Covet Not (20 page)

There
were prayers against tyranny and oppression. And prayers to hold the women and
children of Texas into the light.

Josiah
felt like he'd missed something. God knew he was going to find a church. He'd
prayed plenty about it. He wasn't any closer to figuring out how to execute a
proper Mission.

He
wanted to ask the preacher some questions, but he didn't know how to frame
them. As everyone filed out, the preacher shook hands, held babies, hugged, and
laughed. When it was Josiah's turn, the man's warmness was like a balm to his
spirit.

“I
don't think I've seen you in here before. I'm Reverend Callahan. Did you enjoy
the service?”

Josiah
took his hand with only slight hesitation. “I did. My name is Josiah Agnesson.”

“Josiah!
Oh, that's delightful. I think there's a new trend with the Biblical names.
Agnesson. Son of Agnes? Or Saint Agnes that evolved?”

“I
don't know. I'd have to ask. I
‒
”
Josiah cleared his throat and looked away.

“What
is it? You're welcome to ask any question. I can't guarantee I'll know the
answer, but I shall do my best.” Reverend Callahan smiled.

Josiah
took a deep breath. “It's about sin. There was very little in the ways of
personal sinning. Just hypothetically.”

“I
don't believe that's my job. I'm meant to bring you closer to Christ. It's not
for me to tear you down if you are struggling. It's my job to lift and
encourage. I don't need to point out your sins because you already know them.
I'm here to provide a safe place for your burdens to be lessened.” Reverend
Callahan put his hand on Josiah's shoulder. “I have a Christening in a little
while, so I need to prepare for that. I'd love to talk a bit more, so I hope
you decide to come again.”

Josiah
wanted to talk about Texas, but he wasn't sure if time permitted his return.
His mind was filled with contradictions and his foundation was less stable.

The
verses were identical. And what Reverend Callahan said slashed through his holy
armor and pressed in, close to his heart, and freed all the stagnant blood of
fear and impossible perfection.

He
took his time walking back to his room. He was near Central Park and saw
couples holding hands, laughing, and kissing. He wanted to get lost in New York
City. It was thrilling and terrifying.

He
could disappear.

If
he were brave.

XXXI

“Is Dallas far?”
Clara asked timidly after they had been driving north for a while.

James
wondered when she would speak. He was impressed that it took a whole hour, but
then disappointed she spoke altogether. “Yes, it is a bit far. A couple more
hours at least. You should get some rest.” He didn't invite more conversation,
and she seemed to take the hint.

Clara
wasn't going to rest. She'd never been this far from Agnes Oaks, and had never
seen the city. It was dark and the trees were barely visible, but it didn't
matter. She felt terrible that it was distracting her from thoughts of her mother.

James
thought back to the past week, and ticked all the boxes in his head.

He'd
helped David bury Daniel, and filled out the paperwork with the city. He was a
witness to the seizure and told David that he'd held him down, but didn't
notice that he was choking on his own vomit.

David
believed such an idiotic excuse.

He
would feel terrible about it, if he were capable.

David
said that he wasn't aware of Daniel having seizures, so he likely wouldn't know
it was possible. He was in a state of shock, but seemed to get it together
before James left. Luckily, Daniel's mother passed away long before.

He
was instructed to prepare a room with an en suite for the girl he was to bring.
She was meant to share with the young man already being held. The door would
need to be secured, as well as the windows, and they would need to be brought
meals. James had spoken to the young man, Raphael, so he knew what was expected
of him.

David
wasn't fond of taking over Daniel's role. He had his own farm and business to
run. But James Agnesson had helped him bury Daniel, so he would treat this as a
paid job.

James
did not want to hire out, so he paid him handsomely. David's priority was to
the couple he would be caring for until the girl was pregnant. James would make
sure his farm had plenty of help while David tended to them.

James
wanted Clara pregnant quickly. He also wanted to make the boy a bit miserable
having to lay up with a girl while he mourned the loss of Daniel.

James
was also curious how his son would fare. He would probably be manic, but James
didn't want Jude to spiral completely out of control. James wanted him aware,
and he might have to make something up to keep him under control. He wouldn't
be able to enjoy Jude knowing the truth until she was safely back, and he was
still trying to understand their relationship. James assumed she was miserable.
But, it was obvious that Jude was quite attached to her, the way one would a
sister or a mother, which made sense.

He
would be gaining a pregnant bride sooner than later, and James would look
forward to Jude's realization that he was meant to raise another man's baby. He
wanted to see his attachment to Clara dissolve along with the aversion to a
child not his.

It
was Jude's own fault. James had asked him if he was capable of impregnating his
wife when he went and looked at the progression of the new barn.

Jude
was a surprisingly good worker despite his inclinations. But he worked a lot,
and likely ignored his beautiful bride. His first priority should be making
sure she's full of his baby. Jude could've easily hired out for help or even
asked his wayward brother. He saw Jared over there occasionally, but no doubt
he stayed close to Shula, since James had played his hand too early.

Jude
had told him he would bring children into the world as soon as James took his
last breath.

Which
may be perfectly true, but certainly not true of his bride.

James
would always savor a glimpse of Clara. She was very pretty and innocent. Jude
was very lucky. She appeared much too docile than he preferred anymore, but a
little real obedience on occasion was good. He hadn't had it since Selene. She
reminded him of his Grace on occasion. When she forgot her moments of
submission and enjoyed the pleasure because she hadn't any other choice.

He
sort of missed Selene, and not just the ease of her. He was expecting a new
live-in any day. James might have to behave himself for a while, but he knew he
didn't have it in him to allow any woman in his home who wouldn't drop to her
knees at a moment's notice.

He
should have been more careful. She would have stayed with him, but with her
pregnancy, that would have been unlikely. He had no clue who the father
might've been, and there hadn't been any proof in her room. No one had come
forward to inquire more about her disappearance. The local volunteer police
officers, simply wrote a report. James didn't expect any follow up.

He
took a bit of time to clear out Selene's room properly as he'd wanted to bring
in more help.

The
room had been previously cleaned and packed by Mrs. Lionel, but he wanted to
make sure it was completely stripped of its former inhabitant.

It
had been, except one little thing. Under the mattress was a small ziplock bag
with a handful of pills in them.

A
preliminary search on the Internet told him that they were to end a pregnancy.

Apparently,
Selene wasn't lying about being pregnant, and he found it very unlikely that
the child would've been his.

But
she had told him it was, and she had intended to kill it.

Interesting.

James
stored the pills away. He wanted to do a little more research. He wanted to
know where she bought them and how they killed the fetus exactly.

Maybe
he should've taken Clara for himself. Maybe it was exactly what he needed. But,
Clara could only satisfy him if she were crying and begging him to stop.
Eventually, she would stop.

Eventually,
she'd be another Grace. Or Anna. After a while, it would become tedious.

Shula...Shula
would scrape her teeth along his cock once he'd stuffed himself in her mouth,
and she would laugh and spit blood on his feet after he yanked her up and
backhanded her.

That
sounded far more appealing to him. She'd be dead within a week, but it would be
glorious.

But
he had to be cautious. He would certainly be killed if he were to bed her the
way he wanted. He would have to kill her and Jared over a solitary fuck, and he
wasn't certain she'd not bite his cock clean off.

If
he was going to have her, he was going to
have
her, and he didn't have a
feasible plan. He thought about it an inordinate amount of time, hoping for
inspiration, but it grew more and more improbable the more he considered it.

He
would have to find other ways to satisfy himself.

It
wasn't a priority, though. Separating Clara from Jude, and getting another maid
were the only things he had time for at that point. His plans of populating
Texas with careful breeding had fallen to the wayside.

There
were only two pregnancies. One woman, a waste of beauty and upbringing, was two
months along, and the other was not too far behind her. One of the babies
already had a home to go to. The bids were still going strong for the other,
and his profit had already quadrupled.

He
had to think of a more efficient way of doing it, but doing it discreetly,
because this could double his fortune within a couple of years. He would need
to keep the blond boy in Texas, but he would not infringe on David's
hospitality for much longer.

David
Snawder was his half-brother, and James wasn't sure if he was aware. If he was,
he'd kept it to himself. James figured David's mother would have kept it to
herself. Women couldn't afford to have their indiscretions known. When he
discovered him among his father's paperwork, he carefully sought him out. He
drove to Greenville and stuck a nail in his tire.

They'd
hit it off, and David appreciated every bit of work James sent his way. James
didn't feel obligated. He didn't have many confidantes, and he held the trump
card if David started to question his ethics.

David
hadn't. Money was a motivator. People were delightfully predictable that way.

He
was also fairly certain that David's dead wife was their half-sister, but he
didn't care enough to seek it further than the paperwork, and since she was
dead and buried, it wasn't important. He recalled meeting a girl in his early
twenties. Grace had been pregnant with his second son.

His
father was hospitalized after his first heart attack, and he saw her leave the
hospital room. He'd confronted her, Helena Dawson, and she'd told him
reluctantly who she was. He didn't believe her.

James
fucked her in the chapel of the hospital. He told her he never wanted to see
her again.

David
had been married to a woman called Helena, and the picture of her holding
Daniel on the mantle looked just like the woman whose hair was fanned across
the carpet in front of Jesus on the cross.

He
didn't know how many siblings he had, but none came forward after his father's
fatal second heart attack. He sought a few like he had David, but there were
none that could offer him favors if he needed them. They were also destitute
and dark, and James had no time for either.

Agnesson
blood was to be spread far and wide, but James didn't see the purpose of that
if it meant they were breeding with those of Mexican descent.

James
wanted to be more careful. He cared for the Agnesson name, and he wanted it
attached to a certain ethnicity. It didn't matter the blood.

It
would be the name that people remembered.

The
blond boy was important. He would have to keep him close, and he would need
time to properly work out the logistics.

It
could make things interesting around the farm, and it amused James.

The
conversation they had after he'd helped David bury Daniel was tense, but James
let the boy know that he'd be able to create a life for himself if he behaved.

And
if he didn't, James knew exactly what to do to put him in his place.

Dallas
was full of brightness and metal. Clara couldn't tell if she found it beautiful
or hideous. She wasn't keen on of getting closer to the reckless monoliths. The
truck veered on an eastward highway, and the city fell quickly out of her view.
She found she was more curious than terrified now, but didn't want to continue
to look in Mr. Agnesson's direction.

Clara
wanted to ask questions about the city, but felt he was dismissive when she
spoke before. She knew that women weren't supposed to talk out of turn.

She
wanted to know what people did there. She wanted to know if the lights stayed
on all night and if people were awake.

She
wanted to know what in the world there was to do at this hour.

She
kept her gaze forward, looking as the lights of the city got smaller and
smaller out the side view mirror. She wanted to ask how much further, but she
wisely kept quiet.

“Clara,
we're nearly there. You really should've gotten some rest,” James chided.

“It's
fine, Mr. Agnesson. It was impossible with Mama on my mind.” Clara continued to
look out the window, wondering how far out of the city they needed to be.

James
sighed. “I have a job for you, Clara.”

That
got her attention. She looked at him. He was hard to make out in the dark, but
she could see him well enough to know he was looking straight ahead. Women with
her training only had one job. She was no bedside nurse or midwife. And she was
certainly no teacher. “What sort of job?”

He
didn't answer right away. “How would you like to have a baby?” He assumed her
answer would be positive, and that her pain would show. It would reveal Jude's
negligence.

She
laughed uncomfortably. “Um...we were planning to wait a little while.”

He
feigned sympathy. “I can't think why Jude would put you through that.”

Clara
was stuck. It was clear that Mr. Agnesson didn't consider it was her choice,
too. That Jude had asked her their Honeymoon night. “I'm fine waiting a little
while. After the barn is complete.”