Swamp Song by Jill Penrod

Author:Jill Penrod
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sweet romance, clean romance, coming of age
Publisher: Jill Penrod
Published: 2017-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

I DREW CY AND SARA that day. As the party wound down, I made a simple sketch of them, sitting alone since none of the families could tolerate one or the other of the pair. I drew it and saw the sadness I’d captured, so I crumpled the sheet and threw it away. Maybe today didn’t need any physical reminders.

Because most of the river people didn’t live close to the fishery, they didn’t stay long, and the afternoon wasn’t even half over when people began to shake Cy and Sara’s hands again and head home. For Beau’s wedding, we’d all stayed until dark, but at this party the group broke up early, aware of the tension between the families. It hurt me to see it, and I knew it hurt Cy. Sara seemed able to put it aside, although perhaps she was just happy because most of the guests remaining were from her family.

“We should go, too,” Emile said, much earlier than I had expected. “Looks like most of our clan is gone, and it’s not comfortable with the others. And since they’ve stopped playing music we can dance to...” He shrugged, and again Cy walked into hearing range just as his papa made this remark. Marie saw Cy and leaned in to hug him, pretending she didn’t know Cy had just heard his papa talk about the music.

“We’re going to head home,” she said. “We want to get back before dark.”

“You have lanterns,” Cy said. He glanced back to the dance floor, where Sara danced with a handsome man from her family. “But I understand. Since you can’t dance to the music, and none of you approve of the food, and you’re not fond of the company, I can see where you’d leave.”

Marie stepped back. “Cy, it was a lovely wedding. Perhaps we here in the swamp are just as backward as Sara’s family thinks. We like things familiar, I guess.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Cy said. “I thought... It doesn’t matter what I thought. Now the wedding is nearly over, and it’s time to get to the marriage, which all of you think will fail. Why do you think I’ll fail? When have I failed before? I’m seventeen and able to think things through. I know Sara will struggle, but she loves me, and she is willing to do this. And if she fails, I’ll go with her to the city. Wherever she goes, I’ll go. What more can I do to satisfy you?”

Emile frowned. “You don’t have to satisfy us, Cy. You have to satisfy her, and I don’t think it will be as easy as you think.”

“So you think I should go home with you and pretend today never happened? I’m married.”

Emil nodded. “Yes. Against everyone’s advice.”

“That’s not fair,” I said quietly. “I know enough history to know people in this family don’t always take advice. Grandmama said her papa tried to take her to the city and leave Grandpapa behind a dozen times, but she wouldn’t go.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.