BooksBarbecue
Back It All Comes Back to You
Chapters (38)
  1. one
  2. two
  3. three
  4. four
  5. five
  6. six
  7. seven
  8. eight
  9. nine
  10. ten
  11. eleven
  12. twelve
  13. thirteen
  14. fourteen
  15. fifteen
  16. sixteen
  17. seventeen
  18. eighteen
  19. nineteen
  20. twenty
  21. twenty-one
  22. twenty-two
  23. twenty-three
  24. twenty-four
  25. twenty-five
  26. twenty-six
  27. twenty-seven
  28. twenty-eight
  29. twenty-nine
  30. thirty
  31. thirty-one
  32. thirty-two
  33. thirty-three
  34. thirty-four
  35. thirty-five
  36. thirty-six
  37. thirty-seven
  38. epilogue

My mother sat on my bed with her arms folded and demanded to know why I was crying. I panicked and blurted out everything. She stood up and slapped me hard. She told me the police would be coming for me soon.

Mama didn’t cry. She didn’t yell. It was almost as if she’d wanted me to give her a reason to leave.

She walked over to the door and just before she closed it she said she and CeeCee were going somewhere else to live and my father could take charge of me. She promised me one thing: if I’d stay away from her and my sister, if I’d live with Dad and behave, she wouldn’t tell anyone what I’d done.

I dug a hole in the back yard and buried the pocketknife that afternoon. Mama and CeeCee were gone by suppertime. She left a note on the kitchen table, and my father fell to pieces when he read it.

When he said I had to go live with my aunt, I ran to your house. I wanted to explain. I wanted to confess what I’d done. All I could do was cry, especially when I saw the pain Johnny’s accident had caused you.

I destroyed so much in a few seconds of my life, Violet. I’d give anything if I could take it back. I am so very, very sorry.

I still wake up shaking in the middle of the night, sure my secret is about to be discovered. Maybe it will be. Maybe I deserve it.

The last time I saw you—that night at the train station—you looked so beautiful, even crying about your canceled trip. You even cry pretty, Violet. Everything you do, you do pretty.

It hurt me so bad to see you that way. I knew you would never be happy with Sam Davidson and his mother always harping after you. When I saw the reservation he’d made at the station, I asked my daddy about it. He said you two were taking a trip alone and it was a secret. So I tried to help the only way I could. I called Mrs. Davidson and told her my daddy asked me to confirm Sam’s reservation for him and you. I figured they would try to stop you from making a big mistake you’d regret for the rest of your life, Violet. I only want you to be happy. Someday you’ll know it’s me that is meant for you.