Grace Chapter 2

The time comes for Grace to marry.

Chapter 2

“They’re here! I saw him, Rebecca. He is handsome!” Grace exclaimed.

“He can’t be. He is old, Grace. Don’t try to get my hopes up. It’s hard enough as it is, without getting my hopes up about how he looks. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I have no choice in this. I’ll do what Ma told me too, and try to keep him satisfied. I’m sure that I’ll get sick afterwards, but I won’t get beaten,” Rebecca whined.

Grace felt fear and sorrow for her sister, there would be no getting out of it though, so she did her best to cheer her up. “You look pretty, Rebecca. Remember how I braided your hair, so you can do it yourself. Try to look nice for him.”

“Rebecca, come out here. Grace, stay in your room. I want him to see only your sister,” their mother called out to them.

“This is it, sister. I may not see you again. Make the best of it, Rebecca. I love you,” Grace told her sister, and she felt another stone being built to add to the wall in her heart.

“I hate leaving you here, but I’ve no choice in it. I’ll miss you, sister. I love you, too, goodbye,” Rebecca told Grace as she hugged her tightly.

Rebecca reluctantly released her sister and left the room. Grace could hear the men enter the house. Despite what she had been told, she snuck out of her room to peek in and see what was going on. Careful not to be seen or heard by anyone. She may never lay her eyes upon her sister’s face again, and she would not miss out on seeing her leave their home with her new husband.

“This is my daughter, Rebecca,” her father said.

“Hello, Rebecca, I’m Mathew Fitzgerald. Your father tells me that you are very good with children,” the tall, handsome man with wavy black hair and green, brown eyes said.

“I like children. May I ask how old yours are?” Rebecca asked him, shyly.

“My oldest is fourteen, and my youngest is a newborn. Your father has assured me that you know how to take care of babies. Is this something that you feel like you could do?” Mathew asked her.

Rebecca looked at the man for a moment before she answered him. “I can, sir.”

The man smiled. “That is great news to hear. I have been a mess without a wife to take care of them all. My oldest will help you, at first. She has been asked for though, and I fear that I can’t hold onto her much longer, before her soon to be husband demands that I deliver her to him as he is getting increasingly impatient.”

“So, is this deal done?” her father asked the man.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be like paper money and handed it to her father, then turned to Rebecca, holding his arm out for her to take. Rebecca reached out timidly and took it. He then led her to the door.

“Goodbye, Ma. Goodbye, Da,” Rebecca said with a quivering voice.

“Goodbye, Rebecca. Remember all that I’ve told you,” her mother reminded her.

“Yes, Ma, I will.”

The door opened and the sun’s rays fell into the house and covered the dark wooden floor. Rebecca and what would be her husband, could only be seen as black shadows against the bright sunlight. Grace watched through the tears that fell out of her eyes, until the door was shut by her father, then she quietly snuck back into her room.

“Glad you had the sense to keep Grace out of his sights,” she heard her father say, just before she closed her door.

Grace laid on her bed and thought that Rebecca was lucky. He might be old, but he was still handsome and he seemed nice. She was all alone now, for the first time ever. The room felt cold and dark, even as the sun shone through the window. Would night be terrible, all alone?

“Grace, get out here!” her mother called to her.

Grace jumped up off of the bed and ran. “Yes, Ma?”

“This isn’t no holiday, lass. You have to do the chores of yours and now your sister’s, as well. Get to it,” her mother ordered her.

It turned out not to be any trouble going to sleep without her sister in the bedroom after all, as Grace was exhausted from doing all of the chores that she and her sister had shared. Dreamless sleep found her, every night, until the rooster crowed each morning. She had no time to think about how much she missed her sister. There was so much work to be done that feelings and emotions could not find the time to wiggle their way into Grace’s mind. Work, grab a piece of bread and a drink of milk when possible and sleep the few hours that the day had left in it was her new schedule, with her sister gone.

Weeks passed and the weather began to get cooler. Working outside wasn’t as bad as it had been, so Grace’s mother joined her, doing some of the outside work. They were cleaning the stalls in the barn one morning.

“Ma, it was this time of year when I was born, right?” Grace asked her mother.

“Ya, I guess we can safely say that you are now thirteen.”

“Do other people know the day that they were born on?” Grace asked.

“Many do, mostly the wealthy. I had you girls here, on this farm with only the help of old lady Maggie, from up the hill. We had no idea what the date was for either of ya. The time of year is all we have, so it is safe to say that you are thirteen now and your sister is now fifteen,” her mother answered.

“How do ya think she’s doin’?”

“She is doing well, I bet. Don’t tell your father that I’m sayin’ this, but that Mathew Fitzgerald is a handsome devil. I bet she is taking to him, pretty well by now,” she answered.

“I told her that he was handsome and she didn’t believe me. I bet her heart leapt in her chest when she laid her eyes on him,” Grace laughed.

“You should’ve seen them, lass. They were as big as saucers, they were. She was smiling a little, when he held his arm out for her.”

The squeal of a pig rang out and a large black sow ran into the barn. “Where’d that come from?” Grace shouted.

Grace’s mother moved towards the door. “Stay in here, girl,” she told Grace, then shut the barn door, leaving Grace in the dark.

Grace peeked out of the cracks that surrounded the old wooden barn door. She saw another pig walking around. A brownish, red horse was tied to the tree in front of her house, there was a bag flung across the horse’s back and something was moving inside of it.

Her father walked out to the horse and took the bag down, taking it back into the house with him. A few minutes later Grace saw her mother come back out of the house, coming towards the barn.

“We have to get you cleaned up, lass,” her mother told her as she opened the door.

“Ma, what is it?”

“Follow me, we can go through the back door and sneak you into your room. It’ll have to be a cold bath for ya, I’m afraid.”

A wagon driven by an elderly man in a black suit rambled up the dirt road that led to their home. The creaking wheels spun in slow circles as the man approached.

“Why, Ma?” Grace begged. “Who is this that is coming now?”

“No time, we have to hurry, now,” her mother said as she led her into the house and to her room.

Once in her room, Grace’s mother moved about, quickly pouring a bath and making Grace clean herself while she packed a bag and laid out clothes on the bed for Grace to change into. Her mother left the room and came back with another bag.

Grace pulled the white cotton dress over her head as her mother opened the bag. “In this bag you will find the things that I have saved for you,” Grace’s mother said, then pulled a silky, dark blue nightgown out of the bag. “This is for tonight, lass.”

“What is it? A fancy dress of some kind?”

“It is a silk nightgown, it came from France. My mother gave it to me when I married your father. I would’ve given it to your sister, but it would not have fit her. You take good care of it and hand it down to your daughter on her wedding day.”

“Ma, I am getting married today?” Grace asked.

“You are, Grace. The young man has come back with what your father asked for and he brought a preacher. Today is your day, lass.”

“Ma, no!” Grace cried. “I’m not ready.”

“No one is ever ready, but it happens just the same. He isn’t as good looking as your sister’s, but he is young and sturdy and he says that he built you a house.”

“I have to go, don’t I?”

“That you do. Now let me put your hair in a braid and we will go out and let you meet your young man.”

The men all turned to look at Grace, after her mother cleared her throat when they entered the room. Grace was in shock at the rapidly progressing events, and found that she could not hear properly or think. She just moved her body forward, going through the motions. The auburn haired young man walked towards her. She could see the freckles that peppered his skin as he came closer to her. He was dressed nicer than he had been before.

“I am Jacob Muldoon, Grace. I’ve brought your father what he asked for and I brought a preacher to marry us today,” the young man told Grace.

“Okay,” Grace said quietly, as her mind shut down.

“Let’s hurry this up. These two have a long ride ahead of them,” Grace’s father said.

The preacher stood and walked to where Jacob and Grace were standing. He asked them to say things after he said them and they did. He told them to sign a paper that he had and they did. The preacher left and Grace stood, looking at her new husband, a tall, gangly boy with a set of shoulders that were broad but not filled out. His face was soft and round, his skin pale behind his light colored freckles. His hair a tassel of dark reddish brown curls that had hints of blonde that the sun had streaked it with. Not an ugly young man, but not the handsome one that Grace had dreamt of either.

Grace kissed her mother goodbye and told her that she loved her. Her father’s stern, hard face was harder for her to place a kiss on, so she hugged him. Although he didn’t hug her back, she thought that he was at least a little sad to see her going. Her new husband held his hand out for her to take. She took it, the numbness that had a hold on her mind also held her body, and she could not even feel her hand in his. He led her out the door, to a new life, one that she didn’t feel ready for in the least.

The wagon creaked as it was pulled by the reddish brown horse that the boy had brought with him. Grace’s father had given them the wagon as a wedding gift. The day was cool and the ride was long.

“Ya always this quiet, Grace?” Jacob asked her.

Grace’s mind was eerily silent, not allowing her to think about anything at all. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to talk about.”

“Tell me some things about yourself. Can you cook pretty good?” He asked.

Grace tried hard to make the wheels in her head turn and produce a proper response to his question, after several long, awkward seconds of silence, words formed. “I can make stews and bread. I know how to scramble eggs.”

“Then I’ll be well fed. Sounds good to me. Do you know how to clean?”

“I do,” she answered, a little bit more freely.

“That’s good, cause I built ya a house with my own two hands. You’ll need to keep it clean,” he told her.

“That is good to hear. I’ll keep it clean, don’t ya worry,” she allowed her mind to loosen up a bit, finding the young man’s ease with the situation to be a bit calming.

“Have ya ever cleaned an animal before?” He asked her.

“I’ve cleaned a chicken, but nothin’ else.”

“I’ll teach ya how. I’ll hunt the meat that we will eat and you’ll need to know how to clean it.”

“Okay,” she replied.

The ride went on and they remained quiet for the rest of it. Grace took in the scenes as they rode past them all, slowly allowing her mind to think about what was happening to her. A large, dark green forest began to appear and she could smell the earthy smell that she had dreamt of. The familiar smell from her day dream was comforting, as if this was meant to be, or was it a premonition of bad things to come, something that she should have avoided?

“Are we getting close?” She asked him.

“Ya, we have to go through the forest for a while, then on the other side is our home. I hope ya like it, I worked real hard on it.”

The light faded as they entered the forest, the sunlight filtered by the trees. Grace shuddered at the cold that enveloped her, as the lack of sun made it cooler than it had been. Jacob reached back and pulled at a bag, bringing out a blanket, wrapping it around Grace’s shoulders.

 “It gets kind of cold in here. I brought this to keep you warm.”

Grace smiled at him. “That was nice of you, thank you.”

She looked up at him, but only for a second, she was too shy to look at him for long. He might be nice to her, she let herself think, briefly, before her attention was turned. The light began to glow as they neared the edge of the forest. Grace could see a meadow of green grass with white stones strewn around, as if a giant had tossed them mindlessly about. The glint of water could be seen from a stream that trickled through the green grass. Grace’s eyes followed the stream, then she saw it, the house he had been talking about and seemed to be so proud of.

“There she is, Grace. Tell me what ya think.”

Grace did not know what to say. The house was round with a roof that looked like it was made out of grass. The outside walls were made of stones that were glued together with a grayish, muddy paste. To say that it was unimpressive was an understatement. The scene that surrounded it was beautiful and the contrast between its beauty and this beast of a hovel was an abomination to nature.

“You built it with your own two hands, that’s impressive,” she found herself saying, before her mind had thought it out.

“My brothers helped me some, but it was mostly me. I’m glad ya like it.”

Grace thought to herself that she was glad that her mouth had not betrayed her real impression of the beastly shack. The closer they got, the uglier it was. There were cracks between some of the rocks and the muddy glue that held them in place. The door had been left open, only blackness could be seen. There seemed to be no windows at all.

They pulled up and Jacob got down and held his hand out to help her down. He surprised her as he scooped her up and carried her into the blackness that was her new home.

“It’s a tradition to carry your wife over the threshold,” he told her before he placed her feet back on the ground.

Grace saw nothing but dark shadows, then he lit up a lantern and the inside became visible to her, and it was then that she realized that it looked better in the dark. The floor was dirt, she moved her foot in it to see if there was some type of a floor under it, but there wasn’t.

“Well, what do ya think, wife?”

“My, it’s larger than it appeared to be from the outside,” she managed to say.

“Aye, I like the openness of it, no little rooms, just one big one. You can set up your kitchen where ever you would like to. You can move the bed about, if you want to. The beauty of it, is that you can do with it however you would like to, no restraining walls to get in your way.”

Grace marveled at his enthusiasm for this shack that he built with no windows or floors or separating walls. “Where do you bathe?”

I bathe in the pond that is just inside the forest. The water is clear and cold, it freshens you right up.”

“Is there a privy in the back that I didn’t see?” She asked.  

“I go in the woods, you can too.”

Her unhappiness at his words began to show on her face. She could feel her bottom lip beginning to quiver, as tears began to well up in her eyes. Not wanting him to see that she was disappointed, she turned and began to walk out to the wagon to get her things, trying to stop herself from crying.

“No, Grace, come back, I’ll get your things. Go back in and make yourself at home.”

She turned and walked back in quickly, making sure to look down, so he could not see the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. Using her sleeve to dry them, Grace tried to quell her tears, as he was getting her things. Another look around showed her a wooden table and two wooden chairs, so she went and sat in one of them and tried to compose herself.

A look around again at the dark, large room with a giant wooden pole in the middle of it had her wondering how she was going to make this into a home. He had a pile of straw with a blanket thrown over it, for what she thought must be his bed. Nothing else was in the large dark room, just the straw bed and the table and two chairs. How long he had lived like this, she wondered?

He came back in with her bags and sat them down next to the straw bed. “Your parents gave us some pots and pans and cooking things. Where do you want your kitchen to be?”

“Anywhere is okay,” she answered.

“I want you to decide, Grace.”

“Then over here by the table and chairs,” she said.

“Okay, then I’ll be right back with the things,” he told her, then walked back out.

Grace walked over to where her bags were and began to wonder where her things were going to go. There was no closet, no dressers, then she looked around and realized that there was no mirror, anywhere. How would she ever see what she looked like?

 Then she remembered the bag that her mother gave her and looked inside. There was the silk nightgown that would be ruined if she put it on and walked around on dirt and slept on straw. There was a hair brush and then she saw a small hand held mirror. She took it out and looked at her reflection and wondered how long she would continue to look like a child.

Author's Note

I am looking for SPAG that I may have missed and any ideas of how I can make this chapter better.