The Outlaw's Son

The Truth

CHAPTER 22 - THE TRUTH

     "Won't do us any good to keep goin' if some of us are 'bout to fall out of the saddle." Uncle Seth said next to me. I followed his eyes to Mary Beth and could see how tired she was. She was slowly dropping her head and would jerk herself up every few minutes. I agreed with him. I was tired too. We stopped to make camp once we found a good spot. We had made fairly good progress. We were about 3 hours past West Wood but we still had a long ways to go before reaching Jone's Valley.

Lucas was asleep in the wagon, God forbid he have to sleep on the ground, while we were sprawled out on our saddle blankets. I could smell rain and silently hoped it wouldn't find us during the night. I was the only one awake because I couldn't turn my head off. I couldn't stop wondering about where mama and the rest of my family had been taken, why were they taken, and where my Paw was. It wasn't like him to disappear and it definitely wasn't like him to lose his hat. The only clues I had gathered were his hat with the dried blood and the gunsmith in West Wood telling me he had sold a gun to someone matching the description of my Paw the night before. This meant that Paw was a day's ride ahead of us and apparently had a new gun. He was also possibly injured or had injured, or killed, someone else.

     Mary Beth stirred next to me and I rolled on my side to look at her. She was facing me and the faint light from what was left of the camp fire cast a warm glow to her face. Her crumpled blue dress she had borrowed from Aunt Maria was dirty and the hem of the skirts were turning brown from walking on them in the dirt. She was a little shorter than Aunt Maria so they were a bit too long. She stirred again and her brown eyes fluttered open. I closed mine quickly, hoping she wouldn't see me watching her as she slept.

     "It's not polite to stare you know." She whispered so only I could hear. I could tell she was smiling before I opened my eyes.

     "I reckon I'm not very polite."

     "No, you're not. But that's alright. I don't mind." Mary Beth said while sliding closer to me on the saddle blanket.

     "Why are you awake?"

     "Well, I suppose I could feel a pair of blue eyes burnin' into my skin."

     I smiled. I didn't know how she knew and it didn't really matter. I adjusted myself so we were even closer and almost touching. "I been meanin' to ask you somethin'."

     "And what might that be?"

     "Why exactly did you want to come with me on this ride? I don't know what's waitin' for us in Jone's Valley. Mary Beth, I just don't want you to get roped into all this shit and get hurt." 

     Mary Beth was quiet for a moment. She stared at me with an intense gaze and I could tell she struggling with something. I wanted to ask what was on her mind. I was just about to when she exhaled loudly.

      "I couldn't bear the thought of you leavin' without me. I had felt dead for so long, Britt. Then you came along and I felt alive. I really felt like I was alive and I wasn't just existin' anymore. The thought of losin' that feelin', or worse, losin' you, just was unbearable."

     I didn't know what to say. No one had ever said anything like that me. Not even Hannah, who had been by my side since I was 15. I couldn't understand why Mary Beth was afraid of losing me and I didn't understand how someone like her could feel dead. I had to know why. I needed to know why.

     "Why did you feel dead?"

     "I can't tell you."

     "Why can't you?" I asked, suddenly afraid of knowing.

     "I... I just can't. If you knew... If you knew why... I just can't, Britt. I'm afraid you will regret me."

     I lay my hand across her smooth cheek. I felt the warm moisture around her eye and I realized she was crying. I didn't understand what she could have done that would make me regret her.

     "Nothin' on God's green earth could ever make me regret you. Tell me."

     She was silent for a long time. I could almost feel the raging war in her head. I kept my hand on her cheek until she put her hand on top of mine and slid our hands down in front of her face, locking her fingers with mine. She finally met my eyes with her sad brown ones. "I married at 17. It was an arranged marriage that had been decided by my adoptive parents. They said he would give me a great life with no worries. He was the son of a wealthy banker in our town. I'm originally from Moss Point. That's north of West Wood, not too far from Sunset Ridge. I had just turned 17 the week before we married, he was 25. He was going to take over the family business, which was operatin' the bank, after we married. The ceremony was extravagant and his family paid for it all. He was quite the gentleman during our courtship and on the day of our wedding."

     She stopped to breathe, then with a shaky voice, told me the rest. "After the ceremony was over and we had danced and been congratulated a thousand times, we left the church and headed to the spectacular town house that would be our home. I learned quick that it was a prison. I was beaten every day. Whenever he felt like it. For absolutely any reason. I had suffered in silence for a year when I realized I was pregnant. I tried to hide the swell of my belly for as long as I could. I was afraid of what he would do if he found out. So I had the house maid let all my dresses out in the waist and wore my apron every minute of the day. I had been feelin' the baby kick and move for a few days when my husband finally noticed. I had not expected him to come home that night and had gone to bed without my corset on. He came in after I was sleepin', and after gettin' in bed, felt my growin' belly. I woke up to the feelin' of his hand on my belly. At first I thought he was happy. He looked happy, had actually cracked a smile. But then his face changed. He looked at me with such hatred in his eyes that I moved away from him. He tried to strangle me. He said I was a whore and I must have been keepin' the baby a secret because it wasn't his. He beat me until I passed out."

     Mary Beth paused again. I knew this was hard for her. It was hard for me to listen and not demand who he was so I could make him suffer the way he made Mary Beth suffer. "What happened to the baby?" I asked to prompt her. She looked at me with such sadness in her eyes that I literally felt my heart break.

     "I lost the baby. That same night after the house maid had helped me clean myself up and got me into bed to rest, I escaped. I waited until she was asleep and since she had said my husband had stormed out of the house and had not returned, I knew that was my only chance. I had lost so much blood durnin' the miscarriage that I felt woozy but I knew I had to push through. I had to leave. I hopped on the stage coach and headed for Mexico. That's where I have been ever since."

     I wrapped my arms around Mary Beth. The tears had stopped but she still shook. Whether it was from fear or the cool night air I couldn't be sure. I held her tightly against me. "That's all over now. I'll kill him if I ever see him. He can't hurt you anymore. You're free."

     "No, I'm not."

     "Yes you are, darlin'. You escaped."

     "Britt, none of that was what I was afraid to tell you."

     I knew she could feel me suck in my breath as it hit me. No she wasn't free. I knew what the problem was. I knew what she didn't want to tell me and I wasn't sure if I could stand to hear her say it out loud, but she did and all I could do was hold her tighter.

     "I am still married to him."

A/N
Ohhhhh we weren't expecting that now were we? Do yall understand Mary Beth a little more? She's had a tragic past, but all Britt is concerned about is her still being legally married to another man! A monster at that! Who knows what's going to happen now.

Do yall think Britt will get the chance to punish this mystery man Mary Beth is married to? Do you think she will ever tell Britt who he is?