Chapter 12: The Cottage by the River

Edith answered on the first ring.

"I know," she said, before Rhett finished his sentence. "Bring her here."

"Grandmother, I'm not asking you to..."

"You are not asking. I am telling you."

There was a pause on the line.

"Your sister has a key to that girl's house. I will not have the child sleeping where Bridget can walk in."

Another pause.

"I raised two children after a funeral. I can manage one for a night."

I took the phone from him.

"Mrs. Ketterman, thank you."

"Edith," she said. "And Bailey, go and do what you need to do. I'll have her toothbrush in a glass by nine."

Effie fell asleep in the back seat on the way to the farmhouse, with Gerald on her chest.

I carried her inside myself.

Edith took her from my arms, and neither of us said anything about it.

Then I got into Rhett's truck, and he drove us to the cottage by the river.

He parked in the gravel and turned the engine off.

We sat there in the dark with the windows down and the water running behind the trees.

"You can say no," he said. "You can say it now, or on the porch, or in the bed."

"I know."

"I want to hear it if you mean it."

"Rhett," I said. "Get out of the truck."

We did not make it to the bedroom for a while.

He had the cottage door open and his back against it, and I had my hands in the front of his shirt.

I kissed him until he stopped breathing evenly.

Then I pushed the jacket off his shoulders, and I found the buttons.

"You're going to take it slow," he said, low, against my mouth.

"No," I said. "You're going to sit down."

His eyes went dark.

I walked him backward to the bed, with his bad leg stiff and his hands tight on my hips.

I put my palm flat on his chest and pushed.

He sat on the edge of the mattress and looked up at me.

"Don't fall on me," he said.

"I'm not the one who falls."

I stripped the shirt off over his head and put my mouth on the scar down his forearm.

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