upward.
“The smallest sliver of cake, if you please,” I heard him say, adding that the evening’s speaker was due to arrive at any moment. The inference was that the concentration required by a big piece of cake might cause him to miss the grand arrival, thus putting the kiss of death on the evening’s proceedings.
What did one talk about to a lady cleric? I hovered in her shadow, pleating my bag strap until she made things easy for me.
“Please call me Eudora.”
“And I’m Ellie.”
“I understand we are neighbours.” She had large,slightly protruding hazel eyes and I caught in them a flicker of the same surprise she had shown when I first entered the room.
“Yes!” I put my bag down on a chair and tried not to notice when it fell with a plop to the floor. “We live at Merlin’s Court. You can see the house from this window, which of course makes it absolutely dreadful that I missed church the last three Sundays, and I am not nearly dedicated enough to the Sewing Circle or the Friends of St. Anselm …” I paused, drew a shaky breath, and was amazed to find how much better I felt.
Correctly interpreting my smile, she said, “Helps to make a clean breast of things, doesn’t it?”
“It certainly does.”
“Which is why I hope to reopen the confessionals here at St. Anselm’s. There will be objections, I am sure, and cries of popery, but I intend to make waves.”
As Miss Thorn had found to her cost? But I couldn’t worry about that lady or lament that dear Reverend Foxworth was gone from my life. This room was aglow with the breath of life, the promise of new beginnings. For the first time in months I felt the stirrings of my old vitality. If Mrs. Eudora Spike could take on the male-dominated Church, then surely I could work at one marriage. What was it the Fully Female manual had said? Light his candle and make love till you feel the burn .
I turned my eyes to Ben, ready to begin now to feast upon his maleness, to caress his dark good looks with my eyes, my hungry breath … but Mrs. Melrose chose that moment to put a cup of tea in my hands. And I couldn’t say I was sorry for the intrusion. I had forgotten how exhausting desire can be.
“You two ladies have a nice chat.” Eudora left us to catch up with the rest of her flock, who had wanderedaway to the other side of the paddock … I mean, the room.
From a distance I hadn’t noticed anything particularly different about Flo Melrose—other than the way she was cosying up to her husband. But standing next to her, I was startled by the new woman. The Friar Tuck hair had a bounce to it and the once doughy cheeks possessed a peachy blush. Even more startling was that the doctor’s wife wasn’t wearing a stitch under her sack dress … not so much as a fig leaf. You could tell from the flounce of her bosoms and the way the material grooved to her generous proportions.
“Gained weight by the looks of it.” Flo roared the whisper in my ear.
Heretofore I had quite liked the woman. Flo Melrose was the least snobbish person I knew. She would take a blind person across the road whether he wanted to go or not, and she had been there for me when I failed my Lamaze course. But I wasn’t about to take her comment with a simper.
“Wrong, Flo. I have not put on weight. I am one of those unfortunates who can never gain an ounce.” That was no lie, for I always go up in increments of five pounds. Deep sigh. “If you only knew how sick I get of chugging down those milkshakes.”
Her hearty laughter joggled my teacup. “Get off your high horse, Ellie. I wasn’t talking about you. I meant Ben. Those extra pounds look good on him. They’ve turned him from a yearling into a full-grown buck who’s earned his antlers.”
I stared from Flo Melrose to my husband in disbelief. Certainly he was forever standing before the mirror, sucking in his navel so that it touched his spine and bemoaning that his belly was going to pot. But who could
“The smallest sliver of cake, if you please,” I heard him say, adding that the evening’s speaker was due to arrive at any moment. The inference was that the concentration required by a big piece of cake might cause him to miss the grand arrival, thus putting the kiss of death on the evening’s proceedings.
What did one talk about to a lady cleric? I hovered in her shadow, pleating my bag strap until she made things easy for me.
“Please call me Eudora.”
“And I’m Ellie.”
“I understand we are neighbours.” She had large,slightly protruding hazel eyes and I caught in them a flicker of the same surprise she had shown when I first entered the room.
“Yes!” I put my bag down on a chair and tried not to notice when it fell with a plop to the floor. “We live at Merlin’s Court. You can see the house from this window, which of course makes it absolutely dreadful that I missed church the last three Sundays, and I am not nearly dedicated enough to the Sewing Circle or the Friends of St. Anselm …” I paused, drew a shaky breath, and was amazed to find how much better I felt.
Correctly interpreting my smile, she said, “Helps to make a clean breast of things, doesn’t it?”
“It certainly does.”
“Which is why I hope to reopen the confessionals here at St. Anselm’s. There will be objections, I am sure, and cries of popery, but I intend to make waves.”
As Miss Thorn had found to her cost? But I couldn’t worry about that lady or lament that dear Reverend Foxworth was gone from my life. This room was aglow with the breath of life, the promise of new beginnings. For the first time in months I felt the stirrings of my old vitality. If Mrs. Eudora Spike could take on the male-dominated Church, then surely I could work at one marriage. What was it the Fully Female manual had said? Light his candle and make love till you feel the burn .
I turned my eyes to Ben, ready to begin now to feast upon his maleness, to caress his dark good looks with my eyes, my hungry breath … but Mrs. Melrose chose that moment to put a cup of tea in my hands. And I couldn’t say I was sorry for the intrusion. I had forgotten how exhausting desire can be.
“You two ladies have a nice chat.” Eudora left us to catch up with the rest of her flock, who had wanderedaway to the other side of the paddock … I mean, the room.
From a distance I hadn’t noticed anything particularly different about Flo Melrose—other than the way she was cosying up to her husband. But standing next to her, I was startled by the new woman. The Friar Tuck hair had a bounce to it and the once doughy cheeks possessed a peachy blush. Even more startling was that the doctor’s wife wasn’t wearing a stitch under her sack dress … not so much as a fig leaf. You could tell from the flounce of her bosoms and the way the material grooved to her generous proportions.
“Gained weight by the looks of it.” Flo roared the whisper in my ear.
Heretofore I had quite liked the woman. Flo Melrose was the least snobbish person I knew. She would take a blind person across the road whether he wanted to go or not, and she had been there for me when I failed my Lamaze course. But I wasn’t about to take her comment with a simper.
“Wrong, Flo. I have not put on weight. I am one of those unfortunates who can never gain an ounce.” That was no lie, for I always go up in increments of five pounds. Deep sigh. “If you only knew how sick I get of chugging down those milkshakes.”
Her hearty laughter joggled my teacup. “Get off your high horse, Ellie. I wasn’t talking about you. I meant Ben. Those extra pounds look good on him. They’ve turned him from a yearling into a full-grown buck who’s earned his antlers.”
I stared from Flo Melrose to my husband in disbelief. Certainly he was forever standing before the mirror, sucking in his navel so that it touched his spine and bemoaning that his belly was going to pot. But who could
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