This is the story of Grayson and Alexa. . .
"But why, Mother?" Alexa whines for the millionth time. "Why must Mary pick my date?" Her mother shrugs the twenty something year old away. But her daughter is persistent. "Mother! I am of age to pick a spouse myself."
The oldening woman sighs. "Alexa, darling, it is Mary's job as a matcher to match couples."
The young woman stomps her foot. Alexa is not happy with the position the mighty Lord has given her. Every woman is born with a role, that role is determined by the little mark they're born with. And Alexa happened to be born with the worst, in her opinion, marking there is-- the child's foot, aka the stay-at-home-mother marking. Her destiny was to bare children. Women born with the child's foot are the most fertile beings on the planet, one drop of male seed and they balloon up with child.
As for men, they are expected to get jobs by the age of fifteen. That's that.
Valentina sighs once again at her youngest daughter. "We all go through a stage of hating our marking. Remember when Mary refused to fullfil her duties and that poor woman three cottages down married the wrong Smith brother? Her life will be full of regret because she allowed that woman to marry wrongly."
"You're a seamstress. You have a ball of string in your leg! I have a child's foot on my bum!" Alexa crosses her thin arms and shakes her head. "Why am I being punished? Mary is a matcher, Clara is a gardener, Natalia is a nurse, Lilly sells her body, and Amy is a woman lover!"
Valentina pulls her last daughter into a short embrace. The women in their family are short but Alexa has gotten the end of the stick. At a mere four foot eleven she's pint sized.
The loud stomps of boots has Alexa's heart skip a beat. Her father, a burly man with hair on his face but none on his head, is her favorite parent. As his last daughter, and his wife unable to have anymore children, Alexa has a special place in his heart.
Alexa presses her body against her father's, a content smile on her beautiful face.
"Good evening, Father. How was the forest?"
He laughs lightly down at Alexa. "Like always; dirty, cold, and absolutely atrocious."
The two share a laugh at his words. Timothy Hayden picks his very short daughter up and presses a soft kiss to her forehead. Despite her age of twenty two she yurns for the moment her father comes home, picks her up into his arms, and walks the two of them to the dinner table.
Lillian, Clara, Amy, and Natalia enter their parents' cottage. All four women are grown, Lillian the eldest in her mid thirties, Amy and Clara both at the ripe age of thirty, Natalia twenty eight, Mary twenty six, and little Alexa at twenty two.
"Mother!" Lillian shouts. "May I help with dinner?" Valentina jesters for her eldest daughter to accompany her in the kitchen.
The cottage door opens and shuts once more and everyone knows it's Mary. The second youngest daughter of Timothy Hayden smiles sheepishly at her family.
"I'm sorry--."
"Please sit." Alexa watches her sister take a seat beside her at her father's order.
Mary grins from ear to ear at her young sister. Mary has picked all of her sister's husbands and doubts Alexa will be anything but grateful for the man Mary has hand chosen for her last sister.
Alexa simply glares at Mary.
"Oh, Alexa. You'll love him, I know you will. He's tall, handsome, and has steady income. He's a little on the burly side but incredibly sweet. He is older than you, twenty seven I believe. Don't worry, Alexa, I wouldn't get you a disgusting old man."
"Mary, if you're so good at matching, why aren't you married?"
Mary's smile drops at Alexa's smirk.
"I do have a boyfriend, you know."
Alexa hums to herself, her smirk smaller in size but still there. Timothy tries not to laugh, as Alexa has a valid point.
Soon enough dinner is repaired. A chicken, some potatoes, a few vegetables from Clara's garden, and a medium sized apple pie for dessert.
"Mary, tell us about the man you've chosen for Alexa," Valentina asks excitedly.
Mary dives into the description again; tall, handsome, hard working, slightly burly, older but not too old, too sweet for words. Alexa cannot deny that she's intrigued by what her sister has to say.
But the sooner she marries means the sooner she has to have children. And Alexa isn't sure if she is ready to have the large amount of child she's destined for.
started// july.23.2016
The setting in this book is a little odd. It's a cross between old timey & new timey. You've been warned.
