Page 11 of Souls We Rip

“Ana!” someone hollered, and I turned towards the voice.

Mara, my childhood friend, had her free hand in the air. She was already married with two children around her hip. When we were eighteen, she found her husband, a man who sold vegetables at the market and ground flour at his mill. He was the person my father had been competing with for a very long time. Every time my father returned home from the market, he would grab my mum by the hair and pull, yelling that this young man had stolen his clients.

As if it were either of our faults for every misfortune of his.

I admired Mara's fine clothes. The red and gold vest and apron, her hand-sewn, ie with floral motifs. Her hair was braided in a bun at the nape of her neck, some of the strands pulled by one of her twins.

“Yes! Do you mind holding one of the boys?” she asked, already passing one of her toddlers to me.

I didn’t mind. I liked children, and each time I got to see her twins was a gift for me. Life until then didn’t give me a man with whom I might have my own, so I indulged in every interaction with any child.

Sourness filled my heart for a brief second.

“Hello, young man! You’ve grown so big since I last saw you!” My voice went on a higher note, turning into a baby voice. He laughed, the bell-like sound sending my heart into a rampage.

The boy smiled with a full mouth of small teeth, his green eyes sparkling with happiness.

“Yes, they are little terrors. But they are my sun and my moon, so I cannot do anything about that,” she joked, kissing the other twin on his face.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to tickle the little boy, but he kept wiggling.

“My husband wanted to come to check your mother’s food. He wants to help the priest from our village to open a house for the needy men and women, widows, orphans, and he was wondering if your mother would want to deliver her food every day.”

My father was in the wrong. Mara’s husband did not steal anything from him. He was gaining his customers with kindness. And to involve my mum in a thing she would never say no to…

“I think she would be delighted!” I shrilled, scaring the boy I was holding. “Sorry,” I whispered, then tickled him some more, his laughter filling my ears.

“Thank God, because you know, your father was not the easiest person to deal with,” she said, avoiding my eyes.

I knew that well.

I just smiled and resumed my games with the boy.

Around us, the people were starting to gather in the middle of the hill. The girls stood in one line, and the boys stood on the opposite side.

“You'd better get going, if you are still…” She stopped herself, her eyes flickering with pity.

I nodded, passing her the boy I was holding. “I’m here more for Angelica. She is of age this year.”

“But you?” she asked with her eyebrows raised.

“If God permits, I will find a husband too,” I shrug. But I knew my heart and mind all too well.

I bid her goodbye and ran to find my sister, trying to ignore the voice in my head. That this is all in vain for me.

Angelica and Gavril were still talking when I returned to the beverage stall. They were blushing at each other; starry looks were thrown between them. Gavril was ignoring a group of women wearing dark batiks on their heads, demanding elderberry juice, but the boy only had eyes for my sister.

I knew that both my sister and Gavril would be the talk of the village from tomorrow on. The old ladies wouldn’t miss a chance to gossip in front of their houses. If one needed information about someone, they were the right people to ask.

“Aren’t you going?” I asked as soon as I reached them. My hands fretted on the skirt, seeing Gavril’s father taking his place at the till.

My sister twisted to me, a full smile spread all over her face. Her wheat-blonde hair shone in the sundown, and her cheeks were rosier than peonies. “No need.”

I knitted my eyebrows, watching both youngsters as they gazed into each other’s eyes. I fixed Gavril with my eyes.

“Did you propose?” I asked.

“Yes!”