Callie Marries Four Brothers by Nikki Palmer Page B

shrugged. “Nothing
important.”
    Jocelyn squeezed her hand
and they started in on the snacks provided for the party. One by
one the other girls in their class came over and hugged Callie and
wished her luck in her marriage. Most of them were just as nervous
as Callie as it got closer and closer to their own wedding
days.
    One particular girl, Maisy,
clung to Callie for a moment. “My birthday is next week. I’ve only
met my marriage group once,” she confessed. Maisy was new to their
school, and hadn’t had a chance to make friends yet.
    Callie sighed. “I’m sorry!
We’ll talk after on Thursday when I get back to school if you
want.” She hated to offer to talk about intimate details, but knew
that Maisy would need the information. There were so few
mother-figures left that it was hard for all the girls.
    Maisy sagged with relief.
“Thank you. May I join you and Jocelyn for lunch?”
    “ Anytime,” Callie promised.
From what she’d seen of previous school years, the married girls
all tended to stick together anyway.
    “ Thanks!”
    Callie watched her walk off,
thinking again how fortunate she was to have been chosen to marry
the Simpson brothers.
    *****
    Callie was being prepared
for her wedding. Since the Overwhelming Pandemic had ravaged the
world, it was necessary for all women to marry as soon as they
turned eighteen. Callie had always been exceedingly shy. If she had
a choice, she wouldn’t be marrying for at least another year, but
choices were for a time when the human race wasn’t in danger of
dying out.
    The Overwhelming Pandemic
had wiped out nine out of ten women and girls worldwide. With the
lack of women of child-bearing age, there was a requirement for all
women to marry young. Some countries forced marriage at the age of
sixteen, and even younger, but thankfully, the United States had
maintained a strict policy of eighteen. Only women who were ill in
some way made it to the age of eighteen and one day without being
married.
    Callie was a healthy girl
with red hair and green eyes. She was 5’2” and a little heavier
than she would have liked, but her husbands wouldn’t complain. As
long as they had someone to warm their beds every night, and bear
children for their clan, they would be thrilled. Her hair was
brushed to perfection.
    Callie had been assigned to
a group of four brothers. No woman was allowed to marry less than
three men. Boys had taken to forming groups, usually groups of
brothers or cousins, to share wives. The brother group that she had
been assigned were 26, 24, 22 and 19.
    She was friends with Daniel,
the youngest brother. She had secretly been in love with him even
before she’d found out he was part of her marriage clan. She barely
knew Jason, the 22 year old, and Nathaniel, the 24 year old. She
had only met the oldest William once, but that didn’t matter. She
was to marry them all that day, and she would be required to grant
them their conjugal rights that night.
    Her dress was a long
traditional white gown. Her veil was fixed by her Aunt Beth, who
was the sole remaining female in their family other than Callie.
She had raised Callie and her brother along with her own sons. Aunt
Beth had lost her twin daughters to the Pandemic and it had left
her, along with most other women who were of child-bearing years at
the time, sterile.
    Callie didn’t have any
memories of the Pandemic because she was only three when it hit.
She had dozens of holograms of herself with her mother that she
loved to stare at, but no real memories of the beautiful woman in
the holograms. She would have given anything to have her mother
there with her on her wedding day.
    She left the room at the
back of the church to wait for her cue to walk down the aisle. She
smiled at her father. She knew that he feared for her, although
there was really no need. One good thing about the New Way was that
women were treated as precious objects. There was no danger of her
being abused because she would be taken