Reuben

by Lynn Donovan

  Bhagat Singh and a handsome, younger version of himself walked toward the church from town. Could that be Thind? Anushka swallowed hard. Where was Anna, Bhagat’s wife? When had they arrived in Lantern? How did they know she and her husband would be attending church?

  “Karena!” Darsheel barked. “Come.” He turned to the Singhs with open arms. “My friends!”

  Karena turned from Reuben with worry in her face. Darsheel seldom spoke so harshly toward her. Anushka kept her gaze on her daughter. Confusion drew Karena’s brow as she followed her father toward the two men. Then Anushka saw her daughter’s realization of who these men were and why she had been called away from Reuben. Disappointment and utter sadness washed over her otherwise happy disposition. It broke Anushka’s heart to see such sadness in her daughter’s eyes.

  Anushka wanted to run to her and take her into her arms. But she could not. Looping her arm into Karena’s, Anushka walked her daughter toward the Singhs. Reuben astutely remained where he had been when Darsheel called Karena to him. That boy was very smart and knew his manners. She appreciated him not making this into a big ordeal right here outside of church service. Anushka turned her attention to the Singhs and plastered on a smile. She, too, knew the appropriate manners to display.

  Introductions were in order… and questions. Lots of questions.

  

  Reuben did not extend his elbow to Karena as they walked away from the buggy. That would have been too familiar, but he walked beside her, prepared to steady her should she stumble on the incline to the church. Being at her side felt so comfortable, and yet his nerves were on pins and needles. What to say? He had so many questions: Do you enjoy reading? Would you like to go on a picnic? What’s your favorite color? Have you forgiven me for turning down your idea of eloping? How can I convince you father to call off your engagement?

  He turned with Karena when her father called her name so abruptly. Reuben had never heard Mr. Khan speak so sharply to his daughter. He almost sounded alarmed, as if something of imminent danger was about to strike her. Was he angry that she was walking with Reuben? Did he find out she asked Reuben to elope with her?

  Reuben knew he was pushing the boundaries of appropriate decorum, walking with a woman who was engaged to another. But that another was not here, nor had he been. She’d had no correspondence since they went separate ways in Canada. For all they knew, he might have died or married someone else. Why else would this other man not contact her as soon as they were of marrying age? He’d had three years to make his wishes known if he wanted to follow through with this agreement between their families.

  Two men approached the Khans. Dark skinned and finely dressed, they resembled the Khans. Were they related? One looked older, the other younger, maybe the same age as Reuben. Father and son—?

  “Oh, no!” Reuben’s stomach fell to his ankles like a white-hot cinder dropped from his tongs. Could this be Karena’s betrothed and his father?

  She stiffened at Reuben’s side, but obediently walked away to join her parents. Reuben’s heart sank deeper into a dark oblivion with each step she took away from him. He did not walk with her. He knew he was not welcome. If this was who he suspected, he definitely was not welcome to accompany her and be introduced. She belonged to another and he had come to claim her as his bride.

  People rushed past Reuben, hurrying to get inside before services started. No one wanted to be late. Uncle Harrison was known to teasingly make a spectacle of a latecomer, especially if they were one of his nieces or nephews. Once when Adam slid into church late, Uncle Harrison clasped his hand and shouted, “Praise God, we have a testimony to be shared!” And made Adam come to the front and give his testimony of redemption. It was funny when it wasn’t yourself. No one wanted to give Uncle Harrison any reason to call them out for a witnessing.

  Reuben stood stoic as the people bumped into his side. He could not take his eyes off Karena. His world crumbled before his eyes as the Khans greeted these visitors. Karena shied back from the younger man. If this was her fiancé, she had not seen him since she was a child. How familiar would she be with him? He didn’t look like he was overjoyed seeing her, either. The twelve years that had separated them broke whatever bond they might have had as children.

  Reuben could only hope.

  But that wasn’t fair or right. He loved Karena with all his heart and if this other man could make her happy, then Reuben would accept it. For her sake. Yet, he could not take his eyes off them. The older man wore a strained look upon his face. Khan was, well, Khan never appeared to be excessively cheerful. Mrs. Khan, too, looked strained. Like a peasant meeting a king for the first time, uncertain what to do, how to stand, or whether to stand at all. It was painful to watch. Yet Reuben couldn’t turn away.

  “Reuben!” Benjamin, with Jewell Ledbetter on his elbow, walked up to him. “You coming to church?”

  Reuben tore his eyes off the sad spectacle and forced himself to look at his baby brother. “Sure. I’m coming.” He walked with them into church. But his heart remained in the yard with Karena. Would they come to service? Or go somewhere to discuss Karena and Thind’s wedding? The thought made Reuben’s stomach turn over. Suddenly a sour stomach threatened his composure and he stumbled into the closest empty pew. Benjamin and Jewell sat with the rest of his family. Reuben was better at the back, alone, where he could run out if he couldn’t get this feeling under control.

  Service went by in a blur. Reuben didn’t absorb a word. He stood when people stood, and sat when they sat, but he longed to leave. He had looked forward to today’s service, possibly sitting beside Karena while Uncle Harrison preached. Inviting her parents to Momma’s house for dinner after church. His mother had already agreed to having company. Little by little getting to know the Khans, and they getting to know his family.

  Jacob had done the research that Reuben asked for. There was a remote possibility of winning their approval, Jacob had told him. “Without getting into the legalities about it,” Reuben recalled what Jacob had found out. “If two families agree to join their children in marriage, it is binding, unless the two families later agree not to marry their children. It’s all a matter of communication. Now if either party has paid the other a portion or whole dowry, then that needed to be reimbursed, goat for goat, coin for coin. Unless the two families agree to leave things as they are for having broken the promise. Nothing was said about accruing interest. And,” Jacob had added. “I suppose it depends on the circumstances in which the families want to break the agreement.”

  Jacob’s findings gave Reuben hope.

  If the Khan’s owed a dowry and the other family insisted on being compensated, Reuben had already decided he would ask to pay it. It would be his offering for Karena’s hand. Whatever the Khans needed to validate Reuben’s love for Karena and give their blessings, he would do, or find a way to do.

  But he never counted on the other family coming to Lantern.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The days dragged into weeks. Reuben worked hard at the blacksmith’s shop. Keeping busy all day was so much better than drinking at the saloon. Suppressing his heartache was paramount. Once he got home, the pain danced in his face. Momma and his soon-to-be sisters-in-law were all a-chatter, planning the double wedding. It even seemed Benjamin had found true love in the Ledbetter gal. Another second cousin might be joining the Featherstone family. If little Ben could figure out how to keep the girl happy. Seemed those two sparked each other’s tempers faster than sulfur and phosphorus.

  Reuben was happy for his brothers, of course. It was just that their happiness drove his misery deeper like a dagger into his heart. Every night he dreaded leaving work. Avoiding the route home that took him by the Khan’s house and resisting walking through those swinging doors where libations silenced the anguish in his heart. Life had become a challenge and accepting that Karena could not be his wife had become an impossible taskmaster.

  August arrived with scorching heat and tornados that threat
ened everything that was not nailed down good and solid. The blacksmith shop was busier than ever, making thousands of nails and metalworks to repair what nature swept away. Reuben felt like a tornado had swept away his heart. Numbness replaced heartache. Getting through the day became routine. Even as the double wedding approached, he knew he’d stand with his twin brothers, but he wouldn’t feel anything. He just couldn’t afford to allow his heart to open up to any feelings, good or bad. It was the calmest and quietest he’d ever been in his life.

  The family noticed. They gave him odd, curious, and concerned looks, but no one asked him about it. There was no need. It was obvious he was not all right. Why ask? Time heals all wounds. That’s what people say. Reuben doubted time would fix his broken heart. The only thing time could do was increase his numbness.

  The Khans had been invited to the twins’ wedding as Reuben had requested. Only problem was, he wouldn’t be looking for opportunities to speak to Karena or sneak in a dance with her. He’d do his best to avoid her and the man she would soon probably marry. If Reuben thought he could get away with it, he’d skip the wedding all together. But that wasn’t the honorable thing to do to his brothers or his family. No, he’d be there. At least physically, he’d be present. He couldn’t promise his mind would be in attendance— or his heart.

  

  “Oh, Thind,” Karena’s heart ached when Thind shared his news. They had taken a picnic out to a meadow near the Brazos River. Mum chaperoned. “I’m so sorry to hear your mother died. Where is she buried?”

  “In California, where we were living before Father insisted we come here. He is adamant our marriage will honor her wishes, but—”

  “But, what?” Karena stepped closer to him. “Thind, what are you not telling me?”

  “Nothing.” Thind turned away from her and walked toward the river. Anushka remained a short distance away. Chaperoning them from the buggy. She practiced knitting, a craft she was learning from the Lantern women’s social group who met at church every Tuesday for tea and gift making.

  They knitted, quilted, and sewed various items to give to the less fortunate or new brides. Would Karena be receiving some hand embroidered tea-towels or crocheted hot pads? Her mother wouldn’t say if the women were making anything for Karena’s impending bridal shower. She prayed there wouldn’t be a shower. It would be impossible to look happy for a solid two hours while opening hand-made gifts for a marriage she dreaded with all her heart.

  The woods were full of animal sounds and bugs. It would have been romantic, should have been romantic, but it was not. Thind and she had come out here like courting couples do, but unlike a courting couple they were not consumed with bridling a blazing passion between them. In fact, Karena felt nothing but compassion for Thind. He seemed so sad. His mother had died a year ago, but there was something else suppressing his emotions. They had been friends, as children. Now they were strangers. Karena’s heart belonged to another, and, if she didn’t know better, so did his.

  “Thind, please be honest with me. Do you want to marry me?”

  His eyes shot up to meet hers. His lips pressed together, and a slight tremble rippled across them. “Of course. Our families vowed our union when we were babes. I would never disgrace your family or my own.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.” Karena touched his arm. “Thind, we were once friends, you can tell me the truth. Please tell me the truth.”

  He pulled away and walked further down the embankment. Scooping up a rock, he tossed it toward the surface of the water. It skipped five times and sunk with a final splash. Karena slowly approached him. Why wouldn’t he tell her what was wrong?

  Karena came alongside him. She bent to pick up a rock and tossed it in the river, also. “It’s been twelve years since I last saw you. I understand if your heart… if you have found another.”

  He turned to face her. “Karena, I know what you are asking me.” He rubbed the nape of his neck. “Why do you press me for an answer? Have you…” he cocked his head to one side and squinted at her. “…found another?”

  Karena gazed deep into his eyes. Could she trust him to hear the truth? Or would he slap her if she admitted her love for Reuben? If they were in India, she could not admit such infidelity, but things were so different here in America. Was it different for her and Thind? “It’s been so long since I last saw you. Why didn’t you or your father answer my father’s correspondence? He wrote to you to let you know where we were, each time we stopped in a new town, but we never received anything from you. Did your father receive my father’s correspondence? I was worried something had happened to you or you had changed your mind… about marrying me.”

  “Father has not changed his mind.” Thind stared at the ground.

  Karena opened her mouth, then shut it. Dare she speak so boldly? “Thind, that’s not what I asked you. May I tell you what I think?”

  He lifted sad eyes to hers. Kindness and compassion shone within his dark brown orbs. “Of course. Karena, you can always tell me what you think.”

  She nodded. “I think you are in love with another… in California. But your father, like my father, is set in the old ways and does not want to break the vow for our two families to merge with our marriage. But Thind, I think neither of us feel the old ways are our ways now that we are in America. We… I think we have both found our hearts’ true love and wish that we could convince our fathers to release us from the obligation.”

  He stared at her a long moment. “Karena. If that were true, would it break your heart?”

  “Actually, no. I am kind of hoping that is true for you… because… it is true for me.” She sighed. That was the hardest thing she’d ever said to anyone.

  He drew in a deep breath and let it out. “You are very astute, Karena. What you have said is the truth. But—”

  Karena smiled. “How do we convince our fathers?”

  He nodded. “Exactly.”

  Karena pursed her lips. “Perhaps my mother can help.”

  Thind looked across the meadow at Karena’s mother. She concentrated with her tongue protruding from between her lips and holding the knitting needles close to her eyes. The yarn appeared to be wrapped loosely around her wrist and lost beyond her lap. A length of knitted material hung down from the activity of her working needles, but it didn’t look even or uniform. “She could discuss it with your father?”

  “I overheard them speaking about it the other day. While mother didn’t oppose father directly, I believe if we share with her our true feelings, she would try to help.”

  Thind swung his gaze to Karena. “I do not mean to dishonor you, Karena. I love you… you hold a special place in my heart and my memories. But—”

  “I understand. I love you. You are a dear friend to me also. But we are not in love with each other.”

  Thind took her hands into his and held her gaze. “Karena, you amaze me. I had no idea this visit would be so… amicable. Do you really think your mother can help us?”

  “I told you. She has already voiced her opinion that our marriage agreement is antiquated and… she’s not a fool. She knows there is someone special here in Lantern who my heart has chosen.”

  Thind smiled. “Tell me about him.”

  Karena ducked her head. The heat of embarrassment filled her face. “He is the blacksmith’s apprentice and the fifth son of six. His mother’s name is Honor and he seriously lives to represent her name. They all do. It’s a beautiful family. His name is Reuben.” She looked into Thind’s eyes. “Tell me about your true love.”

  Thind’s face transformed into joy. His smile radiated in his eyes. “Her name is Christine. Whenever I am near her… my heart leaps into a gallop that cannot be halted. She makes me feel like I could soar like an eagle if I just tried.”

  Karena grinned. “Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.” She took his elbow. “Let’s go talk to Mum.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “I will not hear of it!” Darsheel turned from Anushka an
d marched out of their bedroom. She sighed heavily. The Featherstone double wedding was in a few hours. She had broached the subject of their daughter once again with her husband while they were getting dressed. He stubbornly refused to budge from his stance that to break their vow to marry their daughter to Bhagat Singh’s son would crush the integrity of the Khan family. Watching her daughter respectfully accept Thind’s visitations, knowing she did not love him, and he did not love her, was slowly breaking Anushka’s heart. The kids had confided in her that Thind, too, had a love interest back in California whom he wished to marry, and had asked Anushka to help convince Darsheel and Bhagat to release them from the agreement.

  This was going to be harder than she thought. Darsheel could not let go of his pride in the matter. It was going to take something greater than herself to convince her stubborn husband to let these two follow their hearts. She considered whether Bhagat would be more malleable. Perhaps she could be so bold as to speak to him on their children’s behalf. Would he listen? Surely, he had been in America long enough to shed the former ways of life. As a woman, she had to tread lightly until she knew for sure what Bhagat’s thoughts were.

  Anushka finished dressing for the wedding and joined her husband in the parlor. Bhagat and Thind brought a large carriage rented from the Coffey Livery. The two families had agreed to go to the wedding together so that the Khan family could introduce the Singh family to the people of Lantern. Karena came into the parlor just after Anushka and dutifully stood near Thind. She looked lovely in her Sunday gown. Thind and she exchanged a smile, but they both looked sad. Anushka sighed. She had to find a way to make Darsheel and Bhagat understand this wasn’t the right match.

  At the church, Darsheel stood with Bhagat, introducing him to the residents as they entered the church. Karena and Thind sat with Anushka in a pew near the rear of the sanctuary, keeping space for the two fathers to sit with them. Reuben had graciously greeted Karena and Thind and then joined his twin brothers at the front where a wrought-iron arch had been decorated with flowers, greenery, ribbons, and netting. Two kneeling altars were also covered in netting and ribbon. It was a lovely set up for two brides to become wives to the twin brothers.