Goody Two Shoes by Laura Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

forgive me, Robbie.  Surely you remember Jonathon Galloway?”
    “’Deed I do.”  Hawthorne said, and then began muttering disapproval under his breath as he moved to gather Jonathon’s clothing.
    “Hey!  What did I do?”  Jonathon exclaimed, but caught his clothes in mid air as Hawthorne tossed them to him in a ball.
    Robbie continued muttering under his breath, “Ain’t no business takin’ advantage…”  Clearing his throat, Hawthorne made his complaints legible, “It’s just that a man of your stature ain’t got no business taking this girl out here and havin’ your way with her!”
    Jonathon’s face lit up with laughter.  His paper white teeth shone through his crooked smile, “Robbie!  First, I have no stature .  Second, she was the one on her knees, not me!”
    I burst into laughter, “Oh yeah, right.  Throw me under the train.  I see how this is going!”
    Hawthorne’s seriousness didn’t falter, “Still, it just ain’t right, at the funral and all.”
    “For God’s sake Robbie, you sound like my great grandmother or something.  It wasn’t that long ago I was pushing you on the damn tire swing in the back yard!”  Truthfully, if my mind did the math correctly, Robbie was about Jonathon’s age.  What was the deal with this southern accent thing he’s doing?  He probably had a better education than I did!
    “What the hell is that accent thing?  Didn’t you go to Wofford?  I thought I heard something about you playing football there?” Jonathon’s face still marked his humor, but now contained marked cynicism as well.
    Robbie straightened, “None of that has anything to do with finding Ellen on her knees in the Garden during her Daddy’s funeral.  Get your damned clothes on and get in the house before I bury your ass over there behind the bamboo with that last dog of her Daddy’s.”
    Jonathon held up his hands in defeat.  It was fairly clear that Robbie had taken over the ‘goings on’ at the Devereux mansion.  He bent down and pulled his pants on.
    “Hang on a minute here!  What if I’m not finished!” I complained, still giddy from the current that’d passed between me and Jonathon.
    “Oh you’re finished.  And for the record Ellen, if you feel the need to suck that skinny little dick again, would you mind doing it over at your own house.  I’ve got to get this place in order for Mrs. Devereux.”
    “Hey!  I resent that!  It may be skinny, but it gets the job done!” Jonathon teased.
    I glanced up at him and chuckled, “I hope I get to test that theory one day!”  But I stood and dressed per Robbie’s orders regardless.  The realization that Robbie was caught in a precarious situation dawned on me.  Evangeline had no idea how to run a house of this magnitude, so she’d gone with the only reasonable path, find someone who did.  Robbie had grown up here; he was impressively educated and well trained, and that made him the logical choice to manage the house.  I had to give kudos to my step mother.  She’d chosen well.
    With his truants fully dressed, Robbie Hawthorne led the way back through the fading wisteria tunnel towards the house, still muttering under his breath.  Jonathon and I kept pace behind him, giggling quietly.  I put my hand to my mouth to control my laughter; I couldn’t go back into my father’s funeral behaving as if this was a keg party after all.  Catching the scent of Jonathon’s sex on my hand, I stuck it under his nose so that he could smell his scent on me.  He squeezed my hand tightly but giggled like the naughty boy he was.  Robbie stopped us just at the end of the Garden path, “Alright you two, stand up straight and act like you’ve got good sense.”
    Out of respect, we both stiffened and followed him into the grieving house.
     

They are twins, but you’d never know it; one’s a chatter box while the other sits politely until she’s asked a question.  I respect that.  Though deaf, she responds to