Chapter 8

The retching sounds of her throwing up made me lose my appetite. I couldn't help but look at the scrambled eggs and think how much they looked like yellow vomit. I didn't need to ask, I already knew who it was.

Six days had passed since Eric was here and I was making sure she got all the crack she wanted. Now that she's definitely hooked, it's time for her to change her attitude about our relationship.

The hurling disrupted my thoughts. Glancing at the others I shook my head as the stupid grins on their faces. We all knew she was having morning sickness and they seemed to be wondering the same thing. Who's the father? I was pretty sure it was mine as I've been fucking her the longest but even if it wasn't, there are five other donors who are in the running.

Eric, Tony and Johnny were too late in the game to be contenders so I didn't consider them.

"Thar she goes again," the old man mumbled between shoving another fork of food into his face.

"It must be that stomach bug goin' 'round," Rebecca advised. "She done throwed up two days straight already," she added. I smirked at her suggestion. It wasn't a stomach bug causing this.

Rebecca stood and went to the hallway. "You 'right, Annabel?" she yelled to her. There was no response. She repeated the question before going to check on her.

"Eat," the old man barked startling me as I followed his wife's progress down the short hall. Looking at the plate of mush, I suddenly wasn't hungry. I ate the burned toast and finished the milk and bacon but didn't touch the eggs. They were too gross.

"Come on, girl, take some medicine and go lay down," Rebecca said entering the room with Annabel dragging in behind her a few feet. Pulling out a bottle of cod liver oil, she poured a heaping tablespoon full before shoving it into Annabel's mouth. No wonder she doesn't complain about swallowing so much cum, if she can tolerate that crap, she can swallow anything!

"Go on to bed," she told her swatting her butt. My eyes followed her shapely little ass as she left the kitchen. The old man cleared his throat loudly, breaking my spell. He was glaring at me, suspecting what I was looking at.

"Time to go," his voice thundered as he stood to leave.

"Melvin, is it okay if Jake stays to help me? I gotta few chores I need help with. He snarled at me with mouth cleft-lipped as if I was the most disgusting piece of shit on the planet. I swallowed hard not sure how he would react to this. I knew given a choice, I wouldn't even be here and he'd have no problem getting rid of me one way or another.

"Keep 'em I don't care. Ain't much use to me noway," he said turning to leave. The others quickly followed suit and I watched until the were all out of sight.

"Want me to clean the table?" I asked reaching for the plates.

"Jake, sit down," she said wringing her hands. She was visibly upset and the first thing I thought of was she knew Annabel was pregnant and suspected that I was the father. She went to the cabinet above the refrigerator and pulled down a bottle of whiskey. In all the time I'd been there, not once did I see her drink a drop of alcohol.

Sitting at the table she poured a shot and downed it quickly before refilling the glass.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Johnson?" There was a long pause.

"No," she replied, not looking up from the shot glass.

"Is there something I can do?"

"I won't let it happen again," she snipped.

"Sorry?"

Exhaling deeply, she finally turned to face me. The expression on her face was worse than what the old man usually gave me. She downed the second shot and poured another. Damn, it was only seven-thirty in the morning!

"Melvin is a good man," she started. "He's a good provider and has a kind heart." There was a few seconds of silence. "We both come from big families, he gots eight brothers and sisters and I got six. We wanted a big family to," she added as her eyes welled up.

"Are you okay?" I asked leaning closer to comfort her.

"We only met one time 'fore we got married. Our parents arranged our marriage. That's what we do 'round here. I didn't love him at first, but I do now." I had no idea where this conversation was going but I wanted it to end soon.

"Right away we wanted to start our family and made love all the time. Four or five times a day, every day hoping I'd catch, but I never did. After two years, I went to Doc Brown in the city to have me checked. I was fine so he asked to see Melvin," she said taking a sip of the whiskey.

"Course he didn't wanna go, but I made 'em. I wanted a baby so much and I wouldn't take no for an answer. He was the first man I ever seen naked before so I didn't have nothin' to compare to so when Doc Brown told me his test'cles didn't come down and his sack was empty, I knew there was a problem. I just didn't know he couldn't have no babies."

I sighed. Where in the hell is this going? I really don't want to hear about her husbands balls.

"We tried for a little longer, but soon he gave up. We wasn't gunna have no babies and I was heartbroken. We went from making love four times a day to four times a week then four times a month and then not at all. I was feeling lonely and very depressed about not havin' no babies."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said patting the back of her hand. She pulled it away and topped off her shot glass.

"Melvin had just been home for lunch and gone back out to the field when a city-slicker came knocking at the front door selling vacuum cleaners. I told him I didn't need none 'cause I got all hardwood floors but he wanted to show me how easy it was to clean them with his vacuum. He was very handsome. Kinda like Robert Redford, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman all rolled into one." I watched as her eyes seemed to glaze over at some fond memory. "He had the brightest, bluest eyes I'd ever seen," she said looking at me to see if my blue eyes where the same.

"Like I said, I was very lonely and it had been months since Melvin and me made love. I'm ain't proud of it, but he was so handsome and so charming that I couldn't resist him. We made love for the rest of the afternoon and he brought the woman in me out so many times that I thought I'd faint."

Great, she just told me she's a whore who let some door-to-door salesman fuck her back in the day.

"I didn't think Melvin would ever find out 'cause he was gone by the time I started dinner. It was about six weeks later when I stared gettin' sick 'round food. Some smells just turned my stomach so much that I couldn't help it. After I missed my second period, I knew what had happened, I was pregnant."

I watched as she gulped down the shot she had been spinning around into tiny circles on the table.

"I knew what I had to do. There was no way I'd give up my baby so I seduced Melvin and made him think the baby was his. Of course I told everyone the baby was premature and shocked everyone, 'pecially Doc Brown cause he done told Melvin he'd never have no babies," she took a deep breath before continuing.

"Linda was the apple of her father's eye. She could do no wrong and he cherished the ground she walked on. He was so excited about me having a baby that he wanted to try for another one right away. By the time Linda was two, he'd given up and we went back to our old ways."

"Did he ever find out?"

"NO! And he never can! It would just kill him to know his one and only child wasn't his and to make it more worse, that I cheated on him. Please, Jake, never speak a word of what I'm 'bout to say to anyone. Promise me."

"Sure, Mrs. Johnson, I promise."

"Linda was seventeen and was ready to get married. We picked out a nice boy for her in the next county and they seemed to like each other. He was 'bout your age so it seemed right. Linda liked another beau, almost twice her age who lived on the next farm. Of course we refused to allow her to see him 'cause he was black. There ain't no way we'd allow a black man to touch her let alone marry my precious daughter."

"I see," I said secretly laughing at how many 'blacks' had touched her precious granddaughter.

"It was two months 'fore the wedding when there came a knock at the door late at night. It had been raining and we just finished eating dinner. I went to answer the door and nearly fell over when I saw who it was.

The salesman from all those years ago was standing right in my doorway soaking wet and smiling his warm smile. All those feelings I had for him eighteen years earlier came rushin' back. I felt weak in the knees and had to hold onto the door to keep from falling over."

"What did you do?"

"He didn't remember me, it had been so long ago, but I sure remembered him. He was older, more mature, but it was him. His car broke down out on the highway and he walked in the rain for five miles to our farm. He needed to use the phone to call a tow truck. Melvin knew it was too late to call and offered to let him sleep on the couch for the night and take him into town in the morning."

"Did you, um, you know, talk to him about Linda or anything?"

"Heavens no, boy, I couldn't never do nothin' that would hurt Melvin. The next morning Melvin took him into town and they towed his car back to the shop. It needed some part that had to order and it would take a day or two to get it and another day to install it.

Three days at the most is what they said. Melvin offered to let him stay with us 'til it was fixed," she said downing another shot. "I wish he hadn't."

"Why? What happened?"

"Linda took a keen likin' to him and soon they was bein' all friendly together. I tried keeping them apart, but every time I turned my back, they were sitting close and talking. Linda had the same look in her eyes that Annabel has with you. I should have done more but I figured since he'd be here only a few days that nothing could happen. I was wrong. The day his car was fixed and he left, so did my Linda. Just like that, no note, no letter, no goodbyes."

"She ran away?"

"Yep was gone for eight months. Then just as fast as she left, she returned and 'bout ready to give birth."

"Wait a minute, you're telling me she got pregnant by her own father?!?" Rebecca didn't speak but slowly nodded her head.

"I wish I could have stopped it, done something when I saw them gettin' all friendly but he was only here for a few days. I didn't think nothin' would happen!"

"That's fucked up," I said watching as she screwed the cap on the whiskey bottle.

"You need to stay away from Annabel, Jake. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her."

"Trust me, Mrs. Johnson, I won't take her away from you. I'm only here a few more weeks and I'm gone. It will be just like I was never here." She smiled, grasping my wrist.

"I'm glad to hear you say that," she said stand, holding onto the table top for support. "Whoa, that drink went right to my head," she said with a slight giggle. Stumbling to the cupboard to return the bottle, she pulled out an old cookie jar covered in dust. "I've been keeping this all these years," she said setting it on the table in front of me.

"A ceramic cookie jar?"

"No, Jake," she replied removing the chipped lid.

"This," she added taking out a worn, discolored business card. "This is Linda's real father."

Grinning I took it from her and glanced at it. 'Electolux Vacuums' screamed out at me in bold letters but the next line really caught my eye.

"Oh God," I mumbled trying to keep my hands from shaking.

"What is it?" she asked leaning closer to see what it was that I saw.

"Oh, nothing, I just never heard of this company before."

"They went out of business 'bout ten years ago. I called to get my machine fixed but they ain't no longer in business."

I couldn't stop staring at the salesman's name.

'Nelson Meadows', my father. I knew he travel a lot when I was younger and after my grandfather died, he took over the furniture business, but I had no idea he sold vacuum cleaners.

"You're sure this is the man who sold you the vacuum? The man who fathered your daughter? And your granddaughter?"

"Yes, why?"

"Uh, no reason."

A million things ran through my head but one stood out. Annabel is my half sister. Actually more than half. She's my niece too. Shit this is really fucked up. My parents were always fighting about my father's inability to keep his pants zipped and I wouldn't be surprised to find out he has more than one other kid running around.

It is true that he's very good looking and women often threw themselves at him. I guess I can't say I blame him for spreading his seeds, but of all the people in Missouri, why Rebecca? And why did I ever answer that ad?

"You alright, Jake?" she asked noticing how long I stared at the card.

"Mind if I keep this?"

"Keep it? Whatever for? I done told you they ain't in business no more."

"I know, I just like collecting old things and this looks pretty old."

"Yea, about thirty-two years old. I guess you can keep it, I ain't got no more use for it and it only brings back bad memories."

"Then why did you keep it?" She looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"I don't really know. Just to have it, I guess."

"I guess I'd better get out to the field to help Mr. Johnson," I said standing.

"Remember Jake, not a word of this to anyone."

"Don't worry Mrs. Johnson, I won't tell anyone, you have my word."

Giving me a hug, she began gathering up the dishes, stumbling as she walked.

Heading down the hallway, I gave a quick glance back at Rebecca before detouring toward Annabel's room. I had to see her.

She was on her side, facing the wall as I entered, gently closing the door to keep from waking her. She was really a pretty girl and one day will make some lucky guy a fine wife.

I began to wonder if things would have turned out the same way if I knew she was my little sister from the beginning. Would I have been more protective of her or would I have exploited her the same way? I was the youngest of my family and never had a sister so I'm not exactly sure how to act around one. Right now, growing inside of her is a baby we created and she probably doesn't even know it. I should tell her the truth, tell her I'm her brother and beg for forgiveness for what I did to her and allowed the others to do.

She should be enjoying her childhood, not being subjected to multiple rapes every day by several different men and boys. As a big brother it's my duty, my responsibility to look out for her and protect her from guys like me. I went closer, sitting on her bed. The movement stirred her and she rolled onto her back.

"Hi bright eyes," I said smiling as her eyes opened. God why didn't I noticed that before. Her eyes are exactly the same color as my fathers and Rebecca was right, he was very handsome. Annabel looks a lot like him now that I think about it. Brushing aside her hair I bent over and kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling?"