The Devil is a Gentleman

4

Pastor Lyle shushes the crowd as he steps forward. “You all have time to think it over and discuss options. If any of you would like to discuss property pricing with Mr. Jehoan, he will be over at the inn for the rest of the month. Now, does anyone else having anything to discuss?” Everyone looks around the room and it seems that they are all caught up in the idea of selling. With no one bringing any issues up, Pastor Lyle dismisses the crowd, and we all start to leave the church. I do hear a couple people go up to talk to Luke right away. Mama and papa are chatting with Nash and the Smith’s about what we all might do, so I grab Connor and Tom and head for Mrs. Elis.

“I got the backup ma’am.” I say smiling pulling them both along. She greets us with a pleasant smile, “Perfect. You youngin’s know the routine. I need to speak to Mr. Jehoan real quick like. If you guys don’t mind heading on out, I will meet you there in a bit.” We all nod and rush out of the church and straight to The Elis orchards. I head for the shed, since I do this every weekend while stuff is in season, and I grab each of us a crate.

Once I pass crates out to the guys, I head straight for the peach trees and fill my first crate in just a few minutes. I rush the crate over the wagon that gets used to transport all the produce and I grab another and head back to my tree. Once I have pulled all the ripe peaches from one tree, I move to the next. I look over to see the guys rushing through crate after crate of apples. They get the row of apple trees cleaned off and jump straight into the next row that has the oranges. I am trying to keep up but at this point it’s two against one.

I finally get the peach trees cleared and head for the grape vines. I see Tom and Connor plucking cherries and try to pick up the pace even more. I know it isn’t a race, but we always try to make it that way all in good sport. “Come on, you can catch up.” I mumble to myself as I pluck a perfectly ripe cluster of deep red grapes. I’m now standing on my tippy toes reaching for one of the highest points of the vine. “Need a hand?” I hear a velvety voice come from behind me. Being startled, I drop my basket and squeal as I fall backwards. I close my eyes waiting for the pain of falling, but it never comes. Instead, I feel myself wrapped in a warm embrace.

I open one eye and am met with a pair of deep brown eyes staring back at me. His stare is almost as if it will go deep into my soul. The warmth of his chest has me short of breath. “We have to stop meeting like this.” He says with a throaty chuckle. His words are enough to break me from my trance and I quickly step out of his embrace. “I’m sorry Mr. Lucas.” I look at my hands blushing. As I look down, I also notice that my basket never hit the ground as it’s in Luke’s other hand. Without saying a word, he hands me the basket as if reading my mind. Neither of us say anything and I quickly go back to picking grapes. I fill my basket and walk it over to the wagon to set it down.

I turn to head back to the vines and there stands Luke with two full baskets in his hands. “The vines are now clear of all the ripe ones. So, which fruits do we tend to next?” I look passed him to the tree line and shrug my shoulders. “Um, let’s see where Connor and Tim are with the cherries then we can all head back to the strawberry field?” I make this suggestion in hopes to spend no more time alone with him than we have already. With a small nod Luke purses his lips and then makes a suggestion of his own, “You go ahead and check on them. I will get started on the strawberries.” I smile and nod before heading to the cherry trees.

I turn the corner and see Mrs. Elis chatting it up with Tom and Connor. “What’s everyone talking about over here?” I ask cheerily. They all turn my direction and have solemn looks on their faces which makes me pause in my steps. Mrs. Elis looks up and offers a tense smile. The boys exchange a look before rushing back into their work. “Oh, it’s no big deal, hon. Are the cherries and strawberries all that’s left to pick?” Before I can reply that velvety voice comes from behind me, “Just have to finish up the cherries. It looks like Elizabeth was able to beat the boys in the great fruit race.” Luke chuckles and wipes his hand clean on the handkerchief he pulls from his pocket.

I look back with eyes wide wondering how on earth Luke picked all the strawberries so fast. Before I can dwell for too long Connor rushes from his picking. “Liz there is no way you are already done. You must have missed a bunch of ripe ones.” I shake my head, “Nope. I am very thorough. You can go check.” I reply lifting my chin in pride. I turn around to walk them through from where I started, and I catch a small wink from Luke that nobody else notices. I glance down blushing slightly and smile nodding his way. Then, we walk through, and Tom and Connor try to be extremely picky in an attempt to find any ripe fruits that I may have missed. When they find none, they run over to the wagon with their jaws slack.

“How did you do this so fast?” Tom asks. I turn, planning to admit that I had a little help from Luke, but am stopped by Mrs. Elis. “No matter how she did it, this is fantastic!” she exclaims. “Come on in Y’all. Let’s all head in and I’ll make us a batch of fresh squeezed lemonade.” Connor jumps up throwing his fist in the air in excitement. We all then turn around and head into the house for a cool drink with Luke holding the door for us all.

“Such a gentleman.” Mrs. Elis comments as she walks through the doorway. “But of course,” Luke says gesturing for us kids to walk in. I smile and give him a small bow as I walk through the door trying to be playful and he chuckles, his voice again sounding like velvet. “Milady” he smirks and winks my way bowing in return. As he pulls the door closed behind us, we all take a seat at the dining table. Mrs. Elis gestures for my help so I hop back up and head into the kitchen with her to make the lemonade.

“Elizabeth dear, how do you feel about Mr. Charming in there?” Mrs. Ellis whispers in my ear while bumping shoulders. I roll my eyes but can feel myself blush thinking about Luke. I glance at her only to see her laughing quietly with her hands being kept busy by chopping the lemons. Every half lemon gets passed my way to squeeze into the pitcher and after filling it half full I toss a couple lemon halves inside. Mrs. Ellis grabs a cup of sugar and adds it to the mix before I add some cold water and stir it up. We also grab a few biscuits and set them on a plate to take in for a snack.

Once we have it all situated, we carry the glasses and snacks into the dining table where we left all the guys to chat. I notice that Luke is telling a very suspenseful story to Connor from the way he has him on the edge of his seat. I look over to Tom only to see him lift the glare he has on Luke to smile as we walk in the room. We set the drinks down and Connor completely ignores the story he was moments ago engrossed in to dive for a biscuit and glass of lemonade. We all laugh at his eagerness and Mrs. Ellis and I take our seats to take a break with the boys. Mrs. Ellis squeezes into her seat between Luke and Connor and the only other open spot is between Luke and Tom. As I near the seat Luke jumps up to pull my chair out for me.

“Such a gentleman.” Mrs. Ellis says again winking at me, as she reaches for her glass. Luke smiles warmly in her direction until we all hear Tom scoff very obviously. We look his way, and he mumbles a small “sorry” before clearing his throat and trying to divert the subject by asking Connor a question. “So bud I saw that little goat you were toting around, what’s the story there?” Connor’s face lights up at the mention of little hope. “Nash has goats and one of the new mommas passed away after having triplets. He had said it was a hard birth and even though I asked to help with it I was in school. But afterward I was so sad for the babies not having a momma and Nash offered to let me raise one. I asked Ma and Pa and they both said yes as long as I pick a she goat so we can milk her when she’s grown. That part wash really Liz’s idea though.” He chuckles and smiles my way. “So I got to pick one and I named her Hope. You’ll prolyl be seeing a lot of her honestly. OH! Will you help me build her a pin out back of the house? I don’t know how long Ma is gonna let me keep her inside.”

Tom nods, “Sure. I think I’ve got some wood that’s already milled down from old Mr. Carter’s mill. I had to add on a stall for a horse that my daddy wants to get for breedin’ so I did some work for him and he said he’d pay me in letting me cut some wood for my own.” I get excited for Connor as I watch his smile get so big you would think it may split his face in half. “That’s great! Thanks Tom! You’re the best! I gotta go tell Ma!” he says rushing past us all.

“Please excuse him.” I say to the table since he didn’t properly even say “bye”. Mrs. Ellis waves her hand in the air. “Honey, I’ve known y’all since before that boy could talk. He is excited as ever and I don’t mind his manners being off in the moment.” She chuckles finishing her statement. She then glances to the window and I let my attention follow. “Oh dear it’s lookin’ to be about dinner time.” I say as I notice the way the sun is low in the sky. Please excuse me too everyone. I’ve gotta get home and help Mama make supper.”

“Don’t forget to fill you a poke full of fruits to take home. Make sure you grab grapes for your mama and some extra peaches for your brother and Pa.” she says tossing a sack in my direction. “Thanks Ellis.” I reply with a smile. “Bye Tom, Luke.” I say over my shoulder as I head for the door. As I step down the last step I hear the door open behind me again. “Wait up. Here, let’s grab our fruits and walk home together.” Tom says as he rushes to catch up to me. I nod, not minding the company as we head over to the wagon to fill our sacks. Our walk home is fairly quiet other than the sounds of us biting into peaches and the “mmmm’s” that follow. We both laugh a little and once we get to our houses, we each give a small wave and break off to our own front doors.