“I was forced. He said he wouldn’t sell Katherine’s bond to me unless I married his daughter.”
“You should have come home and talked with us. I would have paid Hiram Greene a visit.”
Urias chuckled. His father was larger than life in most men’s eyes. There was little doubt Mac would have put some fear into Hiram Greene.
“Prudence said we could get the marriage annulled since we haven’t been as man and wife.”
His father crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“So, you sold Bullet to pay for your sister’s bond?”
“Not exactly. Prudence and I bought some hogs and ran them down to the Cumberland Gap. Oh, by the way, you should know that Mr. Campbell passed away. I helped Mrs. Campbell for a couple days, but her daughter came and fetched her by the time I returned from selling the hogs.”
“I’m sorry to hear of Mrs. Campbell’s loss, but you can tell me more on that matter, later. Tell me how it is that you had to sell Bullet.”
Urias pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Hiram Greene has a gambling problem. While we were at Mrs. Campbell’s farm, a rider came up and delivered a message to me from Mr. Greene saying I now owed him the price of a dowry for Prudence. Truthfully, the money I made from selling the hogs covered both Katherine’s bond and Prudence’s dowry, but when we arrived back at Hazel Green, we found Mr. and Mrs. Greene tied and bound to a chair and unconscious. Their servants were scattered throughout the house in the same state.”
Mac combed his hands through his long hair.
“Mr. Greene confessed that he owed a man the money I was to pay him, plus a bit more for a gambling debt. Since I’m married to his daughter, even though in name only, I felt an obligation to pay the man’s debt. When I got to the house of the person to whom Mr. Greene owed the debt, I discovered the debt was much higher and that he would not take a partial payment. He wanted it paid in full or not at all. We came to an understanding, and I gave him Bullet. Since the debt came from gambling on horse racing, I figured Bullet would be an acceptable bartering tool. He was.”
“That was an honorable thing to do, Son. And a hard sacrifice. But what are you going to do about your wife?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want her to live in that house with Mr. Greene. They’ve not appreciated her. And to force their daughter to marry a stranger…well, it just seemed wrong to me. But I’ve done something foolish. At least, I hope it was foolish.”
His father let out a half chuckle. “You mean more than what you’ve told me so far?”
“Guilty. I should have come home and sought your counsel, but Prudence’s idea made so much sense. And I wanted to be a man and take care of my sister.”
“I understand, Son. Go on. Tell me what else is wrong.”
“After I came back from paying off Mr. Greene’s debt, Prudence offered to get an annulment right away. I suspected, and still do, that she and her father conspired together. Was this their plan all along?”
Mac rubbed the back of his neck. “You know, Son, I couldn’t say. I don’t know these people. I’m afraid this is something you’re going to have to come to terms with.” He studied Urias a moment, then added, “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Yes.” Urias felt heat rush to his cheeks. “I told Prudence she was to be my bond servant to pay for her father’s debt.”
“You’re going to have to work harder on tempering your impulsiveness, Son. I don’t want you owning anyone, slave or bond servant. You can tell the woman she’s not in debt to you and take it from there.”
“Yes, sir. I’ve been trying to tell her for the past ten days on the trail home. But there’s never been the right moment. We’ve talked little since we left Hazel Green. Even my own sister doesn’t talk with me. Prudence says Katherine wasn’t treated well by some of her previous bond owners.”
Mac laid his hand upon Urias’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Son. I’ll fill your mother in after we’re down for the night. I expect she’ll want to move Sarah into Molly’s room tonight to make room for Katherine until you build your new home next spring.”
“You can put Katherine and Prudence in my room. I’ll bunk in the barn or on the sofa on really cold nights.”
Mac gazed into Urias’s eyes. “That will be fine. I’ll want to hear more about this, but for now, what you’ve said is sufficient. We can chop down some trees for your house, and we’ll spend more time on this matter, alone and away from everyone. I’m sure you have your reasons for suspecting Prudence, and you may be right. But if that were the case, why would she come here willingly?”
❧
Prudence tried not to toss and turn too much in the bed. Everywhere she placed her head, she could smell Urias. She could see him in his artwork, in the items scattered throughout his room, and the books on the shelves. The titles alone were enough to tell about him.
The worst thing of all was that he had asked her to speak with him privately in the morning, to join him in the barn where he’d be milking the cows.
Pam had tried to break the tension in the air when Urias and Mac came in from the barn. It seemed hopeless. The children were the only cure. They talked and talked, asking question after question. Thankfully, they were mostly aimed at Urias.
There was little doubt in her mind that Urias had told Mac about the circumstances that led to her becoming Urias’s wife. Prudence felt certain her version to Pam was far shorter than Urias’s to his father. Neither parent seemed happy about her presence in the house, and Kate was no help. She was so afraid these people would treat her as a servant, she hardly said a word.
Urias answered all of his younger siblings’ questions and even entertained them with a tale of swimming the hogs across the Cumberland River. Prudence could picture it clearly. She hadn’t been with him at that point of the trip, but every time he mentioned it, she wished she had been. Staying with Mrs. Campbell had been a blessing, yet it had begun the separation between Urias and herself. Prior to that, they had begun to trust one another.
The memory of their kiss bored a hole in the pit of her stomach. The friendliness, or even a mild effort of being communicative, vanished after Urias sold Bullet. More than anything, Prudence wished she could have gone with Urias to meet with Sawyer Bishop. Had he taken advantage of Urias? Or was there more to her father’s debt than a simple gambling wager? No one would leave people tied to chairs for a simple debt, would they? Wouldn’t it be easier to have brought Father to court and sue him for the monies owed? Did money owed in a gambling debt constitute no debt at all in a court of law?
Prudence tossed again.
“Will you stay still!” Kate whispered.
“Sorry.”
Prudence shared the bed with Kate. There was ample room for the two of them, and even if she could sleep, she’d still be bothered by Kate’s tossing and turning.
“I be up all night with this here strange bed. I ain’t never slept on anything like it before,” Kate whispered.
Prudence hadn’t thought about the bed, its size, or the firmness of the mattress. It was firmer than most she’d slept on before, but if Urias could sleep on the ground with no worries, perhaps a firm mattress was more to his liking. Personally, she enjoyed a medium state of firmness. Not too soft and not too hard. “It’s better than the ground.”
“Aye, that it is.” There was a moment of silence, then Kate started chatting on about the house and the strangers in it. “And Urias is so at home with these people.”
“Yes, he seems quite content. Those children really love him.”
“Aye. Babes they are. Every one of them. But they love Urias and treat him like a big brother.”
“Yes.” Prudence had often wondered what it would be like to have an older brother. “Kate, did you like having an older brother?”
“Ain’t never thought about it. I suppose it be so. Urias was always there, looking out for me.” Kate rolled on her side and faced Prudence. “Pru, how long do you think you’ll
be Urias’s bond servant? Can a man do that to his legal wife?”
❧
Urias spent most of the evening making the loft habitable, eventually building a bed out of fresh hay and covering it with some canvas, then a sheet. Perhaps he should ask his grandparents if he could sleep on their sofa by the woodstove. Winter hadn’t settled in yet, and already the wind howled through the barn.
Who was he kidding? It wasn’t his bed or the place he was sleeping that kept him awake, but rather the possible scenarios of how to deal with Prudence. Should he take her to Creelsboro, where she could find a job and they could find an attorney to annul their marriage? Or should he have her work off some of her father’s debt? Not as a servant but…but what? Urias couldn’t afford to pay her and have a portion of her salary go toward the debt—which, his conscience reminded him, he’d told Hiram Greene was a gift. That was before I knew what it would cost me. He didn’t have an income of his own, and without Bullet, it would be awhile longer before he could begin breeding horses as a profitable business.
Urias glanced down at the pair of horses he had bred, of which Bullet was the product. They were a fine pair. The wild stallion didn’t care to be penned in. He seldom stayed still in the stall. Most of the time, Urias kept him out in the corral, but he wanted the stallion to get used to being in the barn before winter. The mare was expecting once again, but it would be a couple years before he could ride that horse. He glanced to the right, where a yearling stood. Its lines were similar to Bullet’s but not quite as powerful. She would be a good breeder like her mother.
Closing his eyes, he tried to go to sleep. He continued to ignore the nagging feeling that wanted to bring up the anger he felt toward Hiram Greene and Prudence and how they’d tricked him into paying their debts. He knew it was wrong to be angry, that he needed to forgive, but neither had asked for forgiveness.
Prudence apologized for her father, he mused, then shook off the memory. He would not be fooled by the beauty of Prudence Greene, by the gentle way she spoke, or her so-called love for his sister. She was like her father, he reminded himself over and over again.
❧
Morning came early, along with the body aches from lack of sleep. Urias stretched and milked the cow.
“Morning, Son.” His father walked in. “Good to have your helping hands around here. Now, tell me about these hogs.”
Urias went into a detailed description of his and Prudence’s trip with the hogs and about their stay with Mrs. Campbell.
“You’ve had quite the adventure. Did you really need to swim the hogs across the river?”
“Only to save money. By that point Mr. Greene had passed along his demand for a dowry payment.”
His father leaned against the stall’s planks. “Seems to me if Prudence was aware of her father’s debt, she wouldn’t have put herself out and traveled with you.”
“That’s what doesn’t make sense. I’ve asked her to come speak with me this morning. I have a mind to absolve her from the debt, but the matter of our marriage is still an issue.”
“Son, I’m not going to presume to know what the answer is on this one. Seems to me a man really is married if he marries a woman, even if he marries her in name only. It also seems to me that the good Lord doesn’t take to marriage as being a conveyance. If you vowed to God to marry this woman, you are married.”
“It wasn’t a real wedding—just some rushed together service in her father’s office.”
“I see. And doesn’t the Bible speak about obeying the laws of the land?”
“But…” Urias’s shoulders slumped under the pressure.
His father came up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I understand your not wanting to take her as your wife. But if you gave your word, you might just have to live with it.”
Urias swallowed hard. He had fully intended to make Prudence his wife when he said his vows. He didn’t even think or know about an annulment until Prudence mentioned it. He’d given his word. Like it or not, Prudence was his wife.
“Pray on the matter, Son. This afternoon, let’s go fell some trees for your house.”
If he worked quickly, Urias knew he could get the foundation done before the frost set in for the winter. “Yes, I imagine we won’t be able to build until spring.”
“Depends on the winter. But we’ll do what we can before the weather turns bitter.”
He finished milking the cow and handed the bucket to his father. “I’m going to spend some time with the Lord before I speak with Prudence.”
Mac squeezed his shoulder. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”
But do I want to do the right thing? Urias wondered. Is it right for a man to be bound to another person who doesn’t really love you? Who used you?
Falling on his knees, he pleaded with the Lord for some understanding of what to do. After an hour, he heard Prudence call, “Urias? Where are you?”
He got up and went to the edge of the loft. “Up here.”
“Should I come up?” she asked.
He glanced back at his hay bed. Apart from that, there was nothing to sit down on. “I’ll be right down.”
He climbed down and prayed once again. As he walked toward her, he could see her fear. “I want to apologize for insisting that you become my bond servant. I was angry, and I took it out on you.”
Prudence nibbled her lower lip and looked down at her feet, giving a slight nod.
“I am not going to require you to pay back your father’s debt.”
She looked up at him with her big brown eyes. Urias swallowed. “I’ve decided to honor our marriage and keep you as my wife.”
Her eyes widened. “All right,” she stammered.
Sixteen
Prudence didn’t know what to say to Urias when he said he intended to honor their marriage. Now, three months later, she still didn’t understand what that meant. She worked night and day helping out with the children, the house, and even working with Urias on his new house. The exterior walls were up, but they hadn’t been able to do any work on it for the past six weeks. The winter winds made it too cold.
But what did it mean to be husband and wife when you were nothing more than strangers? They still hadn’t spent any time alone with one another, and she still stayed with Kate. Kate, on the other hand, was no longer afraid. She felt comfortable with the MacKenneths. It was a blessing to see her free. But Kate’s freedom only magnified Prudence’s entrapment. The marriage had been to help Kate, but still they had no real life together. She loved Urias and how he treated others, but he constantly avoided her.
Today things would be different. Today she would confront him and suggest they annul the marriage. She couldn’t live like this. Even life in her parents’ home was not like the loneliness she felt living in Urias’s home.
Prudence marched up to Urias’s house. She had seen him leave to take advantage of the break in the weather. “Urias?” she called.
“In the back room,” he answered.
It wasn’t that he was unfriendly, but they never had time alone. They did not behave as married people. “Urias, there’s something we should talk about.”
“Sure.” He brushed the sawdust off his handmade leather pants.
Her stomach flipped at the sight of him.
“What would you like to talk about?”
“Us.”
His face reddened. “What about us?”
“Urias, I can’t go on like this. I feel I don’t belong here. I feel I don’t belong anywhere.”
“I see.”
“No, I don’t believe you do.”
Urias looked down at what he’d been working on. Prudence followed his line of vision. A bed.
“Prudence, I know I’m not much of a husband, but I can’t escape how we got married. I was forced to marry you.”
“I’m fully aware.”
He closed the distance between them. “No, you don’t understand. I promised I’d take care of you, but I can’t get past th
e manipulation. Did you or did you not work with your father to have me pay off his debts?”
“What?” She stepped back from him. “Is that what this has been all about? You think I knew of my father’s gambling debts? You think I set you up to pay him off? Are you forgetting something?”
“Your helping me with the hogs. I know,” he finished her thoughts.
“Exactly. Why would I do that if I were working with my father?”
“For the dowry,” he said in blunt response.
Dowry. She’d forgotten her father’s additional request. “I see. Well, in that case, I wish for you to make me your bond servant again so I can pay off my father’s debt, and once that’s paid off, I’ll be free to leave.”
“Is that what you want?”
No, she wanted to scream. She wanted her husband, a real marriage. She wanted to be able to love Urias and feel the comfort of his embrace once again.
“Prudence, I don’t want you to owe me anything.” He looked back at the bed frame he was working on. “You’re free to leave. I will not hold you here.”
“What about our marriage?” she asked.
“Do what you would like on the matter. I’ll sign any papers you would have me sign.” He brushed past her. “Excuse me.” He left her standing there alone in the room. On the floor was the headboard for a bed. A bed for two.
❧
Prudence’s words still burned in his ears. He went out to the back woods. There was nothing like chopping down a tree to work off your anger. He’d been making their bed. How could he have been so foolish? Of course, she didn’t want to be married to him—not for real.
With each passing day, he’d watched her. He’d watched the way she played with the children and helped around the house. He had to admit he’d been keeping her at a distance, unsure of what to do and how to go about it. He thought if he put together their bedroom, he’d have an opportunity to explain that he really did want to make this a real marriage, not in name only, as it had been for the past four months.
Now she was going. She didn’t really care for him, did she?
For the past month, his father and mother had been giving him lectures on how he treated Prudence unfairly. They were right. He’d been treating her more like a visitor to his home—a temporary visitor who had overstayed her welcome. But Prudence hadn’t overstayed, had she? He’d told her what to do and when to do it since they’d first met.
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