Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Gabriel was glad that he and Beth were on good speaking terms again. Talking to her was almost like talking to Salomi. But it still wasn’t the same and he ached for her all the time. Some nights he cried himself to sleep because he missed her and the children so much. But she wrote religiously talking about how life was in New York, the economy, how the good times gave them hope and how the bad times plummeted them back down again. In every letter she told him that she was proud of him and loved him, that the money was really helping. The children wrote as well. Rita wrote about how she was still teaching herself how to dance, how their new school was so crowded and how much she missed him. She always asked when he was coming back and he always replied with an ‘I don’t know’. Michael wrote about how much he missed him. His writing was impeccable for someone his age. He sometimes wrote rhymes and riddles and he would smile and reply back with answers to his riddles and a rhyme or lyric from his favorite songs. Dahlia’s writing and spelling was horrible but she never wrote much. She always drew messy pictures of their stick figure family, hearts, I love you’s. He sighed as he read the letters. Rita was about to be 10, Michael 8 and Dahlia 7.
Good news came when Franklin Roosevelt was elected as the democratic primary for the presidential election. Robin and Gabriel cheered when they heard the news. McNamara said that Roosevelt would do a fine job. Gabriel couldn’t wait to vote. He remembered the promises he made in his office when he offered them this very job. He could go home soon. Hold his wife, play with his children. Be a family again. Beth sat there as the men talked about politics. She soon got bored with it and went out to the stables. Faye, another tabby cat of theirs, was pregnant and she was getting quite huge. She fed all 10 cats, probably soon to be almost 20 when Faye delivered and walked back to the house. Gabriel was standing in the cold, smoking a cigarette. He had a great smile on his face and was staring at the stars.
“Beautiful huh? I bet the buildings are too high for you to see this in New York City”she replied as she stood next to him. She pointed,”Theres the Big Dipper….and theres the baby”she said
“Yeah, your right. We usually don’t see stars in the city…unless their actors or something”he said with a smile. “I cant wait to go back. I don’t care if I see a star again”
“Go back? But you said you didn’t know when you’ll be able to go back”Beth said. It was wrong of her but knowing that made her hope that maybe he would come around. Fall out of love with Salomi, fall in love with her, marry her and she would have a litter of his babies.
“It may be sooner than we think”he said with a huge smile. “Now that Roosevelt is the primary….he promised great things for us suffering through the depression….and I believe him….he was my ticket here and he’s my ticket out”
“If he’s president you mean?”Beth asked and he nodded,”What if he aint?”
“He will”Gabriel said sternly, he put out the cigarette and walked back into the house
“Who’s running against him?”Beth shouted out to him
Gabriel groaned, not turning back,”Hoover”
Beth nodded, having a feeling on who she should vote for.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
McNamara hired two more men which worried Robin and Gabriel but he assured them that they would be fine. The two new men, Isaiah from Chicago and Frank from New Jersey took the shack and Robin and Gabriel had the attic above the stables which was more spacious. The four men became fast friends. Beth was the envy among many women in town since the four men were the “men sent from the beauty greek gods” as Mary Ann would say. But Beth didn’t feel a thing but love for Gabriel that he didn’t return. Sometimes she’d rather him just go to another farm, it was easy to deal with him that way.
Now with four men in the house, McNamara was easy on Beth, he let her go out more and as usual, the four men always seemed to show up. But Beth never put the two together. She was just happy to get away from the house. Sometimes seeing Gabriel would either darken her moods or send her to cloud nine. Her emotions were like one of those wooden roller coasters that Gabriel told her about. “Maybe I’ll take you to ride one of them” he had said to her
Yeah…..right……
“Oh my lord. I don’t know which one to flirt with tonight”Mary Ann said. She flirted with Isaiah, Frank and Robin several times. She never went near Gabriel because she knew how much Beth was in love with him. “How about I take Gabriel off your hands, dear? Theres many fish in the sea…..many handsome fish”she said as she looked around the crowded barn.
“No”Beth said sternly,”Pick someone else”
Mary Ann shrugged and gave Sue a look,”Suit yourself”she said and grabbed Robin’s hand,”You know what time it is lover boy”she said and led him out on the dance floor.
“Sue, you mind?”Frank asked her. He loved red heads but kept his cool around her. He didn’t want to seem too desperate like that Bobby character that followed Beth around.
“No I don’t”Sue said and took his hand.
Isaiah wasn’t much of a dancer. He had a cool, Al Capone type of swagger to him. He never got excited about these dances. Unless a blonde bombshell showed up or if some guy was eyeing Beth too much. He was always looking for a buxom blonde or a brawl. Both in one night made it a great one.
Gabriel smiled at Beth,”You wanna dance Beth?”he asked her. He felt comfortable with dancing with her now. He told her she was married and she never really tried anything since, she was probably over it. Good, so was he. Back to being friends.
“No….Im just going to sit here”Beth said. She was going to try her best not to dance with him. That seemed to make things worse.
“Suit yourself”he said and Beth was already sick of the phrase. People used it a lot lately. What the hell did it mean anyway? She got up and went to the bathroom. Isaiah slyly got up and followed her, eyeing every blonde in the room on his way but keeping close eye on Beth. He was good at it without her noticing but she never really noticed anything.
After lots of dancing, drinking and jokes, it was soon time to go but there were two people who couldn’t be found. Robin and Mary Ann. “Her car’s gone….shit”Sue said,”She probably ran out of cigarettes again and went to the store”
“Get in the truck. Robin’s taking care of her”Isaiah said and they all got in. Unfortunately, Beth was squeezed between Sue and Gabriel. Her leg was touching his and she almost thought she would explode right there.
“Open the window Isaiah, please”Beth said. “Its really hot in here”she said. Sue just laughed, and couldn’t stop. “Stop it….you drunk”she said under her breath. But Gabriel didn’t notice. Sue thought he was as naïve as Beth was. But she didn’t need to add anything to Beth’s “All The Things I Have In Common With Gabriel” List.
They dropped Sue off at her house and Frank walked her to the door. They stood on the porch for a few minutes while Isaiah smoked his cigar. His precious cigars that he took from Chicago. All he had was a pair of pants, two shirts, a pair of shoes, one pair of socks and a box of cigars. That’s all he had, all he needed. No one knew about the gun but who needed to know? People were lucky he didn’t use it yet,”Come on Frank!”Isaiah said impatiently. No brawls, no blondes. The night was a waste. Beth watched and saw Frank kiss Sue and then he walked back to the truck, calm and collected but smiling. “Fuckin’ rascal!”Isaiah said with a laugh as they sped off.
They arrived at the farm and was surprised to see Mary Ann’s car. “How long has she been here?”Beth asked,”She may be in the house or in my room. She was very drunk tonight. I’ll see ya’ll in the morning”she said as she hurried to get out of the truck and went in the house. She went upstairs to her room. No Mary Ann, she looked all over, no sign of her. Where could she be?
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Gabriel climbed the ladder up to the attic and thought he heard a noise. He took the knife out of his boot and crept up slowly. He peeked and was shocked at what he saw. Mary Ann was bent over clutching the small table as Robin held up her red dress as he thrust in and out of her from behind, moonlight shining on them from the only window they had. They both were drunk but enjoying it. Gabriel watched and debated whether to stop it or be quiet. But then Robin let out a loud groan and Mary Ann shouted, making the horses stir, they stood there out of breath, whispering things to each other. Gabriel quickly climbed down the stairs and hid with the horses. Soon Robin helped Mary Ann down the ladder, he then slapped her ass and she giggled and left and he climbed back up.
Gabriel got angry. How could he do this to Ruth? How could Mary Ann keep making a fool of herself? She knew they were both married. Why didn’t she pick someone else? Then his thoughts led to a place he didn’t want it to go. Was Ruth up to no good too? Was a man chasing after Salomi? It always happened. Did Salomi ever give in? Its been almost 2 years since he left, who knew when he would be back. The urges were great but he was strong. Apparently Robin wasn’t. Was Ruth? Salomi? No, he shook his head. Salomi would never, ever do that. But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He went outside and smoked another cigarette and then went to bed. Robin was fast asleep, probably spent after what he had done.
That night Gabriel had a dream he was at a party in a barn. Salomi was there and some man was trying to get to her. He grabbed her, kissed her. Salomi tried to get away. Gabriel tried to get to her. Mary Ann got in the way, Beth got in the way, Robin got in the way, Frank, Isaiah, McNamara,Bobby, all of them. Gabriel finally ran up to Salomi but she shook her head and stopped him. “I cant wait any longer”she said sadly, kissed the man and left with him.
Gabriel woke up in a cold sweat before the rooster crowed.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Gabriel was cranky because he didn’t get any sleep that night. Cranky about what Robin was doing and was crankier when he saw Mary Ann at the breakfast table with them. She somehow snuck into Beth’s room. Mary Ann couldn’t keep her eyes off of Robin. She licked her spoon seductively, winked at him and tried to be nonchalant when she played with the locket that rested on her supple breasts. Robin couldn’t help but smile at her. Gabriel couldn’t watch anymore, he lost his appetite and got to work early. He ignored Robin for the rest of the day and he was tired, hungry and just plain upset. He hated feeling so insecure.
He barely said a word at dinner, but ate many plates. He didn’t even sit with Beth or talk to anyone, he went back up to the attic and started to write many letters to Salomi but ended up throwing them away.
“My Lovely Lomi,
I miss you more each day. How are things? Any new friends? Male friends?.....”
“Dearest Salomi,
How’s Ruth? I hope shes well. I don’t want to tell you this in a letter….”
“Salomi,
You love me right? I love you. I just wanted to tell you that. I want to tell you that I would never hurt you. Look at another…”
“Lomi,
If you ever leave me, I will kill myself….”
“Whats wrong with you?”Robin asked him, interrupting his already frazzled thoughts
“Nothing”Gabriel said as he crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it on the floor.
“Something is, you have been avoiding me all day. You didn’t speak to anyone actually”Robin said,”Don’t make our room into a pigsty”
‘You already have’, Gabriel thought. “Im just tired”he said in reply
“Late night last night?”Robin said with a smile as he sat on the bed and took off his shoes. “I know you got here long after I fell asleep”
“I know”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Dance ended, we came back here. Simple as that. Where did you and Mary Ann go? You all disappeared”Gabriel said looking at him. This would be a good time to confess. To admit that he was wrong, weak, whatever and promise to never do it again.
“She ran out of cigarettes, we went to the store. She dropped me off here. Simple as that”Robin said as he laid on his mattress, arms behind his head, smiling….
“Simple as that? Nothing else?”Gabriel asked
“Nada”Robin said, quoting Isaiah. He said that word a lot.
“You’re a fucking liar!”Gabriel yelled as he knocked over the chair he was sitting in.
“Whoa! Fuck-“
“I saw you and Mary Ann fucking like a couple of horny dogs last night so don’t lie to me!”Gabriel shouted. “How could you do this to Ruth? Huh? HUH? Your fucking married”
“I was drunk Gabe-“
“No excuse”
“She was all over me….”
“No excuse”
“She kissed me first!”
“NO EXCUSES!”Gabriel shouted at him
“FINE! What do you want me to say Gabriel!?”Robin said as he threw his hands up in the air,”Fine. You wanna hear it? Yeah I liked it. I was drunk and I haven’t fucked anything in almost 2 years and I couldn’t take it anymore. Mary Ann has been waving her breasts at me since we got here and Ive been trying my best but I CANT ANYMORE! ALRIGHT! IM ONLY A MAN GABRIEL! IM SORRY IM NOT A PERFECT HUSBAND LIKE YOU”Robin said and then punched the wall. They both stood there in silence. Both angry with the other. “Why do you care huh? Its none of your business-“
“It is my business-“
“Why?”
“Ruth is like a sister to me”Gabriel said,”You cant just give up. You cant. You give guys like me no hope”
Robin scoffed,”Your afraid your gonna be like me? Your gonna end up doing it like I did?” Gabriel nodded. “You don’t have it in you. You don’t need to. You have three beautiful children running around. You completed your mission. I cant. I never will”
“What do you mean?”Gabriel asked
“Ruth cant have children”Robin said angrily and punched the wall again and started to cry.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
The two men calmed down after that. Robin admitted it was wrong. But something came over him. Ruth told him in a letter, she found out a few months after they had left but just wrote to him about it a week ago. They planned on having many children. Now they couldn’t. He could barely take care of her. He admitted that he was mad at her for awhile, that maybe she did something, was punishing him. He thought maybe God was punishing him. Sometimes he felt that it wasn’t worth it. The news made him into a very weak and angry person. He said that Mary Ann was just a tool. A way to get back at Ruth but that was stupid. It wasn’t her fault. He felt deeply ashamed and cried about it. Gabriel promised not to speak of it to anyone, not even Salomi, even though she probably already knew. He promised not to tell anyone about him and Mary Ann. However, Mary Ann told Sue and Beth.
“Marriage is just an excuse. It aint real”Mary Ann said with a sigh,”If he really loved her, he wouldn’t have been with me. But time takes a toll on a man, in love or not. You just gotta know the right time to strike”she said looking at Beth
“Why are you looking at me like that?”Beth asked
“She means that you should do the same to Gabriel. Catch him in a weak moment and just open your legs for him”Sue said sarcastically. “Don’t”she said
“I cant….hes married and he has no interest in me-“
“Im sure as hell know that Robin aint interested in me. But he needed someone to take care of him and I was there. Men need that. If you offer to take care of them, they will take it-“
“I think I do. I cook for em, I clean after em, wash their clothes-“
“That’s bein’ a maid. You have to take care of em. Like a woman”Mary Ann said, “The dance is tonight. I’ll bet my ass that he’ll be there”
“I bet you would”Sue said sarcastically
“Don’t think that your Saint Susan because you happened to pick up a single man”Mary Ann teased her, mentioning Frank
“It just makes life easier is all”Sue said
“Gabriel will be there. And he may need to be taken care of. That’s where you come in”Mary Ann said with a smile, turning back to Beth.
*_______________________________*