Love Is Hell by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2009-01-21T05:00:00+00:00

The next time, my mother came with a loaf of barley bread. She looked tired. More tired than usual. I pushed my books aside so she could put the loaf on the table Robbie had just finished. She sighed as she collapsed into the chair. “Are you going to stay with him past the year?”

I pulled up the other chair. “Of course,” I said. I was happy. There was Robbie and my studies—the day before I’d been moved forward a year. I was back sitting next to Fiona.

Ma started crying.

I had never seen my mother cry before. I patted her shoulder.

“I love you,” she said. She’d never said that before, either. I’d seen television shows at Fiona’s place where parents told their children that they loved them, but I’d never seen it in real life. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say.

“What’s wrong, Ma?”

“Just promise me that at the end of the handfasting you won’t make it a proper marriage.”

“I can’t promise you that. I love him.” It was true I realised, though I hadn’t told Robbie yet.

“You’re not pregnant, are you?”

I shook my head, but I didn’t tell her there was no chance of that. I didn’t want her to know anything about what happened—or didn’t—between these walls.

“Well, I tried,” she said, wiping her eyes, standing up.

“What do you mean ‘you tried’?”

“To tell you that you’d be better off without him.”

“But I’m better off with him. I’m happy. I’ve never been happy before.”

Ma stared at me, her eyes red from her tears. “He’s fairy folk, you know that, don’t you? He’s not right.”

“Oh, Ma.” I sighed. How could she believe that? “Green eyes don’t mean anything. You’ve got green eyes.”

“Not like his,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t believe, but you should. Look at this place. It even smells of fairy. Your father wants you home. He’ll wait till your handfasting’s done, but only if you promise.”

“Promise what?”

“That you won’t make it a proper marriage.”

She still wouldn’t say Robbie’s name. “No, I won’t promise. At the end of the year, I’ll marry Robbie for real. That’s what I want.” And to leave this horrible village.

“That’s a mistake.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I’ll be off then,” Ma said, standing up.

“So soon? Don’t you want a cup of tea? Scones? I made them myself,” I said, pointing to the oven Robbie had cobbled together.

She shook her head. “No, no. I’ve got to get back to the bakery. It’s just Pa on his own. And four busloads of the gawkers on their way.”

She raised her hand and touched my cheek. Something else she’d never done before.

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