Love Country (BWWM Romance) (11 page)

“Ewwww! Momma, do you have to do that?” Lewis ran from the kitchen. Second later she heard his yell. “They’re in the kitchen kissing. Yuck! That is so disgusting.”

She laughed as she looked at Craig. “I don’t think we can. We better go face the music.”

“I know my mother won’t stop harping on me about when the wedding is and where we are having it and stuff. I told her to talk to you.”

“Ugh. Don’t you want to help plan it?”

“No, baby. You can plan the whole shebang. I get to plan the honeymoon.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she couldn’t help but laugh at his theatrics.

“Well first let’s get through this weekend.”

He groaned out loud when he thought of the huge festival that weekend and the little charade that they had planned to make sure everyone attended.

Chapter 15

Keeara looked out at the people who were gathered at the festival. It had turned out to be one of the biggest turnouts in the history of Maryville. It was mainly due to the contest that Cole Jenkins and his wife Deanna had put up a $10,000 prize for. It was a shooting contest and there were a total of over 50 contestants signed up.

She watched as children scattered around and ate the food that was offered by the many different families in the community. They were about to start the first round of the contest. Keeara’s father and grandfather had signed up along with all the Jenkins’ family members and Craig. It would be conducted with 5 groups of 10 men to start. Each 10 men were drawn at random by the mayor. The three men with the closest mark to the bullseye out of each group would go on to the next round. Out of those 15 men only 10 would progress and then it would shrink down to 5. At the last five men, only three would progress to the final round. She was happy to see that her father had progressed to the top ten but had been beaten out at that point.

The contest progressed until there were but five men still standing in line for the prize. It was down to Sheriff Eugene (Carter’s son), Riley Jenkins, Antonio Montega (a distant cousin of Craig’s), a deputy of the sheriff department and one woman. The woman was a distant cousin of Keeara named Shining Rainbow. After the round it was down to Riley Jenkins, Shining Rainbow and Sheriff Eugene.

The air was tense and the three aimed and took their last shot. Eugene came just shy of the bullseye as Shining Rainbow and Riley Jenkins hit it dead on. All three were winners with the second and third place contestants coming out with winnings but the top two both wanted the large trophy. They decided to break the tie.

Everyone in the background held their breath. It was the most excitement most of them had seen in a long time. Shining Rainbow took the first shot shooting a hole on the line of the bullseye. Riley stepped up to the line to take his shot.

Suddenly he sat his gun down and put his finger into the air to hold on one minute. Rushing over, he grabbed Octavia his wife and planted a huge kiss on her. “For good luck!” he yelled then rushed back to where his gun was laying. He turned and winked, making her turn a scarlet shade of red.

The crowd laughed at the show of affection. Riley picked up his gun and aimed it at the makeshift bullseye made from a bale of hay. Lining it up, the shot could be heard all around in the silence. The shot cleared straight through the middle.

“And our winner is Riley Jenkins.” The crowd flew up and yelled. Clapping could be heard and catcalls to the winner.

“Told you that those lips were golden, sweetheart.” He yelled it loud so that everyone could hear as his wife turned an even deeper shade of red. He carried the trophy over to her and gathered her close, kissing her deep again until the kids started yelling yuck and ewww. The adults joined in.

“Get a room!”

“No, don’t do that. They don’t have anymore room in that house for more kids.”

“Aurora, you’re about to have a little brother or sister.” Everyone turned to see the grimace on their daughter’s face and the laughter started again.

“Woohoo.” The joy emanated from Riley to the rest of the occupants of Maryville.

The music started and Craig pulled her on the dance floor. After hours of dancing and laughing and Lord knows how much eating, the families sat down around a huge bonfire. Her grandfather sat near the fire and yelled over an intercom that had been constructed.

“If I can get everyone’s attention please.”

The hush went through the crowd. Although babies could be heard crying softly as their mother’s bounced them on their knee, it was for the most part quiet. All the children had been instructed to gather their sleeping bags and come in front of him to start the campfire stories. Mayor Stevens walked up beside him as her grandfather handed the microphone to him.

“Citizens of Maryville. I am honored and excited to tell you that some artifacts have been found. Thanks to the discovery from Keeara Murray and Craig Jenkins, the original paperwork from the establishment of Fort Craig has been recovered. As many of you know the papers were said to have been burned years ago. I am happy to inform you that they have in fact been found. Some of you will be happy to know that the whereabouts of original property lines have been established and your ancestors’ names are signed to the documents as well as the outline of the original property that they inhabited. The documents are dated for July 11, 1795, dating back to the establishment of Maryville and the county of Blount.”

The hushed sound of the people held for a few seconds before the clapping began. People were hooting and hollering and yelling at the discovery. It was not only great for their family but for most of the families in Maryville to have found the documents.
 

“I will let you know that I will be devising a list of names. These are the men who are head of these families. These men will be required to meet with me to see the documents and then they will be displayed in the museum. I think it is only right for the head of the families to see the documents for themselves.”

“So does that mean that you found out the truth on the feud between the Jenkins and Murrays?” someone yelled out in the crowd. They knew that the question would be coming but none of the people who knew were excited about relaying the truth to the families of Maryville. “Yes, we have. I will be talking to Jack and Stephan about that. It seems that the lines that are currently in place are correct.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Stephan limped his way to the front. “You would take their side no matter what. My great grandfather told me the story himself. He told it as it was.”

“Your great grandfather was a kid at the time and probably didn’t know what was going on. Besides that, we have proof. And not just of the land. We have proof of the real way that Lisa Jenkins Murray died.” The mayor held up a stack of papers. “These are letters between Lisa Jenkins and her husband Lewis Murray. They tell of the love that was between the two. In the last letter, it states that her uncle, none other than Captain Jack Jenkins visited Lewis. It states that it was Bradley Jenkins, your great grandfather, that murdered Lisa.”

“Now hold on one damn minute. There is no damn way.”

“We found journals, Stephan, of your great grandfather’s among others in both families. We have measured it against the handwriting and it is your great grandfather’s. He admits to the murder as well as the hiding of the original paperwork from the docket. He tells of many things, Stephan, and they are not pretty.” The mayor looked him straight in the eye as a hush fell on the crowd. “I didn’t want to do this here but you forced my hand, Stephan.”

“I won’t stand here and listen to these lies. My great grandfather was a good man.” The man yelled it across the yard but anyone who looked at him could see the acknowledgement in his eyes. For some reason, the man did believe what the mayor was saying. He also knew that if they kept reading the book they would find out that his great grandfather had not been a good man and it hadn’t stopped there. He had passed his cruelty on to his son and grandson.

Stephan remembered that after his sister and brother’s death with their mother in the house fire ,it had been his father who had started the whole damn thing. His father had turned his rage on the only person left. His son. His own father’s rage at the betrayal of his daughter, Roger Jenkins had taken it out on Stephan, who was the only one left at home. There would be nowhere in that book that would tell them that his father hadn’t been attacked by wild bears the night of his death but rather tied to a tree for the animals.

Stephan remembered the look in his father’s eyes when he had laughed about his mother and younger siblings burning. He also remembered the fear in his eyes when he tied him to the tree in the woods and left him. Stephan had kept that secret and would take it to his grave. If his Jeannie ever found out, it would have killed her. She had been the best thing to ever happen to him. She had been sweet and loving and he had vowed that he would never treat his children the way the men in his family had.

He had been strict with his boys but he had never enforced the evil that lived in the hearts of the Jenkins men, or at least in his line. Stephan looked around at the people. He had held on to the thought that maybe it had been the stealing of their land that had forced his ancestors to turn out the way they did. He saw that he had been right all along. It had all been a scheme devised by Patrick Jenkins to get the better land. The men in the family had just been plain cruel.

People stared at him waiting. Some had sympathy in their eyes while others just looked at him in disbelief. Still there were some with sadness and hate. “Oh hogwash. That’s what all that is.” The old man gathered his cane up and simply started to limp away from the stares. The silence was deafening throughout the park.

“Dad? Where are you going?” Parker Jenkins was instantly alarmed as his father waved his hand at him and walked slowly away. Nobody at the time knew that it would be the last time that Stephan Parker was ever seen before he slipped into the woods never to return.

Mayor Stevens picked up an old looking book. “If you would like, Captain Jack Jenkins has written about his travels on the sea in his journal. Jack has agreed to read some passages as well as some from the journal of Steven Murray for the children as campfire stories. If you want to hear, children, bring your sleeping bags up and gather close to listen.” There was a flurry of activity as the children and adults gathered close to hear the stories. Just then, Craig walked up to the mayor and asked for the microphone.

“One more thing. Mrs. Keeara Murray has finally agreed to marry me. And we would like everyone to come.” There were loud shouts and cheers and everyone came up to congratulate them.

Keeara turned to see Riley Jenkins standing next to them. He straightened out his hand towards Craig. “Congrats, cousin. I am happy for the two of you really. Now hopefully this can put an end to this damn feud.”

Craig gathered Keeara close. “We hope so.”

“Yes, too many people have died and obsessed over some land.” This came from Cole Jenkins as he came up and clapped Riley on the back. “And congrats on the big win too.”

“Thanks but don’t think we all don’t know where that money came from.”

“Well now that you mention it, I wanted to talk to you and your brother about expanding that lumber business of yours.” He had put his arm around the other man’s shoulders as they walked away talking about business. Craig smiled and shook his head. His father was always looking at business no matter where they were. He guessed that is why he had become so rich.

The night went on with Jack reading stories to the kids. One by one they dropped like flies until all the children and many of the adults were cuddled in sleeping bags asleep. Teenagers skipped off and snuck away to have some fun as the older generation dozed in between stories amongst each other. Everyone was happy and content for the first time in years. Keeara sat back and looked out over the huge park that was now a bed for over 100 people. She now knew why God had sent her home. It was where she belonged.

She looked up to the stars and sent a silent goodbye to Jonathan. Although he would always have a special place in her heart, she knew that he was probably up there rooting for her. He always was her number one fan and now she had another amazing man that would fill the void in her life since Jonathan’s death. Sighing, she eased back against the warm chest behind her and smiled.

Epilogue

Keeara looked at her father and smiled. It was the second time he was walking her down the aisle and, she had promised him, the last. Her dark hair had been wound up in little tight curls with the back high up on her head. There were little white flowers that were entwined in the long tresses and held in place. She looked in the mirror one more time. Her gown was strapless and fit to her body perfectly. It flared out just past her hips into a ball gown.

Deanna Jenkins had insisted on paying for most of the wedding, but her mother had told them that she would buy the wedding dress. The satin came down to her feet where a wide band of dark red appeared and there was a long train behind her. The three women had gone dress shopping and they all knew it was the dress the minute she had stepped from behind the dressing room wall. She felt like Cinderella that day. They had decided to have the wedding at her parents’ place and Deanna, only wanting the best for her only child, had tents set up and tables arranged.