Opposition(Martha Hume) Being transferred to Mineral wells Texas wasn't Glenn's idea or mine. The company director suggested we transfer. His explanation was the camp I currently worked and lived in wasn't suited for married couples. He was right in what he said.

it was the elephant in the room that he wasn't addressing. I was thought to have a questionable reputation. It wasn't spoken out loud but, my past was overshadowing. Me.

The director had recently suspended my employment. The charge was pilfering. He said it was my second, possibly my third offense. I could not adequately defend myself. I didn't know the definition of pilfering.

The conversation led me to believe this pilfering charge had something to do with Jane and some pieces of erotic art she had shown me. The adult art was missing. Jane denied that those sketches ever existed.

From the conversation I gathered the pilfering charge stemmed from the fact I reported Jane's artwork to the director. Now the art work has vanished. Circumstantial evidence said I had made a false accusation. I might be guilty of slander or possibly perjury. I understood Snitch. I was guilty of snitching.

In the past I had participated in a. Conspiracy to have Jane fired for her sexual orientation. The majority of the women in our barracks were uncomfortable with her orientation. The incriminating evidence the conspirators and I planted was exactly where I said it would be. The " evidence" was given to us by the owner and planted with her assistance. In the final phase I was the only person standing before the director.

Jane and I had put the conspiracy or whatever it had been behind us. We had moved on and somehow developed a friendship. Jane had agreed to be my bride's maid.

I was the daughter of a suspected murderer. I questioned my mother's guilt or lack thereof. I didn't blame the skeptics and the Hard Hearts. Now their suspicions stood poised to hurt Glenn. I held a world of animosity for them and their unfounded suspicion.

My departed father was suspected of pilfering government property from N.A.S.A. where he and my mother once worked. I was twelve when the FBI questioned me. I explained the best I could, the man they suspected, Vergil Williamson was my father. My father was dead. I didn't know what else I could tell them.

What I knew about his involvement with NASA and the suspected theft was that my father had been a security guard there. He was employed through Harrisonburg detective agency.

An agent asked," Are you sure Vergil Williamson is dead?"

I answered, No Sir, I'm not sure. I was told by my mother, he was shot dead. We attended his memorial and burial. No sir, I'm not sure that the man was dead. I'm not sure the man in the casket was Vergil Williamson, my father. If you find him, tell him I want him home.

For. Years they lay silently idle in the closet above the laundry shuts. I heard mama saying " the radio's were given to my father. I overheard her say the cousin stole the radios from Vergil. Her statement instantly became our story.

There were thieves on the paternal and maternal side of my family. My paternal uncle by marriage had served time for grand theft. Everyone except the authorities said James was framed by his brother who was a penny pinching judge. This judge chose pennies for the flooring in his home.

It was my mother's cousin who turned the FBI on to my daddy. He was stopped at a roadblock. When the vehicle was searched Hinds County police saw the radio equipment .They read the words " Property of NASA_ Harrisonburg Detective Agency. The radio's were reported missing during Hurricane Betsy.

Enough of his story checked out to create reasonable doubt. The second cousin was visiting my grandma's home around that time. He had helped my father with some home improvement projects. My dad could have promised to pay him. My father would not pay mama's cousin with something so easy to trace.

My mind was slammed shut. I would not entertain those thoughts.

These things, like deaths, come in threes. The third reason some of the family did not approve of Glenn's engagement to me was I was believed to be a Scarlet woman by most of the town. My paternal grandmother and aunt were likewise accused in their lifetime.

I take some responsibility for the scarlet reputation bestowed on me. I had pursued and was pursued by Spence, by Stogner, and Roberts. Then there was the New Orleans pseudo millionaire Stafford. These were the single pursuers and pursuers. My romantic past included one night stands with two of the crew chiefs, married men.

My future was in jeopardy because of the elephant or elephants in the room. Thankfully, I had powerful allies within Glenn's family.

His mother and grandmother agreed I was the woman for him. Their vertical was I had been a woman who had mistakenly searched for love in many wrong places. With this the Hard Hearts, the opposition was temporarily silenced.

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