*Author's Note*

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Dinner With The Hatfields Pt.2

Novella POV:

The way the Hatfields served and ate dinner was very different them how the McCoys did. Of course, both families set the table before calling everyone to sit down at the table, had pitchers and bottles of various drinks on the table for people to pour into their glasses too. The Hatfields didn't place serving dishes and bowls of sides onto the table, having everyone pass it around the table and scoop it onto their plates, like the McCoys did during dinner. Instead the Hatfield women all grabbed a pot, myself included, and walked around the table plopping a large spoonful on every plate. It felt like an assembly line almost in a way. After plopping the sides onto the plates, us ladies took our respective seats. Mine was next Cap, who was at the end of the table, with Johnse sitting on my other side. Jim Vance was across from me since he was on the other side of Cap, Cotton was next to him. Scattered along the table were the Hatfield children, Cotton, and Lias. Devil Anse sat at the head of the table with his wife and his judge brother flanking his sides.

I quickly learned as soon as I began to cut myself some ham that the Hatfield family were very loud and talkative around the table, unlike the McCoys. I didn't mind, actually it felt normal to be sitting at a table with people pitching in on one conversation without fear of being yelled at or tossed out.

Then my worst nightmare happened, the case got brought up.

"Ya'll know that this week the lotto style drawings for the jury's happening. They should get their letters informing them to report for duty by end of next week." Wall told everyone at the table as he filled his glass with a bottle of shine. Wonder if it's Johnse's homemade shit?

"So, Wall, trial starts next month." Devil Anse stated, looking over at his brother, as he stabbed some food with his fork.

"Yes. First's the jury selection and confirmation then a few days later the trial."

"Hell, this is gonna be one quick trial." Cap smirked before eating some ham.

"How you feel bout all this, little lady?" Wall asked me, clearly wanting to hear my input.

"Fine. It is what it is." I simply said before eating a spoonful of potatoes.

"Is that so?" the judge asked , a hidden smirk laced in his deeply accented timbre.

"Yep." Popped off my tongue, earning me a nod from Judge Wall.

"What do you think 'bout the case?" Devil Anse asked me, a brow raised as he have me his chill rattling stare.

"Devil Anse, do you want the answer I'm supposed to say or the answer I honestly want to give?"

He took a sip from his glass of milk, yea weird that the devil likes milk, before answering me with, "I'd like your honest answer, if you will."

"Fine. Then I think the self-defense plea is bullshit and overexaggerated. No way in hell's 26 stab wounds and a gut shot by a magnum self-defense. I'm stuck on the case, my fault for jumping when my uncle begged for help before getting all the details." I told him between cutting and eating some of the ham that was on my plate.

"But you still plan on representin' the boys." The patriarch of the Hatfield clan accused me before roughly biting off a piece of his dinner roll.

"It's my job." I reminded the stubborn old goat as I grabbed my glass, full of sweet- tea. Before taking a drink of the tea I told him, and everyone else at the table, "I don't know how I'm going to do it tho, since evidence is stacked against them."

"You know we want to see them pay with their lives." The devil stated, giving me a hard stare that would make Medusa's gaze look arm and fuzzy, as I placed my glass back down on the table.

"I know that." I wasn't stupid. Sheesh, did Devil Anse take me for an idiot?

"Pa, I was thinking of having the jury decide the final option between death or life in prison." Cap told his father before tearing into a large piece of sliced ham.

"What?" Devil Anse snarled, his head looking like it was going to spin off like that girl's did in the Exorcist. Yea, that's how mad he looked.

"Makes sense, Anse." Wall told his younger brother, making the stoic man turn his attention to the judge. Wall took a sip of his drink shine before going on to explain, "Doesn't make Cap look like the bad guy and it doesn't put a strain on him and the little lady's relationship outside of the courtroom."

"Anse, no way a jury'll give them McCoys life in prison. Crime was too heinous." Jim assured his nephew brother between chewing on a piece of ham. And when I saw chewing I mean the eat was rolling around in his open mouth as he talked. Dear lord I had to sit across from that…

"Anderson…" Levicy warned her husband in a long twangy tone, cutting him a look as she scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"You been a lawyer long, little lady?" Judge Wall asked me as a way to direct the subject of the conversation to something else.

"Been one for four years now." I answered before eating some of my food.

"She used to work for Cumbers & Brown back in Baltimore." Cap quickly added in, his deep rolling tone holding pride in it.

"You don't say, why that's quite a firm to be hired into as a greenhorn." The judge told me as an impressed look marred his salt and pepper full bearded face.

"I didn't do much there, worked under other lawyers so…" I remarked, down playing how prestigious of a firm I had been at back east.

"No wonder Cap got wit'cha, ya'll share a brain with that lawyerin' stuff." Lias told me, a small chuckle and a grin emerging from him once his sentence was done.

"I reckon you became a lawyer cause of your uncle." Devil Anse remarked, his blue eyes hard and cold on me.

"Yes. I worked as his file clerk every summer since I was 12 or 13 so I guess I just took a liking to being in a law office."

"You went to Louie-Ville too like Perry Cline, didn't ya?" The devil asked, a know it all tone in his coarse voice.

"Yes, I did." I was proud of having gone to college at my uncle's alma mater. It as a good school, I made a lot of memories and friends there too.

"Majored in criminal justice I reckon." Devil Anse said before eating a forkful of beans.

"No, you're only half right there. I double majored in criminal justice and minored in English, well specifically the subject of 19th century literature." I remarked, causing Devil Anse's jaw to twitch as he ate his dinner.

"Oh, ain't ya a smart one." Jim chuckled before pointing his fork towards Cap and bragging, "Hell, your boy Cap majored in criminal justice and minored in political science." Politics? Really, Cap minored in that? Wow, never would've pegged him as the type. Yet again he didn't look like the lawyer type either.

"My wife took some class at a community college for somethin'." Johnse piped up before taking a long swig of his flask. Sheesh, he needs to lay off his homebrew a bit.

"A stripper gettin' her GED ain't nothin' to brag bout." Jim chuckled, rolling his eyes at Johnse.

"Well, Nova, how do you like bein' back home in the hills after being gone for so long?" Levicy asked me, ending all talk about the law in a split second. Praise Jesus, a normal subject.

So, for the rest of dinner and desert all talk was anything, but legal. And to my delight everyone liked the pie. Devil Anse even complimented me on it too. Eating with this family wasn't that bad, all in all.

Cap POV:

While Nova helped my ma and sisters wash up the dishes and put away the leftovers my pa invited me outside on the porch for a smoke with him. I knew his reasonin' behind it, to talk to me bout Nova and our relationship. We were sitting on rockers, side by side, watching the sun go down and the moon rise up. Pa was puffin' on his pipe while I had my cigar. He turned his head and looked at me sternly while saying, "Nova's a nice girl. Smart and polite."

"I know she is, pa." I agreed, noddin' as I blew out a ring of smoke.

"Where do you plan on takin' this, son?" He asked, his pipe bobbing up and down in the corner of his mouth.

I took a quick drag off my smoke before answering with, "Takin' it all the way down the road of a serious future."

"Cap, son, I didn't raise ya to be a fool." Pa sighed, taking his pipe out of his mouth. Pointing it between us he told me in a coarse but expressive tone, "We both know that as much as you may want it ya'll can't have no serious an' real future together."

I shook my head incredulously. My lone icy eye locked onto my pa as I spat in a half-snigger, "Jesus, pa, ya still don't approve even when ma, Jim, Cotton, and just 'bout everyone else approves of her? Hell, even you said that she's nice."

"Just cause they approve and she's nice don't mean she's for you." He told me in a clipped tone. Before I could object he told me, "Look son, ya can carry on with her for the length of the trial. She can be useful to us. After that tho I expect you to end it, let her go back to her own."

"I ain't endin' it with her, pa, and I won't use her either in the trial. I won't play on her feelin's for me, make her screw up her case."

"Hmm…" Pa sighed, sticking his pipe back in his mouth. "Well, ya know that Nancy girl ya went with in high school's widowed now." Good for her. Not like I care, she didn't mean nothin' to me anyays. "Maybe you can catch up with her and see how she's doin'." Pa suggested, givin' me a look that portrayed his approval of the raven haired girl I fucked 'round with in high school.

"No, I got Nova." I firmly told my pa, my deep voice loud and firm. "I don't give a shit bout Nancy." I informed him as I blew out a ring of smoke.

"Cause you're hung up on Nova." Pa spat, rolling his eyes at me, as I flicked some ashes off my cigar.

"Pa, I can't help how I feel 'bout her. I get her and she gets me. I ain't ever endin' it cause I never want to be done with her."

"You in love with her, son?" Pa asked me, giving me a pointed knowin' stare, as a brow rose up to his hairline. I just remained silent, kept a straight and hard look on my face. My pa was trying to talk me out of being with Nova so I sure in hell wasn't gonna be tellin' him how deep my feelin's ran for her. Shit, I didn't even tell her anything remote to I love you, but she didn't need to her it. Hell, she'd run the other way if I was the type of man to voice up those three little words. She knew how deep my feelin's ran just by how I treated her and vise versa. Pa just sighed, knowing he wasn't getting an answer out of me. A sympathetic look crossed his face momentarily before he told me, "Son, I don't think she's a bad person, but I can't condone you with her."

I wasn't going to sit 'round and listen to my pa bad mouth my girl and try to change my mind on her. I picked her and nothing's gonna change that. "I think it's time for me to say goodbye to everyone, get Nova, and go home." I announced as I stood up from my rockin' chair. Before pa could say anythin' I walked over to the door and went inside.

Novella POV:

After Cap came inside from having a smoke with his daddy out on the front porch he wanted to go home. Oh lordy, he was in a mood too. His stone-cold face was a mask he was hiding his anger behind, but I could pick out his emotion by the deep rumble his waving voice held and by the way he tightly curled his fists by his sides. Something was said between him and the devil, about me no doubt, that pissed him off. After saying goodbye to the Hatfield clan, we left the house and got into my car.

Silently we pulled away from his parents' house, the only sound being made being the music coming out of the stereo speakers. After a few minutes of silently riding down the road I spoke up over the radio with the remark of, "So, Devil Anse still disapproves of me? Is that why we left first?"

"Don't worry bout it, you'll win pa over soon 'nough." Cap assured me, puffing on his cigar. Yea, he took it with us instead of stubbing it out and leaving it at his parents'.

"I doubt that." I sing-songed out in a long sigh, slightly shaking my head. Devil Anse seemed like a hard man to impress. If a saint like Roseanna couldn't do it then how could I, what made me so special?

"Babe, I'm with you and nothin's gonna change that. Pa'll either come 'round like the rest of the family or he don't and he loses out. Ma seems to like ya, so she'll work to soften his hard-heart."

"Yea…" I sighed only to go on to say, "Cap, maybe we're goin' way too fast. Last Sunday we agreed to casual and no labels til after the trial and fast forward a week later to today and I'm meeting your entire family. You're still getting into a spat with your pa over us too. It's too much."

"What're ya sayin'? You wanna break up with me or somethin'?" Cap asked, his voice hitching up, as he looked over at me with his brows raised over his wide mismatched-eyes.

"No, I don't want to do that." I said, quickly assuring him that I wasn't looking for a way out of our relationship. "I'm just pointing out that we're acting more serious then we agreed to be last week."

"Oh well, reckon we're serious then." Cap shrugged, flicking some of his cigar ashes out the window. Looking between me and he road he asked, "Does that bother ya? Us bein' more serious then we're supposed to be."

"Honestly it should, but it doesn't." I revealed, admitting the truth not just to him, but to myself too.

"Guess you're my girlfriend then." He chuckled, taking a long drag off his cigar.

I smiled at him while playfully saying, "Guess so, boyfriend."

"You know, baby, ya needa tell Perry Cline and the McCoys 'bout us." And there goes our small happy moment flying out the window. Yep, he ruined it…

"Cap…you know why I can't do that…they won't understand and they hate you…" I rambled, my usually flowing voice trembling and spiking all over the place in a high pitched and flustered tone.

He wasn't accepting my flabbergasted excuses though. Cap's voice was steady and profound, reminding of ocean waves hitting the shore, as he told me, "I don't want to be your dirty little secret, Nova. After the trial you have to tell them we're together."

"Okay." I agreed even though I had no idea if I even wanted to tell the Kentuckians that I was with Cap. Admitting it out loud, revealing it, would make it concrete. Would also lose me a lot of friends and kin too.

Before Cap could utter another word, my cell phone went off. I grabbed my phone out of my bag, letting out a long sigh as I read the name flashing on the caller-id. "Who is it?" Cap asked, looking between my phone and the road for a split second.

"Tolbert." I simply answered, staring wide eyed at my iPhone in my hand.

Cap just rolled his eyes while muttering, "Reckon ya oughta see what the bastard wants. I swear if he upsets ya tho I'm going to his house and whoopin' his ass."

"Will, don't be that kinda guy." I told him in a warning tone, earning me a simple nod. I took a deep breath before swiping the green button on my phone and answering with a simple, "Hi, Tolbert, what're you calling for?"

"Was wonderin' if yer still takin' Sally Elle t'her first day of Pre-K wit' me. She's 'cited bout it, ya know." Tolbert answered in his velvety timbre.

Shit-fuck! I totally forgot I agreed to help Tolbert bring his cute as a button daughter to Mrs. Bray's Pre-K class for her first day tomorrow. Crap, I've been so busy with Cap that it slipped my mind. "Yea, I'll still help you bring her to class. Since I'm an hour away I'll just meet ya'll at the school."

"But, Ella, I think it'd be easier if ya come ov'r t'my place an' we ride t'getha."

"I got work to do on your case tomorrow so I can't be away from the office for too long. Meeting you and Sally Elle at Pikeville Elementary's better and easier for me."

"There ya go 'gain, only thinkin' of yerself." Tolbert gruffly grumbled.

"Don't go there, Tolbert." I seethed, my voice floing voice slightly hitching in aggravation, before going on to say, "I said I'd help you bring her to school since she likes me and I know her teacher. I never agreed to ride with ya'll."

"Ella…I think we need to have a talk bou-" Tolbert began til I abruptly cut him off with, "We'll talk tomorrow, Tolbert. I'm on my way back to where I'm staying from having gone out for dinner." Before Tolbert could protest or concede I simply told him, "Bye."

"He's using his kid to try and get into your pants." Cap bluntly told me right after I hung up my phone and tossed it back into my purse, that was on the floorboard next to my feet.

I shook my head at Cap before telling him, "No, he's not. How could you say that?"

"Yes he is." Cap told me as he let some smoke waft out of his lips. Before he stuck his cigar back into his mouth he said, "He wants you to feel sorry for him and his kid. He thinks if you get attached to the girl you'll get with him.".

"No, he just needs help with his daughter. Tolbert's ex-wife ran off years ago with an accountant and Sally Elle doesn't take well to women. She likes me, plus I'm working his case so the least I can do is help him." I explained in depth as I picked at my fraying jean covered knee.

"Holy hell, he named his kid after both you and his mama?" Cap asked, his jaw dropped, before scoffing, "Jesus, that man needs therapy." Cap tipped some cigar ashes out his window while telling me, "Normal people don't go 'round namin' their kid after an ex. Shit, I know I wouldn't be namin' a kid after Nancy."

"Nancy? Who's she, your first love?" I asked, a bit curious to learn about whoever this girl was that Cap brought up.

"No, just a girl I fucked in Logan High before movin' to Tazewell." He bluntly answered me with a straight honest look on his rugged face.

"Oh, well isn't that sweet of you to say." I sarcastically remarked, rolling my eyes at the man driving.

"Babe, I ain't gonna lie and make it out to be somethin' it's not. It was just horny teenaged sex." Cap told me, his deep waving tone having a dead seriousness to it. He looked over at me with softness tinting his mismatched eyes. "You know I haven't felt the way I do 'bout ya for anyone else before."

"I know, Will. I think the same goes for me too. The feelings run real deep." That scared the shit out of me though. Out of all the people I've met over the years Cap's the one that I grew attached to, developed deep rooted feelings for. I should be fighting them, trying to push them away, but I'm not.

AN:

Sorry that Devil Anse is leery of Nova and basically tried to break her and Cap up, but no way is he going to warm up to her after one dinner. It's just not Anse Hatfield's way. Cap's still not going to obey daddy, he's still picking Novella. Oh, Tolbert's in the next chapter. He's not giving up on his Ella just yet. Nancy and Bad Frank are in the next chapter too.