Big
Earl Henry's been found—dead in the creek. Lucius was asked to
identify his body. He and Dollie go up to his house to tell his
mother.
Lucius
was numb. He had no idea what he was going to say to his mother. Then
too, the awesome responsibility of running his father's farm had
suddenly landed in his lap. How could he now plan to marry Dollie
with this in front of him? His life had been so perfect ten minutes
ago. Suddenly, the enormity of it hit him. Gasping, he stumbled.
Dollie caught him, leading him back to the girls' dorm where Patty
and the truck waited. Dollie put Lucius in the passenger seat and
went in to talk to Patty. Keeping it short she told her the
situation.
"I
don't know when I'll be back. I expect the men will tell Will. I have
to get Luke home so we can break the news to Rachel. Don't wait up."
The sisters hugged.
Dollie
adjusted the seat so she could sit closer to the wheel. Lucius was
nearly a foot taller than she. The seat didn't go up quite far
enough, so she sat on the edge as she put the truck into gear. Lucius
didn't say a word when she nervously shifted, grinding the gears a
little. Normally, he'd have teased her. It told her how completely
self-absorbed he was at the moment—and had every right to be. She
drove slowly up the mountain to his family's front door, stopping the
truck. Lucius didn't move.
Dollie
put her hand on his, making him meet her gaze. "You told me, a
little while ago, that you love me. I didn't get a chance to
respond."
Lucius
shook his head, waving it away as unimportant.
"No,"
she said, command in her voice. "I've got the right to speak my
mind. Lucius, you're the finest man I know and I've come to realize
that I love you too. And one day, I'd be the happiest, proudest woman
on earth, if you made me your wife. Now," she said crisply.
"We're gonna go tell your mama what's happened. And we'll get
through this together, side by side."
"Oh,
Dollie!" He clung to her, sobbing. "How am I gonna tell
Mama?"
"Don't
you worry about it. Come on." She opened the door on his side
and they slid out.
Rachel
Henry greeted them at the door. She was in her nightdress, a robe
clutched around her. When she saw their faces, she didn't have to
ask. She knew what the problem was. A tiny part of her hoped to be
wrong.
"I
heard the commotion. What's the matter?"
"Rachel,
let's have a seat," Dollie said, leading the older woman to the
couch.
Lucius
sat on the chair closest to the door. He couldn't walk another step.
Trembling, Rachel sat.
"They
found Earl," Dollie said. "There's been an accident."
"Is
he gonna be all right? Is he at the hospital?"
"No,
ma'am. He's not gonna be all right, Rachel. I'm sorry to have to tell
you.... Earl's dead. They found him in the creek."
"In
the creek? Oh, my dear lord! What happened?"
"We
don't know. I expect the sheriff will be up later with details."
"I
think it's pretty clear," Lucius said angrily. "He got
blind ass drunk and fell in. That's obvious."
"Lucius,
don't," Dollie cautioned.
"Don't
what? Don't tell the truth? Don't tell Mama, she might not know her
husband was a useless drunk, who fobbed off his work onto children?
That we only ever had one real parent. He might only now be dead, but
my pa died to me a long time ago."
"Your
pa wasn't an easy man to love," Rachel said, chin coming up
defiantly. "He was a hard man, cold-like. It weren't his fault.
The war changed him. What it didn't do, Life did. He was a kind man,
tender hearted, gentle. I loved him the second we met. We married
when I was fifteen. I had our first baby when I was sixteen...."
"Wait
a second," Lucius said, holding up his hand. "Will's only
twenty-three."
His
mother nodded, tears in her eyes. "We had another child, your
brother, who died when he was two. Earl, he joined up to be a soldier
when the baby was a year or so old."
"We
weren't in the war yet," Dollie protested.
"The
Prime Minister of England, he asked all able bodied men join up to
help out. He declared as the war was gonna get worse 'fore it got
better. So Earl, he did what he thought was his duty and joined up
with the British army."
Lucius
was surprised. He'd always assumed his father had been drafted. "I
never knew that," he whispered.
"All
this time, you thought your pa was a no-count," Rachel snipped.
"You never saw the man I knew. He was strong and proud and he
loved his young'uns.... It about kilt him when little Earl died."
"Little
Earl? My brother?"
"You
never did wonder why your daddy was Big Earl?"
"I
thought cause—well, he's big," Lucius replied awkwardly.
His
mother laughed a little. "Well, that too. Earl got hurt bad in
the war. When he come home, the nightmares started. Doctors called it
shell shock. It broke his mind and his spirit. He heard things—voices
like. Only the liquor drowned 'em out. Your pa was a good man and I
loved him. And I want justice, Lucius. Someone stole your daddy from
me." She broke down, weeping uncontrollably.
Dollie
held her while she cried. Lucius carried her to bed. Eventually, she
fell asleep. They tucked her in and closed the door to the bedroom.
©
2019 Dellani Oakes
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