I shoved the marriage certificate right up in front of her face. "This certificate is fake. Your son tricked me. We were never actually married, so how could I have jinxed him to death?"
Lottie stared at the certificate, thrown for a second. "What do you mean, fake? Red paper, red stamp, how could that be fake! You just think you can push around an old woman who can't read!"
I grabbed hold of her. "Then let's take it to the production brigade and settle this! Your son used a fake marriage certificate to trick me. That's against the law!"
Lottie was strong. One yank and she flung me off.
"Quit wasting my time with that nonsense. You jinxed my son to death, so your life belongs to me now!"
"Elijah Gray from the Gray place next door has taken a shine to you. His fate runs hard, so you'll go be his wife! He's coming by soon with the bride-price. You'll leave with him."
The text in front of my eyes drifted by faster.
"That Elijah Gray isn't just lame, he's got a mouth full of yellow teeth, and the second he opens it the stench could knock a person dead!"
"After Elijah Gray defiles Celeste, she finds out she's pregnant. But Elijah can't father children, so he wants to get rid of the baby in Celeste's belly."
"Celeste runs back to the Matthews house for her life. The old witch takes her in for the time being, but later, because she's carrying twins and her belly is bigger than other women's, she suspects Celeste has been sleeping around."
"The old witch makes such a scene that the whole village knows, and every last one of them points fingers at her, calls her a jinx, a slut, and even spreads rumors that she has a filthy disease."
"Poor Celeste can only hide out in another village, living like a rat."
A wave of cold horror ran through my whole body.
The moment it registered, I snatched up the marriage certificate and bolted out the door, only to run smack into Elijah Gray, who was coming to deliver the bride-price.
"Where do you think you're off to, little missy?"
The instant he opened his mouth, the reek nearly made me vomit.
I shoved him aside and took off running.
Elijah was lame and couldn't catch me at all. He could only shout after me.
"Old lady Matthews, get her back here now! If she gets away, you owe me back every bit of what I gave you!"
I ran for my life, and Lottie chased right behind me.
Chasing and screaming at the same time.
"Somebody stop her! This is my daughter-in-law, she jinxed my son to death, don't you dare let her get away!"
The villagers heard it and joined the chase, and I was caught by a few of the faster young men.
They pinned me down hard, and I fought with everything I had, but I couldn't break free.
By then Elijah had hobbled up on his bad leg too.
"What are you running for, little missy? Come with me and I'll treat you good, I swear!"
Lottie cursed at me, foul and vicious.
"Celeste, you still dare to run? I'll break your legs and see if you ever dare run again!"
With that she raised the stick and brought it down hard on my knee. I screamed and dropped to the ground.
Then the stick in Lottie's hand went up again.
Just as despair swallowed me, I saw the text in front of my eyes.
"Conrad Finch, the production brigade leader, is inspecting work nearby. Celeste, scream louder. Maybe Conrad will hear you and save your life!"
I instantly mustered every ounce of strength and screamed, "Conrad, help me!"
But the next second, Lottie clamped her hand over my mouth.
Lottie pinched my waist viciously, so hard the tears spilled from my eyes.
"You still dare to scream? Today not even the good Lord himself could save you!"
"Drag her back for me!"
Just as I was being hauled forward like a dead dog, Conrad rushed up.
"What are you doing? Let go of her, now!"
The villagers were all terrified of Conrad, and they let go of me at once.
Lottie put on a fawning face. "Oh my, Conrad, what wind blew you our way?"
