by C.P. Murphy
Chapter Fourteen
Sunday morning brought most of the villagers to church like every other Sunday. The congregation gathered in the pews and listened to Reverend Mayer give his sermon. It was a warm morning and most of the people were eager to leave the building and step foot outdoors. They stood and sang the final song in unison as women fanned themselves to keep cool. When they finished, they took their seats and waited for the Reverend to tell them that the service was over. Except, Reverend Mayer stood at the front of the church and said, “Before you leave, Thomas Van Martin has an announcement he wants to make,” then moved to the side to make room for Thomas.
Amelia glanced over at her father. She wondered if he knew what was going on; knowing that if he did, he wouldn’t tell her about it. Then put her eyes back on Thomas. She tried to guess what he was up to and tried to read his face to figure out what he would say. She couldn’t believe it when he said to the congregation, “I know it’s warm in here but this will only take a moment. First, it was nice to see all of you at the social last night. My mother appreciated that her hard work paid off.” Amelia shook her head at his words; Catherine Van Martin wasn’t the only person who made the social a success. She kept her eyes on Thomas as he went on, “Now to my announcement. As some of you may have already known, Amelia Samuels, and I have been courting since the start this month. I’m honored to tell all of you I have asked for her hand in marriage and she has accepted.”
Amelia’s jaw dropped into her chest. She could hear the congregation clap and cheer and could hear him thanking everyone. His proud face was held high as he walked down the aisle towards the entrance and she glared at him the whole time. When her eyes made it to the door though, her heart sank. Patrick. She had been asking him to attend church since she met him and he picked that Sunday to attend, the one service she wished that he had not shown up. She wanted to scream and run to Patrick but as Thomas brushed past the new man in the village, Patrick took off. Her heart wanted to reach out to him. The hurt on his face broke her heart in a million pieces.
The villagers piled out of the church, all shaking Thomas’ hand on their way out. Henry remained in the pew and looked over at Amelia. She was outraged at what just happened. “Father,” she cried, “You said that we couldn’t speak of this until after my birthday. Are you going to allow his show to go on?”
Henry knew that it would be of no use to fuss over Thomas’ announcement. If the villagers were to think that he was happy about the marriage, he couldn’t try to take back Thomas’ announcement. If he were to say something to Thomas or Daniel, he would have a sharp reminder of his own mistakes. He decided to just let it go. “What is there to do, Amelia?” He answered. “There was no harm in it,” he finished.
Amelia no longer knew what to think about her father. She inhaled and fumed as she exhaled her breath. “I’m so disappointed in you,” she steamed as she shoved her body passed him in the pew to get out to the aisle. Then she stormed off to give Thomas a piece of her mind. When she stepped out of the church, the crowd of people that were still hanging around clapped their hands and cheered again. She heard them congratulating her and stretching their hands out to shake hers but she refused to touch anyone. They might have been happy, but she sure wasn’t. Thomas was standing next to his parents and talking to several people who seemed interested in the upcoming wedding. Amelia didn’t care what people thought anymore. She raced up to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the others. “How dare you,” she shouted at him.
Thomas continued to walk further away, squeezing Amelia’s arm as he pulled her along. He knew what he was doing by announcing their engagement early. It would make everyone know just how serious their relationship was. It would let them know that under no circumstances should she be talking to the stranger. “Be quiet,” he told her but with a smile remaining on his face so not to let the villagers know that they were arguing.
“You had no right to discuss our relationship,” she yelled at him. “You know what my father told you.”
“He won’t mind,” Thomas laughed. Henry Samuels could do nothing but smile at this point. “Besides, I know where you were last night and who you were with. I won’t tolerate it.”
Amelia looked stumped and wondered how he had found her but he wasn’t about to explain it. She even wondered for a moment if he was being honest or not. She would not let this ruthless man ruin her life. “I won’t marry you,” she insisted as she stood tall and fought the water building up in her eyes.
“You will be my wife and I forbid you talking to that stranger.” Thomas wanted to let her know that he was the one in charge and there was nothing either her or her father could do about it. “Say, you know what? I’ve just decided that we will wed next week. An August wedding how does that sound?”
“No,” she screamed as her insides twisted up. There was no way she would be his bride. The thought of him being her husband made her insides tighten up. She couldn’t help but to release the tears that swelled up in her eyes.
“Yes, I think your father would be pleased to marry you off sooner than expected,” he snorted at her. He noticed that the crowd was looking their way, so he turned his attention to them and said, “She’s just a little shy about having our personal life displayed like this.”
The crowd dwindled and Thomas’ parents and Henry walked over to them. “What is going on over here?” Daniel asked. He knew that Henry had given strict time lines about when their announcement would be made but yet he also knew that Henry would not say anything to them on the matter.
“I’ve just decided that there is no reason we should wait any longer. Amelia and I will wed one week from today.” Thomas put his arm around Amelia and brought her close to him. She resisted, but he pulled her until her bosom flew onto his chest. “My darling here was just protesting because she would prefer it to be sooner,” he said to the elders.
Amelia could hear Catherine burst with excitement as she went on about planning the event. She saw her father shake hands with Daniel and Thomas and knew that he wasn’t objecting to the sudden change in plans. She lost her breath as her heart beat faster. In a few short minutes her heart went from joy knowing that Patrick loved her to total humiliation hearing Thomas tell the whole village they were getting married.
The four standing in front of her waited for her to say something but she was too angry to even attempt to be polite. She looked straight into her father’s eyes and wailed, “I’ll never forgive you.” Then she grabbed a hold of her skirt and ran away from them and went straight to Patrick’s house to make sure he was okay with what had happened.
Catherine thought she could catch up to Amelia and followed her, but stopped a few feet away when she realized that the young girl didn’t want to talk. Changing her mind, Catherine saw group of her lady friends and went up to them to further share the good news.
Henry stood with Daniel and Thomas until Thomas to saw someone he could go talk to. When he was gone Daniel said, “Well, seems she is still not coming to terms with the marriage.”
“No, I’m afraid that she isn’t.” Henry was too caught up in what she had said to him to even be bothered with what Daniel had to say. Within in a couple of weeks she had gone from the sweetest girl he had the pleasure of knowing to the most defiant child in the world. It pained him to hear her say she would never forgive him; though he remembered saying the same thing when he was split from Ruth. He said a prayer that what she would come around the same way he had. He prayed that what she said wasn’t true.
Daniel stood tall and said, “Then I suppose you are feeling the punishment of your stupid mistakes.”
“Save it,” Henry snapped back. He knew what he was doing and didn’t need to be reminded. “I paid the day I gave her hand to your son.” Then he too turned and left the church. He knew that they would gather around again in a week for a wedding celebration and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He hung his head in shame as he walked home alone.
Patric
k arrived back home quick since he had ridden his horse into the village to attend church. He was glad he had sat in the back because it gave him a better opportunity to dash out of the church when he heard Amelia’s engagement announced. He was angry and took his frustrations out on some logs he had been meaning to chop up. As he mutilated the wood, he thought of Thomas and pictured him standing in front of the congregation. The kid was rather homely looking; though he didn’t make a habit of noticing the appearance of other men. Patrick couldn’t help notice how thin Thomas was, and he knew that he could snap the twerp in two if given the chance. Patrick lifted the ax above his head and brought it back down, slamming it on the log in front of him. For every stroke he took, he imagined Thomas’ face on the log. He wanted to rip him apart for destroying Amelia’s life. His own life, for his heart wanted her to be his wife. He was preoccupied in slicing Thomas’ face beyond its core he didn’t see Amelia running towards him.
She ran at the church and didn’t stop once, not even to catch her breath, until she reached Patrick’s land. Upon her arrival she saw him outside his house chopping wood. She was about to call out to him to let him know that she was there but noticed that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. She couldn’t help but stop and stare at the man she loved. His arms and chest were tanned golden brown, and she wondered how many times he had worked outside without a shirt on. The sun was bright and sweat was building up on his muscles and then rolling right off to dissolve into the already hot ground. Those muscles, she couldn’t take her eyes off of those muscles. She felt herself drawn to them and wanted to touch them. Amelia desired him and imagined herself rubbing her hands all over his strong arms as she placed gentle kisses all over his hard chest. She wasn’t sure how long she had been staring at him. He realized that she was standing there and must’ve known what she’d been thinking because the most seductive smile spread across his face. She shook her head to rid herself of those shameful thoughts and then ran to him and fell into his arms. “I’m so sorry that you had to hear that,” she sobbed.
Patrick was glad to see Amelia but was saddened to see her tear-streaked face. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “It isn’t your fault.” He let go of her and returned to his pile of wood. Patrick saw the way she looked at him as he glanced her way out of the corner of his eyes. He wanted to do so much more than cut logs and his frustration let out a horrific moan. “Damn it, why did he do that? Did you know he would make that announcement?”
“No,” Amelia replied. Just when she was getting somewhere in her battle, Thomas messed things up again. “It gets worse.” She told him how she had it out with Thomas and how he embarrassed her. “He decided that we would wed next week and, of course, my father thinks it’s a wonderful idea.”
Patrick was hurt to hear that the girl he loved so much would marry someone else that soon. He was tempted to find Van Martin and ring his little neck. “Amelia we can’t let that happen. I love you too much.”
“And I love you.” She couldn’t help but cry again. Patrick put his ax down and held her close to him. Between her hysterical sobs, she thought she heard him cry too. “Oh Patrick, you’re the only one who can help me now. Is there something we can do?”
He looked over her shoulder as he held her tight. She had told him she ran from Thomas and her father and he was becoming concerned. They might search for her. “First thing we need to do is get inside in case we’re seen.” Amelia didn’t fight him at all. They entered his house and as soon as the door shut, he pulled her in for a kiss. She responded like she had every time he kissed her. Right away he thought they should run away together but decided that it wasn’t something he should bring up right then and there.
Amelia loved it when he kissed her and realized that every time he kissed her the kisses were more intense. She tilted her head back and enjoyed feeling his lips on her. Before she knew it he had left her face and was planting kisses on her neck and then back up to her ear. She tingled when she felt him open his mouth and brought her earlobe into it with his tongue. She didn’t know what he was doing, but she knew that she liked it. Amelia could feel his warm breath inside her ear and his teeth nibbling on her lobe and it made her want to fall to her knees. She resisted her weak knees and held onto him as tight as she could. His shirt was still off and she couldn’t help but to follow through with the desires she felt as she stared at him. She let her fingers glide through the small hairs on his chest and it was more magical than she could have ever imagined. Her instincts told her to explore the sweat filled area more, and she circled her finger around his nipple. He looked down when she did that and found her mouth once more. This was love, she told herself, and this is what she dreamt of having with someone.
Patrick pulled himself away from her. “We have to stop,” he said. He could feel the effects that their moment was having on him and didn’t want her to feel it too. He was afraid that he would get caught up in the moment. Patrick wouldn’t take advantage of her innocence, he told himself.
Amelia backed up in shame. She knew that she should not have touched him in that manner and was afraid that she had offended him. “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”
“No, you are perfect,” he answered her. How he wanted to continue kissing her! “It isn’t right.” He looked at her as she batted her hurt eyes and bit down onto her bottom lip. He could tell that she didn’t want to stop but for her sake, he had to. “I want you to be my wife, not his, and then we can continue.”
“I would like that,” she said determined more than ever to make it happen. “I promise; I’ll find a way.” The thought of her unwanted marriage made her cry again. “What am I going to do?”
Patrick reached his hands over to hers and held them tight. He wasn’t sure how to go about their situation. Patrick only knew that he couldn’t allow her to take vows with Thomas. He wanted to storm into her father’s store and tell him he was in love with her but knew what the consequences would be. Patrick was a mere stranger that nobody knew except Amelia and his confession of love would look more suspicious than he cared to admit. The bottom line was that the times they had met in secret were not acceptable by respectable men such as her father. There would be no easy way for her engagement to be called off. Even then if it was, they would have to start over again from scratch with the supervision of her father. Patrick continued to listen to her talk as she told him that Thomas had seen them the night before. “Do you suppose that he saw us kiss?”
Amelia frowned. She couldn’t even guess what was going through Thomas’ sneaky mind. For all she knew, he might not have seen her at all but was trying to get her to admit something to him. “I don’t know, but that would explain why he made that announcement.”
“Yeah, you are right. He knows that you don’t love him and the thought of you being with someone else has made him over jealous,” Patrick guessed.
“He doesn’t even love me, why should he be jealous?” Amelia would never figure Thomas out. They were quiet for a while before she said; “Now everyone in the village knows of my marriage and they know that I should not be seen with you.”
Patrick lowered his head; those were his thoughts which were why he attacked the wood before she arrived. He could see the pain in her face which caused a pain in his heart. He didn’t know how they would work things out but he knew that somehow, someway, she would be his bride and not Thomas’. Patrick sat there and recalled the social and what had happened afterward. Then he remembered the reason he went to the dance to begin with. He combed his fingers through his hair and without removing his hand; he placed his elbow onto the table. He was reminded that he would have to take another trip. Wondering how she would take the news he said to her, “Amelia, I have to take another trip tomorrow.”
“What?” She questioned full of shock. Her bewildered face searched for answers as she wondered why he would leave that soon after their union. “I need you, please don’t go.”
“Not as long this time, I’ll be
back on Tuesday,” he explained to her. She didn’t like not being near him but nodded her head in understanding. Patrick couldn’t wait until this whole thing with the government was over so he could concentrate on being with her.