Read Online The Sister and the Sinner by Carolyn Faulkner - Free Book Online

to fight. I don't know what became of him, for he never returned. I assumed he had died, but I couldn't marry again, not knowing what became of him. Neither could I take care of myself. I was alone in the world. I had no family, no relatives - the country was broken and divided, like a festering wound that refuses to heal.
    "So I took my son to a monastery, to be raised by monks, and I joined a convent.
    "Maybe, if my husband had been a nicer man, I might have waited for him longer. Maybe I might have found word of his death, or taken another husband, but I felt all used up. I ran away from the world, and found refuge among the Sisters of Mercy. Then, I found my true calling."
    Mary Francis's lip trembled. Shame filled her spirit. She had lain with a man, because she believed the Reverend Mother had done as much, and now she learned that the woman she had loved and respected was blameless. She had not forsaken her holy vows, she was just one of the rare few that were permitted to experience both vocations - marriage and religious life.
    What did that say for her? Mary Francis had fallen as low as a woman could fall. In scriptural times, she could be stoned to death for her actions. She had not been defiled, as Dinah had been, for she had been a willing accomplice in her own corruption. She fled from the room, bolted down the stairs, and rushed outside, ignoring J.D.'s command to stop and tell him what was the matter. She ran past the garden, through the woods, towards the stream where she sometimes bathed when the weather was nice. There, she flung herself into the stream, fully clothed, and wept bitterly.

    * * *

    J.D. shouted after her, furious that she continued to disobey him. If a belt didn't get her attention, perhaps a switching was in order! He chased after her, and even though she had a head start, he had no trouble following her trail. He paused along the way to cut several small branches of hickory, peeling the bark and leaves away until he had three perfect switches. When he emerged, he was angry enough to peel away her skin as well.
    She was bathing, nude, waist deep in the clean water, soaping herself generously. Breasts, groin, scrubbing, rinsing... scrubbing, rinsing.
    He was truly mesmerized by the sight. Through the trees the dappled sun shone on her upturned face. She looked as natural as a wood nymph, and he was loath to disturb her. But then he realized that her motions were anything but natural, and that she was scrubbing the same spots - breasts, belly, inner thighs - until she had angry red marks on her skin.
    J.D. ran out into the water, not even bothering to shed his clothing. He took away the lye soap she was using as well as the rough rag and began to kiss those raw areas she'd created trying to get herself clean again, suspecting he was the one who had made her feel dirty in the first place.
    "No, baby, no. You don't need to do that. You're the cleanest, purest person I know, and nothing I ever did to you could ever change that." He tilted her face up to his and saw it streaked with tears. J.D. lifted her up with amazing ease, another sign that it was time for him to leave, and carried her to the bank of the river. He set her down and covered her with himself as well as soft, butterfly kisses pressed to each of the red splotches. "I'm so sorry, Mary. I'm sorry, sweetheart... I wish I could make it better."
    She was sobbing so piteously it made his heart shrivel up in his chest, and her small hands kept trying to cover her breasts and privates, failing miserably at their tasks until he finally captured both of her hands in his.
    "There's nothing about yourself that you need to hide from me, Mary Francis." He searched those dewy eyes deeply, although she kept trying to avoid his. "Please let me try to make this right for you." He almost added "before I go", but had the presence of mind to stop himself before he said it.
    Mary Francis didn't know what to do or say. She hadn't expected him to find her