"It all happened so fast. The Sanchez family says they want to bring you home in grand style, so you'll just have to bear with staying here one more day."
"That young man says it himself—if anyone dares talk behind your back this one day, when he comes tomorrow, he'll set it right for you."
There was worry in my father's eyes, but relief mixed in with it too.
For hundreds of years,
no woman in our mountain town had ever failed to marry into her husband's family before twenty-three.
I might be the first.
At least I was leaving tomorrow. In the end I hadn't become my parents' shame.
I wiped my tears and was just about to tuck the marriage contract carefully into the red cloth wrap,
when Jason came rushing in, breathless,
drenched in sweat, gasping for air.
"I'm sorry, Constance."
"I was up all night getting things ready for our wedding day, I slept late, and only just got up. Am I too late...?"
I looked at him, caught the faint smell of liquor on him, and spoke flatly.
"You're late."
At the cold edge in my voice,
Jason's smile faded.
He raised a hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead, glancing at my father standing stern-faced to one side.
"Constance, my mother said she saw your father come out from the old town chief's place early this morning, out of breath. Is it because I held things up past the final hour, and the chief gave your father a hard time over it?"
So he'd seen it.
And he'd still let the deadline pass on purpose before coming.
The words I'd heard outside his door three hours ago ran through my mind like a film reel.
"All that nagging gets on my nerves. I want to wait until no one else wants her. Marry her then, and she'll do as she's told."
My heart felt clamped in a great hand, dull and aching, too tight to breathe.
Thinking that I'd be leaving this place tomorrow,
I had no wish to tangle with Jason any longer.
So I stepped back, pointed at the door, looked at him, and said coldly,
"Jason, I told you. This year was the last year I'd wait for you. You came too late, so there's nothing left between us."
"Go. I can't marry you now."
Jason froze for a moment,
then quickly stepped forward and seized my wrist.
He gripped so hard
that my hand loosened, and the marriage contract slipped straight to the floor.
Looking at it lying there,
Jason let out a short laugh.
"Look at you. A grown woman, still throwing childish fits."
"Saying you won't marry me, when you've had the marriage contract ready all along."
"All right, no more sulking. I said I'd marry you this year, and I will. I'll write my name on this contract right now."
I bent at once to pick it up,
but Jason got to it first and had it in his hand.
Just as he was about to open the contract, a voice outside suddenly called for him.
"Jason, what are you dawdling for? Laurel says there's a mouse in the house, she's crying scared, she wants you over there!"
In the moment he turned his head,
Jason had already unfolded the contract.
The name "Roderick Sanchez" glinted in the sunlight,
but Jason, with his mind only on Laurel, never noticed.
He lifted his hand to shade his eyes from the glare, casually folded the contract again, and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of him.
"Constance..."
He turned to look at me, his face all worry.
"Something urgent's come up with Laurel, I have to go. I'll sign this contract when I'm back, after I've dealt with it. You just wait at home like a good girl for me to marry you."
"It's already this late anyway, so there's no need to rush."
Jason jogged off out the door,
and when he reached the yard, he suddenly stopped, turned, and looked at me.
