Page 32

“I’m trying to, but you are making it difficult.

” Susan spoke quietly between clenched teeth.

Sometimes Tena got on her nerves. Of course, not nearly as much as Rosa did.

What frustrated her the most was that all she could hear were muffled voices and nothing of what was actually being said in the living room.

If she were standing in the hall, she’d have a better chance.

Susan pointed to the sink. “Please finish washing the dishes. When I get back, I’ll dry all of them.”

“Get back from where?”

“I’m going to the bathroom down the hall.”

“Can’t it wait till after you’re done helping me with the dishes?”

“No, it can’t—nature calls, and I need to go now.

” Susan didn’t wait for her sister’s response.

She pushed open the kitchen door and stepped into the hallway.

Not wishing to be seen or heard by her parents or the supposed young husband and wife, Susan stood close to one side of the living room door and listened, pleased that she could now hear clearly every word being said.

“What is it that you’re trying to tell us, Rosa?” Elsie questioned. “We can’t understand you when you’re crying.”

Anthony, who had remained quiet during supper and even when the four of them had first come into the living room, spoke up. “Rosa and I have a confession to make, and since she’s having trouble getting the words out, I’ll be the one to tell you.”

“Tell us what?” This question came from Mahlon.

“I believe it’s about the fact that these two young people are having some marital problems,” Elsie interjected. “Rosa admitted it to me yesterday, and this morning, I went to ask Melvin Peachey if he would offer them some counsel.”

Mahlon’s eyes narrowed and he scowled at her. “You went behind my back and asked one of the ministers? Have you forgotten, Wife, that I am the bishop in our church district?”

Elsie’s chin dipped, and she tucked her elbows against her sides. “No, Mahlon … I just thought …”

Anthony figured it was best to set the record straight right away before Mahlon and Elsie ended up with marital problems of their own. He held up one hand and blurted out, “Rosa and I are not having marital issues, because we’re not married.”

Rosa dabbed at the tears on her cheeks and looked at Anthony with wide eyes.

She’d obviously not expected him to blurt out the truth so bluntly to her parents.

No doubt she felt an obligation to do it herself, but she’d been through enough emotional angst, and Anthony wanted to take the brunt of as much of this as possible.

After all, it was his idea to accompany Rosa to her home in the Big Valley and pretend to be her husband.

And now that her parents knew he and Rosa were not husband and wife, he admitted to them that the whole idea was his and why he and Rosa had felt it was the best thing for her and the baby.

Now it was time for Rosa to make another admission. “Anthony is not the father of my baby,” she said.

Mahlon pointed a finger at her and said, “Is that a fact?”

She nodded.

“I see. Guess we can talk about that later.”

Elsie sat with her lips pressed together and hands clasped tightly in her lap. Anthony figured she might be in shock from hearing this news, or perhaps very disappointed in both of them. He couldn’t quite read her expression.

Mahlon, however, was clearly angry. His hazel eyes appeared as though they could bulge right out of the sockets, and he pounded his right fist against his left thigh.

“How could you come in here and bold-faced lie to us like this? You accepted our hospitality, slept in our daughter’s room, and pretended to be our son-in-law, when the whole time you were nothing but a conniving liar.

” He smacked his fist a little harder this time.

“I’m beginning to think no one in this house is capable of telling the truth.

” He turned to glare at Elsie. “Even my own wife has gone behind my back and secretly asked my friend and fellow minister to speak to you and Rosa about your troubled marriage.” He rose to his feet, tromped across the room to where Anthony sat, and stared down at him, like an angry tiger ready to attack.

“You are no longer welcome in this house, Mr. Reeves. I want you to pack up your things and clear out now!”

Rosa leaped out of her seat, dashed over to her father, and clasped his arm. “Please, Dad, don’t ask Anthony to leave now. It’s late, and it wouldn’t be good to travel at this time of night.”

Rosa was right, but Anthony figured in order to keep things here a bit calmer, he would go upstairs, grab his clothes and personal items, and head in the direction of home.

He wouldn’t make it there tonight, of course, but surely he could find a hotel to stay at and then head for New York in the morning.

“What Rosa and Anthony did was wrong, for sure, but we can’t ask him to leave right now, Mahlon,” Elsie spoke up. “It would be safer for Anthony to head out in the morning.”

“I agree with Mom,” Rosa said. “Please, Dad, say he can stay till tomorrow.”

Mahlon released a strange, guttural sound and then gave a nod. “All right, but you’ll sleep down here on the sofa, not upstairs with my daughter.”

“Dad,” Rosa was quick to say. “The entire time Anthony has been here, we have not slept together. I slept in the bed and he had a piece of foam so he could sleep a little more comfortably on the floor. During the time when Anthony was sick with the pox, I slept on the foam and gave him my bed.”

Mahlon shook his head vigorously. “I don’t care who slept on the floor or in the bed. He’s sleeping down here tonight, and nowhere else. Is that clear?”

“That’s fine, sir,” Anthony was quick to say. “And please, even if you can’t forgive me, I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive Rosa for her part in the untruth we told.”

Mahlon tapped his foot a couple of times and grunted. “I don’t need you telling me what to do, young man. My wife and I will work things out with Rosa after you’re gone.”

“I understand. I’ll head upstairs and get my things to bring down here right now.

” Anthony glanced at Rosa and cringed when he saw her trembling lips.

If ever he wished he could take back something he’d done that was wrong, it was now.

All he could really hope for at this point was that after he was gone, Rosa’s parents would forgive her and allow her to continue living here.

And when the time came for her to have the baby, her entire family would be there to love and support her.

She deserves that much, doesn’t she? Anthony asked himself. Just the fact that Rosa swallowed her pride and came home to the family she loved to seek help from them in her time of need should have proved something to them.

Anthony’s shoulders rose as he heaved a sigh. I can only hope that my dad will be forgiving when I get home and explain to him and Mom the real reason for my absence. With the way my luck’s been going, Pop might cut me out of his life and never let me work in his restaurant again.