The Brooch

The Talk...

Mama Woods heart sunk beneath her stomach upon hearing Maple's sudden confession...

She knew there was a possible chance that one day this day would come. The talk... And it was finally here. But was she ready for what was about to revealed? Moreover was Maple?

"I love him, mumma." Maple cried. "But I hate him!" She scowled! "But I love him..." She sighed. "But so help me, at the same time, I hate his guts!" She growled!

"Maple hun-nay, do you love him or do you hate him?"

"Both." She honestly replied. "But mostly I thank I love him more." She whimpered.

Mama Woods pretended to be coy...

"But he's married!"

"Not him, mumma!" Maple confessed. "And don't pretend not to know of whom I speak." Maple frankly spoke. "You know darn well, I'm speakin of that no good Tator!"

Maple sat up in that bedroom and on her bed, as the wind picked up and the sun shined like fire in the sky.

"It doesn't matter none." Maple shrugged. "Cause I know he doesn't love me. Not the way he professed. So you should take heart to that." Maple said drying her eyes.

"Maple, sugarplum __"

"Mumma, I already know whut you are gone say. So please don't." Maple plainly expressed. "Please hear me out, cause honestly I can't keep this bottled up inside anymore."

Mama Woods deeply sighed looking deep into her daughter's tearful eyes. She said not a word as she listened to Maple candidly speak...

"For years, I have been denyin any kind of affection, I had for him, to all that asked. I guess for their sake. And partly mine. I know that Tator is last person on the planet that you, daddy and especially Uncle Jeffy ever wonted me to have feelings for. Well I guess the universe agreed." Maple sniffed. "You all got whut you wanted. And I guess I got whut I deserved."

Maple began to look down at her precious brooch still sitting in the keepsake jewelry box.

"I was so wrapped up in this brooch, that when love found me. Honest and good love... because of whom it came from, i rejected it! I thought, he's a Lexington. Worse a Crowder... and my family wants nothin but distance between us. Especially with the likes of them, his kin. So I grudgingly obliged. Beyond whut my feelings were. I refused to let him love me. Because I refused to lose you, or moreover, the brooch for that matter due to him. How selfish of me." Maple uttered.

The tears in Maple's eyes began to well up once again...

"So I let another man in. The one all desired for me, to be the foremost person, in my life. And I loved him. Mumma, I did. I can't and won't ever deny that. I loved Andrew Wellington. For a time and to the best of my being. Especially when he came back for me." Maple admitted. "I knew he loved me more than Tator ever did. Because despite how I may have pushed him away, and treated him, by keeping my distance, he came back. And he loved me. With a passion I had never understood. And he made me feel..." Maple half smiled. "I thought if a man could love me like this... and still love me for my flawed ways... then surely I could love him too. And I did. For a time. I really did. But life has a funnay way of shiftin thangs and tiltin yo perfect world."

Maple began to get up and pace frantically around the room.

"Maple hun-nay, you are makin me dizzy. Please come sit back down." Mama Woods asked.

"Mumma, whut I'm tryin to say," Maple said plopping back onto the bed where Mama Woods curiously sat. "is cause this man, Andrew, that loved me and wonted to give me the world, I thought perhaps he could give me that."