snippet #2 from the anthology

Supposedly there was an old woman that lived in a house on the outskirts of town near a lovely pecan grove.
In her time, the time of her youth, she had been one of the most beautiful and sought-after girls around. So adorned, so smart, so pretty she was, yet so unhappy. Her parents had passed on before she was of marrying age, leaving her with the family homestead where she lived alone for many years.
One night at the very beginning of a thunderstorm, she sat near the fireplace. The lights had gone out the day before and she was almost down to the last couple of bottles of lamp oil. If worst came to worst, she knew she could always use some leftover bacon grease.
The windblown raindrops pelted against the kitchen window. She remembered her mother singing through the thunder to settle her nerves. Unlike her mother though, she loved thunderstorms and the lightning that followed. But since her parents had gone she had taken to singing in the rain. At the writing desk near the window, the young woman sat down and began to write. She wrote and wrote and wrote some more. She had no idea of what she was writing until she began to read it aloud.

….. And finally. I want a lover for me, someone who is kind, honest
and respectful. Who will love will all his heart and never leave me broken.

X X X

She signed her name, folded the paper and placed it in a flannel pouch.
It rained for nine days straight and on the last night of the storm a man appeared on her doorstep. She invited him in out of the downpour without question. He sat at her kitchen table, his boots dripping water clenching the cup of tea before him. When he spoke his voice was deep and melodic. She kept his cup warm and full.
He entranced her with his words. She enthralled him with her charm.
And so it began.

The townsfolk whispered as they passed them, at the church, at the jook joint, everywhere. No one knew why but they just knew something wasn’t quite right. Months passed as their love affair blossomed into a love that the young woman could not have imagined in her wildest dreams.
One cold spring night after dinner they sat next to the fire staring into the golden glow.
They exchanged kiss after kiss until the fire began to die down. The wind outside had just begun to howl and the young man offered to fetch more kindling before the weather worsened. She kissed him and retreated to bed.

He stepped off the porch and into the darkness of the pecan grove.

As the sun rose, the young woman found herself wrapped in blankets on an empty bed.
She gathered the covers in her hands and took in a deep breath inhaling the last remaining scent of her lover.