Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] (23 page)

“He’s got some tough ideas where women are concerned. He rules his women with an iron hand. Don’t be surprised if he’s pretty harsh with you. Take off your apron.” Farr reached behind her and pulled the sash to untie it. He whipped it off, looked at it, and then draped the waistband across the top of her head and tied the sash under her chin. “That’ll do it. They’ll think it’s the style back East.” Before she could comment, he took her arm and propelled her down the road.

Liberty was conscious of the warmth of his hand through the sleeve of her dress. It was a pleasant feeling. Suddenly she was jolted by the realization that she was on her way to be married to this man! She was losing her mind was her next thought. She knew nothing about him. At least she’d known Jubal all her life. Then, overwhelmed by a feeling of warmth and completeness that was new to her, the stiffness went out of her body and she was conscious of nothing except firm warm fingers on her arm leading her into the future as the wife of Farrway Quill.

Farr passed three houses and stopped in front of the fourth. He called a greeting from the road and a man came out onto the porch. He was one of the black-clad men who had come to the meeting.

“Good morning, Mr. Quill.”

“Good morning, Preacher Ellefson.”

“What brings you to my door?”

“I came to ask you to marry me to this woman.”

Sharp blue eyes swung to Liberty, and he looked her up and down. A deep frown settled on his broad, seamed face.

“Have you given this considerable thought, Mr. Quill? Isn’t this the woman who made a spectacle of herself at the meeting yesterday?”

“Yes. But in time I will teach her respect, and she will know that a woman’s place is behind her man, not beside him.”

“Farr!” Liberty almost strangled.

“Hush!” he hissed, and she did.

“Spare the rod and you’ll spoil her, Mr. Quill. Remember that. A switching every day or so will keep her docile. God gave man a woman to do for him. If I wed you to her, do you swear you’ll set her feet on the right path?”

“I’ll do my best, Preacher Ellefson. I’ve already got a hickory switch cut and laid aside.”

“Good. Good. Come up to the edge of the porch and I’ll get my Bible.” He turned back into the house and Liberty could hear him issuing orders. “Prudence, go slop the hogs. Hope, you’ve et enough, get to the field. Mary Magdalen, get that youngun out from under my feet,” he said with an unmistakable sneer in his voice.

“I don’t like him! I don’t like him at all,” Liberty protested as Farr’s hand on her elbow pushed her toward the porch. “What did he mean about a hickory switch? That old fool is nothing but a bigoted windbag! There are a few things I’d like to say to that puffed-up peacock! He’s a mule-brained son of a jackass, is what he—”

“Hush up!” He gripped her elbow tightly and held her close to his side. “He’s the only person this side of Vincennes that can marry us.”

Preacher Ellefson came back out onto the porch. He wore his black coat, black hat and carried a large Bible. Beneath dark shaggy brows, his piercing eyes focused on Liberty’s face.

“Woman, are you pure in thought and act?” he demanded.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you unsullied?”

“Unsullied?” she echoed in disbelief.

“Mrs. Perry is a widow,” Farr said. “Her husband died a few days back.”

“Are you sure of this? Women are deceitful creatures.”

“I helped to bury him.”

The preacher nodded, then resumed his questioning.

“Have you ever lusted for a man’s body?”

“No! I—”

“Sold yourself for profit?”

Liberty almost strangled as she shouted her answer.

“Has any man other than your husband seen you naked?”

“No! Not—”

“You do realize that you came from man, and to man you do belong?”

“I know that the Bible says God took a rib from man and made woman. I don’t take that to mean—”

“She understands it, Preacher Ellefson—or she soon will,” Farr added threateningly.

“Mr. Quill, can you assure me this woman is decent, modest and free from all taint of what is lewd or salacious?”

“I’d stake my life on it, Preacher Ellefson?” Farr’s fingers were bruisingly tight on her elbow.

“Be it on your head, Mr. Quill, should she not be.” He opened his Bible, spread his legs, and squared his shoulders. “What’s your name, woman?”

“Liberty Carroll Perry.”

Liberty was angry. What should be one of the most sacred moments in her life was being ruined by this jackass of a preacher. His clear eyes were honed in on her as if she were some defiled creature not fit to be standing beside a man. He was preaching to
her
about sin, chastity, purity and obedience. He spoke in a booming voice about the end of the world, hellfire and brimstone, purity of conduct and even abstention from sexual intercourse when she had her woman’s time. Liberty could feel the blood swelling in her veins. This fanatical old man was disgusting and she wanted nothing more than to tell him so and would have except for the warning fingers on her arm.

Finally he got around to the marriage ceremony.

“Liberty Carroll Perry, do you take this man to be your husband, your master? Will you obey him in all things, love him above all others, including any children you may have? Will you care for him in sickness and in health? It is your duty to see to his needs, to open your body to him so that he may take comfort when he so desires. Do you understand this?”

The breath went from Liberty’s lungs with a swish. Farr poked her with his elbow. When she spoke it was a croaked whisper, “I do.”

“Farrway Quill, do you promise to chastise this woman for her wicked ways, guide and direct her wayward feet into the path of righteousness, provide food and clothing, beget her with child and provide for her get?”

“I do.”

“You are man and wife.” He closed the Bible. “I’ll get the marriage paper.” He turned and went back into the house.

“Well! I never! I’ve never been so insulted in all my life. Are you sure that awful man married us?”

To add to her anger, Farr chuckled. “We’re married. The old man has all the papers to prove he’s a preacher. He just puts his own touch to the ceremony.”

“If I had known it would be like this I wouldn’t have come.” Liberty turned her head deliberately, giving him a view of her profile.

“That’s not true and you know it. We could have jumped the broomstick and gotten under the sheets. But this and a marriage paper will make more of an impression on your pa and Lenning.”

“But the things I promised—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Preacher Ellefson came back out to the porch. “Make your mark, woman.”

“I can write,” she snapped.

“Then sign the paper.” One of the children brought an ink horn and a quill. Liberty signed her name and handed the quill to Farr. He dipped it into the horn and signed. Preacher Ellefson waved the child back into the cabin with a flick of his hand and blew on the signatures to dry the ink before he handed the paper to Farr. “That will be five shillings.”

Farr lifted his tunic and unhooked his moneybag. He counted the money and dropped it into the preacher’s hand.

“I wed you to this man, woman. You mind him, hear? And don’t be shaming him by making talk of yourself.” The preacher’s harsh voice rasped across Liberty’s mind like sand.

“And if I do?” she snarled.

“I have Mr. Quill’s promise to lay the switch on your back.”

“Oh! Why—” Anger made her incapable of replying.

“And I will, Preacher Ellefson. I’ll have her dancing to the hickory switch.” Farr stuck the marriage paper into his belt, grabbed Liberty’s arm and pushed her out into the road. “We’ll take our leave. I’ve got work for her to do,” he said over his shoulder. “She’s got to clean out the barn, cut kindling, clean fish, stake out the cows and dress out an elk before she starts the noon meal. Then she’s got the washing and the garden—”

“Busy hands will keep her from doing the devil’s work, Mr. Quill,” the preacher called gleefully.

When they reached the road, Liberty jerked her arm free from Farr’s grasp, reached up and pulled on the sash that held the apron over her head. She yanked it off in an act of pure defiance. His hand in the center of her back propelled her on down the road.

“There! Let the old reprobate see my hair. I’ll not cover it again for a man! Never! Do you hear me, Farrway Quill?”

“I hear you.”

“That’s a nasty minded old man! He’s mean as a rutting moose! All he’s got on his mind is fornicating. By jinks damn! I just bet he takes his pleasure from those
evil, lowly
women he browbeats. Master, be damned! Oh!” She turned and would have stopped, but Farr’s greater strength kept her feet in motion. “Stop pushing me, you . . . you bully!”

“Cool off, Libby—”

“Cool off? Cool off! Let me tell you one thing, Farrway Quill. If you ever lay a switch on me you’d better never sleep again, because the minute you do, I’ll lay your head open. Damned if I won’t!”

“Stop swearing.”

“I’ll swear if I want to. Don’t you dare tell me not to swear! And I’ll not walk behind you, either. I’ll not walk behind any man, I don’t care if it’s President Madison. All a man wants is some dumb heifer to breed.” She was shouting at him now. She was so angry that tears were running down her face, but she didn’t know it. “Are you wanting to trample on my pride, Farrway Quill? Is that what you want?”

“Libby, you’re going to make talk of yourself.” She was too angry to hear the laughter in his voice. He pushed her off the road and into the shadows of the giant cottonwoods.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He released her arm, folded his hands across his chest and stood looking down at her. She spun around like a spitting cat and looked up at him. Stunned by the look on his face, she gaped at him. She had never seen his face so creased with smiles. There were smile lines at the corners of his eyes, at the sides of his wide mouth, and his eyes were shining with amusement.

Liberty was suddenly aware that she was behaving like a witless fool. Anger flowed out of her and the irony of the situation caused laughter to bubble up from deep within her. She threw back her head and giggles of pure delight escaped her.

“Oh! Farr! Wasn’t he funny?” She continued to laugh.

Farr watched her with fascination, and to his surprise heard himself laughing too.

“He was dead serious.”

“About keeping me busy so I’d not do the devil’s work? And keeping my feet on the path of righteousness?”

“And about me being your master and using the switch if need be.” Farr’s green eyes smiled into hers.

“You wouldn’t!” she exclaimed, smiling broadly.

“I might, if you make me angry enough,” he said, still smiling broadly.

“I wonder what the preacher would have said if I’d said yes to some of his questions. I should have, just to shock him.”

“He was probably hoping you would, then he could have found out about your sordid past. He’s not used to women like you.”

“Am I so different?”

“Hell, yes. His women don’t dare open their mouths unless he tells them to.”

“Why do they stay?”

“They have children, and it’s the only life they’ve ever known.”

“They have a lot of children.”

“The old man works at it.” Farr’s grin widened when he saw realization dawn in Liberty’s eyes.

“You mean . . . all of them are his?”

“I think so. The other men are forbidden any contact with women.”

“Forever?”

“As far as I know.”

“I can’t believe they’d be so stupid. Why, that old goat has set himself up in a harem.”

They looked into each other’s eyes and laughed. Liberty’s soft giggles mingled with Farr’s deeper, hearty laughter.

“Come on. We’ve got to be getting back.”

“I know. I’ve got to clean the barn, dress out an elk—” Another peal of laughter broke from her. “I’ve never dressed out anything bigger than a rabbit.”

“You’ll learn, or you’ll get the hickory switch.”

She tossed her head saucily and stepped out into the sunlight. The last few minutes had shown her a different side of the man she had just married. Farr had a sense of humor. She had not heard him laugh so heartily before. Perhaps, just perhaps, they could build a pleasant life together. She could never hope to have his love, but there was a chance they could be companionable.

“I
saw you walk off with Farr. Where did you go?” Amy spoke as soon as Liberty entered the cabin. She lifted Mercy down from the chair and wiped her mouth on the end of her apron.

Liberty hesitated for a moment, then said, “Oh, just down the road a way. Amy, why don’t you go through our trunks this morning and see what we have that we can make over for Mercy and Daniel? I have a dress Willa can have, and later we can make her another one.”

“I thought we were going to the Shellenberger place today. You said we were going to live there.”

“Stith has taken over the Shellenberger place. We’re going to stay here.”

“That old fart!”

“Amy! Watch your mouth. You shouldn’t say such things in front of the children.”

“Poot, then!”

“Not that either.”

“Is fart bad?” Daniel asked and slid down off the stool. He looked up at Liberty with serious brown eyes, and his hand worked its way into hers.

“It’s something we don’t say.” A giggle entered Liberty’s voice as she added, “Even if Stith is one.”

“Why is it a word if we don’t say it?”

“There are a lot of words that are not quite nice. That’s one of them.”

“Fart . . . fart . . . fart . . .” Mercy sang and raced for the door. Amy grabbed for her, caught the end of her shirt and the cloth ripped.

“Oh, shoot! Mercy! Look what we’ve done.”

“Libby.” Daniel jerked on her hand to get her attention. “Are we stayin’ here too? Me and Mercy?”

Liberty saw the worry on the child’s face. Poor little tyke, she thought. Everything he had known had been suddenly taken from him. He must be feeling so lost, so at loose ends. She sat down in a chair, pulled him up onto her lap, pressed his head to her shoulder and hugged him tightly to her.