by L. B. Joramo
The day before we were to go to Boston, Hannah cornered me in one of the horses’ stalls after I finished changing the straw.
“When are you going to pack?” she asked intently.
“I’ve packed already.”
She shook her head. “We’ll be at the opera. You don’t have a decent dress for the opera in your baggage.”
“How would you know that, little sneak?”
“Who are you calling little, tiny mouse?”
“You aren’t that much taller than I.” I smiled up at her one or two, mayhap as many as three inches of height she had over me.
Hannah cracked a smile through her chiding. Finally, she let a bust of giggles out. “I . . . I’ve made you a dress for the opera.”
“Ah, that’s awfully nice of you.”
“I know it is.”
“I’m glad you know, and you’re so humble too.”
Hannah shrugged, playacting being affronted. “Well, of course I do know how nice and generous it was of me to make you a dress, especially when these last few weeks you’ve been too busy to talk to me. You only run about the countryside when you aren’t working the farm.”
I grimaced. “Oh, that . . .”
“Yes, that. Don’t think Mother and I haven’t noticed that you haven’t been in the house except for when you sleep at night. Also, you have no appetite. If you weren’t constantly smiling and glowing like gold, then I’d worry. Mother thinks that you and Mathew are meeting in secret and working toward breaking your chastity.”
I shook my head. “I’m not!” But then I realized I should have agreed to meeting Mathew in secret for, surely, my sister would ask why I was apparently so happy as of late. I cleared my throat, thinking of some excuse. “I just love spring, seeing all the wild flowers in bloom, the animals stirring from their hibernation . . .” I waved my hand around my head like an adorable squirrel was there, stretching and yawning from its winter’s sleep.
Hannah let her blonde eyebrows sink in suspicion, but then she shook her head and looked even more cross at me. “What my point is, you haven’t been around enough to notice that others in this household are just as joyful as you.”
I frowned and thought of Mother. She’d just bickered with Hannah about a wild strawberry jam this morning, so I knew my mother wasn’t the culprit Hannah was describing. Then, I looked back up at Hannah who held up her left hand beside her cherry-hued cheek, displaying on her third finger a tiny diamond in a thick gold band—at least the band and the chip of a gem appeared to be real.
“Oh my . . .” I whispered.
Hannah flew into a fit of little jumps as her hands clutched my arms. “I’m getting married too!”
I couldn’t breathe. The world began to spin too fast.
“Tomorrow, when we arrive in Boston, my Mark will meet us. I’ve written Monsieur Beaumont and Mathew, who both extended the invitation to Mark. So, he’s coming to the opera with us! You’ll get to meet him, finally! I can hardly believe it that I’m getting married soon.”
I plastered a smile into place and nodded. “Oh my, how . . . grand is this? My sister is getting married. Oh my . . . oh my . . .”
“I know. I haven’t told mother yet. And you know her, she hasn’t noticed the ring.”
I sincerely doubted Mother hadn’t noticed. Knowing my mother, she was biding her time until Hannah broke the news to her. Mother, like my Da, had always given my sister and I enough privacy to grow, and enough room to make many a mistake as well.
Hannah’s smile was wider than I’d ever seen it. “I’ve talked to Mark about our having a double ceremony—”
“Talked?”
“Well, wrote, to be more precise, like we always do, but as I was saying Mark is so wonderful. He wrote back saying whatever pleased me would make him the happiest of men, and it would make me so blissful to be married at the same time you and Mathew pledge your vows. Would you consider it, Vi? I know you weren’t planning on getting married soon, but I’d like to. I want to get married in June, maybe even April.”
I nodded. My head felt like it might spring off my neck. “Of course, I’ll think about it. Of course. My goodness . . . my heavens, this is exciting.”
“Oh, won’t this be the most amazing event in our lives? We can be married women together. We could have children at the same time. Can you just imagine that?”
I did, and I had. It was our childhood dream, even if she was younger than I. But the hope was that I’d wait for her to find her husband, then we’d have our families together.
Mathew had asked for years to se fiancer. When I finally said yes to his proposal, I’d done so realizing his eyes were almost the same light blue hue as Hannah’s. I would have children that might look like my sister, and that was all I needed for affirmation that I was making a good decision regarding my marriage to Mathew. Certainly, he had been a friend of my family’s and mine since we were children, and his heart and dedication had won me over as well, but it was the warmth from his eyes, so like Hannah’s that convinced me that my strategy for my life was a sound one.
But there was something amiss in Hannah’s engagement. Why hadn’t Lieutenant Kimball asked my mother for Hannah’s hand? Why hadn’t he met any of us in Hannah’s family? Why did I feel like my knees might buckle at any minute?
Hannah held me in a firm embrace. “Dinner is made, Vi. Come in and try to eat. You’ve been losing weight, darling-girl.”
I didn’t like that Hannah called me what our mother touted us, her darling-girls. But I kept my smile firmly in place and made it widen when Hannah released me from her hug.
“Please don’t tell Mother. I want Mark to say something to her when we get to Boston.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“Come. Eat.” Hannah began to stroll away with an enormous smile, and perhaps it was my cynical side that thought her grin was a tad silly.
I followed, not knowing a word to say, doubtful whether any of this new development would come to any good.