was a mature, loving thing to do. It was also a smart political move to open the door of friendship with a man who’s trying to make you look bad. I get all of that. Fine. Borrow a book, work together on a fundraising committee, raise money for the carnival. Hell, I’m fine with even having coffee and pie but kissing?! Kissing, Evan, why kissing?”
“I don’t know. There’s just…” I threw a hand into the air, unable to pull whatever it was I’d been feeling out into the air to examine it. “It was just a moment. One of those things. He’s gay. I’m not sure how out he is. I mean, he did say something in a book, but it could have been taken in a brotherly sort of way. I shouldn’t have said anything, please don’t repeat that to anyone.”
“Yes, I assumed he might be at least fifty percent gay since he was kissing my son. And when do I ever gossip?”
“Right well, true, you don’t gossip.” I stopped tossing my hand around and began massaging the back of my neck. “Right. Well, he’s just lonely, and probably feeling a lot of dislike from the community.”
“Well deserved. He was a monstrous child.” I nodded. He had been. There was no denying that truth. I knew all too well how beastly he had been. “Granted, his father molded that child into a carbon copy of himself complete with the propensity to hit first and ask questions later.”
“Yeah, well, kids don’t have a wide vocabulary. Explaining the pain and confusion you’re in when you’re ten or twelve is nearly impossible.”
“I know, darling, I’m a teacher. Your father and I tried to help that family numerous times. His mother was too scared and too controlled to leave. He beat her all the time. For years it went on. Finally…well, finally someone in town had seen enough, lived through enough of the violence that was slowly poisoning that boy’s heart. The bruises that Gideon carried…that his mother carried…it was just too much. Someone had to do something—” She stalled out then.
“What did someone do, Mom?”
Her gaze lifted from her shoes to me. “Someone and their husband took money out of their savings and purchased plane tickets to the West Coast. Someone was scared that Gideon would someday hurt you as badly physically as he was emotionally. Someone was terrified that either that poor woman or her son would end up dead. So someone did something and then the nightmare ended for all of us, or so we thought. And then someone felt terrible guilt because of what he did after they left him. Someone shouldn’t have cared. He was a reprehensible human being, but someone still feels partly responsible.”
I wasn’t sure what words I could have used so I kept my mouth shut. Instead of saying something I went to her and hugged her to me. She burrowed into my chest for a moment, a shudder racing through her, and then she pulled back as if embarrassed.
“You and Dad are amazing. Neither of you have anything to feel badly about. You saved two lives that day. Does Gideon know what you did?” I asked, rubbing her arms as she gathered herself. She shook her fair head. I suspected as much. “Does anyone in town know?”
“No, it had to be fast and secretive. Only Pastor Gwinn knew. He drove them to the airport. As far as I know he took that secret to his grave.”
I tugged her in for another hug. “That secret is safe with me. I think what you three did was incredible. It gave Gideon a chance to grow up somewhere safe, to break that cycle of violence. He’s not the same kid he was when he lived here, Mom.”
“I know, I do. I want to believe that. I just…” She wiggled free, pulled some tissues out of the sleeve of her sweater, and dabbed at her dewy eyes. “I just do not like the idea of you and him kissing. He’s just…”
“He’s a man trying to redeem himself. Shouldn’t we give him a chance?”
What the holy hell just fell out of your mouth, Evan?! We hate Gideon. Remember the beetle you big, dumb bowl of soggy oats!!
“He also hurt you badly. Evan, you’ve always been so kind and giving. Which is why I knew you’d be a marvelous politician because you really care about the people you serve. Your heart is big and open.” She patted my left pectoral.