The Kept by James Scott

Author:James Scott
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher
Published: 2013-11-07T23:00:00+00:00

AT THE END of the service, Elspeth and Charles stepped out into the bright light of day. They squinted. New snow made the world ache. “Where’s your wife?” Elspeth said. “Your family?”

Charles scuffed his feet in the snow. Other churchgoers milled about them, tying their scarves around their necks and buttoning their coats. Men draped shawls over women’s shoulders. Charles itched at his beard. “If there was ever a time and place to tell the truth,” he said, then trailed off. “They’ve gone away.”

“Away? When will I get to meet them?”

“They’re visiting her parents. It’s nice, I think, for children to understand their family, where they come from.”

Elspeth agreed. The minister shook hands along his way out of the church, and Charles removed his hat once more. Elspeth reached out to comfort Charles and squeezed his forearm. She had forgotten herself and squeezed harder, in what she hoped was a manly way.

“How about I buy you those gloves now? I’d be happy to. The store’s open.”

Elspeth held up hands covered in new gloves. The leather smelled fresh. She said she’d bring him his old gloves and he told her not to bother. They ran out of conversation. Wind channeled through the graveyard. The snow was stripped from the tops of the graves, leaving them bald and dark against the white backdrop.

“Do you think God can really forgive us our sins?” Charles asked.

“I hope so,” Elspeth said. They faced the rows and rows of headstones, each lost in their own thoughts, Elspeth desperate to be overwhelmed by faith as elusive as the light through the trees.

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