Eleven
Abe followed Ella May home that evening. He waited
until she had gone inside the three room bungalow she rented, then tapped
on the torn screen door. The house was as neat as the store inside. Evie
tried hard to keep their rotting shack clean, but Ella May’s mother had
left her money when she died, and Ella May had used it to buy one of the
nicer houses in town. She had fresh tile on the floors, and paneling on
the walls. Evie had never been given anything at all to work with, and it
shamed Abe.
A fluffy white cat with blue eyes cried softly to him
from just inside the door. Ella May’s face emerged from the shadows with
an expression of surprise. “Abe?” She smiled tensely. “The whole
neighborhood will see you!”
“I can handle it. I did what you wanted. I talked
with Billy Trevor. I’m sending Evie to him in the morning.” He held his
cut and bruised fist to view. “I talked to Lazarus and Noah. They know
better than to cross me.”
Ella May’s surprise turned to disbelief.
“It’s time for us now,” Abe said softly.
Tears formed in Ella May’s pretty face and ran down
her cheeks. She opened the screen door and stepped into his arms. Abe
held her gently, terrified of the steps he had taken to change his life so
drastically. “As soon as business is finished,” he added, hoping she
would be reasonable.
Ella May’s hands knotted, squeezing a fistful of his
shirt.
“I can’t stop in the middle of it, Ella May. I have
a contract.”
“How long does your contract last, Abraham Darker?”
“It won’t last the summer. I’ve got money in the
bank already, more than either one of us has seen in years.”
Ella May sighed and stepped back. She looked up at
him with a severe expression. “Make it official. Do it formal like.”
“Will you marry me, Ella May?”
She nodded nervously, still without smiling. “Yes,
I’ll marry you Abraham Darker. Why can’t we do it now?”
“Because I’m not dealing with good men, and I don’t
want them to know about you. I don’t want Lazarus and Noah to know until
I’ve figured out what to do with them." He tried a nervous smile.
"You wouldn’t want them to move in
with us, would you?”
“Heaven, no!”
Abe laughed in his deep voice. “The hardest part was
making the decisions. I shouldn’t have waited so long.”
“It doesn’t matter now.” Ella May stepped away from
him. “Come inside.”
Abe smiled, knowing what she had in mind. “I don’t
think I know how to do it in bed. Not enough practice in bed. Besides, I
can’t leave Evie alone with Lazarus.”
Ella May sighed. “Are you sure it’s going to work?
You spoke with Billy Trevor?”
“I was inside his house. I’ve never been so scared
in all my life. He’s messed up, but I told him to take Evie away and he
lit up like a Christmas tree. He’s the one that’s got all them little
machines about town. I hope like hell King and his men don’t hear nothing
about them. I figure once he has Evie, the Trevors will stay in Boston
where they belong.”
Ella May looked past him and frowned. “Who’s that?”
An old sedan with faded paint stopped in front of the
house with a squeal of brakes. Abe’s expression clouded. “That’s
Delaney, one of King’s men. Wait here.”
King walked to the car. The dark-skinned,
slick-looking driver eyed him casually, never with so much as a glimmer of
fear in his dark eyes. “King wants to see you. A car will pick you up
at the motel in
an hour.”
“How long’s it going to take?”
“It’s a long drive. We’ll have you back dawn, day
after tomorrow.”
Abe watched Delaney continue on down the block and
turn a corner, heading back to the motel on the north end of town. He
returned to Ella May. “Gotta run. Keep an eye on things for me. I’ll be
back day after, early.”
“Abe?”
He shook his head and forced a smile. “Nothing’s
wrong. The boss wants to see me, but things are running smooth. I’m
okay.”
Ella May reached for him and gave him a lingering
kiss. Abe glanced back at her halfway down the sidewalk, suddenly fearful
for the woman and their future together. It was a precarious time. So
much could go wrong.
