he knew how to close himself off against further hurts from that person. He wasn’t like me, where I’d keep bleeding out the feelings like a wound that just won’t clot. Neither Cade nor Candy was the type who would ever just pack their things and abandon a life, the way I had. But when I left Harold, I hadn’t done it because it was the easy thing. It was just the only way I knew to stop the pain.
Elias, though. I confess that when he was little, his father and I worried that he was a soft boy. He was a sulker, the kind to go off kicking the dust to sit under a tree all alone, licking his wounds. Mostly people didn’t try to fight with him, because he was big and if he did get a notion to fight back, he’d have that person flat on the ground in one strike. But he couldn’t shrug things off, and he never did those peacock-y things boys do to get girls’ attention. For a while we worried whether he liked girls at all. His father made some noise about that, and as much as I shushed him I admit I fretted over it myself.
And then, not too long before he graduated high school, he started bringing home Piper Larsen from down the road. She came from a funny family—her mother and father were archaeologists or something of that nature, and they’d go away for months at a time to dig up old pottery and bones. The house she lived in belonged to her aunt and uncle, who farmed that land, and I suppose her folks found it convenient as their home base in between trips to wherever they ran off to. Well, it’s hard for me to trust people like that, but I was just so pleased to see Eli interested in a girl at all. He always had some excuse for bringing her around—that she wanted to see our new baby chicks, say, or to try the rhubarb pie I’d made because she’d never had rhubarb, or wanted to stay for supper because it was leftover night at her place. It was cute to see him trying to court her that way, and she was a pretty thing, too, like a foal: all bones, big eyes. She had pale, pale hair. My mother had always told me to make a wish when I saw a white horse, and every time I saw Piper walk in that door with Eli, I felt like making a wish on her. I couldn’t have picked a better choice for him, either. She was smart, grounded, good-hearted. Even though her people were from away, her family didn’t seem so bad, just a little odd. I couldn’t help but picture where it all might lead. And I confess, too, that since I’d set aside my imaginings about that sweet daughter who would sit beside me quilting, I started inventing new ones for how I would teach Piper to make a piecrust, or listen to her tell me some things about the strange places she’d visited. I hoped she would like me.
One night we had her over for supper and she helped me fix up the biscuits and a salad. Oh, she had the nicest manners, that girl, and a good, open way about her for learning new things. I showed her how you peel strips down the cucumber, then slice it lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon before you slice it in smaller pieces, and then you get pretty little half-moon slices with no seeds to bother with. She acted like I’d taught her something really special. She had a manner of touching your shoulder or arm in this affectionate way, like family almost. I was so fond of that girl, I couldn’t hardly contain it.
We all sat down to supper, and I’d made sure to put in the extra chair next to Elias, so he and Piper could sit right beside one another. Eddy and I sit at opposite ends of the table, so I made sure to put Piper’s seat closest to mine, because now and then Eddy gets off on some tirade during the meal and I didn’t want to risk the girl getting spooked.
Elias pulled out her chair for her, all gentlemanly. It made me smile. In all that time I’d never once seen him touch her, but that was just how he was. Elias wasn’t a