40
May 22nd
I had never seen the sun shine so brightly up in the sky. I was standing in the field in front of the house. The sky was so blue and no cloud plagued it. I looked down at my sun yellow dress. I had a small bump forming and I was worried I wouldn't fit my dress for tomorrow. Momma was the only one who knew. Ray was out of the hospital now and for a day or two he wasn't talking to me, but after that day he came around. He still didn't like the Bondurants and neither did my dad. He was still furious Forrest got me pregnant, but he said nothing on my behalf. I was still worried on how I should bring up the whole Rakes incident. I couldn't bring myself to say anything now. There was too much sunshine in my life to worry about such darkness.
I knew I would tell them soon, but right now I would hold my tongue. My folks had a big surprise for me, but they wouldn't tell me what it was. All they said was we were going out for my birthday. My eyes were connected on the sky still.
"Eula come on now. We have other guests waiting at this place." I heard my father call out from the car. I turned and looked at him and smiled. The wind was blowing my curls which were pinned up by bobby pins. I nodded and began to walk over towards the car. Arliss was waiting outside the car while Ray was already inside. I got to sit in the middle I assumed. Everyone was dressed up. Dad was in his Chicago suit with his Fedora hat on. Mother had on a red dress with her nice pearl necklace on. The boys were also in suits and everything. I got in the car and so did Arliss then dad. He reversed from the driveway and began to drive down the road.
"So where are we going?" I asked. Father smirked.
"We are going to an Italian restaurant." he replied. I nodded.
"And you said guests were going to be there?" I asked. Did dad invite some of his friends? Did he invite the Bondurants?
"You ask too many questions. You'll see when we get there." he said and I sighed and nodded. Mother turned to me.
"Your presents are in the trunk and you can open them once we get there." she said with excitement. I smiled and nodded. Ray scoffed and smirked.
"One of the presents we can't hide." he said. Arliss shushed him.
"Shut up Ray you're going to ruin the surprise." he said. Ray glared at him.
"How am I going to ruin it, I ain't said nothing yet." he said. Dad waved his hand.
"Quiet you two." he said and the boys stopped their bickering. It was not long before we were in town. I have never eaten at an Italian restaurant before. As we drove into a parking lot I looked around and noticed some familiar cars, cars from Chicago. Who was all here? We all got out and mother came over and placed her white gloved hands over my eyes. I then felt hands grab my own and I was being pulled.
"Present number one." Mother said and I smiled letting myself be guided around and in seconds my hands were dropped and mom pulled her hands back and I saw a shiny white car in front of me and my eyes widened the size of dinner plates.
"Oh my god. Is this for me?" I asked excitingly and looked at my family's bright faces and they nodded and I couldn't believe it. I began to walk around the car.
"Oh my god this must have cost you a lot of money." I said looking at them. Father grinned.
"That gift is not from us." he said and pointed over to the brick house which was the Italian restaurant and I looked over to see a familiar man dressed up in a black suit. It was Al Capone. My eyes widened.
"It's my gift." he stated.
"Mr. Capone!" I yelled and moved over towards him. He laughed happily and embraced me.
"Happy birthday, Eula." he said. I pulled away and smiled at him.
"Thank you so much for getting me a car. It was really nice of you." I said and he nodded.
"You're about to be nineteen. You're a woman and a woman needs a nice car." he stated. My family began to walk over and Mr. Capone smiled at my father. "Your father here told me your birthday was coming so I made reservations here for us all to eat here. I even ordered you a chocolate cake." he added and tapped the tip of my nose with his finger.
I smiled even brighter and looked at dad who nodded at Mr. Capone.
"Thanks for everything Al." he said. Mr. Capone nodded.
"Well let's get inside and eat." he replied and we all entered the restaurant and it was so beautiful inside and I saw many white people eating too. They looked at me with mild glares, but ignored them. There was a long rectangular table with a white table cloth. Some of Mr. Capone's associates were sitting at the table and when they saw me they smiled and waved. We all sat down and Mr. Capone sat at one end of the table and my father sat at the other end. I sat in the middle of the right side. We all ordered drinks and everything was well until the manager started walking up. He didn't look to happy and we all got quiet to see what he wanted.
"We don't serve to coloreds in this place. If she wants to eat she can go around back and pick it up front there." he said pointing at me. My heart sank and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Are you serious?" my mother said and everyone began chatter with disapproval. The manager raised his hands.
"Now I don't want no trouble. She is disturbing the other guests." he explained. I looked around now at the other tables and saw white couples and white families look at us. Father glared.
"It is my daughter's birthday today and we came here to eat your food and have a good time." he said. I looked down now feeling so low and afraid.
"I don't care if it's her last day on earth she ain't eating in my restaurant." the tall man said acidly.
"Well then let me make this clear to you then," Mr. Capon suddenly said causing everyone to be silence. His hat was on the table and his jacket was on the back of his chair. He had his fingers crossed together. "Either we all eat in here together…or I will see to it no one ever eats in your establishment and if I sense foul play with any of our food I will burn this place down."
His voice was dark and very angry and the manager tensed now and only nodded.
"Y-yes sir." he said and left the area. Everyone was quiet. This wasn't new to us we were all a Chicago family and we let no one intimate us. After seconds of silence my mom clapped her hands together and smiled.
"Well how about we open presents." she said. Mr. Capone raised his glass.
"I agree." he commented. Mother and father got up and left to get the presents from the car. A female waitress came over and took our food orders and Arliss ordered for my parents. Once the woman took our orders and left my folks came back in with many boxes, both large and small boxes. All of them were wrapped in pretty wrapping paper with large bows. I smiled and looked at them as they were set on the table since there nothing but plates and drinks on the table. Father picked up the large purple one.
"Gotta open your old man's first." he said and I smile and stood up and began to unwrap the box and then I removed the top and my eyes widened as I was met with fur. I pulled the object out and saw it was a brown fur coat.
"Oh my god dad this is beautiful." I told. Everyone nodded and agreed. Mr. Capone smiled.
"Nice Dohn, she'll need it for the cold." he told. I smiled and hugged my father before putting the coat back in the box. Mother handed me three small boxes.
"Here open mine next." she said with excitement. I nodded and opened the first box. In it were diamond earrings. In the second was a beautiful necklace with a diamond shaped pendent on the end. The last box was a gold bracelet.
"Wow mom they are gorgeous." I replied and she clapped.
"Only the best for my baby." she said. Ray stood up and handed me a medium sized box and handed it to me.
"This is from both Arliss and I." he said and I smiled and took the box and noticed the weight.
"Oh it's heavy I wonder what it is." I replied and I opened the box and tore away the wrapping paper and pulled out whatever it was only to reveal it was a silver gun.
"Ray!" I yelled in mild shock and now my mother's eyes widened.
"You got her a gun?" she asked. Ray smirked.
"Oh yeaaah." he said and Arliss laughed now. Mr. Capone spit out his wine and laughed hard.
"Oh now that's a gift." he said. Father and the rest of the men laughed and clapped.
"That's my boys." he said. Arliss handed me a small box.
"The bullets are in here." he said with a smile. The gun was shiny with a black handle and I could not believe they got me a gun.
"Oh my god. You bought me a gun." I said quickly putting it back in the box so I wouldn't alarm others.
"Hell yeah I did. She knows how to shoot so might as well get her a gun too. Daddy you got mom a gun for your anniversary didn't you?" Arliss asked and dad nodded proudly.
"Yes I did." he replied and I placed the gun box with the other boxes and we moved them to the floor. Mr. Capone was cleaning himself up.
"Well this is an interesting party." he said and I laughed and once the food came we all began talking and sharing stories with each other. No one brought up the Bondurant boys or the boys didn't say anything about their bootlegging business. This was honestly the best day of my life. My pasta was delicious and none of us left until it was really late. One of Mr. Capone's friends gave me a white purse to conceal my new weapon if I had to. He had no idea how happy I was about the purse. When we were home I showered and got in my nightgown and lied on my bed holding the gun I had. It had no bullets so it gave me relief when I looked at it and touched it and explored it.
There was a knock on my door and I looked up.
"Come in." I replied. The door opened and in came my father and he smiled and sat down at the end of my bed and rubbed my legs which were beneath the covers.
"Hey." he replied. I smiled.
"Hi." I replied. He sighed and looked down for a moment and then back up.
"I just want you to know that I am glad you didn't hide your pregnancy from us…well you couldn't for long, but you told us early instead of waiting for your stomach to show us. You can tell me anything you know that right?" he asked. I took in his words and nodded.
"Of course dad." I replied and he nodded and leaned over and kissed my forehead before looking at my gun.
"You know how to shoot that thing?" he asked. I nodded.
"Arliss and Ray taught me long ago." I replied. He nodded once and got up from my bed.
"Alright well I'll see you tomorrow when I come home from work." he replied. I nodded.
"Okay night." I replied and he smiled more then left. I sighed knowing I should've told him about Rakes, but that would just mean more bloodshed and I wanted him to myself so I could put a bullet in his head. I thought about tomorrow. It was coming and coming fast once I slept. We decided the time would be around nine because that's when both my brothers and dad went to work. I felt butterflies in my stomach and I was just so happy that I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep, but all my thinking helped me pass out.
8888
Author's notes
And now we have finally gotten to the last chapter that is before the wedding. Haha I don't know why but im a bit excited for the wedding scene and I have no idea how it's going to end so wish me luck and enjoy!