Forces of Nature

Forces of Nature - By Cheris Hodges


Acknowledgments


There’s something about the country. As a small-town girl myself, I always wanted to play in the grass and visit—not work—on a farm. Too bad I was allergic to everything. In Forces of Nature we do go to a farm, where Crystal and Douglas have an unconventional relationship that started with handcuffs. . . . I hope you enjoy their story.

I want to thank all of the readers who have supported my work over the years; from your e-mails, tweets, and Facebook messages, I feel so blessed. This is always the hardest part of writing a book, because I feel like I’m always forgetting someone, but charge it to my head and not my heart.

Thank you to some of the most supportive people I could ever have on my side: my agent Sha-Shana Crichton, my sister Adrienne Hodges Dease, Louise Brown, Michele Grant, Farrah Rochon, Phyllis Bourne, Yolanda Gore, Beverly McDuffie, Erica Singleton, Wendy Covington, Tiffany Strange, Tashmir Parks, Connie Banks Smith, Carlton Hargro, Mary C. Curtis, and as always, my mom and dad, Doris and Freddie Hodges.

I’d like to thank the book clubs who have hosted me and supported my work, including, the Sistahfriends book clubs—Columbia, Charleston, and Atlanta—the Building Relationships Around Books group, Real Readers Real Words group, the Black Romance and Women’s Fiction book clubs.

Follow me on Twitter @cherishodges and be sure to friend me on Facebook/cherishodges.





Prelude Reeseville, 1974


Douglas Wellington Jr. was filled with rage as he watched her with him. Joel Hughes thought he was so much better than everybody else because of that damned farm. Thought he was the town’s golden boy because he went off to college and returned to Reeseville to work on the farm. People thought that farm was special because of the history and mythology that went along with it. First property in the county owned by African Americans—so what. The farm had been passed down through the Hughes family for over a century, each generation adding to the allure of it. So. What.

Douglas was making history himself. He had money and was no longer “Junior” from the wrong side of the tracks. Erin Hamilton needed to recognize that. He loved her more than he loved the woman he’d married, a practical clone of Erin. The same complexion and height. But Evelyn Wellington lacked the softness and tenderness that Douglas had always admired in Erin. In high school, they’d dated briefly, before he came along and stole her away. She’d been kind to Douglas when other girls turned their noses up at him. His good grades and love of reading impressed Erin, while others laughed at him and called him a nerd.

She’d never judged him or his shoes with the holes in the soles. But that boy was gone and here was a man with everything. How in the hell could she choose Joel Hughes—a glorified farmhand—over him? His eyes clouded with anger as they kissed and Joel’s hand fell to her belly. Was his Erin pregnant? Pregnant with Joel’s child? This should have been his future! She should’ve been having his child and allowing him to give her everything that her heart desired. Everything that his money could buy.

Douglas’s manufacturing company, Welco Industries, had revolutionized the economy of Reeseville, North Carolina. He’d brought jobs that paid real money into town. Many of the properties that he couldn’t even visit as a child now belonged to him. He purposely went after people who he felt had wronged him in the past, buying their houses that he had admired as a child only to tear them down. Money changed things and changed the way people viewed him.

Douglas Wellington Jr. was even a member of the Duval County Country Club, a place that wouldn’t even allow him to shine shoes there when he was a teenager. Still, he didn’t have the one thing that he wanted more than anything. He didn’t have Erin by his side.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” Waylon Terrell asked his forlorn friend. “She’s moved on and you’re married!”

“Shut up,” Douglas snapped. “There’s always been something about Erin, and I wanted to marry her.”

“Things didn’t work out the way you wanted. What are you going to do about it? It’s not as if you have room to complain,” Waylon said. “You’ve done pretty damned well for yourself.”

Douglas glared at him. “And so have you. Were it not for me, you’d still be working on that farm like a mule.”

Waylon folded his arms across his broad chest. He enjoyed working in the business office at Hughes Farm. His friend had no idea what that farm meant to Duval County. They grew vegetables and sold some of them to the local market and gave away thirty percent of the produce to the local food bank and a few churches. During the last two years, the farm had been bleeding money, but Joel and Erin would not change their operation and they were looking for sponsors. When Waylon suggested that Erin talk to Douglas, he didn’t know that his friend was still obsessed with her. After all, Douglas was about to be a father and they both were married. Waylon fell for Douglas’s line about wanting to help the county, wanting to create jobs and help people in Waverly who felt hopeless.

Still, Douglas was hell-bent on revenge. Waylon wanted to warn Joel, especially since they’d grown so close while he was working on the farm. He knew Douglas had the means to make life hard for the Hughes family. Waylon even knew of the plan Douglas had been working on to purchase the land. But, Douglas paid well, much better than the Hughes family, and Waylon was trying to save enough money to start a life with his girlfriend, Dena Hopkins. She was in law school at North Carolina Central University in Durham and Waylon had plans to help her establish her law firm in Reeseville, because he knew his opinionated and spitfire woman would not be happy working for anyone else. Douglas had agreed to throw some work Dena’s way, even though he didn’t care for Erin’s best friend. In his eyes, Dena had been the cause of their split in high school. Dena had invited Erin to the party where she and Joel had shared their first kiss. Still, for whatever reason, Waylon believed Douglas respected his relationship with Dena—but watching him quasi-stalk Erin and Joel, he had to wonder if he was wrong about that.

“D, man, don’t you think you should let this thing go? You and Erin have both moved on, and it’s best that you just focus on your business and your family,” Waylon reasonably suggested.

“If Joel Hughes could take care of his farm and his woman, she wouldn’t have approached me about being a sponsor for that farm and their community outreach. If they’re having money problems, then I have the solution. I’m going to buy that land right out from under Joel.”

“That’s not going to happen. That place is historic, part of this county’s folklore, and he’ll never sell. Especially not to you. Everyone knows you’re buying property just to level it.”

“He may not, but I have a meeting with Ryan Hughes next week. If the old man is thinking about selling, I’m going to push him in that direction.” Douglas had a sinister gleam in his slate gray eyes, and Waylon couldn’t help but shiver. He knew Ryan Hughes was dealing with an illness, which was why he’d handed over most of the daily running of the farm to Joel and Erin. The last thing Waylon wanted was to allow Douglas to take advantage of the older man in this state. He had to tell his friend what was going on.

“D, that’s underhanded and you can’t do that.”

“The hell I can’t. See, that little boy from Waverly is dead and gone. I’m a grown man and I’m going to get everything that I want. All these people who wrote me off are going to suffer.”

“What about your growing family? Didn’t you say Ev was pregnant?” Waylon questioned.

“Yes. Hopefully she will give me a son and then she can be on her way,” Douglas said coldly. “I know that she doesn’t love me and truthfully, I don’t love her at all.”

“She does love you.”

“She loves what I represent, and my money. I’m not fooled,” Douglas said. “I know what she’s doing when she’s spending weekends in New York. I can’t even be sure that it’s my child she’s having.” Sighing, he glanced at Joel and Erin again as they embraced tenderly. “That bastard took away the one thing that was most important to me and I’m not going to rest until I do the same to him.”

Waylon wanted to jump out of the car and warn Joel about Douglas’s scheme, but he sat there and watched his friend stare at Joel and Erin as they got into their car.

“She should be with me,” Douglas bemoaned. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to have her again.”

“Do you really think she’s going to want you if you destroy her husband’s life?” Waylon asked.

Douglas smirked. “If she doesn’t, then she can suffer right along with him.”

Waylon hopped out of the car, telling Douglas that he had to meet Dena. He knew that he had to warn the Hughes family about what Douglas was planning. If he told Dena, she’d tell Erin and Joel what was going on.

“I hope you know who butters your bread,” Douglas called after him. “Tell anyone about my plan and I’ll make sure you don’t spend one more day with Dena.”