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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 4 2018, 09:37 PM (13 Views) | |
| Hedley Stone | Jan 4 2018, 09:37 PM Post #1 |
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Hedley had never wanted to settle for...well, anything. He had always wanted to do big and grand things. Maybe not try and be in pictures or something, but he had wanted to do something with his life. Didn't everyone? Everyone wanted to have a meaning to their life, right? But the problem was there was hardly ever a chance to do that. There was so little time in their lives and eventually people had to settle for "might as well". They had to make do. Hedley thought that being an attorney would have been his "make do". He wanted to do something more, but when his brothers were all talking about professions and when his own twin had betrayed him with wanting to be a doctor, he had settled on attorney. That had worked well enough, that was respectable, that was secure, right? But as they grew older, life popped them each out of their dreams. God, Hedley had been so relieved when it had come to pass that he wasn't going to have enough money for schooling. He had felt worse for Kingsley, though. Kingsley had looked right disappointed; of course, he always had this look about him that someone had stuck him with a pin and he was just slowly deflating, but this was the first time he had ever looked beaten. A Stone was never suppose to look so tired or worn down, they were Stones. A stone stood in the face of everything, right? A stone was never beaten. He wouldn't go out of his way to say that he had been looking for something just to make Kingsley perk up a tiny bit, because it hadn't been all about him. He didn't like how worn Kingsley looked (like their father, right before he had jumped into a river and only came back a bloated corpse), he didn't like that all of them were so down, and he most certainly didn't like how...itchy he felt. It was the only way he could describe it. He felt itchy, like his skin had somehow shrunk in the heat of the British summer one day. He hadn't thought to go to America. America was just another place, really. No more, no less, it had hardly ever been on his radar to be honest. And then he had met some men that had traveled and spoken of how...grand it sounded. It sounded grand to Hedley, so he had brought it up to the others. No one had seemed overly interested in what he had to say at first (least of all Kingsley) but the more he had spoken, the more they had listened. Everyone always said Hedley had a silver tongue; everyone always said that Hedley could make anything sound like a good idea. It was all in the delivery, it was all about acknowledging that it may be hard but then burying that knowledge underneath good words, good tidings and inspiring words. That was how he had snagged his brothers easily (except Kingsley) and that was how they had wound up in America. Honestly, they had been having so much better luck there than they had in England that they would have been foolish to stay there. It had been so easy for them. Once Hedley thought four brothers was too much, but now he realized they were all needed. They all had a part to play and they all played it well. Hedley lead them, Booker got the first of their money, Prosper charmed more money from men and women alike, and Carlisle and Kingsley had plotted out what they needed to do and how to do it. Within months they had a nice little set up in an out of the way house that no one ever would think would have illegal activities in it. It had been when they were settling that one day Prosper had commented on the woman that had been in the house in the same general area as theirs. Prosper had said she was pretty and when Hedley had looked for himself, he had needed utter silence to just...take her in. She wasn't pretty, she was gorgeous. Just...everything about her. Her hair, her face, her walk – Kingsley got hit for saying that Hedley could hardly see her from where they were. But he had a point and he had told them it would be rude not to go introduce themselves. He had dragged Prosper and Kingsley with him, fully intending on charming the woman as much as he could. What he got was a shotgun to the face and told to get off the land. He could admit that he had left, he had bolted with Prosper because who wanted to be shot? But that was how he had realized he needed to meet her properly. He needed to know her. Except every time he tried to go see her, she ran him off. Even when he had started sending Kingsley – who was so mild and boring that he would have to be welcomed – she had sent him back and Kingsley had glared at him and said 'she doesn't want to talk to any of us'. Hedley wasn't going to give up, not until he had won her heart. It was around a week later that she had coming racing to their home, bursting in and ignoring all in favor of Kingsley. Hedley had been ready to be upset until he heard the words 'plow', 'run over', and 'Wes'. Kingsley hadn't wasted any time, this time he was dragging Hedley along and there was just this blur of trying to get Wes patched up. And then Hedley had found himself run off again. Kingsley had stayed. It had been awhile now and Hedley found himself walking at a slow pace towards the house. Carlisle had rolled his eyes and said he should know when he wasn't wanted. Hedley supposed he should, but the woman (Hedley had heard Kingsley call her Summer) couldn't get out of his thoughts and he had never had that happen before. Prosper said maybe he just needed a taste and then he would be happy enough to go on his way, just shrugging as Hedley gave him a withering look. He went up the steps, knocking on the door and when Summer finally opened the door he held up his hands as if to show her he meant no harm. Not that that had done much good for them before, of course. "How's your cousin doing?" he said before she could really try to tear into him. When Booker had seen him leaving, he had suggested to be a little more considerate than he usually was, think a little. He told him to think about if one of their lot had been hurt, would he want a woman – nice looking or not – coming up to flirt with him while one of the brothers was injured? IT was smart and it did make sense; it was almost enough to make Hedley feel guilty that he hadn't been thinking of checking on his cousin. "I trust he's in good hands with Kingsley, he was always very steady." He trusted that Kingsley was still alive and that Summer hadn't shot him for insolence. Prosper had said he had seen Kingsley wandering around outside, doing little things here and there, minor things to help. "Booker – our eldest brother – said I should offer to help do some work that might be missing out on with one of you down for the time being, but I'm afraid I know little of farms in general." |
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| Summer Lee | Jan 4 2018, 09:37 PM Post #2 |
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It was all starting to slip away from her. It wasn't just the farm, although that felt like it was continuously slipping through her fingers. It was everything. Her cousins had mostly scattered. Foster was like a brother to her, but even he had left. He had been in Chicago and become a federal marshal, moving all over the country chasing down criminals. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him. Money was tight and only getting tighter. They didn't know if the crops would fail. They didn't know if a horse would sell. They didn't know if the sheep would survive, if the wool would be good, if the market would be good for the wool or the meat or anything like that. It was just her, just Wes, just Lori and the handful of farmhands that had stayed on with them out of either a sense of loyalty or just the need to have some kind of job to do, even if payment was mainly just a roof over their head and food. Then bootleggers had moved in down the road. The criminal element had been just a short walk down the dirt path. Then Wes and the plow. She had thought he would slip through her fingers, too. They had been lucky, at least. They had managed to save him. Then Lori dragging home a con man that had been beaten for cheating others. Then the signs that Wes, that Lori, were falling in love with these criminals and there was very little that could be done about it. And then there was him. She hadn't immediately known that the men that had moved into the old house down the road had been bootleggers. No one had known that. They were just a group of people from another country, just one more set of immigrants that had honestly decided to come to America at the worst possible time. She couldn't even begin to imagine what had brought them here, what they thought they might find in a small town in a dying country full of desperate people. She had passed the home a few times on her way to the town to sell things or to teach a few classes for some extra money. She had never seen any of them doing anything remotely like farm work, had never seen any of them in the town - at least not in any way that seemed to imply that they had a job - yet they hadn't left and she had even seen some new, fancy clothing and seen them spending money at the main store in town. Between her suspicion at that and the small things she heard around town she had put two and two together. They were doing just fine because they were selling illegal alcohol. It incensed her that they had come all the way over here just to break the law... and that they had to do it practically on her doorstep. What would Foster think? What would Parker think? In the end, she had decided to just ignore it. They lived down the road. They had left them alone so far. That was when, of course, that three of them had shown up on her doorstep. Summer had been angry and she had acted rather than took a second to think. The men found a shotgun in their face and a threat in her words. Two of them had bolted, the other had stayed for just a brief second to actually roll his eyes and then trudge angrily away. She had thought that would be the end of it. Instead, they kept coming around. Or, more accurately, two of them kept coming around. One of them clearly unhappy about it and stating his brother had sent him, the other the brother that had sent him. Summer wouldn't deny that the man was attractive - both of them were - but that wasn't important. Hedley was honestly more than attractive. That didn't matter. He seemed to just think that she was going to fall down at his feet and sing his praises, for one, and that was not going to happen. He also was a bootlegger. She had already told him she wanted nothing to do with their criminal selves and she meant it. Oh, she had heard things in the town about them doing other things - good things even, such as the sullen one being a fairly good doctor in a pinch for the poorer folk - but that didn't change the fact that they were criminals. They were breaking the law. And, soon enough, criminals brought more criminals. Their town was small, practically nothing on the map, but what if these brothers managed to anger someone from a bigger town? What if things escalated? She had a farm. She had family and friends here. She couldn't risk them like that. So each time he showed up, she chased him right back off wondering why he just didn't get the message that she wanted nothing to do with any of them, that she wanted them to stay away from her family. She had held true to that until the accident. It had been such a stupid, stupid thing that should never have happened... but it had. The hospital wasn't in the main town, they weren't big enough to warrant that. The main doctor was, but there was no guarantee he would be in and not out treating someone else. Her baby cousin very well could die if they didn't get him help right away and a bouncy ride to the hospital would probably only make things worse. Though it chafed her to do so, she had made a quick and rash decision and she had torn out of the house and down the lane, all the way to the home of the Stone brothers. She hadn't bothered knocking. She had just burst in and pushed past confused men until she had come right up to Kingsley. She hadn't even known how she had made any sense, but it had seemed to make enough sense to the younger man. He had grabbed supplies, grabbed his brother and her, and he had bolted back the way that they had come. Back to the house, back to where Lori was just stroking her brother's hair, trying to keep him calm. Summer had backed off for the moment, let them work over her younger cousin to try and save him. She wasn't sure how Wes had survived. Maybe God had given them a little bit of grace. Maybe the ground had given under Wes and it had meant he hadn't taken on the full weight. Maybe something close to a miracle had happened. She didn't know. She had been so glad when Kingsley had washed his hands and said he thought the young man would be okay. That he would be in pain, that it still might be best to get him to a hospital for the pain, but that he would most likely survive if no complications arose. Of course,she had been so glad that she had tried to run them both off with the gun again. Hedley had slunk out immediately. Kingsley had stood his ground. His argument had made sense and her determination had wavered in the face of that. She didn't want them on their farm, with her family, but he had just rushed here with no questions asked and possibly saved her baby cousin. Though he hadn't said as much, Kingsley had basically said through his actions that he wasn't charging them for this but that a real doctor would and the likelihood of their affording a real doctor and hospital was a flimsy thing. She had just grumbled to herself and stormed off at that, letting him remain with Wes. And he had stayed and tended to Wes every day. More than that, he had picked up some small chores around the farm when Wes was asleep. She didn't want to trust him but it was hard not to. She didn't want to trust his brothers, either. It didn't matter how charming, smooth, or cheerful - or handsome - they might be. The knock on the door had startled her out of those thoughts but, for once, she hadn't immediately answered the door with the shotgun aimed and ready. Her hand was on it, but she just eyed the man warily for a long moment until he raised his hands and then asked about Wes. That was a first, honestly. Usually when he saw her he quite obviously turned on the charm, as if he could suddenly seduce her. "He's in pain, but he's gettin' better every day. He and your brother seem to get along pretty well." She admitted that grudgingly. She didn't really want Wes getting along that well with a known criminal but there wasn't much she could do about it. It had been nice to see her baby cousin invested in something again, even if it was just Kingsley reading him some book . She gave a soft sigh after a moment. "We're very grateful to him for all he's done. All he's doin'. Though I won't be makin' a farmhand out of him anytime soon." Kingsley tried, though. She'd just put him on easier tasks when he offered to help, though. No sense in making him miserable enough that he might remember he hadn't charged them for saving Wes, that he might suddenly abandon Wes. She was silent again for a moment as Hedley said he had been told to offer to help and that he knew nothing of farms. "That ain't really much help then, is it?" She countered his statement. She held his gaze for a long moment before she gave a snort and set the shotgun off to the side, kicking the door open a little further. "Get in here then, city boy. We'll see what we can find." |
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| Hedley Stone | Jan 4 2018, 09:37 PM Post #3 |
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Hedley was feeling like he had been cast out to sea and it was something he hated. He was used to being in control, he was use to people doing what he wanted. Kingsley always demanded why people always seemed to want to do things his way, but never seemed to understand that Hedley had always made more time for people. Hedley was the people person between himself and his brother; Kingsley thought simply just having sound ideas was what made people listen, but Hedley had proven time and again that if you made yourself active in that person's life, they would follow some of the craziest ideas. He wasn't entirely sure how things had flip flopped since coming here, that it was Kingsley telling him that he should try doing actual nice things rather than acting like it was a nice gesture that he was interested in Summer. When Summer said that Wes and Kingsley seem to be getting along well, he couldn't stop his snort. "Kingsley does have a bit of charm about him when he decides to use it. Generally it's only the charm of people who like reading." Kingsley had always loved reading...but Hedley could admit there was a part of himself that was still almost bitter at the attention Kingsley got. There had been that friend of Kingsley's back when he had been studying, a sweet enough man named Em who always seemed a bit slow to Hedley, and then there had been Moira. There had been quite a few people who had been intrigued by Kingsley, they had stared at him and bought him drinks when they had been out and Kingsley hadn't cared. He had ignored them more or less and it had made people want him more. How was that fair? Was that the key to attention? Did he have to act like he didn't care? That sounded impossible. "Kingsley seems happy to help. For Kingsley. Which means he just looks vaguely like someone told him to smile and he's trying." What little they had seen of Kingsley, anyway. He had been Kingsley's version of happy. The other man wasn't exactly a big protester of what their family did, he didn't always take a stand and say that bootlegging was wrong – he helped often enough. But it wasn't what Kingsley wanted to do with his life. Wasn't that the way with everyone, though. When she continued on after a long moment of silence, he crossed his arms and couldn't quite help scowling. "Well, aren't you right?" he countered. "Heaven forbid I should try." He wanted to say more, he wanted to snap that well then he would just take himself else where. The problem with that was Summer had had no qualms before with dusting her hands free of him, of just going 'all right'. Another problem was the fact that she probably wouldn't think about him at all after that. He could admit that whenever he said he was done and he was leaving, he would always watch. He would make sure people were thinking about him and realizing they had lost something. He would feel smug and pretend as if he hadn't thought a single moment about them and it drove them even wilder. Summer, unfortunately, probably would move on with her life, he could see it. And that would bother him, that would drive him wilder. But finally she snorted, kicking the door open wider and letting him. "I am not a city boy," he protested, "I've just never worked on a farm." That seemed to confuse people here. How could one not work on a farm? It seemed almost mutually exclusive here. If you didn't live in a city, you lived in the country. If you lived in the country, you must work on a farm. He supposed it made sense. If you were in the country, you really only had yourself to rely on. That was one of the big difference back home in England. You could be country and everyone in the city would know it, but having a farm? That was pretty rare. That was for people who had always had farms. His family...well, he didn't know what they had. They had a whole lot of nothing as far as he was concerned. Two dead mothers, five sons, and a father who hadn't been able to handle it and had killed himself. He entered the house, taking a moment to glance around. It felt like the first time he had been there, though it wasn't exactly true. When he had stopped by a few times, he had seen glimpses of the inside but nothing that really showed anything. He had hurried over here when Wes was first hurt, but he had been a doctor's assistant then and he hadn't had time to look around the house and take it all in. Now, though...it wasn't exactly unlike the home he shared with his brothers, but this one felt old. It spoke of generations having lived there and spoke of a bigger family then just the family that lived there now. "You have a lovely home," he offered. The words sounded weird and he waited for her to throw them back into his face. IT wasn't exactly like she was unkind, which his brothers would always raise an eyebrow at him for saying, but she wasn't. Hedley may have ranted about her many times, but he had seen the way she acted with her family, with the people that worked for the land, towards Prosper even, who had been nothing but cordial and understanding of her wishes. But she had decided to hate him (some like Kingsley would say she had good reason to since he had forced himself into her life) and she just happened to be willing to be mean to whatever he said. He couldn't exactly protest that he didn't deserve, but he also couldn't promise that he wouldn't take offense, wrap himself up in his wounded dignity, say things that he would regret but he would never actually admit to regretting. Then it would all fall down around him and he would ruin his chances and then Kingsley would glare at him because maybe she would be angry at Kingsley and kick him out too. He lifted a hand to run through his hair, trying to not look as awkward as he felt. "So what exactly can I be doing to help?" He wondered what exactly there was to do on a farm. Oh they had plenty of land back at their house, but it had been mostly Prosper making it look like they were using it (stupidly, Hedley had heard out in the town, it looked like someone who didn't know how to take care of a farm). That wasn't how they were going to make their money. At the same time, he was almost wishing he had done something to the effect so that he was more useful now, so that he could show off by offering to help and spouting out his knowledge in an effort to impress Summer. |
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| Summer Lee | Jan 4 2018, 09:38 PM Post #4 |
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Summer just watched the other man's reaction to the fact that she wasn't rushing to let him in, at the fact that she was talking about his brother rather than anything else - even though he had been the one to ask about her cousin and, right now, her cousin was spending the majority of his time with his brother. She didn't quite like the snort that he gave when she mentioned that Kingsley and Wes seemed to be getting along and so the smile she gave was a thin one, not at all like the ones that she could give in the right circumstances. "Well, Wes enjoys readin' quite a bit. So I reckon they've got an awful lot to talk about.' It certainly seemed that way, anyways. Every time she checked on Wes, they were in there together talking. Sometimes it was Kingsley reading a book to him while Wes made him pause to ask questions. Sometimes, they were talking about some far away land from a book or even about some sort of medical information from the college books that Wes had excitedly bought before all of their dreams collapsed inwards and shattered on themselves. They seemed to have yet to run out of something to talk about and Summer was glad. She didn't trust the Stone brothers much, but Kingsley had seemed such a dour sort, the kind of man who didn't have many friends and Wes' closest friends had always been his siblings. It was good for them to have someone to talk to that shared so many similar interests. "He's tryin' and that's the important thing." Summer and Lori both had gotten exasperated with him and laughed at some of the things he had said or done. That had finally spurred Summer to bring him outside and give him the simplest of tasks that always piled up on top of one another; get the eggs from the hens, scatter feed for them, help break up the hay for the horses and sheep. Nothing major, but it freed up the hands of someone else to do more things on the farm. As she had expected, he didn't exactly react well to her comment about someone who didn't know much about farms being much help at all. He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest and while his words were harsh. Not that she could blame him. She had just basically praised his brother - who also knew very little about farm work - and then told him he knew nothing at all. Of course, she was growing at least somewhat fond of Kingsley for the simple fact that he had stayed his course and was helping Wes even now. She still didn't quite trust any of the Stone brothers, though, and Hedley had been the most insistent and pushy of all of them. "Sometimes, trying somethin' you're not all that good at ends up poorly for you and everyone else." Because farm work could be dangerous. Look what had happened to Wes. You could be run over by a plow, bucked off by a horse, stampeded by cattle. You could break yourself with constant hard, hot work. You could get a cut and get it infected. There were hundreds of ways for it to turn out terribly. "But trying somethin' is the first step to becoming good at it," she added after a moment. She raised an eyebrow at him as he said he wasn't a city boy but that he'd never worked on a farm. "You show up roarin' in fancy cars and wearin' fancy suits and you don't know how to work on a farm but you're not a city boy?" she asked him. Even if he had grown up in the country - and if he had, how had he escaped working on a farm? - he was certainly the epitome of a city boy at this point in time. Summer kept a wary eye on the man as he stepped into the house. It wasn't the first time he had crossed the threshold, but it was the first time she had actively invited him into the house. The last time had been a panic of needing a doctor and the doctor needing hands. This time she had actually opened the door for him. He didn't do anything other than look around the house, thankfully. In a way, she was almost ashamed. She remembered snippets of what the Stone brothers' home looked like and it was bigger and nicer than their own. Their own was old and the years of having to work hard with little time for anything else was wearing on it somewhat. There was nothing fancy or amazing here, just worn wooden floors and worn rugs, old, faded photographs of family members. Nothing impressive. She blinked as he spoke, the words surprising her somewhat. She wouldn't say she expected him to be outright rude but she had expected somewhat of a sneer and a comment about how quaint or small it was. "Thank you. I'm afraid it's not lookin' it's best at the moment though." How could it when she was busy, Lori was busy, and Wes was lying in bed injured? When they had Kingsley here messing things up with needing a place to stay and all of his medical supplies everywhere? When the dirt and the dust just seemed to pile up everywhere and get into everything? There was no fighting it at this point. The silence held for a long, awkward moment. She had a feeling there were going to be plenty of those, given the past that they had together so far. She gave a delicate snort as he asked what he could be doing to help, further enforcing the fact that he had no idea what to do on a farm. "We'll do what I did with your brother: start you off with somethin' easy." He wasn't going to like it, of course. If he didn't like it, he could take himself out of there. She was pleased he had asked after Wes and equally pleased and surprised that he had offered to help but that didn't mean she was going to listen to him complain at whatever task she gave him. "Come on, city boy," she told him, leading him to the back door that opened out onto the farm proper. She lead him down the steps and out to the small field they had back there that was mostly for crops for their own table. She reached down, showing him a small, leafy plant that was rising up out of the ground. Then she tugged, pulling it up. "Weeds. If we're not careful they'll kill everything out here and then there's no extra food for the table." Right now, people did everything for food and money was scarce. If they lost their extra supply of vegetables it would hurt them badly, just like if they lost their eggs they would be hurt badly. "It's nothin' exciting," she said after a moment. "But it's gotta be done." |
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| Hedley Stone | Jan 4 2018, 09:38 PM Post #5 |
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She was still being relatively cool to him, which was...well, his brothers would tease him that he must feel so out of sorts, that people never treated Hedley coolly so he would be beside himself. The fact of the matter was that it wasn't an odd thing; just because Hedley was charming didn't mean people instantly trusted him or liked him. He had been faced with people before who had had a tendency to dislike him. The difference was that he had destroyed them. That was the sort of man Hedley prided himself on; you were either with him, or against him. If you were with you, you knew the safety of generally having his good nature. If you were against him...But Summer was different. He didn't want to destroy her and he struggled to understand what would make her like him. Nothing he had done so far had worked. "Well it stood to reason that Kingsley would find someone like that eventually." As much as he sounded dismissive, he was sort of pleased for that. Everyone thought that Hedley was the sort who would only approve of his brothers so long as they catered to him. It wasn't exactly wrong, but nor was it right. He loved his brothers. They were his brothers, how could he not love them? He had always been exasperated with Kingsley, though, and it was hard to miss. They were twins, he had told Kingsley many times, but since the day Kingsley's hair darkened and Hedley's lightened, they had been two opposites. It had been like someone had split a poor sap in two, the good and the bad sides (it was always a toss up on who was good and who was bad). Despite all that, the thing was Hedley was happy for Kingsley. He wanted his brothers happy and as much grief as Hedley gave him, he thought Kingsley deserved someone who was going to look past the fact that he cared more about books than people, looked past the fact that finer etiquette escaped Kingsley at times. "I suppose it is." Was that a jab, he had to wonder. Was she implying that the other Stones weren't being nearly as helpful? It was true, but they had been doing that under Summer's own attitude, thank you very much. She had driven them all off, said they didn't need help (even when Prosper had come and he was arguably the sweetest of all of them), why would she be trying to drive the point home that only Kingsley was trying? He could feel his jaw clench as she pointed out that sometimes things ended poorly. He wanted to snarl and say that she hadn't cared about that when Kingsley had come over to help Wes, that Kingsley hadn't finished being a doctor and she had let him try that. He wanted to threaten to take Kingsley away if that was how she felt about it. The most glaring problem with that was that Kingsley would just come back. Hedley could tell him over and over again that they were removing themselves from the lives of the Mannings and Lees and Kingsley would just roll his eyes and be back at work the next day, taking care of Wes. Another thing was that Summer would probably see that more as a childish display, see it as retaliation and that would ruin any chance that he had with her. A part of him wondered why he cared. There were plenty of women in the world, plenty that would have given in to whatever he wanted...but he didn't want them. His silence was eventually rewarded (was it rewarded? He couldn't tell) with her finally adding that it was the first step. "I would honestly hope if I were to help you, you wouldn't put me to task with something that would kill me." Oh, he may never have worked on a farm a day in his life, but he knew the dangers, he had heard stories about what happened if you weren't careful. He had seen what Wes had been like and he had worked on a farm all his life. Maybe it was odd, but he trusted Summer to not put him to anything that he wouldn't be able to do. He gave her a flat look when she pointed out all the things they had, finally mocking him again about the city boy thing. "I grew up in the country," he pointed out, unable to keep his tone clipped, "Unlike you Americans, for a single father who had six boys, it was cheaper for him to live in a place that no one else wanted to, where the land was barren and the work was sparse, so we all got to go into the big city before dawn, work, and then come home afterward." It had been their lot in life, but Hedley had vowed he was going to get to have what all those city people had gotten. Things felt different in here, he found, the air seemed...odd. Somehow it was both more stuffy and less than it had been outside. Outside it had been the type of air that would strangle you because of how it was so full of bad feelings and not quite hate, but close enough that it could be confused for that. Inside it still had the press of potentially bad attitude, whether by him or her he wasn't sure, but it was clearer in here. Maybe it was because, despite everything, Hedley had been taught how to behave in someone's home. "It's lovely," he said in response to her words and he found he meant it. "Has it been in your family long?" After a moment, he found himself hesitating, because that probably could have been taken as an insult, it could have been seen as something that sounded like it was in disrepair or something. "It's just...it has a strong personality and in my experience most homes only get that when they've known a few generations of family." He had been told the Stone family house had had that. It had seen two wives and six sons, how could it not have developed a personality? He felt a pain of regret that they had ever left it. It had been their home...but at the same time, he understood they couldn't live in that way. They couldn't have survived much longer so far from where the work was. It was good that they had been able to keep their house though; the Manning and Lee homestead would have been a treasure that hurt to lose, he felt. He gave a small shake of his head, clearing his throat. "I know you don't particularly trust us, but...ask Prosper to come help sometime. He's always been fond of doing housework, oddly. And he would jump at the chance of helping two lovely women and handsome young man." Prosper had always been a little fussy on that sort of thing, honestly. Even when they had worked long hours, if something had been out of place at home, he had to fix it. He just liked a clean home, he always said. And if Summer asked him to help? He'd be over the moon, probably. He could feel his hackles want to rise as she snorted at him, making him want to hiss that he didn't have to help. But he refrained, he pushed it back because the fact of the matter was they were doing all right so far. They hadn't bashed heads together all that poorly since he visited, why would he want to ruin that now? "Oh, Kingsley has you fooled that he can only do easy tasks? He's a much more capable man than me, don't let him trick you next time." Because the thing about Kingsley was that he could understand a lot of tasks if you quickly described them to him or even by his own trial and error. It was more that he was incredibly lazy with things that didn't interest him. He remembered as children, he had constantly dropped things or purposefully did them wrong because he had had no interest in the task at hand and people had spent hours trying to explain to him. Only when he had realized that the faster he finished the task, the sooner he could leave had he ever finished something quickly. "Lead the way, country girl," he countered to her words. He found a bit strange that his own, at least, wasn't filled with barbs and thinly veiled harshness. It was almost fond, after everything they had encountered so far. He removed his suit jacket as they left the house again, tossing it over the railing of the porch. Even as he followed her out to the field, he rolled up his sleeves, because...well, he didn't get this far thinking he would be doing something that involved him sitting inside. He raised an eyebrow as she pulled up a weed as if it was nothing. "I understand how weeds work," he pointed out to her, but again, it was without barbs or his normal ego dent. "Even a fool could do this...which might mean it's the perfect task for me." |
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| Summer Lee | Jan 4 2018, 09:38 PM Post #6 |
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Summer continued to watch the man closely. She watched him even more so as she said that her cousin liked to read and that he and Kingsley seemed to have a lot in common. She wondered just how much he knew about his brother. She would assume a fair amount but... well. Summer was a religious woman and she believed in God. It had taken a lot of soul searching for her at times when she spoke with her cousins, when she saw the people that they were interested in, when she saw how close Kingsley and Wes had become. The end result had been that she had decided that they weren't hurting anyone and love was important, especially nowadays. The problem was that the rest of the world wasn't quite on the same wavelength as her. She most definitely didn't want to leak any information if he didn't know how close Kingsley and Wes were becoming. "He'll find an eager audience with Wes," she finally settled on. It was true. Quite a few of the times she had gone in to check on her cousin, she had caught them doing nothing at all but reading; Kingsley would have a book, holding it towards Wes so he could see but he would be reading the words out loud anyways. Honestly, it was a bit touching in a way because the few times she had met Kingsley he hadn't seemed the type to care and yet here he was painstakingly reading through lengthy books just for her younger cousin. She watched him for a moment, wondering if he were going to take offense to what she had said. He was a prickly man, she had found. The words weren't mean that way but she was almost prepared for him to take them as such. "And we are grateful for the help," she admitted. There weren't enough family members left to fully take care of the farm and there had been several workers that had left because they couldn't pay them. Only the ones that needed the food and roof over their heads that they could offer rather than the money had really stayed. Summer watched the way that Hedley's jaw clenched at her words. She couldn't blame him, really, but he had always seemed a bit overly touchy the few times that they had interacted. She was wondering if he would say something, if he might explode on her. If he did, she would close the door in his face. It wasn't so much testing him as she just wasn't going to put up with that. She had too much on her plate right now to try and deal with someone yelling at her on top of everything else. Instead, he just gave her a somewhat sour look before he spoke and said that he hoped she wouldn't give him a task that would kill him. She felt her mouth twitch up a little in a smile. "I guess that's a risk you're gonna have to take, isn't it?" she asked, teasing a tiny bit. At the next look that she got and the clipped words, she did feel a bit guilty. Summer didn't like to mock people. Tease sometimes, sure, but never mock. "There's nowhere that's cheap for Americans anymore," she said, sadly by way of apology, a way of offering a bit of solidarity and weakness. She had no problem apologizing, of course, but it was something to open discussion... and it was true. People lost the farm, but when they went to the city they found out they couldn't afford that either. There was nowhere to go. Was it any wonder people lived out of their cars? A part of Summer wanted to grumble at his words. Lovely? How could it be lovely. It was falling apart around them, going to ruin as they spoke. It was dusty and creaky and full of heavy dreams that had been put to the side for survival. Yet a part of her was pleased at the praise because it sounded sincere. Everyone liked to hear their home praised, after all. "Couple generations," she said in response to his question. "On the Manning side, anyways. We married in last generation." In truth, this place belonged to her cousins. It had just made sense for her to come and help them run the main farm than for them to remain here and her at her own family's farm. "And the Mannings and Lees all have strong personalities," she said in some amusement as he almost hesitantly continued on with what he had been saying. She let herself muse on that for a few moments. Maybe it would have been wise to sell one of the farms. Sell it, use the proceeds to help the other. The thought of losing the sheep farm hurt her badly, though... and she knew the cousins felt the same about their own farm. They hadn't quite set themselves up as anything in particular but it was their farm. Their life and their livelihood. She shook her head after a moment as Hedley spoke. She looked at him for a moment at his offer. A part of her wanted to reject it outright, but of all the brothers that had come to their home over the time Prosper had been the least invasive or offensive. A part of her wanted to agree simply because the house needed it badly. Still, that was asking a bit much from neighbors. Particularly illegal booze running neighbors. "Well, it takes all kinds," she said, a statement that wasn't really an answer in the least. She turned to give him a look as he spoke and said that his brother had tricked her. A part of her wanted to be angry at him throwing his brother under the wagon - and at his brother for supposedly tricking her. Yet a part of her wondered how much that was true because she had most definitely seen Kingsley fail quite spectacularly at a few simple tasks. Maybe that had been for their benefit, though, so they wouldn't ask him to do more if he so obviously couldn't do something like that. Maybe she had been right to not trust them at all. "Is that so?" she asked. "Well, maybe next time he'll actually be able to get an egg from a chicken without a show if I call him on it then." It was an easy thing to say and to wonder just how much she might be pitting them against one another by telling one brother about something that had happened. She supposed they would see. Summer gave him a slight smirk as he called her a country girl. "Now you got it," she told him before she lead him outside. When they got outside... well. She tried to shift her mind far, far away. It was unfair, really, that he should be so handsome. It was only made worse when he rolled up his sleeves and she turned her gaze away. The Lord didn't want you to give into temptation, after all. "Well, you're a step ahead of some people then," she countered easily as he said he knew how weeds worked. "It's nothin' glamorous or fun but then if it was fun it wouldn't be a chore." She leaned down to pull another one. It was a hard and boring and thankless task but it was one that went faster with more people doing it, at least. |
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8:53 AM Jul 11