Love, Magic and Misfortune by Karla Nikole

Author:Karla Nikole [Nikole, Karla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Karla Nikole Publishing
Published: 2021-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

26

Now

My ancestors did this…

Simone had told Violet that the Ainsworth women had been a force to be reckoned with. The statement was so assured, so captivating that it had pushed Violet to research the town’s past. A past that varied depending upon which book or memoir she was reading.

Some versions claimed that the Laurent family had founded the village of Libellule. They’d bravely traveled in a caravan with four other families from the north and settled here—building modern structures and establishing trade and commerce with nearby towns. In these versions, there was only small mention of the indigenous people: that they were made civilized and their lives bettered. The settlers had brought new, useful materials to the locals and “clean” morals, and everyone had lived happily ever after.

Of course, the town’s history was much different when told from the perspectives of those indigenous to this land. Those accounts weren’t represented in the glossy hardcover books that local students received in school. Those stories were harder to find: tucked away in private memoirs or independently published projects. Indeed, the Laurent family and their caravan had come to the village, but they’d taken over—disrespectful and trotting over sacred ground, digging and building indiscriminately. Any native that had objected or refused to conform to the modernization of the village had been brutally terminated and made to be an example.

In both stories, the Laurents reigned victorious, leading a life of prosperity, wealth and happiness in the thriving little town they’d helped to establish…

Or so the books had led Violet and everyone else to believe.

“I… I can’t believe Gram knew about all of this and she never told me.”

“You weren’t supposed to know. Gloria shouldn’t even have known, but Dad—” Jasper took a deep breath, bringing his palm to his forehead. To Violet, he looked as if he were physically trying to hold his mind in place. To keep it from falling apart. He closed his eyes. “Dad was always worried about me. Obsessively so. It’s like he worried twice as hard to make up for Mom hating me. Things had gotten so toxic here before they left, but he refused to leave me alone. He told Gloria because he thought it would be better for me if I had someone to talk to, at least sometimes.”

Jasper ran his hand up into his hair, his eyes downcast. “After they left, Dad would still visit me once a month, for a while. But then his health kept deteriorating—probably from all the stress and worry. He worked a few jobs, too, to help support me and Mom. The first year, he’d come see me every month, the next year, every other, then every three. The last two years he was alive, he only came and spent Christmas Eve with me. He was too weak and Mom didn’t want him here, anyway.”

Jasper rubbed his fingers against his scalp again, mussing his hair. He clenched his eyes shut, and Violet could see the tears streaming down his pale face. “Mom… wouldn’t let me come see him when he was in the hospital.

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