Sentence of Marriage Read Online Free Page B

put her hand on Lizzie’s arm and looked into her eyes, trying to make her down-to-earth cousin understand, ‘it’s not enough.’
    ‘What’s not enough?’
    ‘All this.’ Amy gave a wide sweep of her arm, taking in not merely the house but the whole valley. ‘Spending all my life in this little place, looking after Pa then getting married and having lots of babies, never seeing anywhere else, never learning anything interesting. Miss Evans says I could be a good teacher. I want to do something useful, not just cooking and cleaning and looking after babies.’
    ‘That’s useful enough, isn’t it?’
    ‘Not for me . Oh, never mind. You know what you want, just let me want something different.’
    ‘You don’t want it really,’ said Lizzie. ‘Just think of all the old maids there must be, stuck at home being bossed around all their lives and everyone making fun of them. That’s why I don’t want to leave it too late.’
    ‘Who ever bossed you around?’
    ‘Pa does sometimes. Ma tries to, when she thinks of it.’
    ‘I expect husbands can be pretty bossy. And I think there could be worse things than not getting married.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘Like marrying the wrong person. Imagine being stuck forever with someone horrible.’ Amy gave a shudder. ‘I’d much sooner be an old maid.’
    Lizzie slid the tray into the range and shut the door. ‘That’s why you’ve got to be careful picking a husband. I wouldn’t want a bossy one.’
    ‘Mmm, I can’t really imagine Frank telling anyone what to do—especially someone like you. I don’t know how you do it, though.’
    ‘Do what?’
    ‘Make a spectacle of yourself like you did today, and not get embarrassed.’
    ‘Why should I be embarrassed? And I did not make a spectacle of myself! I was just being friendly.’
    ‘I suppose you’d call it being “friendly” to propose to a man if he was a bit slow off the mark?’
    ‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t do that… well, not unless I really had to,’ Lizzie answered, so seriously that Amy could not help laughing.
    ‘You’re dreadful!’
    ‘No I’m not,’ Lizzie said. ‘I just know what I want.’
    ‘And you don’t care what anyone thinks of you?’
    ‘Not really. Why should I?’
    Amy thought there should be an answer to that, but she could not think of one.
     
     

2
     
     
    August – September 1881
    Jack went off to Auckland, and the house felt empty without him.
    It was the quietest time of the year on the farm. There were only three or four cows to milk, just enough to supply the household with milk and butter. Now that she was no longer working at the school, Amy found herself with more time on her hands than she had had for months. She often brought a book from her bedroom out to the cosy kitchen to lose herself in when there was nothing she had to do.
    On the first fine morning after several days of rain, Amy felt drawn to more solid company than that provided by books. When she had tidied the kitchen, she went outside to catch up with her brothers who had gone to feed out hay to the cows.
    John and Harry had harnessed one of the horses to the sled. It was a rough wooden vehicle with iron runners, made to slip easily across the soft ground of the paddocks where a cart might have foundered in the mud. They put two hay forks on the sled and the three of them took it down to the largest stack, secure behind its fence. Amy laughed to see the cows lined up along the fences, watching them as they passed.
    ‘You won’t have to wait much longer, girls,’ she called.
    She walked around the haystack, waving her arms and clapping her gloved hands in an attempt to keep warm, while her brothers pitched hay onto the sled. Frost crunched under her booted feet. The air was crisp, making Amy’s face tingle, and the sky had a clarity to it that only appeared on winter days. She had spent too much time indoors these last few months, Amy realised.
    The cows snorted with excitement and rushed up to the gate