The man came close to Rae Lynn, and Del couldn’t bear to watch. Here it was, the grand homecoming. She’d returned to her life, and to whoever this man was. Whatever their differences, whatever had set her on the run down to Georgia was over now. He had to let her and his dreams go. She was back home, where she belonged.
Rae Lynn yelled, “Butch!”
Cornelia nudged Del’s shoulder. “Law, it’s Butch!”
Del didn’t know who this Butch was, he only saw how he held Rae Lynn, his arms all the way around her, hugging her tight. But, she wasn’t returning his hug. Instead, she struggled, only she might as well have been trying to push a building over for all the good it did her. Del didn’t like that, not one bit. He rushed forward, Cornelia right behind him.
Del called out, “Hey, Rae Lynn!”
The man called Butch immediately released her. She backed away from him and glanced over her shoulder at Del and Cornelia in surprise, and relief. They went to stand by her side. This man was as stunned as she was at their sudden appearance.
He said, “Who the hell are you?”
Del asked Rae Lynn, “You all right?”
Breathless, she said, “I’m fine.”
Butch directed his attention back to Rae Lynn. “Oh. I see how it is. You with him now, is that it?”
Cornelia put a protective arm around her and said, “That’s right.”
Butch tilted his head.
“I wonder when this all come about?”
Del followed Cornelia’s thinking and said, “Does it matter?”
“I bet you ten to one she ain’t told you what happened to her first husband, now has she? Wonder what you’d think about that?”
Cornelia said, “She told me. She told me about you too, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Butch had the grace to flush red.
Rae Lynn said, “I done explained to you what happened.”
“You should a gone for a doctor. It didn’t never make sense to me why you didn’t.”
“I tried. More than once. He wouldn’t have it. You said so yourself.”
Butch’s eyes roved from her to Del, back to her.
“It’s like this, is it? Poor old Warren’s already forgotten.”
“If that were true, why am I here now?”
Butch ignored that and said, “You living a new life now, with him?”
He jerked his thumb at Del.
Butch didn’t wait on her to answer. “Eugene allowed I could buy the place. Told him I wanted it. When he asked me where you were, I said I didn’t know, and that was the truth. I went and sold everything I had. My house. My land. My hogs. All on account of you. I was gonna give you a way to stay here, in your home. With me. Now don’t this beat all? Here I done give up all I had, been waiting, praying, all this time. And for what? For nuthin ’pears like.”
Rae Lynn said, “That ain’t my fault. I ain’t ever give you reason to think such a thing could happen.”
Butch said, “I could hope, though, couldn’t I? I weren’t gonna say nuthin,’ Rae Lynn. I believed what you told me. I only wanted you to think I didn’t.” He tipped his head at Del. “Does he know? You tell him?”
Rae Lynn said, “Ain’t nothing to tell him.”
He said to Del, “Go on, ask her. Ask her what happened here in this very house.”
Del stared at Rae Lynn, and if he’d never been sure of anything before, he was with what he was about to say.
He said, “Far as I’m concerned, ain’t nothing this woman could ever do that would make me think any different of her than I already do. I seen her in the worst of circumstances. Seen everything I need to see. Know everything I need to know.”
His gaze and voice were steady as he spoke, and he saw she considered him in a way she’d never done before. She didn’t stare through him. Not this time. She didn’t look away, neither. All he’d ever wanted was for her to see him as he was, imperfect, but a man who loved her no matter what.
Butch, his voice a lament, replied, “I know exactly what you mean.”
Chapter 34
Rae Lynn
The sharp bite of winter was upon them, but she still went ahead and bought a small marble headstone and arranged to have it shipped to the little house under the pines. When she made the trip back to Harnett County again, this time she took Cornelia along, and in a strange twist, Butch helped them to place it, proper and all.
After it was done, he said, “You can come back, if you want. You know. Tend to it, and whatnot.”