*Author's Note*

Thank you for the reviews, faves, and follows.

There's a small time jump from the last chapter to this one. Sorry it took a bit to get out. It's a filler…I got a bit wrapped up with writing for The Long Road Down (Modern AU Hatfields&McCoys story so sorry this took a while to get out.

Turnin' 17, Happy Harvest Err Birthday!

Novella POV:

The summer, as hot and harsh as hades, passed by and now it was harvest time. Since I was due in a couple of months or so I couldn't really do a whole lot, but I still went out in the fields to try and help. I mostly gathered the crop bundles Tolbert made and placed them in the wagon. My back ached, whether from workin' in the field of my pregnancy I wasn't sure, as I picked up a bundle causin' me to groan and place my hand on my back.

"Ya can rest ov'r on the cart, darlin'." Tolbert pointed towards said cart with the sickle in his hand. Before slicing another corn stalk down he added, "Yer gettin' too far 'long t'be workin' the fields."

"Tolbert, if I don't help ya who will?" I rhetorically asked, tyin' up bundles, 'fore goin' on to say, "All of your brothers are workin' your parents' fields."

My husband sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "I know. Just don't want ya overtirin' yerself's all."

"I'm fine, Tolbert." I assured my husband while pickin' up the stalks that he tossed on the ground, a bit slowly since I was waddlin' a bit due to my size.

"Ya wanna go t'town t'morraw for yer birthday? See yer uncle an' brother for a bit?" Tolbert asked me, wipin' his brow with the back of his work worn hand as he walked over to a patch of corn that needed cuttin'.

"Yea, I'd like that." I squeaked out, beandin' down and tyin' up bushels of stalks.

"Sun's gettin' worse." Tolbert noted as he walked over to some more corn rows that were twice his size in height. Bendin' down to slice them, while lookin' at me over his soulder, he pressed, "Ya oughtta rest, Ella."

"Fine, I'll go sit down and rest if it'll shut you up and make ya happy." I conceded with a sigh 'fore headin' over to the cart that was a bit filled with a few bundles of crops.

Tolbert just nodded as he cut down crops with his handle sickle. I took a seat on the cart, watchin' my husband work while restin'. After a while I joined Tolbert 'gain, helpin' him harvest the crops.

Between my work in the fields and my pregnancy I was exhausted, but I was making dinner despite feeling a bit poorly. As I cubed up meat for a stew Tolbert sat in one of the sittin' chairs in the livin' room, knockin' back swigs of his flask. He was exhausted, considerin' he did most of the work. Right as I placed the meat into the cook pot my husband asked me in his velvety gruff timbre, "What ya want for yer birthday 'morra?"

"You don't gotta get me nothin', Tolbert. Last year's locket was 'nough for then an' now." I waved off his offer, mostly cause I didn't want to hear him grumble 'bout wastin' money, as I walked over to the small barrel that we kept potatoes in.

"Yer givin' me a baby in a month or so, think ya deserve a birthday present, darlin'." Tolbert chuckled, a grin of his face, as he held his flask mid-air.

"Maybe a dime novel, somethin' new to read." I answered, bringing the couple of potatoes in my hands over to the cuttin' board on and knife set up on my counter.

"Ya an' yer books. Don't know why ya like readin' so much."

"It passes the time, Tolbert." I explained as I began to cube up one of the potatoes.

"Playin' checkers can do that too, Ella." Tolbert and his damn checkers. I swear I loathed that game, only thin' he ever wanted to do. That man could play for hours upon hours. Drove me nuts…

"I know, but I like readin'."

"Yea, prolly cause yer uncle pushed it on ya so much." Tolbert scoffed, takin' a swig from his half-empty flask. "My son ain't gonna be stickin' his nose in books all day. No…He's gonna work by my side, know 'nough letters and numbers t'get by as I do."

"So, you wouldn't let our boy go to school, better himself in a trade or college?" I asked, turnin' to look at my husband with a look of questionin' disbelief on my face.

"No. He can farm an' shine like me an' my poppy an' my gran'pappy 'fore me." Tolbert declared 'tween guzzlin' down his whiskey.

"Oh..." I trailed off, instantly feelin' bad for my unborn son's future. If he was anythin' like me and my uncle he'd be interested in the law and want educated in it.

"By time Tol's three he's gonna be plantin' seed in the fields."

"WHAT?!" I shouted in utter shock and horror, not believin' what I had just heard.

"Ya heard me, woman. He's gonna work, jus' as I did. My boy ain't gonna turn out a soft phil'nderin' mama's boy like Johnse Hatfield. Playin' an' chasin' skirts, borrowin' money t'live. No, my son's gonna be a hard workin' man like me." Tolbert ranted as I grabbed some carrots from their storage bin, bringin' them over to the cuttin' board.

"I know a boy can't be smothered, but three's a bit young t'be workin' a field." I voiced up, pickin' up my parryin' knife and slicin' a carrot.

"Ain't too young, just a way of life." My husband stated his view, matter-o-factly, before pointin' his glass bottle at me and sneerin', "If ya want yer boy t'grow up a spoilt sissy-boy then maybe ya should've done gone an' married that fog-eyed Hatfield. He sure do got eyes for ya, even tho yer my wife."

Why would Tolbert say such a thing 'bout Cap? Dear lord, seein' me talk briefly with him durin' the 4th of July celebration a couple months 'go really messed with his head.

"Tolbert, you're talkin' nonsense now." And he really was. There was no ground for his accusations to stand on, drunken fool. "Maybe you should put down the bottle an' have a cup of coffee, sober up some."

"I'm sober 'nough, darlin'. Just worry 'bout makin' supper."

I hope and pray he's nicer tomorrow for my birthday. I hate his mood swings, crazy drunk bastard. I love the man, but a part of me wishes that I would've chosen the path of bein' a lonely washed up old maid. At least then I'd be able to work in my uncle's law office, doin' somethin' I was good at. Seemed I wasn't too good at bein' a wife. My mouth always got me in trouble, I just didn't know how to watch my tongue 'round my husband. I couldn't be like Sally was with Ole Rand'l, sadly that how Tolbert felt a wife should act. Obedient an' not very vocal or opinionated, just a sweet housekeeper to cook, clean, an' have babies.

Perhaps in time, after a few more birthdays pass, I'll be a better wife and be able to be more compliant. Right now tho I just had to bite my tongue and cook dinner cause I didn't want to deal with a half-drunk Tolbert yellin' at me.

I love my husband, but he's a pain in the ass. Hard to love too…why couldn't he be easier to love?

I was so excited whenever Tolbert pulled up to my uncle's house. Besides it bein' my 17th birthday I was able to visit with Uncle Perry and Moses. Oh, I missed them so much. Seein' them once a week on Sunday just wasn't enough.

Tolbert got out of the wagon first before helpin' me down. "I'm gonna get ya somethin' from the general store. I won't be long." Tolbert told me before takin' off down the road, leavin' me by the white picket fence surroundin' my uncle's house.

Even tho I told him yesterday I didn't need a gift he was still gonna buy me somethin'. I just shook my head before walkin' inside the fence, up the path, and onto the front porch of the house. I knocked on the door only for it to be opened a moment later. "Come in, dear. Happy birthday." Uncle Perry smiled, steppin' aside so I could enter. "Where's Tolbert?" He asked, shuttin' the door once I was inside.

"Adam's, he's getting' me somethin'." I simply told my uncle, standin' in front of him with my arms slack 'gainst my side.

With me in my simple sage dress and my uncle in his three-piece suit complete with silk ribbon bow tie we looked like polar opposites. One'd never guess I was raised by him, wit' money and nice things, by how I looked now. My hair messily pulled back, a bit greasy from the lack of hairsoap, made me look like any other backwoods girl. Uncle Perry clearly looked like he belonged in town wit' his cut an' styled hair, slightly rolled curled on the sides behind his ears. Oh, how I looked an' felt like a run down hillbilly now.

"Oh, of course he'd wait until today to do that…" Uncle Perry scoffed, his slick voice full of scorn, as he rolled his eyes. His eye roll was very exaggerated too, for dramatic flair.

"Uncle Perry, be nice." I chastised, not likin' how he was insistin' that my husband was only gettin' me somethin' cause we were in town today. Tolbert's been workin' hard lately, he just hasn't had time to pick me up a present. Frankly, I didn't really need one either.

"Why don't you go see your brother, he's readin' in the parlor room." Uncle Perry suggested, his head slightly tilting into the direction of said room.

"Readin' for fun, or readin' one of your law books so he can help in the office?" I asked my uncle, a bit curious as to the nature of my brother's reading since I knew the boy could read but didn't enjoy it as I did.

My uncle's face turned serious, almost like stone too, as he tilted his head at me. He clicked his tongue before tellin' me in a flat, but informin' tone, "Boy's 10, Novella, time he starts learning tidbits on how the law works. In a couple of years he'll be my apprentice after all."

That remark shouldn't 've bothered me, but it did. It tore me down to the core, shook my bones. I was just a clerk, but never an apprentice. I could never become a real lawyer, unlike my brother, cause I was born a woman. Even tho Uncle Perry's methods of raisin' me were unconventional an' he encouraged my education, deep down he knew that I truly'd never be able to read and learn the law under him. Be barred an' named lawyer. My brother Moses was goin' to be raised up as a real lawyer, to be our uncle's partner and heir. I should be happy for my brother, and in a way, I was, but I was sad for myself.

"I'll go see visit with him." I told my uncle with a tight smile before headin' to the parlor.

I had been explainin' the simple law book, one that was typically used as an introduction for the profession, to Moses whenever Tolbert walked in with a book and a yard of folded fabric in his hand. Uncle Perry followed right behind him, a neutral expression on his fox-like face.

"Happy Birthday, darlin'." Tolbert grinned as he walked up to me, holdin' his hand out to show off my unwrapped an' just brought gifts.

"How lazy, it ain't even wrapped." Moses remarked, rollin' his eyes at my husband, 'fore pickin' his book up from his lap an' goin' back to readin' it.

Uncle Perry bit hard on his lip to keep from smirkin', since he clearly shared my brother's opinion, as he took a seat in his go to sittin' chair.

"Thanks, Tolbert, they're great gifts." I smiled while grabbin' the things from my husband.

Tolbert just nodded 'fore takin' a seat next to me, sandwichin' me 'tween him and my brother on the sofa.

"Tolbert, are you stayin' for dinner? If so I'll buy enough from the diner for all of us."

"Planned on stayin', but don't see why Ella can't cook." My husband gruffly remarked in his velvety toned voice.

My uncle's brow rose so high it nearly disappeared into his hairline as he spat, "It's her birthday and she's in a heavy condition."

"So, she's expectin' not disabled. She cooks all time at home."

"Well, this isn't your home it's mine and I'm ordering dinner from the diner." My uncle told my husband, his eyes hard an' burnin' a hole into the ginger's head. "Now if you'd excuse me I'm going to do that right now." He informed 'fore risin' from his chair and walkin' to the door. Pausing in the doorway Uncle Perry turned and looked at Tolbert. With a pointed look on his sly foxlike face he told him, "Watch Moses for me, you'll need the practice in child rearing since you're an unemphatic fool." With a lined smirk he turned 'round and walked right into the hallway, no doubt grabbin' his hat and coat off the rack by the door 'fore leavin' to order the food.

Tolbert glared at me, angrily, as he snatched his flask from his pocket. "Fuckin' schooled up prick. Don't know nothin', 'sistin' I need'a learn child rearin'. I got siblin's, I can raise a child." Tolbert darkly mumbled 'tween knockin' back swigs of his home brew.

Happy Birthday to me, not…This day's turnin' out to be a shit show. At 16 I got a courtship wit' a pissy asshole and at 17 I'm married t'him an' expectin' his baby. Can't wait to see what next year's 18th birthday brings.

AN:

Perry: 1 Tolbert: 0 with their little word spat. Oooo! Was Tolbert just being a paranoid drunk, or does Cap have a thing for Novella? Anyways next chapter is the baby stuff. Is it gonna be a boy or a girl? Hmm…