The House of Tahvo

Chapter Twelve

They sat in silence for a while, both pondering their situation. Tahvo knew that he would marry Aggie, no matter what. He loved her and that was all that mattered to him. He just needed to figure out a way to make it work. Finally, he had a thought that just might work. "I have an idea," he told 

her.
Aggie jumped. They had been so quiet that the sudden noise startled her. "What is your idea?" she asked.
"We will marry, but for now keep it a secret. At least until we come up with something better," he said. A smile spread across his face and she knew he felt like he had just solved all of their problems, but she still didn't think it would work.
"And what if someone finds out?" Aggie questioned. Someone had to be the voice of reason.
"No one will find out," he told her. "My house is loyal to me because of the way I have treated them."
Aggie shook her head. "And what of the women?"
"I'll let them free if I have to," he said. "Nobody matters anymore but you."
"You can't just put them out on the street with no way to support themselves," Aggie told him. "They will end up back in a place like the House of Hagen. And they're unlikely to be purchased by someone as kind as you."
Tahvo hung his head. "We'll figure it out. But I want to marry. At least if something happened to me, as my wife you would have claim over my property."
Aggie considered this for a few moments. He was right. If they could marry in secret, she wouldn't have to worry as much. The other women might still hate her, but at least she could be in charge of them and maybe make their lives a little easier. Finally she met Tahvo's eyes and could see his hope. "That could work," she said slowly, nodding.
His eyes lit up and he whooped with joy. Jumping from the bed, he grabbed her in his arms and swung her in a circle. "I love you, Aggie," he told her.
"I love you, too, Tahvo," Aggie replied and pressed her lips against his. Joy swelled through her at the thought of marrying the man she loved.
"I'll get started making the arrangements," Tavho said. "We'll have a secret ceremony right here in the house. It will be beautiful. Lieber will make a cake for and after I'll take you out of here for a while. We'll go on a trip and see the land. Maybe we could even come back and say that I found you in a different part of the country and married you from there. Then we wouldn't have to worry about anything!"
Aggie smiled. His joy was her joy and she couldn't wait for them to be able to marry. "It sounds wonderful," she said. "But we still need to figure out what to do about the other women in the household."
He nodded, his face turning more serious. "You're right. Are you finished eating? We can go address this right away." Aggie's stomach did a flip. She knew it needed to be handled, but the thought of confronting the women made her nervous. Tahvo noticed her nerves and wrapped his arms around her. "I'll be there with you. Everything will work out just fine."
She nodded. "Okay. Let's do this."
Tahvo grabbed a hold of her hand and they walked to the door. The servant that he had spoke to before stood in the hallway. "Tell Nadia I want all of the women gathered in the dining room. We need to have a talk."
The servant nodded once before walking away. Tahvo led Aggie to the dining room and the two waited until all of the women were gathered. As they entered the room, each of the quickly glanced at Tahvo holding onto her hand before glancing away. Aggie stayed next to Tahvo, hiding half of herself behind his body. Her stomach was churning with nerves.
Finally, when all the women were gathered, Nadia at the front of the group, Tahvo began to speak. "There will be some changes around here," he said to them. "The way you have been treating Aggie is unacceptable."
He paused and Nadia took the opportunity to jump in. "You are right, sir, and we agree. After Aggie and I fought last night and she ran off, I realized how wrong I've been. How wrong we've all been. I gathered the women together and we all had a discussion about what needs to be done."
Aggie was shocked to hear what Nadia was saying. She had assumed that this was going to another confrontation in which she was hurt yet again, but that didn't seem to be the case. Nadia continued. "We would all like to apologize to Aggie individually and we have a request, if you'll allow it, sir."
Tahvo nodded once, the look on his face one of surprise. "What is your request?"
"We know that Aggie has a friend still at the House of Hagen. We wondered if you would be so kind as to bring her friend here, so that she feels she has at least one person on her side," Nadia told him. She looked at Aggie sympathetically. "We are truly sorry. I am truly sorry for all of the pain and grief that I have caused you."
Aggie could not hide the surprise across her face and she was pretty sure her jaw was touching the ground. "Are you talking about Karina?" she asked when she finally found her voice.
Nadia nodded. "Yes."
Tahvo looked to Aggie and she met his eyes. They were equally surprised at the way this meeting was turning out. "Would you like that?" he asked her.
"I would love that," she told him, hopeful.
Tahvo turned back to the women and nodded his head once. "It shall be done," he told them. The women immediately began talking, their voices excited. Tahvo raised his voice so they could hear him. "There are going to be some changes made around here," he told them and they quieted down. "What I am going to tell you will require your discretion and, most of all, your loyalty. If you feel that you cannot be loyal to me, then you may leave now and what I mean by that is you are free to go."
The women gasped and began talking to each other again. Nadia held up her hand. "Is there anyone who wishes to leave?" Aggie watched as each of the women shook their heads. Nadia turned back to Tahvo. "We are staying, sir."
He nodded. "Aggie and I have had a long and thorough discussion. We have decided to marry."
Once more, gasps were heard from the women. "Sir?" Nadia said, stepping forward. "We can all see that your preference lies with her, but do you believe that marrying her is wise?"
Tahvo shot Nadia a look that clearly told her it was none of her business. "I love Aggie and I want to make her my wife. She has agreed. Because of obvious concerns, we will be marrying in secret for now. I expect each and every one of you to treat her like the woman of the house that she will become. And, as I stated previously, this will require your discretion. If I hear one word that any of you has spoken about this to anyone else, you will be on the streets before you wonder what hit you. Is this understood?"
Each of the women nodded and Tahvo made certain that they understood how dire their situation would be. Finally, he excused them. As each of the women left, they walked up to Aggie and expressed how sorry they were. The last woman, who was Aggie's roommate, didn't seem too thrilled, but she still apologized. "I hope we can put this behind us," she said as she walked away.
Once they had left the room, Aggie turned to Tahvo. "Can you believe that just happened?" she asked him, shocked.
He nodded. "I must admit, I was surprised at first. But now I realize that they can't help but love you, just as I do." He took her hands in his and raised them to his mouth, lightly kissing the backs of each.
"Though not nearly as much, I hope," Aggie said with a smile.
Tahvo shook his head. "No one will ever love you as much as I do," he said before pressing his lips against hers. "Now, I must get busy. I need to talk to Derek and Lieber about the ceremony and the cake. I need to find an official who will preside over the ceremony without revealing any information about it. And, it seems I must go to the House of Hagen to retrieve your friend."
Aggie's mouth broke into a smile. "Will you really bring her here?" she asked, looking into his eyes.
"Of course," he told her. "I'll do anything to make you happy. Now, I must be off," he said.
"Good luck at the House of Hagen," Aggie told him. "Damari is not an easy man."
"I know," Tahvo said, chuckling. "I've dealt with him before, remember?"
She nodded, hiding an embarrassed smile. "Of course. I just meant with it not being a party that he is giving, he'll probably be more difficult to bargain with and certainly more greedy."
"Thank you for the warning," Tahvo said, his eyes darkening. "But he will not be able to extort more out of me."
"Thank you for doing this," Aggie whispered. She pressed her lips against Tahvo's, feeling overwhelmed with joy. Never had she imagined that she would be so lucky as to fall in love with such a kind and caring man and have him fall in love with her and want to marry her.
Several hours later, Tahvo returned. Aggie had returned to the kitchen and was helping Lieber make lunch for the household when she saw Tahvo walk in, Karina trailing behind him. Aggie squealed when she saw her friend and ran to her, wrapping her arms around Karina. "I've missed you so much!" she said as they hugged.
"I've missed you, too," Karina said, squeezing her back. "But you must tell me what is going on."
As they pulled away, Aggie saw the confusion on her friend's face. "I will, I promise. But you have to tell me how you are. Are you all right?"
Karina nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just terribly confused. Tahvo showed up at the House of Hagen and requested to purchase me. It took some time, but he and Damari finally came to an agreement. On the way here, Tahvo wouldn't tell me much, saying he wanted to save it for you to tell me."
Aggie linked her arm through Karina's before turning to Lieber. "I have some things to discuss with Karina. Will you be okay if I leave for a little while?" she said.
Lieber nodded. He had heard the news that Tahvo and Aggie were going to marry and he was thrilled for her. In fact, he felt that she shouldn't even be working any longer, though he hated to lose her. "Go. Catch up with your friend."
Aggie smiled as she pulled her friend to the dining room. They sat at the large table, Tahvo excusing himself to let them talk. "Okay, what is going on?" Karina asked, once they were settled.
"Things have been crazy here," Aggie told her. "You know I've been struggling with the other women. Last night, everything blew up. Nadia accused me of coming in to try and take her spot and we had a huge fight. I yelled at her, she yelled at me. It was bad. I finally ran off. I was so upset and all I wanted was to return to the House of Hagen."
Karina shook her head, upset. "I'm so sorry that happened, hon," she said. "Show me who Nadia is and I'll take care of her."
Aggie laughed. "Oh how I've missed you," she told her. "But actually Nadia is the reason you are here. Well, her and the other women. They realized that the way they had been treating me was quite unfair and they asked Tahvo to get you from the house of Hagen."
"Really? What made them change their mind?" Karina asked.
"I guess my reaction," Aggie said with a shrug. "Honestly I'm not really sure. They all apologized this morning and that's when Nadia asked if Tahvo would bring you here."
"Well, whatever brought around their change of heart, I'm quite grateful for it," Karina said.
Aggie nodded. "There's more that you need to know, though. Tahvo and I have become close. This morning he asked me to marry him."
Karina gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "What? How did that happen? What did you say? How would that work? Do the other women know?"
"One question at a time, please," Aggie said with a laugh. "He said he doesn't want to marry anyone else, no matter what happens. After we discussed it for a while, I finally told him yes."
Karina smiled. "I'm so happy for you. But how will it work?"
"The ceremony is going to be secret, apart from the others in the house," Aggie told her. "Afterward, he's going to take me on a trip. He said that maybe when we get back we can tell everyone in town that he met me in another city. Anyone who recognizes me from the House of Hagen won't be able to say anything and so it should work."
Karina wasn't so certain it would work, but she didn't want to say anything. "And what about the other women? I can't imagine this will help them keep feeling apologetic."
"I don't know," Aggie told her, shaking her head. "But once we're married, it won't matter."
* * *
Two days later, Aggie wore a beautiful, light blue dress that Tahvo had purchased for her. Karina had curled her hair and it hung in ringlets around her shoulders. She had also pinned small blue flowers all over to match her dress. From her make-up, she had applied a soft pink gloss to her lips. Her eyes were lined with a dark pencil and Karina had pressed pink powder into her cheeks. "You look beautiful," her friend told her once she was done.
Aggie stood in front a mirror, staring at her reflection. Never in her life had she felt as pretty and confident as she did at that moment. "I can't believe that after today I am going to be married," she said.
Karina nodded, tears in her eyes. "You deserve all the happiness that Tahvo can give you. Now come on. The ceremony will be starting any minute, but it can't if you're not there."
Tahvo had arranged everything, from the decorations that Derek had put up with the assistance from some of the other servants to the food that Lieber had made for a small celebration party afterward. Aggie couldn't wait to see him standing in front of everyone, ready to declare his love for her.
Karina led her to the door just before the room in which Aggie and Tahvo were to be married. "Wait here," she said. "I'll tell them that we're ready."
Aggie nodded, not sure she could trust her voice. Karina walked through the door, closing it shut behind her, leaving Aggie to stand in the hallway by herself. After a few moments, Karina came back out, a smile on her face. "He's ready," she told her. "Are you?"
"I'm not sure," Aggie whispered. Her entire body shook with nerves.
Karina tried unsuccessfully to hide a laugh. "I understand you're nervous, but this is going to the best day of your life. You simply need to walk through these doors."
Aggie forcefully pushed a breath out and nodded. "You're right. Let's go."
Smiling, Karina linked her arm through Aggie's and pushed open the door. Light spilled across them as they walked into the room. When they reached the front row, Karina sat in her seat, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Aggie leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before joining Tahvo in front of everyone. "You look beautiful," he told her and kissed her lightly on the lips.
"Thank you," she whispered.
His smile widened as he looked into her eyes. As the officiator began to speak, a loud noise came from the door that Aggie had just walked through. She turned her head and saw that a group of policemen had just barged into the room. "Halt the ceremony!" one of them shouted, his hand in the air.
"What is this all about?" Tahvo asked, his eyes flashing in anger.
"We are here to arrest you, Tahvo Nikas," the policeman said, walking toward Tahvo. He was holding handcuffs in his hands.
"What?" Tahvo questioned, furious. "On what charges?"
"Attempting to bribe government authorities, having services that need to go through legal authorities performed in secret, and marrying a slave," the policeman said.
Tahvo laughed. "Those are trumped up charges. They won't stand. Not to mention that I haven't married a slave."
The policeman sneered at in Tahvo's face. "You were about to."
"Is it legal to arrest someone for something they haven't yet done?" Tahvo asked, not about to back down from the policeman in his face. He clenched his hands into fists.
"We'll still be arresting you for the other two charges I've stated," the policeman said. "Now are you going to come willingly or do I have to use force?"
Tahvo looked to Aggie, who was clearly afraid of what was happening. "It will be all right. I'll have my lawyer come to the jailhouse immediately and I'll be out before you know it. Don't worry." He held his hands out for the policeman to place the cuffs on him.
"Tahvo, this is bad," she said placing her hand on his arm as the cuffs were locked onto his wrists.
He kissed her forehead, ignoring the sneer the policeman gave him. "We'll figure it out," he told her.
Aggie followed as the policeman pulled Tahvo by the arm and they left the room. Karina was by her side and they watched as Tahvo climbed into the police car and they drove away.