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Chapter 12
After a minute, he let her go, breathing deeply.
"Now remove the rope," said Alice. Her voice was unsteady and two pinpricks of red burned on each cheek.
"Why, do you want to have a go?"
Alice shook her head to indicate no.
Danny untied the rope and made it safe with a knot at the end again for the children to sit on.
"Craack, craak."
The slaps echoed through the wood and Danny's face blushed deep red where Alice's hands had struck his cheeks. First her right hand lashed out and struck his left cheek and then her left hand lashed out and struck his right cheek She repeated the treatment to cries of pain from the young man. The shock of it made him miss his footing on the soft ground and he slipped down among the leaves.
"If I want you to kiss me, I will tell you," said Alice furiously. "I may want you to one day, even though I am married. You are a pleasant and fairly handsome young man. But if you just grab me, you must bear the consequences."
Danny tried to look suitably embarrassed.
"It was only a kiss."
"And I only slapped your face. Now, if you want to stay friends, which I would like, you can behave yourself."
She reached a hand down to him. He shrunk back fearing she was going to hit him again but then grudgingly took her hand and climbed to his feet. He tried to wear a brave smile and pretend his face wasn't smarting.
"Despite the slaps, it was still worth it, though," he said, with bravado. "Friends?"
"Friends," said Alice. She reached herself on tiptoe and pecked him gently on first the right cheek and then the left.
"But nothing more! Understood?"
"Understood ... you want that path there." He pointed at the leaf-covered path that slightly inclined upwards but mainly ran along the side of the hill.
"Bye for now, then," said Alice and with a matronly smile trudged off in the direction he pointed.
The path wasn't steep and she made good time.
Alice felt glad she had put the young man in his place. The kiss hadn't been unpleasant but he had no right to kiss her. Alice's kisses were reserved for Alice's husband and that was right and proper. However enjoyable it had been, he had been in the wrong and she had been right to teach him some manners.
Suddenly, she burst out of the wood onto a small plateau and there below was the house as Danny had promised. A skidding slide or a careful clamber and she would be back at the cottage.
Alice paused to drink in the view thinking she had probably never visited anywhere that had so many interesting perspectives in such a small area. It was an artist's paradise.
On the light early evening breeze came the distant sound of arguing. Alice listened, trying to work out its direction. From where she was standing, she could see a part of the kitchen and realized that there was somebody moving about there. She felt the hairs stand up on her neck but then relaxed remembering Ruby had said she was going in to do the cleaning. Somehow, she didn't feel like seeing Ruby again so she sat down and waited.
Another figure moved into view in the kitchen, gesticulating loudly and forcefully. It was Hugo, the local policeman, but not in uniform. Alice wished she could hear what they were saying.
Ruby disappeared in an angry flourish from Alice's view of the kitchen and then reappeared upstairs in one of the double bedrooms. Shortly after, Hugo appeared and stood there looking at her.
Suddenly, he pushed Ruby onto the bed his hands all over her grasping, holding and unbuttoning her clothes. Alice, transfixed, realized that the publican's wife although not resisting was not participating either. Like a rag doll, she lay immobile beneath him as he struggled to remove his clothes. Then, still unresisting, her limbs were pushed this way and that as he possessed her until his heavy weight finally crushed down on her as satisfaction drained his strength.
Ruby waited a moment then came back to life pushing him away violently. She picked up his clothes off the floor, threw them at him with great force and carrying her work clothes with her strode out of the bedroom.
Minutes later, first Hugo left the house and then Ruby followed carrying her cleaning stuff in a large wicker basket.
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