*Author's Note*
Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing.
I was focused on getting Thrown Into McCoy's Feud wrapped up and near the end game so the chapter update for this kinda fell on the back burner. After getting the big chapter with the Election Day 1882 fight between Ellison and the McCoy boys up I finally got a chance to do this chapter.
Vera's face claim is Alicia Vikander (just like in my other story lol).
Shockingly Starting A Family
Novella POV:
After my little spat with Uncle Perry I felt stressed and upset. His words had a way of cuttin' a deep gash into my heart and soul. It hurt that he didn't trust my judgement, didn't believe that I found love and was happily starting a family. Okay, maybe happily startin' a family was a stretch since it was more like shockingly starting a family.
For most of the afternoon my efforts to get work done were unproductive, mostly due to my tense mood and my mind reeling. It's hard to do anything when your mind's elsewhere.
"You missed lunch, didn't take a break, so I brought ya somethin'." Moses told me as he entered my office in the late afternoon with a takeout bag and cup from the local diner 'round the corner.
Looking up from my computer screen I weakly smiled at my brother while telling him, "Thanks, Mo, but ya didn't have to do that."
While placing the takeout he got for me on my desk he said in his East Kentuckian accent, "Uh, after hearin' Uncle Perry bitch and moan at lunch, yea I did."
"Great…" I sarcastically sighed. I watched my brother take a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk as I seriously asked him, "So he told ya my big life changin' news then?"
"Yep." Moses popped his tongue. With a beaming smirk he told me, "Congrats on bein' knocked up and engaged."
"You're happy 'bout it?" I asked, taking the foam container out of the plastic bag it was in.
"Sure. I'm gonna be an uncle, plus I figured you'd marry Cap one day too." Mo smiled as I opened up the container, revealing a cheeseburger and crinkle fries.
"Thanks, at least you're acceptin'."
"Don't worry bout Uncle Perry. Just worry 'bout the Hatfields, they're very family oriented and loyal." Moses told me, literally spittin' at our uncle's name. Something went down with them, but what I don't know. Actually, I don't even think I really want to know.
Suddenly my phone started to ring, changing the atmosphere in the small room. My brother just shrugged while I grabbed he thing. The number wasn't listed in my phone, so I had no idea who was calling. Quickly I answered with a polite, "Hello."
"Hi, Novella, it's Mary Bray. I'm callin' cause Tolbert never came to pick up Sally Elle and you're listed on the pickup list and as an emergency contact." My old friend from high school and Sally Elle's pre-k teacher told me over the phone, her tone very sweet.
"Mary, I'm sorry to hear that he never showed to pick her up, but it's goin' on 2:45 and I don't get off work til 5." I honestly told her, hoping that my answer would placate her and she'd say goodbye to go call the next of kin on the pickup list.
"Oh, but couldn't you just pick her up and take her to the office for a while or maybe your uncle could let you leave early?" She asked, clearly not grasping onto the fact that I wasn't able to pick up Sally Elle and she needed to call up somebody else, like one of Tolbert's family members like Roseanna, Alifair, or Sally.
"Even if I could do that, I can't. Besides, I don't have a car. My boyfriend dropped me off at work, picks me up too when he gets off work."
"Oh, dear, I didn't know you were havin' car troubles. At least Tolbert's nice enough to do that for you." Of course Mary automatically assumed I was with Tolbert. Is it too hard to consider that I'm with somebody other then the ginger McCoy shiner?
"Tolbert's not doing anything for me. He's not my boyfriend." I flatly deadpanned into the phone causing my brother to stifle a laugh from his spot across from me.
"I just assumed he was. I'm sorry for that. If you don't mind, pray tell who is your boyfriend."
"ADA Cap Hatfield." I answered since I had nothing to hide. Christ, I was engaged to the man so I assume everyone would know bout us eventually.
"I'll call up Roseanna to pick up Sally Elle. Can't have her 'round your poor judgement. Goodbye." The pre-k teacher told me in a snippy tone before hanging up on me.
"Damn, she hung up on ya cause you're with Cap. Fuckin' priceless, I swear this town's nuts. Crazy hillbillies." Moses chuckled, shaking his head. Glad he found the incident amusing cause I didn't. He was right tho, town was full of crazy nutty hillbillies.
I just smiled at my brother, grabbed my cheeseburger, and took a large bite out of it. At least I got something good to eat for lunch, thanks to my little bro. Moses just gave me a thumbs up before rising from his chair and leaving my office, letting me eat and have some time to myself.
I was so glad to be done with work. I was ready to go home. God, my day felt so heavy and stifling. As I walked down the alleyway sidewalk behind my uncle's office on my way to the parking the fact that Sally Elle's pre-k teacher called me cause Tolbert never came to pick her up bothered me a tiny bit, itched at the back of my head. I don't know why, but it just edged its way under my skin. Tolbert doted on his daughter and always made sure if he couldn't get her then somebody else could. Him not makin' arrangements meant something came up last minute, but he's a shiner so it couldn't be that bad could it?
My thoughts were shaken from the pre-k stuff whenever I spotted Cap waiting for me in his black Ram truck. I saw a little cloud of smoke wafting out of his open window as I got closer to the truck. Even tho we'd just been carpooling for a few days now it felt so natural, like a routine we'd been doing for ages. With a few more clicks of my heels against the pavement I reached the passenger's side of the Ram.
"How was your day? Tell 'em in the office 'bout us?" Cap asked me, taking a drag off his smoke, as I slid into the truck after opening the door.
Closing the truck door I sighed, "I kinda had to tell everyone since I got a rock on my hand now."
"They know bout the baby?" Cap asked, quickly lookin' at me, before backing out of the parking lot.
"I told Uncle Perry and Moses, reckon Betty'll find out soon 'nough from my uncle." I revealed as Cap pulled up to the exit of the lot, flippin' on his blinker and waiting for clearance to pull onto the road. He should get it once the car that was goin' down the road passed by.
"How'd they take the news?" Cap asked, turnin' onto the road right after the red car we were waitin' for went by to give him clearance.
"My uncle's pissed, he thinks I need Tolbert to help me with the baby. My brother's cool with it, seemed supportive and happy to be an uncle."
"Perry's a prick." He spat before goin' on to say in his aggravated deep tone, "Tellin' ya to go to Tolbert when we're engaged."
Looking out the window and watching all the cars on the road, I told him in a flat, but flowing tone, "He thinks you're using me, that once the trial's over you're gonna leave me."
Cap shook his head, his shaggy blonde hair flittering slightly, and crinkled his nose in disgust. "He's wrong, dead fuckin' wrong."
"I know, I told him that." I assured my fiancé, my flowin' voice tinted with soft firmness, since I wanted him to be sure that I knew he'd continue to be good to me after the trial.
Before Cap could respond the sound of his cell phone ringing went off in the cab of the truck. He grabbed it from its spot on the dashboard and quickly answered with a simple, "Hey, pa."
I had no idea what Devil Anse was telling Cap, but it has to be bad since all he's doin' is noddin' his head along with mutterin' uh-huh a billion times. I couldn't help but feel a sinkin' feelin' in my chest. Somethin' was wrong, Cap wasn't actually talkin'. With every word he took in from his father his mismatched eyes widened, even darkened with hatred if that was possible, while his jaw locked down hard.
"Will do, pa." Cap said, his deep wavin' voice colder than the artic ocean, before he hung up his phone. He held the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip while looking over at me and saying, "Those McCoy bastards you're defendin's kidnapped my brother."
"What? How'd ya know it's them? It could be anybody, Johnse's a shiner."
"It's them bastard McCoys, babe. Johnse's cell signal's comin' from Harmon McCoy's old place. Only a few people know where that it."
"Jesus…but how'd ya'll find out?"
"Mira, my sister-in-law, got worried when Johnse never came home. Called up pa who had his tech guy do a lookout of the phone." Cap explained to me, his hand swiftly, but shakily, grabbin' his pack of cigerettes out of his front shirt pocket. "They plan on killin' him so that Johnse can't get no rights to his own kid." He revealed in a deep grumbled spat as he flipped open his pack and grabbed a smoke out of it, while steadily the steerin' wheel wit' his hands too. "Pa said they got word few days 'go that Perry Cline put a hit out on Johnse via Bad Frank." Cap told me after lighting up and taking his first drag. "I gotta pick up Skunk Hair. You'll be goin' with Vera to my folks' place."
I narrowed my cornflower blues at him and tilted my head while asking, "Why, what're ya'll plannin' on doin'?"
"Doin' what my pa needs me to do to get Johnse back." Cap answered, his deep rollin' timbre havin' a cold deadly edge to it.
"And what is that, Cap? Go riding into the middle of the backwoods Kentucky with guns blazin'?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm to my flowin' voice as we were speeding down the highway.
"I ain't goin' alone. Pa, Uncle Jim, Skunk Hair, Lias, Selkirk and a bunch of other guys from the mill's goin' so I ain't in any danger."
But in that moment, it wasn't him I felt that was going to be facing danger, it was actually Tolbert. Deep down I had the gut feeling that if anything where to happen to his brother that Cap would be on the warpath. I wasn't sure how far Cap would go if Johnse was hurt or killed, but I knew that Tolbert would feel his anger.
What I felt for Cap was fear. Not for his safety, but for his soul. I can't imagine what Devil Anse's plan was, but somehow, I knew it was a morally comprising one.
Cap took his right hand off the steerin' wheel and reached over, grabbing mine in his. He looked at me, hidin' his worry behind a stone-slab expression. Giving me a tight smile, he assured me in his deep rolling timbre, "Babe, don't worry bout it. I'll be fine and my brother's gonna come home alive."
I just nodded at him, returning his tight smile with one of my own. "I know, baby." Truthfully, I didn't know and felt a bit nervous and scared bout the situation. I didn't know how things would turn out, there was a chance that somethin' could go wrong and Cap, Johnse, or somebody else could get hurt especially since Tolbert was an unpredictable hot-head.
Right after entering West Virginia, Cap raced down a few roads til we came to a dirt road with small houses and trailers scattered on it. We came to a quick stop in front of a modest singlewide trailer, complete with a little wooden porch. I saw that Skunk Hair, who still looked like he did a decade ago, was sitting on the porch with his fiancé Vera. They were waiting for us.
"Love ya, baby." Cap pecked me on the lips after I took my seatbelt off.
"Love ya too, Cap." I replied, a hint of a smile on my lips, before reaching to grab the door handle of the truck.
As I opened the door he told me with well-being in his deep wavin' voice, "Vera's nice, ride to the house won't be long either so don't worry bout nothin'."
I just silently nodded my head and got out of the truck. I kept the door open instead of shuttin' it since Skunk Hair was gonna be ridin' with Cap. I started my trek down the driveway path to the front porch of the Wallace house as Skunk Hair and his slim brunette fiancé stepped off the porch. Vera made her way over to her car while Skunk Hair was marching my was with Winchesters in each hand. I knew what those rifles were for. Made me inwardly cringe too knowin' that one was for my man while the other was for his friend to use on my ex and his brothers in order to save his kidnapped brother.
As I crossed paths with Skunk Hair he just gave me a polite nod as a greeting gesture. I returned the gesture in kind before we continued on our paths, mine to the car Vera had just entered and him to the truck Cap was jittery waiting in. In a few moments we both reached our vehicles. I opened the passenger's side door and looked over my shoulder only to see Skunk Hair place the rifles into the large Ram truck before getting into it. Before he even had his door shut good Cap was takin' off down the street, tires burning rubber marks onto the road.
"Hey, Nova right?" Vera asked me with a bright smile as soon as I sat down in the car and shut the door.
With a nod I replied with, "Yep, that's me, and you're Vera?"
"Mhm." She let out, putting the car into gear and backing up. As soon as we pulled onto the road she eyed my left hand and asked, "So, Cap put a ring on it then?"
"Oh, yea, he did." I said, soundin' a bit nervous and off guard, as I looked between her and the diamond on my left ring finger.
"That's good. Was it a romantic proposal or did he just toss ya a box and ask to get married?"
"Neither, we decided to get engaged cause he knocked me up."
Vera let out a giggle while remarkin', "A baby and a ring, talk 'bout a two for one special." I didn't say anythin', just let out a little giggle of my own. Her comment was a tad bit funny, I had to admit that. Vera's face went a bit slack and serious and she looked over at me and remarked, "Now that ya'll got a baby on the ways is Cap bein' Devil Anse's lieutenant for the arms dealin' bother or worry ya?"
Holy shit, Devil Anse really was in the gun smugglin' biz and my fiancé was his right hand?! Sonuva bitch lied to me, lied right to my face bout this shit. What else is Cap lyin' bout, huh? Well, since I didn't want Vera to know she told me somethin' she wasn't supposed to I kept a pokerface on and bit my lip to keep myself from lashin' out.
"I haven't thought bout it, we just found out that I'm pregnant and got engaged cause it's what's best for the baby."
"I'm sure Cap'll protect ya'll, won't let no harm befall you or the baby." Vera said in a sweet reassurin' tone as we drove to the large Hatfield house off one of the winding mountainous roads of West Virginia.
"I know." I simply said since there wasn't much else for me to say. "So, how did you and Skunk Hair get together?" I asked, changin' the subject in hopes of lighter talk on our way to our destination.
Vera's face lit up, shining brighter then a star, as she went into great detail on the story bout how she met her Tom aka Skunk Hair Wallace.
Cap POV:
I don't know how long we were ridin' in silence for with just the sound of country music on the radio as a buffer before it was broken by my best friend openin' up his mouth with the remark of, "Think Vera and Nova are gettin' 'long?"
"Yea." I nodded my head. Lookin' at him real quick 'fore returnin' my eyes back to the road I added, "Both of them are nice and need a friend."
"Oh, that's a nice thing t'say bout our women." Skunk Hair sarcastically chuckled, slightly shakin' his white streaked dark-haired head.
"It's true, they don't got many friends." I shrugged, pullin' my pack of smokes from my shirt pocket. Taking one out and lighting it up I told him, "Least mine don't and she's gonna need a best friend now that we're engaged and expectin'." I took my first drag off my smoke, waitin' to hear my best friends reaction.
"What? Cap, when'd that happen?" Skunk Hair asked, lookin' over at me as he took a drag off his own smoke.
"We got engaged today, got pregnant when we made up few weeks 'go." I told my best friend as I turned down a back road that'd get us to Mouthcard quicker.
"Guess both of us'll be walkin' down the aisle soon."
"Yea, all you and Vera need's a baby and we'll be all set." I chuckled, pointin' my cigarette at him before taking a puff off it.
"I'll let ya have the baby first." Skunk Hair chuckled, shakin' his head at me. "So, Moses got us the location where them McCoy bastards are holdin' Johnse?" He asked, takin' a drag and then flickin' some ashes out of his window.
"Yep." I popped my tongue. While tipping my own ashes out the window I went on to say, "Pa says he told him they've holed up in Mouthcard. The address is Harmon McCoy's old place."
"Jesus, they weren't smart takin' him there."
Never met a smart McCoy, never will either. "Skunk Hair, they're McCoys of course they ain't gonna be smart."
"Does your girl know what her brother does for us? What ya do, what we all do for Anse?" I was asked by my best friend as he gave me a curious and scrutinizing look, burnin' his eyes into the side of my head.
"No…" I sighed out, lettin' my single word answer linger in the air like freshly sprayed Pumpkin Spice Febreeze. God, my entire house smelled like that shit too anymore since Nova loved it. Yea, she was one of those girls that went crazy over pumpkin shit as soon as September 1rst hit. Something I quickly discovered as soon as she started to stay with me.
"Well, bet my balls Vera's already gone and told her." Skunk Hair let out in a knowin' chuckle, givin' me a pointed look.
Taking a long drag, feeling the smoke fill my lungs and pass out my lips, I sighed, "I'm gonna have to talk to her, explain shit and come clean 'bout bein' my pa's lieutenant in the arms side business once Johnse's home safe."
Skunk Hair tossed his cigarette butt out the window, then rolled it up. "Reckon so unless ya want a bunch of lies breakin' up your family."
I took my last drag off my smoke before tossin' the butt out the window. While pressin' the button on the door and rollin' u the window I remarked, "Skunk Hair, from how ya acted last month to now 'bout Nova's a complete 360. What changed, man?"
"You're my best friend and she makes ya happy. Can't dislike the woman that tamed ya, makes ya wanna be a family man and's makin' a pa outta ya."
His answer made perfect sense. I just nodded my head, thankin' him for his friendship and support. I pressed my foot a bit harder on the gas pedal, causin' the truck to go faster. The sooner we saved Johnse the better for all of us.
And if my brother couldn't be saved then I was gonna personally toss all them McCoy boys into the wood chipper, startin' with Tolbert himself.
AN:
Next up will be rescuing Johnse along with Cap and Nova's heated discussion bout his role in Devil Anse's business plus some other stuff. The high school reunion and the jury selection stuff should be coming up soon in a couple more chapters too.