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        An Admission of Weakness         by      Erik Walter      Books by this Author :      Loving Johnny   The Music Professor   No Regrets   The Man Next Door   Just My Luck   Never Again   The Gallery   The Inheritance   The Storm   A Home for Stewart   Logan and Buddy’s Story   The Reunion   To Slay a Dragon   Journey Back to Green Grove   An Extraordinary Ordinary Man   The Fortune Teller   The Songbird Sang   The Chosen Ones   Always Yours   The Kidnapping   The Founding of Green Grove   The Crop Duster   The Impostor   An Admission of Weakness     Foreword      The Butterfields are a family with secrets.   Naomi is a devoted mother and wife, but she has a secret life about which her husband knows nothing. Katie, the eldest daughter, has a secret love. Camilla, the younger daughter, has fallen for a man intended for someone else. Justin wants a career of his own, but his father has different plans for his life. Ruby, the grandmother, is hiding something from her family as well.   Blair, the oldest son, has perhaps the biggest secrets of all.      Robbie Lee is from an underprivileged family in Mississippi. He reveals his secret in a very public manner and is forced to flee for his life.      It turns out it’s not so simple to be honest with the people they care about; it’s easier to lie, at least until it isn’t.   Can these people overcome the obstacles they’ve created for themselves and open their hearts to true love?      Only time will tell…                  “My father always told me   that what’s wrong with lying   is that it’s an admission   of weakness.   If you’re the strongest,   you can afford to tell   the truth.   – K. J. Parker            Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him…and having no respect, he ceases to love.   – Fyodor Dostoevsky     CHAPTER ONE      “You got ten seconds to git outa my house and off my property!” Otis Lee shouted angrily while he clumsily brandished an ancient double-barreled shotgun.   “Put the gun down, Otis!” his wife Flora exclaimed. “You know you ain’t gonna shoot him.”   “The hell I ain’t!” he yelled.   The forty year old woman attempted to wrestle the weapon from her husband’s hands, but he shoved her aside impatiently and resumed aiming it at his eldest son.   “If you want to shoot me, Pa,” Robbie did his best to appear unafraid, “go ahead. The best thing for this family would be if your worthless ass sits in jail for the rest of your life.”   He glanced at his four wide-eyed sisters. They ranged from ages seven to fourteen and were horrified by the scene unfolding in front of them. His sixteen year old brother Rhett had disappeared before the confrontation began.      Robert Eustace Lee, or Robbie as he was known, was the oldest Lee child at eighteen. He was named after his father’s hero, Civil War General Robert E. Lee, as well as his mother’s great-grandfather. Their tiny village of Toadback, Mississippi was named for Grandpa Eustace’s uncanny ability to catch toads in the local swamp after dark.   The town consisted of a dilapidated restaurant called The Muddy Pig, so named for its signature dish, a sort of pork/gravy/potato concoction. The Pig, as it was locally known, was owned by a pair of bachelor twin brothers named Elmer and Delmer. It featured a pool table and bar and was the favored hangout for the local men after work.   Besides the restaurant, there was also a two room post office, a Southern Baptist church, a decaying general store filled with mostly outdated grocery items, and a few dozen houses badly in need of paint.   The streets were unpaved and often muddy and rutted, and weeds grew tall and abundantly in vacant lots and on the street corners. The only sidewalk in town extended from the post office and church to the restaurant, and a single pole light lit up the business district.   Most of the town’s citizens worked at the meat-packing business located just west of town. Its greedy owners enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle while barely paying a living wage to their two hundred employees.   Otis worked in the fly-infested facility as a janitor and handyman. He made homemade whiskey on the side with his brother Cletus to pay the bills. Unfortunately, he and Cletus drank more moonshine than they sold.   Meanwhile, Flora was employed as a cook/waitress at the restaurant. She worked ten hours a day, six days a week, and spent her days off sleeping. She had been a pretty, idealistic young woman when she married Otis. Years of hard work had made her face careworn, her hands roughened, and her shoulders stooped.   In spite of being employed, the Lees struggled to pay their bills and put food on the table. The only vehicle they owned