The next day Charlotte rode next to the driver as they slowly took Rud down the road to Bessie's house. Patience held Rud's hand and did her best to keep Rud comfortable.
The wagon ride was hard on Rud, but they made it. No way was Rud going to make it to their cabin without some of his stitches coming loose and reopening some of his wounds.
True to her word Charlotte's men slid the plank Rud was laying on out of the wagon. They lowered the end with Rud's feet to the ground and pushed Rud upright. Charlotte, with her mischievous smile, whispered to Bessie, "Rud said he wanted to stand before he asked her, now he's standing."
Patience rushed to keep Rud from falling forward, yelling at the men to lower him back down. When they smiled, Patience knew something was up. She looked at Charlotte and Bessie, and they were both smiling too.
Billy had his arm around Alice. Alice looked very excited, but Billy had a serious look on his face. Ollie and Martha were standing on the steps, and Martha was whispering something to Ollie.
Rud moved forward on his own then, with a great deal of pain, fell to one knee. Patience was angry and trying to pull Rud up on her own when Billy came up behind her, grabbed her arms, and pulled her back a step.
Rud was looking up at Patience, and it dawned on her what was happening. Rud took both her hands in his, and Billy felt Patience start to tremble as he let go of her arms. Billy stepped backward to Alice, who wrapped her arms around him as she watched Rud and Patience.
Rud told Patience, "There was nothing but sadness and hurt in my life. Then you came, and everything changed. I fell in love with you and by some miracle you came to love me too. You turned a cold stone cabin into a home, and I have never been happier."
Patience, voice trembling, stopped him right there and said, "I've waited long enough, ask already!" Rud quickly added, "Will you marry me?" Patience yelled, "YES!" and dropped to her knees with Rud, kissing his face. Everyone, as if on cue, said, "About time!" Rud said, "I was getting to it," as they all laughed.
It took all four of Charlotte's men and Patience to get Rud up straight, back on the plank, and into the house. Billy hugged his sister first, followed by everyone else.
Charlotte looked at Bessie and said, "Do you think he will be able to walk in a couple of weeks? I am in the mood to plan a wedding." Bessie said, "My place or yours?"
* * * * *
Later in the day, Martha and Ollie were sitting on the porch talking. Martha could tell Ollie liked her, and she knew she liked him. He was handsome for sure, but he was also strong, brave, and caring a man as she had ever met.
Given what had happened to her before, Martha had not held out much hope she would ever get married. After Rud's proposal to Patience, she could see Ollie thinking that might be them one day.
As much as she wanted to hope she would someday love a man and have his love in return, Martha knew she was not what most men wanted. Her father's dying words were, "No man will ever want you."
She did not know if Ollie heard or understood what her father had said before the final thrust of his pitchfork. Ollie had killed her father, and she was happy he had. But Ollie did not know the whole story as to why she had run away and what her father had planned for both her and Alice.
Could this wonderful man love someone like her? Martha did not want to hurt Ollie, so it was best to tell him now rather than later when it might break his heart.
Martha took Ollie's hand, and they walked towards the road. When he left, she did not want the embarrassment of everyone seeing him walk away from her. Martha looked into his wonderful blue eyes. She told Ollie she needed to tell him who and what she was.
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?"