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Eddy looked at the pain and anger in her nieces’ eyes and unfolded the letter. It read: I’m getting married. My new husband doesn’t want the girls because they aren’t his, so they’re yours now.
It was the coldest, most callous thing Eddy had ever read. The tears standing in Portia’s eyes made Eddy open her arms. Portia came to her and wept like her heart was broken. “I’m so sorry, honey,” Eddy whispered, holding her as tightly as her healing back allowed. “So so sorry.”
The dry-eyed, ten-year-old Regan said, “Portia, don’t cry. Mama doesn’t want us, so we don’t want her.”
Surprised and dismayed, Eddy said, “Regan!”
“I don’t care about her. I’ve always wanted to live with you, Aunt Eddy. Always.”
Eddy sensed that her new role was going to be a complicated one but hoped with the help of Rhine and Sylvie and folks like Vera and the rest, things would work out in the end. She then explained to them about her relationship with Rhine. The girls had never been around a marriage and thus had no concept of what the word meant.
“So he’s going to live with us?” Portia asked doubtfully, wiping her eyes.
Eddy corrected her, “You two are going to live with me and Rhine.”
“How long will he stay with you?”
“Forever.”
Regan looked puzzled, and Portia asked, “So you will only have relations with him?”
Eddy blinked and stammered, “Yes. Only with him. When you marry, you only have one man in your house and bed.”
She saw Portia and Regan share a look. “So does he pay you to have relations with him?”
Eddy had no idea they knew so much but remembered Corinne had been prostituting herself their entire lives, so of course they’d pick up on how these things worked. She was appalled though. “No. He doesn’t pay, and when you have a husband, he won’t pay you either. You’ll come together out of love.”
They both looked skeptical.
“Rhine is kind and caring and all the things you’d want a man to be when you love someone. You’ll love him, too.”
“Will we have to have relations with him when we do?”
Appalled again, she fought to keep her voice calm, “No honey. Rhine’s an honorable man, and honorable men don’t have relations with children.”
“Oh.”
Eddy noted how relieved Portia looked.
Regan said, “Mama said she was going to sell Portia’s cherry for money.”
Eddy stared. She was so angry with her sister she wanted to walk to Denver and beat her to death. “Here you’re both safe from anything like that. I promise. Okay? I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, and neither will Rhine.”
She opened her arms and they leaned in. She held them tight and whispered emotionally, “I’m so glad you’re here.” And she was. With her and Rhine, they’d be loved, cherished, and provided for. With them, they’d have a future. One day she’d forgive her sister but it wouldn’t be soon.
Two weeks later she and her nieces got dressed for the wedding. Portia and Regan had on their new gowns, Janet had done their hair, and they looked like two ebony-skinned princesses in their finery. Rhine’s brother Andrew and his family had arrived a few days earlier, and any misgivings Eddy may have held about meeting Drew’s wife Freda were instantly dispelled when Freda eagerly took Eddy’s hands in hers and said, “I’m an only child and I’ve always wanted a sister. I’m so glad to meet you.”
Their son Little Drew would be the ring bearer. The wedding was going to be held in Sylvia’s backyard. Whitman Brown was supposed to perform the ceremony but his mother had arrived for a surprise visit the week before, and when he boastfully introduced Lady Ruby as his fiancée, the forty-year-old Whitman had been instructed to quit his job and pack his things. He and his outraged and outdone mother were on the train back to Cleveland the very next day.
Sheriff Howard would officiate instead. Eddy didn’t care who said the words as long as she and Rhine were husband and wife at the end of the day.
The backyard was packed with the invited guests, and when Eddy, flanked by her nieces and matron of honor Sylvie, came down the steps to join her intended in the center of the yard, she could barely contain her happiness. There was no music but she didn’t care. Both Rhine and Drew were dressed in black and white formal attire, and although Eddy still couldn’t get over how much the two brothers favored each other, in her eyes Rhine was the handsomest man in the world.
Sheriff Howard began reading the words. When he got to the part that asked if anyone had issues with the bride and groom being married, a female voice in the crowd said, “Yes. I do!”
Both Rhine and Eddy turned in shock and a woman walked up. She was as fair-skinned and as green-eyed as Rhine, and beside her was a big dark-skinned man wearing a scowl.
Rhine’s eyes widened. “Sable?”
