I have to say a quick thank you for those of you following my tale. Make sure you stop back here to
read the rest of contributors. This week's prompt was the word
"CAR". With that being said, lets resume where our story left
off....
TO BE CONTINUED...
Shock rolled through Paisley. She hadn’t expected his revelation. Nibbling on her lower lip, she wondered if
she should pry any further – but decided she had to know – to understand why a
woman, particularly a woman married to Kaleb’s brother, would do such a thing
to her. Lifting her head off his chest,
she looked up into his saddened eyes. “What happened?”
He sighed. “When Uncle Ray found them in bed together,
he was pissed. He disowned his own son before walking out of the house. He never said a word to the bitch, just
left.” Kaleb began to rub small circles on her back. “From what I found out
from Momma – later that night Donald caught up with his dad at one of the local
taverns. There were words between them
and Ray left. He went home only to
realize that Aunt Pam had cleaned out her things, all of the money in their bank
account, and had split taking Uncle Ray’s car.
Later we found out she’d moved two counties over with one of her lovers,
but my uncle wanted nothing more to do with her. He filed for divorce a short
time later.”
Anger for Ray surged through Paisley, but she controlled
it. It was females like Pam who gave all women a bad name. “So what happened with Donald? Did he and his
dad mend fences?”
His arms tightened around her. “I wish I could say that
happened but...it didn’t. Evidently after Ray left, he stayed at the bar, got
loaded before going home. Uncle Ray found him the next morning – he’d gone over
to his son’s apartment wanting to talk. After he’d had time to cool down, he
thought maybe he’d jumped the gun by disowning Donald – especially in light of
Aunt Pam’s disappearance.”
Dread built in her stomach as he continued. “I’ll never
forget the look on his face when we walked into Donald’s living room. He’d hung himself from the ceiling fan –
leaving a short suicide note about how he’d disgraced himself and how he hoped
one day his father would find it in his heart to forgive him.” Kaleb rested his chin on her head. “Later the
autopsy showed if he hadn’t hung himself, he’d have probably been dead anyway.
The coroner found he had a blood alcohol level of .268 in his system – and with
Donald’s juvenile diabetes – his body would’ve shut down on him.”
Rubbing her hand over his chest, she
wondered if there was anything she really could say. After listening to his tale
of woe, she couldn’t blame his family for not wanting her in Kaleb’s life, but
she wasn’t some two timing skank who had no morals.
“That’s terrible, Kaleb. I guess I can understand why
your family doesn’t want me in your life…but we’re going to have a child
together, and I can’t see you giving up your rights to him or her, so where
does that leave us?”
A low growl rumbled under her palm. “Look at me,
Paisley.”
She slowly raised her head, meeting his dark gaze.
“You need to listen to me, and listen good. I’m never
going to give up our baby or you.” His hand cupped the swell of her belly. “And
nothing – my family even your family - included will change that. You need to
worry about keeping our child safe. Let me deal with my pushy relatives.”
She sighed. “It would’ve been nice if you’d at least
warned me about them. She pushed off his chest. “If I had known your family had
such a lousy view of white women, I’d have at least been prepared when she
showed up. It hurt to hear her say those things.”
Kaleb nodded. “I know it did. I’m sorry, baby, I
should’ve warned you. But I didn’t want my family’s issues to become an issue
for us. I love you too much to allow that to happen.”
Her heart leapt at his words, but she forced herself to
be realistic. “I…I don’t want to come
between you and your family.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You won’t. Just give
them some time to know you the same way I do.” He tipped her face up to his,
softly kissing her. She sighed at the
familiar taste of him. Maybe he was
right and everything would be okay.
I really enjoyed this weeks tale, getting a background on Kaleb's family.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting what happens with his family, if the eventually accept her
ReplyDeleteYou gave me goosebumps with this story. Wow, the emotion you packed into Caleb's revelation was awesome. Am loving this story and will definitely buy the book. WTG,lady.
ReplyDelete