He wondered why she thanked him. The food, cleaning the baby, the wedding, the kiss? The possibilities in each answer tormented him. At dusk of the hot day, the men walked on down to the creek and bathed in the deep pool, splashing and joking. All gave him a hard time about the night stretching before him. He let it go on a few minutes before raising a hand. “It’s not that kind of night. Preacher kind of got ahead of his place and we are married, but we’ve got a lot of things to work through before the marriage part really gets started. Not that it’s any of your business – but I don’t want you teasing my wife with all this nonsense, the way you’ve been riding me.” Cliff stared at him, and then looked as disappointed as Jackson felt. “Real sorry it ain’t boss, real sorry. She’s a sweet, pretty girl. Never did believe that nonsense we heard in town. Never did.” All the men nodded and Jackson went cold. It went without saying that a woman who’d had a baby wasn’t an inexperienced virgin.
