I DO NOT OWN HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF RAPE AND SUCIDE, READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Spring, 1879. Pike County, Kentucky.

As it always tended to do, Jedidiah Graham's past came back to bite him in the ass. He had gone into town in order to buy a present for Alifair. Jed felt as though he was finally ready to ask Randall McCoy to give him Alifair's hand in marriage. He had courted her for a few months now and they were madly in love. He had found a very pretty scarf at the market. It was green which was Alifair's favorite color. As he made his way back to the McCoy home, he dismounted his horse and saw a wagon out front. He was surprised as he went inside and saw the entire McCoy family in the kitchen along with Perry Cline. The menfolk looked angry while the womenfolk looked distressed. The worst part of all was seeing Alifair bawling her eyes out.

"Alifair?" Jed asked nervously as he looked around the room at everyone. "What is going on?" Mr. McCoy looked at Perry Cline who slid a piece of paper towards Jed who picked it up. His heart sank as he saw that it was a wanted poster with his face on it.

WANTED FOR MUDRER: DEAD OR ALIVE

JEDIDIAH ABEL GRAHAM

$250 FOR THE BODY, $500 FOR HIS CAPTURE AND RETURN TO NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

"Where did ya get this?" Jed asked, looking at Perry's smug face.

"I wanted to know exactly who my cousin was allowing to come into our family." Perry replied. "So, I did a little digging around and one of my law associates in Louisville was kind enough to send me a copy."

"Ya came into my house, sat at my table...all the while knowing that ya done killed a man in cold blood!" McCoy spat.

"It weren't like dat!" Jed exclaimed. "Will ya even give me a chance to explain myself?" Randall was quiet for a moment, then nodded.

"Do so, then." Jed took a look at Alifair as he cleared his throat.

"Ya know how ya told me that the Hatfields were da law on the other side o' da river?" He asked. "Well, back in Nashville, we had our own Hatfields: The Prestons. The Preston family has everyone in the city in they pocket: lawmen, judges, officer holders, the Tennessee militia, even the damn governor of the state. Uriah Preston was the Devil Anse of Nashville, Whatever he wanted, he got...no matter who he hurt or who he helped." Jed thought back about what had happened to his family.

Nashville, Tennessee. 2 years ago.

Jed was at home, smoking a pipe on a calm night when he saw his sister running up to their estate. She was sobbing and her dress was ripped.

"Jess...what happens to ya?" He asked as he embraced her.

"It was ol' man Preston who done it." She wailed. Jess proceeded to tell Jed how he had persuaded her to come to his elegant home to discuss their father, who was not doing well financially at the time. Once there, he had violently raped her.

"He took advantage...of me..." Jess sobbed as Jed cursed the entire Preston family.

"We won't let them get away with dis." He swore. "We will have satisfaction for this wrong." Once ol' man Graham was told what had happened, he took Uriah Preston to court. As always though, the jury was in his pocket and he was acquitted.

"It destroyed her." Jed said on the verge of tears. "Her reputation was ruined, suitors stopped coming round, and her rapist was free ta walk the streets a free man." "My God." Sally McCoy said as the entire family was shocked. The little ones had been sent to their rooms long ago.

"Then...a couple months after the trial...I found Jess..." He said as he broke down. "She done hung herself wit the scarf our mother had made fer her." The sight of Jess hanging from a tree haunted him to this day.

"No..." Randall said with widened eyes. He felt for Jed, if any man had raped his daughters, he would be a dead man.

"After I cut her down...I rode over to the Preston home...and I killed Uriah dead. I stabbed him so many times I done lost count." Jed admitted. "After I realize what I done...I ran to my pa. He told me to get out of Nashville or get hanged."

"What happened to ya pa?" Tolbert asked.

"After the body was found, Uriah's eldest son Billy Joe formed a posse to hunt me down." He explained. "They went to my home...they torched it...and...and they lynched my pa...on the same tree that Jess had hung herself on!" The memory of watching his father die stuck with Jed.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard o' yours!" Billie Joe had sworn as Mr. Graham had swung from the tree.

"That damn savage!" Mr. McCoy swore as he kicked his chair over.

"He and his posse have been chasing me from Nashville to Pulaski to Louisville; and it's only a matter o' time before they come here." Jed told them.

"Ya can't leave!" Alifair cried as she threw herself at him.

"If that animal sets foot on our land, I'll blow his god damn brains out!" Tolbert insisted as Randall embraced Jed.

"I don't blame ya fer what ya done." He assured the young man. "Ya done right by ya sister and ya kin."

"We ain't running ya off." Sally added. Jed was crying like a baby. He was filled with so many feelings that he was overwhelmed. The only problem was that Jed was right...it was only a matter of time before Billy Joe Preston and his posse made it to the Tug River.

JED'S PAST HAS BEEN REVEALED! WILL THE POSSE COME TO PIKE COUNTY? REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.

FACE CLAIMS

JESS GRAHAM- NATALIA DYER

BILLY JOE PRESTON- DACRE MONTGOMERY

OL' MAN GRAHAM- MATTHEW MODINE

URIAH GRAHAM- WILLEM DAFOE