XIV

The plaintive amblings of a waltz from Strangetown drifted in through the windows where Bright Marin had opened the drapes but left drawn the sheers, which wafted in a dry breeze. It was the hottest day of June. Bonwit poured a scotch and watched her recline into the couch. She uncoiled her shawl and she touched her neck, which glistened. It had been a long night of dancing at the Loyal League fundraiser for freedmen. They were both drunk and had ridden his red landau back to the Nickajack Hotel on Clinton Street. He moved towards her and dropped into the couch beside. A marihuana cigarillo was crushed out in an ashtray on the coffee table. He turned to her and took her in with his eyes. Her hair was lush and raven. Her eyes hazel. Her skin olive.

 
He wanted her. But not like that. He plotted deeper than that. Is this pragmatism? It feels like love. Why don't we get married?

 
She burst into laughter. I'm not going to marry you!

 
Why not? He looked hurt.

 
Her smile brightened. I’m having too much fun with you! Besides, I've been married before, and withdrew her body in mock timidly.

He knew now he wanted to marry her.

Ahh yes. You know everyone thinks you poisoned him, he said without invective. She pursed her lips and shrugged.

 
There was silence. Did you love him, he asked?

 
The question took her aback for a moment but her smile grew tender. She thought carefully about it. Yes, she said. Bonwit said nothing. He knew Dr. Marin was forty years her senior.

 
How did you come to marry him, he asked intrepidly?

 
She paused, keeping her smile.

Another life was recalled from the recesses of her memory and she related it to him - of how she was a bastard of her Cherokee mother and a white merchant. Of how gold was discovered in Georgia and they were all roused from their homesteads by soldiers. They were given an hour's notice to pack their belongings for the trek to lands beyond the Father of Waters. The roads were already flooded with Cherokee moving West as though the menace of an evil consumed the lands in their wake. They journeyed through the Nickajack following the river. Food was scarce. They were bilked by white settlers and merchants at every step. When her mother perished beside the road, her stepfather abandoned her into the ward of Dr. Marin as an unwanted half breed.

 
Dr. Marin was a bachelor and a physician in Athens of significant wealth. He took her in. He educated her. He read the Bible to her. And she told how she walked into his room disrobed and made love to him when she had come of age, because she thought she loved him. And he asked her to marry him. And she did, not really with understanding. And she was loyal to his last day. And she reflected again that yes, she loved Dr. Marin.

When she had finished she saw that The Major had fallen asleep.

 
She leaned into Bonwit and ran her slender fingers through his reddish-brown hair. She watched him this time. And when she was finished, she leaned into him and kissed him wistfully. She knew now that she was going to spend the rest of her life with him.