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“Don’t think you’re going to get this house, either, boy!” Daddy swayed on his ruined leg as he pointed the cane at me. “I’ll leave everything to your spinster sister before I let a bunch of half-breed mongrels invade the home my people built with their own Scottish hands!”
“You don’t mean that, Daddy,” I cried.
“You’ll do as you’re told, girl.” Daddy jabbed his cane into the ground. “Y’all better be off my land before I get back or so help me God!”
He charged across the yard and into the woods, a dust devil of leaves spiraling in his wake. No one spoke until the agitated leaves fluttered back to the ground.
“You heard your father.” All the softness was gone from Mother’s face. “Best be going, Billy, and take that girl with you.”
“She’s not just some girl, Mom.” Big, boyish tears rolled down Billy’s face. “She’s your daughter-in-law, and I’m your son. Why can’t you take my side against him for once in your life?”
Mother swung her gaze toward Billy with the withering intensity of a searchlight. “They locked him in a box, did you know that? A metal box, out in the sun, in his own filth, for days. It was like being cooked in an oven. It scorched his lungs to breathe. His lips blistered off his face. The heat boiled his brain. He was nearly dead when they dragged him out. Sometimes he dreams he’s still in that box. Who wakes him up from that nightmare, will you tell me that?”
“I know he had a bad time in the Pacific, Mom, but—”
“But nothing.” Mother jabbed a thumb into her sternum. “I’m the one who knows the demons that man fights every day of his life. That’s whose side I’m on, Billy, because if I wasn’t, we wouldn’t have a roof over our heads or food on our table or clothes on our backs. You think I don’t take your side? I take it all for you. For both of you.”
Mai didn’t understand Mother’s words, but she felt their ferocity. Her knees gave out. Billy sank down beside her.
Mother was sweating and swaying on her feet. “Hazel, go find your father before he shoots himself in the other leg. And you.” Rather than look at Billy, she put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. “You’ve made your bed, son. Best go lie in it.”
With that, Mother staggered into the house, the screen door smacking shut behind her. I ran over to where Billy and Mai were huddled on the ground and knelt beside them. You crouched down and spread your arms around us all.
“I’ll fix this, Billy, I promise,” I said. “Give them some time, they’ll come around.”
Billy cradled the back of Mai’s head, holding her to his heart. “You better, Hazel, or I’ll never show my face here again.” He dragged his sleeve across his snotty nose. “Evie, does my old Jeep still work?”
“I had it down to Logan’s just last week,” you said. “Marcus got it running better than ever. It’s parked up in my workshop.”
“Will you take us there?” Billy asked, wiping Mai’s tears from her soft cheeks with the pad of his thumb.
“Sure,” you said, then glanced at me. “You can stay with us, you know, until this blows over.”
“You couldn’t pay me to stay in this fucking shithole,” Billy spat, getting to his feet and helping Mai to hers. “We’ll go to Albany, tonight.”
“Will you be okay, Hazel?” you asked me. I was impressed. Even in a moment as fraught as this, you had the wits not to call me “baby.”
“I’ll come home as soon as I get Daddy settled. Let us know where you’re staying, Billy, okay?” I squeezed his arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“You should be,” Billy said, his young face hard as our father’s. “This is why I wanted you to ease them into the idea.”
“What, and leave me to deal with their crap until you came home? Besides, how is your marriage my job?”
“I would have told them myself, but you said I ought to wait.” Billy brushed past me, muttering through clenched teeth. “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you. I’ve been away so long, I forgot how fucked up this family is.”
The three of you got in the car, Mai between you and Billy on the front bench seat. You rolled down the window and called to me. “I’ll drop them off, then come back for you, Hazel.”
I didn’t know how long it would take me to find Daddy in the woods. “No, Evelyn. Wait at home until I call.”
You backed down the drive, my brother and my sister-in-law and my future niece or nephew pulling farther and farther away. I play that moment in my mind to this day, like the closing scene in a melodrama. I suppose I sensed, even then, that the frayed string tying my family together had finally snapped.
That’s enough for tonight, my darling. Love, Hazel
Chapter 26
Evelyn Cabot used to keep Red Barn Books open through leaf-peeping season in October, but I decide Labor Day is late enough to be tethered to regular hours in the shop. The August days that once seemed so endless vanished while I trained for distance learning and prepared my courses for online delivery on top of helping customers, running to the post office, cleaning up after campers, and filling orders for lattes and cappuccinos. With college back in session, my schedule now includes twice-weekly meetings with three different classes in hour-long Zoom sessions—not to mention office hours and faculty meetings and student advising and whatever else can be accomplished on a screen. Aisha’s last act as my intern was to announce on our socials that September seventh would be the public’s last chance in 2020 to visit Red Barn Books.
In the meantime, an animal rescue grant I applied for came through with enough funding to pay for the electric fencing I need to move the sheep to fresh pasture. They’ve turned out to be as easy to care for as Sam promised, especially after I fixed a broken water line out to the barn that fills the freeze-proof trough I ordered from Tractor Supply. The fence was delivered a couple of days ago. When I texted Sam for advice about setting it up, he replied right away.
