted to destroy you."

"But you don't anymore?" he asked.

"Of course not," she moaned.

"Okay, then," he said, his voice firm. "No harm done."

She goggled at him.

"How can you say that?"

"Because there was no harm done," he said simply. "We've known for as long as I've been alive that people hated us. Now one of them doesn't any more. I think that's an improvement."

Agatha lay in bed. She was tense and couldn't relax. She wondered if he'd told his mother yet. She hadn't come and thrown her out. That would probably happen in the morning. Mirriam was too good a woman to throw her out this late at night, no matter how much she deserved it.

She'd gone straight to her room when they came in. She wouldn't have been able to work on the puzzle or face any of the rest of them anyway. She'd tried to read, but couldn't concentrate. She looked at her watch. It was eleven. She knew it was going to be a long night.

She was startled at a tap on the door. It then opened.

It was Bobby. He came in and closed the door. He acted like his entry into her private space was completely normal. She didn't even have a chance to react to him being there, in her bedroom, the two of them alone, before he spoke.

"You were straight with me," he said. "Maybe I should be straight with you."

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