The wilderness is the vast expanse of countryside outside the borders of the Central Cities and the independent city-states surrounding them like Saint Louis, Chicago, and Dallas. There are people who live in the wilderness, but they’re considered mostly uncivilized.
Still giggling, I glance back at the big man. He was taking a quick survey of the room—probably checking forpotential dangers—but then his eyes return to mine. His eyebrows go up slightly.
“Stop looking at him. He doesn’t need the ego boost of knowing we’re talking about him.”
“So you’re not really in any danger, are you?”
“No. Once there was some sort of riot that broke out as I was returning from the dress shop, and he helped shoulder people out of the way so I could get out of it. But I’m not in any specific danger. It’s mostly Chad’s delusions of grandeur. He wants to be important, so he tricks himself out as if he were. That’s why he married me, of course. But he would have done better to choose someone more…”
“Docile?” I can’t help but smile at anyone believing Annabelle to be docile. She was kicking over the mean boys’ snowmen and shouting down bullies from the time she was five.
Fearless.
Not like me.
“Yes,” Annabelle says with a smile. “Exactly that. I fake it as much as I can because if he dissolves the marriage, I’ll be worse off than I was before. But this kind of situation would be hard on you, Teresa. You’ve always been sweeter and more sensitive than me. I’ll help you in any way I can. I’ll introduce you to available men here if you decide it’s what you want. But if you can think of any other option, I’d go with that one first.”
She’s being serious, and her words confirm my ownthinking. “I do have one other option.” For some reason, I get shy, so I stare down at my empty plate. “It was just offered this morning.”
“What is it?”
I clear my throat. “Someone asked me to marry him.”
“Just this morning?” Annabelle sounds excited. “Who?”
“Mason. From the village. Do you remember him? The son of the dairy farmers?”
“Oh yeah.” She’s very clearly trying to summon a picture of him in her mind. “He was older than us. Didn’t he move here to the Capitol?”
“He did. But then his parents died, and they sent him back home to tend the farm. It’s too much for one person, so he asked me if I wanted to help.”
“Like a domestic?”
“Like his wife.” I lick my lips, suddenly worried. “At least, that’s what he said.”
“Well, if he’s got his parents’ cottage and farm, then that would be a good situation. You’d have to work, but it’s not going to be any worse than everything you’re having to do for Lorraine now. What kind of a man is he?”
“He seems okay. Quiet. He doesn’t say much. But he’s always been nice to me.”
“Nice to you how?” She looks wary. Life in the Capitol has clearly made her even more cynical than she used to be.
“Nice. Polite. He helped me pick up these balls that got spilled all over the square. He made guards at the outpost back off when they wouldn’t leave me alone. He gave a piece of cheese to a stray dog so the poor thing wouldn’t get in trouble with Lorraine.”
“He was nice to a dog? That’s a good sign. Men will sometimes pretend to be decent to get what they want from us, but being kind to a stray dog is a surer sign. Has he been making advances for a while?”
“No. Not at all. He’s never really paid me much attention. I thought he was engaged to Aria for months because that’s what she and Lorraine always said. But he said he wasn’t. So I guess they just?—”
Annabelle bursts into uninhibited laughter—warmer and brighter than anything I’ve heard from her since I arrived at her house. “Oh no! They decided on an engagement but never actually mentioned it to him? You’ve got to marry him now. Can you imagine their faces when you tell them?”
I can’t help giggling at the mental image. “It would be pretty funny.”
“I say go for it. There’s no way to know for sure, but there seems to be a reasonable chance that he’s a decent man. And Aria and Lorraine getting the justice they deserve is simply too delicious to resist.”
I laugh with her some more, but I’ve concluded the same thing she has.
Not for vindication or for getting one over on my stepfamily.
But because Mason is as decent as any man I’ve known since my father died.
