“No. No. No.” Olivia shook her head. “Of course not. He stayed on the farm and I took a room in the little town nearby. But there was this couple, lived on
the next farm …” Olivia stopped and stared at her hostess.
Mrs. Place had so easily plucked her from the street and was now sitting
patiently, occasionally offering the comfort of a nod or the stroke of a warm hand, behaving exactly the way Olivia imagined a mother or older sister would.
Olivia’s resolution never, ever to tell anyone what the Stubblefields had done to
her crumbled. She couldn’t hold it inside any longer. Once she began speaking,
her slow trickle of words became a flood she couldn’t stop. She was soon
pouring out all the horrible details she had sworn to lock away. At first Mrs.
Place’s interjections were murmured softly; as Olivia’s story progressed her
voice gained the volume of outrage.
“You poor dear, my Lord, oh sweet Jesus, those monsters, absolute monsters,
so wicked, and a child like you …”
Olivia did not tell Mrs. Place about her one night with Mourning. Neither did
she tell her about planning to kill the Stubblefields, finding them already dead,
and suspecting that Mourning may have been responsible for that.
She had begun her story dry-eyed, but quickly dissolved into shaking
shoulders and sobs. Mrs. Place fetched a handkerchief and a glass of water and
pulled her chair closer, rubbing Olivia’s back with one hand. When Olivia
looked up, she found in Mrs. Place’s eyes the one thing she most needed to see –
belief. The woman didn’t doubt a single word Olivia had told her.
“Poor child,” Mrs. Place said at last, leaning forward and gathering Olivia
into her embrace. “Poor, poor child. How long did those devils keep you there like that?” She sat back and looked into Olivia’s face.
“A whole week. He came in every day for a whole week. Sometimes twice.
Drunk most of the time.”
“And now you’re afeared you got this monster’s child inside you.” Mrs. Place
shook her head.
Olivia nodded and wiped her eyes.
“And you ran back here to feel safe, but can’t bring yourself to tell your family.”
Olivia nodded again.
“Well,” Mrs. Place said, “you maybe don’t got nothing to tell them. No point
in saying a word before you know. That’s one cart you want to keep way back
behind the horse.” She took both of Olivia’s hands as she locked eyes with her.
“There’s one thing you don’t understand – that you got to keep this secret to yourself. Truth is, you shudna told me.”
“I didn’t mean to. I don’t know why I came here, but it wasn’t because I was
planning to tell you,” Olivia said. “I swore to myself I’d never tell anyone. But you’re being so nice. It just came out. There’s no one else I could tell something
like that to.”
“What got you thinking you could tell me?”
“I don’t know.” Olivia shrugged, miserable. “I just thought I could.”
“Well, you warn’t wrong. I won’t be giving you away. But you took a big
chance and you shudna. A woman can’t trust no one with a secret like that, no
