The Truth We Bury: A Novel by Barbara Taylor Sissel

Author:Barbara Taylor Sissel [Taylor Sissel, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781477823989
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2017-07-24T18:30:00+00:00

Lily takes his small hand, and they wade into the warm water of Monarch Lake far enough that it laps their ankles. On the opposite shore, the sun is cresting a distant ridge of hills, a golden ball rolling along a ragged tree line. AJ dances his small, chubby feet, and when she smiles, he laughs, stomping harder, showering them in a sparkling rain. Laughing, too, she scoops him up, settling him on her hip. “You ready to learn how to swim like a fish?”

He nods, but his expression is grave. His eyes look into hers, and although he is barely two, his glance seems wise. She thinks he can see into her soul. She loves him profoundly, more than she thought was possible.

“I swim?” he says.

“Yes, but I’ll be with you the whole time. Okay?”

He nods again.

Paul doesn’t like it, that she brings AJ to the lake, but she does it anyway, every time they visit the ranch. Before he could walk, she cradled him in her lap at the shoreline, letting the water flow around them; she had let it fall from her fingertips, anointing him. It’s the way her mother introduced her to the water. Here at this very spot is where she taught Lily to swim.

She carries AJ back to the quilt she spread beneath a live oak and sets him down, and he waits while she slathers him with sunblock. Butternut has strayed a few yards to the water’s edge. Lily can hear her drinking. They had ridden over here just after daybreak, AJ’s warm weight tucked in front of her. He is learning to ride and sits on a horse as naturally as she did at his age, spine ramrod straight, easy in the saddle.

Fearless.

She caps the sunscreen and stows it in her tote.

“Let’s go,” he says, eyes alight.

Hand in hand, they head back to the water, and even as she is washed through with her joy in him, she is half-frightened by his utter trust and the knowledge that his safety and well-being are her responsibility. Paul has pointed out her tendency to be dreamy, forgetful. “Pay attention.” His voice barks in her head, feeding her anxiety. He treats her like a child, everywhere except in the bedroom. What he does to her there, the way he talks to her, thick voiced and panting in his frenzy to have her, to have his mouth everywhere on her—she is no child to him then. It is distressing; she is uncertain of her role as his wife. Standing at the water’s edge, she thinks of the day she will bring Paul here and show him how she has taught their son to swim. She imagines his look of amazement, perhaps even of respect.

It is a weekday; the lake is deserted, the surface a dimpled reflection of a flawless sky. She has chosen the time for AJ’s first swimming lesson deliberately. Contrary to what Paul thinks, she isn’t so young that she has no sense, nor is she into taking stupid risks.

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