by Kate Whitsby
But he didn’t sit down. He stopped a little distance away, his bleary eyes focused somewhere in the direction of the table.
“Come sit down, Papa,” Amelia called out to him. “Supper’s on the table. Come and eat before it’s gone.”
The old man didn’t move. He swayed on his feet. Alma glanced over at him. Could he fall over? Maybe he wanted to come to the table and couldn’t. Maybe he was having trouble walking. That happened sometimes.
“Do you want me to help you get into the chair, Papa?” Alma asked. “There’s a chair right here for you.”
She started to rise from her own chair to take him by the arm, but his words made her stop. “I won’t come to the table. I won’t come to the table as long as that….” His bony finger stretched out. “As long as that’s there.”
They all craned their necks to see what he was pointing at, and they followed the line of his finger toward Jude.
“What’s the matter?” Allegra asked. “It’s only Jude. He’s Alma’s husband. Don’t you remember?”
“I don’t care if he’s the Lord Mayor,” Clarence spat. “I won’t eat at the same table as that man!”
“What’s the matter, Papa?” Alma cried out. “What’s wrong with Jude? You ate with him last night. What’s gotten into you now?”
“I didn’t think of it last night,” her father rumbled. “I didn’t have a chance to think it over. But I’ve been sitting here thinking about it all day today, and I’m determined not to have that….that thing in my house.”
“He’s not a thing,” Alma corrected him. “And I won’t have you calling him names as long as I’m around. He’s a man.”
“You may think he’s a man,” Clarence shot back. “I say he’s a monster. If I could undo your wedding, I would.”
“What is the matter with you?” Alma gasped. “What has made you turn against Jude all of a sudden?”
“I didn’t remember everything before,” he told her. “I didn’t have a chance. But I remember now. I remember plenty. And I know enough to get that creature out of my house while I have the chance.”
“You still haven’t told us why,” Allegra put in. “Can you explain why you want him out of your house now, when you were happy to have him last night?”
“I’ll tell you,” Clarence replied. “I don’t have to, but I will. I told you last night about those Yankee soldiers who killed our men at the Battle of Little Crooked Ridge. Well, he’s one of ‘em. I know that now.”
“But Jude told you,” Alma recalled. “He never even heard of that battle before you mentioned it yesterday.”
“Maybe you believe that story, but I don’t. He was there, and he helped butcher our men, and I won’t have him sitting at my table eating my food.” He turned his half-blind eyes on Jude. “You’ve had your fun, Mister. You’ve had your way with my innocent daughter here, and you’ve told us all a fine story about your life up there in Amarillo. But now you’ve been found out, and I’ll thank you to get out of my house, and don’t let the door hit you in the backside on the way out.”
Jude froze. His eyes sought out the sisters. Alma and her sisters exchanged glances. “Papa, Jude and I are married now. You can’t just boot him out without so much as a thank you very kindly. He has the same right to live in this house as the rest of us. If he goes, I’ll have to go with him. Is that what you want?”
Her father’s expression made Alma’s heart quail in her chest. “If you want to stick with him, you go right ahead. If you want to take him over me, you better get out of here, too. I won’t have him around, and if you see fit to stand by him against me, then I don’t want you around, either.”
Alma gasped in shock. “Papa!”
“You can’t mean that,” Allegra put in. “You can’t be serious about kicking Alma out. I can understand you wanting to get rid of Jude, but you can’t throw Alma out, too. She’s your own daughter.”
“No daughter of mine would support a monster like him against me,” Clarence thundered. “He’s one of ‘em, I tell you, and no one can convince me otherwise. I won’t have him here in my house, and I won’t share my bread and meat with him, either. He’s my enemy, and he won’t share the shelter of my house with my family.”
Jude leaned forward to push his chair back, but Alma restrained him. “Do you really intend to throw both of us out over this? What proof do you have that he’s the man you think he is? I’m sure if we sit down and discuss this, we’ll figure out it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“I have all the proof I need,” her father shot back. “I don’t need to discuss anything with anyone to know what I know. He lied to you about who he was to get you to marry him. Now get out of here!”
This time, Jude broke free from Alma’s grip and rose from the table. “If this is how you feel, I’ll go.”
Alma leapt to her feet. “Wait, Jude! Don’t go!”
“I don’t have to sit here and listen to this,” Jude snapped. “If he doesn’t want me in his house, then I won’t stay where I’m not wanted.”
“And what about me?” Alma cried. “What if I want you to stay in this house? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“If you want me to stay in this house,” Jude replied. “You better straighten your father out. I won’t stand around being called a monster and a liar and a butcher. If you want me to stay here, you better take it up with him.”
He stomped out of the house. The door banged shut after him, and a terrible stillness descended over the little house.
Allegra broke the silence. “Well, this is a fine how do you do.” She reached for another tortilla.
Alma knocked over her chair getting away from the table. Her sisters watched her fly across the room and burst out of the house into the darkness outside.
Chapter 24
