Page 121 of Kiwi Sin
Oriana said, “You are. I’m just telling her so. It’s the truth, because not telling the truth would be a sin. We’re young, but we’re not. We don’t have parties, we don’t drink alcohol, and we don’t play loud music. We’re neat, we’re clean, we’re about to be married, and we both have heaps of money saved, just waiting to pay our bills. So—if anything comes up? Also—what’s your favorite cake?”
I’d swear the woman’s mouth was still hanging open when we left.
This time, I laughed all the way home.
* * *
Oriana
My hearing was two hours of waiting and five minutes of talking.
The Family Court judge was an older lady, businesslike and brisk, and I studied her for those two hours as I sat on a bench with Gabriel on one side and Daisy and Gray on the other, tried to gauge her prejudices, and failed. I’d have said she was bored, but she wasn’t. She listened, she decided, and she moved on.
I’d never be like that. Good thing I wasn’t going to be a lawyer.
Finally, a man said, “Petition of Obedience Worthy,” and I bounced up like a jack-in-the-box, climbed over Gabriel’s legs, stumbled a bit on my way out of the row, and held up my hand to swear the oath.
It’s all right,I told myself.What you told that estate agent lady was right. Not telling the truth is a sin, and you don’t sin.
Well, other than taking your soon-to-be husband’s penis in your mouth, and having him lick you where you’d never imagined anybody licking you, I didn’t. But that was the wholepoint.
The judge read over my papers as I sat in the chair and felt much too conspicuous, and then she took off her reading glasses, scrutinized me in a way that convinced me she knew about the licking, and said, “You’re a … a refugee from Mount Zion. Is that the term you’d prefer me to use, or is there a better one?”
“No,” I said. “Refugee is fine. Though it wasn’t really as bad as that for me, because of my sister, Daisy. I had somewhere to go and heaps of help from her, and from Gray Tamatoa, too. He didn’t know us, but he helped us escape and let us live on his land.” I didn’t say, “In his house,” because I’d discovered that people tended to think that meant he and Daisy were having relations, and they hadn’t been, not back then.
The judge blinked, looked down at the papers, looked back at me, and said, “Explain to me in what way you’re not being influenced by Mount Zion’s values here.”
Well,thiswasn’t what I’d expected to be asked. I had my hands tucked under my thighs, I was so nervous, but I cleared my throat, tried to organize my thoughts, and said, “I am, I think. I mean, I think we’re always influenced by the way we grow up. So I … to me, being married now doesn’t feel early, because I’ve been doing things that people here, Outside, think of as married things for most of my life. Cooking, and cleaning, and caring for babies. I’ve learnt so many more things now, though. Gardening, and caring for animals—mostly bees and alpacas, especially the alpacas, and that’s men’s work at Mount Zion—that I didn’t know before. I’ve been to school, and I’ve met all sorts of people. But I … there’s just nobody who’s better than Gabriel. I’ve known him all my life, and he’s …”
“Your cousin,” the judge said flatly.
“My step-cousin,” I said. “And—are you thinking we’ve had pressure to get married? We’ve had pressurenotto get married. My sisters are all going to university, or they’ve already been. That’s whattheythink is the right thing for a woman, not starting up a knitwear business and helping with newborns. No, I want to marry Gabriel because I … because I want to marryGabriel.You should probably talk to him, and then you’ll see.”
“He’s brought character witnesses of his own, I notice,” the judge said, looking out over the courtroom. “Even though he’s not the one who needs them. Gray Tamatoa. Sir Andrew Callahan and Lady Callahan. This is a simple proceeding, not a defamation hearing or a media circus.”
“Well, I can’t help that,” I said. “People like to take their photos. That’s why they have locked gates at their houses. But they wanted to come today in case you had questions about Gabriel. That he could be a predator, I mean.”
I thought the judge might be trying not to smile. I shot a look at Gabriel, and he smiled back, so he wasn’t worried. The judge said, “Why do I have the feeling that if I began calling character witnesses, we’d all be in the news tomorrow morning? You seem like a levelheaded young woman, so I’ll just tell you—don’t have babies before you’re ready.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “We haven’t even had relations yet. That’s why we want to get married. Anyway, my sister Daisy’s studying to be a nurse practitioner. She gave me that birth control that you put in your arm. We can have it taken out at any time, but we’re not ready for babies, not for a while. We don’t even have a flat yet. Well, we do, but it won’t be available for another two weeks, so …”
The judge’s mouth twitched, and she said, “Permission granted,” and banged her wooden hammer.
I said, “You mean that’s it? I can get married?”
“Yes,” she said. “I think you’d better.” After that, she stood up and said, “The Court will take a fifteen-minute recess.”
As she left, I thought she might have said, “I need a drink.”
Probably not, though. She was ajudge.
52
THE GREATEST OF THESE
Oriana
I wore a pink dress to my wedding, the way I’d always wanted to. It was the most beautiful dress I’d ever seen, of sheer chiffon appliqued with flowers. The skirt reached the floor, and the underskirt didn’t. My shoulders were bare, too, and I had a tiny bit of cleavage showing. All of it might be sinful, but the dress was so gorgeous, I hadn’t been able to help it. The moment I’d put it on, I’d felt like I was floating. Like life really could be this beautiful.
