Not the Marrying Kind by Christina Cole Page B

lectern.
    Throughout the service, the minister
continued to gaze toward Kat, unabashed desire gleaming in his
narrow, beady eyes. He drew his sermon from Paul’s second letter to
the Corinthians, speaking of finding heavenly treasures in earthen
vessels, and all the while Kat fidgeted on the hard pew, aware of
people whispering and looking her way. Mama was right, she
realized. It was awfully rude to point, but that sure didn’t keep a
lot of those very Christian ladies from aiming their gnarled
fingers in her direction.
    Gossip sure did get about fast, and somebody
must have caught wind of Kendrick’s proposal. She glared toward her
father. But he couldn’t have been the one spreading rumors. Until
this morning, he hadn’t left the house in weeks.
    She doubted Mama would have discussed such a
personal matter with anyone, which left only Reverend Kendrick
himself. Or Emily Sue. She turned toward her sister.
    “Did you say anything to anybody about him
wanting to marry me?”
    Emily’s face turned pale. “Nobody said it
was a secret.”
    “But you know I’m not going to do it, Emily.
Telling tales like that’s almost the same as spreading lies. The
devil will get you for that.”
    Mama heaved a very audible sigh. “Girls, if
you’re going to argue, go outside.”
    “We’re not arguing,” Emily said, closing her
arms across her chest.
    “Yes, we are.” Kat jumped to her feet,
jerked Emily Sue up, too, and all but dragged her out from the pew,
down the aisle, and through the front door. As soon as they were
outside, she gave the little brat a well-deserved shake. “How dare
you, Emily! If we weren’t here at church in front of God and
everybody, I swear, I’d turn you over my knee and paddle you so
hard you wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.”
    “But I didn’t tell on purpose.” She
sniffled. “Mrs. Wilkes asked me how I felt about it, that’s all.
She wanted to know if I was excited, and I told her there wasn’t
anything to get excited about.”
    Kat kept a tight hold on her sister’s arms.
Probably Emily was telling the truth. Mrs. Wilkes kept house for
the reverend and was always getting into his business, as well as
everybody else’s. It would be just like her to try to pin Emily
down and wheedle information from her.
    “But you did tell her that I wasn’t going to
marry him, right?” Might even be a good thing if Emily had set the
woman straight.
    Emily sniffled again. “I told her you didn’t
want to marry him.”
    “Good.”
    “But I also told her you had to marry him,
whether you wanted to or not.”
    Kat’s mouth dropped open. “You told her
what?” Realizing the implications of her sister’s careless words,
she covered her face with her hands. She very nearly cried. More
and more lately, she’d found herself on the verge of tears, and she
didn’t like it. Not one bit. Silly, lovestruck women cried. She was
not one of those .
    Too embarrassed to set foot inside the
church again, Kat turned toward home and started walking.
    “What are you doing?” Emily cried out,
racing after her older sister.
    “What does it look like? I’m salvaging
what’s left of my pride.” She made a harrumphing sound
nearly as good as the ones Pa made.
    “Mama says it’s a sin to be prideful. A
woman’s supposed to be humble and submissive.”
    “You don’t even know what those words mean,
Emily. As for me, I’d rather go to hell than submit to some
self-righteous ass.” Without further ado, she turned on her heel
and began the long walk home.
    "But, Kat, what about your class?"
    Each week, Kat taught a group of children
after the regular service ended. She sang songs with them about the
Lord and His love, recited simple scriptures, and showed them how
to kneel and pray. But not today.
    She spoke not a word...just kept on
marching.
    Pa caught up with her an hour later.
Services that morning must have been awful short, Kat guessed. As
the family’s horse-drawn buggy rolled up