39
I sat with Ray for a moment and looked him over. Mom had gone to get some water for him. Ray looked at me for a moment.
"So what's wrong?" he asked lightly. His voice was coming back and I looked at him for a moment, surprised he knew something was wrong. What could I even tell him? I was sleeping with Forrest, I was raped by Rakes, I am marrying Forrest, and I am pregnant with Forrest or Rakes child. I shook my head.
"Do you love me brother?" I asked. I wasn't sure if my brother could handle the news of everything but I figured I would not tell my family about the rape. Ray smiled and placed his hand on my knee.
"Eula you're my sister. Nothing you could do would make me not love you." he replied. I hope he still felt that way after I told him what I had to tell him. I shifted a bit in my chair.
"I'm pregnant Ray." I replied. His eyes flexed for a bit and he didn't seem too alarmed.
"Who's the daddy?" he asked slowly. I sighed and looked out the window.
"Forrest Bondurant." I replied. Now it was silent and I looked at his face to see he was contemplating many things.
"He raped you." he concluded and I winced and shook my head.
"No." I replied. He winced and looked out the window for a second.
"Get out." I heard him whisper. When I didn't move he looked at me with a glare. "GET OUT! I NEED TO THINK!"
I stood from my chair swiftly.
"What's there to think about Ray?" I yelled. He frowned deeply at me.
"I think about what I did wrong for you to up and go fuck some white trash Bondurant boy? God I can't believe how fucking stupid you are to go sleep with that boy. Just leave okay!" he yelled. I didn't think twice about getting up and bursting through the door of the room only to see mom approaching with a cup of water for Ray.
"I'm leaving." I stated and she nodded quickly.
"Okay one sec." she replied and hurried to give Ray his water. I continued to move until I was outside of the hospital. I wanted to be angry at my brother for not understanding, for not accepting what was, but I couldn't. I understood why he was angry. The Bondurant boys were the enemies to the men of my family and I go and sleep with one of them, but you can't fight who you loved. I waited in the car for mom and she finally exited the building and got in the driver's side. She looked at me for a moment.
"You alright?" she asked softly and by the tone of her voice I could tell she knew something had happened between Ray and I. I only nodded.
"Take me by the bar?" I asked and she nodded and started the car. We drove silently and I was happy for it. It gave me some time to think. My wedding was in a month and only my mother would be there because she was the only one who knew I was marrying Forrest. I could only imagine Howard, Jack, Bertha and Cricket being the only family on Forrest's side. When we arrived at the bar I could only see Cricket outside near the barn working on a car. When he saw me he waved and I waved back. Mother looked at me.
"Would you be objective to wearing my wedding dress?" she asked. My eyes flexed at this conversation. Mother was very obsessive about her dresses and her wedding dress was the important one. It was beautiful. I nodded.
"I'll wear it. Since I know wedding's are your favorite I will let you do my hair and everything." I replied. She replied with excitement then let it fade a bit and she rested her hand on my lap.
"Eula this is a happy moment in your life. Your father and brothers don't need to know you are marrying Forrest for that will be later to come. Don't ever let anything stop you from being with this man." she replied. I took in her words and nodded.
"I'll have Forrest drive me back." I replied and she nodded.
"Okay." she said happily and I smiled and got out of the car and watched her drive away. Cricket began limping over to me and I smiled.
"Hey." I replied happily. He smiled back shyly.
"Hey Eula so is it true you're getting married and having a baby?" he asked scratching his head.
"Yes it's true." I replied and began walking towards the bar. The boy followed with a nod.
"Well am I invited?" he asked. I chuckled and nodded.
"Of course you are invited." I replied and he smiled with excitement and once we entered the bar we were greeted by Jack and Howard. Forrest was cleaning behind the bar.
"Hey Eula… so how's your brother doing?" Jack asked. I gave a small smile and nodded.
"He'll live." I replied and watched as Cricket accompanied Jack to a table to play cards. Howard was sitting down with a cup of lord knows what. I sat beside him and looked at him and Forrest was right in front of us.
"How are you Howard?" I asked. I remember my dad put him in the hospital and I felt very guilty about that. He shrugged and smiled.
"I can still drink my whiskey so I am wonderful." he said holding up his cup in the air and I smiled.
"Well I'm glad." I replied and looked at Forrest who gave me a small smile before winking which made me blush like a school girl. "How's the business going, you know the bootlegging one?"
"Ha. Great." I heard Jack call out. "We're bringing in more money than ever."
I smiled and nodded before looking at Forrest.
"Rakes is coming down on all the bootleggers though. Shutting them down and trying I intimidate us. The other 'leggers aren't going to stand up for themselves and fight back." he explained. He looked at the table pausing in his wiping movements.
"I'm a Bondurant and we don't lay down for no one." he stated and I smiled and looked at Howard who nodded.
"That's right." he stated. I nodded thinking about my own brothers.
"I can imagine Rakes intimidation on my family was having Ray shot." I replied with mild worry. Forrest nodded calmly.
"Don't you worry now. Rakes will get his I assure you." he replied. I nodded and looked at my stomach forgetting I was having a child for a moment.
"So Forrest would you want a son or a daughter?" I asked. Howard snorted and looked at Howard before grinning.
"Uh. I can't really say. I've never had a kid before." he replied and I nodded with mild relief. I wanted to ask him if he's thought of any names, but I didn't want to put all those thoughts in his head right now. I decided I should be getting home so I can talk to mom about secret wedding plans.
"I'm going to head home." I replied. Forrest's head lifted and he looked at me.
"I'll drive you." he said and I nodded and we went out to his truck and once we were both in he drove off.
"Um Eula I was wondering…why don't you stay at the bar in the extra room?" he asked. I tilted my head and looked at him. Was he asking me to move in with him?
"What brought this on?" I asked. His eyes scanned the road for a second.
"With Rakes coming down on all the bootleggers this mean the law will be coming down on us and your brothers if they still continue doing what they're doing. I just want to make sure you're safe and I want you close to me." he explained and I looked at him deeply for a second before nodding.
"Okay, but it won't be no easy thing." I told. He nodded.
"Yeah I know. You just talk to your dad." he told. I nodded and once we arrived at my house I looked at Forrest for a moment.
"I worry about you sometimes. With all the bootlegging and stuff." I replied. He gave me a calm look and patted my lap.
"We'll be fine. We always are. Go on now." he replied before leaning in and kissing me softly. I replied gently to the kiss then got out of the truck and moved up on the porch. The car was gone and I wasn't sure if Arliss was home. I went inside and looked around.
"Mom?" I asked.
"In my room honey." I heard her reply and I moved down the hall and into my parent's bed room where I saw mom in the closet rummaging through some boxes. I came over to her.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Your father and Arliss went to go visit Ray." she told. I nodded wondering if Ray would tell Arliss about my pregnancy. Who knew what he would do once he found out. "Found it." I tilted my head.
"Found what?" I asked. She pulled out a white gown and turned to me. It was very sparkly and there was an upside down triangle patch in the middle of the chest area which had a thin layer of see through fabric on it.
"My wedding dress. You'll be wearing it pretty soon. When's the wedding?" she asked.
"May 23th." I replied. She arched a brow.
"A day after your birthday? Well it's going to be a good two days for you. Here try it on." she replied. I nodded and took off my clothes feeling a bit exciting to be wearing such a dress. Once I was in my bra and panties I took the dress and took my time putting it on. I felt it hug my curves just right and it flowed to my ankles and I turned and stepped out of the closet and looked at mother who covered her mouth with flawless fingernails.
"Oh you look beautiful. I can't wait to see you on the day of your wedding." she replied. I smiled and looked myself over.
"Oh it's beautiful mother." I replied. She smiled and looked me over. In seconds we heard the door open and I felt myself panic a bit. Father and Arliss were back.
"Hurry take off the dress." Mother said and I nodded and took off the dress and got back in my other dress and she hurried and put the dress away and we hurried from the room and met the boys in the hall.
"Hey how's Ray doing?" I asked. Arliss looked at me with a smirk.
"He's doing well. Didn't say much, but I figured as much." he told. I wasn't sure if Ray had told him or if Arliss was holding back, but either way I could tell in his eyes he knew something. My father put his coat over the couch.
"He'll be out in a couple of days. I need to head on out. Old man Willard needs a few deer to eat so I'm going to go hunt for some. Arliss you coming along?" he asked. Arliss nodded.
"Sure pa. Just let me go change my shoes." he said and moved passed me towards his room. Mother nodded.
"I'll start dinner." she said and moved into the kitchen. I was left standing in the hallway. I had to ask dad soon about moving out, but I knew that would have to wait. The family was under stress enough about Ray getting shot and now that I'm pregnant I wasn't sure they'd let me out of their sights. I turned and moved to Arliss' room and I watched as he put on his boots. I leaned on the door and watched him. He glanced at me before looking back at his shoes.
"Never thought I'd be an uncle so early in my life." he replied and I wondered if he was mad at me.
"Are you mad at me?" I asked softly and he leaned back and just looked forward before slowly shaking his head.
"Nah. What you do is your thing. I may not like the daddy, but you're my sister and I love you all the same. I told Ray the same thing. He'll come around." he said and left out the room after patting my shoulder. I sighed with relief happy that most of my family had accepted this. Now I had to deal with getting married without being caught and avoiding Rakes the whole time. Seeing him would only stress me out and that was something I knew I wouldn't need.
8888888
Author's notes
Sorry I've been away for a while but im going to be updating as much as I can enjoy!