Rud and the Damsel

Chapter 31 - Patience Says Yes

Ollie said he did not care, but Martha cut him off. She told Ollie after her mother died, her father had come into her room one night. At first, it was innocent enough, but soon, he was touching her breasts.

Martha did not spare any words as he needed to hear it all. Her father pinned her down, removed her nightgown, and with his hand over her mouth so she could not scream, had raped her.

With her mother gone, she had no one to protect her and nowhere to go to get away from her father. He said if she ran away or told anyone, he would do the same to Alice.

Her father came back to her room many times. She always fought him, but he was too strong. She never told anyone. Her half-brother, encouraged by her father, had done the same when he arrived home from prison. Only when her father started paying attention to Alice did she find the courage to run away to Bessie's house.

Martha explained, "Whenever father came looking for us, Bessie would hide us. But father must have known we were here because this time he brought our brother and the other men to take both of us back. He said that when he took us back to the city, he would make us prostitutes. If it were not for you and Rud, we would be back in the city now. I will be eternally grateful for you defending me in the hayfield, and you gave me the greatest gift when you killed my father. But someone like you could never love someone like me, and I never want to see you hurt."

Martha did not cry. She had already resigned herself to being alone. Alice was safe, and that would be her happiness. Ollie looked at her with kind eyes and said, "Is that what your father meant?" Martha replied, "Yes." Now tears welled up in her eyes.

Ollie continued, "When he said that to you, I knew he did not deserve to live, and I stuck him again as hard as I could. I am even happier now I know what a despicable person he was."

"Martha," Ollie continued, "do you want me to go?" Martha responded, "Yes," as tears started to fall. "You are too good a man for someone like me. Your grandmother knows it too."

Ollie told Martha his grandmother did not tell him who he wanted, and if he came to love her, his grandmother would too. "Martha," Ollie said, "What happened to you was not your fault. You are wanted, and any man would be fortunate to have you as his wife."

Ollie softly put his hands on Martha's arms and said, "Look at me, Martha. You are a wonderful, beautiful person. Do not let your father's twisted cruelty ruin your life any more than he has. He is gone, and so is that part of your life. You had no choice then, but you do now. You can start your life anew."

Martha looked into his eyes and knew Ollie meant what he was saying. She put her head against his chest and cried. Ollie did his best to comfort her. After a few minutes, he held her away from him so he could look into her eyes.

Ollie asked again, "Do you want me to go?" Martha, feeling hope again for the first time in a very long time, said, "No, I want you to stay." Ollie wrapped her in his arms as her tears soaked into his shirt.

* * * * *

"Ollie?" it was Charlotte. She had come out on the porch, and although she could not hear all of what was said knew Martha must be telling him. "Did she tell you?" Charlotte asked. Ollie moved Martha to his side away from Charlotte. It was his nature to protect and, right now, Martha needed his protection. Martha buried her face into Ollie's side.

Ollie said, "Yes, Grandmother, she told me all about what her father had done." Charlotte looked at her grandson and said, "What are you going to do?" Ollie responded, "I am going to be her friend for now and show her what a wonderful person she is. If it becomes more, if it becomes love and she will have me, I will marry her." Ollie's tone of voice told Charlotte he meant every word.

Charlotte walked over to Ollie, put her hand on his arm and said, "Good. If you had left this poor girl here, I would have disowned you. Now get out of the way."

Charlotte pried Martha away from Ollie, wiped Martha's tears with her kerchief, and put her arm around her. Martha did not know what to make of this. Charlotte said, "Come with me, my dear. You will come home with me tonight. I just had a guest leave today, so there is plenty of room."

Charlotte looked back at Ollie and said, "Ollie, you are sleeping in the barn tonight."

Charlotte continued, "I was afraid you would not tell Ollie about your father, and that was my reservation about you two. Until you faced what happened and trusted Ollie with your secret, I wasn't sure you would ever recover from it. You will be alright now. Ollie is a good man, has a good heart, and would be the last to judge another. But he needed to hear it from you rather than what he might hear from others. Don't worry about Ollie. When he makes up his mind, there is no changing it. The stories I could tell you about him. We'll have a nice long talk tonight, just you and me."

Ollie was left standing in the road, wondering what just happened. If Rud had been there, he would have told Ollie to get used to not knowing what is going on with women most of the time. Ollie slowly walked back to Bessie's house following Charlotte and Martha. He stopped and said out loud, "Why do I have to sleep in the barn?"