Chapter Text
When the guests left, Alexzander headed toward the back door. “Alexzander. Come here.” The hallway felt longer than usual. Each step echoed. The office door was open. The room smelled of tobacco and old paper. Only one lamp burned, casting shadows across the walls. His father sat behind the desk. Not angry. Worse. Waiting. Alexzander stepped inside. And for one fleeting, second, he thought: Let it be over. But his father looked very much alive. The door clicked shut behind Alexzander. His father didn’t look up immediately. He simply flipped a page in the ledger in front of him, slow. Deliberate. The waiting was worse than shouting. Finally, his father leaned back in the chair. “You’re going to England.” The words were so abrupt they barely registered. Alexzander blinked. “I— what?” he stuttered “You heard me.” Said his father “For what?” Alexzander questioned “To stay with your uncle. He’s got sense. Runs a proper estate. I wrote to him months ago.” His father said Months. The word hollowed Alexzander’s stomach. “You wrote to him?” His voice cracked despite his effort to steady it. “Without telling me?” His father’s jaw tightened. “I don’t consult children about family decisions.” “I’m nineteen.” Alexzander argued “And you act twelve.” Said his father Silence pressed in, thick and suffocating. “I’m not going,” Alexzander said quietly. The words surprised even him. His father looked up fully then. Slowly. Like a predator “What did you say?” “I’m not going.” Louder now. His pulse roared in his ears. “This is my home. The farm is mine as much as yours. I work those fields. I—” his father interpreted him “Shut the fuck up.” The shout cracked through the room like a whip. Alexzander flinched. “You are going to England,” his father continued, voice rising, losing its control. “You are leaving in a few weeks. I don’t care what you want to do. I don’t care what your sister wants. “You being here with no wife and those stupid fucking flowers is embarrassing me.” Each word landed harder than the last. “People talk,” his father went on, standing now. The chair legs scraped against the floor. “You think I don’t hear them You think I don’t notice the looks They tell me they see you.” Alexzander’s breath caught. “They see you with that native boy.” The words dripped with contempt. His father stepped around the desk. “If you two are doing what I think you’re doing— if you are having -” he was so disgusted that he couldn’t even say it his voice dropped low and dangerous. “I will end it.” Alexzander’s heart slammed violently against his ribs. “I swear to God, boy,” his father hissed, “I will not be made a fool of in my own town.” The room felt smaller by the second. The air thinner. “Papa we’re not—” Alexzander started, but his voice betrayed him. His father grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him forward. “You will pack. You will board that ship. Your uncle will make a man out of you.” His grip tightened briefly before shoving him back. “You’ll come back with a wife. Or you won’t come back at all.” The finality in his tone left no room for argument. Alexzander’s hands trembled at his sides, and he started to tear up England. An ocean between him and Dakota. Between him and the sunflowers. Between him and the only place that had ever felt like his. “You can’t control everything,” Alexzander whispered before he could stop himself. His father’s eyes went cold. “I control what happens under my name.” A heavy pause. “Get out of my sight” Alexzander turned toward the door, legs stiff, vision blurring at the edges. His hand hovered over the knob. “Three weeks,” his father added flatly. “And if I hear one more word about that boy before you leave… you better hop he dies before I get to him” The threat didn’t need detail. It hung there. Real. Alexzander stepped into the hallway, closing the door carefully behind him. His chest burned like he’d been running for miles. Three weeks The house felt different now. Temporary Like he was already gone. And for the first time, the sunflowers in the fields outside didn’t look tall and defiant. They looked like something that could be uprooted