“What has she done?” Again he got no answer, but he did look in the same direction that North did. There she was. Abby Farley holding hands with Marsden startled him for a moment, then he realized what an absolutely beautiful couple the two of them made. “He’s seeing her, I take it. I’m glad for them both. I think that they look good together.”
“Did you just say that?” Again, he looked at North. Asking him what he meant, his son just shook his head. “Have you any idea what your wife has done to Mars and Abby? Do you know that she called the police on us last night when we were having a nice dinner at the condo? That she told them that we were harboring young boys and having a sex party with them? Christ, Father, she’s done nothing but make Mars’s life hell since he was born, but last night and this entire week that I’ve been staying with him, she’s been brutal and cruel. Sending out the others for bills that they could deny for the funeral. Going to the hospital and demanding that Aunt Holly’s bill be turned over to them so that they could do the same. Why? Why the hell do any of them care what he does for his mom? It’s not like they’ve ever had a thing to do with her since she was barred from the big house.”
There was no chance for him to say anything. North left him to join the group of them that he’d seen earlier. They hugged, all seven of them, offering support to each other as if they had all lost their mother. He had a feeling that they felt just that way too. That Holly had come to mean a great deal to them. He wondered where everything had fallen apart with his family.
Clayton went around the rest of the room, not seeing anything but the hundreds of baskets of flowers. His eyes were so filled with tears he couldn’t read the cards on them. All he could do was concentrate on each one before moving to the next.
“Do you see all of this?” He told Eita there were hundreds of flowers here that he was looking at. “I’m sure that he’s gone out and purchased them, then thinks he’s going to foot the bill to us. Why would he think we’d be impressed by him charging up all these arrangements for his dead mother? I could care less, but I’m not going to pay for any of it. I will not be bamboozled like this. You mark my words, Clayton, Marsden will be bankrupt in no time, if he’s not already, if he keeps trying to impress us. If he’s not, then he will be when I’m finished with him. They didn’t have a pot to piss in, either of them. We’re not taking him in our home either. I want him to change his last name to something other than Wilkerson. You get on that as soon as this—”
“Enough.” He knew that he’d been loud, but he didn’t care right now. “What is the matter with you? Not once in all the years after Holly moved out did she ever once come to us for anything. Even when you and the other wives were about as nasty to her as you could be, she didn’t raise her hand in retaliation.”
“She knew better. And lower your voice. I don’t want people talking about us. I’m sure that Marsden is telling people more things than is any of their business.” Clayton asked her what he might be telling them. “I have no idea, Clayton. That’s why I’m saying for you to lower your voice so that they can’t hear us. Do you suppose that he’s asked all these people here to pretend that they knew Holly? That would be just like him. I tell you, Clayton, your father had it right when he told her that she was no longer welcome in our family.”
“What?” Eita walked away. Grabbing her by the arm, he turned her to him and asked her where she’d heard that. That Father had said such a thing to his daughter. “I was with him when he went to visit Holly after she was found following the pretend kidnapping and rape. I wasn’t in the room, but afterwards, we women went to him to tell him that he had to do something. She was ruining our good name.”
“You told me that she was in Europe. You never said a word about Holly being kidnapped and raped. How did you find out? All I knew is what you told me. That Father had decided since she’d been promiscuous that she was no longer welcome in the house. Then when she ended up with Marsden, I thought that it was all true. You didn’t tell me about any of the other things.” She just shrugged at him. “Eita, did you have anything to do with her being kidnapped?”
“Of course, I did. What did you expect me to do when she was getting all the attention that we others deserved? Having the first grandson was nothing I could fix then, but all of us had our children right after so that we could have real Wilkersons for the family.” She walked away, her back a little stiffer, her walk a little tighter. Clayton sat down—lucky for him that there was a chair right there for him to use, or he might well have hit the floor.
He watched as his wife and the others moved around the room like a pack of wolves. He could hear them as they cut Holly down and her son. It had never once occurred to him to find out what had really happened to his sister. Clayton wondered if the others knew if his brothers had any idea what their wives had done to Holly.
Well, by God, he was going to find out. And if they did know, he would ruin them. Not just take away their money, but make sure that they never had another penny for as long as they lived. But he was surely going to do something soon about Eita. She’d had his sister raped as if she was nothing at all.
Standing up again, Clayton had to stand there for several minutes to get his chest to stop aching him so much. Staggering to where his son was the last time he saw him, he was happy to find him with not just Marsden, but Abby as well. Breathing was difficult, so he tried to do it slowly. It wasn’t until Abby grabbed his arm on one side of him and Marsden the other that he knew he might be in trouble.
“I need to talk to you.” Marsden told him to shut up, he was trying to have a heart attack. “You are? No. Please don’t. I need to speak to you about some things.”
“Not me, you. Sit here while I find a doctor. There are several here.”
The room he was in was an office of sorts. He could see lines of caskets in the next part of the room, and it scared him to think he might be put in one soon if he really was having an attack. Abby lifted his chin up to look him in the face, and he let her. He was too busy trying to work things out in his head to try and hide anything from her at the moment.
“You heard something that you didn’t like, didn’t you?” Clayton nodded at Abby. “I’m sure that if it’s shocked you this badly, it’s more than likely true if it’s about your wife. Was it?”
“Yes.” She told him to be quiet now that the doctor would be there soon. “I need to talk to Marsden. And my son.”
“I’m afraid it might be too late for that, Mr. Wilkerson. Your wife has already burned that bridge. Now sit here and hush up before you really do have an attack. I think you’re just stressed and need to get laid. But not with that woman that you’re married to. I think if you stuck your dick in her, she’d freeze it off of you, and then where would you be?”
Clayton was outraged—at first. Then he started to laugh. It felt good when the pain in his chest started to ease up, and he could see clearly again. Sitting here with this young woman had restored ten years to his life that he’d lost due to the stress of the last few days. He decided right then and there he was going to get to know his nephew and his girlfriend, Eita be damned.
~*~
Mars watched as the doctor looked his uncle over. He was stressed, he’d told him, and he wasn’t getting enough exercise if only walking from the casket to the stairs had worn him out. Mars didn’t think that was the issue, but he let it go for now. He sat down next to him when Doctor Grimmer went back to his wife.
“I didn’t know.” Mars asked him what it was he didn’t know. “Any of this. I had no idea about your mother. I didn’t know that she’d been shut out of our lives—well, I knew that part, but not the real reason for it.”
“It’s a bit too late for you to come to some sort of conclusion about shit, don’t you think? I mean, Mom and I have been on our own for nearly thirty years now. If you expect me to tell you that it’s fine now that you know whatever truth it is you’ve found out, yo
u’re sorely mistaken. You and your brothers deserve whatever hell you have to live in for what you did to her.” Clayton asked him about himself. “Me? You mean, do I think you should be in hell for the way you treated me? No. I didn’t know the life that my mother had, other than the things she told me. And she was happy back then. But you took everything from her. Support. Love. Everything. My mom didn’t even date anymore because of what she’d had done to her.”
“Someone raped her.” Mars shook his head. “I thought that was what had happened. I mean, that’s what Eita just told me. That Holly had been kidnapped and raped.”
“Not by someone, Clayton, but several men over several days. Five days and six nights, they had her tied to a bed and used her whenever the need hit them. No food, no water. Nothing but a dick someplace in her body twenty-four seven.” Clayton said that he didn’t want to know anymore right now. “Too bad. You should know it all since you brought it up. Mom endured everything that they put at her. She told me that the only thing that kept her going, kept her alive, was the fact that she believed her family would avenge her. That when it was finished, she’d have them right there for her. But you know what happened when she finally escaped? Your father, my grandfather, went to her the day she’d been found walking along a road, bloodied and hurt, and told her that she was spoiled. That he didn’t want her to contaminate his children by being a constant reminder that she was a whore.”
“No.”
Abby told him to stop, and he looked at her as his uncle sat there sobbing. When she reached for his hand, he took it and left Clayton there on the office chair.
Going into the chapel, he sat in the front row and looked at his mom there. Abby told him that she’d be back for him not to move. He told her that he didn’t have it in him to move anymore.
His mom. His wonderfully supportive mother was gone, forever gone from his life, and he was going to miss her, more than he did right now. Crying again, he felt a hand on his back and turned into the comfort that was being offered. He knew who it was when he spoke. Wats was telling him that he had him, would never leave him.
“What am I going to do now, Wats? I can’t go on without her. You know how she took care of all of us. Kept us in line.” Wats told him that she did do that, but she was gentle at it. “I feel like I’ve been walking around here for days, and it’s only just hit me that she’s not going to be there when I go home tonight.”
“We’ll be there for you, Mars. We all will be from now on.” When the others came to sit with him, Mars ignored the looks that his aunts were giving him. “I heard that Clayton thought that he was having a heart attack. Do you know what happened?”
Abby answered for him as several people came to him to offer their condolences. As he was speaking to them, he noticed that two of his aunts were going around, taking the cards off the flowers. Abby told him not to worry about it, she’d had them all cataloged.
“Your mother was a saint, Mars. An absolute wonder of a nurse and a woman. I have never had someone so caring taking care of me when I fell and broke my leg last fall.” Eita came up to them and snarled at him. Like she was some sort of animal, he thought. “Why Evelyn, you have something to say? You don’t need to clear up that snotty nose of your to do so, just say whatever is on your mind. You usually do anyway. I guess you think you need to get more attention than you got already wearing that color to a funeral. To your own sister-in—”
“She was nothing to me. Nor is this monster that she gave birth to. She was a whore, and everyone here knows it.” Mrs. Becker turned her back on Eita, and so did the rest of the ladies he was speaking to. “Did you just disrespect me by turning your back on me? Why, I’ll have you know that I’m not one to dismiss so easily, Mrs. Peter Becker. Why isn’t your husband here? Is he too drunk again to leave the house? I heard that he drinks more than all the men at the Blue Moon on Saturday nights.”
“You horrid woman. My husband died seventeen years ago. Not from the drink, as you’re saying, but from a massive stroke brought on by having to cater to the needs of a woman who didn’t give two figs that it was over hundred degrees outside when you told him to pull every weed out of the walkway in front of your home.” Eita said she remembered that now. “I’m sure you do. His poor body laid out in that heat for over six hours before you noticed that he wasn’t working as hard as you wanted him to. As I said, you’re just a horrid woman.”
“I’m a Wilkerson. When I want something done, I get it done. Like I’m going to have Marsden here change his last name to something else. And I’m going to ruin him now that his little mommy isn’t here to protect him.” While Eita wasn’t speaking loudly, she was drawing a crowd. “I’m going to own this town before this is finished, just like Clayton Senior wanted to do. He hated you all. Did you know that? He wanted to kill the entire town off.”
Mars wanted to stop her, but North told him to let her go. It was just showing how stupid she was, even if everyone in the town didn’t already know how evil she was. Clayton came to stand with her and tried his best to get her to hush. His uncle begged someone to help him get her to the car. He tried to explain away her anger, saying that she was having a hard time with the new medications that she’d been put on. In the end, it took two police officers and Mr. Farley to get Eita out of the funeral home. Clayton helped as much as he could, but Mars could tell that he was embarrassed.
After she left with the police, things quieted down. He did notice that all the floral cards had been removed and put in the trash. Not that it mattered—Abby had worked hard at getting all the pictures taken with the cards. Taking them out of the trash can, Mars put them in his pocket.
“I’m sorry about that.” Mars told Booker not to worry about it. “My mother can be very childish when she is on a roll. I’ve spoken to my father tonight while he was here. I told him that I’m not ever coming to the house again, no matter what. That I’d rather live on the streets than be subjected to the cruelty that Mother was putting on me.”
“What did he say to you?” Booker just shrugged. “I wish it didn’t affect you guys the way that they’ve been to me. Did you hear what Eita said? She’s going to have Clayton take me to court to change my name from Wilkerson. Christ, how far do you think they’ll go to wash me from their existence?”
“I would say very far, and that I’d watch my back if I were you. They might go too far before this is ended.” Mars didn’t want to think that it would go that far, but he would watch his back. “Also, I hope you don’t mind, but I think the rest of us will be staying with you in the condo until we find other homes. Is that all right?”
“It is. You know that my home has always been open to you guys.”
They left the funeral home at ten that night. Abby came with him to the house while the others went to get other clothing, as well as personal items, to bring back to his house. He hadn’t realized that they’d made arrangements to stay at a hotel, and was very glad that none of them had to go home to get anything. “I should let them all stay in the condos that are empty. I didn’t think of that until just now.”
“They might be more comfortable with a place of their own. But not yet. Let’s wait until the funeral and burial is over, and then suggest it. I think we all need each other.” He kissed Abby on the mouth when the car stopped at a light. “I loved being able to sleep in your mom’s bed last night. It was very comfortable and nice. But tonight one of us is moving to the same bed as the other one. Either bed? That’s fine with me. But you are sleeping in the same bed as me.”
“Okay.”
She was still laughing at his answer when they pulled up in front of his condo. It was late, and he was exhausted, but when she mentioned her plan, he felt as if he could have run a double marathon. His energy levels skyrocketed.
The others showed up one at a time. They also brought food for the house, bags, and bags of food that Abby took over putting away. She said that she’d c
ook, but they were going to have to foot the bill for food before the funeral. It looked to him like they took her at her word.
Watching the news, he was glad that there was no mention of the funeral home incident. It wasn’t until nearly midnight that one of them noticed that he had six messages on the phone. A landline was something that his mom insisted they needed to have so that she could avoid being called into work when they were together. He was going to keep it just for that reason.
The messages were from his boss, Chris Blevins, as well as Oliver Reese. They had left the messages one right after the other. One of them sounded desperate. The other sounded amused. Mars decided that he wasn’t going to call Chris back, but he would Oliver. But not until tomorrow. It was much too late for him to make a call tonight. In addition, his mind was spent, and he didn’t want to add anything else to his plate tonight.
“We don’t have to have sex.” He just cocked his brow at Abby when she spoke from the bed. “All right. I was hoping that we could, but it’s not going to make or break me if we don’t. I just want to be held, to be honest with you. I think that there is some major shit about to hit the fan around here, and I feel like if you don’t hold me, I’m going to fall apart before I can protect you.”
“Will you protect me, Abby? Even if it’s from myself? Today you more than likely saved me a great deal of hurt from my family. Had you not been there keeping me on track, I have no idea what might have happened to me.” She said that was why she needed a hug. “Anytime, love. Anytime.”
“I think I’m falling in love with you, Mars. I do love your cousins, but not like the feelings that I have for you.” He said that he was beginning to feel the same way about her. “Do you think we can make this work? You and I together? As I said before, I don’t have anything.”
Marsden (Wilkerson Dynasty Book 1) Page 7
