CHAPTER9
Later that evening when Aunt Grace called her name, Blanche made her way down the stairs. She’d worn her best gown, a purple dress that made her auburn hair glow and her emerald eyes shine.
Mrs. Newton had picked the dress out just for her and she felt honored to wear the beautiful gown.
Nervous, she looked around and saw Jakob and Martin, the two men she’d met earlier this evening. They met her at the bottom of the stairs and she smiled at them.
“Hello,” she said. “It’s good to see you again.”
When she reached the floor, the doctor came over and escorted her to stand by Daisy. Then the other girls came down the stairs until they all were in the same room.
The doctor stood between the men and women.
“Welcome, ladies, we’re so glad you’re here. Tonight is a chance for all of you to get to know one another. The men will tell you who their partner is so you’ll get to know both of the men at once. You have two weeks to make up your mind before we will have a wedding ceremony right here in the house. You’ll marry one man and the other will be your second husband.”
Blanche shook her head. Did he just say they would have two husbands? She glanced at Daisy and then Mary who was standing board straight. The women appeared stunned. So Blanche had not imagined she’d heard him say two husbands.
“Excuse me,” Rose Patton said. “What are you talking about two husbands?”
There was chattering among the women.
The doctor appeared a little shaken.
“In Treasure Falls, there are two husbands for each woman. We have lived this way for many years, due to the shortage of women. This way if one husband is killed, the second man is there to make certain the family is taken care of.”
Hysterical laughter bubbled up within Blanche. Not one man, but two.
Two husbands…
The noise in the room seemed to explode with the women turning to one another and asking if they had been told there would be two husbands.
“Quiet please,” the doctor said.
“I’m sorry, but we were not told this,” Mary said. “We thought we were coming to a place where there was one man for each woman.”
What did you do that was different with two men? Being a rancher, she understood the physical act between a man and a woman, but two? How did that work?
Jesse walked up beside his uncle. “This has been our way since Treasure Falls began for many different reasons. It’s not a bad way to live. You have a legal husband and also a second man who will love and take care of you.”
The women were all gazing at one another, confusion reigning. Should they stay or return to Charleston?
Blanche wasn’t going anywhere. And in some ways, this made her decision so much easier. Now she didn’t have to choose between Martin and Jakob. Now she could have both of them. And that felt kind of lucky.
“Ladies, I’ve lived this way all my life and my husbands have kept me very happy. Sadly, Silas died last year. So, now, it’s just me and the doctor,” Aunt Grace said.
Blanche glanced at Martin and Jakob and smiled. She wanted them to know she was all right with having two husbands. She would sleep with Martin one night, and then the next, she’d sleep with Jakob. This wasn’t a problem at all.
The tension in the room seemed to stifle the party atmosphere that had existed a few moments ago.
“Did the matchmaker not mention this?” Jesse asked.
“No,” Mary said. “I’d like to know more about this way of life. I’d like to talk to Grace in private sometime. We have two weeks before we have to make a decision. I’m willing to consider having two husbands.”
“Me too,” Daisy said.
“I will as well,” Blanche said, looking around to find Martin and Jakob. Jakob winked at her, and a spiral of heat scampered down her spine.
Slowly, the women agreed to learn more, and once again, the atmosphere changed. The atmosphere became happier, and only Alice Burns and Rose Patton seemed upset by the news.
“Well, then, ladies and gentlemen, let’s mingle and get to know one another,” the doctor said smiling.
He moved out of the way just in time as the men came rushing toward the women. Martin and Jakob appeared at her side.
Each man took her elbow.
“That dress is stunning on you,” Martin said as he took hold of her arm. His dark brown eyes were beautiful and staring at her; it almost took her breath away. His nose was straight and his cheekbones were high and defined like he’d been chiseled from granite.
And those full lips had her wondering how his kiss would be. She’d never been kissed. Never. And she was determined that before the night was over, she was going to experience some man’s lips.
Hopefully, it would be Martin’s.
“Thank you,” she said, loving the feel of his fingers on her skin. Warmth spread through her arm.