Rainwater Read Online Free

in the ribs from her more tactful sister. But Ella knew what Miss Pearl was thinking, what everyone including herself was thinking: It was a good thing Solly hadn’t pulled the stewing greens off the stove and onto himself.
    Ella smoothed her hand over her son’s head, but he dodged the caress. The rejection pierced her heart, but she looked at the others and smiled bravely. “I think the crisis has passed.”
    “I have some salve at the clinic,” the doctor said. “Even though the skin’s not blistered, it wouldn’t hurt to keep it lubricated for a day or two.”
    Ella nodded and looked over at Mr. Rainwater, who was hovering near the stove, as though guarding against another accident. “The ice helped. Thank you.”
    He nodded.
    She said, “About the room—”
    “See, I told you he was to be a new boarder.” Miss Pearl spoke to her sister in a whisper which everyone heard.
    “We’ll excuse ourselves until lunch.” Miss Violet grasped her sister’s arm with enough pressure to make her wince and practically dragged her toward the staircase. Miss Pearl was still whispering excitedly as they made their way up. “He seems awfully nice, don’t you think, Sister? Very clean fingernails. I wonder who his people are.”
    Ella eased Solly off her lap and into the chair in which she was seated. She made a futile attempt to smooth back strands of hair that had shaken loose from her bun. Responding to the humidity created by the cooking pot of greens, her hair had formed unruly spirals on both sides of her face.
    “As I was saying, Mr. Rainwater, I haven’t had time to give the room a thorough cleaning. If you’re wanting to move in immediately—”
    “I am.”
    “You can’t.”
    “Then when?”
    “When the room meets my standards.”
    The statement seemed to amuse him, and she wondered if his quick grin was mocking her standards or her pride in them.
    In either case, she resented it. “In light of what the last quarter hour has been like, I’m surprised you’re still interested in securing a room in my house, especially if it’s peace and quiet you’re after. You haven’t even seen the room yet.”
    “Then let’s take a look,” Dr. Kincaid said. “But I really must get back to the clinic soon.”
    Mr. Rainwater said, “You don’t have to stay, Murdy.”
    Dr. Kincaid’s first name was Murdock, but Ella had never heard him addressed as Murdy, not even by close acquaintances.
    “No, no, I want to help any way I can.” The doctor turned to her. “Mrs. Barron?”
    She glanced down at Solly, who had eaten half his candy stick. Margaret, sensing her hesitation, said, “You go on with the gentlemen. I’ll keep an eagle eye on this boy. I swear I won’t take my eyes off him.”
    Reluctantly Ella led the two men from the kitchen and up the stairs, then down the hallway to the room at the end of it. Opening the door, she said, “It’s got a nice southern exposure. You can catch the breeze.”
    The sheer curtains now catching the breeze were ruffled. The wallpaper had a yellow cabbage rose pattern, and the iron bed looked too short for Mr. Rainwater. In fact, even though he was slender, the room looked smaller with him standing in its center, much smaller than when Mrs. Morton had occupied it.
    But he seemed either not to notice or not to care about the feminine decor or the limited size of the bed, the room, or the narrow closet. He looked out the window, nodded, then turned back to her and the doctor. “This will do.”
    “You would share a bathroom with Mr. Hastings.”
    “Chester Hastings,” Dr. Kincaid supplied. “Extremely nice man. He’s not in town much. Notions salesman. Travels all over.”
    “I don’t have a problem with sharing a bathroom,” Mr. Rainwater said.
    On the way downstairs, Ella told him the cost for room and board, and by the time they reached the ground floor he had agreed to it.
    “Splendid,” Dr. Kincaid said. “I’ll let the two of you work out the particulars