Ten Thousand Charms Read Online Free PDF Page A

meant—” Sadie said.
    “I don't care what you mzant” Mrs. MacGregan said. “We don't need you or your kind.”
    “Katherine!” His voice was harsh, but then gentle as he turned to address Sadie. “Excuse her. She hasn't been feeling well. What with…well, everything.”
    “Well then, good day to you,” Sadie said. “And good luck.”
    “Good-bye,” Mrs. MacGregan said.
    “It was nice to meet you,” John William said. “Both of you.”
    Sadie turned Gloria toward Jewell's house full of smiles and laughter, but Gloria stepped back and grabbed Mrs. MacGregan's cold hand, refusing to relinquish her grip even when the woman tried to yank it away
    “Listen, Mrs. Mac—Katherine,” she said. “We're all just women here. Just women.” Her mind tumbled with more words, but something in Katherine MacGregan's face stoppedher from speaking further. The vacant, dismissive stare that first greeted Gloria altered, slowly. The captive hand gave a nearly imperceptible squeeze, and Katherine's clear blue eyes emitted just a hint of warmth. Gloria thought she sensed a nod, but didn't want to force the issue or prolong the discomfort.
    “Let's go," she said to Sadie, and together they walked into Jewell's house.
    They made their way up the mountain, slowly, stopping often for Katherine to catch her breath or rest a spell on a boulder or fallen tree. He helped her as much as he could—gave a supporting arm, cleared the branches, carried the bundle of supplies—but still she complained of exhaustion.
    “I thought the trip might be too much,” John William said. “Should 1 take the supplies up and come back? Maybe carry you?”
    “Don't be foolish,” Katherine said. “1 needed to get out of that cabin. The fresh air is lovely. Just let me sit a spell here, if you don't mind.”
    He did mind, a little. He wanted to get her home and settled, safe and comfortable. She didn't look well. The brisk afternoon air did nothing to add color to her pale, sunken cheeks. Her breath was coming in short, shallow spurts. But he settled himself on a fallen tree trunk, she on a wide/smooth rock. They sat, still and quiet, the surrounding branches heavy with melting snow.
    “I'm just worried about the baby,” he said after a while.
    “You're always worried about the baby. If you worried about me half as much as you worry about the baby…well, you wouldn't have to worry about the baby at all.”
    The woods were winter-silent around them. The air so temperate he couldn't see his breath. Warmed by the walk up the mountain, he stripped off his coat and let the slight breeze chill through his shirtsleeves. Katherine gave him a chastising look, and he waited for her to tell him that he'd catch his death, but she didn't.
    Instead she asked, “How do you know her?”
    “Who?”
    “The fat one. The one with the painted face.”
    “You treated her badly,” he said. “All of them.”
    “You didn't answer my question.”
    “I met her. Before.”
    “Before?”
    “Before you. Before prison.”
    “Where?”
    “Katherine, you know I was everywhere. We were in a different town every week. I don't know where I met Jewell Gunn. I don't even know why I remember her name.”
    “She seems pretty hard to forget.”
    “Maybe so.”
    “What about the girls?”
    He sighed. “What about them?”
    “Did you know them, too?”
    “I'm not—”
    “I don't mean these girls, specifically,” Katherine said. “But that Jewell's a brothel keeper. She's had other girls. Did you know any of them?”
    “Now listen.” John William stood and walked over to where his wife sat. He knelt beside her, one knee in a slush of melting snow and mud, and took her face in his massive hands, forcing her to look at him. “You knew who I was and what I did when you married me. I kept no secrets from you. Am I right?”
    “I suppose.”
    “Suppose nothin'. You know the man I was, and you know the man I am now. I'm not gonna sit here and confess my sins to you.