In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

Papa, she remembered did not like to be thought of as a romantic either. "Both parties in a marriage must have good reasons for entering the marriage. Papa is not forcing me to marry you, you know. He would never do that."

"I don't mean he would beat you. Look, being forced by circumstances isn't much different from being forced in other ways. It isn't right."

It dawned on Bethany that unless she changed his mind, McCaffey would not cooperate with the plan. She would have to be careful she realized, if she judged wrong, he would get up and walk out.

"My mother's grave is up there under the trees," she said. "So is Iris's mother, and Jeanne's. My mother didn't have to come out here with Papa to this wild land. Gran had a good house in the city, and she made a comfortable living supporting herself. Mama came out here because she and Papa had a dream to build a home. It was the same with all Papa’s wives. I remember the day Jeanne's mother died. Margo had taken us out to pick berries. We were on our way back when we heard the shooting and saw the fires. Margo wouldn't let us children come to the house until after she had made her decent. It wasn't fit for us to see, she said."

"Your father has done a fine job here. I understand how proud you must be of him."

"No, you don't understand," Bethany said. "Do you know what happens to women like me, like my sisters and grandmother when they have no income? Do you know what they do to survive? Well I do. I saw what happened to some of Gran's customers when the Smith Clique took over in Copper City. You are a man; you can work. For a woman, there are very few places to work and stay respectable. I can't sew a straight line, none of us can cook, and I am a terrible teacher; you should have seen me attempting to teach Jeanne how to dance. I thought we would pull out each other’s hair! Jeanne and Iris are no better. If we lose the ranch, Iris and Jeanne will lose the income from dairy and the geese farm, and I will lose my racers. We can't go back through the Portal. If we tried to go back to earth, we would be arrested for violating the Portal Settlement Law. Besides, our mothers died for this land. I will not let that awful man and his cocksure sons come and take it away from us. They shot Papa in the back! Oh, I know the sheriff said he couldn't arrest anyone without proof. But I know who did it."

She turned around and looked McCaffey straight in the eye. "Even if I knew how to win a fight like this, I am no warrior woman who men will follow into battle. But I can save my family if I marry a man who can do these things. I don't know what you want in a wife. I don't know if I could be other than I am. If it turns out I'm not the kind of woman you want to marry, I can’t change that. I can't pretend either that I have fallen in love with you at first sight. But I will pledge to you I will do everything I can to make a marriage between us work. But you are correct; we must both be willing for the marriage to be a good one, so you must want it too."

There was a long silence. McCaffey got up and went over to stare out the open French doors. Dusk was turning the sky a faint mauve color. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe it so badly he didn't trust his own judgment. If she was telling the truth, she was offering him everything he had worked for since he had walked out of his stepfather's house at fifteen; a home, a family, and work he could be proud of. If her words were a trick, it was a good one. Could Bethany be so good an actress? He looked at the clear gray eyes, the soft rounded chin, and the firm set of her mouth. He wanted to believe what she was offering was real. Still, if it was a trick, he could apply a simple test.

"I guess we can go into town tomorrow and get married," he said.

Bethany, who had been thinking bitterly that she would have to tell Papa she had failed, was stunned. "What?" she blurted out.

"I said," he repeated, "that we can go into town tomorrow and get married."

"Tomorrow? No, we can't get married tomorrow. There must be an announcement in the paper, we must see the Preacher and send out invitations."

"Tomorrow," he said.

Bethany eyed him warily. She wasn't sure what had changed his mind, but she wasn't about to let him ride roughshod over her either. "Tomorrow," she stated firmly, "We will go into town, put the announcement in the paper, and talk to Preacher Mayer about holding the ceremony after church on Sunday. We will also," she added, "make arrangements to hold a reception at the hotel the following Saturday."

She stacked the cups and saucers on the tea tray so she could take them to the kitchen. Aware that he was watching her with a proprietary air, and she was conscious of feeling shy, so to make conversation, she asked, "Did Paco tell you which room yours is?"

McCaffey took the tray from her and set it back down on the table. "No, he didn't."

"The first one at the head of the stairs. Your friend is next door."

She stopped, because he had taken hold of her shoulders. She could feel the warmth of his hands through the thin material as if she were naked to his touch. After a moment, he tipped her chin up with his finger, forcing her to look at him.

"It will be