Once Upon a River Page 0,25
wore. Paul’s face was thinner and paler and intensely focused on his cards, which he now put down reluctantly. He fished a pair of glasses from the pocket of his sheepskin-lined vest and put them on. One eye looked big through the glasses, and the other was half closed. Margo couldn’t stop looking at him.
“One hand isn’t going to drag you out of your five-year losing streak, you sorry bastard,” Brian said.
“I beat you last week.”
“Like hell you did.” Brian turned to Margo. “We heard the news about your daddy. We’re so sorry. I worked with him for a couple years in heat-treating. Old Man Murray said he was smart and very careful. That’s what he always said about him. Loved him like a son. I mean, he was his son, I guess. I never knew the story there.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Paul said. “I never met him, but that’s a rough business.”
Brian said, “Paul and I lost our daddy five years ago, and it wasn’t easy, not even for us grown men. Even though the son of a bitch used to beat the hell out of us.”
“He sure did,” Paul said. “That mean bastard beat us and made us tough.”
“Made us the mean bastards we are today,” Brian said.
Paul smiled and took off his glasses. One eye remained squinted.
“Why don’t you leave them on so you can see?” Brian said.
“The damned things give me a headache. Worry about your own eyes, Brian.”
“When we were kids, I shot my brother in the eye with a BB, blinded him in his right eye, so I have to take care of him now,” Brian said.
“You don’t take care of me, asshole.”
“Kept him out of Vietnam. Probably saved his goddamned life,” Brian said.
“Can we just finish the game?”
“The other eye went blind for the usual reason. Too much yanking his own chain.” Brian winked at Margo. “The priest warned us.”
“Will you shut the fuck up, Brian?”
Margo took off her leather gloves and laid them on the table. They remained in the shape of her curled hands.
“Oh, poor Maggie. Paul, this child is freezing. Look at her fingers.” Brian took both her hands in his and exhaled hot breath on them. Earlier, when she had breathed on them herself, it had done little good, but Brian’s big body—even his lungs must be big—created real heat. Even as she felt wary, she wanted to lean her head against him.
Paul said, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Miss Maggie, but isn’t your family wondering where you are right now?”
“Her family’s the Murrays, Pauly. Would you want to be with them Murray bastards?”
“Still, her family’s got to want her,” Paul said. “What about her ma?”
“Her ma run off and left her a year and a half ago, run off with a man from Heart of Pines. Maggie, is that who you’re trying to get to? Your ma?”
Margo inhaled sharply. She hadn’t considered Brian might know her mother.
“Give me two cards,” Paul said.
Brian let go of Margo’s hands and gave Paul two cards, took two himself. Paul gripped his cards so tightly his fingertips whitened.
“We’ll get you on your way tomorrow, wherever you want to go,” Brian said. “Don’t you worry. You’re fine here tonight.”
“I understand a woman might leave her old man,” Paul said, anger coming quickly into his voice. “But what kind of woman would leave her kid? Her daughter especially? My wife would die before she’d leave one of my kids behind.”
“Ours is not to judge,” Brian said and picked up Margo’s hands again. After he rubbed them on and off for a few minutes, the pink began to return. Margo wanted to go stand by the woodstove, but she knew if she did she would never want to leave its intense warmth. As if reading her mind, Brian stood up, surprising her again with his great size, and fed the stove some split logs from a pile behind it.
Paul spoke up again. “There’s something else I heard rumor of. Brian heard it, too. Is it true, Maggie, that your papa shot Cal Murray’s dick off?” Paul’s voice was uneven. She was grateful to be sitting near Brian, who seemed steady and calm.
“No need to be crude, Pauly,” Brian said, grinning to show that he appreciated this particular sort of crudeness. Then he frowned. “But maybe it’s good you know the kind of rumors that are flying, Maggie.”
“Can I have some water?” Margo whispered.
“So she does talk!” Brian said. “I never heard you talk before.