Marriage of Necessity

~19~ Underminin' My Authority

I'm staring up into Matthew's eyes, as we each try to figure out how far the other will go. Just this morning, the blues of his eyes looked like a beautiful and clear azure sky. Now they look like storm clouds rolling in, and waiting to dump a dilly of a squall on top of me.

Every neuron in my brain is screaming at me to stand-down, but I'm not budging. Right here, right now, is going to set the tone for our marriage. Right now, he's trying to intimidate me into conceding, and I'm trying to prove that I'm an equal partner in this marriage.

I hope I'm an equal partner in this marriage

"So what's it gonna be, Matthew? You going to march your tail into town and stand up for your son, or am I gonna have to do it?"

He nods as he turns his head and spits, a disgustingly long distance. Then he turns back at me.

"I'm tryin' hard not to haul yur backside to the barn, Sophie."

I cross my arms...The tone is being set, RIGHT NOW!

"On what grounds?"

"The way yur talkin' to me right now is disrespectful. I have NEVER had a woman talk to me like this before in my life."

I nod, and set my packages down on the ground. Those were getting extremely bothersome.

"Well, now you have. I've NEVER had a gentleman NOT take packages out of my hands and take them inside, yet, here we are."

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" He bellows, making a cow moo in the corral.

"Ok, perfect...Dilly-dallying has never been a favorite of mine. The subject is your children, and the grade you are receiving right now is a D minus..."

His eyes blaze hotter than what my seat is probably gonna be later.

Before I can even blink, he marches off to the barn, and I hear a loud crash. I silently take my packages inside, put them away, and then go to find Matthew.

He's working on the plow, and it's making my blood boil.

"So I'M going into town, then?" I ask, making him turn around and look at me.

"You'd be wise to leave this be. It's against my better judgement not'ta tan you right now."

"So, you're the type of man who won't stand up for his children? It's a shame I didn't realize that before I came back."

He throws his hammer down in exasperation and stands up, marching over to me.

"Sophie...it's rapped knuckles. This is hardly a case for me to be soundin' the church bells. Ya know how many underserved whippins I got in school as a youngin'?"

I nod. "I would wager that when you were on the receiving end, you were begging for someone to stand up for you."

His eyes finally get a touch softer as he thinks about what I just said.

After a moment, he sighs and takes off his hat, scratching his head. "Woman, we're gonna haf'ta come to some sorta understandin'. The way you think you can talk to me ain't sittin' right at all."

"And the way you want to brush my feelings to the side and dismiss everything is also not sitting right."

He blows out a big breath and shakes his head.

"I'll go talk to Mr. Salders. He's on the board with the preacher and the doc. I ain't promisin' nothin'."

I smile as I hug his waist.

"Thank you."

He shakes his head and swiftly kisses my cheek as he goes to the wagon and leaves.