Page 378 of Conveniently Wed
“Katie girl…” The crack in his voice pulled at her heart strings. How could she deny him?
“I wouldn’t ask if there was any other way.” He brushed his hand through his thinning hair as the crevices deepened on his furrowed brow.
“I’ll find another job and give you and Ma the money.”
He remained silent. His soft brown eyes filled with sadness.
As quickly as the feeble solution surfaced, it dissolved. Room and board in trade for work would be hard to find, but to earn cash would be nearly impossible. Even if she could take care of herself, it wouldn’t change the dismal picture for the rest of her family.
Pa lifted his hand toward her. “Can you give this opportunity some thought? He would like to be married by month end?—”
“Month end? Opportunity?” Katie threw down the dishrag. “You call this an opportunity?” She sank onto the wooden bench. Her trembling hands pressed her face, covering the tears she could no longer hold back.
The solid strength of Pa’s callused hand squeezed her shoulder. He slid down beside her and placed his good arm tenderly around her shoulders. “I’m so sorry.” He drew her head to rest against his wiry frame as if she were seven again. She sank into his embrace. She shuddered and pressed a hand to her mouth to still the scream that lay just below the surface.
Pa pressed a handkerchief into her hand, and she dabbed at her eyes.
“Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinkin’.”
“I remember the day they lowered the age to seventeen and the twins enlisted.” She gulped back a sob. “They looked so strong and proud straddling their steeds and spouting off about how they’d whip those Yanks into surrender and be back before we had time to miss them. I was so jealous, Pa. I wanted to join in the adventure and hated that I was a woman and had to stay behind.”
He squeezed tight.
“When they never came home, I thought the Yankees had taken everything we had. But no.” She shook her head. “Their looting and burning took our home next, and now it’s demanding my life, my freedom, my opportunity to find someone who loves me." She crumpled against him.
“I’ll find another way, Katie girl?—”
“There is no other way. You and I both know it.” She wrenched free of his arms and pushed up from the bench. “I suppose Ma finds this arrangement more than acceptable? Where is she, anyhow? Thought for sure she’d be in this discussion making sure I agree to this marriage.”
“I asked her to stay out of this until I talked to you. The two of you seem to argue about most everything.”
“No matter what I do, I’m not good enough.”
“It’s not you.”
“That’s what you always say, yet she doesn’t treat the others the way she treats me.”
He looked away.
Katie stood and crossed to the small window and stared out. The yellow calico curtains fluttered in the breeze. Their cheery color mocked Katie’s abysmal plight. All hope of a future with true love was disintegrating as fast and ugly as that Yankee-built fire had destroyed their home.
She squared her shoulders, lifted her head, and turned to her pa with a jut to her chin. “I need a week to decide.”
“He’s a good man. Otherwise, I wouldn’t ask this of you.”
Her fists tightened into balls as she stomped back and forth. “Is he? Why do you think he chose me? He knows nothing about me except what all men see and want.” She pointed from her face down her body. “I loathe the way I look. It’s brought me nothing but sorrow.”
His expression crumbled and the lines on his weathered face deepened. Katie rushed to his side. She’d said too much. Again. It wasn’t his fault they were homeless.
He stood and held out his arms.
She fell into his warm embrace. “I’m sorry, Pa. I just need a little time to get over the shock.”
He soothed a weathered hand down her back. “I understand.”
She wanted to help her family, especially Pa, but where would she find the courage to marry a stranger?
“You know how much I love you, don’t you?”
