Page 57 of Kiwi Sin
I shouldn’t have said anything about Oriana. That was just borrowing trouble, and Gray wasn’t even my foreman. He was the boss. You didn’t bring your problems to the boss, or reveal yourself to him, either. You talked to your mates, at least that was the idea. I didn’t have mates like that, though, and even if I had, I couldn’t imagine telling them this. They couldn’t understand in a million years, because they hadn’t grown up in Mount Zion.
I could’ve told my brothers, I guessed, but that would be odd, too. They were married, but their wives had been given to them.
Gray was Daisy’s partner, though, and Daisy was Oriana’s sister, which meant that Gray was the one person who might actuallyunderstand. Even though Daisy never seemed one bit Mount Zion anymore.
“Ah,” Gray said. “And you looked stupid to her. Cutting your hand on a can.”
“Yeh. Also, I’m not fond of blood. It didn’t … go well. I should tell you that. Just in case.”
“In case you become a foreman on a big job sometime,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Though that may not be for me.”
It hit me like a punch. No matter what Oriana had thought, he was thinking of sacking me because of the injury. Because of my carelessness. “Oh,” I said. “Right.” And stared down at the steaks, poking them with the fork, pretending I was checking them for doneness when I knew they weren’t done.
“Gabriel.” He laid a hand on my shoulder briefly, being kind. Yet he was still talking about this here, with close to forty people around, and I needed to school my face so they wouldn’t know how the earth had opened beneath me. “I’m telling you that,” he went on, “because loyalty doesn’t work the same out here. Not the same lifetime commitment, eh. Some bastard is going to try to poach you from me anytime here, and against my better judgment, I’m telling you that you’re free to go if you think your future lies somewhere else. I hope you’ll stay, though. You’ve got a future with me, too, and I’ll take care that it’s a better one. Good men aren’t easy to find, and you’re a good man. If a bit careless with the can opener.”
The relief was almost too much. I controlled my face with an effort and started turning the steaks. My hand wanted to shake, but I wouldn’t let it.
“And my new foreman on the house,” he said. “Time to prove yourself, eh. And if you’re not fond of blood, you arrange ahead of time for one of them to take over for you if blood’s involved. Everybody has some weakness. But last night, you … what? With Oriana? What didn’t go well?”
I swallowed. “Nearly passed out on the way from the car to Emergency. She had to, uh …”
He was grinning again. “Let me guess. She had to hold you up.”
I smiled. I wouldn’t have thought Icouldsmile about that. “Yeh. She did.”
“Mate,” he said. “She loved it.”
“No, she didn’t. How could she?”
“It’s Oriana. Soft heart. Kind heart. Don’t tell me she didn’t try to make you feel better.”
“Well, yeh,” I said. “Kind heart is about right.”
Somehow, I was looking at her again, in front of Gray. Taking her own turn to bat now, skirt and all. She hit the ball a mightycrack,it spun and flew like she’d put some power behind it, and then she was running, and laughing. Playing.
Gray said quietly, “She’s not a child. None of those girls have been kids for a long time. They’re babes in the woods, and they’re the last thing from it.”
Once again, I was frozen. I wasn’t sure what he was saying.
He said, “I could’ve seen this one coming, I reckon. I thought you were cousins. Does your dad know how you feel?”
I knew I was flushed red. “He guessed, I think. He doesn’t approve. The … her …”
“Her what?” Gray’s face was set in harder lines.
No choice but to say it. “That they’re more worldly, I think. Daisy’s sisters. But we’re out here in the world now, aren’t we? Changing some things doesn’t mean changing everything, but we don’t always seem to agree on which things matter, my dad and me.”
“Hmm,” Gray said, his face relaxing some. “Doessheknow?”
“No!” I lowered my voice and said again, “No. I wouldn’t know how to tell her. I don’t think Ishouldtell her. She’s seventeen. That’s one of the things that should change, I think, how she thinks about her future, but Dad thinks … maybe the opposite. I’m not sure.”
I was being so disloyal here, I was sweating, and I wasn’t explaining myself well at all. Why had I said any of this?
Gray was quiet a minute, then said, “No dating at Mount Zion, obviously. When you’re notified that your marriage has been arranged, what happens then? How do you get to know the girl?”
I stared at him. “How do you mean? You don’t. Not until you’re married. But you know who she is, of course.”
“No … picnics? No, uh, ice cream? Courting in the parlor? I’m trying to think how dating used to work. I can’t imagine, it seems.”
