Read Online The Bride Price: An African Romance (Chitundu Chronicles) by Suzanne Popp - Free Book Online

am Wellington Taylor, Myrna’s tutor.”
    “Myrna is no longer living here.” Violet immediately translated for her mother who did not speak English.
    “That is what I heard.  We miss her at the school.  She is an excellent student,” he said, blocking his eyes from the sun.
    “Myrna is no longer in the area,” Violet said.
    “Can you tell me where she is?  I have some things that belong to her.”
    “It is better if you just forget about Myrna.” 
    “Can you give me her address so I can at least congratulate her?”
    “She will not want to hear from you.  Uncle Dodge said he had taken care of her things.”
    “Well, he hasn’t.  She has some personal effects that I am going to keep until you give me her address.”
    “We are not giving you her address.  She is gone.  She doesn’t need to be reminded of what she has lost.”
    Violet knew she was being loose with her translations, as her mother kept asking what the man wanted, becoming upset, and wondering what the teacher was doing here. Violet felt a little guilty. After all, she would be able to marry Joseph because of the bride price Festal had paid, and she didn’t want to risk any upset of this arrangement.
    Beatrice did not want Myrna to be upset either.  It was better this way.  Just let him leave and Myrna go on with her life in the cattle station. If he was interested in Myrna, he should have said so before Festal got her.  The family was better off now.  Stephen and Esther were together, Thomas was back in school, and Violet would soon have the husband she wanted. They had made the right choice for their family. 
    Wellington saw he was getting nowhere with the sister and that the mother could not understand what he was after.  In frustration, he took the books and the diary he had brought and returned them to his office. 
    When he left the school the following year, the diary and the essays Myrna had written were packed up with his things.  It would be a few years before he came across them and read the young girl’s confusion of events that Christmas break.  She had no idea that her uncle might be scheming to force her to drop out of school and marry an older man she did not know or want.  Wellington Taylor never forgot Myrna’s face or her sense of responsibility. He was frustrated at not being able to communicate with her. The smugness of her sister and mother refusing to answer his questions, or allow him to have Myrna’s address was upsetting. The fact that Myrna would never know how much he admired and respected her, was Wellington’s deepest regret.
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER 10
BEATRICE TELLS BISHOP ABOUT JOSEPH
     
    Bishop listened as his wife described the young man from church who was interested in Violet.  Bishop had made it past the crisis in his business, and really was not eager to have this last daughter leave the household.
    “Bishop, I talked with the young man we met in church and at the wedding of Myrna.  He is Joseph Leibitsang and he runs the mercantile and provisions store here in town.”
    “I was sorry after Myrna married. I was boxed in by the need to get a bride price for Stephen.  I don’t want another daughter leaving the house so soon.  We have Stephen married, and Myrna.  Why can’t this wait?” The torment was seen in the lines around his mouth and eyes.
    “Bishop, you are ahead of me already.  I just wanted to let you know that if we decide to let Violet marry this young man, they will be living within walking distance of us.  He assures me that she can be here whenever we need or want her to come. He showed me the house plans he has had drawn up, and they include a guest room for us to stay anytime we want.  He is only waiting for us to give our blessings to an engagement.”
    “What about the family?  Did he say anything about his people?”
    “He said he wants to be a part of our family. He has several brothers and sisters and values family.  He had pictures and ideas that