Madra woke up the next morning and smiled to herself at the sunlight
streaming through the window. Then
she remembered that she was being forced to marry someone that she didn’t even
know. There was already a damper on
her day. She decided to stay in bed
until she was forced to get up. Not
fifteen minutes latter, her mammy came into the room.
“Get yourself out of that bed child. It’s a new day and there’s a lot of stuff to be done for that wedding of yours.”
“Don’t remind me.” Madra replied, but got out of bed like she was told. Being too difficult would only bring on the wrath of her mother and father. She would do what she absolutely had to, but that didn’t mean that she had to like it or be happy about it. She soon learned that her mother had already employed seamstresses to make alterations to her own wedding dress, which Madra would be wearing. It was taken out of the trunk in the attic and hung outside to air out. The seamstresses spent the rest of the morning measuring every inch and then some of Madra’s body. She got a short break for lunch, and then it was back to work. They packed some of her things so that she and her mother could make a trip to Atlanta the next day to find china.
“You have a visitor Miss Madra.” One of the servants came upstairs to announce.
Madra went down the stairs, not really caring about how she looked because she was tired already and it wasn’t even two in the afternoon. When she got to the bottom, she saw Lance standing in the foyer looking at a painting her father had made of the family a few years ago. “Oh, it’s you.” She said unexcitedly.
“Well hello to you too.” He replied, not the least bit daunted by her attitude. “Would you like to take a short walk with me?”
“Not really, but do I have that much of a choice?”
She was even more irritated by his cheery demeanor.
He didn’t seem to have the slightest bit of problem with what was going
on. ‘Well of course he won’t,
he’s a man.’ She told herself.
Once again, Lance didn’t take offense to her attitude. He just started walking and assumed that she would follow him, which she did. ‘Well, that’s a start.’ He thought. He didn’t know why she was being so hostile towards him. It wasn’t like he had made this happen. It was partly his fault, but she had a part in it too. He didn’t make her come out on the grounds that night, she’d come because she’d wanted to. Or because she was curious. All he knew that that her father was extremely irritated when he’d confronted Lance about it the previous evening. He was going to try to make the best of the situation and hope that she eventually warmed up to him again.
They walked down by the creek again.
Lance stopped and leaned against a tree trunk.
He observed Madra. She was
definitely upset with him. Her
stance said it all. She stood stiff
as a board, with her arms crossed. “Do
you really have to be so hateful towards me?
We ARE getting married in a couple of weeks you know.”
She turned to him, her eyes flashing. “Yes, thank you. I DO know that and I’m not at all happy about it. I didn’t want to be forced into marriage and had done a good job avoiding that until you came along and ruined everything.” She retorted. “You, on the other hand, seem quite pleased with yourself. And why shouldn’t you be? My father has the biggest plantation in this county, maybe even the state. You’re marrying into money.”
Lance had finally had enough of her attitude.
“I don’t care about the money Madra.
And you were nice enough to me before your father decided that he was
going to force us to get married. I
like you, I’ll admit that. But I
made no secret of that when I came to visit yesterday.
As far as being pleased with myself, I hadn’t planned on this
happening. I hadn’t even planned
on ever getting married if you must know. But
I don’t want to see your reputation tarnished any more that your father
does.” His tone had a bite to it.
He thought that she was being completely out of line by acting hateful
towards him and he hoped that he made her understand that with his little
speech.
Madra looked at him wide eyed. At least she’d gotten a reaction out of him. And she wasn’t about to admit that she liked him. That he stirred her blood. That would hurt her pride since she was in this position. “Whatever you say.” She replied concomitantly. She stared off at the fields in silence.
Lance watched her. She was prideful. That was one thing he already knew for sure. She wasn’t going to make anything the slightest bit easy on him. After standing there for a few minutes, it was clear that she wasn’t going to say more at the time. He wasn’t going to push her. He knew that he wasn’t imagining things before. There was a spark between them. It couldn’t be denied and in time, everything would work itself out. The wedding date had been set for two weeks down the road and everybody had a lot to, including Lance himself. He had to employ new servants for his house in Charleston to make it livable again. It was going to be hard living there after what had happened, but he had to give Madra a proper home to preside as mistress of. “I guess we should be getting back.” He stated quietly and began the short walk back to the house.
Despite her inner protests, Madra’s heart went out to him. She knew that it wasn’t anymore his fault than it was hers. The events were out of their control and she realized that he was trying to make the best of a bad situation. But she’d already stated her position in the whole deal and she wasn’t about to back down now. She followed his lead back to the house.
~*~ 2 weeks later ~*~
For all her griping and complaining, Madra was nervous on her wedding day. Even though she’d vowed not to, she’d grown to like Lance more and more over the past couple of weeks. He had a million things to do to prepare for the wedding, but he came to see her everyday. She tried to tell herself that it was just to give the proper impression of courtship, but she knew in her heart that it was more than that. Yet she still refused to show any feelings for him. She wasn’t hateful anymore, but she didn’t go out of her way to be nice either. She also made sure that her father knew she was unhappy about being forced into marriage. Of course, none of that made any difference in the situation. She was still getting married today, whether she liked it or not.
Lance was stationed in one of the guest rooms at the Carlson plantation. He couldn’t believe that he was getting married today. Not after all these years of avoiding any kind of relationship. But today was the day and he couldn’t let his nervousness show to any of the guests, or more importantly, to Madra. He had noticed her change in demeanor over the past two weeks. She was more civil to him, but not overly nice. It was her only means of rebellion and protest and he understood that. He only hoped that she would warm up to him eventually. He refused to live a life without love. And he believed and hoped that in time they could love each other very deeply. He was pretty confident of that fact. Every since the first time he had seen her, he’d felt a stirring deep inside. That wasn’t something to be brushed off lightly. There had to be a reason for it.
“Mr. Bass, it’s time.” His main servant informed him.
“Thank you Lester.” Lance checked his reflection one more time in the antique mirror and went to stand at the altar with the priest.
“Madra. Honey, it’s time. Your father is waiting outside to walk you down the aisle.” Her mother kissed her on the cheek and went out to take her place in the front row.
Madra walked outside her room and meet her father with a grim face. It was more out of nervousness than anything else though.
“Madra dear. You aren’t
still upset with me over this whole thing are you?”
Her father implored. “I’m
only looking out for you, you know. I
couldn’t have one of my daughters’ reputations soiled.
I’d have done the same thing to either one of your sisters, and may
have to sometime down the road. Please
understand.”
She looked at her father’s pleading expression and softened. “I understand Daddy. I just don’t agree with some of it is all.” She assured him. He smiled at her then and seemed relieved. It was as if a great weight had been taken off his shoulders.
“Are you ready then?” He asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She replied and took his arm. He signaled to the servant waiting at the bottom of the stairs and the music began to play moments after. Madra took a deep breath and began the walk with her father. She used his arm for support because she was afraid that she would faint. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they made the turn to go outside where the ceremony was being held. There was a red velvet rug to walk on so that Madra wouldn’t soil her dress. She looked at Lance standing with the priest and sucked in her breath. She admitted only to herself that he looked very dashing in his suit. At that moment, she wasn’t at all ashamed to be marrying such a man. ‘Well, here goes nothing.’ She thought as her father handed her over.
Chapter 7