260
NEW STORY TITLE: WHAT IS FAMILY FOR (Incest/Taboo)
Ongoing Family Saga goes south. (ENJOY)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
It wasn’t that I hated farming, I loved the quiet and peace, it just wasn’t for me. Farmers are the most hardworking, solid people I know; and the biggest risk takers that ever lived. To have everything you own; your life blood, out in that field. Let’s see; there is rain, snow, cold, hot, flooding, drought, oh and don’t forget the diseases and bugs that can wipe out a crop. And not a single one of them you have an ounce of control over.
By the time I was ten I knew I wanted something else. I wanted money, I wanted stability, and I wanted freedom. None of that comes cheap, so the next eight years I busted my ass. I graduated from high school with a 4. 0 GPA, Valedictorian of my class; and a full ride scholarship to the University of Virginia Law School.
Seven years later, at twenty-five; I passed my bar exams and joined a firm in Atlanta. Now at thirty, I am a junior partner, and climbing. No I didn’t do it on my knees; I did it by working my tight little ass off.
It was at this point the real world took a shitter. Years of dust, hard work and sweat; were rewarded when my mother passed away from a stroke at fifty-five. The firm I was at gave me two weeks paid to go home and see my family and attend the funeral, so I packed my things and headed east, well kind of.
Home; that seems like a strange word at times; home for me had been the city the last few years. Oh I went back now and then, but honestly I never really fit in. My family farms in South Carolina; which means acres and acres of sweet potatoes… and tobacco. It’s all right to grow a crop that kills millions, but make sure you go to church on Sunday. It’s all right to marry your second cousin, but make sure you don’t have sex before you get married. And God forbid you are a female at thirty without a husband and a brood of kids behind you. That’s where I was, so needless to say I was always a bit of an outsider.
My name is Margaret Mae, at the law firm they call me Margaret, and I never told them my middle name. Going home, I was going back in time; to Maggie Mae, and I shuddered in the car as I drove.
I come from a fairly large family by the standards of today. My father Robert E. Fenton runs the family farm; you got it he was named after Robert E Lee. The rock that had always been at his side had been Mae Fenton, my mom; I wondered how he was doing. I honestly couldn’t remember a single time in my life it wasn’t always the two of them.
So you know the whole scenario; I’ll go through the four kids for you. The oldest is Marcus Fenton, my eldest brother; he just turned thirty-two. He runs the farm with dad and is basically the second head of the family. He married his high school sweetheart, a cute southern blonde by the name of Kara; and the last I heard they had three, or maybe four, kids.
The youngest of the family is my other brother Ben, the last I knew he wasn’t married yet; but I’m sure at twenty-four, mom had the list of approved names ready and waiting.
Then there is me, at thirty. I’m the second oldest, the first born girl; the apple of dad’s eye; and just as big of a disappointment. He had boys lined up and ready to wed and bed me when I headed off for college. By the time I returned I had ‘changed, and not for the better’ he claimed.
The fact he thinks I am going to die a virgin spinster always makes me laugh. Not because of the spinster part, but that he actually thinks because I’m not married I’m still a virgin. Hate to tell you dad, that hasn’t been around since college.
And if you did the math, yes I’m missing one; my younger sister Lilly. She’s right behind me at twenty-seven; and if I have to say; a bigger shock and disappointment to the family than I will ever be. She, like me; went on to college and got a degree in chemical engineering; and works for some big pharmaceutical company now. No, it wasn’t college that gathered such a reaction from my family; it was the day she came home toting her ‘partner’; a raven haired beauty with a stunning smile and a killer body. Yep, Lilly is about as gay as they get. The girl will munch a carpet any day of the week, but won’t let a dick near her.
To say I am an outsider is a stated fact; to say Lilly is an outsider; is putting it mildly. The fact she refuses to hide she’s gay is like shoving manure down the families throat. I tried to get her to not be so adamant about it; but she insists it’s the only way they’ll ever accept her. Poor Lilly, she hasn’t figured out they never will accept her.
So that’s the world I drove from Atlanta to South Carolina for. Loving… caring… tight knit… and as backwards as the swamp in Louisiana. I knew mom’s funeral wouldn’t be for a couple of days after I got home, so I was going to be there at least a week of my two weeks; and it was going to be a LONG week.
When I pulled into the yard at the old farmhouse and stepped out of my car; I was immediately attacked by a flurry of knee high hands and arms, and a chorus of ‘Aunt Maggie’. Well, you can skip the three or four; I counted five small heads as I was surrounded.
“Kids, give the woman a break” I heard a deep baritone voice.
Turning, I saw Marcus come out on the front porch of one of the two houses. Well, I can see why there are five kids, I thought briefly. They sure don’t grow them in Atlanta like they do on the farm. Marcus stood about six two and weight probably over two hundred pounds, and there wasn’t an ounce of fat on the man. Biceps bulged in the tight t-shirt; and those jeans sure packed in nice. Yeah, he’s my brother; but he’s also a man; and a damn good looking one at that. I bet it isn’t reading you do in your spare time, I thought of my sister-in-law Kara.
The kids untangled themselves enough for Marcus to slip in and wrap me in a big hug. I have to admit, when those powerful arms wrapped around me, it gave a tingle I shouldn’t have had.
“Good to see you sis” Marcus said as he squeezed me to his chest.
“Me too” I told him. “I’m just sorry it had to be this way.” I added.
“Its life, we are born, we live and we die” he shrugged. God they were so pragmatic.
“How is dad doing?” I asked as he released me from his bear hug.
“Ask him yourself” Marcus gestured.
I turned and watched as an older, but spitting image of Marcus walked across the yard from one of the buildings. In some ways it looked like dad hadn’t aged a bit; for a man of fifty-one he could still hold his own against his sons. But, I could tell from the way he walked he was worn and tired, the loss of mom had to be hard.
“Dad” I said as I stepped over to embrace him.
“Hey sweetie” he murmured as he hugged me back.
Yep, it was the same biceps, the same powerful hug; only this time what pressed into my gut was even more pronounced than it had been with Marcus. I resisted the urge to look down, barely.
“Anyone else here yet?” I asked.
“No, Lilly comes in tomorrow” dad shook his head. “And the rest, they stayed on the farm.”
I knew the comment was about me living in Atlanta, but I let it slide. Now wasn’t the time for an argument. I dug my suitcase out of my trunk and turned to them.
“Where to?” I asked.
“You’ll stay at dad’s house” Marcus gestured at one of the homes. “He has spare bedrooms” he shrugged.
Yeah with that brood I was surprised my brother had any room in his house at all. I followed dad inside and he showed me to my room. He mentioned Lilly would be staying with us as well, which I was glad of. It would be good to have someone close at hand to commiserate with about not fitting in.
I got settled and then we had a family dinner at Marcus house. It felt more like a banquet when you have five kids and four adults, but it was family. It was loud and raucous, but it was fun at the same time. It was the same usual questions; how was the law practice going, where did I live, and the all important did I have a boyfriend yet.
“I’m just not ready to settle down yet” I explained.
“Well that clock is ticking you know” Marcus threw out.
I glanced over at Kara. I had to admit, for a woman of over thirty, even after five kids, she held her figure damn nice. All this healthy country living and being active on the farm had some advantages.
“It may be ticking, but I didn’t set any alarms.” I laughed.
“Nature sets those” dad said. “You can’t fight Mother Nature.” He said softly.
I let the subject drop, and the conversation went to how dad was doing, how the farm was doing. We even talked about Lilly, though I quickly discovered that was one subject left unspoken.
By that time it was well after nine, and things had settled into a quiet. The kids were all in bed. Marcus was somewhere inside, and I was out in the growing dark, breathing in the evening air, and remembering. As I wandered the large yard I remembered growing up with my brothers and sisters, I remembered mom hanging clothes out on the lawn. All the memories flooded through me as my quiet steps took me to places I remembered, and everything had its own memory.