Other Lives, Other Lies

Of course Wayne was embarrassed and apologized for asking.

But then, just out of the blue, Harold asked Angela, "Did you know Mr. Muroski?"

Now Harold's abrupt question caught Angela off guard, so she took a few moments to get her thoughts together before she answered, "Well, yeah Harold, I knew him, we all did. He'd had been calling on us ever since I've worked at the Co-Op and that's been about four years. And I think that he'd been calling on the Co-Op a few years before I came to work there."

Both Harold and Wayne noticed that that question seemed to make Angela a little agitated and maybe nervous.

And sensing that she was a little agitated by his question, Harold decided to press just a little more and he asked her, "Have you ever heard any rumors or gossip about him being involved with any of the women at the Co-Op or around town?"

Angela was now on to Harold and she knew better than to lie to the Sheriff of Taliaferro County. But her husband was there and she didn't want him to hear that she knew anything about the affairs of Dirk Muroski, so Angela just the stayed in the middle of the road and told Harold, "Yeah, I've heard rumors and gossip around the Co-Op, and around town, but that's all I know, just some gossip."

"So you don't know of or heard about anyone who had been involved with him?" Harold asked her in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"I'm sorry Harold but I don't," Angela replied in an apologetic tone of voice.

"Well you know how rumors and gossip are and I'd heard that he may have been involved, or maybe tried to get involved, with some woman at the Co-Op," Harold replied

Harold thought for just a moment then he asked her in a playful tone of voice, "So, Angela, Mr. Muroski never asked you out?"

That question got Wayne's attention and he was listening intently and watching his wife's body language.

Angela was quick to answer.

"No, Harold, he never asked me out! When he came into the office we were friendly and talked but he never asked me out!" Angela exclaimed.

Harold was laughing.

And Angela continued to exclaim, "And Harold, you know that if he had asked me out I would have turned him down! I already have the man I want and you know that!"

Upon hearing Angela's words Wayne had a relieved look on his face.

After that they dropped the talk about Dirk and talked about church and the upcoming men's retreat. And since he was a deacon Harold was supposed to attend the retreat but he couldn't go because he needed to take care of some personal business.

So their conversation ended with Harold apologizing about having to miss the retreat but inviting Wayne to go bird hunting with him after he got back. And of course Wayne accepted Harold's invitation, even though he wasn't too much in to hunting.

Then they said their goodbyes and Wayne and Angela walked onto their car.

But before Harold went on into the restaurant he watched Wayne and Angela walk across the parking lot. And while watching them he thought how Angela was the finest looking woman in Taliaferro County and most likely in the state of Mississippi and probably even in the deep south. She was that attractive and alluring. She could have easily been an international fashion model. Or she might have been a media celebrity. But instead she was the wife of the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in a rural county in southern Mississippi.

And that's not meant to mean that being married to a Southern Baptist minister is a bad thing but in Angela's case it just seemed to be an odd thing.

And because it seemed to be an odd thing, sadly, almost everyone in Bonaire and Taliaferro County figured their marriage was nothing more than a facade to placate Angela's family for the mess that she got herself into in Europe. And people wondered and gossiped and speculated about just how long their marriage would last.

So, it seemed that Angela was living a lie and everyone in Taliaferro County knew it, except for maybe Wayne Ledbetter who was more than happy with his wife and their marital status.

And of course Harold knew that she was lying about Dirk Muroski. After all, he had intervened and used lethal force to stop Angela and Dirk from getting together. 

And he knew that she was lying about not knowing other women who had been involved with Dirk Muroski.

Probably every woman in Taliaferro County knew what was going on with Dirk Muroski, including Angela. In fact several of them had been with Dirk. And of course the gossip about Dirk and his extramarital activities with some of the local women traveled through Taliaferro County like wildfire. In fact that's how Harold found out about Angela's plan to rendezvous with Dirk at the Pine Crest Motor Inn.

But honestly none of Angela's lying mattered to Harold because he knew her back story. He knew who she was and what she was and what she had been and from where she came. And he accepted her. It was just the way it was in Bonaire, Mississippi.

So, another week went by and, of course, the so-called official investigation into Dirk Muroski's murder had gone even colder.

But still a few of the people who shopped at Lewis Farmer's store would stop for a minute and gaze down at the spot in the parking lot where Dirk had died and then they would move on.

And it was time for Taliaferro County and Bonaire to move on beyond the Dirk Muroski incident, as it was now being referred to. Because it was now December and there were other things to focus on such as Christmas, which was right around the corner.

Now on the first Saturday morning in December the temperature in Taliaferro County, Mississippi was much cooler than normal. And out at Bonaire Plantation, the town's namesake and Harold Swanson's ancestral home, which his great grandfather, several times removed, established in 1851, Harold was up early and rambling around the huge antebellum Greek Revival mansion and building fires in several of the house's many fireplaces.

And he was feeding his dogs and cats and making coffee.

So Harold was born, raised and grew up on Bonaire Plantation and he lived and worked there with his family until he married Cathy Regenstein and they got their own place. But after Cathy left him he moved back to Bonaire Plantation and he lived there with his parents and the plantation staff.

When Harold's father passed away, Bonaire Plantation, the family's substantial wealth and their cotton, soybean and pecan business passed to him. And since then he'd managed and expanded his agriculture enterprise while still being the Sheriff of Taliaferro County.

And ever since his parents had passed he'd lived alone in the mansion because he never remarried after Cathy left him.

Now by the time that Harold had fires built in his living room and dining room and library the coffee had finished making and he poured two cups and carried them upstairs.

"Ooh, that coffee smells so good!" Angela McFarland-Ledbetter exclaimed as he come into the bedroom.

"The first cup of coffee of the day is always the best." Harold said as he handed Angela a cup and then sat down in a chair across the room from his bed.

"Mmm, Harold this is so good. You do make the best coffee," Angela said after taking her first sip.

Harold was looking at Angela intently.

"What are you looking at?" Angela asked laughing.

"I'm looking at you," Harold told her.

"Why? Is there something wrong?"

"No, there is nothing wrong. I'm just looking at you because tomorrow afternoon you'll be going back to Wayne and I won't see you for a while."

"Damn Harold, you know that that's not true, you see me several times a week," Angela sighed.

"Yeah, but I don't see you in my bed and naked like you are now." Harold replied.

Angela was sipping her coffee and thinking.

Then she said to Harold, "Well, you know that you could change that if you wanted to."

For a moment Harold thought about what Angela just said to him and what she meant. Then he said to her, "No, I can't change it because your parents would have an all out shit fit and I don't want any problems with Buddy or your mother, or your crazy playboy bunny grandmother."

Angela burst out laughing from hearing Harold's comment about her grandmother.

"Grandmother isn't crazy, she's just eccentric and she likes to dress up in her old costume and drive around town."

"Yeah, and walk around Lewis Farmer's store in that getup," Harold added.

"Harold, she's just reliving her glory days," Angela said laughing.

And as Angela continued laughing about what Harold said about her grandmother, Harold continued talking.

"And you know that if we decided to change our situation that it would devastate Wayne and it would be a scandal for our church. So, no, we can't change our situation without upsetting the entire county, and we ain't going to do that."

"I know, I know," Angela said in a regretful tone of voice.

And then Harold added, "Well, at least not right now."

Angela thought about what Harold had just said before she said to him, "Well, this arrangement has worked for us for a long while so let's just try to make it better. Next year I'll make more time like this for us."

"I would like that," Harold said.

And then he added, "You just need to talk Wayne into going on more mission trips and retreats."

"I'll work on that. I will work on it," Angela said as she leaned back against the headboard, sipped her coffee and thought how much she loved Harold's coffee and Bonaire Plantation and how in the future she would spend much more time there.