"Babe, what are you doing?"
Eustace watched me strip off the wedding gown.
A bad feeling rose in him at once.
I threw the gown on the floor and gave a cold laugh. "You really need to ask?"
"Willow Mason, are you trying to scare me?"
My mother-in-law's voice went low.
"I'm not trying to scare anyone."
"This Simmons daughter-in-law job — whoever wants it can have it."
"I'm done waiting on this family."
I motioned for my girls to head out.
But Eustace's aunt jumped in front of us.
"Nobody's leaving."
"Not before the bride price is returned."
"You're not going anywhere!"
My mother-in-law immediately called for someone to shut the doors.
"The three gold pieces, the bride price, all the money spent on this wedding."
"Settle up, then you can go."
Her words made me double over laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"Just how the whole Simmons family is one nest of trash."
I paused.
Then I told them, "Relax. I won't take a cent of the bride price."
"As for the three gold pieces..."
"Even if I gave them back, would he dare take them?"
I shot a glance at Eustace, whose face had gone ugly.
The others didn't know the truth.
But how could Eustace not?
His so-called "self-made success."
That was built on my help — the money that let him strut around the village, put up a fancy house for his family, buy a car.
Without me, frankly, it was all a pipe dream.
"Willow, this is all a misunderstanding..."
Eustace tried to say more.
His aunt shouted him down. "Calling off the wedding and still trying to keep the three gold pieces? You city women are greedier than any country girl."
"Our Eustace worked hard and earned the money to buy those."
"Take them off, now!"
Before the words were even out, she lunged forward to snatch the jewelry off me.
A few of my girls stepped in to stop her, but she was a big, heavy woman, and strong with it.
She shoved every one of them to the ground.
"Hand it over!"
She wrenched the gold necklace clean off my neck.
Then had someone pin me down.
Earrings, ring, bracelet.
All of it taken.
"Even the underwear on your body was bought by my nephew, wasn't it?"
"Take it off!"
"Auntie, what are you doing?"
"Eustace, keep quiet. This woman wants to take you for everything, and I'm not letting her get away with it."
"Don't worry. Auntie's got your back."
Eustace's aunt came at me to rip the underwear right off my body.
I screamed at her, "Don't you dare!"
"And why wouldn't I dare?"
"This is a crime!"
"Ha! What crime is that, exactly?"
"I'm only helping my nephew take back what he bought. Returning things to their rightful owner."
"Call the police if you want. We're not afraid."
The Simmons relatives burst out laughing.
And soon.
She tore my top apart, baring a wide stretch of my skin, and even that didn't satisfy her.
So she pinched me on purpose, hard, and while a cry of pain tore out of my throat.
A small chunk of flesh came away between her fingers.
Blood poured wildly from the wound.
She sneered. "You dared take advantage of my nephew — let this be your lesson!"
