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But he wasn’t heading toward the pastures. Instead he veered and started ru
The cemetery. He was heading straight for it. Je
If the dog ever started digging in the graves…
Je
Suppose Erich heard her? Puffing heavily she ran around the line of Norwegian pines that screened the graveyard and into the clearing. The gate was open and the puppy was leaping among the tombstones. In its isolated corner Caroline’s grave was covered with a blanket of fresh roses. Randy romped over it, crushing the flowers.
Je
Erich stepped from the shelter of the trees. With slow-motion precision he raised it to his shoulder. “Don’t, please!” she screamed.
The sharp crack of the rifle sent sparrows squawking from the trees. With a howl of pain the puppy crumbled to the ground, his small body sinking into the roses. As Je
18
Later Je
“But we want to play with Randy.”
She thrust them in the house. “Wait here. Don’t come out again.”
A shirt-sleeved, grave Erich was carrying Randy’s still form; the parka he had wrapped the animal in was soaked with blood. Joe tried to blink back tears.
“Joe, I thought it was one of those damn strays. You know half of them are rabid. If I’d only realized…”
“You shouldn’t have put him on your good coat, Mr. Krueger.”
“Erich, how can you be so cruel? You shot him twice. You shot him after I called to you.”
“I had to, darling,” he insisted. “The first bullet shattered his spine. Do you think I could have left him like that? Je
Clyde, looking uncomfortable, shifted from one foot to the other. “You just can’t go around petting animals on a farm, Miz Krueger.”
“I’m sorry to give you so much trouble, Mr. Krueger,” Joe said apologetically.
Her own anger dissipated into confusion. Erich smoothed her hair. “Joe, I’ll replace him with a good hunter.”
“You don’t need to do that, Mr. Krueger.” But there was hope in his voice.
Joe took Randy to bury him on his own property. Taking her back to the house, Erich insisted she lie on the couch, bringing her a steaming cup of tea. “I forget my darling is still a city girl.” And then he left her.
Finally she got up and got the girls’ lunch. While they napped she rested, forcing herself to read, willing her mind to stop squirming about in hopeless worry.
“It will be a fast di
“Me too,” Tina volunteered.
“No, not you too,” Je
She took elaborate care with her own preparations. Soaking in a steaming tub took some of the soreness from her body. Hesitating only a minute, she filled the tub with the pine-scented bath crystals that she’d so far ignored in the bathroom cabinet.
She washed her hair and pulled it back in a Psyche knot. When she’d been in the restaurant with Kevin her hair had been loose on her shoulders.
She studied the contents of her closet, choosing a long-sleeved, hunter-green wraparound silk that accentuated her narrow waist and the green in her eyes.
Erich came into the room just as she was fastening her locket. “Je
She cupped his face in her hands. “I always dress for you. I always will.”
He was carrying a canvas. “Miraculous as it might seem, I managed to finish it this afternoon.”
It was a spring scene, a new calf half-hidden in a hollow, the mother watchfully beside it, eyeing the other cattle, seeming to warn them to stay away. The sunlight filtered through pine trees; the sun was a five-pointed star. The painting had the aura of a Nativity scene.
Je
“Today you told me I was cruel.”
“Today I was terribly stupid and terribly wrong. Will this be for the next exhibit?”
“No, darling, this is my gift to you.”
She pulled the collar of her coat around her face as they went into the restaurant. The other time she’d been so anxious to escape quickly that she’d hardly noticed the details of the place. Now she realized that with its bright red carpeting, pine furniture, mellow lighting, colonial curtains and blazing fire, the i
“Right this way.” The hostess led them in that direction. Je
When their glasses had been filled Je
“Thank you.”
Quietly they sipped.
Erich was wearing a dark gray tweed jacket, a narrow black tie, charcoal gray trousers. His thick charcoal eyebrows and lashes intensified the blue of his eyes. His bronze-gold hair was highlighted by the flickering candle on the table. He reached for her hand.
“I enjoy taking you to places for the first time, darling.”
Her mouth went dry. “I enjoy being everywhere… anywhere with you.”
“I think that’s why I left that note. You’re right, sweetheart. I wasn’t only teasing. I was jealous watching Joe teach you to ride. All I could think was that I wanted to share the first minute you were on Fire Maid. I suppose it’s as though I’d bought you a piece of jewelry and you’d worn it for someone else.”
“Erich,” Je
“It’s not unlike the house, is it, Je
“I’m not Caroline,” Je
“Darling, just understand that I’m not cruel to animals. I’m not unreasonably rigid. That first night in your apartment I could see you didn’t understand why I was astonished that you gave MacPartland money; the same thing on our wedding day. But it’s come back to haunt us, hasn’t it?”