The roads curved and twisted, taking Alleghany further and further away from civilization.
She couldn't have been terribly far away from the place of her birth, Bristol, and they'd been in Knoxville just this morning, but she might as well have been on the other side of the country for all the traveling she'd be able to do. Gas was too dear in this economic depression.
Her spirits sank lower the thicker the trees became. She was a city girl through and through and she was going to be living out in the boonies.
When her father brought their old Model T to a stop in front of a cabin that a pioneer could have been proud of, her spirits had plummeted about as low as they could go. Her suspicions that she would be unhappy with this life were confirmed.
"To think that this lovely cabin will be all mine just as soon as I say I do. Could a woman get any luckier?" she asked sarcastically.
"I know it's not what you hoped for," her father said gently. "But you're made of stern stuff. You could be happy here if you try. You will try, won't you?"
"You know I will. I wouldn't be here if that wasn't the plan."
He patted her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "When things get prosperous again, it'll be different, I'm sure. For all of us."
She opened the car door and got out. "Things can only go up from here."
He followed suit and a torrent of barking started up. That bode more ill news. She hated dogs and it sounded like he had more than one.
"That's my girl," he said encouragingly.
She barely heard him as her eyes were on the tall man that had just emerged from the cabin. Her groom-to-be.
Her father took her by the elbow and led her towards the man as if the wedding ceremony had already began and he was giving her away.
"This is my daughter, Alleghany," her father said, who was offering a smile to her intended even if she remained stone-faced. She had agreed to this arrangement for her family's sake, but she saw no reason to pretend she liked it.
"What an unusual name," Jackson commented.
Some greeting. "Well, I'm half Cherokee, so it makes sense," Alleghany said. "Better than being named after a dead general."
Jackson looked as if he didn't know what to say to that, but then he chuckled.
She looked at him closely, wondering what kind of man agreed to marry a woman he'd never met? Either a man so disagreeable no other woman would have him or a complete recluse and neither option appealed.
He was looking her up and down and found her appearance satisfactory, at least she assumed he did from the grunt he made, a grunt that put her in mind of a caveman.
Some women would have adored his rugged good looks, but she wasn't impressed by them. He was proving himself to be everything she had feared, unrefined and backwards. It only took a glance at his plain, unstylish clothes to see that.
"The preacher's out back and the marriage license is ready," Jackson said, speaking more to her father than her.
"Good heavens." She had just counted 5 dogs sitting on the porch, all barring their teeth at her. They were made up of various breeds even within the same dog, but all good hunting dogs from the looks of them. What did one man need with 5 dogs? "Are they all yours?"
"Yep."
"Do they have names?" Not that she intended on making friends with them, but she wanted to know in case there was ever a need to call them off of her.
"Nope. You ready?"
"Ready for what?" she asked though she already knew. They weren't even going to take time to get acquainted first, but she knew her father had to get back on the road and it was already late in the day.
"To get married," he said, looking at her as if she were dimwitted.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I reckon. Aren't you going to change into your good clothes?"
"You mean a tie? What for?" He looked aghast at the thought.
"To mark the occasion. I brought my mother's lace wedding dress and a hairpiece for my hair. I'll look silly if that's all you're going to wear."
"I'm sure we'll fine something suitable in his closet," her father jumped in before a disagreement arose.
They all went into the cabin that was as unremarkable on the inside as it was on the outside. After a suit was located, she was given the bedroom to change into her wedding attire. She felt as if she were really dressing for a funeral.
The men were ready to go when she came out. Her father had a surprise for her though, a beautiful wedding bouquet of red roses.
"Oh, Daddy!" she said throwing her arms around him in gratitude and pecking his cheek. "When did you have time to buy these?"
"This morning while you were freshening up. A luxury I know, but no bride should be without a bouquet."
She noticed Jackson had one of the roses pinned to his jacket. Her father was doing his best to make it special, but how could wedding a stranger be special?
The preacher was outback waiting sure enough. No cakes. No decorations. But then what had she expected? The man hadn't even planned on wearing a suit.
The ceremony started and her mind was abuzz. She was only pulled from her gloomy thoughts when she heard Jackson say I do.
"Do you take this man to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor and cherish, till death do you part, according to God's holy ordinance?"
Did she? Till death was such a long time. No, she didn't, but her mouth said the fateful "I do" anyway for she really had no alternative. For now.
He gave her a simple, golden band that was barely above a ring she could have fished out of a cracker jack box in terms of cost. No thought had gone into it like everything else. She wasn't pleased by it, but he didn't seem to notice or care.
Their first kiss was uninspired, a cold pucker that made her shudder and not the good kind of shudder.
The time came to sign the certificate, the final step before she became Mrs. Jackson Parker. It was the last time she would ever sign Alleghany Petit. She signed as quickly as possible as one might rip a bandage off.
It was done. Her father hugged her once more, giving both his congratulations and his goodbye in one hug. "You write me and your mother everyday."
She held on tight. "You can count on it."
"Your mother so wanted to be here for this. At least, I can tell her all about it. How I saw the most lovely bride there ever was."
"Oh, Daddy. I love you." She squeezed harder, reluctant to let go. She struggled not to cry though she'd required the use of her handkerchief a couple of times during the wedding.
"I love you too."
Jackson didn't even stand with her as she watched her father ride away. Some supportive husband she had. How she dreaded the coming wedding night and the quickly sinking sun made it an imminent event.