Eugenia's Embrace

After digging three more holes with the spade, she felt it was time to call things to a halt. The sun was winding its way downward behind the tall pines, which indicated the end of day was drawing much too near for her to be out away from the house. She hurried toward the barn to hunt for a bucket to toss her potatoes into. But once inside, she stopped suddenly to listen. She thought she had heard… was it a titter of laughter? Then sprinkles of loose straw fell onto her hair, making her eyes dart upward toward the hayloft. Something made her heart begin to skip beats. She was afraid to go and see what… who it was causing this disturbance in the freshly stored hay.

The ladder that led upward was only two steps away, so Eugenia began to climb it, one rung at a time, until she came to the top. She stuck her head up through the small hole in the floor of the hayloft and almost fainted from the shock of her discovery. They hadn't even heard her approach. They were too entangled to have heard anything. Eugenia felt frozen to the spot watching Drew and Elizabeth. Elizabeth met Drew's every fierce thrust inside her small, thin pelvis, her skirts were pushed upward, revealing it all to Eugenia's widened eyes. How Drew's fingers were working on Elizabeth's exposed breasts that had fallen from between her unbuttoned cotton dress. The bodies continued to move against each other, and as Drew's body began to tremble outwardly, Eugenia knew what was about to happen. He was at the height of his sexual arousal, and with her own sister. Eugenia covered her eyes and began to scream, over and over again. Mind bursting screams. Then she blacked out.

"Eugenia?"

Eugenia heard a voice above her, and felt a damp rag on her forehead but couldn't make out whose face it was so close to hers.

"Eugenia?" Drew said once again, rubbing one of her hands briskly. "Are you all right? Eugenia, please wake up."

Slowly remembering what she had seen, she pulled her hand away and turned her face from his. The feelings of rage, hate, insult, all mixed into one were seizing her, making her hate him more than she had ever hated anyone in her entire life.

"I'm sorry, Eugenia," he said. "Please forgive me. I don't know what made me do it."

"How many times?" she murmured, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, still refusing to look at him. •

"Dammit, hon," he stammered. "Don't do this. You know I still love you. Only you."

She jerked her head around and glared into his eyes. "How many times, dammit," she shouted. "Ten, twenty… ?"

"Today was the only time," he said softly, lowering his head. Eugenia could see small stems of straw still deeply imbedded in his tight curls of black, making her heart ache all over again.

"You're lying, Drew," she snapped back. "You know you're lying."

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't turned away from me all these nights," he said, trying to defend himself.

Eugenia choked back a sob. "You've got to be kidding," she hissed, remembering how tired she had been each evening after a full day's chores.

After being gone from the homestead for so long, she hadn't been used to such hard labor, and it had begun taking its toll. Her joints and muscles had only now just begun to quit aching at the end of the day. And how could they have had a sexual relationship, with Elizabeth in the bed next to Eugenia's? Plus, there was her Mama. Since Drew and Eugenia hadn't gotten married yet, her Mama would have said they were sinning if she had known they had slept together. Many nights it had been hard for Eugenia to not creep down into the living room to snuggle next to Drew on the floor in front of the fire. She had even thought of how soothing his fingers could have been to her aching muscles. But she had remembered her Mama, and how close her bedroom was to that area of the house. No, it had been impossible for she and Drew to have any kind of sexual relationship—unless he had taken her to the barn, as he had Elizabeth.

"No, I'm not kidding," Drew said further, then stopped when Mama entered the room.

"Eugenia?" her Mama said, going to her, placing her bony fingers to Eugenia's forehead. "How's my baby? Are you going to be all right?"

"Yes, Mama," she said softly, eyeing her Mama carefully, wondering if she knew.

"What in tarnation made you fall like that, darlin?" her Mama asked.

Eugenia now knew that her Mama didn't know. It would kill her to know that Elizabeth had thrown herself at the first man who had come along. A man that had just happened to belong to her own sister.

"I guess I've been working too hard, Mama." She sighed resolutely.

"Well, tomorrow I want you to stay in bed. I'll make some hot soup. That should put some warmth in your belly and make you feel much better."

"That sounds just fine, Mama," Eugenia said. Then Elizabeth entered the room, still wearing the dress that Drew had lifted, searching beneath with his…

"Eugenia?" Elizabeth whined, stooping down beside the bed.

Eugenia turned her head away and clamped her mouth closed tight.

"Eugenia? Please speak to me," Elizabeth said quietly. "Please remember Mama," she added into Eugenia's ear.

Yes, Eugenia remembered. She turned her gaze to meet Elizabeth's and saw not a trace of remorse, but rather, a look of triumph. In fact, her eyes looked more alive than Eugenia had ever seen them look before. And the color of her cheeks? So pink, much more than just a ride in a buggy would cause.

"What do you want, Elizabeth?" she asked quietly, pulling a blanket up securely beneath her chin.

"Can I get you anything? Maybe a cup of hot tea?"

"Now ain't that sweet of your sister, Eugenia?" Mama said, smiling kindly.