The Marriage Agreement

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  He whispered her name in a way that warmed her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. With a smile, she kissed his cheek. She was glad she was able to offer him pleasure from her body. And honestly, she didn’t think there was anything she wouldn’t give him if he asked for it. She loved him far too much to ever deny him anything.

  She didn’t know if he could tell how much he meant to her or not, but at least when they were in bed, she was allowed to show it without fearing she overstepped any invisible boundaries she didn’t know about. She didn’t know if he could ever come to care for her the way she cared for him, but maybe, just maybe, he might learn to be content with her. But she couldn’t stop loving him. Not now. Not ever. And she would enjoy all these moments she had with him, regardless of how he might feel about her.

  He rose up on his elbows and looked down at her, that heart-melting smile on his face. “I’m glad you don’t hold back when we make love,” he told her, his voice soft. “It’s nice that I don’t have to guess if you’re enjoying it.”

  She found the comment odd. Why would he have to guess if she enjoyed it or not? But he didn’t give her a chance to ask. Instead, he kissed her again, and though his tongue was brushing hers, the earlier urgency had been replaced by a lingering sense of peace.

  They remained in bed for a few more minutes, just kissing and holding each other before Elliot cried out from the other room. The responsibilities of the day had swept in and brought them both down from the dreamlike state of bliss they’d been wrapped up in. But Laura didn’t mind. There would be tonight, and they’d get to be together like this again.

  It wasn’t until she was taking care of Elliot that Laura realized what Jesse had meant by his strange comment about not wanting to guess whether she enjoyed making love to him or not. Fanny had given Elsie a pamphlet on how wives were to not enjoy the bed. Unlike Laura, Elsie had probably read it. Up to now, Laura had assumed everything in Jesse’s marriage had been perfect, but maybe it hadn’t been as perfect as she’d thought.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “He grows up fast, doesn’t he?” Laura’s mother asked two days later as she watched Elliot walk in the parlor.

  “He does,” Laura replied, unable to stop smiling no matter how hard she tried.

  When she’d asked Jesse if she could take Elliot into town so she could see her mother, he’d not only gotten the buggy ready for her, but he’d also kissed her before he helped her in. Sure, it hadn’t been the type of kiss where their tongues touched, but it’d been a kiss right on the lips. Sharing such a moment outside the bedroom had been so unexpected that she nearly fainted from the pure joy of it. Maybe, just maybe, it meant she’d found a place in his heart. It might not be love, but it was more than she thought she’d ever have.

  Now, as Laura glanced at her mother, she wondered if her mother picked up on her excitement. She’d already visited Amanda and told her everything. She supposed it was only right she tell her mother how well her marriage was going, even if she didn’t give her any details like she’d done with Amanda. It was one thing to confess more to her friend, but doing so with her mother only seemed awkward.

  “Jesse’s a good man, Ma,” she said.

  “Yes, I know,” her mother replied. She held her hands out to Elliot as he walked over to her. “It’s why you helped him take care of this sweet boy.”

  She cleared her throat. “I was wondering if you and Pa would be willing to come out to our home and have supper with us. It’d give you two a chance to get to know him better.”

  Her mother’s smile faltered. “Oh, um, I don’t think that’ll work.”

  “We can come here.”

  She shook her head. “That won’t work, either.”

  “Don’t you want to get to know Jesse?”

  “It’s not about what I want, Laura. You know how your father is. He’s still mad that you married Jesse, and it doesn’t help that you told him you were engaging in intimate relations with him before the wedding.”

  Laura wasn’t sure what to say. At the time, the lie seemed to be the only way to get her father to leave her alone. Otherwise, he would have hauled her back here and married her to the man he chose. And what kind of life would that have been?

  “I don’t regret marrying Jesse,” she told her mother. “I’d do it again if given the chance.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  After a moment, Laura ventured, “Do you wish I’d married one of the men Father wanted me to be with?”

  Her mother helped Elliot go back to the table. “At first, I had wished it because it’s what your father wanted. But now, I realize things turned out for the best.” She paused then added, “Laura, it’s hard to explain how things were in my family. My marriage was arranged. You know I grew up in Ireland and that my family had arranged a marriage to your father because your grandparents liked the match. Your father was already in America, so I had to leave my country to be with him.”

  “Yes, I know,” Laura replied.

  In fact, it was about all Laura knew about her mother’s past. Her mother had always been a private person.

  “Your father and I were both raised the same,” her mother continued. “The woman’s place was to do what the man wanted. Before I married your father, my duty was to obey your grandfather. And I obeyed him in all things, regardless of the cost. You see, there was a young man on the ship I was on. He was very kind, and I fell in love with him. He wanted me to marry him, but I couldn’t because I was already promised to your father.”

  “I had no idea,” Laura whispered.

  “I never spoke of him to anyone. Not even your father knows about him. The last time I saw him was at Ellis Island.” She paused to take a deep breath then released it. “He didn’t want me to go to Pennsylvania to be with your father, and I can still remember the expression on his face when I told him good-bye. It broke my heart to tell him no, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice. My life wasn’t my own. It wasn’t my place to make decisions for myself. I was to do what your grandfather wanted. So, I married your father.”

  Her mother pulled out a handkerchief and, with a chuckle to help lighten the mood, wiped her eyes. “I can’t remember the last time I cried. It’s been years.” She took a moment to gather her composure then turned her gaze back to Laura. “I don’t regret marrying your father because he gave me you, and you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  “But you miss the young man you fell in love with,” Laura said, her voice soft.

  Her mother nodded. “I still have the coin he gave me. He used to joke it brought him luck. Sometimes he’d take it out to make decisions when he had trouble making up his mind about something. When he gave it to me, he asked me if I’d just flip it to see if it would tell me to marry him instead of your father.”

  “Did you?”

  “Yes. And it told me to marry him. I lied and said it told me to marry your father. I wasn’t like you, Laura. I wasn’t strong enough to follow where my heart was leading me.”

  “I’m so sorry, Mother,” Laura whispered, wishing there was something she could say or do to ease the burden her mother had been carrying with her all these years.

  Her mother dabbed her eyes again then turned her gaze to Laura. “There’s something else I haven’t told you. Before you married Jesse, your father couldn’t figure out where you were staying. He searched all over for you. Well, he’d forgotten all about the Larsons. Not your friend Amanda. But her in-laws. The day after you left with your things, I was on my way to see them when Mrs. Larson happened to be on her way to town. She had been on her way to see me because she wanted me to know you were safe. I didn’t say anything to your father. I wanted to give you something I never had. A marriage you could be happy with.”

  “Oh, Mother.”

  Laura jumped out of the chair so she could hug her. There were so many things she wanted to say but didn’t know how. It didn’t matter, she supposed, since her tears got in the way. Her
mother wrapped her arms around her and returned the hug.

  All her life, she thought she knew her mother. Now, she was learning there was so much she didn’t know. Never once had she thought of her mother as a young woman who’d been full of dreams of what good might come from the future. Even if she’d left behind that man on Ellis Island all those years ago, she still loved him. She probably always would.

  “I want you to be happy,” her mother whispered. “If you can be happy, then everything else will have been worth it.”

  Wiping away more tears, Laura released her mother and knelt next to her. “I am happy, Mother.”

  Her mother clasped her hands in hers and smiled. “A mother can’t help but want what’s best for her child, and looking at you now, I can see that marrying Jesse was the best decision you could have made.”

  “Won’t you come out to our place and get to know him better? Father doesn’t have to be there.”

  “Well, I don’t see any reason why I can’t go by myself.”

  “I’d love to show you everything Jesse’s done. He works hard, and because of it, he has a good crop. I think you’ll be proud of him.”

  “I’m sure I will be.”

  “When do you think you can come out?”

  “Let me see what your father needs first,” her mother said. “He has business associates who I have to make meals for, and that can take up most of the day depending on what your father has me cook. I’ll let you know next time you visit.”

  “Alright. I should be back out in a couple days when Jesse brings potatoes to the mercantile.”

  Laura went back to her chair, glad her mother had opened up to her. This marked the beginning of a new relationship between them. She could feel it. She had no idea her mother had been gracious enough to keep her secret while she stayed at the Larsons’ home. There were probably other things her mother had done for her over the years without Laura even realizing it. And it gave Laura a newfound sense of gratitude for her mother.

  ***

  Three days later, Jesse waited by his wagon in front of the mercantile as Ralph Lindon counted the potatoes he’d brought in.

  “You sure did plant a lot,” Ralph said.

  “I wasn’t sure how well the crop would do,” Jesse replied.

  “Potatoes are good. They’re used in a lot of recipes. If you had to pick one crop to go with, I’d definitely recommend this one. It’s popular with the women who shop here, too.” Ralph winked at him. “Women are my best customers.”

  He chuckled. “Well, they know more than men when it comes to what needs to go in the meals we eat.”

  “That’s true. And it’s why I make the mercantile easy for them to shop in. Next time you go in there, check where I put the things women like. I put them on the lower shelves. Anything for men, I put up high.”

  “You’re discriminating against men by doing that,” Jesse teased.

  “I’m doing what’s best for business.” He took a step back from the wagon. “I’ll take two-thirds of what you have. Did you have any other places in mind to sell these?”

  “I was going to try the restaurants, and if there’s any left over, I was going to go door to door to sell them.”

  “I suppose I ought to thank you for coming to me first. That means I get the best ones.”

  “They’re all good.”

  “I’ve been in this business for fifteen years, and from what I’ve seen, there are good ones and gooder ones. I’m going to take the gooder ones.”

  It was on the tip of Jesse’s tongue to say there was no such thing as a “gooder” anything, but he caught the flicker of amusement in Ralph’s eyes and decided against it. “Fine,” he relented. “Take the gooder ones.”

  “I shall. Now, to figure out how much to pay you.”

  This was it. The moment Jesse had been waiting for since Ralph came out to check the potatoes. But when Ralph told him how much he was willing to give him, Jesse frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a fair price,” Jesse said.

  “Oh? And how much do you think they’re worth?”

  Jesse told him, and Ralph rubbed his chin. Ralph gave him a second offer, this one higher than the first. Then Ralph looked at him expectantly.

  It was then Jesse realized Ralph enjoyed bargaining. That being the case, Jesse decided to raise the price from the quote he originally gave Ralph.

  Ralph gasped. “You can’t counter my offer with a higher price than the one you just gave me. You need to lower it.”

  “My original price was the price I felt was fair.”

  “Well, since I’m the person buying these, I need to think of profit. I can’t stay in business by giving these potatoes away to my customers.”

  “You won’t be giving anything away. I checked how much you’re charging for the few potatoes you got in your store, and you’d be making a good profit at the price I originally suggested.”

  “Sure. It’d be a good profit. But I want a higher one.”

  Jesse laughed and shook his head. “Now you know why I raised the price instead of lowering it like you wanted me to. I wouldn’t mind a higher profit, either, but I’m willing to be fair and knock my price back to what I originally suggested. It’s still early in the season. I doubt you have many potatoes yet, and, as you said, women buy a lot of them since they can be used in so many meals. I don’t know what they’ll think if you don’t have potatoes on hand when they want them.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, Palmer,” Ralph said, a twinkle in his eye. “Alright. I’ll pay you what you said the first time.” Then, as if he thought he needed to clarify his point, he added, “Not the second. I got a family to feed. I have to make some profit.”

  “You’ll be making plenty of profit. My price is fair.”

  “Next time you come here, give me a higher price so I can feel like I’m getting a deal when I talk you down from it.”

  “Now that I know how you do business, I will.”

  With a chuckle, Ralph went to get the money.

  ***

  Meanwhile, Laura told her mother, “I’m looking forward to seeing you next week.”

  “I am, too,” her mother said as she hugged Elliot good-bye. Then she handed him to Laura. “It’s nice to see you in love. Jesse must be good to you.”

  “He is. I think you’ll like him.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  Laura gave her mother a hug. “Thank you.” She pulled away from her and smiled. “For everything.”

  Her mother cupped her face in her hands and returned the smile. “A mother can’t help but want the very best for her child.”

  It was true. Though Elliot was still young, Laura couldn’t think of anything she wouldn’t do for him. After saying good-bye, she left the house. It was time for her to go to the mercantile to meet Jesse.

  Elliot squirmed in her arms. “Mama.” He pointed down.

  How much time did she have before she was supposed to get back to Jesse? She pulled out the pocket watch he’d given her and saw she had a few minutes to spare. The mercantile wasn’t far from here.

  Once they reached the sidewalk, she set Elliot on his feet. She held onto his hand and walked with him, her steps slow beside him. Just ten steps in, he bent over to check something in the grass.

  “Elliot, I thought you wanted to walk,” she playfully admonished the child.

  “You’re not allowed to see your mother.”

  Laura looked up from Elliot, surprised her father was coming up to her. Where had he come from? She picked Elliot up. If she hadn’t been distracted by him, she might have noticed her father.

  “You’re no longer a part of this family,” her father said once he was standing in front of her. “Through your actions, you have disgraced both me and your mother, and such insolence will not be tolerated.”

  She knew her father was upset, but she had apparently underestimated just how much. “I’m sorry I upset you,” she began.

  “Upsetting me wasn’t the worst of it,�
� he interrupted before she could continue. “You openly defied me. More than that, you let that boy touch you when you weren’t married.”

  “I lied about that.” She took a deep breath and tried to force aside the shaky edge in her voice. “Jesse and I weren’t together until after we married. I only said we were so you wouldn’t force me to get an annulment.”

  “First you disobey me, and then you lie. I blame him for this. You were never this way before you started taking care of that child. You used to be a good girl. You used to know what it meant to honor your parents.”

  “It wasn’t Jesse’s doing. It was mine. I wanted to be with him. Well, not right away. At first, I wanted to be a mother to Elliot.”

  “You got what you wanted. But I won’t tolerate such behavior. As far as I’m concerned, your mother and I no longer have a daughter.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Yes, I do. I tried to talk sense into you before it was too late, but you wouldn’t have it. You’ve disgraced us, and there’s no undoing it. Your mother’s not allowed to see you anymore, and you’re not allowed to see her.”

  He walked around her and strode toward his house.

  “Mama,” Elliot said, once again struggling to get down from her arms.

  But this time, she didn’t let him down. She couldn’t. She was too shaken up by what her father had just told her. Yes, she’d been warned he wasn’t happy about her decision to marry Jesse. Her mother had told her as much. And that hadn’t surprised her since she knew she’d upset him on her wedding day when she made up that lie so he’d leave her and Jesse alone. But never once did she think he’d disown her.

  “Mama,” Elliot said again, staring at her as if he was trying to figure out why her mood had changed.

  She rubbed his back. He was too young to understand anything that had just happened, but she could tell he didn’t like seeing her upset. He always got so serious when she wasn’t happy.

  Giving him a kiss on the forehead, she said, “Let’s find your pa.”