I looked at Evelyn Lambert, wailing with a flawless performance, then at my brother's wife working me over with threats and honeyed words.
"So I forced myself on you, just last night, out in the cornfield?"
Evelyn nodded hard, tears pouring like they cost her nothing.
"Ferris, you were pawing at me at the dinner table last night, and on the way back, when I wasn't looking, you dragged me into the cornfield and forced yourself on me."
"You covered your face, but I know that white shirt and those red boxers of yours. And this wasn't even the first time."
The onlookers ached for her more with every word.
"Look at that, not even the first time he's done this to the poor girl. What a piece of trash."
"What's there left to say? She's telling the plain truth. Pay up and marry her, or heaven itself won't stand for it."
The townsfolk's accusations rose in wave after wave. The Lamberts glared at me like tigers, ready to bring their clubs down the second I dared say one word of no.
I nodded and fixed a cold stare on Evelyn. "I did drive you home last night. But I got a call from the background-review team on the way. You're the one who told me to go handle it first. So how did that turn into me raping you?"
Evelyn swiped at her tears, thrust her chest out, and rushed right up to me, glaring like she was the wronged one.
"Ferris James, there's no use trying to deny it now. When you forced yourself on me last night, I recognized your clothes, and I made sure to leave a scratch on your arm on purpose, exactly because I was afraid you'd weasel out of it."
She buried her face and broke into bitter sobbing again. "If it weren't for the baby, I'd never have thrown away my dignity as a girl and come looking for you. How can you be this heartless?"
The townsfolk's eyes shot straight to my arm, and my stomach dropped.
Last night at the table, Evelyn stumbled, I reached out to steady her, and her acrylic nails gouged a gash across my arm. She'd apologized over and over then, even dabbed some iodine on it for me.
Staring at the inch-long scratch on my arm, the whole crowd erupted, shouting in fury.
"It really is him. The proof's right there and he still won't own it. How did Jamestown breed a lowlife like this?"
"Looks so decent, and turns out he's this kind of animal. Call 911 now, before he goes after some other girl in town."
Every last one of them crowded around me, cursing, spit landing on my face.
Evelyn's father charged in and drove a kick into my knee.
"You animal, are you going to take responsibility or not? I'll beat you to death today, you filthy pervert—"
The Lamberts closed in around me on cue. Slaps, fists, feet—
Pain shot through my whole body. My roar was swallowed up.
They yanked my pants down.
"Look, red boxers, just like she said—"
"It really is him, a filthy pervert in a decent man's clothes. The government should throw a man like this out—"
Just then a rough, deep voice cut through it all.
"Every one of you, stop."
Not loud, but steady and full of authority.
The beating stopped. Everyone turned toward the gate.
My brother had come rushing back from the county town, bag on his shoulder, worn down by the road, and right behind him stood the officials from the background-review team.
