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"Why?"
"I can't explain it, you just can't. One day, when you are all grown up, you'll leave too." Beth told her.
Joan cried for a long while and then
snuggling closer went straight to sleep in Beth's arms.
Beth carried her to bed and climbed into her bed one last time. She shared a bed with Martina. Martina was asleep. Beth glanced around the room at her sisters and thought about her brothers too. Jacob was old enough to understand it, but she was sure he didn't approve of it. The enormity of what she was doing closed in on her.
Tomorrow…nothing would be the same again!
Chapter Six
The church bell could be heard for miles around. Beth's stomach rumbled. As she fingered the soft material of her wedding dress, her hands shook. Did she really know what she was doing? Was she ready for this? A million questions danced in her head at once. But Wade's sweet and tender kisses told Beth to be still.
Talking about this day was one thing, but now that it was here, her nerves were frazzled.
Martina helped her dress, and her mother helped when she finished the morning dishes.
Martina helped her with her hair, putting it up and surrounding it with small baby breath flowers, and the thin veil.
Beth stared at herself in the mirror. Her mouth fell open, because today, she looked like a woman. What a change! She wasn't a child any longer, and today she'd be leaving that childhood behind. It was startling to stare into that mirror and seeing the change that had come over her. How had it happened so quickly? How could she go from play acting one minute to getting married all in a week? And yet the face that stared at her in the mirror was the face of a woman, not a child.
"You look beautiful, my darling." Her mother murmured, as a tear came to her eye. "I'm going to miss you."
"Oh Mama, let's not talk of it now. I don't want to cry."
Her mother nodded and brushed the tears from her eyes.
"The dress fits nicely, Mama." Beth told her as she slipped it over her head and adjusted it. Martina buttoned it for her in the back.
"It's so beautiful," Martina murmured.
"So, ready for your big day?" Her mother asked, as she stared at her in the mirror.
"I-I don't know. Up until now I was, but now that it's really here, I'm shaking like a leaf, Mama." Beth cried.
"It's natural, all girls do when they get married, even the men shake."
"They do?" Beth and Martina looked at each other.
"Of course, you just never hear them talk about it, until years later, when they recall it, with a sense of humor." Her mother laughed. "Well, the wagon is ready, and the church bell is ringing, we better go now."
Beth glanced around the old farmhouse, memories flashed in her mind at all the good times. Times she hadn't known were good times too. Like when Martina flushed a rat out of the barn and beat it to death with a broom. When her Ma got sick and her and Martina stood watch by her bedside day and night until she was better. When their father brought a huge watermelon inside on one of the hottest days in Texas and busted it open for all to enjoy.
So many good times.
Beth sighed heavily, her life would change completely today, and even though she had settled it in her mind, it didn't stop her from worrying. This was her old life and she was headed for a brand new life, and it scared the daylights out of her. It was the unexpected she feared most. The what if's.
What would her new life be like? She'd never lived or even been on a riverboat. She had to wonder about his mother too.
But with a brave resolve, she swallowed hard and determined she would make the best of it. She was entering into the adult world today, and she would face it with dignity and courage.
They rode to the church with the kids chattering.
There was a regular service, and then the wedding would begin. Beth and Martina were in one of the back rooms, waiting for the moment.
The room was used for just this occasion. There was a long mirror, and a dressing table too. Martina was her maid of honor and Joan and Janet would spread the flowers down the aisle.
