The day I left the northern highlands, my father made me stand facing the snow-capped mountains and swear a binding vow.
For seven years, I was not to marry Jude Henson.
To keep that vow, I refused him.
Seven years. Seven proposals.
Every single time, I turned him down.
And every time I did, he only smiled and sighed, like a man with no choice left to him.
"It just means I haven't tried hard enough yet. I'll keep asking until you can marry me with an easy heart, Aisha."
So the moment the seven years were up, I had my mother mail my wedding dress to New York, the gown a highland girl prepares from childhood.
I put on the bright red gown and went to find him at the hospital, telling no one.
I had barely reached the door when my whole body went rigid.
"Devoted, lovesick suitor? Please."
"After she turned down the third proposal, I gave the ring to a woman doctor at the same hospital."
"We've had our marriage license for years. These proposals were just for fun."
Jude's voice, that warm, gentle voice, carried a contempt I had never once heard in it.
"They all say highland women are wild and free, but she likes to play coy. I got bored of it a long time ago."
"An eighth proposal? Depends on my mood."
...
"Dr. Henson, what if she says yes the eighth time?"
"What would you even do then?"
"On one side you've got the gentle, refined Dr. Delgado, on the other an exotic beauty from the highlands."
"If it were me, I'd keep them both!"
Laughter rolled out of the doctors' lounge.
I stood there and listened, and the bright red gown on my body felt like a joke.
Every one of them, I had longed for the day I could put on this gown and marry Jude Henson.
This time, just to get the gown to New York,
my mother rode out to find a post station and missed the herds at Summer Ranch.
My father drove the flock alone, and passing through Moon Bay, he was set upon by a pack of wolves.
He fought to protect the sheep, and still the wolves carried off seven of the lambs.
When they called me, the two of them, who treasured every lamb, weren't grieving at all. They were laughing.
"As long as our Aisha is happy, those seven lambs were worth it!"
My father, who had never once agreed to me and Jude Henson, held the video call up clumsily.
For the first time, an apology crossed that weather-darkened face.
"Aisha, don't blame your papa. I just couldn't stop worrying about the people out there."
"Your papa's never left the highlands his whole life. I've seen nothing of the world."
"Your papa only used his slow old head to think up this one way."
He spoke, and his face turned grave and earnest.
"Aisha, remember this. Once a highland girl puts on her wedding dress, she must hold the wedding within seven days."
"Only then will the highland mountains bless you with happiness for the rest of your life."
A highland girl, once she dons the gown, must marry within seven days.
My parents never imagined that when I finally put on the gown, the man who had proposed seven times would already be married.
And I never imagined that the Jude Henson who chased me across half a snow-capped mountain when he served as a doctor in the highlands,
who kept after me even when the thin air left him gasping for breath, would break his word.
A sour ache rose in my throat. I gripped a corner of the gown and turned to leave.
I had only just reached the hospital lobby when a hand suddenly yanked me back.
"Are you Aisha?"
"Are you the highland woman who wrecked my daughter's marriage?!"
"I'll beat you to death, you mistress!"
It came out of nowhere. Before I could even react, a hand cracked hard across my face.
My ears rang. I stepped back, trying to twist away.
But the middle-aged woman seized the gown and pulled with all her strength.
"Rrrip..."
The gown my mother had spent over twenty years preparing for me tore open in a long gash.
I froze where I stood, then shoved the woman to the ground with everything I had.
