Page 20 of Timeless

“Mama always talks about sex being something women have to endure, but she’s got it all wrong,” Deb eventually said, her flushed cheeks giving away everything they’d just done to each other.

“Yes, she has.” Harriet kissed her. “And I don’t want to, but we should go.”

“I know,” Deb said and kissed her this time. “I love you.” Her free hand went to cup Harriet’s cheek. “We’ll figure everything else out, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied, believing her.

Then, Harriet pulled her hand out of Deb’s underwear and reached for a rag on the bench. She wiped her hand first, knowing she’d wash it once inside the house, and handed it to Deb, who did the same.

“You should get home. They’ll be expecting you to help with lunch.”

“I know. I have to learn how to cook for him.”

“You’re a terrible cook,” Harriet said, laughing a little. “But I loved the apple pie you made for me with your mama.”

“She didn’t know I made it for you. She thought it was for John David after we got engaged.”

“And that made it taste even better,” Harriet teased.

When she then heard a sound coming from outside, it wasn’t close enough for her to be very worried, but it did make her more aware of their precarious situation.

“I found the hammer,” she added loudly.

“What?” Deb asked.

Harriet pointed behind Deb and heard the sound again.

“My brothers,” she whispered.

At least two of them were out there, talking, probably headed to the house for lunch.

“Can you stay in here until they’re all inside?”

Deb nodded, and Harriet went to grab a hammer from behind her before she kissed her quickly.

“I love you. We’ll talk later.”

At first, Deb just nodded again, probably trying not to make any noise, but then she whispered, “I love you, too.”

Deb, being unable to let her leave without saying those words to her, had Harriet giving her all smiles when she left the shed carrying a hammer that she didn’t need.

CHAPTER 9

1937

“When can you get away?” John David asked Jacob quietly as the two of them dropped their plates off at the sink while Deb washed what was already in there.

“I don’t know. Maybe tomorrow night,” Jacob replied in a whisper. “I was just here the other day, and now, we’re here for dinner. We’ve got to be careful, JD. She’s five months pregnant and expects her husband to be at home once in a while,” he added of his wife. “We’re lucky that she doesn’t want me near her until after the baby comes because she’s scared to hurt ‘em.”

Jacob’s wife looked like she was about to pop, even though she was only five months along. To Deb, that meant that there were possibly two babies in there, and she was, yet again, entirely way too grateful that they’d been able to put off the whole kids thing for the first two years of their marriage. She continued to wash the dishes and listened as the two men tried to figure out when they could see each other again while Jacob’s wife, Delilah, was using the bathroom for the third time since they’d arrived for dinner about an hour earlier.

“Oh,” Harriet let out when she burst through the side door and into the kitchen. “I thought dinner would be over by now.”

Deb wiped her hands on the rag and said, “She’s still here. In the bathroom. So, can you go up to my room and wait for me there?”

“All right. But you said you weren’t making a dessert, so I brought one. Mama and I made it.” Harriet held out a pie that Deb hadn’t noticed at first.

“What kind is it?” Jacob asked her.