Chapter 7

Martha, the future mother-in-law, had a smile on her face that showed that she knew and approved of what the men were about to say, but Mary just looked perplexed. John said, "Mary, my dear, Master Joseph has just asked for your hand in marriage, and I have approved. I trust that you are happy with that?"

Mary stood there for a moment in complete shock, then she screamed the loudest that Joe had ever heard come from a woman. It was so loud that both Ed and Turtle came running in to see if she needed help, but, before they had arrived, Mary was clinging to Joe like she was afraid that he would run away. She was holding him in an embrace around his neck that might have proved fatal to a man of lesser strength.

Martha started laughing and said, "Mary, please let the poor man breathe, or you will surely lose your husband before it is official."

Mary stepped back in embarrassment as their friends ran into the room. Before they could say anything, John said, "Master Joseph has just agreed to marry Mistress Mary, and the noise you heard was her acceptance of his proposal." John then slapped Joe on the back and broke into a hearty laugh.

Both Ed and Turtle broke into congratulations for Joe, but he could see some tension on Ed's face. Joe asked him, "Ed, you look like you have mixed feelings over this. Were you planning to ask to marry Mistress Mary?"

Ed blushed bright red and answered, "No, Master Joseph, it's not that at all. I just wondered what was going to happen to me, now that you are getting married."

"Unless you want it to, nothing is going to change between either of you or me. You both are still my very good friends, and I still have a promise to fulfill to teach you what I know of fighting.

"Master John has suggested a business for me to go into that would make use of some of my skills, and I want to talk to both of you about that. However, I would like to have the conversation take place tomorrow. I am too excited with the prospects of marriage to think about much else right now!"

"Thank you, Master Joseph. I won't worry any more about it," came from Ed with a great sigh of true relief. He would have been in trouble if Joe had thrown him out.

Joe then said, "Master John, you will have to instruct me in the proper actions for me to take. I must remind you that I am not familiar with your customs, and I fear that I will do something to embarrass Mary or your family."

"Don't worry yourself about that, Son. We'll make sure that everything goes according to the rules. The first thing that we will do is have the banns posted in our church. There are a few other customary things to consider, but none of them are really important."

That afternoon, John went to see Parson Jacobs about the formalities of the banns. He returned shortly thereafter in a towering rage. "That misbegotten cretin refused to post banns for the wedding! He has refused permission for Mary and Joseph to be married in our church! I will have to mull this over to see what I can do about it, but, rest assured, I will do something to change that fool's mind!"

Joe asked, "Does Massachusetts have any provision for marriage between two people who do not have access to a church. My people allow for a 'common law' marriage under those circumstances. In our case, two people only have to live together as husband and wife for a year, and they are legally married. Of course, they can get married in a church whenever they might want to, but for all practical purposes, they are already married. In other places, two people only have to announce in public that they are married, and they are."

Martha gasped when she heard this, and John looked like somebody had kicked him in the balls. "Son, such a thing as that is downright blasphemous! Only God can join two people in marriage, and it has to be done in a church!"

"OK, that's what I meant when I said that I came from a place with different customs. Could Mary and I travel to Boston or Plymouth and get married in a church there, for example?"

"No, a couple must be married in their own church. There is no provision for doing anything else."

"Hmm ... How about this, could Mary and I run away to Connecticut and get married there?"

"No, I doubt it. However, Roger Williams has established several Puritan congregations in Rhode Island where you could be married within the true church without having to contend with arbitrary rules. If you do that, though, I don't know how Mistress Martha and I could attend the wedding. That is awfully far for people as old as we are to travel. After all, we are both over 40 years of age."

"Oh, Husband, how could you say such a thing? I certainly could travel to the ends of the Earth to see the wedding of my only child. I am sure that you could do the same."

"Wife, I was thinking of you when I complained of the long trip. If you think that you could manage such a trip, then I certainly could do the same. Just remember that we would have to make the trip by horse-drawn cart, so we could expect to make only 10-15 miles a day. That would mean a minimum of 10 days on the road under the most optimistic circumstances. Do you really think that you could make such a trip?"

"Yes I do. I think that a trip to Providence would be a grand adventure and well worth doing for my daughter's wedding. What say you, Master Joseph?"

"I know that I would want you and Master John to be there as much as Mary would. With Mary along, the trip would be nothing but a happy journey. If my friends, Ed and Turtle, would make the trip with us, I know that we could make it safely and easily."

Ed and Turtle both were enthusiastic about making the trip, so the question was settled. The seven of then would make the trip, because, of course, Elizabeth would also have to go. Joe was especially happy to have Turtle along, because the Nipmuck could ease their way through the Indian territories stirred to war by King Philip. It was going to take a few weeks to get ready for the trip, so Joe had time for some intensive training of Turtle and Ed in stick fighting.

There would not be enough time to do much for Ed in knife fighting, so Joe looked for an alternative. He found it very quickly in the atlatl, a throwing stick used to catapult a spear-like dart. Ed's skill with the sling should translate very well to the atlatl and dart with only a minimum of training.

John and Joe spent the evening, whenever he could get a break from his duties as the tavern keeper, in planning for the trip. Joe asked John to take care of the transportation and logistics while he concentrated on teaching what fighting skills that he could to his friends.

John had come up with a four-wheeled wagon, a rarity for the time and place, and a team of two horses to pull it. He learned to drive the wagon and intended for the rest of the men to learn as they made their trek to Providence Plantations. John said it was not a difficult skill to learn, but there were a few things that had to be done to keep the horses from having to work too hard.

The driver's seat was wide enough for three people and there was a second seat right behind that one for three more people. There was an open wooden framework to hold a canvas cover during inclement weather. The plan was for them to stop at various inns along the way, and, to keep down the fuss, Turtle had agreed to sleep in the wagon to prevent theft during the night. Actually, Turtle preferred this, since he did not like the too-soft beds that White men used.

The traveling arrangement was for John, Martha, and whoever was learning to drive to sit in the front seat and the other three sat on the second seat. This allowed Mary and Joe a lot of time together to talk. Mostly, they talked about what they would like to do with their lives after they were married. Mary wanted a large family, and felt like she had one started already with Elizabeth and Ed. Joe felt the same way, so he was happy to go along with her. Joe was already treating Ed as if he were his son, and both Ed and Joe enjoyed the relationship.

Turtle and Ed had made tremendous progress with stick fighting during the time that John was getting the wagon and other stuff ready, so even Ed could now expect to defeat any reasonable foe as long as it was a one-on-one fight. Turtle, by the fact that he was a mature and experienced fighter, could now expect to handle two attackers. Joe don't know what his limits were, but he figured that he could handle up to four attackers if they did not catch him by surprise.