Chapter 4 #2
When the hired motor reaches the outpost, Mason and I climb out and head inside, bribing the same official with another one of my scavenged rings so we can get my change of position documented and obtain our marriage papers without the normal four-week delay.
On the walk back to the village, we make our plans. I didn’t leave anything I still want at Lorraine’s house, so we’re going to stop by Mason’s place first and then go to the market to share our news.
I’m excited and nervous and fluttery when we reach the small farm. There’s a herd of cows in the pasture. Chickens clucking busily in a coop near the barn. And a pleasant cottage with a slanted roof and big windows.
“This is it,” Mason says with a mumble. “You’ll get used to the smell.”
“It’s not that bad.” It’s not. Different but not worse than the normal village odors. “I like the looks of it.”
His expression and shoulders relax slightly. “Okay. Let’s go inside then.”
Inside is a comfortably sized main room—there’s still a lot of light coming in the windows even though it’s late afternoon—with a big, fully equipped kitchen on one side and two bedrooms on the other with a bathroom between them.
There’s even a lot of space reserved for storage.
A closet in each room, and a wall of built-in compartments in the short hallway.
“I love it,” I say, more excited than ever. It’s not fancy like Annabelle’s in the city, but I like the homey feel of this house a lot better. I can’t believe I actually get to live here.
And I don’t even have to sleep in a sooty nook near an old woodstove.
Mason has been covertly peering at me, so I smile at him without any guile. “I love it! This is wonderful.”
He clears his throat and drops his eyes with a nod. “Okay, good. It’s not real clean, but I’ve been doing the best I can.”
“It doesn’t look that bad. I can easily freshen it up. I really like it.” Then, because it’s clear he’s concerned about whether I’m going to be happy here, I add, “I’m truly glad you asked me. This is nicer than anything I could have hoped for, and it’s going to be so much better than what I had.”
“Anything’d be better than living with Lorraine and Aria, but you can let me know if you need anything or if something isn’t working for you. I know there’ll be an… adjustment period.”
“Yes, I’m sure. But I don’t think it will be hard.
Not for me anyway.” Nervous again, I add, “And you let me know if you need anything from me or if I can do something better. I’ll have to learn how to help with the farm, but if you can teach me that, I can handle all the housework without any worries at all. ”
“Oh. You don’t have to help with the farm. If you can take care of the inside stuff, that’s all you’ll need to do.”
“But that’s too easy! You won’t be nearly the trouble that Lorraine and Aria and all their stuff was for me. I think I’ll have time to do more.”
I want to do more. There’s no way I’ll deserve to live in this lovely home without doing more work to earn it.
He looks like he’s going to argue again, but then he swallows it back, nodding with another one of those downward looks. “We can just take it as it comes.”
“That sounds good. Thank you.”
I walk around the kitchen, checking out all the appliances and the large pantry. Then Mason shows me one of the bedrooms. It’s the larger one. He’s obviously been sleeping there since the bed is unmade and there are a few dirty clothes on the floor.
The second room has a smaller bed in it and a window that looks out on the meadow behind the house. It’s slightly cluttered with some random items scattered around and one corner with piled boxes.
“You can have this room,” he says, “if it looks all right for you.”
My spine stiffens with a jerk. My eyes grow big and round. “I… I get my own room?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t you?”
“I… I don’t know. I just expected…” I trail off, hotly embarrassed by what just crossed my mind.
It’s evidently crossing his mind too. His face flushes, and he stares fixedly out the window. “We can… we can change things up later if we want. But I thought, since we don’t really… really know each other, we can take it slow. If that’s all right with you. Until we want to…”
I’m washed with the strangest mingling of amusement and appreciation. He’s obviously just as self-conscious as I am about the bedroom duties that are normally part of marriage.
Some people have sex for recreation, but I never did.
No one talked about sex as wrong but rather as a waste of time.
Since I was always a good girl, I never wanted to waste time with something so useless.
I never even met someone I wanted to try it with, even if Lorraine had offered me the opportunity to spend any time with a man.
She didn’t. No one ever taught me about it—at school or at home—so that aspect of life is completely unknown to me.
But Mason said we can take it slow, so I don’t have to worry about it right now.
“Thank you,” I tell him. “That sounds like a good plan. And I would love to have this room as mine.” I set down my shoulder bag on the bed. “We probably should get to the market soon before it ends for the day.”
Thirty minutes later, Mason and I have reached the main square of the village where the market stalls are all set up.
It’s not as loud and busy as it is in the morning hours, but there are still plenty of folk mingling around, checking out wares or gossiping about the newest developments in the community.
I’m still wearing my new dress, but my elegant hairdo got messy on the trip back, so I braided it in my normal way instead. I also put on my work boots since my feet are hurting from walking too long in the nicer shoes.
I still look a lot better than normal, and Mason is right beside me. I can feel eyes turn toward us in surprise.
When a couple of running kids barrel between us, pushing me to the side, Mason reaches out to take my hand to keep us together.
No one has ever held my hand except my family. His hand is big and warm and strong. I like how mine feels clasped in his.
Secure.
Safe.
When Lorraine’s stall comes into sight, my heart jumps. Both she and Aria are standing behind it, involved in some sort of deep conversation that looks to me like their typical plotting.
Because I’m watching, I see the moment Aria’s gaze flickers toward us. When it processes, she turns abruptly to look again.
She’s stunned at first. Then outraged. She elbows her mother, and then Lorraine’s expression does the same transition from shock to indignation.
There’s a small, petty piece of my soul that laughs hysterically at their obvious outrage.
Lorraine finally comes out from behind her stall and marches toward us. When she’s close enough, she leans toward me and hisses. “Get away from him this instant and return to the house! How dare you—”
“We’re married,” I break in, making sure to keep my voice uninflected rather than taunting. “Mason and I signed the papers this afternoon, and I’ve already moved to his place.”
Aria has come close enough to hear. Her face works dramatically, like she’s torn between fury and despair and neither one has yet claimed dominance.
“It’s all official,” Mason adds, using his hand to draw me back slightly and toward him, like he’s instinctively pulling me away from Lorraine’s inevitable outburst. “Just letting you know. You’ll have to handle the domestic work in some other way from now on.”
They’ll have to do it themselves, unless they can find someone else as desperate as me to do it for them. They don’t earn enough credits to hire regular help.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so pleased with this recognition, but I am.
I really am.
For the first time I can remember, Lorraine is actually speechless. Aria has started making a whimpering sound.
Wilfred, the baker with the stall next to Lorraine’s, has overheard, and he shouts out congratulations. This brings the news to the other villagers around us, and everyone comes over to hear the news.
So Lorraine and Aria don’t have the chance to say anything anyway.
Just as well.