Chapter 27 - "I will NOT let you leave!"

Problems with Daniel Butler continue and Elizabeth attempts to leave Caleb.

            As Caleb worked, he noticed Butler watching him again.  He leaned against the side of an empty wagon, his arms crossed, his intense stare burning a hole through Caleb. 

          Caleb dropped the last crate into an adjacent wagon and started toward him.  He stood up straight, a devious grin forming on his boney face.

          “I’ve got my eye on you,” Butler informed him.

          “You jus’ stay outta my business.  You ain’t got no right.”

          “I got every right!  Got every right ta protect my family from filth like you.”

          “You jus’ keep away from my wife and children,” Caleb warned.  He turned and began to walk away.

          “They don’t matter ta you.  You jus’ don’t want ‘em ta matter ta anyone else either,” Butler shot back.  Caleb stopped and stood still, his back to him. “I know how ya weren’t even there fer yer boy’s birth.  Sittin’ at a bar in town while yer wife cried out fer ya.”

          Caleb spun around on his heels.  His eyes were filled with rage. 

          “Ya didn’t even have the decency to be home and sober,” Butler continued.

          “You sneaky son of a…how…what…who tol’ you all that,” Caleb demanded.

          “I got my ways o’ findin’ stuff out.  Ya jus’ watch yer back.  Ya hurt her and I’ll know.”

          Caleb raised his fist and swung, hitting Butler in the jaw with a crack.  He stumbled back against the wagon, grabbing the sides to balance himself. 

          Caleb stepped closer to him and grabbed his shirt collar.  He put his face close to Butler’s. 

          Butler thrust the barrel of his pistol into Caleb’s stomach.

          “Do it!” He screamed angrily into Butler’s face.

          He pulled the hammer back.

          “Ya think I’m afraid?  Ya think I’m afraid ta die?  Ya think Elizabeth would be understandin’ if ya killed me?”

          He slowly lowered the gun and dropped it at his feet.  Caleb loosened his grip on his shirt and began to laugh.  He kicked the gun under the wagon and let him go.

          “Ya gonna fight me, ya can fight me fair,” he told him with a smile.  “Ya ain’t gonna shoot an unarmed man are ya?”

          Butler examined him closely.  “This from the man who shot my father in the back.  This from the coward boy who shot an ol’ man in the back.”

          Caleb lunged at him, knocking him to the ground.  He stuck his knee in the middle of Butler’s chest and prepared to punch him in the face again. 

         A hand landed heavily on Caleb’s shoulder.  He rose to his feet and turned to face Frank, in one movement.

          “What are you tryin’ ta do?” Frank asked him.  “You bound ta get yerself killed.”

          “I don’t care,” Caleb told him angrily, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

          “If ya don’t get yerself killed, O’Connor bound ta let ya go.  Don’t ya go lettin’ yerself get caught fightin’.  Ya wanna fight that b*****d, you do it after ya leave here.”

          “That son of a b***h been snoopin’ on my family.  Been stickin’ his nose where it don’t belong none.”

          “Drop it!” Frank told him, getting into his face.  “Come on now.  We got work ta get done.”

          Butler had gotten back on his feet and was straightening his collar.  A steady stream of blood dripped from a gash on his jaw.  Jess grabbed him by the shoulder and stepped up close. 

          “You better go get that mark cleaned up.  Better not go an’ let on ta O’Connor there’s been any trouble here.  Ya do an’ I’ll take care o’ ya myself,” Jess warned.  “Ya’d better just keep outta our way.  I ain’t afraid ta end this.”

          Butler jerked away from Jess and stomped irritably toward the river.

          “Let’s get on back ta work,” Frank told them.

          “I ain’t goin’.  ‘Bout had enough o’ this.  I’m gonna end this.  That son a b***h ain’t got no right.  He’s gonna stay away from my family if I gotta kill him ta make it happen.”  Caleb wiped his mouth with his shelve.  He glared at Butler, who was now kneeling at the water’s edge washing his face.

          “Ya ain’t gonna help that family o’ yers none by gettin' yerself killed or in trouble with the boss.”

          “I’m gettin' outta here.”  Caleb turned and started toward the line of tethered horses.

          “What we s’pose ta tell the ol’ man if he asks where ya at?” Jess called.

          “I don’t know.  You’ll figure somethin’.”

 

          Caleb sat at a table in the corner of the tavern.  He threw back a shot of whiskey.  How could Butler of known so much? He asked himself.  Where could he have found out about missing Isaac’s birth, or about the bar?  Other than himself and Elizabeth, the only people who could have known about this were Frank and Jess.  Could they have betrayed him by passing the information on to Butler?  Caleb threw back another shot and continued to ponder.

          As the sun sank below the horizon, Jess and Frank entered the saloon.  They made their way to the back where Caleb sat alone.

          “Thought we’d find ya here.”  Frank told him.

          They took a seat across the table from Caleb. 

          “I aughta shoot ya both fer what ya done to me,” Caleb said looking up at the men. 

          Bewilderment spread across both of the men’s faces.

          “Ya both been such good friends.  Up ta now, ya both done me good.  That the reason I ain’t gonna do it.  That the reason I ain’t gonna kill ya fer what ya done.”

          “What are ya talkin’ about?” Jess asked.  “What we done ta you?”

          “Ya know what ya done.  I was jus’ sittin’ here thinkin’.  Thinkin’ ‘bout what ol’ Butler tol’ me.  Been wonderin’ how he coulda known so damn much ‘bout the night Isaac was born.  Ya know what I realized?  You boys were the only one’s, aside from me an’ Elizabeth who knew anything ‘bout it.  One o’ you tol’ him.”

          Caleb drank down one more shot and licked his lips to get every last drop. 

          “Now you gone and let the whiskey do the thinkin’ fer ya.  No good ever comes outta lettin’ yer drink tell ya what ta think,” Frank said.

          Caleb stood slowly.  He wobbled on his numb legs and grabbed the back of the chair for balance. 

          “I’m headin’ on home.  Ya boys jus’ watch it.  This here fight’s jus’ between Butler an’ me.  Got nothin’ ta do with ya.  Ya jus’ stay outta it. Ya hear me.”

 

          When Caleb arrived home, Elizabeth sat in her chair doing her sewing.  She looked up as he staggered through the door.  He moved cautiously across the room and dropped limply into his chair.  She just sat and stared at him, without speaking a word.

          “That son a b***h Butler been snoopin’ on our business.  An’ those b*****d friends o’ mine been feedin’ him information.  Tellin’ him all ‘bout my business.”

          “My cousin?” Elizabeth asked.

          “That’s right.  That damn Daniel Butler.  Been haslin’ me at work.” 

          “And you think your friends have been telling him about you?  What do you think they could have told him?”

          “Everything!  Tol’ him all ‘bout the night Isaac was born.  Tol’ him everything.  All my business.”

          “How do you know it was your friends who told him?”

          “Who else could it have been?  No one else knows.  Jus’ me and you and them.”  He paused and looked up at Elizabeth.  She put down her sewing and lowered her eyes.

          “That son a b***h.  He’s been here?  You talked ta him?  He’s been to my home? He’s been near you and my children?”

          “He’s my cousin, my family.”

          “He ain’t got no right.  Ain’t got no right to come near my family.”

          “He is my family,” Elizabeth objected.

          “He better keep away from here.  Better keep away from you an’ my children.  I don’t want him talkin’ to ya.  Don’t want ya talkin’ ta him.”

          “I have the right to talk to him.  He’s my family.”

          “I don’t want him ‘round my family.  It’s for your protection.”

          “You’re turning into my father,” she told him cruelly.  “You are becoming just like him.  He did the same to my mother as you are trying to do to me.  He tried to keep her from her family.  He said he was protecting her.  He occupied himself with his own business and could not find time for his own wife and children, yet he would not allow us to see or speak to anyone else.  You are doing the same.  At least he had the decency to keep himself sober.  He would not let his children see him drunk.”

          Caleb looked at her with shock.  “You will not see him.  You will not allow him in my home.  I will not have this!”

          Elizabeth rose from her seat and moved swiftly across the room and down the hall, disappearing into their bedroom.

 

          In the coming months, Caleb became increasingly dominant over his family.  His drinking escalated.  Caleb and Elizabeth became more and more distant.  The problems with Daniel Butler also grew.

          One morning Elizabeth finally confronted Caleb, about his behavior.

          “Caleb,” she said to him, standing over the breakfast pots.  “I do not want to live this way any more.  I do not want to be a prisoner in my own home any more.  I cannot…I will not do this any more.  I will not allow myself and my children to suffer the same fate as that of my mother and her family.”  She turned toward him.  “I am stronger than my mother,” she said half to herself. “I am leaving.”

          “What?” he asked a bit bewildered.  He stood from his seat and crossed the room.  “What do you mean?”

          “You know!  You refuse to stop with your drinking and behavior.  You refuse to do it for me or the children.  You care nothing for us.”  She became hysterical, her face turning red.  “If you cared anything for us you would stop, but you refuse.  You come home every night drunk.  The children are afraid of you.  You do all you can to control us.  I am not even allowed to see my cousin, the only family I have left.”

          “You have us!”  Caleb reminded her, becoming angry by her outburst.

          “No!  I have the children and that is all!  You are nowhere near.”  A tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly with her sleeve.  “I am leaving…it will be best for us all.”

          He scoffed loudly.  “Where will you go?  How will you get there?”  He asked, the rage growing in his voice.  “You cannot do without me.  How will you feed the children?”

          “I will do just fine!”

          “You cannot do this to me!  You will not do this too me!”

          “What of all you have done to me?  What of the children?  You have brought this upon yourself!  You have done this to yourself!  I am leaving and there is nothing you can do!”

          “I will NOT let you leave!” Caleb bellowed and stomped out of the cabin.

          Caleb sat on the porch of the cabin for a short time.  He could hear Elizabeth sitting at the table in the kitchen sobbing loudly into her folded arms. 

          That evening Caleb left the dock early, made his regular stop in town to drink, and then made his way home.  When he arrived at the cabin, Elizabeth sat in their room packing her belongings into wooden crates.

          He stepped to the door of the bedroom and watched as she carefully folded the clothing and gently placed the garments into the box.  She looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen.

          “You cannot stop me.  I am leaving and there is nothing you can do.”

          “Where are the children?” He asked sternly.

          “They are somewhere safe.  Where you cannot hurt them?”

          “They are my children.  You cannot keep them from me.  I have never hurt them and I never will.”

          “All you do is hurt them.  Your actions hurt them.”

          Caleb was filled with rage in an instant.  He rushed to Elizabeth’s side and turned over the crate in front of her, dumping its contents on the floor.  He pushed her violently on her back, holding her down by the wrists.

          “Let go of me!” she demanded, struggling under his weight.  She kicked her legs and wiggled violently attempting to break loose.

          He swung one leg over her and sat on her legs.  “You cannot leave!” he screamed angrily into her face.

          She struggled more forcibly.  “Let go of me!”  She wiggled and squirmed under him unsuccessfully.  “Please!”  She began to plead, tears boiling in her eyes.  “What are going to do to me?”

          He yanked up her skirt and ran his hand up the inside of her leg.

          “Please! Caleb! Please don’t!” she pled with him.  She began to sob harder, struggling for breath.