‘Hey, you’re going too fast for her,’ she told him.
Matthew turned his eyes on Susannah. They were cloudy with the drink, dark with anger. He removed her hand from his arm and continued to dance, spinning Kate even faster. She saw her sister’s pale face, knew that glazy look. Kate was going to throw up.
‘Stop it, you’re making her sick.’ She pulled again on Matthew’s arm.
He pushed her. He actually pushed her away, before springing forward, still gripping tight onto Kate’s hand, and hissing in Susannah’s ear: ‘She’s my wife now, and you don’t tell me what to do. We don’t want you here.’
Ava was instantly by Susannah’s side.
‘Say, take it easy,’ she said to Matthew. ‘Let Kate go for a minute. She looks a little sick now.’
‘Who are you to tell me how to treat my wife? You’re just a filthy injun.’
Susannah felt a flare of anger as Ava went very still beside her. Luckily, the music was so loud no one else had heard his insult, but that wasn’t the point.
‘Don’t you dare—’ Susannah began to say.
‘Or what?’ Matthew leered at her. ‘What exactly will you do? I’m the master of this house now, and you and that dirty little injun aren’t welcome here no more.’
Susannah turned in shock to Kate, but her sister said nothing in her defence. She saw the fear in her sister’s pleading eyes. Back off. The dread she’d been feeling all day swept through her.
Ava’s hand on her arm.
‘Come on, Susannah,’ she said gently. ‘It’s not worth it.’
She and Ava retreated. For the rest of the night they avoided Matthew and his drunken brother. Both of them were red-faced from beer and whisky. Susannah waited for Kate to come talk to her, but her sister didn’t come near her.
For the first time in years, even her mom drank too much. Susannah and Ava had had to help her into bed.
‘Such a grand day,’ her mom slurred. ‘Now, when will you make me as proud, Susie?’
After her mother had fallen into a loud, snoring sleep, Susannah and Ava didn’t return to the party. Susannah found an old hurricane lantern in the porch, and the two of them changed into denims and went for a walk in the dark.
Susannah knew every tree, every rock of the island as if it had been etched inside her head. They walked all the way down to Lane’s Island Bridge Cove, their way lit by the moon and the lamp. The bulrushes rustled in the summer breeze, and the crickets chirruped like crazy. At the cove, they sat on one large rock together, sharing a cigarette and staring out to sea.
‘Well, that was real bad.’ Susannah finally spoke. ‘I’m sorry, Ava.’
‘Don’t be,’ Ava said. ‘I’m sorry, too. For your sister. She deserves better.’
‘I know,’ Susannah sighed. ‘She’s been stuck on that heel for years. I really hope he treats her right, but after what we saw I just don’t know what to think.’
‘It was the drink,’ Ava reassured her. ‘I’ve seen some good men turn bad because of drink. But when they’re sober they are the best, kindest souls you’ll ever meet.’
‘Problem is, I don’t think Matthew Young is good sober or drunk.’
When she and Ava returned to the house, the wedding party was still raging in the garden, but they retired to their beds, falling asleep to the sounds of the fiddle and the men’s drunken singing. It was hard not to think about Kate. Their whole childhood, they’d been inside each other’s pockets. Knew every inch of each other’s experiences. But now Kate was charting unknown waters, and Susannah couldn’t go with her. In fact, it was best she forgot all about it right now.
Susannah woke at first dawn. They hadn’t closed the drapes the night before, and the early morning summer sun blazed across the room. She must have only been asleep a few hours, but she felt suddenly alert. She heard a door slam downstairs. Getting up and looking out of the window, she saw Matthew staggering across their garden, bottle in hand. She slipped out of bed, glancing at Ava, mouth open, and clearly in a deep sleep.
As she crept down the stairs, she heard crying. The door of Kate and Matthew’s room was ajar, and looking through the opening, she could see her sister curled up on the bed.
‘Katie, what’s wrong?’ Susannah got on the bed with her. The sheets were all over the place. Her sister was bawling. ‘It’s okay, honey, tell me what happened.’
Her sister calmed down slightly, bringing the sheet to her face to dry her eyes. ‘Nothing happened. That’s precisely it.’ She hiccupped. ‘I’ve been waiting all night, Susie, for him to come home. It’s our wedding night for Christ-sakes!’
‘He’s very drunk,’ Susannah ventured.
‘I know!’ Kate wailed. ‘He left me on my own all night and when I told him I was upset, he got so mad with me.’
‘Did he hit you?’ Susannah didn’t know why she asked this particular question first. An instinct, maybe?
‘No, of course not,’ Kate retorted. ‘But he’s so angry now, and it’s all my fault. I should have gone to sleep. Waited for him to sober up. What does it matter if he’s drunk? He was celebrating.’
Her sister wasn’t making much sense. One minute berating Matthew, and the next minute blaming herself.
‘Hey.’ Susannah put a hand on her arm. ‘Take it easy.’
Kate hiccupped again, wiped her face dry, and took a breath. ‘I’m fine, honest, Susie.’
Susannah had to say it now. Else she’d never forgive herself. ‘If, you know, the marriage isn’t… consummated, well. You could get an annulment,’ she ventured. ‘Come with me and Ava back to Cambridge, Katie.’
‘What do you mean?’ Kate looked at her in confusion.
‘Just that. I’m worried for you, Katie. I don’t think Matthew is a kind man.’
Kate sprang back as if Susannah had burnt her. ‘I love him! And he loves me! Are you crazy, Susannah? We just got married. I want to be with him. I don’t
