Authors: Arden Aoide
“
For who would bear the whips
and scorns of time...”
–
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
James didn't hope for much
since he liked to get shit done himself. Fate lacked reliability. So did most
other people. Sure, once they saw green, they were more industrious, and James
appreciated that. He liked to know whom he could buy upfront.
It was the
reason he wanted Daniel Snawder to find a whore.
James knew
once Jude realized the baby in Clara's belly was Mr. Achen's, he would likely
kill him, and James needed to see it. He never imagined Jude held such anger
and strength, and James wanted to cultivate it.
And as much
as he wanted to throttle Jude, and he would in a manner of speaking eventually,
he hoped he bloodied that fucking blond and then maybe James could respect him
more.
Or get bored
of him.
He had
forgotten about his plans for Clara, but that had only been a diversion to make
things harder for Jude.
But like
anything else, it appeared as if he'd moved on. James had moved on, too.
But Jude
clearly hadn't, but as angry as James was at being nearly murdered by his own
offspring, this would certainly make things interesting.
Killing Jude
for behaving like a man wasn't amusing. At all. And he so liked to be amused.
James had
several amusing plans. The blond boy, Raphael Achen if his identification was
to be believed, was meant to seduce his son.
And this
time, James wouldn't miss.
There seemed
to be an influx of testosterone clouding his youngest child's behavior. And the
way the blond seemed to attach himself to Clara, things might turn out
differently, but James was interested all the same.
And then
there was Sofia. He had an appointment with a specialist in San Antonio next
week. She didn't need to know.
This son
would be
perfect.
He would
subdue her if he had to. It was only a matter of time before she became privy
to his machinations. And he'd need to make her stay.
James was
looking forward to it. When he was away from her, he could think clearly, but
with her, his brain was a clouded, muddled mess. He needed this clarity badly.
Behind closed
doors, she was a summer rain. Hot and relentless. James always loved summer
rains.
Clara held
Raphe's hand tightly in the back seat. After last night's note, she was sure
Mr. Agnesson never intended to take her home, so she didn't understand why he
was.
Unless Jude
had moved on and it was his way of tormenting the both of them.
Mr. Agnesson
had lied from the beginning. She was sure of it. Nothing was as it seemed.
Especially after what Raphe told her.
Raphe was
sure Mr. Agnesson meant for Jude to be miserable. And this would do it. So, it
made sense that Jude hadn't moved on.
She just
didn't want wishful thinking to divert her expectations.
Raphe was
strangely silent on the matter and he'd had an opinion about everything, but
she couldn't blame him for being nervous.
He would need
her, and she would need to protect him, especially if Mr. Agnesson planned to
use him to antagonize Jude. Which he would, Clara was sure.
So she would
do her best to make sure he wasn't vulnerable to whatever Mr. Agnesson had in
store for all of them.
She bumped her
shoulder against his. He'd been snippy that morning about what happened last
night, but she understood that.
Clara didn't
regret a moment of it. She felt a small amount of guilt that it wasn't fair to
Jude, but it hadn't been fair to any of them.
Jude wasn't
the only victim. But she wasn't going to allow him to advocate for her because
it wouldn't fucking matter. She played her part in their society like the good
girl she was.
The good girl
she had been.
It didn't
fucking matter.
Shula had the
right idea.
Clara would
be the rock for the men in her life.
She had two
of them, after all.
Raphe wasn't
keen to get his face beat, but he felt it might be inevitable. If he were in
the same position as Jude, he might be inclined to knock someone out.
Possibly.
He would play
it cool and look to Clara for any cues that were meant to hold his attention.
She didn't
seem bothered by last night. Which surprised him. He was prepared to listen to
her expressing her regret without trying to hurt him, but she didn't.
But he
was
right. It would be expected that they were fucking. But, even someone as good
as her would be drenched with guilt.
Raphe was
also worried about farm work. He wasn't one to get his hands dirty.
Well,
technically he quite liked it, but not on a fucking farm. Even if this Jude was
gorgeous and had an aversion to shirts. If he could work his charm, hay didn't
sound like one bit of fun, but then every dumpster in Texarkana had seen his
naked ass, so he couldn't really scoff at a bit of rough on the farm.
He wanted to
be near Clara.
He thought he
might be in love with her, but he was sure love and extreme codependency felt
the same, so he wasn't sure which it was or if it mattered.
And she
didn't have a dick, so that should've told him right there, but even Daniel's
cock and Raphe's desire for it didn't feel anything like love.
Maybe because
Daniel still bought everything about life that he was taught from his
upbringing.
That his
betrothed was still only fourteen and he was fine with that.
It still
disturbed Raphe, and while Clara had been raised with the same beliefs, she
could see all the other options clearly, and they didn't bring out pity or
prayers for Raphe's poor lost soul.
Clara was an
anomaly, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized his attraction
developed when he found out how much Jude enjoyed anal sex, and how it happened
every time.
And she
admitted to liking it.
He
loved
that. Her owning it and not being ashamed.
Even with
planting the idea that Jude probably liked men didn't deter her from wanting to
return to him.
She was
devotion personified, and Raphe knew how lucky he was to be in her orbit.
He squeezed
her hand and bent to kiss her shoulder through her dress. She sighed in relief.
Codependency
did feel a lot like love, but Raphe realized he'd rather be in love if his
heart was going to break.
A break could
be mended.
But
irreplaceable if his heart were ripped out entirely.
“
What happened, Mary?”
Edward had
waited up for her for hours. She had gone to the Agnesson's to visit Grace, but
he knew James bedded any female within his vicinity. It was only a matter of
time before he got to Mary.
It was
well past midnight, and he knew. He loved being the only person to have her.
But now, every time he fucked her, he would think of James.
They'd
made love earlier that day. She wanted a baby. He wanted to give her one. But
now he wouldn't.
She didn't
deserve one if she couldn't obey simple instructions.
He'd
forbidden her to go, but she made excuse after excuse about the things Grace
needed. She was lonely, she needed help teaching the boys, she needed help
cleaning, her morning sickness was severe, and too many others to list.
Mary
wasn't the type of girl who would listen unless he made her. But he wasn't
entirely certain she'd do something to him while he slept.
Edward
should've trained her from the beginning, but the sex was distracting.
Her tears
meant one thing: James Agnesson had defiled her.
Edward
only understood half the words as Mary cried. It was her own fault. He told her
not to go. She disobeyed him. And now she would pay for it.
James
Agnesson would pay for it as well.
Jared looked
through the Kelley home as Edward Kelley's body was wheeled out.
His home now.
He would sell
it. Shula would want that.
There was no
sign of Shula, but her disappearance and his suicide seemed an odd coincidence.
But he felt annoyed by the distraction.
The telephone
was on the table, and they would check the records to see who he spoke to, but
Jared assumed his father called to inquire about Shula.
Shula hated
her father and rightly so, and he'd never asked after her once since they'd
been married, so Jared couldn't think what his father could've said to make Mr.
Kelley choose death.
Unless his
father had done something to Shula and called to let Edward know that the
police would be implicating him as the one who'd killed her since they had an
antagonistic relationship.
The river ran
behind the Kelley home as well. And everyone would believe an Agnesson.
Jared
couldn't think like that. He couldn't function. If she was found. If she was
found
not
alive. If she was found not breathing and had painfully
succumbed, Jared would not stay.
Jared would
dig his own hole and be with her in the ground. He would take their bedding and
make a bed for them beside their home.
He would hold
her as he took his last breath.
He wanted to
end it now, but he would not. He would find her first. He would not sleep until
then.
He'd believed
that morning that she had left him. Justifiably so. He'd violated her in ways
that were unforgivable, and he was prepared to give her every bit of space she
required.
He had let
his father rule over his fear for too long. He was brave and strong, and his
wife was even braver.
He couldn't
find her. He found her torn panties, reminding him of what he'd done, and he
broke.
He screamed
for her then. He begged her forgiveness to the trees and to the animals within
the Agnesson woods.
He got no
answer.
He ran back
home to get his gun. He wouldn't go there without protection.
His father
admitted to seeing her, but claimed to tell her to go home. It was likely more
sinister than that, and Jared assumed she ran for her life.
Which meant
she was afraid.
Jared barely
made it to Jude's toilet before the dry heaves started. She'd ran out, getting
as far away from him as she could at that hour.
And that was
all on him.
He drove to
the Kelley's while Jude combed the woods. Jude also organized the local
volunteer force to help.
There was a
lot of ground to cover, and no one would say out loud what they were really
thinking.
Sophia did,
though.
The river
likely meant one thing: They would not recover her.
And what
Jared feared the most was that she was fighting for her life resulting in a
long and excruciating demise.
If death
wanted her so badly, he hoped it was quick.
But his
Shula.
His
Shula.
She would
fight it.
So there was
a chance. A very small one, but it forced him to act quickly.
It kept him
on his feet.
If she were
fighting, that meant she was waiting for Jared.
Jude found
nothing in the woods. No trace of her. He walked to the river and looked for
places she might've fallen and he saw small footprints, fresh ones, but where
they ended, small rocks began and it was too difficult to tell if it was
important. But since she was missing, it made sense that the river had her.
He ran back
to the main house to meet with the volunteers who would flank the river. He
sent them off, telling them to meet him back here an hour before sunset, and
they drove off as Jared made his way back from Edward Kelley's.
“
Anything?” Jude tilted his head toward the
river, and began to walk.
“
Edward shot himself as my feet hit the
porch.”
“
What? Why would he
‒
”
“
I need to talk to father.”
“
He left just a bit ago. Said he won't get
back until later tonight. I'm hoping he went to get Clara.”
Jared
stopped. “Are we sure he didn't take her?”
“
I inspected both vehicles after you left.
Not a thing. Not dismissing it, but for him to premeditate something like this,
he'd have to know she would be out. He doesn't like whims
‒
”
He broke off when he saw Sofia running toward them.
“
Is it true, Jude? What you
said to your father the other night?”
He'd
never talked to the new maid, except to greet her, so he was surprised at the
question. “That I would kill him if he didn't bring back my wife? Yes.”
“
No. The rest of it. What he's
done. All of that?” She was obviously distressed.
“
All of it.”
She
was trying to catch her breath. “I don't sleep around him anymore. Last night
he stepped out, and I watched him walk into the woods. I lost sight of him for
only ten minutes. The only thing plausible is the river. You've got to look in
the river. If she ran, and she didn't run back home, that's where she went.”
Jared
watched her take off toward the house. “Sofia!” He shouted. She turned, still
breathing heavily. “Does he hurt you?”
She
smiled and shook her head. “No, but I don't know how satisfied he will remain
not hurting me. Men like that can't be fixed. But, I've got my eyes and ears
open, boys. We need to talk soon. When we've found Shula, we need to talk.”
They watched
her run back.
“
What was that about?”
“
I threatened to kill Father and listed all
his sins I knew about.”
“
Can she be trusted?”
“
I don't know. We'll have to see what she
says.” He looked back at Jared. “Why was Shula out?”
Jared turned
and looked at the trees. He was ashamed. “We...fought.” He laughed without any
humor. “I yelled at her for being alone in the woods and forced myself on her
when she kept defying me. When I think of it, it feels like someone else.”
“
You must've been scared.”
“
I was, but that's hardly justification.
She was scared, too. And confused. I imagine she was angry, so she left me
asleep in our bed. I thought maybe she left for good, but she could've taken
the truck. I think she just needed to be away from me, so she took a walk. I
remember her saying something about a fox pup. I think she probably went to
look for it again.”
Shula didn't
know if she was awake, asleep, or dead. She didn't discount any of them, even
though she didn't feel like she was living. Her brain was clouded, and her body
was numb. She felt like she was being choked by her dress, and was able to
somehow pull it off. The branches took it from her.
She'd lost
her shoes at some point, but she wasn't sure when. She hadn't put her bra on
and her knickers were where her husband left them.
Jared.
The dress
could help Jared find her, so she shook a few of the branches until it relented
just a bit, and she was able to cover more area.
She'd been
caught by a tree that the leaves had long left, but it kept her still.
But the water
kept rushing.
And she was
so fucking cold.