“Dr. Lazare, sir, I know I’ve not been admitted to the bar yet, that I cannot offer your daughter the home she deserves—but I should like very much to marry Hélène in three weeks’ time.” Liam turned back to her. “That is, ifyoustill want to, Ellie.”
“Of course I do!” She gripped his offered hand as if he were pulling her from a whirlpool. Hélène was weeping in earnest now, but she had never looked happier.
“Liam,” Joseph’s father warned, “if this is cancer, my colleagues and I will do everything in our power to extirpate it, or at least slow it, but you understand…” His voice failed him.
“I’ve seen the drawings in Papa’s books,” Hélène whispered. “It might become—I might become—very ugly…”
Liam nodded solemnly, staring down at their joined hands. “I understand. But the way I see it, we haven’t a moment to waste.”
Joseph’s father rose and grasped Liam’s shoulder. “You may marry my daughter in three weeks’ time on one condition.”
“Anything, sir.”
“You will not take her away from us. You will come to live here. You can make the third floor into an apartment.”
Liam hesitated and avoided his future father-in-law’s eyes, but he answered: “Yes, sir.” Hélène too nodded reluctantly.
“The quarters will be somewhat close,” Joseph’s father acknowledged. “You are afraid Hélène’s grandmother, mother, and I will hinder your new-wed bliss?”
Liam went red as a pomegranate.
“Hopefully not as much as you think. I am frequently out visiting patients of an evening. Hélène’s grandmother retires early and sleeps soundly.” His mouth began to quirk. “And as you know, her mother is deaf.”
Everyone smiled—his sister actually giggled—except for Joseph.
Then even his father sobered. “You will have to think carefully about whether you wish to try for children,” he added in such a low voice that Joseph barely heard him.
Hélène and Liam obviously intended to consummate their marriage. Was Joseph’s father advising them topreventchildren? They knew that was a mortal sin! Joseph knew he must speak. He could not allow them to pervert the Sacrament of Matrimony. “Wouldn’t it be better if you remain as you are?”
His father scowled. “Better for whom?”
Joseph tried to imagine how he would advise strangers in such a case. “Better for Hélène and Liam—for the health of their souls.” He turned to them. “I know it is difficult, but you must resign yourselves to God’s will, not impose your own. He is allowing you to suffer for a reason. He is trying to teach you to rely on Him, not each other.” At the edge of his vision, Joseph saw Tessa lower her eyes and nod. “If you endure this trial patiently and reverently, God will reward you, either in this life or the next.”
For a moment, no one said anything. Then his sister responded quietly: “Doesn’t Christ say there are no marriages in Heaven?”
“Exactly!Thatis the perfect union: with God. Not with a fellow sinner. If you rush into Matrimony now, merely out of lust?—”
“It’s calledlove, Joseph,” his father interrupted.
Standing beside Liam, still grasping his hand, Hélène raised her chin in determination. “I want this, Joseph. I need this, for what is to come. Please say you’ll still marry us.”
Joseph sighed. He looked between his sister and her intended. He knew they’d already made up their minds. At last he nodded. He was glad he was not their confessor.
How different Hélène and Liam’s wedding wasfrom Tessa and Edward’s. The bride’s dress was not satin but wool. For the decorations, Joseph and Tessa did their best, but it was October; they could not compete with a plantation full of summer flowers. The bride and groom grinned at one another throughout the Mass, as if they could hardly wait to say “I will.” In the kiss, they lingered unabashedly. Clearly, neither was thinking of God’s pleasure.
They spent a week at White Sulphur Springs in the Virginia mountains. When Joseph dined in their company again, Hélène and Liam were still delirious with each other. It was impossible to believe anything threatened his sister’s future; she radiated well-being.
Fortunately, their mother had already left the room when their father observed: “I think Matrimony agrees with you,ma poulette.”
“It does, Papa,” she answered dreamily, never taking her gaze from Liam. “More every night.”
When their father guffawed, Hélène realized what she’d said. Her eyes widened and darted to Joseph, who was choking on his claret. “Day! I meant: ‘More everyday’!”
CHAPTER 32
At that time when a man moved out West, as soon as he was fairly settled he wanted to move again…
— John Bidwell, “First Emigrant Train to California,”Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine(1890)
