Chapter 3: Joining of Two Families
When Mother sits both of her girls down and tells us that she and the Baker are to be wed, I pretend to be stunned at the news. As if I didn't see my mother openly kissing a man who is not my father in our own house. Defile our living room couch to have sex, with the same man who is not my father. The ceremony will occur in a matter of days - first the singing of the marriage license papers at the Justice Building, followed by the customary Toasting at the Bakery, to where we will all soon be moving.
I am flummoxed. Maybe even a little livid. My ire is greater for the Baker, who seemed to move on so quickly from his wife's death. It makes me wonder if he and my mother were having a passionate love affair. If the Witch was knocked off in some staged set-up. But no, the Baker is too good a man to even contemplate any of that. Even so, many people will ask questions - if not over the hurried timing, then definitely over his chosen new bride. The Merchant woman cast out for marrying Seam trash won't just be welcomed back into her old fold with open arms. I have an uncle and two cousins on my mother's side who are apothecaries, and they disowned Mother after she married Daddy.
I never expected Mother to marry again. It was not something I generally wanted, either, as I hold Daddy's memory so close to my heart. But Mother appears so happy - happier than I have seen her in years - I do not think I can voice my misgivings without sounding like an ungrateful wretch. Mother endured enough objections - disownment, even - when she married my father.
"I will wear this for the Toasting," Mother giddily tells us as she pulls out one of her old Merchant dresses - burgundy in color. I hold my tongue from observing that it is the same dress the Baker probably ripped off of Mother with his teeth to fuck her like a wild dog. Primrose can't know that transpired. She is too young, her ears are too innocent. "And when I go to the Justice Building..." She opens her armoire "... the family wedding dress."
Primrose and I gawk. It is blinding white, made of the finest silk. Mother smiles amusingly at our shock. "It is our most precious family heirloom," she tells us proudly. "Someday, you both will wear it after me." I want to correct her and say that only Primrose will wear it after her, but I hold my tongue again.
"How did you inherit it?" Primrose asks in admiration.
Mother grins almost sheepishly, but maybe also a little smugly. "I stole it."
I gape. "You stole it?!"
Mother bristles a little. "When your father and I eloped. It was in the family, and I knew that your grandparents would never give it to me to use in marriage to a Seam miner, so I took it with me when I fled Town."
After a moment, I send Mother a very weak smile. "That's... wonderful, Mother."
That night, as we lie together in bed, Primrose calls me out on my behavior. "I know what you're feeling. But Mother deserves this. And the Baker does too. He had it worse than Mother and Daddy ever did, slaving away in a loveless marriage to that... witch. He and Mother can both be happy again."
I roll over to face her. "I hope I am doing the right thing. Giving my blessing."
"You are," Prim assures me eagerly. "I'm proud of you. It means a lot to Mother."
I stroke her blonde hair affectionately. "When did you become so wise, Little Duck?"
She smirks. "Quack."
The day of the Toasting, Prim and I attend to Mother, adorning her in the family wedding dress. In our Reaping dresses as her bridesmaids, we Everdeen girls then make the long walk out of the Seam and into Town.
The journey seems markedly different from the countless times I have crossed over the border to make trades with the Merchants and in the Hob. It truly feels like we are making an exodus into a new life... and I am not sure if I like it at all.
We reach the Justice Building and are escorted to a tiny courthouse room, where the Baker and his three sons are waiting. The Baker is in a handsome tux, and his eyes shine when he sees Mother. Mother blushes acutely and glides forward with a beaming smile, Primrose and I holding up her train. Shyly, Mother takes the Baker's hand and they stand before the Justice of the Peace.
"Steffan Mellark, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for rich and for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," the Baker's voice is strong and sure.
"Sign here, please." At the prompting, the District Clerk seated at the desk nudges forward a pen and a marriage license, to which the Baker affixes his signature. The Justice of the Peace turns to my mother.
"Lillian Everdeen, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for rich and for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," Mother is positively beaming, the picture of the blushing bride.
"Sign here, please." Mother signs, then turns to her new legal husband expectantly. The Baker - Steffan - takes her in his arms and kisses her breathlessly. Primrose and I dutifully applaud; Peeta and the eldest brother, Leven, let out cheers and wolf-whistles. The middle son, Rye, lets loose a whoop, whips out a flare gun and shoots off a blank harmlessly into the ceiling... prompting one of the Peacekeepers stationed on duty to tackle him.
Mother and Steffan dreamily break the kiss at last, if also a little jarringly, startled by the fired-off round. Steffan just laughs and gives Rye a shove once the Peacekeeper gets off him. "Stop it," he chastises.
When a couple gets married in District 12, they are usually assigned a new house by the Justice Building. As my new stepfather is the owner of a well-established business, Mother and Steffan stroll back to the Bakery arm-in-arm, giddy and ignoring the gawking stares coming out of the neighbors' windows. Primrose, the Mellark boys and I trail a little ways behind, we girls carrying some first initial rucksacks of belongings over our shoulders, to begin our move into the Bakery.
"What do we do now?" Peeta asks to no one in particular.
"We'll just have to make the best of it," Leven huffs. Peeta eyes him, amused.
"You say that like this is a bad thing."
"Are you kidding?" Rye crows, hopping up onto a low stone wall and balancing along it. "This is the best thing to ever happen to us! Dad has been in love with Lillian for years, and she is the polar opposite to Mom! I like her; she's nice!"
I want to gawk at him. Steffan? In love with my mother for years? My head is swimming.
"He did ask her to marry him when they were kids," Peeta concedes. At that, I nearly fall over. Why didn't Mother tell me any of this?
We arrive back at the Bakery, the Mellark boys chatting and laughing, even joining Primrose into their conversation. Peeta tries to strike up a chat with me, but my answers are very stilted and he eventually leaves me alone. I have too much to think about, and I've never been the most social person anyway, especially when it comes to boys.
Mother and Steffan beat us back here by quite a bit; there is already a roaring fire going in the hearth. Soon, other Merchant families come trickling in to celebrate Mother and Steffan conducting their Toasting. It is tradition, Merchant and Seam alike, for a couple to toast a bit of bread in their new hearth and share it. It is supposed to seal their union; no one in District 12 feels truly married without it.
Most of the Merchant guests are genuinely supportive of Mother returning to her roots through matrimony. A few whisper and sneer snidely in private. Those people will never forgive Mother for her transgression. She married and slept with someone Seam. She gave birth to Seam babies. Once Seam, always Seam. It doesn't matter that she is crossing back over class lines. Her two marriages will always make her half-Merchant, half-Seam in some folks' eyes. Heck, Primrose and I are half-Merchant by blood. Scanning the crowd of faces, I note that I cannot spy my uncle or cousins.
A hush now falls over the crowd as Steffan extracts the piece of toasted bread from the fireplace. Breaking it in half, he holds out a piece to Mother. Smiling at him in tender amusement, she opens her mouth and lets him feed the piece to her. Then she returns the gesture. The Baker then sweeps Mother into an embrace, drawing her face quite close. Mother hesitates only for a moment, eyelids heavy and feeling a little shy, but then wraps him in her own close embrace. Tilting her head, her mouth slightly parted, their lips meet.
The crowd erupts in cheers as the kiss suddenly escalates in huge passion. Steffan and Mother nearly swallow each other's mouths whole, Mother sucking on Steffan's tongue greedily. Their eyes are firmly shut, lost in their dizzying kiss. Lost in their own world. Finally, they break apart with a soft POP! and share weak, loving smiles.
I can't help but allow a grin of my own as I applaud. I have never seen Mother so happy. Maybe, even though I will soon be living in Town with a new stepfather and three stepbrothers, I can be happy too.