And I'm back :] This is another TotallyNonchalantFBI chapter! And you know, it's surprisingly hard to work two different plots at one time. Not sure what I mean? Of course you're not. Read on, and you will be, dear reader. Read on and later review.
"Margaret, sit down." Mother gestured at the seat in front of her.
Margaret raised her eyebrows, not quite trusting what her mother was up to. Regardless, she walked over to the couch and sat down, smoothing her skirts underneath her.
"You're sixteen, Margaret." Her father began. "It's time for you to settle down, start a family. You have not yet begun courting, and your mother and I decided, when you were young, that if you were not courting by fifteen, we would set up a marriage for you. Now once that birthday came, your mother and I still saw you as our baby, still a little girl. And now that your sixteenth birthday has passed, we realize that by babying you we will do you no good. So we have set up, no, not just a courtship, but a marriage for you."
Margaret clamped a hand to her mouth. "Mother! Father! You couldn't have!"
Mistaking her horror for excitement, Father continued. "Yes, honey." He gestured to the man next to him. "Meet Mr. Iverson. Victor Iverson."
Margaret stood up. She was marrying him? No, no surely this wasn't true! It must be a dream! Her mother followed her out. "Margaret!" she yelled. "Why on earth did you run out? We thought you we going to be happy!"
"Mother! How could you think this would make me happy! I don't want to marry him!" Margaret yelled.
"Hush girl! He's in the next room! You have not exactly given him the proper welcome!" Mother said.
"Mother, no! Send him away, send him away!"
"You don't understand. Mr. Iverson is the richest man in town! He can give you everything you would ever, ever need!" Mother said, leaning in. "Now go bid him goodnight. Head up to bed. You have a lot to think about." Mother grabbed her hands. "This is your future Margaret. This best future you could possibly have. Don't just let it go."
With that, Mother turned on her heel and walked out of the room. With a sigh, Margaret followed.
Margaret eventually fell into a restless sleep. Her head pressed hard into a goose - feather pillow, as she unconsciously bit her lip, turning over and over agitatedly on her mattress. She wished that the hot pan at her feet would spread farther up than her ankles: for the weather was unseasonably cool for spring. A chill ran through her, and Margaret sat up. She pulled her shift up off her shoulder, and tightened the ribbon, on the off chance that it would help. Her thick hair was pulled back in a bushy braid, and Margaret contemplated letting it down, maybe it would warm her up more…
But she didn't get a chance to let her hair down, for she heard a loud crash downstairs. She tensed up immediately. What if it was a thief? A murderer? A kidnapper? At first, Margaret was just going to try to hide in her wardrobe, but then she decided she had to investigate. She grabbed a candlestick, and lit it with a match from her bedside table drawer. She pulled on her robe and slipped on her slippers, for the house was even colder when she was not surrounded by blankets. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and headed downstairs.
After living in the house for sixteen years, Margaret knew every floorboard that squeaked, even in the dark. She was able to go down the stairs completely silently. She walked into the living room, blowing out the candle to remain even stealthier. She crept into the room, and as her eyes adjusted, she realized that there was in fact someone in the house.
"BEN!" she yelled, waking the whole household. She ran up to him, jumping up onto him and wrapping him in a bear hug.
"It's too dark for me to see, but I'm thinking this must be Margaret." Ben laughed, spinning his little sister around.
"Whatever is going on here?" Mother asked, coming down the stairs, followed by Father.
"Ben's home! Ben's home!" Margaret screamed.
"Well now that the whole neighborhood knows," Mary griped. "Why don't you let go of Ben and let the rest of us greet him?"
Margaret laughed and jumped down, allowing Mary to hug Ben as well. Mother smiled and lit the candles all around the room, allowing everyone to be properly seen.
"And I'm not the only person you have to greet." Ben smiled. "I know because of Mary's illness," referring to Mary's brief battle with the fever, "you were not able to come to my wedding. Well my timing was a bit off, I thought we were going to be here yesterday, but I came to introduce you to Felicity Davidson." With that, Ben pulled a willowy redheaded girl next to him.
Everyone smiled and laughed and greeted Felicity. Mother commented, "Now I do hope you'll stay for a while!"
"I hope it's not rude," Felicity bit her lip. "But we were planning to. We brought our trunks and everything!"
"Oh how lovely!" Mother exclaimed. "This will give us time to catch up with Ben, and get to know his new wife! Now, Ben can sleep in the master bedroom, Margaret and Mary will sleep together in Mary's room, and Michael and I will sleep together in Margaret's room, so Felicity can have the guest room."
"Mother, there's no need for the shuffling! We never meant to cause discomfort for anyone!" Ben laughed. "Felicity and I can sleep together in the spare room!"
"Absolutely not!" Mother said, laying a hand on her heart.
"Why not? Mother we're married!" Ben said.
"Regardless, it still is improper!" Mary said.
"Your sister is right!" Mother said.
"Well what are you trying to prevent?" Felicity smiled. "I'm already pregnant!"
Everyone smiled and began to clap, shout with joy, clap Ben on the shoulder, and rub Felicity's stomach.
"How far along is she?" Father asked.
"Four months, the doctor says!" Ben said, putting an arm around Felicity's shoulders.
"Wait," Mother said, the smile dripping off her face. "How long have you two been married?"
The realization suddenly came to Ben's and Felicity's face at the same time. They never wanted their parents to know! Even the Merrimans thought Felicity was only three months along.
"Three months." Felicity mumbled, and she had so wanted to make a good impression!
"Fine." Mother said. "You two will both sleep in the guest room. Well, it's late. I am going to bed. As are you, Margaret and Mary. Ben, Felicity. You two are adults. You may do as you please."
Mother went upstairs, Father followed. Mary, still in a bit of shock, stood there, but then ran up the stairs. Margaret lingered in the room, biting her lip. She walked over to where Felicity stood, her red head looking down at the ground.
Margaret rested a hand on Felicity's stomach. "What are you hoping for?"
Felicity looked up. There were still tears in her eyes, but she smiled. "I don't care. I just want it healthy."
"Well you can't really go wrong. I'm sure you'll be a great mother either way." Margaret smiled, and gave Felicity a gentle hug.
"Thank you." Felicity said, wrapping her slender freckled arms around Margaret.
With that, Margaret smiled and ran up the stairs before she was missed. Ben smiled at his sister, wrapped an arm around Felicity's waist, and grabbed the smaller trunk under his arm. With that, he led his wife to the guest bedroom. He sat the trunk down at the foot of the bed and let Felicity go.
Felicity put her face in her hands. "I wanted them to like me!" she sniffed, still trying to hold back tears.
"They will! They will!" Ben assured her, sitting down and putting an arm around her. "It'll take a day, but once they see your personality, they'll love you!"
"Oh I don't know, your mother was just…horrified. And your father looked at me as if I was a whore." Felicity spat. "I'm not Ben!"
"No, no you're not!" Ben said, hugging her even closer. "Here, you haven't had an easy day. Go relax."
Felicity sighed and stood up, letting Ben's grip on her release. "You're right, you're right." Felicity opened the trunk and pulled out her shift. "I should probably go to bed." Felicity changed and rolled into bed.
Maybe tomorrow would be better.
Upstairs, a very different story was going on. Mrs. Davidson paced back and forth, muttering about the new addition to the family. "I thought Ben was going to bring home a nice girl!"
Mr. Davidson propped himself up on the pillows. "Felicity seems like a nice girl. You'll get to know her better tomorrow."
"Oh no, it's not her personality I'm worried about." Mrs. Davidson gritted her teeth and stiffened up. "I'm worried about what type of girl she is." She raised her eyebrows, hinting at something different.
"She's not, Carolyn!" Mr. Davidson sat straight up. "Not only does she not seem like that, at all, but Ben would never do that! We raised him better than that!"
"So?" Mrs. Davidson objected. "He gets lonely one night, heads out to the shipyards-"
"Stop it Carolyn!" Mr. Davidson snapped. "Ben didn't do that. He loves her. You can tell. They just made a mistake is all. Don't hold it against her, she's family now. You made her very upset. Now just calm down, come to bed."
Mrs. Davidson crossed her arms and rolled her eyes like a child, but climbed into bed.
"Remember, Carolyn." Mr. Davidson mumbled. "Forgive, and forget."
Mrs. Davison sighed. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Felicity woke earlier than she was used to on the plantation. Today was a blazingly hot day, especially for early May! Felicity couldn't stand the heat very well, and she decided that she wanted to be pleasant, so she also had to be comfortable. She grabbed a short icy blue dress, trimmed with white lace. It swung below her knees, and Felicity loved how the cool breeze would reach her legs, which it could never do when she had to wear the long dresses. She headed out of the room and into the kitchen to get a head start on breakfast. Good Lord, it was almost six!
As she entered the kitchen, she saw Mrs. Davidson already kneading dough for bread. "Oh, I see you slept in." she said. Felicity bit her lip. She thought she was up early! "Come now, can you knead bread?" At Felicity's nod, she continued. "Oh good. I thought I should make sure. Now come here- OH DEAR LORD!" Mrs. Davidson clutched a hand to her chest. "What on earth are you wearing?"
"One of my short dresses." Felicity mumbled. "It's quite hot out, and this helps."
"That's no excuse." Mrs. Davidson sniped. "I made it through three summers while pregnant, all well wearing a proper dress and petticoats. Now come knead the bread."
Cursing herself for screwing up – again! – Felicity walked over to the kitchen and began to knead the bread.
"So did Ben meet you at the shipyards?" Mrs. Davidson asked, with a seemingly innocent look on her face.
"What?" Felicity asked, looking up from the dough.
"When you two first met! Did he find you at the shipyards?"
"No." Felicity said darkly. "We were best friends! Ben taught me everything: how to fish, and run, and spit, and ride horses-"
"Good Lord!" Mrs. Davidson said, laying a hand on her heart. "Why on earth would you need to know those things?"
Felicity bit her lip. So she wanted to have fun! She didn't actually do anything wrong! Oh Mrs. Davidson was never going to give her a chance, was she? She sighed and went back to kneading the dough.
"Mornin'!" Ben walked into the room. He kissed his mother on the forehead and his wife on the lips.
"Good morning Ben! Breakfast will be ready soon." Mrs. Davidson smiled.
"Is Felicity making buns?" Ben smiled, looking at his wife.
Mrs. Davidson looked at Felicity's stomach. "Seems as if she's already got one in the oven."
"Can't wait!" Ben smiled. "Here, I'll go wake Margaret and Mary." With that, Ben hugged Felicity and left to go wake his sisters.
"Why don't you go set the table?" Mrs. Davidson said. "I can finish up the meal."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, yes. Just go."
…
Ben walked upstairs and knocked on Margaret's door. Hearing no reply, he walked in.
"Ben!" Margaret exclaimed, wheeling around, hiding a candle behind her back.
"Why are you hiding the candle?" Ben asked.
"I'm not." Margaret lied.
"Margaret I know you're lying!" Ben smiled. "Now what are you doing?"
"I need a reason to go downtown – to the shop." Margaret spilled.
"Why?" Ben asked.
"There's someone there. Someone I owe an explanation to." Margaret said.
"Do you like someone?" Ben smiled, sitting down on Margaret's bed.
Margaret's chin started to wobble and she sunk down on the bed and burst into tears.
"Oh my God, Margaret, what's wrong?" Ben said, wrapping his arms around his sister.
In between sobs Margaret said. "I met this man…Alexander…and I wanted…to court him…but I can't…I can't!"
"Why not?" Ben asked. "Doesn't he like you back?"
"He…does…he kissed me…" Margaret continued to sob.
Ben rubbed her arm. "Then what's the problem?"
"I'm getting married!" Margaret wailed, burying her head in Ben's chest.
"What? What do you mean you're getting married?" Ben said.
"I have a marriage set up and he's just – just awful!" Margaret bawled.
Ben froze. He knew that although arranged marriages were common, he still thought they were wrong. He almost lost Felicity to an arranged marriage! He didn't want his sister to have to go through anything that awful. "I'll fix this. I have to go." With that, Ben stood up and silently walked out of the room.
Margaret sniffed and pulled her legs up next to her on the bed. Oh, how she missed Ben. He could fix anything.
Ben tromped down the stairs. He never thought his parents would do this! He turned the corner. "Father!"
Mr. Davidson turned around. "Ben! Whatever's wrong? You look upset."
"I heard what you did to Margaret. Father – how could you? By arranging a marriage for her, you've cut off any chance she could have had for finding love!" Ben yelled.
"Whatever is this yelling about?" Mother came rushing into the room, brushing flour off her hands and onto her apron. "I could hear you from the kitchen!"
"Ben, I did the right thing. She's sixteen! At her age, many women are already wives, already mothers! She wasn't looking for love, and it was time she got married before she lost her face!"
"Why does age matter? I was not married until I was 21!" Ben protested.
"Yes, but your wife is 16! Your age does not matter: you were busy with your apprenticeship!" Mother said.
"Yes, and I wanted to marry her ever since she turned 13! But I didn't want to rush her!" said Ben. "And when she was finally ready to settle down, guess what her parents did as well? They set up an ARRANGED MARRIAGE! It almost kept us from getting married! That's how I know Father, that's how I KNOW! Unless Margaret wants an arranged marriage, you shouldn't set up one! You don't even know if she likes someone!" Ben took a deep breath to calm himself, and upon hearing no comments, continued. "An arranged marriage almost kept me from marrying Felicity."
Mrs. Davidson looked out the doorway and at Felicity. A dress swung around her knees, it was a bit longer in the back, for her baby bump hoisted it up in the front. Her hair flowed free from a bun, or even a mobcap. She wore socks, but no shoes. She stood in the hallway, looking at a portrait of the family. She was uncontrolled, unrestrained, wild, and most of all, not a gentlewoman. Mrs. Davidson looked at Ben. "Well maybe it would have been better if it had."