Surprise? An update in the middle of the week.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The walk home with Emily clutching onto Effie's arm felt extremely long. When she had settled Emily down into their living room, Effie walked into the kitchen with Haymitch trailing closely behind. She turned to look at him and Haymitch shrugged.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked defensively. Peering into the living room, he could see Emily working through the box of tissues on their coffee table.
"Go outside and talk to her," Effie said, extracting a tea bag from its packaging.
"She's crying. You're better at this. You talk to her."
"Honestly, Haymitch, she wanted to see you! Didn't you hear what she said? Something about the law."
"It's very …," he pursed his lips and looked up, searching for an appropriate word as if the ceiling might give him wisdom.
With a sigh, Effie arranged the cup and saucer carefully before nudging Haymitch on his sides to catch his attention. He walked with her out into the living room to face whatever it was that was making the girl upset.
"Here, I made you a cup of tea. I always find that it helps to soothe my nerves. Perhaps, it would help you, too," Effie smiled and handed the cup to the girl.
Haymitch watched them warily from where he sat half perched on the window sill, arms folded across his chest. Effie caught his eyes and sent a silent question his way, seeking his direction on how he wanted to go about the problem at hand.
He looked at her pointedly, jerking his head towards Emily. He gave Effie the lead. She glared at him. Being comforting wasn't exactly one of Haymitch's strong virtues, especially not when he hardly knew what the problem was.
"Emily, darling," Effie spoke softly. "Did something happen? Everything alright at home, I hope."
She nodded, pressing a clean piece of tissue to her nose. Her spectacle had been discarded and was now lying on the coffee table along with several other used tissues. Effie eyed them in distaste but kept quiet about it.
"I – I turned eighteen a week ago and yesterday… I got it... The letter."
"Oh no," Effie breathed, her hand flying to cover her mouth.
Ah, Haymitch inhaled, leaning back against the window pane. It all makes sense now.
"Do you have a boy?" Haymitch asked. "Someone you love preferably and wouldn't mind spending the next few years with."
To his relief, Emily nodded. Effie smiled at her answer.
Haymitch arched an eyebrow at the girl. "So what's the problem? Marry him."
"Haymitch!" Effie chided. She sounded alarmed as she quickly turned towards Emily, afraid that he might have offended her in some way.
"She gotta get married, Eff. The law requires it. If she's in love with some boy, better marry him now."
"Yes, but you didn't have to be so –"
If anything, Emily's sobbing grew louder. Haymitch stared at her in confusion. He really couldn't fathom what the problem was. Granted, eighteen is a young age for anyone to settle down and start a family but it wasn't as if there was a choice in the matter.
"I can't!" Emily wailed, her small body breaking into violent sobs. "I can't marry him!"
"Emily," Effie called out. She rubbed the girl's arms soothingly. "I know you think you're too young to be married – "
Oh, good. I'm not the only one who thinks that.
"I am!"
"I know. But there's nothing you can do right now. You have to follow the law this country had set out, no matter how appallingly disgusting it is," Effie's lips thinned into a disapproving line. "There is no choice in the matter. I didn't have a choice. Haymitch didn't either."
He grunted in assent.
Ignoring him, Effie went on. "If you choose not to get married, you'll be sent across the borders and stripped off your citizenship. You are aware of that fact, surely? You won't get to come back and see your family."
"I can't get married, Mrs. Abernathy," she hiccupped. "He's… He's already married to someone else. Hans… Hans is two years older than me. His time came before me. He was already eligible once the law was passed."
"Oh," Effie said.
Haymitch frowned. He understood with a sudden clarity what drove Emily to that state.
"He had to get married to someone else or…" she trailed off, accepting another piece of tissue from Effie. "They wouldn't let him wait for me. When he got his letter, we went to the Justice Building. We tried to appeal against it… to at least let him wait until I turn eighteen so we could get married to each other but they wouldn't allow it, Mrs. Abernathy. I had to let him go. He's somebody else's husband now."
Effie twisted in her seat slightly to look at Haymitch helplessly.
Does she really expect me to be able to help?
Haymitch stared at her because he had expected her to have a shrewd idea on the best way to deal with Emily. His thoughts were distracted by a different aspect of the law that he had never once considered. Of course, he was aware that teenagers who came off age was immediately expected to embrace adulthood and settle into a marriage but he had not given much thought on anything else. What about those in Emily's situation? Those who were unable to marry someone they love just because their partner was slightly older and had to be called up first?
If he were to bring this matter up with the Council, they would merely tweak the law to allow a grace period of when one partner could wait for the other. He supposed he could use this point in his next appeal but it would not make for a strong argument.
"Have you gotten any offers or petitions yet?" Effie asked. "Or have you made any yourself?"
Somehow, while he was deep in thought, Effie had managed to pull the girl into a half embrace with Emily's face buried in her shoulder and Effie stroking her hair quietly.
"I have received some from several boys in this district," came Emily's muffled reply. "Some of them would have to find someone else from beyond Twelve."
"Why's that?"
"The proportion of girls to boys who turned eighteen isn't balanced in this district," Haymitch answered, spotting the problem once Emily brought it up. "That's another issue the Council would have to deal with. What if there are not enough girls to pair with the boys or vice versa? What happens then?
"Not now, Haymitch," Effie told him off. She recognised that tone of voice. It was one he used whenever he debated ideas and discussed issues pertaining to the law with her.
"My mother wants me to marry my distant cousin, second cousin or whatever. He's in Five. She thinks I'll be safer with him… with a family. I've never met him before."
"Perhaps your mother is right, darling."
"Twelve is my home. I don't want to leave it," she sobbed.
Emily must have remembered that Haymitch was still in that room because she turned to face him. He shifted and cleared his throat, waiting for whatever it was that she wanted to say.
"You said you were going to stop it. You spent all that time in the library. Researching! You said you will stop it, Mr. Abernathy. Why hasn't it been stopped yet?"
"I'm trying, Emily. It's not that easy."
"Please, please. I don't want to get married. I have my whole life ahead of me. I promised Hans… I promised him I would marry him."
"Well, your boy's married to someone else," Haymitch pointed out.
His gaze shifted when he felt Effie glaring at him. Perhaps that was not such a smart thing to say. It was probably something Emily did not need to hear and was already well aware of.
Taking a deep breath, Haymitch pushed himself off the window sill, pacing the floor as he spoke to her.
"Look, girl, I am working on it. I will stop this damn law. I don't know when that will happen but it will end. It has to end and nobody will be bound by a marriage that they do not want. When that happens, you and your – Hans was it?" – you'll be free to do whatever you want. But in the meantime, at the risk of being permanently exiled and barred from returning to Panem, I suggest you marry that cousin of yours and hang on tight. Learn some self-preservation, okay, and adapt."
"How long?"
"I don't know," Haymitch answered truthfully. He ceased his pacing and came to a stop in front of her. "Try not to get pregnant. It'll make things complicated."
Effie must have taken that remark personally because out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her stiffened. Those words were not meant for Effie. It was an advice to the distraught woman and an advice that Haymitch firmly believed in.
"Don't get pregnant," Effie repeated once Emily had calmed down enough to return home. "I think I much prefer the 'stay alive'."
She walked away and he heard the front door closed behind her. From the window, he saw Effie settling down onto the wicker chair at the front porch, staring miserably into the distance.
XxX
Haymitch had not wanted to go. He was contented to just sit at home and while his time away but Effie had insisted.
So he found himself standing next to Effie on the train station watching the train pulled out of District Twelve with Emily in it, bound to District Five to start her new life.
There had been a genuine, surprised but joyful look on her face when she saw Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy at the train station to send her off. Effie received a big warm hug from her, a million thanks falling from the girl's lips and a constant stream of apologies for her meltdown a week ago.
Emily turned towards him then and Haymitch was quick to throw his hand up.
"Woah, woah, you ain't gonna hug me, are you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
Emily's hands dropped to her sides, glancing up at Haymitch uncertainly. "You don't do hugs then?"
"Nope."
"Well then," she extended her hand. "Goodbye, Mr. Abernathy. Thank you for… for your advice. Thank you for everything."
Haymitch nodded.
"Good luck with the law. I hope you succeed for everyone's sake. One more thing, please look after my library! I'll be back!"
That made him chuckle. The library was her throne and she was not going to give up that easily.
"I expect you back at the library someday."
"Of course, I'll come back. I promise. Once the law is over, you can bet that I will. Will you promise to bring your children around then? I'll show them all the good books."
Effie smiled at her.
"Take care of yourself. And have faith in Haymitch, okay? He will do what is right," Effie said, patting the girl's cheeks.
He will do what is right.
That brought him no comfort, not when he housed so much doubt of his own capabilities especially as a father to two children or his ability to succeed where the law is concerned.
Alright, tbh, I'm just excited to get to the birth part (because I finished writing that!) and had to restrain myself for posting every day. Anyway, anyway, a review would be nice and I would really appreciate it. With this chapter, I just wanted to draw your attention to how the law affects teenagers and destroys their life.
Therefore, to MayFairy, congratulations on correctly guessing Emily' plot point. And to Cathy, see, nobody died in this chapter. To Jane, you have to read on to find out and to Clara Meliza, how in the world do you get bartholomew? Also, to everyone else, thank you for your reviews and favourites and for reading this story.