Four Seasons of Romance Read Online Free PDF

he’s got a
good heart.”
    “I’ll be the judge of hearts around here,” Josiah growled,
his wife standing silently in the kitchen, kneading a piecrust. She said
nothing. It worked that way in the Woods household—Josiah judged, and no one
dared to cross him.
    “I do not permit you to be friends with that boy,” Josiah
commanded. “And I absolutely forbid you to be anything more. Do you understand
me?”
    She looked to her mother for support, but Elaine looked
away. Reluctantly, Catherine nodded. “All right. May I
go now? I’ve got a school project due tomorrow.”
    Josiah loosened his grip, and Catherine slipped quietly
upstairs. He waited until she was out of earshot, then returned to his wife. “It’s high time we introduce other young men into her
social circle.”
    “She’s not sixteen yet,” Elaine murmured.
    If the judge’s gaze were made of flints, it would have set
his wife’s hair on fire. “She’ll be sixteen in July,” he said. “I’ll arrange
for some visits.”
    “Very well,” Elaine said and dug her fists deeper into the
dough.
     
    *
     
    On Catherine’s sixteenth birthday, and not a day later, the
visits began. Her father arranged meetings with the sons of merchants,
attorneys, physicians, and teachers. Some were from Woodsville, but others came
from nearby towns. Josiah made no bones that she was expected to entertain
their advances; Catherine pretended to do just that, but in truth, she found
most of them indescribably boring. A few were pleasant enough, but none had the
charisma and daredevil charm of her Leo.
    She continued to see Leo in secret, though their methods
grew more complex. Gone were the days when he could risk throwing pebbles at
her window. Instead, they concocted a system of colored flags that Leo could
rig from the outside and that Catherine could hang in her bedroom window. Only
they could detect and decipher the faint splashes of color; the judge would
never know.
    Their friendship grew deeper as the two continued to get
close. Even as she dated “more suitable” young men, she longed to wander the
woods with Leo, looking for arrowheads and talking about their lives, knowing
that she was in love with him, but never daring speak of it. Indeed, the
feelings she felt for him were like that arrowhead, hidden, yet sharp.
    As for Leo, he no longer scouted the woods for arrowheads to
give her; he had watched Catherine evolve from a spoiled, little girl into a
kind, young woman. Arrowheads were for children; she was ready for something
else. He began to wander the fields around Woodsville, collecting wild lilies
and black-eyed Susans he fashioned into bouquets,
which became Catherine’s favorite flowers. She hung some of them in her room
and pressed others between the pages of her favorite books.
    Despite their feelings for each other, Leo found himself in
a rapid downward spiral. Ellis Taylor didn’t see the value in education; now
that Leo lived with his father, Ellis constantly berated him for going to
class. Eventually, it worked—Leo dropped out of high school. Catherine begged
him not to, but he couldn’t be convinced that formal education had a purpose.
Instead, he started to work at the mill with Ellis, which netted him enough
money to buy a 1934 Chevy Coupe.
    In those passionate months of their clandestine affair,
Catherine came to know the inside of that Coupe very well. Leo parked it in
isolated places around town, and the two spent long hours necking, taking that
electric first kiss to new levels, exploring each other’s mouths, and then,
tentatively at first, their bodies. 
    All the while, Catherine maintained a courtship with a local
boy as a cover for her relationship with Leo. His name was Waldo Ayers—the son
of the elementary school headmaster —and he was the ideal candidate as far as
her parents were concerned. Waldo was as awkward and unpleasant as his father,
but he was perfect for Catherine and Leo’s needs. If Catherine was