AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She held her hands out to me.
“And I refuse to lose what is precious to me,” she said. “Because Atticus is my light in the darkness. So tonight, I will marry him, and tomorrow when we arrive in Shreveport together, we can begin our new lives as one.”
The crowd cheered once more, the whistles strident and provocative; I felt a dozen hands pushing against my back, moving me forward through the throng and toward Thais.
My hands engulfed her cheeks when I made it there, and I kissed her so deeply and for so long that I couldn’t hear the cheers and the whistles amplified all around us.
I raised my free hand above me, and a hush fell over the crowd from front to back.
I cleared my throat, and squeezed Thais’ hand.
“Thais likes to give me all the credit,” I began, nervously, “but I have a feeling she probably didn’t tell anyone here that she has saved me and cared for me more than I ever could for her. It was Thais who freed me from Lexington City…and from myself. It was Thais who broke me out of a prison in Paducah and got me to safety. It was Thais who cared for me when I was sick, and broken, and tired, and on my deathbed”—I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed her knuckles again—“She says she wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for me, but the truth is, she saved me over and over. And even though I don’t feel worthy of her, I’ll tell you all the same thing I told her: I’m selfish, and I’m going to marry her anyway.”
Shouts. Cheers. Whistles. Laughter.
A voice rose above the crowd then. “Reverend Raymond is here!”
A short, stumpy Black man with broad shoulders, came strutting through the crowd with the kind of confident swagger that suggested he was not only a man of God, but a man of candid hilarity. A ragged-edged bible was wedged underneath one arm, a glass of what I assumed was whiskey, in the other hand, its amber-colored contents sloshing over the rim as he walked.
“Where have you been, Reverend?” Edith asked as the man stepped forward. “We were starting to think you weren’t coming.” She pursed her lips on one side, and looked at him sidelong in a scolding manner.
Reverend Raymond strutted right up to Edith, set his glass of whiskey on the tree stump Thais had used as a platform, and then tried to straighten his sloppy suit jacket with the free hand, tugging on the faded lapel.
“Hey, ain’t nobody told me yesterday anythang ‘bout no weddin’ ceremonies,” he said with a deep, southern accent. “Ya’ll know I need a day’s notice. I got thangs to do, just like everybody else. Ooh-wee look at you!” He smiled so wide at Thais I could see the pink of his gums. “How old are ya, girl? Lookin’ like you ain’t old enough to be gettin’ married”—he shook his finger at me—“and don’t be lyin’, either one of yahs, ‘cause I’ll know it if you lie.” He laughed, his beer-belly jiggling over the top of his belt.
“She’s old enough,” Edith spoke up for Thais. “When did you get all legal, anyway, Ray? Ain’t no laws anymore. Anybody can marry anybody these days. Long as they’re both willing.”
“Oh, they can can they?” Reverend Raymond came back. “Then I can marry your Ona, then?”
Edith snarled. “She ain’t willing.”
Reverend Raymond’s hand fell on his belly and he threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. Now quit badgerin’ me, woman, so I can do my job. Ossie! I thank God every night she chose you over me when we were kids!”
Edith gave Raymond the evil-eye, mixed with a playful smile.
“I thank God every night, too!” Ossie called out.
Edith and Ossie exchanged loving glances.
Reverend Raymond turned back to Thais. “You are the ones gettin’ married, ain’t yah?”
“Yes, sir,” Thais said, and she curtsied. “And I’m nineteen, if you really want to know.”
Reverend Raymond winked, and he glanced at me with a mysterious smile. “I was jus’ jokin’ with yas,” he said. “You look like a fine couple. Both of yas look young as all get-out. Nineteen is believable”—he pointed at me—“Twenty-two? Twenty-three?”
“I’m about that,” I answered vaguely. What does it matter?
I felt Thais’ elbow nudging my side.
“Twenty-four, sir,” I changed my answer, and then glanced at Thais. Yes ma’am, my expression told her.
Thais blushed and smiled and squeezed my hand.
“Then let’s get on wit’it,” Reverend Raymond said, and his bible dropped from underneath his arm into his open hand with the smoothness of a magician. “Now, before I start”—he raised his voice high over the crowd—“I wanna know now, ‘stead of befo’ the kiss, if anybody here is gonna object to this union, ‘cause I ain’t about to waste my breath going through everythang—”
“Nobody’s gonna object,” Edith cut him off.
Reverend Raymond grumbled, then he opened his bible.
