I finally understood.
Every single one of them, my brother included, could no longer hear my voice.
Gerard's threat came out vicious: he had to have the money before he went back to the city.
Otherwise, he'd expose her.
It was right then that my brother's voice came from behind them.
"Gerard. What you all just said—what did you mean by it?"
At the sound of his voice, Vera's whole body went still.
She turned, stepped carefully up to him, and ventured cautiously,
"Conrad, when did you get here…?"
My brother pointed toward the cook he'd hired for the yard, his expression easy.
"The cook's arrived. I figured I'd call my brother-in-law in for a few drinks."
"Just now, from a ways off, I heard you all say something about exposing somebody… What's all that about? Expose who?"
Vera's face was strained, but she let out a breath all the same.
Her eyes slid away on instinct, and she made up some excuse on the spot to wave it off.
But once Gerard had swaggered back into the yard, Vera grabbed my brother's hand and pressed him about when, exactly, he could go back to the city.
My brother ruffled her hair fondly and soothed her.
"What's this? The older sister watching her little sister get married, and now you're getting anxious yourself?"
"Don't worry. When your day comes, the whole affair won't be one bit less grand than Thelma's."
"Besides, once this banquet's over, we still have to take Thelma back to the city to get her treated."
Vera's feet froze where she stood, her face full of panic.
But my brother didn't notice. He'd already strode over to Gerard and pulled a thick cash gift from inside his coat.
With everyone at the table watching, he pressed it into Gerard's hand and told him,
"Thelma married you, and I, her brother, couldn't get back in time."
"This bit of money—call it the dowry I owe her."
"It's a year's wages I saved up. You two newlyweds take it and set up a household."
That pack of bachelors from the edge of the village stood there with their wine bowls, and at the sight of it they forgot to drink.
Their eyeballs were fixed dead on that bulging cash gift, staring until their eyes glazed over.
Vera tried to speak up and stop him, but my brother raised a hand and cut her off.
He clapped Gerard on the shoulder and smiled. "I've gotten a solid footing in the city this past year."
"I know you've never had a real job, big brother here already had someone line up a position for you in the city. Work hard from now on—putting food on the table, that's what matters."
At those words, every one of them suddenly couldn't sit still.
A wine cup shattered. It was Nathan, who had tormented me.
Liquor egging him on, he jabbed a finger at Gerard and let loose.
"The kid in Thelma's belly isn't even Gerard's! What gives him the right to have every good thing land on him alone?!"
Vera stepped forward and cut in fast.
"What drunken nonsense are you spouting! Somebody get over here and haul him off!"
But my brother raised a hand and stopped her, his gaze locked dead on Nathan, his voice dropping a few degrees colder.
"Go on. What do you mean, no telling whose kid it is?"
Nathan let out a cold laugh and spat at Gerard's feet.
Reeking of liquor, he leaned in close to Conrad, calling him "big brother" with every other breath.
"Big brother, I'll be straight with you—I'm real fond of Thelma. She's been mine for a long time now."
"So that lump of flesh in her belly, that's my seed."
"This thick stack of dowry, no matter how you slice it, I've got to get a share, don't I?"
"You don't believe me, go on out to the barren hills and dig that mother and child up."
"She's only been dead a few days anyhow. Drag her to the hospital, run a blood test, and I guarantee it'll come back as my own flesh and blood."
