Chronicles Of The Maca Collection

Chapter 33

It had not taken long for MacDonald to haggle with the stable man over the cost of a buggy and two horses for one week. They were on the road to Papa Schmidt"s place before seven o"clock. Anna still remembered the route out of St. Louis. She kept up a running commentary on the people she had known, pointing out the different trees and flowers growing by the roadside and tales of where she had grown up before arriving in this country.

The miles clopped away. The nearer they came, the less Anna spoke until she became silent for her memories of her early years were rushing back and overwhelmed her mind.

Papa had cleared the land in 1839. She had become the de facto woman of the house for her father and brother just as she had been in the homeland. To her horror, Papa married the twenty-year-old Johanna Polzien early the next year. There was an immediate clash as to whether Anna still ran Johann Schmidt"s household or Johanna. Of course, Papa had sided with his young wife.

Anna had been studying from the books Kasper brought home from school: Latin, algebra, novels, and English. When a handsome, red-haired teacher at the St. Louis University proposed, she had not hesitated. No one thought there was anything wrong with a seventeen-year-old woman marrying someone who claimed to be thirty-five. Anna was puzzled when she heard his two hearts, but said nothing. She was unprepared for his cold, icy fury when he learned she was pregnant.

It was a shock when she felt him probing her mind. She stood stunned as he pointed his right index finger at her and intoned his words.

“Tell me who you committed adultery with so that we can divorce. You will not pass off a primitive Earth being as my child. Who was it?”

His mind clashed with hers and she felt arcing points of pain within her head. Anna wet her lips. “How can you say such things?” She shook her head and her hurt was replaced with a raging anger. It was like she threw him out of her mind and threw up bricks to block him.

“I have been with no one else. Don"t you dare try to do that to me again! It"s foul. It"s wrong and it hurts.”

For a moment Mr. Lawrence stared at her and then slammed out of the house.

He had not returned until well after midnight. Anna was not sure where he slept, but it was not in their bed. She had prayed for God to forgive her temper, but she had felt so violated. How could someone go into another"s mind and try to command them to speak? Did it have to do with the two hearts? When they first married, she thought it was a flaw like the calves with two heads. Now she wasn"t sure. What had he meant by primitive Earth being? Is that how he thought of her? She had been puzzled that he had been with her but once since they wed. She knew her father and Johanna had used the marriage bed more than that. Her room had been right above theirs. She was not certain, however, how frequently man and wife should be together like that.

The surprising thing was that she had enjoyed it. This was something else she wasn"t sure should be, but there was no one to ask. Her mother had died in childbirth when Anna and Kasper were seven.

The next morning, Mr. Lawrence did not speak to her and did not again until after the child was born. Divorce was not an option. He could not prove she committed adultery and there was no other reason the law would grant a divorce. Anna spent her pregnancy banging things around. She would berate him for not speaking and he would leave for most of the evening. She never knew what he did or where he went, but he did not return reeking of liquor.

He did hire a midwife. The delivery took but seven hours.

“What a beautiful little girl you have, Frau Lawrence.”

Tante Bertha"s round face beamed as she laid the baby in her arms.

Margareatha Louise Lawrence was baptized one month later. Mr. Lawrence did not attend. She had been horrified to find out he was an atheist.

“I do not give credence to superstition by attending primitive rites.”

He was just as horrified to hear the two hearts in Margareatha"s chest and see the golden circles around the pupils of her copper eyes. For months he walked around with a frown on his face, deep in thought. His habits changed and he did not leave the house at night.

It wasn"t until Margareatha was three years old that Mr. Lawrence returned to their bedroom. He had resumed teaching Anna mathematics and English grammar. He considered German too guttural. “English is completely devoid of reason, but at least it does not grate on one"s ears.” Anna no longer cared about his opinions, but she wanted to learn.

His reaction to her second pregnancy was one of bewilderment. The coldness of a loveless marriage descended upon them. He spent more and more time at the college and library studying and writing notes in his cryptic language. Anna didn"t care. She had enough friends now to realize this was not a marriage. It was not like those where women were beaten, but there were marriages where women and men loved each other. Anna was too proud to admit the loneliness in her marriage to anyone but her twin.

She gave this baby the name of Daniel Anson Lawrence. “If du do not claim him, at least he knows he is the son of von of us.” Mr. Lawrence insisted she use English to speak in their home. When he was gone, Anna ignored the edict. Daniel had dark hair and his eyes remained grey like hers. There was but one heart in his chest.

Their marriage remained the same as before. He refused to communicate with her and spent his time studying manuscripts and heavy tomes. Kasper was taking the last of his courses to prepare him for Concordia Seminary. She rarely saw him. At times it was a relief to return to her father"s farm with the children and help with the planting or putting up the vegetables. The yard around her house was not large enough to produce anything. Mr. Lawrence insisted they were not to live like the lesser beings. It frightened her when he spoke in those terms. She did defy him by having Daniel baptized and attending church with the children.

She could name each time Mr. Lawrence behaved as a husband. The winter cold of late 1849 and early 1850 necessitated his return to their bed for shared warmth. A sudden warm snap brought forth his manhood. In April, she had an announcement.

“Mr. Lawrence, I am pregnant again.”

His face became immobile. “Are you certain?”

“Ja, three months it has been now.”

“Learn to phrase your sentences correctly.” He rose and left the house.

Lorenz Adolph was born the last week of October. He and Daniel looked alike, but in his chest beat two hearts. Mr. Lawrence became white-faced with the news. He did not return for two weeks.

The children and house kept Anna busy enough that his coldness and absence was not bothersome. Lorenz was the amazement. He spoke and walked at nine months. His temper tantrums (according to Kasper) were on a par with hers as a child. His hair remained black and curly like hers and his eyes remained a grey color. By the time he was three, he was trying to beat Daniel at games and loved playing the game War with his Uncle Kasper. Mr. Lawrence once again visited their marriage bed.

The inevitable occurred.

“Mr. Lawrence, I am with child.”

He spun on his heel and remained absent for three weeks. When he returned, he made his announcement.

“When you are strong enough after bearing this child, we will leave for Texas. I have land there.”

That night, Anna had written to her brother. She sealed the envelope and on the outside she wrote: To be opened upon verification of my death.