She looked back down at the table as if she were drowning in shame.
“Look at me.” She quickly obeyed. Her brown eyes so big, so sad, so scared. “Is this what you want?”
Birdie looked at Jeremiah for him to speak, when he didn’t, she whispered, “It’s what needs to happen. My pa has done some awful things.” Her voice hitched. “If he knew this was the plan, and I was here, he would beat me until I died. He is a bad man.”
Ma got up and wrapped her arms around Birdie’s small frame, kissing her gently on the forehead. “Yes, he is, child. But we ain’t going to let him hurt you again.”
“I don’t want to put you both out, but I have nowhere else to go. I swear I will earn my keep. I’m a hard worker and will do whatever you say,” Birdie said…actually damn near pleaded.
“Hush now, girl,” Ma chastised. “You ain’t putting no one out. Rem and I offered our home to you even before we heard of this whole mess.”
“How long are you going to be gone?” Rem asked, fighting back the urge to go hug Birdie himself and reassure her that no one will harm her again.
“Hard to say, but I can rest easy knowing you both will watch over her until I return.”
Rem stood and extended his hand. “I give you my word that she will be cared for and watched over.”
Jeremiah studied Rem for a moment, looked over at Birdie, then back at Rem before speaking. “I feel I need to clarify some things to you. From one man to another. I plan on marrying Birdie.”
“You said that.”
“I plan on marrying Birdie, but not for the reasons you think. I don’t love her…well at least not like a man loves a woman.”
Rem studied the man before him, not grasping what he meant.
Jeremiah cleared his throat. “My interests are with another, but marriage isn’t an option.” He cleared his throat again, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “What I’m trying to say, Rem, is that if you got feelings for the girl—”
“What makes you think I got feelings?” Rem interrupted, embarrassed to be called out like this in front of the women, and not being able to even cast a look at Birdie.
“Plain as day,” his traitorous ma interjected.
“I’m concerned about a sweet girl who has been handed a raw deal in life.”
Jeremiah nodded and smirked, kicking at something imaginary beneath him. “Fair enough. Well…let’s just say if the day came you ever decided that you did indeed care for the girl more than just as charity, I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to take my place in offering her a hand in marriage.”
Jeremiah’s words punched Rem in the gut harder than his delicate hands could have delivered. “Mister, I’m not sure what you are getting at. I sure as hell don’t know all that is going on. But the one thing I know is that this scared girl needs a strong man to watch over her. If you are sayin’ that you aren’t that man—”
“I’m sayin’ that you may be better at the job. That’s all,” Jeremiah interrupted. “But rest assured, Mr. Langston, if you don’t step up and do right by her, I sure as hell will.”
Rem clinched his fist, not liking the tone Jeremiah was taking. “You do your business, and I will watch over Birdie—”
“Wait!” Ma interrupted. “It’s not a bad idea at all that you marry Birdie.” She put up her hands when both Birdie and Rem went to protest. “Now, before you all start fighting me on this, it really is the only way. It ain’t proper to have an unwed woman living here. Some will find it sinful. And the bigger issue is Birdie’s pa. The minute he finds out that his daughter is living here, he will come and demand her to return home. He has every right to do so.”
“Unless she belongs to you as your wife,” Jeremiah added. “He’d have no claim on her anymore.”
“And tomorrow is the Valentine’s Dove Festival. Several couples are finding their mate tomorrow, as is tradition.”
Rem knew of this festival, and always found it to be no concern of his. Once a year, the community gathered around the church, and single women were matched up with single men to be wed under the dove arch. It was believed that being united on Valentine’s Day, as was the day so many birds found their mates for the upcoming breeding season, was a sure way to guarantee a long and healthy marriage. The union was to be blessed, and any new marriage formed on this day would be prosperous.
“So you think I should take Birdie to the festival and marry her?” Even though the idea was ridiculous, and he wondered if his ma had lost her mind, he couldn’t necessarily object to the idea.