Then he started handing out candy to them one by one.
My eyes burned red with anger. I lunged forward to stop him, but my hands closed on empty air.
Vera stepped up too, smiling as she passed the candy around. When she reached the last few handfuls, my brother put out a hand to stop her.
He whispered to her, : 【Thelma loves candy. Save some so she has a treat.】
But I couldn't care less about the candy.
I pointed at each of those faces, one after another, and accused them through my tears.
【Donald Lawrence slapped me. He tied me up with a cane.】
【Merlin Chavez and Nathan Gray gagged my mouth so I couldn't cry. Every time I cried, they hit me.】
【And a bunch of others. They said since I didn't want to marry, they'd beat me until I did……】
【Conrad, why won't you protect me anymore?】
I demanded it of my brother, my eyes brimming with tears, but he still wouldn't speak to me.
I clawed at my arms until they were streaked with bloody scratches.
Before, the sight of it would have made him cry from the pain of it. But now he didn't even turn his head.
Behind me came the brazen laughter of those bachelors.
Nathan, their ringleader, cupped his fists at my brother and said with a smirk,
【Conrad, you really know how to hold it in. We've got to hand it to you.】
My brother frowned, not quite catching what the words meant.
He was about to press further when Vera nudged him on toward home.
Nathan peeled open the piece of wedding candy and tossed it into his mouth, staring at my brother's retreating back, puzzled.
【This Conrad, does he not know that idiot girl's dead?】
One of his lackeys behind him gave a cold snort.
【Didn't Daisy write a letter to tell on us?】
【I figure he's just a coward. He sees there's more of us, so he doesn't dare say a word to our faces.】
【Maybe he thought that idiot was in his way a long time ago.】
【Look at that Vera next to him. No blood between them, and pretty as a picture. You telling me you wouldn't have your eye on her?】
Hearing them, I even forgot to cry.
So my brother was tired of me.
I followed him home, careful and quiet.
He pushed the door open. The whole place was a wreck, the chicken coop empty, only a few feathers scattered across the ground.
My brother let out a sigh.
【This Thelma, she didn't take a single word I said to heart.】
But I had listened……
The five chickens my brother left behind, I'd thought about feeding them three times a day.
They'd all grown into plump little hens that laid eggs, more eggs than we could ever eat.
It was Gerard Lawrence who said it. Once he married me, everything in the house belonged to him.
If I didn't give it to him, he'd burn the yard down.
Before Mom died, she told us this yard was to be kept so my brother could bring home a wife.
I didn't dare cross him. All I could do was hide in the corner and watch Gerard empty the house out, not daring to cry out loud.
【Conrad, you... came back to see Thelma?】
Daisy stood at the gate of the yard, her face pale.
My brother put away his disappointment and forced out a smile.
【Daisy, is Thelma at her in-laws' place?】
【Help me call her home. Tell her I'm not angry with her anymore, tell her not to be scared.】
Daisy's hand clawed hard at the doorframe, her voice trembling so badly it broke apart.
【Conrad, didn't I have someone bring you the candy jar?】
【Thelma, a little while ago... she already died.】
【Daisy, it's bad enough that Thelma's simple. Now you're talking nonsense too.】
Daisy opened her mouth, but before she could make a sound, Vera had already stepped up smiling, pressing a few bills into her palm and murmuring low,
【If Thelma doesn't want to come back tonight, that's all right.】
【Take this money home to your dad. Ask him to come help put on a banquet tomorrow.】
【With Thelma's wedding and all, we've got to have the whole village over for a meal, make it a proper celebration.】
Daisy opened her mouth, but in the end she swallowed the words back down, clutched the money, and turned to leave.
The next day, Daisy and her family came pushing through the door.
