Maude by Donna Mabry Page A

mean, child? Your
Mom can’t do that.”
“She can if she wants to.”
Mom Connor dropped the bean she was
stripping back in the bowl. She lifted the bowl off her
lap and plopped it down on the table so hard it almost
broke. Both Lulu and I jumped, startled by the bang of
glass against wood. Mom Connor shook her head.
“You can’t do that, Maude. You have to marry him
now.”
I was dumbfounded. “What on earth are you
talking about? I hardly know him.”
“You went out in that buggy alone with him,
clear out of town. Half the women in the church saw
you. They been planning the wedding party all day.”
“Wedding party? But he hasn’t even asked me to
marry him. What if he doesn’t want me?”
“He wants you. Just look at him. He gets all
mushy-faced when he’s about you. If he hasn’t asked
you yet, he’s going to before he leaves.”
Lulu jumped up. “No! We’re not going to marry
him and go live in another town in another state with
people we don’t even know.”
Mom Connor frowned at her granddaughter. “Sit
yourself down and be quiet, young lady. You don’t
know anything about this. This is grown-up business
here. Your Mom went out in a buggy with a man and
out of town, and was gone for two hours. It doesn’t
matter if she never so much as touched his hand. She’s got to marry him now. If she doesn’t, she’ll be put out
of the church, and no decent woman in this town will
speak to her.”
Lulu’s eyes popped open, and she plunked back
down in her chair.
I began pacing the room. My hands covered with
the flour from the breading smeared the front of my
skirt. “I don’t want to marry him.”
“I’m sorry, Maude, but you have to, and you
know it’s true. There’s no way you can live here if you
don’t. I hate to see you leave as much as you hate to
go. Maybe you can talk him into staying here with you.
You can keep the property. Live in the house and rent
out the cabin or do it the other way around if you want.
I’m leaving all this to Lulu anyway. I already told the
preacher where my will is and what’s in it. I’ll put in
there that she won’t get it if you leave town. Maybe
that will make him want to be here.”
Lulu felt better, thinking she wouldn’t have to
move away from her friends, and relaxed a little. I
could feel her watching me for my reaction.
I knew Mom Connor was right. The town was
too small for me to outlive the gossip. If George asked
me, I’d have to marry him. If he didn’t ask me---? “Oh,
my God, Mom, what if he doesn’t ask me? What am I
going to do then?”
“If he hasn’t asked you by tomorrow night, I’ll
pay a visit to Bessie. She’ll make him see what he has
to do. If he doesn’t, she won’t be able to live here
either. All the women will blame her for bringing him
here.”
I couldn’t say anything. I just stood there with
my head down, staring at the planks in the floor as if I
were looking for an answer to the mess I’d gotten
myself into.
When George drove up the next day, I managed
to smile. I refused his offer of another ride and invited
him to sit a spell. I talked with him about things that
didn’t matter, and all that time, what really was
important was running through my mind. I pretended
to pay attention, but inside I wanted to scream. I forced
myself to sit on the porch with him and sip tea and chat
as if nothing at all hung on what he had to say. The
only words I needed to hear were the ones that
concerned getting married, and even if he said them, I
would hate to hear them. I tried to ease my mind. I told
myself he was very handsome, that the other women
would envy me his tall, slim build and his cheerful
manner. They would think I was crazy if I didn’t want
to marry him.
As it got close to time for Lulu to get home, he
hadn’t even talked a bit about the future. I began to
panic. He stood and made polite references to leaving.
I stood, too. George reached out and took my hand and
clasped it in both of his. Other than taking my