Veronica spent the day with her aunt and sister in the kitchen, and for a few hours she was taken back to a time when she was 13 years old and making lunch for her brothers and male cousins who had been recruited by her uncle to help outside. The radio would be sitting on the window sill and blaring a tune over white noise and Veronica, her hair in a braid, would be setting out rows of paper plates for her many relatives.
"Aunt Julia?" A song like voice called from the backdoor. The familiarity of the tone lit up Veronica's chest. "Are you in here?"
"Lora!" Veronica called. "We're in here!"
Lora Lee was a beautiful girl. Her slightly upturned blue eyes and sunny blonde hair was comparable to a fairytale princess, as was her cheery disposition and abounding kindness.
"Oh, my stars in heaven" Lora's mouth fell open before spreading into a broad smile. "You came!"
The two girls rushed each other into tight hugs, stumbling slightly from the impact.
"It's been too long." Lora moaned. "I missed you so much!"
"I know, I'm sorry." Veronica pulled away. "I should have written more, I'm awful for that."
"No, no, no, don't be silly" Lora beamed. "You're a big shot writer now, you must be so busy."
"That's no excuse." Veronica shook her head and hugged Lora lee again tightly.
"There's my little Bride to be!" Aunt Julia cut in between them and hugged Lora before looking her up and down. "Darlin', you're looking just gorgeous. I can't wait to see you in that wedding gown." Julia turned to Veronica expectantly. "Veronica sweetie, aren't you going to congratulate Lora?"
Veronica felt a knot of disgust in her stomach but swallowed it down, "Congratulations Lora"
Lora eyes Veronica with knowing eyes before turning to her Aunt. "Aunt Julia, wouldn't it be alright if I steal Veronica for a spell?"
"Oh, you girls go gossip. I'll handle everything here" Julia waved them off and they snuck out the back door quietly.
"I really didn't think you was gonna come." Lora said quietly, her heavy southern drawl was charming to the ear as she tied back her hair in the heat. "With everything that's happened."
"I wasn't at first" Veronica confessed as they wandered out the garden gate and towards the more undeveloped hills behind the house. "But Rachel set me straight after I told her, and plus I came with some support. So, I didn't have any excuse not to."
"Calvin told me last night that you brought a new beau." Lora mentioned with a small smile. "I'm glad to here that. I know how lonely you were after Vince got killed."
The mud on the hill squished under their shoes as they traveled up further. Veronica struggled up it, but it allowed her to take her focus off the impending conversation she didn't want to have.
"I couldn't believe it when I first got the invitation" Veronica hinted carefully. "I never dreamed that…you and Calvin…"
"You know how our family is." Lora shrugged, "But you gotta know it wasn't arranged." Lora stopped and looked dead into Veronica's eyes. "No one's forcing me to do any of this."
Veronica didn't know how to feel about this proclamation, but all the same she took Lora's hands and squeezed the tightly. "I'm glad. If this is what makes you happy, then I wish you all the best."
"Do you mean that?"
Veronica felt a bitter burn in her throat. "Yes"
Lora beamed proudly and laughed. "I'm so glad."
They continued to walk, reaching an old dirt road that led back toward the forest and through into town. "Calvin was so happy to see you yesterday." Lora giggled. "Why he was grinning like a possum on trash day last night, talking about how you hadn't changed one bit."
Veronica didn't respond until Lora's hand tightened on her arm. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"It's alright." Veronica brushed it off, each step she took growing tighter with purpose to keep walking.
"No, it ain't" Lora stopped dead in the road and pulled Veronica back. "I know everyone is trying to act like nothing happened, Veronica. Because they think that if they do, you'll just forget about it all, but you won't. You shouldn't."
"It was a long time ago."
"Calvin was wrong for what he did." Lora went on, her tone growing hard and louder. "He was horrible, and I almost told him no straight off when he asked to go with me because of it." Lora's face softened lightly. "But… He's changed, Veronica. I know it's corny to say, but it's true. I mean, he's still got a temper, but after you left us, he saw the light."
Veronica didn't want to listen to this sort of thing. It brought back such a sense of fear and dread that she wanted to take off into the wood and hide.
"Please Lora." Veronica rubbed her face, the heat from the sun and the heat of her blush growing unbearable. "It's hot, and I'm still very jetlagged. I don't want to think about this sort of thing right now."
"You're upset, I shouldn't have said anything!" Lora whined contritely, making Veronica wince. "Come one, we'll just mosey on over to my house and I'll get you a glass of water."
Veronica didn't protest as Lora led her down the road about a mile before they reached a small, comely house. The white painted porch offered blessed shade from the sun, and Lora sat Veronica on the pristine porch swing. "You sit here honey, I'm gonna run and get you some water."
"No Rush" Veronica sighed, pressing her eyes into her palms as the mixture of heat, jetlag, and frustration formed a pounding tension along her forehead. God, she had forgotten how hot it could really get here. Sweat seemed to pool behind her knees and her neck, and she wiped it off with a sigh.
"Here you go, here." Lora returned with a tall glass of ice water and a cool rag. "Darlin, I'm sorry. I forgot you must not be used to these down south summers anymore."
"It's nothing really, I'm fine." Veronica waved it off. "I'm sorry to be so much trouble, Lora."
"Don't be silly." Lora scoffed, pressing the cool rag on the nape of her cousin's neck firmly. "You're kin, you couldn't be trouble if you tried."
Veronica nodded and looked up, her face cooling down. "Where's Calvin?"
"At work." Lora shrugged casually, making Veronica sit up fully.
"Calvin got a job?" she laughed shortly.
"Uh huh, he's tending bar in the city" Lora explained. "at the Fleur De Lis. You remember that old place?"
"How could I forget." Veronica laughed, recalling the bright lights of the bar in the darkness of the city. The loud jazz band playing in the front that made her head ache and her heart tremble. "The first and last place I ever got piss drunk."
"I remember that." Lore snickered, "Your friend carried you home and up the stairs while Aunt Julia was pitching a fit, yelling about how you were going to become a lush."
"I remember that to." Veronica nodded. "That was the night I stopped drinking all together. Do you remember what I said to Aunt Julia?"
Lora shook her head. "I wish I didn't. It was awful cruel to say something like that."
"I know." Veronica leaned back, kicking off the porch planks gently to get the swing moving. "I told her my father would have been an idiot to marry her and I would have been an even bigger one to ever consider marrying a man like her son." Veronica sighed. "It was true though, that was the reason I left here, I don't know if anyone ever told you properly or if you just found out for yourself. I'll never forget the day they sat me down at the kitchen counter and told me what a smart idea it would be for me to marry Calvin; and how horrified they looked when I ran out of the house and to the bar with my friends."
"I still don't know why you were so shocked. You knew how it was in the family." Lora shrugged. "You had to have seen it coming."
"I think I did." Veronica nodded. "But at 17 years old, fresh out of school, the idea was just too much."
Lora went quiet a moment. "Do you…after what happened…do you ever wish you had just said yes and saved yourself all that trouble with Calvin?"
"No" Veronica didn't even have to think about it. "No, not at all. Even after all he put me through, I wouldn't have done it."
"Veronica?"
"Huh?"
"Do- "Lora wiped her face. "Do you think any less of me for marrying Calvin?"
Veronica froze. How could she answer that question? Lora Lee had been her very best friend for years, even closer than sisters. They told each other everything.
"No" Veronica sighed. "I don't think less of you. I don't like it, but if you really love him. And if you really want to marry him. Than I love and support you all the same."
Lora nodded, looking away from Veronica and over the broad stretch of land before them. Something flickered in her eyes that went unseen by everyone around her, burning with conflict and fear. Something that dreaded her to-be husband coming home tonight.
