“Oh my God, you are so old-fashioned sometimes. It won’t make you gay to taste yourself.” She rolls her eyes at me.
“Now, Missy, I’m tired of havin’ this conversation with you every time! We just won’t do it anymore if I have to keep hearin’ ‘bout it!” I raise my voice.
“Sorry, baby. You’re right. I won’t say it again.” She quiets her voice like she always does when I raise mine. She walks up to me and runs her hands up my chest. “Forgive me?” she asks, leaning up on her tippy-toes. Your heart could melt, looking at this pretty girl in the moonlight. I lean down and kiss her cheek, both of her eyelids, and then her forehead. She gives me a huge, toothy grin. Out of the three Johnson girls, I’d have to say—Missy is my favorite.
Shelby
I glance around the huge, fancy oak table and take in the sight of my family. I haven’t seen any of these people in fifteen years. Uncle Big Daddy (yeah, can you believe I have to call him that? What a pompous ass!) is the same overbearing fucking prick he always has been. No one is allowed to speak at the table unless he initiates the conversation. I’m hoping he doesn’t want to initiate one with me. I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day added to a very long week of no sleep and plotting my escape. Though I wish I wasn’t here, looking at my Aunt Bea and seeing how she keeps her emotionless eyes down, I know I’ve made the right choice. I could’ve ended up like her. I’m too strong for that shit.
“I got you a job, young lady—you start tomorrow.”
I look around to see who Uncle Big Daddy is talking to, only to find his eyes on me.
I clear my throat. “Where, sir?” Oh, crap!
“The dude ranch adjacent to ours is looking for good help. They owe me a favor, so I’m cashin’ in.” He nods at me with a stern look. I know not to argue. Hell, I remember not to argue from fifteen years ago. “You be there at sunup—not a minute after, ya hear?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” I glance around quickly and notice all three of my cousins shifting uncomfortably, I think, in their seats. I pay them no mind and get back to my supper. Shit. I’m even thinking like them! “Pay them no mind”? What the ...
*
I sit on the big porch swing and fire up my Kindle. It’s a beautiful spring evening and I’m already guessing this is going to be one of my most favorite quiet spots.
“There you are!” Maggie shrills. Okay ... maybe it won’t be after all.
“Hi, girls!” I offer them a polite smile as they travel down the porch toward me like a parade of Southern debutantes. I half expect them to smile and wave like queens as they sashay along.
“What are you doin’ out here by your lonesome, sweetie?” Missy asks. She’s a tiny little thing. Next to me, they’re all pretty tiny, but Missy takes the cake.
“I was just going to wind down and read a bit.” I scoot over on the swing, allowing for two more spots. Missy and May sit with me and Maggie parks herself across in the rocker.
“Well then, we are off to a great start!” Maggie slaps my knee. “All three of us devour books! Well, all the steamy ones, anyhow.” She giggles.
“Wutcha readin’ tonight?” May pipes up. She’s the quietest of the group.
“Nothing exciting tonight; a book on massage therapy.” I shrug.
“Ooh, ya fixin’ to start massagin’ people?” Missy’s eyes, unbelievably, get larger.
“Uh, well, I’m thinking about becoming a massage therapist for horses,” I offer.
“Why on earth would you want to spend your day massagin’ horses when you could spend it massagin’ the men who ride them?” Maggie looks at me as if I’m crazy.
“I love horses.” I shrug again. “I love every part of taking care of them. They work hard. They need massages more than humans do.”
“Well, that’s just weird,” Maggie states. Judgmental much? Geez! Not my favorite of the Johnson girls already!
“I think that’s great, Shelby. Real smart, too!” May leans forward past Missy so she can make eye contact. “You could open your own business and make a killin’ here! You won’t even need to rent office space or anythin’. Just make house calls!” There’s a gleam in May’s eyes that almost shocks me, because I can see a bit of myself in her. This girl wants to go places, and I can tell she’s not interested in the same places Big Daddy has in mind for her. We’re gonna get on real well, me and this cousin of mine.
“May, you’re brilliant! Maybe you can help me set up a timeline and business plan.” I smile at her. I can see pride blooming across her face, but it quickly fades at the roar of her sisters’ laughter.
“Why, that is the silliest thing I eva heard!” Maggie gasps for air. “May don’t know a thing about startin’ up or runnin’ a business! Besides, you best leave that up to the menfolk!” She swats the air.
“Why—because it’s 1892 and us womenfolk haven’t managed to grow any brain cells yet?” I snap at her. Of all the stupid things I’ve heard in my life! May and Missy both burst into laughter at my sarcasm.
“Well, you got spunk, cousin, I’ll give you that!” Maggie finally smiles at me appreciatively. “Oh!” She smacks my knee again. “Let’s not quarrel! We’re the only ones we got around here! We need to lean on each other and support each other, not the other way around.” This girl makes my head spin.
“I agree with you, Maggie!” I give her a big smile. Don’t think I have my guard down though, especially with her. I’m not naive. “It really is good to see you girls after so many years,” I add.
“Well, I’m sure we can thank Big Daddy for the lack of visits.” Missy frowns and the sisters all give each other a look.
“Just follow our lead, Shelby, and you’ll be fine,” May says quietly.
“Now, girls.” Maggie sighs and looks at them sternly. “Don’t go givin’ her the wrong idea. We love our father, and he’s very good to us.” She glances back at me. “He just seems to forget that none of us is four anymore. Doesn’t like the idea of us havin’ independence. We’re not even allowed to date yet.”
“What?” I ask, astonished.
“Yep.” She rolls her eyes. “Oh, doncha worry, we find ways around that without him knowin’.”
“But you are all in your twenties like me, no?”
“Yep. I’m the oldest at twenty-three, May’s next at twenty-two, and little Missy is just shy of her twenty-first.” She rambles down the list. “There’d probably be more of us if Mama didn’t need the hysterectomy after Missy. Big Daddy’s still upset with her for not givin’ him a son.” She shakes her head. I look around at all three of them to find saddened faces—which I would hope are caused by the sympathy they feel for their mother.
“Well, that would be his fault, not Aunt Bea’s.” I rush to defend her.
“Lord, don’t say that around him!” Maggie snaps at me. “May got herself a real good lickin’ for correctin’ him on that, and in front of Mama, no less.”
“Are you shittin’ me?” I turn to May, wanting to wrap her in my arms. May shakes her head and I can see her anger rising from the memory of it.
“May will be lucky if Big Daddy ever lets her marry off. We can all bet she’ll be the last to get his permission.” Maggie shakes her head again. I stare at them all in shock. Do they realize it’s 2014? I feel like I’m watching a live version of The Stepford Wives.
“You all realize that you don’t really need his permission, right?” I lower my voice for fear of being overheard.
“Unless we want to be disowned, we do.” Missy rests back and lets out a big disgruntled sigh.
“Let me guess.” I look up and fist my hands. I have never been so infuriated by a conversation before in my life. Well ... that’s not entirely true. “You can only marry a man he picks out for you to marry. Am I right?”
“Pretty much,” May says.
“If you find a man who loves you and can take good care of you, why do you need to worry about being disowned?” I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around this.
&nb
sp; “Big Daddy owns everythin’ around here. He could not only disown us, but take away our livelihood,” May says as the other girls shift uncomfortably.
“Move somewhere else,” I simply state.
“It ain’t that cut-and-dried,” Maggie scoffs.
“The hell it ain’t!” I bark. Have I mentioned that I catch accents and mannerisms like they’re the fucking flu? I’ve been here barely three hours and already I’m sounding like I’ve lived here my whole life!
“You’ll see fer yerself,” Missy adds.
“Well.” I shift in my seat to get them all in my eye’s view. “You said you found your way around the no-dating rule. How do y’all do that?” “Y’all”?—see what I mean?
“Oh.” Missy giggles. “We all have a boyfriend,” she almost whispers. “We just don’t tell nobody, includin’ each other. It’s best that way.”
“For now,” Maggie agrees. I can’t help but feel sad for them.
“Why don’t you tell each other?”
“It’s best if none of us know the truth. Can’t spill the beans if we ain’t got any cookin’ in the pot,” May says matter-of-factly.
“How do you go out on dates? How are you able to keep it a secret?” I am completely fascinated.
“Well, we girls got each other’s backs.” Maggie smiles. “We don’t go on dates in town. We go on secret rendezvous. And we each have our own night so the other two can cover up. Take, for instance, Missy here—tonight was her night.”
“Which got cut short because of a little impromptu visit from a distant cousin.” Missy nudges me.
“Sorry.” I wince.
“That’s all right, I got me some good lovin’ in tonight.” She giggles then fans herself. We all chuckle with her.
“Tomorrow night is May’s night, then mine—so on and so forth,” Maggie continues. I feel like I’m listening to the schedule of Sister Wives, except they are real sisters and, if they don’t break away from Big Daddy, I’m pretty sure they’ll never achieve the “wives” part.
“And your boyfriends don’t mind this?” I’m baffled, really.
“Oh, heck no! They know how crazy Big Daddy can be! We’re all just bidin’ our time, waitin’ for an opportunity to have Big Daddy see them in a good light. Make him think it was his idea.” Maggie’s whispers are so low, I’m having a hard time hearing her over the damn serenading crickets.
I sit back and offer them a meek smile. I don’t know what else to say on this matter. I wouldn’t want to be them, for sure! It sounds crippling—and I ought to know a thing or two about somebody emotionally crippling you.
“You have a boyfriend, Shelby?” May leans forward again.
“No.” I answer quickly with a shake of my head.
“Did you have a boyfriend?” Maggie inquires.
“No. No one worth mentioning.”
“Are you a virgin?” Missy asks quietly. Personal much?
“Uh, um, no.” I clear my throat.
“What was all that?” Maggie points her finger at me and swirls it around in the air.
“What was all what?”
“That nervous energy you just released.” She stops her swirling about.
“Just ... I don’t really want to talk about it. Let’s just leave it in the past, where it belongs.” As soon as I say it, I know I’ve just opened up a can of worms so large, I’ll never be able to clean it up.
“Oh no! You need to spill the—”
“Maggie, stop!” May commands harshly. Maggie stares at her sister and clears her throat when May shakes her head at her.
“Sorry, we won’t pry.” Maggie taps my knee softly.
“Thank you.” I grab her hand and squeeze. “Now, where do all of you work?” I attempt to change the course of this conversation.
“We don’t.” May sighs.
“Why?” I’m surprised by this, especially since their father had a job lined up for me right away.
“Big Daddy won’t let us work. Says it looks bad, like we need the money. He wants to make sure the men we marry can support us fully. It’s so silly.” Missy gets up and walks over to the banister. She turns and leans her butt against it.
“Are you allowed to go to college?” Holy crap! I really feel as if I’ve stepped back in time.
“Yes, but he has to approve our majors,” May says with a bit of anger in her voice.
“What’s he letting y’all major in—home economics?” I can’t help my chuckle.
“Ha ha—very funny!” Maggie slaps my knee again. She’s a real slapper, this one.
“I’m doin’ finances, which I don’t mind, but I wanted to become a doctor.” May readjusts her light brown hair into a new ponytail.
“He won’t let you be a doctor?”
“Big Daddy don’t trust no woman doctor,” Missy answers for her.
Big Daddy is a bigger asshole than I originally suspected.
“I’m going for interior design, which is what I wanted and don’t laugh at me!” She giggles. “It’s not a fancy term for home ec! There’s a lot of hard work involved.”
“I know that, Missy.” I nod, then look to Maggie. She doesn’t say anything. “Well?” I verbally nudge her.
“Well, nothin’.” She crosses her arms and looks away.
“Don’t tell me that.” I tap her knee now.
“She wants to be a photographer,” May says. “She’s a damn good one, too!”
“Not acceptable?” I wince.
“Nope,” she says. I can tell she tries to keep her cool about it.
“Well, I say it’s plain wrong.” I lean forward. “Your father isn’t going to be alive forever, and there’s the potential to make a good living in each of your career paths. There’s no reason you should be afraid to be disowned. He doesn’t own you. Nobody does. The quicker you girls understand and believe that, the sooner you will set yourselves free to be fully happy.” I take in a deep breath, finally finishing my rant.
“Let me guess. You wanted—or maybe still do—to be a lawyer,” Maggie states wryly.
“Ha ha, no. I’ve just recently figured out what I wanted to do.” I laugh.
“The horse thing?” Missy asks.
“The horse thing. There’s an equine-massage school about half an hour away from here. I’ve already called, and they have some spots open. I’m gonna go this week and apply.” I stretch and yawn. I guess I won’t be doing too much reading tonight.
“Uh ... when you gonna tell Big Daddy?” May asks slowly.
“Uh ... I’m probably not, because it’s none of his damn business.” I can’t help being snide, but I’m not about to fall into zombie formation here.
“Ha! Good luck with that!” Maggie guffaws as she stands.
“Look, I’ll play by as many rules as I can, but once I save enough money, I’m gonna get my own place. I don’t think I can get used to living under such scrutinizing rules.” Again.
“Well, don’t you worry none, cuz. We’ll get yer back as much as we can.” Missy comes up and hugs me when I stand.
“Thank you, Missy.” I hug her in return. “It’s been a long time since I had someone to get my back,” I say, and try not to think about Nate. Although, not a day goes by that I don’t think about my brother. Not a day goes by that I don’t shed a tear for him. Oh shit. I start blinking wildly, like I always do, to stop my tears from fully forming.
“You all right, Shelby girl?” Maggie shoots me a quizzical look.
“Shit, I think something flew in my eye! Damn it.” I continue to blink and now poke around at my eye to emphasize my fib.
“Well, let’s get you inside so you can rinse it out. We should all head to bed, too—it’s late.” Maggie pulls us along down the porch.
I look at my watch. “It’s only eleven, Maggie.” I shoot her a strange look.
“Yeah, and somebody’s gotta be at the Taylor ranch at the crack of ass.” She opens the screen door and pats my butt as I go past her.
“Hey now!” I l
augh.
“Shh!” Missy covers my mouth. “Big Daddy!” she whispers. I roll my eyes. This is a huge plantation-style house, and he’s on the other side of it.
We take the grand staircase up to our rooms. The first one on the right is mine, and yes, it’s the smallest. At least I have my own little bathroom, which is good, because I like to shower at night. I won’t disturb anyone keeping to my daily routine.
“‘Night, girls.” I turn before heading in.
“‘Night!” they all say quietly in unison. I take in a deep breath and enter my room.
I’d like to say that it’s fancy, but it’s not. One would think this was the help’s room. It’s a sage green—which I like. Plain tan bedding—which I don’t like. One cream-colored bureau with a mirror above it, and that’s all. No TV. No artwork on the walls. Nothing. It’s sort of depressing. I’d spruce it up, but I have no plans to stay here long, especially after the conversation I had with the girls tonight.
I get a pair of PJs out of the bureau and head to the bathroom. It’s small, with only a shower, but May said I could use her tub anytime. Depending on the type of work I’ll be doing on the ranch, I may have to take her up on it!
I get dressed and pull my hair back to wash my face. Looking in the mirror, I can’t help but chuckle. I bet I’ll stick out like a sore thumb around here. Not just because I’m opposed to everything this household stands for, but because I really look nothing like any of my cousins. While their hair bounces between solid to dirty blonde, mine is red. Red hair, green eyes—but luckily, no freckles. I’d rather not mention proportions. Let’s just say I don’t need any help getting things off the top shelf. I can’t get over how petite they are. It doesn’t make me feel bad about myself in the least. I’m tall and curvy, and I’m okay with that. Well, I try to be, but I am a woman, and we all have our moments.
Flicking the light switch off, I head back out to my room and plop onto the bed. I hope to hell I can fall asleep. New place. New job. Not the greatest recipe for sleep. What in the hell time is “the crack of ass” at, anyway?
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