A Bride for Tom by Ruth Ann Nordin Page A

meaning sunk in.
“Your mother sent you here?”
    “No. Not exactly.”
    “Then what are you doing here?”
    He cleared his throat and shifted in his
seat. “It wasn’t that bad with me, was it?”
    “What?”
    “I thought it might be good if we decided to
marry after all.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him. “Good for
who?”
    “Everyone.”
    “You mean, it’d be good for her. Then she
could have her special day.” Stumping her foot on the floor, she
glared at him. “This is why it didn’t work, Peter. It was always
about her. She put you up to this, didn’t she?”
    “No. She doesn’t know I’m here.”
    She couldn’t decide if that was true or not.
He’d say just about anything for his mother’s sake. “You don’t need
to appease her. What you need is a backbone. Who cares what she
thinks? If she wants a special day, let her get married.”
    “Have a heart. She’s going through a rough
time, and-”
    “Have a heart? Have a heart! I didn’t
exchange vows with you yet. I had every right to back out of the
engagement. Frankly, you need to be a man and find the woman you
want to marry instead of letting your mother make that decision for
you.”
    “Jessica-”
    “I’m not done.” She stood up and paced back
and forth. “It’s obvious we don’t belong together. Thankfully, we
figured it out before we said, ‘I do’. You agree with me on this.
And yet, you are going to let your mother’s sour mood compel you to
make the worst decision of your life. I don’t understand you,
Peter.”
    Looking bewildered, he moved his lips but no
sound came out.
    She stopped and pointed to the door. “Maybe
the next woman you find won’t mind playing second fiddle to your
mother, but there’s no way I’m going to take that role. I’m going
to marry Tom.” She waited for him to say something, but he seemed
as if he couldn’t think of anything. Deciding this indicated they
were done, she stomped to the front door. “I’ve had enough of this
nonsense. You need to either find a woman who’ll do whatever your
mother wants or grow a backbone and determine your own fate.” She
threw the door open and someone fell to the floor. She gasped.
“Mrs. James?”
    Connie quickly got to her feet and placed her
hat back on her head.
    “What are you doing here?” Jessica
demanded.
    “You’re making a huge mistake,” the woman
said. “Peter is a fine young man. He has a good job, a good home,
and a caring heart. You can’t do any better than him.”
    Jessica turned her face to the kitchen. Now
it was time to call in for reinforcements. “Ma!”
    Her mother ran out of the kitchen and jerked
when she saw Connie.
    “Talk sense into her,” Jessica pleaded. “She
won’t leave me alone. She even sent Peter over here to convince me
to marry him.”
    “Mrs. James,” her mother began as she
approached the other woman, “perhaps we should sit down and discuss
this.”
    “Discuss what?” Connie asked. “That your
daughter is throwing her life away? She could have my son. She
doesn’t need to settle for the likes of Tom Larson.”
    “I believe that is her decision.”
    “But you’re her mother. It’s your job to
prevent her from making ghastly mistakes.”
    “What is a grassy mistake?” someone
asked.
    The three women turned their attention to
Joel who sauntered into the house.
    “I said ‘ghastly mistake’,” Connie said,
cringing as he bent down to pick off a piece of clumped dirt from
his boot and flung it out onto the porch. “It means a horrible
mistake.”
    “Hey, what do you know? Learn something new
every day.” Wiping his hand on his pants, he glanced around the
hallway and parlor. “Don’t you all sit when you visit?”
    They stood in silence for a good moment
before Jessica decided to answer. “Well, we aren’t visiting. Not
really.”
    Rubbing the back of his neck, he shrugged.
“Alright. You townsfolk are strange if this is how you meet up. But
I’m here to see Tom. Pa needs his