Free Rogue Love by Ophelia Grey Page A

could.
    Mercy River felt empty now that she was gone. She had left only a few weeks ago, suddenly taking a job out east and leaving in the early morning without saying goodbye to me. I tried to ask her boyfriend Daniel about it, but he had squirmed under my questions, saying that it was a private matter but that she would return home to him soon.
    Pastor Rick finally stopped talking and the silence was filled with rustling as everyone started to gather their belongings and stand up. I had missed the end of the sermon and started to feel guilty for not paying closer attention.
    “Mary! Are you coming?” My mother was standing in the aisle, looking back at me with a stern face.
    I jumped up quickly and followed her to the door as my father ambled along behind us. My little sister, Sarah, had already run ahead to meet her friends by the door. I could see her small, bright blonde head nodding furiously at something her friend whispered in her ear. She reminded me of myself, when I was twelve. She was so happy, innocent, and friendly that everyone loved her. Being good didn’t take much effort. Of course, I had always had my friend Grace whispering in my ear. I wondered if any of Sarah’s friends were secretly wild and rebellious, like Grace had been.
    We reached the front door and I breathed a sigh of relief as a cool breeze blew through the crowd, ruffling the long skirt on my heavy cotton dress just enough to provide some relief to my long, sweaty legs. I peeled away the part of the skirt that was sticking to me and turned to find my family who had wandered off into the crowd.
    “I could always tell that girl would be trouble. I even heard she tried to seduce that sweet boy, Daniel. Can you imagine? His brother says he set her straight and even still wanted to marry her, but she still had something of the devil in her.”
    The loudly whispered voice behind me stopped as I turned around, but I could see Mrs. Marsh’s face shaking disapprovingly. I knew that people would gossip about Grace now that she had left, but I felt a fierce sting of anger and betrayal at the fact that Daniel had apparently been adding to the gossip. He was supposed to love her and protect her from the world, not turn the town against her.
    My cheeks grew pink as sharp anger rose in me, but I turned away and clasped my hands in front of me. Anger was not becoming of a young woman, I reminded myself. I needed to get away from these people as soon as I could so I wouldn’t be tempted to tell them off for gossiping about my friend.
    I turned and searched through the thinning crowd for my family. My sister was still with her friends and my parents were chatting with the Hendersons by the square hedges. I slipped up next to them and listened as Mrs. Henderson prattled on about her roses. My mother always loved talking gardens, but the heat seemed to be wearing on her and luckily she excused us after a few minutes, when the sweat started pouring down her forehead.
    I turned and caught Sarah’s eye as she was laughing with her friends. Seeing her happy made me smile, but I knew father would be cross if she didn’t hurry so I waved her over. She came running over quickly, her long blonde braid bouncing against her back as she turned and waved to her friends.
    I took her delicate little hand in mine as we walked behind mother and father down the road to our house. We only lived about a five-minute walk from the church, and father insisted that we not use the car when we had perfectly capable legs to carry us.
    By the time we reached our house, we were all drenched in sweat and more excited for the fans blowing inside than for the hot dinner sitting in the crockpot. Our little yellow house looked like it was wilting in the heat, just like the flowers in mother’s gardens. Mostly, it was just the small cracks in the paint that gave it that impression. Usually, father would pay one of the neighbor boys to help paint the trim and the fence around our small