Page 15 of Silas

He ends the call and spends a few minutes puffing on his cigar and swigging moonshine.

He glances over his shoulder through the window and sees me waiting, but continues to ignore me.

His phone rings again. For reasons I can’t fathom, my gut clenches, and fear blisters through me.

“Hello? Jerry? Howdy, brother, been a while.” He listens for a moment. “No shit. It was quick, though? Well, that’s good. Not like when Deanna died. God, that was hell. She suffered for three months before the Good Lord called her home. Well, Jer, I’m sorry for your loss, brother.” Another moment spent listening. “Of course we’ve got room for you, Jer. I told you twenty years ago, I’d save a place for you here, and I’m a man of my word. Yeah, ‘course—bring ‘em all. The more the merrier.” Another pause. “Well, sure. I’d expect your boys to work their way up the ranks, but I’ll find a good spot for you on my war council.”

Something about the next pause makes my blood run cold. Maybe it’s the speculative look in Papa’s eyes when he glances at me.

“Well now, Jerry, that there is a mighty interesting proposition. Tell me about her.” Another silence, during which Papa nods and hums a few affirmatives. “She sounds like exactly what I’ve been looking for, Jer. I’ve been praying the Good Lord would provide me with a new wife, and now here you are filling that need…” Papa swivels in the chair to stare at me, his expression calculating and cunning. “Yes sir, I’m lookin’ at her right now. She’s a pretty one, long as she keeps her mouth shut—you know how it is. Take a firm hand with her and she’ll be a damn good wife for you. Well now, you’ll meet her when you get here, but I can tell you all the boys here think she’s just about the prettiest woman they’ve ever seen. Had to punish a few boys for trying to sneak over here and get a look at her, or worse. Naw, she’s been trained up right. Cooks, cleans, knows how to respect authority.” A guffawing laugh that turns my stomach. “Jerry, if you weren’t my oldest friend, I’d shoot you for that. What you do with her in the privacy of your own home is no business of mine. All I’ll say is that I’ve kept her on a short leash. She’s intact, if you know what I mean. Yeah. You bring your daughter and she’s as pretty as you claim, you’ve got yourself a deal. Obviously, this all hinges on you delivering on the deal with Alan McDermot.”

Another pause, this one longer.

“Consider this a verbal agreement, then. Yeah, I can send some boys out to help y’all pack up and move. We’ll be waiting for your arrival. Yes sirree. All right, good talkin’ to you, Jer. See ya, now.”

He levers himself out of the rocking chair, leaving it rocking with a clatteringthumpthump—thumpthumpon the floorboards of the front porch.

My pulse is hammering. Nausea burns like acid. I know exactly what just happened.

His boots thud toward me—clomp…clomp…clomp. I stare at the shiny black leather of his boots. “Got some news for you, Naomi.”

“Yes sir?” I don’t look up. If I had anything in my stomach, I’d be retching it up, right now.

“You’re getting married.”

“I…” I’m expected to respond, but I can’t think of anything to say that won’t get me hit.

“My oldest friend, Jerry Oleson. His wife died end of last year and he’s moving onto the compound with us.”

“Yes sir.”

“He’s a good man.”

“Yes sir.” I can barely manage a whisper.

“You’ll obey him like you do me. You hear?”

“Yes sir.”

Papa’s eyes bore holes in my head, but I don’t dare look up, don’t dare meet his eyes. He’ll see the horror in mine.

“Anything to say, girl?”

I shake my head. “No sir.”

“Nothing at all?”

Another shake of my head. “No sir.”

“Want to know what he’s like? How old he is?”

Mean. Old. Violent. I don’t say any of this. I lift a shoulder in an effigy of a shrug. “Okay.”

“You oughta be happy. Grateful. I’m giving you a husband, Naomi. A damn fine man for you to serve and take care of. He’ll give you kids, lots of ‘em. He’s got six kids and four grandkids. He’s a bit older than me, but he’s strong and hale as a horse.”

Grandkids?

A man for me to serve.