Once Upon a River Page 0,37

mother, wondering if her mother might have left her father just to have a lighthearted moment with another man. Her father had not taken her mother out on a date since they’d been married, Luanne used to complain.

When Margo sensed somebody watching her, she looked up to see Paul in the doorway holding boat cushions.

“What the hell is this?” he said. He shook his head as though confirming something he’d known all along. Margo stood up, let Johnny’s hands drop, and moved to the bedroom. She felt Paul’s gaze on her until she went inside and closed the door.

“Do you want to get yourself killed, asshole?” Paul said behind her. “Just fuck with my brother’s precious river princess while he’s in the next room.”

Meanwhile, Brian had gotten himself out of his jacket and under the covers. As Margo climbed in, he made space for her. He laid a heavy arm over her.

A month later when Brian arrived home drunk again, this time alone, he crashed his boat into the dock with enough force that he cracked some boards. He cursed as he entered the cabin. Margo saw the neck of a pint bottle sticking out of his jacket pocket. Usually she’d seen him with half-pint bottles.

“Who’s been here with you? I smell a man.” His voice was blunt.

“No one’s been here.” Margo moved around so she was closer to the door, just in case she had to run outside to get away from him. There was something different in him tonight. She’d seen this in Crane the one time he’d struck her—it was about a month after the trouble with Cal, and Crane had demanded she speak to him. When she remained silent, he slapped her face, only his hand was half curled into a fist. Afterward, he went out and sat in his truck and didn’t come back in until Margo was asleep. In the morning she discovered she had a broken blood vessel in the corner of that eye, a blood mark spreading over the cornea, and a bruise had formed under her eye. Crane had never taken a drink of alcohol again.

“Are you two-timing me, Maggie?” He stepped into the center of the room.

“No.” She studied the door. She would not hesitate to run.

“Are you a two-timing slut?” Brian slurred. He sounded a little tentative, as though he were less certain about his words than usual.

“No,” she said. That word had hit her hard coming out of Cal’s mouth—it had hurt her feelings—but now it made her angry. She said, “Why do guys want to call girls sluts?”

Brian sat at the table, and she sat across from him. He lit a cigarette and studied her. While she sat quietly mending the collar of her jacket, he tapped his fingers. Finally he crushed out the cigarette and said, “Okay, Maggie, I won’t call you that again. I was just worried. You know I love you.”

She reached across the table and touched the scars on his hand. “Why are you getting mean?”

“I worried that maybe you weren’t alone. Something Pauly said. I couldn’t stand for anybody else to slip in and have you.”

“If you’re not here, I’m alone, Brian. I got nobody else. I don’t even have a dog. I need to find my mom, but she doesn’t want me. Why hasn’t she written back telling me to come, even just for a visit?”

“Did you tell her your daddy got shot?”

“No.”

“Maybe you ought to tell her. Maybe she doesn’t know.”

Margo shrugged. She had tried, but couldn’t bring herself to write the words.

“Don’t worry, Maggie. You got me. I’ll always take care of you,” he said. “Maggie, how much would you do for me? Would you kill for me?”

“I killed that rabbit for you. It’s overcooked now.” She had thought of Brian the whole time she’d skinned and cleaned it at the edge of the river, thought of how he’d enjoy eating it. She had started making a blanket of rabbit skins, cured with salt, something to put over their bed. It was the softest thing to touch on the fur side. Everything she did now was tangled up with Brian, for better or for worse.

“Would you kill a man for me?” He held her wrist while he waited for her answer.

“If a man was going to kill you, I’d kill him.”

“I’ve never known a woman who’d kill for me. I’d kill a man for you,” he said loudly, as though showing off for someone who wasn’t there. “I’d kill