Sarah's Promise (35 page)
“Your brothers need prayer,” he told me. “Willy’s already a drinker, and Kirk was an awful drunk when I met him overseas. He might still be if he didn’t have younger brothers and a sister on the farm. And Harry’s not far behind.”
Pa’s legacy. Lord help us. Hadn’t they learned? The war’d been hard. I couldn’t fault Kirk and Willy for struggling then. But I prayed it wouldn’t go on. And Harry. He well oughta know. He’d seen Pa’s last days and what a wasted wretch he’d become. I felt awful bad about all that and spent a lot of the next day praying for my family, including Rorey and Eugene.
They’d took a trip into Mt. Vernon and was supposed to be back Saturday for our wedding, but now we didn’t know what to expect.
We’d decided months ago to have my three oldest brothers plus Robert as groomsmen, and let Harry and Bert usher. And all three of my sisters, plus Katie, were supposed to be bridesmaids. Then we learned Robert couldn’t come, so we’d put Harry in his place and decided to let Sam’s oldest son Georgie be another usher, even though he was only ten. But what would we do if Rorey didn’t show up?
Harry and Willy were banged up from the fight. Only two more days to our wedding, and things weren’t lookin’ exactly pretty. Sarah was something of a nervous wreck. It didn’t help that the lady who was supposed to make our cake had to leave suddenly for Marion because of a family emergency. Thank the Lord for Bonnie Gray, my old Sunday school teacher and Robert’s mother-in-law, who said she’d gladly do the cake for us.
The pastor came out to see us twice. He’d come to talk to Rorey and Eugene before their wedding too, but Eugene didn’t make himself available for any more conversation than necessary. Seemed like Pastor Jones had more on his mind than me and Sarah now, though. I think he talked to everybody, especially my hardheaded brothers. Willy wasn’t sorry for the trouble he’d caused, refusing even to acknowledge that he’d started anything. And Harry and Kirk weren’t sorry for their parts either. They were only standing up for family, the way they saw it. Never mind that Eugene was family now too. They didn’t care if he ever came around. And they didn’t seem to realize what a spot that would put Rorey in.
The Turrey family had a awful reputation in our area, even though a former sheriff was related to them. There were a lot of Turreys, and most of the boys had caused their share of trouble. But I loved my sister, foolish as she could be at times, and we wanted her at our wedding. So I decided to go visiting, to Eugene’s folks, because maybe they knew where he and Rorey had gone. Maybe they could get word to them to let them know how much we wanted them to be there on Saturday.
I was gonna go alone ’cause Sarah was so busy with things. And I knew if I took any of my brothers that two or more Hammond boys showing up on the Turrey doorstep might look like a threat and end up causin’ more trouble. But when I was fixin’ to leave, Lizbeth was wise enough to realize I had something in mind, and she made me tell her what I was up to.
“Don’t be crazy,” she said immediately. “You do
not
go alone, Frank Hammond. They’ll cream you but good, just for the chance to pay us back for the ruckus at the reception. I wouldn’t put it past them to try to do something to cause trouble for your wedding too. And the chance to bust up the groom might be too good to pass up.”
I shook my head. “What do you suggest, then? I wanna get word to Rorey. I’m sorry even if Willy isn’t.”
“I’m sorry too.” She was thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe I’d better come with you. They’re not so likely to think of fighting with a woman along.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the idea, but she was insistent. And she wasn’t the only one. When she asked Emmie to watch Mary Jane while we were gone, Emmie wanted to give Thelma or Katie that job and come with us. “Both of Rorey’s sisters,” she said. “That ought to tell them something.”
I didn’t know if they were right about this, but I let them have their way. We drove to the Turreys’ in my truck, and Lizbeth quickly took charge. “Don’t you get out first,” she told me. “Let me go to the door.”
She did, with Emmie a little ways behind her. But I wasn’t about to just sit in the truck, so I got out and followed them. Eugene’s brother Clem was the one to open the door, and when I saw his eyes I knew Lizbeth’d been right about me not coming alone. He looked right past the girls and straight at me.
“What do you want?”
Lizbeth answered quick. “We’d like to get a message to Rorey and Eugene, if you know where they’re staying in Mt. Vernon.”
“Don’t even be thinkin’ you’re gonna bust up a honeymoon! I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’!” Looking fiery, he was about to slam the door, but Lizbeth was bold enough to step up and get herself in the way of it.
“You don’t have to. Just if you know how, send them word for us. Will you do that, please?”
“Why should I?” He was looking at her a little differently. His brother Edwin and sister Rose came up behind him. I was glad to see Rose. She was a quiet girl, a lot slower to get riled than her brothers. She always had a sad look in her eyes.
“We want them to know how sorry we are for the trouble,” Lizbeth explained. “Willy got out of hand, and we should’ve known not to leave him in a drinking environment. He doesn’t handle it well. Kirk and Harry thought he was in danger with all of you there, but they should’ve just pulled him out of the fight and apologized.”
“They was doin’ what they could to bust heads,” Clem protested. “Oughta see Eugene. He’s black and blue. And he ain’t gonna want no message from Hammonds. Rorey neither. She’s had all she wants a’ you.”
“We’re real sorry,” Emmie said with tears in her eyes. “We love our sister.”
“Funny way a’ showin’ it.”
“We’d like the chance to apologize in person,” I said then. “Sarah and I really want them to be at our wedding.”
“Why? So your sturdy brothers can light into Eugene again? Only reason you don’t fight is you’re lame and weak.”
“No.” I shook my head, almost wishin’ word had got around what I’d done with Donald Mueller. “That’s not the only reason. What happened at the reception wasn’t right. Like Lizbeth said, we shoulda known not to leave ’em there. They don’t handle things the best sometimes.”
“Like your pa?” he asked with such venom in his voice that the words were like a blow. I felt them deep in my gut.
“In a small way, maybe. But I pray they learnt their lesson. Please let Rorey know how sorry the rest of us is and how bad we want them to be there Saturday.”
“Do you really want Eugene to come? Or just Rorey?” It was Rose asking, and the sadness in her eyes seemed twice as sad as usual.
“Shut up,” Edwin said behind her. “’Course they don’t want him. It’s just words to look good.”
“No. I’m serious.”
For some reason Rose’s eyes filled with tears. I thought of everything I’d heard about the Turreys lately. Their father and an older brother were in jail. Another brother’s wife had left him, taking their children far away. Two sisters were estranged from the family, and their mother was in poor health. I remembered Rose from our school days, painful shy, the brunt of her brothers’ teasing every bit as much as I was.
“I want you all to be there,” I told her suddenly. “I mean it. Your whole family, ’cause you’re part a’ ours now. Tell Rorey and Eugene we’d like them to be there, and the whole family’s invited. Please come.”
“Are you tryin’ to show ’em up?” Edwin asked with a quizzical expression. “Is that what it is? Make ’em see that you got a fancier wedding?”
“No. I just wanna include everybody.”
Emmie looked a little scared, and I wondered what Sarah Jean was going to think. The whole Turrey clan? Was I asking for trouble? Sittin’ some of these characters next to my hothead brothers in the close quarters of the church? Lord, have mercy. I didn’t pray this through before speaking, and I sure hoped I wasn’t gonna be sorry.
Clem smiled. “You want us there?”
“If you can respect that it’s all to be held in a church,” Lizbeth added quickly, giving me a sideways glance. “Everybody’s got to respect the house of God. And that includes Willy and the rest of my brothers.”
“You think you can keep ’em in line?”
“I will or they’ll know what for,” Lizbeth said. “If I’d stayed late there never would’ve been trouble. You can blame it on me. I shouldn’t have left.”
Clem cocked his finger at me. “You can take the blame if you want,” he told Lizbeth. “But it’s this ’un’s idea to get us to his wedding for some reason or ’nother. If we show and there’s trouble, he’ll be the one I come after.”
That was too much for Emmie. She burst into tears. “We don’t want trouble! We’re trying to get rid of the trouble. We just want peace between everybody! We just want everybody to be a happy family.”
Rose got teary too.
“We’ll see,” Clem said ominously, pushed Lizbeth back, and slammed the door.
We all stood quiet for a moment.
“Well,” Lizbeth finally said. “I’m not sure if that went well or not.”
“Nobody’s hurt,” I ventured.
“Let’s pray it stays that way.”
We were almost back to the truck when the door opened again. I turned around warily, not sure what to expect. But it was Rose and her mother coming toward us, both of them crying.
“I’m so sorry too,” Mrs. Turrey said, reaching her large arms in Lizbeth’s direction. “There’s been bad blood between our families ever since that fire . . .”
I thought of Bert and Mr. Wortham both being injured, and all that the fire had cost. Lester’d snuck over in the middle of the night to see Rorey, and the fire was just a foolish accident. He’d been slow to own to it. And some of my brothers were even slower to forgive.
“It’s gone on long enough,” Lizbeth agreed, giving Mrs. Turrey a hug. Rose stood by awkwardly until Lizbeth hugged her too.
I saw Clem watching from a window with a frown on his face, and I prayed for all of them. I couldn’t predict what would happen, but I felt sure I’d done the right thing by offering the invitation. The apostle Paul said that he became all things to all men in order that he might win some. I didn’t know that I’d win anybody, or even succeed at my attempt at peace, but at least it was an effort. And at least Rose and her mother found some relief and peace in that.
Sarah
We’d waited and planned for this wedding. We’d worked so hard. I wanted everything to be just right. Now three of the groomsmen were bruised and one of the bridesmaids might not even come. And if she did—oh, Lord, she might bring her in-laws with her! Eugene’s brothers, some of the meanest people I knew.
Why did Frank have to invite them all? Why couldn’t he have at least asked me first? The church would have little room to spare as it was.
But seating was not the real concern. I’d despised being around Turrey boys since my first meeting of them, because they never seemed to make it through a day without tormenting someone or causing trouble somewhere. I didn’t want them in my church on my wedding day. Despite all the pious words I might have told Frank if he had thought to ask me, I deeply, truly did not want them. And the more I tried to tell myself that Frank had been right in what he did, the more angry I was at him about it. This was my wedding too! How could he invite a bunch of hooligans who had little interest in us except for finding ways to get back at Hammonds?
They hated Frank. What was he thinking even to go over there? They’d tormented him at school, and kept on tormenting him even when he didn’t go. They had no respect for his kindness. And no respect for his brothers. It seemed all the Turreys wanted was to settle some imaginary score.
Almost eight years had passed since the fire, but the trouble hadn’t quit because they didn’t want it to, plain and simple. And I didn’t want people like that around. I wouldn’t even want Willy around if he weren’t Frank’s brother. At least Kirk and Harry managed to be sensible most of the time. I’d thought Willy was too, but apparently not about this.
Rorey was at the center of this now as much as before. She’d chosen to be with Eugene, but her brothers thought he’d only taken advantage of her broken heart and led her into trouble. I knew their concerns were real. I shared them. Willy had handled things all wrong. But was Frank’s answer the right one? To bring everyone together again? It seemed like the most insane thing we could do, like pinning up a mountain lion with a bull moose and expecting them to get along.
Why didn’t Frank see what a disaster this could be? The most important day of our lives, and he’d gambled it on the behavior of Turreys!
I tried not to show how upset I was. I prayed they wouldn’t come. But an opportunity like this—I knew it would be too much for some of them to pass up. What would they do? Would they have some scheme to disrupt things? Or just wait till the reception and then corner Willy or Frank the way Willy’d done to Eugene?
I had the flowers to work on, but I could scarcely concentrate. I was getting more and more edgy as the time drew closer.
Lord, I know you gave Frank good sense. Why didn’t he use it? I know I’m supposed to trust him, but how can I, when he can make a decision like this?
Like the stab of a knife, fear cut to my insides, tearing my thinking and leaving me with renewed, gaping doubt.
It’s not just this
, my rambling mind started telling me.
Frank didn’t think this through. He just waltzed in without counting the cost, assuming everything would be all right. And it’s the same in Camp Point. He’s taking chances with my well-being as well as his, and not even considering the consequences.
“Lord, help me,” I whispered more than once. “Help all of us.”
Mom knew I had more than just wedding jitters. She acknowledged my disappointment about Robert not being here, and the uncertainty about Rorey, but she never let on that she thought Frank had done anything amiss by his invitation. Maybe the opposite. She’d been praying to get Mrs. Turrey into church, and she said it’d be a blessing if the wedding managed to bring her there for the first time in years.
Mrs. Turrey, fine
, I thought
. It would be all right if it was just her. But she hardly goes anywhere without a son. Or two. Or more.