Free Sentence of Marriage by Shayne Parkinson Page A

Jack said, looking round at his expanded family, when John had brought the buggy around to the gate.
    ‘I’ll ride,’ Harry said just a little too eagerly, and he went off to fetch another horse. ‘Don’t wait for me to saddle up,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘I’ll catch you up—I’ll be faster than you, anyway.’
    The church was small, holding around ninety people in its eight rows of pews when it was full; today the congregation was about fifty strong. It had been built fifteen years earlier, and Jack still occasionally referred to it as the ‘new’ church. Walls, floor and ceiling were all made of broad kauri planks the colour of dark honey, as were the pews, and with the morning sun coming through the high, narrow windows behind the altar (they were of clear glass; Ruatane did not run to stained glass windows) the church felt warm and cosy after the cold drive into town. That meant in summer the church could get unbearably hot, especially when the sermon was particularly long.
    They arrived at church just as the first hymn was being sung, and took their pew as quickly as possible. Lizzie’s father did not approve of ‘pew-wandering’, as he called it, so Lizzie could not come and sit with them, but Amy saw her craning her neck to look. Amy noticed heads turning to stare at her father’s new bride, and the volume of the singing wavered briefly. No wonder people were looking, Amy thought. The only other person in the congregation who dressed anywhere near as stylishly as Susannah was Mrs Leveston, the wife of the Resident Magistrate; as Mrs Leveston was short, grey-haired and rather plump there was no real competition.
    After the service most of the congregation seemed to feel obliged to rush over and speak to the Leiths outside the church. Susannah smiled graciously at them all, and clearly enjoyed the admiring looks given her clothes. Lizzie came over with her family and gave Susannah an appraising glance, then pulled Amy off to one side.
    ‘Well ,’ Lizzie said. ‘That’s a surprise, and no mistake! I could hardly believe it when Pa said Uncle Jack had come home with a wife—and I didn’t expect anything like her.’ She looked at Susannah again, and Amy realised that Lizzie was, for once, almost at a loss for words.
    ‘I didn’t expect it either,’ said Amy.
    ‘What’s she like?’ Lizzie asked, turning back to Amy with an eager expression.
    ‘She’s…’ Amy began, then found she was struggling. How could she sum up all Susannah meant in a few words? ‘She’s twenty-five, she’s from the city… she’s not used to us yet… she gets upset quite a lot.’
    ‘Why? What’s wrong with her?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Amy. ‘I… I don’t think she likes me very much.’
    ‘She doesn’t sound very nice. She’s got small eyes, anyway, and that pointy chin! And she’s skinny.’
    ‘She doesn’t eat much,’ Amy said, remembering the argument over the chops. ‘She doesn’t seem very happy at home.’
    ‘I don’t see why not,’ Lizzie said. ‘She’s managed to get a husband, and she must have just about given up. Twenty-five! She looks even older than that.’ She cast a disparaging look at Susannah. ‘I’ll have to get Ma to come over and visit her soon.’
    ‘Why? So you can have a better look?’
    ‘Yes,’ Lizzie said simply.
    Lizzie had to wait a few days before she could make her visit. Monday was washing day, and for the first time Amy decided there might be an advantage to Susannah’s presence: sharing the washing would be a definite improvement.
    She had her doubts when Susannah started a stream of complaints. ‘Carry water from a barrel!’ she said, looking utterly disgusted, when Amy commented on how lucky they were that the rain barrel was full so that they did not have to go all the way to the well to fill the copper and the rinsing tubs. ‘We’ve had running water for three years at home.’
    ‘Have you?’ Amy said, wide-eyed with awe. ‘That