Loretta was afraid the Mr. Norwood would scream out loud, or that she herself would laugh at the way he jumped backward. She walked toward him, stopping before his wife would see.
"I need to have a word with you," she said. "I'll leave it up to you whether your wife joins us or not."
"No, please. Just give me a minute."
He dropped the letter and nearly crashed into the door. Loretta leaned against the wall, trying to put proper Mrs. Norwood together with the language she was hearing. Those words were more appropriate for the collection hidden deep inside the house, or deep in the shaw camps in the middle of the night.
"I said go back upstairs, Roma. It's not him! No, I don't tell you what to do. That's why you're going to listen to me this one blasted time!"
Mr. Norwood stood inside t
