Cherry says there's no rest for the wicked. I think that makes me, her, and Mia vampires...
TY to golden2779, missalishacullen, & DataByteDL-FangirlinGranma for the gravy covered cupcakes! *spreads it all over your bewbies*
(if I missed you, pls send scathing PM to management team)
The rest of you were too busy cheering for Cotton, lol!
Chapter Twenty-One: Boasting & Bravery
"…Otherwise, your bitterness is going to paralyze you all!"
Jessie stands on the chair, mocking my every movement as I pronounce justice for all of Forks County across the screen.
The crowd whoops and hollers and Ma's just as proud as can be. After Esme and the rest of the Masens saw me giving everybody a good verbal lashing on their behalf, she called Mama. Mama got all loud, screaming about how her baby's going to be on the five o'clock news, and she phoned everybody over just to see me shine.
It's our third time watching it after Ma recorded it, but it doesn't stop people from congratulating me.
"That's my girl," Rowdy winks, looking up at me from his wheelchair.
"That's right! Give 'em hell, Swan!" Billy says, giving me a loud congratulating pat on the back.
"You looked so pretty, Cotton!" Rose Charlotte replies, squeezing me in a hug.
They go 'round and 'round, praising me for standing up for the Masens. Everybody's here—the Masens, of course, the Blacks, the Hales, the Webers, and even Miss Sue—all just to tell me what a good Baptist I was being. Even though Angela, Bree, and Victoria are as jealous as a pig eatin' a bacon sandwich, they smile in my face for now.
Papa gets the strangest look on his face and storms from the room. I want to run after him, but Jake sweeps me off of my feet, twirling me in circles.
"That was mighty brave of you, defending the Masens like that." Even though I don't want him touching me, I'm too high on cloud nine to care.
"Aww, it won't nothing! I was just doing what was right," I boast proudly. "I was fixin' to say a few none kind words, but I figure Ma wouldn't like me cursing too much."
"Damn right, baby!" Ma yells across the living room, and everyone starts laughing. Even Reverend Weber can't stop from chuckling.
Ma announces she's going to cook a big supper in my honor and the women scatter to help her out. Emmett starts a game of chase and the second he taps Jacob, him and the rest of the kids go running about.
Rowdy sits looking forlorn in his wheelchair, and I hope I haven't embarrassed him.
"Hey, you aren't mad, are you?"
"Shucks no!" Rowdy grins and grabs my hand, leading me to sit on his lap. "You're kind of hot when you're flying off the handle like that!"
I giggle and wrap my arms around him. "Stop it, you! Why do you look so upset then?"
"I just didn't like Jacob touching you like that. I may be paralyzed, but I'm still a man. I think he thinks he can take advantage of you now 'cause I can't defend myself."
"Ain't nothing to defend!" I reply, angrily. "I'm yours. I wouldn't be with Jacob Black if he was the last boy on Earth!"
"Good," Rowdy murmurs. Even though the house is full of people, Rowdy presses his lips against mine. He makes me feel some kind of wonderful and warm when we're kissing like this. I feel the foreverness of love and every moment in between.
I want to prolong our kiss, but the second I hear heavy footsteps down the hall, I jump up.
"Come over tonight, will you?" Rowdy whispers.
I nod. I could never say no. I would never want to.
"Okay," I breathe. He grins and I give him another hug. "I have to go find Papa. Will you be all right here?"
Rowdy notices the worry sweeping across my face. I'd hate for the Weber girls to attack when I'm not in the room.
"Anybody who messes with me, I'll run 'em over!"
"Using your wheelchair as a weapon?" I tease. "I do declare, Mr. Masen, I believe that is a capital offense."
"You run this town now, Cotton. Just give me 30 to life," he winks.
"Always," I promise and I run away just as he swats my bottom.
.
.
.
It takes me a few minutes to find Papa. I find him sulking in his office, surrounded by gator heads mounted on the wall. Aside from the sunroom it's one of my favorite places to be. Papa used to sit us on his lap and twirl us around and around in his leather chair until we felt dizzy.
Only now I'm too grown, and the only feeling between us these days is hostility.
"Papa?" I come in without knocking and shut the door partway as he smokes on his cigar. "You know you're not supposed to be smoking with the Reverend in the house. Ma's gonna get you!"
Papa half-smiles, putting it out. "I'll just tell 'em she's the one that bought 'em for me."
I grin and sit on the other side of his desk, glancing at all of the fancy awards posted on the wall. He's won gator hunter champion every year and every plaque is trimmed with fine gold.
"Cotton?"
"Yes, Papa?"
"Did I ever tell you how me and your ma met?"
I shake my head. I'd heard stories, of course, but they tended to change depending on the time and season.
"I was 16 years old and my family had moved from Jackson, Mississippi," he begins.
"Jackson?" I interrupt. "The city?"
"Yep. I seem like a country boy, don't I?"
I nod enthusiastically. I could never imagine Papa living in the city. He's as wild as the swamps and as rough as the rivers. The city and Papa don't even seem to go in the same sentence.
"Anywho, I was born in Jackson, where my own Pop was sheriff. He was a tough man, real hard like. My brother—your uncle Peter—and I could never do right by him. No matter what we did, it was never good enough. Anyway, when I was 16, Pop moved us all here when the city elected a new sheriff. He couldn't handle losing out to anybody, so we packed up and left. When I came here, the first thing I saw was your mother."
I tried to imagine a young Papa, but the mustache makes it difficult. I giggle to myself and bite my lip to hold back my laughter.
"She was in my class and the prettiest thing I ever saw. But the second I arrived, everyone told me, she's off limits. That's Billy's girl, they'd say. They were right, of course, but I couldn't stop thinking about her. So I'd bring her flowers, so many she started thinking I was being obnoxious. She told me to leave her be and that she was already courted to Billy."
"So how did y'all get together?" I ask, interrupting again.
"I'm getting to that part. So one day, it was blistering cold. Too cold for Mississippi, even in the winter. Little snowflakes started to fall and because of the rain, the roads were slick with ice. So a whole gang of us were walking back from the schoolhouse, playing around when we saw a fight happening right there in the street."
"Oh no! Who was it?" I question, leaning forward in my chair.
"You know, I don't even remember. But I recall Billy egging them on. He was laughing and telling them to hook left and hook right. All I noticed was your pretty mother's face, shocked that he wasn't stopping the fight. So I stepped in, caught a shiner right my eye, but she's been mine ever since."
"All 'cause you stopped a fight?" I ask, miraculously.
"'Cause I stood up for something bigger than myself. See back then, African Americans weren't looked at too kindly in the South. But my folks always taught me a person's character mattered more than the color of someone's skin. I couldn't handle seeing that youngin' getting battered like he was. So, I did the right thing. Your ma saw that and said she fell head over heels."
"That was real brave of you, Papa." I say in awe.
"I reckon. But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You're a lot like me in some ways, Cotton. You're real strong and brave, too. And you're pretty, just like your mother, but you got this fight inside of you. I don't want you to ever lose that."
I smile brightly. "I won't."
"Good." Papa digs into his desk drawer and pulls out a small booklet, scribbling in it real fast. I don't know what he's writing until he slides a blue, thin sheet of paper across the desk.
"What's this?" I don't even give Papa a chance to answer before I start reading.
It's a check.
Oh my, it's a check! It's a check written out to the Masens with numbers followed by a lot of zeros. If I could shout like Jessie and scream Baby Jesus right now, I would.
"Papa! You're giving them money? You're going to fix Rowdy! Oh, Papa! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I scramble from my seat, jumping up and running into his arms. "You have no idea how much this is going to help!"
"I think I just might," Papa says, hugging me tightly. "When I was your age, not even the moon and the stars could separate me from your mother. I'm not going to do that to you, Cotton. You're my baby girl and if that Masen boy is who you want to be with, I'm not going to stand in your way."
"You mean it?" I smile with glee, feeling happiness swirl all over me.
"I do. Just … er…" Papa looks at the ground awkwardly. "No 'lessons' unless someone's home, got it?"
He emphasizes the word lessons, and he and I both know what he means.
"Got it!" I squeal, waving the check in the air and running off to tell Rowdy the good news.
"Cotton?"
Papa stops me at the doorway, and I turn around. "Yes, Papa?"
"I'm proud of you, but your struggle is going to be a lot harder than some scrap in the street. Don't give up on that Masen boy just 'cause it's cold outside, you understand what I'm saying?"
Papa didn't mean the cold, literally. I think he meant not to give up just 'cause things would get hard.
So I smile and run down the hall, screaming Rowdy's name over and over again.
I step on the Reverend's foot, knock over Miss Sue's pie, and trip right into Emmett's fat, porky tummy.
But I was young and I never quite understood what I thought I knew.
I learned quickly though that night, when all of us were seated and saying grace.
Papa had given me that money to give to Rowdy, and I thought the world had changed.
It changed all right, just not in the way I expected.