Mail Order Bride Book 7
“I’m sick of eating grits.” Thomas whined as Marilynn spooned a healthy helping of hot grits onto his plate. Marilynn grit her teeth at hearing her mother’s disappointed sigh from behind her.
Madison Porter, mother to Marilynn Porter, Thomas Porter, Fred Porter, and Georgie Porter, wanted to start in with apologies. Marilynn shot her a mother a look.
“Thomas, if you want to eat something other than grits- I suggest you go work at the corner store like Mr. Alfred down the street offered, and if you don’t want to get off of your lazy ass, I suggest you eat these grits.”
“Your language, Marilynn, good Lord.” Madison said.
Marilynn spooned grits onto the plates belonging to the other two boys. ‘All they do is complain! Mama needs some real help and she feels bad enough we have to eat grits for almost every damn meal.’ She thought, slamming down a spoonful of grits so hard that some flecked onto Georgie’s face. He frowned, but Georgie was the youngest, and the wisest of the three boys. He had seen what whining or complaining got you since Papa Porter died, and all that got you was a big ole smack upside the head. He’d take a bit of hot grits on his face this morning.
“Any luck finding more houses to clean, Mama?” Marilynn asked, fanning a napkin over her lap and sitting down at the table, squeezing into a spot her chair would allow room for.
Madison sighed. “Nothing. I’m lucky enough Tammy Rogue took pity on me when Peter died, she’s giving us just enough to make ends meet.”
Forks scraped along the plates and Georgie looked at his Mama with wide, innocent eyes. “I could get a job, Mama.”
Marilynn slapped a hand on Georgie’s thigh. “Oh, don’t worry. If anybody needs to be working around here, it’s me. I’m 21, its about time I figure something out.”
“Go work at the damn corner store then.” Thomas mumbled, while Georgie and Fred looked on in horror.
“I would flick these hot grits all over you if it wasn’t a waste of good food.” Marilynn said, opting for the higher road.
Madison nodded her thanks at Marilynn and pushed away from the table. “I need to get going.” She snatched the apron she used for cleaning off of the banister of the stairs adjacent to the kitchen.
“Have a good day cleaning, Mama.” Fred said, and Madison winked at him on her way out. Marilynn sighed when the door slammed. Fourteen hours from now her mother would return, and she would be more tired than a dog that spent a hot afternoon trying to mount a horse. She lifted her eyes, and looked at all three of her brothers. The schoolhouse wouldn’t be open again until late August, and the July heat would drive the boys stir crazy.
She waved a hand at all three of them. “Go on, go outside, get into trouble.” A smile hung at her lips, a smile that tried it’s hardest to stay on her lips, no matter who died, and how hard it was to scrape their pennies together to get a family sized portion of grits from the corner store.
All three boys sprinted outside at their dismissal. Marilynn watched them through the round window, swatting at each other twigs, inventing new games.
‘Oh, they can be so creative. Especially when they’re not being a damn nuisance.’ She thought. She gathered all of the bowls and utensils, and put them in a bucket that she would waddle outside with to wash for supper. The boys would be ready to come back in by then, excited to refuel albeit with more grits.
The floorboards creaked as she leant over the table to wipe it clean.
‘No parts of our house creaked when Papa was around.’ She thought, shifting positions so as not to disturb the piece of floorboard that threatened to give way to dirt. Peter Porter used to fix everything, while he wasn’t a prideful man at all and wouldn’t mind if a friend of his noticed that his house creaked and some things fell apart, he loved putting things back together. Any house occupied by Peter Porter was the best house on the block. Marilynn’s gut churned when she thought of the day, two months after Peter’s untimely passing, when Madison walked out to the well and came to realize that it was broken. Marilynn had watched her mother holler, “Peter! Peter, baby! This well could use some fixing!” and when Peter didn’t come, and when Madison had realized what she cried out, she collapsed right there by the well. The neighbors saw, but Marilynn couldn’t have cared less. They could gossip all they wanted. She had the same best friend since she started walking, Ruby Astor, and Ruby stood by her throughout the whole ordeal.
‘Come to think of it- I haven’t seen Ruby in days.’ Ruby would usually drop by every other day, her long red braids would swing all about her face as she hurried into the house. Marilynn began to set a teapot on the stove to boil water for tea.
‘I’ll have to send one of the boys over to see what’s going on.’ Marilynn thought. She watched Fred run by the window, his auburn hair falling into his eyes, as he looked over his shoulder to check for Thomas.
Marilynn’s eyes were drawn to Thomas, who was waving down the road. The kettle screamed and Marilynn rose from her spot by the window to pour herself a cup of tea. She heard a knock on the door and reached for a second tea cup.
“Come in!” She called.
“I’m coming in- where have you been Marilynn?” Ruby’s voice floated into the kitchen.
“I could ask you the same, Ruby May. Are you hiding out from the Porter clan?”
“Pssh. Never.” The chair creaked as Ruby took a seat in it.
Marilynn turned around, and brandished the two cups of tea. Ruby nodded her approval and acceptance of a cup and Marilynn reclaimed her spot at the table.
“Where have you been, girl?” Marilynn asked, fanning her hot chamomile.
Ruby beamed, her big white teeth contrasted with her bright red hair made her look like a circus performer for a moment. “Searching for a husband.”
Marilynn scoffed. “What do you want with one of those?”
“Babies, Marilynn. And you should too, the good Lord didn’t give you them wide, beautiful hips to not pass nothing through them.”
“You find me a man worth a dime bag of grits in the whole state of Mississippi, that’s wanting to take care of me, my Mama, and my brothers, and I will happily pass some babies through these hips.”
Ruby sipped her tea. “Well, I may not be able to find you a man all on my own, but I can certainly tell you where to start looking.”
“How about down the street? That last few men in Mississippi are stumbling around town, looking for jobs. Or,” she gestured outside to where her three brothers wrestled, “They have yet to hit puberty.”
“Oh, stop. I’m serious, nowadays men that actually want wives are posting ads.”
“Would you want to have babies with a man that needed the help of the local paper to find a wife?” Marilynn drawled.
Ruby’s fingers fidgeted along the table top and Marilynn narrowed her cerulean eyes.
“Ruby?
“Hm, Mary?”
“Did you write to one of those men and tell him you’d be his wife?”
“Well, he’s nice. He’s making good money in California, and I aint ever been nowhere. I could live in California.”
Marilynn whistled and Ruby glared at her in envy for being able to make one of those mannish sounds. “So, how do you know this man is nice? He could be a desperate wife beater.”
Ruby shook her head, her braids spilled onto the table. “He aint. He’s nice, his name is Henry, he played baseball when he lived here in Mississippi.”
Marilynn rolled her eyes and smacked her lips at the taste of her tea. She reached for the sugar shaker and said, “So, he likes slamming into things with bats, does he?”
“You’re just worried.”
“That’s true.”
Ruby reached a hand across the table and patted Marilynn on one of her hands. “I will be fine, Mary.”
“So this is official, then?” Marilynn asked, a dubious note to her voice.
Ruby nodded. “It’s worth trying. I’m not getting any younger, and men are going to start to think me strange for being unmarried in my twenties.”
“Men don’t think me strange.” Marilynn argued.
“That’s because none of them see you. You’re always locked up in this little house, tittering away for your family. When are you going to start your own life?”
“This is my life, Ruby. This is. I take care of the house while Mama works, she needs me.”
“You ever asked her if she needed you?”
“Just because you want to up and marry some stranger doesn’t mean I’m odd for not wanting the same. I want to know my family is doing well, especially since Papa isn’t around…” Marilynn trailed off, the worry spreading all over her features.
“You’ve got to live some time.” Ruby sipped her tea, and then fixed a hard gaze onto Marilynn. “You’ll write me, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
“You won’t forget me over time? After I have my babies, and we buy a house?”
“Not even when you have the picket fence too. I may as well forget to breath while I’m at it.”
Ruby grinned and held up her tea cup. “You’ll have to give me some of this tea before I leave, I know that’s for sure.”
“Damn it, Meyers!” William Smith, the shift leader, hollered at Gerald as he sifted through pile of coal. “I’m gonna need you to stay after quitting time to sort this shit. You hear?”
Gerald nodded, perturbed that Allen and Earl wouldn’t be staying after, hacking into pieces of coal. Smith walked off, and Gerald fussed after the coal.
‘Maybe I should have been a cowboy. Or some kind of vigilante.’ He thought to himself, fingers dyed black with soot. Gerald wasn’t the sort of man to pretend to like his occupation. No, he hated the mines. It was only a monetary lust that drove him Georgia to California, hoping to get his hands on bricks of gold.
His wages were fair, yes. He could afford a decent sized home by himself, two bedrooms, with nice neighbors. His neighbor, Tedd, had a real shapely wife from Mississippi and she made some nights a bit brighter. The nights that Gerald spent at his table with some bourbon were remarkably less depressing when he thought of a woman. He wouldn’t dishonor Tedd like that, though. Tedd was a good man, supporting three snot nosed children.
It was hotter than a jalapeno’s breath that July. He had heard that other parts of the country were really simmering. But they didn’t spend their whole damn day in the mines.
A piece of coal split into and Gerald straightened his back to get properly lined up. His body had never hurt more in his life, his pal, Joseph, always suggested he found a woman to help massage the kinks. Joseph was clever, and handsome. Gerald had no problem admitting that, as another handsome man he knew one when he saw one. However, Joseph was so clever that he went and ordered a wife. Or, at least he made it seem that easy.
Gerald quickly checked the perimeter, searching for Smith. He took a seat on the ground when he couldn’t see him for miles.
‘How long would it take to put myself in the paper? Make it look real good, too. Maybe, single man with a good job seeks a wife? Someone to rub his back and other places after a day in the mines?’ He thought.
“Jospeh! When is your wife coming?”
A few paces away, a man with sandy blond hair turned around and waved at Gerald. He jogged over to him and sat down beside him, checking for Smith before he got really comfortable.
“She just left Mississippi yesterday. Her train will be here tomorrow. Her name is Ruby.”
“Did you get a look at her before you signed your life over to her?”
Joseph cackled and slapped Gerald on the back. “I did. She’s awfully cute. She’s got long cherry red hair, it’s natural too. Sanders wrote to a girl in Georgia and she showed up with just about nothing on her body that really belonged to her. She was a skinny one, too.”
Gerald shook his head. “Shame.”
“Mhm. But my Ruby wears her hair in these pretty braids, she sounds like a nice southern girl. It’s what I’m used to, you know.”
“Well, give you ordered a bride I didn’t think you’d be that picky.”
“Well, I’m gonna pay all of this money to get her here, and take good care of her while she’s taking care of the house, I want a top notch woman. And I do mean a woman. Not one of those scared little girls that just turned 16. You know the type, Gerald? The kind that jump when you touch ‘em?”
Gerald nodded. “I know the type, Joseph.”
Gerald spotted Smith coming back around. “Well, shit.” He jumped up and grabbed his axe and motioned to Joseph to do the same. Joseph picked up his axe and did his best to look busy.
“We can talk about Ruby over drinks tonight.” Joseph invited.
“I’ll take it.” Gerald replied. ‘I’m running out of single friends to drink with, that’s for sure. Everybody wants a wife all of a sudden.’
Joseph slammed down his glass of rum. “I’m gonna miss this, Gerald. I’ll be going home to be with Ruby every night after this.”
Gerald wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh, you’ll have time. I suppose I’m gonna have to take up a hobby.”
“A hobby?” Joseph repeated. “When will you have time to take up a hobby?”
Gerald finished his beer and signaled to the barkeeper for another one. “I suppose on nights like this,” he grinned, “maybe drinking will be my new hobby.”
Ruby and I will be sure to invite you over, and then when you’ve got one waiting on you, we’ll have you both over.”
“How much time do you spend thinking about this? No wonder your pile is never done.”
“Well, if you do the kind of work that we do, daydreaming is the only thing keeping you from hanging yourself when you make it home. You ever try having dreams, Gerald?”
Gerald nodded his thanks to the barkeeper and let the ice cold alcohol run down his throat. The bar bustled with noise, mostly noise from men who’s hands were also covered in soot. While people that didn’t work in the mines were certainly welcomed to come enjoy a cold one, regular civilians rarely did. Lawyers with clean suits and clean automobiles would not ease them self into a booth, take off their glasses from a hard day’s work, and order a beer. No, clean regular men drank wines, had never seen moonshine in their life, and the only exhausted muscles they had at the end of the day was their brain or pole.
“I dream of doing more than playing with rocks all day, you know. I told my Mama , bless her heart, that I wanted to go off to school- be a teacher or a lawyer. But Mama didn’t grow up with money. So when she heard that they were finding gold in California- my ass was on the street faster than I can say bye.”
“Well, your Mama isn’t around for miles. I suggest you resume some of those dreams, I don’t want you dragging your sad sacking ass around my new wife and future children.”
Joseph checked his wrist for the time, and told Gerald, “I should get going.”
Gerald waved him off. “Stay for another.”
It was a hot, muggy, miserable day so far. It was only miserable, however, because the only friend that Marilynn had in all of Mississippi had hopped on a train three weeks ago to marry some strange man. Ruby had yet to write.
‘Maybe that damn post man lost her letter.’ Marilynn assured herself, adjusting to afternoons of boiling hot water and gathering the tea bags, to sit down at the table and simply sip the tea. There was no Ruby showing up unannounced and sharing tea. There was no one to tell her woes to, how the boys were nerve wracking, how Madison looked more and more worn down every time she cleaned a house. It was the ugliest she had ever seen her mother’s hands. They were cracked, unpainted, pale, and sometimes they bled in parts. Madison Porter had never been the kind of woman to cut corners on her appearance. Granted, since she was 16 years old, she had Peter Porter to get all dressed up for.
Marilynn sipped the tea, and watched as the boys all sat in a circle on their knees outside.
‘Lord knows what they’re up to.’ Marilynn thought, and in her observing she bumped her white tea cup with lilies dancing on it, and hot tea singed her skin.
“Damn it!” She cried out. ‘Why in the hell did I make hot tea? It’s a perfect day for iced tea, Ruby isn’t here to drink hot tea anymore!’
She grabbed a cloth and dabbed at the part on the round wooden table where she spilled tea.
‘Oh, thank God.’ She thought, as she narrowly missed a whopping splinter. She frowned. Papa built this table when she was a girl, and without him around it was falling apart.
‘Who will make the repairs now? We never sat down as a family to talk about it. Do we send the boys to one of the men in town? Am I expected to? Mama surely doesn’t have the time or the talent.’ Marilynn thought. The boys were still sitting in a circle in the dirt outside, and Marilynn got up off of the chair and walked down the steps of the porch.
Fred glanced at her as she walked to the edge of their property to check the mail, pulling out a newspaper, and few letters from some of Madison’s concerned friends.
On her way back to the house, Marilynn asked the boys, “Now what the hell are you doing? What kind of game is this?”
Thomas replied, “We’re trying to see who can fall over first from not paying any attention.”
Marilynn scoffed. “If you boys are that bored, get yourselves to the corner store to hustle up some grits for dinner, and some extra money.”
Georgie shared a glance with Thomas and Fred, seeking affirmation that this is what they were going to do next.
“I said go.” Marilynn barked, and all three boys got up and started walking down the road. “Be back by sunset!” She hollered after them, then walked back into the house.
She reclaimed her seat, and pushed the two envelopes addressed to Madison off to the side. She opened the newspaper, and there was nothing particularly new. A few cowboys earned a few days of fame in Texas, and a woman birthed her twelfth child in Tennessee.
Her fingers flirted with the left bottom corner of the paper, then she peeled back the edge and fanned out the whole paper in front of her. Her eyes flitted with the classifieds as if job postings were a cute schoolboy. She focused her gaze on the positions; all of the jobs were what Madison would call “men’s work.” Painting houses, riding a bicycle and throwing the morning paper, opening the corner store and taking inventory. No one was seeking a little help around the house, or the baby sitting of a wealthy politician’s kids.
‘I’ve gotta do my share around here, too.’ Marilynn thought. She exhausted the classifieds and read up on politics but her heart wasn’t in it. It was in a very small corner at the bottom of the paper, but she found it whether she was trying to or not. The bold black lettering shouted out:
Single Men Seek Beautiful, Dutiful Wives
There were six men photographed underneath the heading. All of them were from different states, and under each man was a six line blurb about who he was, and what kind of wife he preferred.
Marilynn smiled. ‘This is how that man got my Ruby.’ She read the biographies of each man.
Tedd June
24 years old
I’m a sheriff, and I want someone to prepare me a pot roast the way my Mama used to.
Hugh Goldman
18 years old
I reside in Vermont, and I’m looking for a well read woman that is prepared to have a big family.
Oliver Dent
17 years old
I want a lot of babies to carry on my legacy.
Marilynn snorted. “Way to jump the gun, Olly.” She mumbled as her eyes ran over another man’s column.
Gerald Meyers
22 years old
I live in the beautiful state of California, and my friend Joseph is pressuring me to put one of these things up. I work in the mines, and it’d be nice to see a pretty, clean face every so often.
Marilynn chuckled upon finishing the last man’s bio. “Wouldn’t it be nice?” she asked no one in particular. “How does anyone pick from these damn things?” She got up and strode into the study, which Papa used to write in, but Mama only used it for sending letters now. Marilynn acquired some stationary, and envelope, a pen, and a full bottle of ink.
She squinted upon reading the man’s address, and then carefully copied it onto the front of an envelope. She gave her pen some more ink, and began writing at the left edge of her stationary.
“Dear Gerald, I’m only responding to one of these things because you seemed the least frightful out of the group of bachelors for today’s paper. My name is Marilynn Porter, I live in Jackson, Mississippi. I’m not terribly interested in being married, but my family could use some help. My father died last year, and it’s been awful rough on my mother, having to raise three sons. I hope to lift the burden of having an extra mouth to feed around here, and to send money back home. I’d be happy to be your clean face to see at home in exchange for these things.
Love, (but not actually, I suppose) Marilynn
Before she lost the nerve she stuffed her letter into the envelope and marched outside to deposit it in the mail box. She put the flag up, and hurried back inside. Moments later, Madison came shuffling down the walkway. She opened the door, and Marilynn jumped up to ready some iced tea and grits.
“How was your day, Mama?”
Madison collapsed into a seat at the table and grunted. “It was what it was, darling. I cleaned until my fingers bled, and then until they were numb. But I think I made enough for us to eat something other than grits, for once.”
“That’s splendid, Mama. I’ve been working on some stuff to help out around here too.” Marilynn said, as she loaded a pitcher with ice.
Madison’s curious voice floated from behind her, “Oh? What’s that?”
Marilynn returned to the table with the pitcher and two glasses, Madison watched her as she poured the tea and sat across from her. Marilynn swatted a stray piece of black hair from her lips as she asked, “You know how Ruby moved to California for one of those men from the ads in the paper?”
An odd noise came from Madison’s throat as she took a big gulp of tea. She set the glass back down. “How will this relate to helping the family, Marilynn? Will you be running the paper now? Writing those ads for men who can’t string a simple sentence together?”
“No, Mama. I sent a letter to one of those men. Now, I know it’s a long shot, but I made myself very clear that I would only agree if I could send a good amount of money back home.”
Madison’s eyes threatened to fall out of her head. “Are you serious, Marilynn? That man could be a woman beater, he could chop you into pieces and throw you in the river-“
“Ruby’s done it! These are normal men, there just ain’t a lot of women up there!”
“That’s crap. Since when do you follow what Ruby does?”
“She seemed really sure before she left, all excited. I’m not looking for a husband really, but I can keep him company and hopefully that’s enough.”
“Don’t you sound like a high class whore? Of course, whores have sex with the men that pay for their time, you’re saying that there will be none of that. That’s especially nonsense, because no man wants be kept company by a woman with every intention of keeping her legs closed to him.”
“Mama, you’re being vulgar.”
“This is just a peek at the vulgarity you’ll endure by running off with some strange man.”
“He makes a good living working in the mines. He didn’t even want to post it, but his friend had to push him. He’s 22.”
Madison rolled her eyes and sipped on some more tea. “Alright, you go up there if this man is interested then. I can’t stop you, you were grown long before Peter died. But I need you to write to me each week, and if this man lays a hand on you, I need you to take that money you would send home and hop on the first train back to Jackson. Is that clear?”
Marilynn poured more tea into Madison’s empty glass. “I’ll be fine, Mama.”
“So how many responses did you get?” Joseph asked, as he shut the door to Gerald’s house behind him.
They moved to the kitchen were a small, round table sat in the middle of the room with only two chairs next to it. A single light bulb served as the only light source in the whole room, and it was a poor one at that.
Gerald grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and pulled out one of the chairs. “I wasn’t drowning in young ladies like yourself. I got a response from a girl that wanted to bring her grown uncle with her-“
“Is that in opposition with a younger uncle?” Joseph asked, pilfering a beer from the fridge. He sat down across from Gerald, and gazed around the room. “Do you have any food in here, Gerald? Can you cook?”
“The lady next door does a nice job of supplying casseroles for me. She says I remind her of her son.”
“Well, shit, heat up one of those casseroles I’m starving.”
Gerald got up, taking a long swing of his beer and shuffled to the refrigerator. He searched for the casserole in the refrigerator and pulled out a tupperware container. Joseph grinned as Gerald put it into an oven dish and shoved it in his oven at 350.
“Anyway, so there was that girl. Then, there was the girl who said she’d be happy to marry me, but did I mind ‘odd sexual practices’?”
“Now why in the hell would you have a problem with that?”
“Because those practices involved feet. No thank you, this is for the rest of my life. Then there was Marilynn.”
“Alright, nice enough name.”
“She’s not interested in the whole marriage thing-“
“Then why the hell did she respond to an ad asking for a woman’s hand in marriage?”
“Would you let me finish, Joe? She’s not interested but she’s willing to live with me if she can have some help with her family.”
“How does this benefit you at all?” Joseph lit a cigarette. “Another mouth to feed, and she’s not willing to handle any of your needs?”
“She didn’t say that Joe,” Gerald pulled the casserole out of the oven and the smell of baked cheddar flooded the room.
“She just said she wasn’t interested in marriage. I’m not a bad looking man, in fact, I think that I’m a good looking one. I’m sure I could bring her around.”
“And if you can’t?” Joseph prodded.
Gerald cut into the casserole and slapped a huge helping onto a plate. “Then I send her ass back on a train to Mississippi.”
Joseph accepted the casserole piece and fork that Gerald handed him and began to dig in. “Sounds fair,” he mumbled through pieces of egg and cheese.
“Doe she sound good looking?”
“Well, she says she has long black hair, and wide hips. Maybe she thinks that’s all men want.”
“Are you wanting more, Gerald?”
“I’m not all that sure, and I wouldn’t think black hair is impressive to you. How is the red Ruby doing?”
Joseph beamed. “Great. I think she’s pregnant.”
Gerald almost spit out his beer. “What? Already?”
“I wanted a family, Gerald. I hope you have one too, so my kids and your kids can be like cousins.”
“Is that right?” Gerald sawed into his meal and savored every bite, he forgot to eat lunch today.
“That’s right. When are you going to come by and meet Ruby?”
“I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna write back to that sweet Marilynn and tell her that I would be happy to help her Mama and brothers in exchange for her company. And when I have a lady on my arm, I will come visit you and yours so I don’t look like a weird third wheel.”
Joseph had made his meal vanish. “I see. Now, what if your lady isn’t willing to be on your arm? In fact, what if you have to tie her to it to keep her from running away down south?”
“You want some more casserole, Joe? You ask too many damn questions when you’re hungry.”
It was hot and muggy the afternoon the train steamed into the California station. Marilynn’s thighs stuck together with sweat, as she moved for the first time in hours to get off of the train. People shuffled by, a mother and son walked ahead of her and a pregnant woman waddled behind her. She got off of the train, a small, round, suitcase in her hand and tried to make sense of the wild mess of blurs of color and sound.
‘I don’t understand why it’s so noisy here, no one said a peep on the train.’ She thought, as a woman ran up to a man in uniform and wrapped her arms around him. Her luggage went sailing across the platform and Marilynn offered them a stiff nod as she shouldered past a group of tall men. She found a flight of steps that lead to just outside of the train station. The heat was still relentless. Marilynn shielded her eyes and waited for Gerald to appear.
‘Maybe he thought I was coming tomorrow? Or maybe he changed his mind.’ She thought, her surroundings coming into complete view to not reveal Gerald. Women walked back and forth with suitcases, some said goodbye to people that came with them, and a few women were alone.
A man pushed a cart with several suitcases loaded on top of it, and Marilynn sighed and sat down on the station steps. The man struggled and got all of the suitcases up the stairs and Marilynn turned her attention to the crowd again.
Finally, in big, bold, red lettering, a sign stuck out that screamed ‘MARILYNN’. A man of average height, with broad shoulders, and a strong build was holding it, a grin on his face, his eyes darted around the station with such eagerness and Marilynn thought ‘It’s a shame I’m not as excited.’
Marilynn picked up her suitcase and shuffled over to Gerald, he looked around and his eyes grazed over her when she approached him.
“Good afternoon, miss. I’m waiting for a woman.”
“You can keep waiting or we can go,” Marilynn said, offering him a smile. “I’m Marilynn.” She stuck her hand out for him to shake and Gerald laughed, shaking her hand.
“You’re more beautiful than I imagined. I’ve heard so many horror stories about brides not looking like what they describe, but when they get there and it’s too late.”
Marilynn giggled. “I tried to be as honest as I could. Is your house nearby?”
He nodded. “I have the displeasure of living only three blocks away from the station.” He said, he peeled her suitcase out of her hands and they began the walk out of central station.
Gerald opened the door to his place and Marilynn enjoyed the definite quiet of it. No one was going to come running in, no chorus of three voices, all at different octaves. This place might always be this quiet. The walls were bare and cream colored. He didn’t have hard wood floors like she was used to, but plush white carpet instead. Whereas, back in Mississippi, nothing that lived on the floor would stay white with Papa Porter and his three boys running around.
“This is different than what I’m used to.” Marilynn said, as Gerald carried her suitcase down a hallway. She followed him, and entered a bedroom with a vanity and dresser. The bed was in the middle of the room, and the curtains were open to let just a bit of sunlight in.
“Different? What was your house like?”
“Bigger. In some ways, it just felt bigger because there was always a ton of people running around, there was always noise.”
“This is kind of what my house was like growing up. My mother would teach, and I would do my studies and go outside with the neighborhood boys until I became a man. Then she booted me out.”
“For what?”
“She wanted me to know more money than she did, so when it came out there was going to be gold here…”
“I get it. So do I just put my stuff in the vanity?”
“Yes, I figure we’ll have dinner in a few hours. I have some casserole left over-“
“You cooked?”
No. The older woman next door gives me casseroles because I remind her of her son. Maybe you’ll be making the casseroles from now on.”
Marilynn opened her suitcase and kneeled to pull everything out of it. “She’s going to have to show me then. I don’t know how to make much besides a bowl of hot grits, and eggs.”
Gerald nodded as Marilynn folded blouses and skirts and put them in the drawers. “I have a friend, Joe, that comes over. He works with me in the mines, so you’ll see him every now and again.”
She shut the last drawer of the vanity and stood up. “Okay. Where will I be sleeping? I could go for a bit of a nap.”
Gerald frowned, he furrowed his brow in confusion. “Where else would you sleep, we’re in it? We sleep in this bedroom.”
Marilynn glanced at the bed and he watched her consider it. “I don’t know you, Gerald. I feel strange about sleeping in the same bed as someone that I just met.”
“This isn’t gonna be much of a marriage if you don’t.”
“It’s more an arrangement, or even an agreement. I take up space in your home, give you some company and make it feel less empty like you mentioned. And you’ll help my family.”
Gerald’s expression was flat. “Okay- you don’t want to sleep together? I’ll mount the sofa for a few nights at first and we’ll see how it goes.”
Marilynn smiled. “Excellent. Would you mind?” She peeled off of her shoes. “I’m going to nap now.”
Gerald sighed and left the room, closing the door hard enough to make it slam.