Eliza
The door opened to my room slowly. I lay on my bed with one of the many books I own in my hands. I don't turn around to see it is for I know who it is. My mother.
“Time to get up and moving, sweetie. Today's your big day,” my mother reminds me. “Today's your weddin’ day. You gotta get ready in less than seven hours. Think you can do that?”
“Okay,” I say dreadfully. “I'll be out in a few minutes.”
“Oh don't be so dramatic, Elizabeth. Get up, make your bed, and brush out your tangled mess,” she orders. “I'll be back in ten minutes. And if you're not ready, I'll force you down that aisle myself.”
°°°
Leroy
“Son,” my father calls through my door. He knocks. “It's time to go. You have your suit on, son?”
“Yes, sir. You can come in.”
He comes through and closes my bedroom door behind him. My father claps me on my shoulder. “You're marrying a wonderful young lady, Lee. She's going to be a great addition to the family.”
“How is this great?” I ask him. “She's doing this whole thing against her will. And besides… what if she doesn't come to love me? And what if I don't fall in love with her? Like you said?”
“Trust me, son. You and her will fall for each other. When you see her walking down the aisle, you'll fall in love with every aspect her.”
°°°
Jack
“Jack, please! If you do this, you'll be going to the Gallows! And then they'll find out our secret. Please, don't do this,” she pleads. “They'll claim that we are witches and warlocks if we don't die.”
I look her in the eye. “There's something between her and me, I can feel it, Mama. I just know it.”
“But what if you're wrong? What if she ends up with Jack and she doesn't drink that bottle of water and screw everything up?!” Andy shouts, complaining like a big old baby. “What if we have to run away for the next eighty years because it's all your FAULT?!”
“Andy, calm down, boy.” My father looks at me. “And your brother is right...for once. What if you are wrong about this girl?”
I the on one of my ties. A brown one. “Well, at least I can say goodbye before we have to leave.”
°°°
Eliza
I'm at the wedding chapel, waiting for my father to knock on the door so that he can tell me it's finally time to go. I wanted to get this over with. My father giving me away, me marrying Leroy. I wanted it all to be over already so I wouldn't have to bear with it any longer.
Then someone knocks on my door. I turn around to see a maid not much older than me. “Someone's here to see you, miss.”
“Who is it?” I ask curiously.
I see with my own two eyes that it's Jack. He's in an old suit with a little brown tie. “It's me, Eliza, dear.”
I smile so big and I jump into his arms. “Oh Jack,” I softly whispered. “What are you doing here? My mother and father will try to kill you if they see that you're here.”
His eyes look downcast, and away from my face as he lets me go out of his strong and warm embrace. “Eliza, I broke my promise to you.”
“It's okay.”
He takes a look at me in my wedding gown and so I decided to twirl for him. His eyes gleam as his face turns to beat red. “You look beautiful. I hope the man your marrying knows that. If not, I'd say he's blind as a bat I do not see your beauty.”
I look myself in the mirror turning a deep red, blushing. “Thank you.”
“Your welcome.” He pulls me into another embrace and we stand their quietly, not moving a single inch. The world around us disappears as we focus on ourselves for the little time we have left together as free people. When a knock comes on the door from the maid again, she snaps me back into reality. I reminded myself that I have no possible future with him. I was marrying someone else and I couldn't be seen with him alone.
“It's time, miss,” the young maid says. “Your father is waiting for you at the end of the hall.”
I painfully and slowly pull myself away from Jack. “I have to go,” I tell him. I pick up my dress so it doesn't drag on the ground and I go over to the door. “If I'm not out there soon, they'll think I ran off.”
“Okay,” he says quietly. Jack comes towards me again. “Just let me do one thing, though.”
I smirk. “And what's that?”
Jack leans down and stops just inches away from my face. “This,” he whispers. And then he finally leans down and brings his soft lips down to mine. It feels like a lifetime and yet I knew it was only a few minutes. And then he pulled away. “Now go,” he whispers pleadingly with tears in his eyes. “Go and be a good girl and remember me.”
°°°
Leroy
I knew she was coming when I saw the guest stand up. The pianist plays "Here Comes the Bride" as Eliza and her father walks down the aisle. She looked like an angel. A month ago, I wouldn't have said such a thing but it seems that I have changed my mind.
She looks up at me with the kindest and most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. I smile at her. I knew that she was doing this against her will and anxiously waiting for this to be over with. I wish this was under different circumstances so she would be at least a bit happier. When she was finally given to me, I was smiling over a mile wide. Everyone sat down and I saw our families sitting together, smiling like they just made the best purchase they've ever made.
Everyone goes quiet as we face the minister. “We are gathered here today to join these two together in holy matrimony.” He looks out to the crowd. “Does anybody object to this union?” There was not a peep. “Okay. Do you, Leroy Cole Williamson, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To treasure and to hold, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?”
I don't hesitate to say those two perfect words. “I do.”
He then looks at Eliza. “And do you, Elizabeth Realia Redford, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To treasure and to hold, in sickness and in health, and to obey for as long as you both shall live?”
She looks at her parents and they nod encouragingly. “I do.”
The minister smiles. “I now pronounce you man and wife.” He looks back at me. Eliza looks nervous. “Leroy. You may kiss your bride.”
I lean down to kiss her when-
“Wait!” a young man shouts from the back. Everyone looks back at him. I see a young man in a ratty brown suit.
Eliza mother stands up and calls to the sheriff. “This man raped my daughter, sheriff! Arrest him!” After that, all I can hear is Eliza shrieking as they pull this poor man out to the gallows.
°°°
Eliza
They drag Jack away as I plead the sheriff and the deputy to not do so. His family, I knew, would want him to escape immediately. Leroy tried to comfort me. He was a good husband but he knew that I had to get Jack out of the gallows for me to feel any better.
“I'm going on a ride,” I tell him as I leave my house. “I'll be back soon.” He doesn't say anything as I climb onto my new horse, a wedding present from Leroy. Her name was Bella Rosa. She had weird black spots on her rump which made her even more beautiful.
“Let's go, Bella.”
°°°
I remembered most of the way to the Linden's small home and made out the rest of it by things Jack had shown me as markers his family uses for their way back. When I reached them, they were rushing out their front door. According to their expressions, they were surprised to see me. No doubt they were shocked by the idea that the girl that their son was infatuated with came to them, even if she was a married woman.
“Congratulations on your marriage, Mrs. Williamson,” they all say.
Quickly, I tell them what happened. “Your son is in jail. We need to rescue him. He's going to hang at the gallows in the morning. We need to make a plan,” I say. “And quick.”
They all look at me like they wanted me dead. They wanted me gone, not apart of their world. Andy speaks first. “What do you mean ‘we?’ Don't you mean you? You're the one that got us into this mess. You have to fix this.” He stares at me cold-heartedly. “You put him there all because he fell in love with you.”
His mother, Carla, his father, Lyell, and Andy look into each other's eyes. “Alright. Fine, but you and Andy have to the outside and keep watch. Carla and I will go get him from the gallows.”
“Okay. Okay,” I say. “Let's do this.”