Susie May

 When another school board accuses her husband of misconduct, Susie is forced to pack up and move again—this time back home. The incessant rumors about the charismatic band director she married distresses her, and stirs her sons to rebellion. She's always been timid. She's always been a quiet, obedient wife. But how can she stay married to such a broken man?

My whole heart, my whole life, was woven into Elmer's. But could the rumors be true? Could Elmer have faults I didn't want to acknowledge?

We'd moved to so many different towns, and I'd been in so many stores like this one. Heard so much prattle like this, that it all started to look and sound the same. But this was my hometown of Hollis. Could the gossip have followed us here?

I waited for the women to make their purchases and leave the store before I dropped the material scraps I'd chosen and ran out. As I hurried home, tears stung my face, feeling as broken as that old fence post in our front yard.

Everyone liked Elmer when they first met him. He could smooth-talk a Brahma bull into licking your hand. He was a nice-talking, sophisticated gentleman.

But were these women right about him?