Daughter Of An Outlaw

Hurting And Healing

I stared down the barrel of the gun, shocked and stunned on why Eugene was pointing it at me. He glared at me and Henry with hatred in his eyes.

"I knew you were scum the minute you walked up to my sister."

"Eugene-" I tried to pull the gun down.

"Don't move, Bria," he growled, "or I'll shoot you too."

From behind me, a single gunshot from a pistol grazed past my head, leaving ringing of my ear drums. I looked over my shoulder to see my fathers pistol drawn. It was smoking from the gunshot he let fly. I looked back over at Eugene, who's gun was on the ground and holding his hand as blood seeped through.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "That's why you wanted me to cover for you."

"Bria-"

"So you could come here and beat the hell out of the man who gave me a child! Isn't it, Eugene?" I walked over to him and slapped him across the face. He stumbled back a bit, still holding his hand as he stared up at me. "You wanted me to cover not so you could meet up with your friends, but so you could come here and commit murder! You useless little shit!"

I raised my hand to hit him, but I felt a strong hand wrap around my wrist. I whipped around to see my father holding my wrist tightly.

"Enough, Bria." He said sternly. He looked over at Eugene. "You, I don't know what the hell has possessed you to point a fucking gun at your sister, but best believe you're in a shit ton of trouble," he looked over at Henry, "you okay, son?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just get him out of my sight."

"You two," he looked between me and Eugene, "with me."

*****

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Momma yelled at Eugene as I stood in the hallway holding Jeremiah. "You point a gun at your sister, beat the shit out of Henry, and now I find out that Bria is covering for you so you can sneak out? I thought you were smarter than this, Eugene! I thought we were out of that stage!"

"She shouldn't of gotten pregnant again!"

"No, this isn't about Bria! This is about you pointing a damn gun at her! You have no right to do that!"

"Oh, so she gets off the hook for getting pregnant?"

"Don't even start with me. You're grounded for two months. That means no seeing friends! No leaving the property! And no fucking guns! Hand them over, now!"

I heard Eugene growl as he handed Momma his two pistols.

"You've lost your damn mind. Room now."

I listened as Eugene's heavy footsteps began towards the hallway. He pushed past me, giving me a scowl as he headed towards his room. He slammed the door. I shifted Jeremiah to my other hip and stepped out to the living room. Jeremiah looked at me with his eyes wide.

"Is Uncle Eugene okay, momma?"

"Yes, honey," I kissed his forehead, "he's okay." I sat down on the couch and placed Jeremiah on the floor. He crawled over to his chest of toys and began to get them out. I let out a sigh and dropped my head in my hands. "We're almost eighteen. How much longer is he gonna do this?"

"I don't know, baby," Momma sat down next to me, "I wish I could tell you."

"I thought he would've been happy to have another nephew or niece. I mean," I shook my head, "I don't know what to do."

"You do what's best for you. Don't worry about what Eugene thinks about this-"

"Momma, he's my brother," I looked up at her, "I want him to accept this child."

"I know you do, honey," she brushed a curly piece of brown hair behind my ear, "and he will. Just give him time. We only just found out today."

I nodded. I raised my head and rubbed my face. "Momma, do you think you can keep an eye on Jeremiah for a little bit? I wanna go talk with Uncle John."

Momma smiled. "Sure, go ahead."

I headed for the front door and walked outside. Rufus was laying on the porch when I opened the door. He instantly shot up and began wagging his tail. I smiled and leaned down.

"Hey, boy." I patted his head before walking towards the main house. I walked through the front door and was met by Aunt Abigail, who was muttering to herself.

"Damn idiot," she stopped, "oh! Bria," she smiled at me, "you scared me child."

"Sorry, Aunt Abigail."

"Oh, it's fine," she chuckled, "don't worry about it."

"Um," I looked behind her, "where's Uncle John?"

"Sitting in the living room," she gave me a concerned look, "everything okay?"

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, I was just wanting to talk to him."

She stepped out of the way so I could go past her. Uncle John was sitting on the couch with a book when I plopped down across from him. I shoved his knee and he looked up at me with a scowl before instantly chuckling, realizing that I wasn't his wife.

"Bria," he shut his book, "to what do I owe the pleasure from my beautiful niece?"

I laughed. "I was just wanting to talk."

"About what?"

I sighed before bringing my knees up underneath me. "Did Pa tell you I was pregnant?"

His eyes widened as he glanced down at my stomach and then back up at me. "You're pregnant?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah."

He smiled. "That's wonderful news! Congratulations!"

"Thank you," I readjusted myself in the arm chair, "Eugene isn't too happy about it though."

He hummed before leaning on his elbow. "Well, I don't suppose there's any use in talking to him, is there?"

I shook my head. "Pa and I went out to MacFarlanes Ranch to talk to Henry, and Eugene was already there. He beat the hell out of Henry before pointing a gun at me and him."

Uncle John's head shot up. "I'm sorry, say that again?"

"Eugene pointed a gun at me." I said, a little quieter.

He cleared his throat. "Um, well, uh," his words caught in his throat, "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

I shrugged. "Momma grounded him for two months and also took away his guns."

"I see," he leaned over and patted my hand, "well, if you would like, I could have a word with him?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry Uncle John, but this is my issue to fix, just," I looked up at him, "don't tell Aunt Abigail. She'll freak out on him."

He nodded with a smile. "You have my word, Bria."

"Thank you, Uncle John." I stood and he followed.

"Of course." He kissed my forehead. "Go spend time with your son."

I nodded and said my good nights to my family before heading back over to the house. I opened the door and found Jeremiah asleep in Pa's arms. I smiled as he carefully stood, not wanting to wake him. I took my son from my fathers arms before telling them goodnight and heading back to my room. I carefully laid him down in his bed and watched as he cuddled up in his blanket. I smiled as I settled back down on my bed.

I unlocked my nightstand and got my journal from my drawer and began to write down my thoughts. It had been a while since I wrote in it. But I had a lot to think about. I wrote down all what happened today and what I was thinking about when they were happening. I wanted to settle on a good note with a little taken off my chest. It felt better to write down my thoughts.

Afterwards, I closed it and put it back in my drawer and locked it. I was only thirteen when Pa got me this journal. It had my name engraved on it with an eagle. Pa got the same one for Eugene only his was a cougar with his name. He got us these so we would have a way to write down our thoughts for an escape. I used mine a lot more than Eugene. You could tell mine was used because it was starting to fall apart. Eugene's still looked brand new. I laid back on my bed and was about to fall asleep when a knock on my bedroom door pulled me out of bed.