“What commandment is that, Absalom? You’ve already obeyed the ‘be fruitful and multiply’.” The giggle came out unheeded.
He slammed his hand on the table again, and Lila jumped. “You father has given me his grateful permission.”
Fear goosed Lila from top to toe. “What are you babbling about, Absalom?” she managed at last. “I am my own woman. I need no one’s permission to do anything.”
“That is not correct. I have asked your father for your hand, and he has agreed. Along with your portion of his estate. Unless you defy him again, of course.”
“My hand?” Fear flicked down her spine like winter shivers. “You are insane. I’m barely out of mourning for your brother.”
“That is why I am here. Now. It is time. Time for you to marry me. And I am not insane.”
Oh, yes, you are, Lila said again, but in silent shock, her tongue refused to move. Cold fingers grabbed at her neck and tried to untangle the impossible coil. What madness had infected Emmett’s brother?
Absalom sniffed so inelegantly she turned away, because this time, he did not excavate his soiled handkerchief. “I am not insane, Lila.”
She did not like how his tongue mouthed her name. “Absalom—”
“Quiet, woman. I am in full control of Biblical dictate as it is written in Deuteronomy twenty-five. I’m certain my erudite brother instructed you in Levirate marriage.” His eyebrows rose like rotten sausages as he impaled her with his stare. “Scripture dictates I am now to be your provider and protector. Emmett, God rest him as well, died before providing you with children. It is my duty to give you a son to perpetuate his good name. And it is your obligation to marry me.”
Lila’s belly churned with terror, and she swallowed hard against the bile. “You are insane as well as mistaken, Absalom. I am under no such obligation. I have never heard of such clap trap. Besides, I am longer a minor child needing my father’s permission to do anything. This is the United States of America, and women no longer are forced to marry against their will.”
“It is God’s law. Not man’s. And you will forgo a sizeable inheritance.”
“I did so when I left, and since then. I have learned to appreciate a humble life. My father made his disapproval of me quite clear.”
“Then, it is time to make amends.” Absalom stood tall, imperious, like he was regaling rapt parishioners. “I have been called to your home congregation at Hanover. You and I will settle in the parsonage, close to your childhood home. Close to your father. Close to your mother’s grave.” He sneered again before a sick smile. “Close to your brothers and their wives and children. How they’ll enjoy their new cousins. You’ll be a great mother to them, my dozen cherubs. And to our children, of course.”
Lila rose, had had enough. “Absalom, I need you to leave. This discussion has become unendurable.”
He came to stand next to her, a towering hulk who, rather than disgusted her, frightened her. “Then, perhaps you need to read this. Yes, during his illness, Emmett asked me to undertake Gethsemane.” He all but spat the holy word. “But also this.”
Lila all but spat back. “Well, if you can’t do one of his requests, certainly you can’t do the other.” But on weak knees, she sank back to settee, for the handwriting was Emmett’s. How was it possible he intruded into her life, yet again? Still?
Absalom pointed over her shoulder to the offending paragraph, and read it loudly into her ear.
“...I find our Lila most malleable to my will. Please, insist upon a Levirate marriage, after she attends to a proper period of mourning for me. It is the law of God, if not the land. When you are a free man, for our darling Zerelda is not long for the arms of the angels and upon the end of conventional grieving, you have my blessing to wed my widow. I pray you and Lila be fruitful and multiply.”
Emmett knew? She gagged. Fruitful and multiply? But Emmett never...she had never. Had he revealed their shame—her shame—to his brother? Absalom’s hands rubbing her shoulders almost had her screaming. Then, she understood. Emmett had been unable, and unable to admit it. The fault was not hers, at all. Because if it was, he’d not encourage his brother to wed her. Because the only way to procure his...family seed was to... She tasted bile.
She would die before lying in Absalom’s arms. Bronx, oh, Bronx. His kiss sparked her lips even as Absalom glowered above her with his repulsive dreams of possession.
She forced control. “Absalom, this is an unseemly discussion. Emmett never mentioned such a ridiculous scheme. Once again, I ask you to leave.”
“It is written. I shall leave Leadville with you on my arm as my bride. The mother of Emmett’s seed through me. It is God’s law. And your husband’s last wish.”
“His last wish was Gethsemane. And you seem to have no proclivity to sustaining it.”