Chapter 1

I died...

Again.

I knew that much because I had a clear memory of everything fading away, along with Miranda and Columba's voices, begging me to stay, to fight, and to live.

The universe makes up the rules and doesn't even tell me what they are. I just hang on for the ride.

Dying can make one maudlin, and as I existed somewhere outside of life - somewhere dead – I finally felt sorry for myself. Columba was worth living for. Miranda was worth loving. Colleen was my real love, but rejected me for the last time.

The memories of the rest of my loves circled around me in the land of the dead. I touched the memories of our best times, recreating the feel of new love, as I re-experienced each one in order. Judith, Beth Ann, Colleen, Rebecca, Tammy, Sherrie, Winnie, Millie, Meghan, Regina, Cindy, Brenda, Miranda, Columba, and so on, as they paraded through my mind in the place bereft of life.

It didn't seem to last long, being in this place of not alive. Death seemed to understand that it had no hold on me and didn't try to keep me in the depths of the dead place. I was ready to go long before I went, but going was soon enough coming, and then I was...

alive...

BEEEEEP ... BEEEEEP ... BEEEEEEEP ... and so it goes. The ultimate insult, the beeping machine signaled my new life, and I struggled to surface and find out who I was this time.

As often was the case, my hearing came to life faster than my sight, and I listened for clues. I found out so little, I didn't even know what language they spoke. That went on for a while, until I slept without knowing I was asleep, and when I woke, I heard and saw perfectly.

White walls, while sheets, white ceiling, and a white hospital ID bracelet that proclaimed I was Noah Guthrie, born on December twelfth, and the bracelet told me that my new body was twenty-two years old. Looking about, I knew I was temporarily alone and used the time to examine myself.

I appeared to be roughly six feet tall and maybe one-hundred and eighty pounds. My body felt slim, muscled, and hard, like I did heavy work for a living. My hands felt rough, and there was evidence of suntan on my arms and chest.

I felt marvelous!

Feeling as good as I felt, made me wonder what this body was doing in a hospital. Wondering why I was in the hospital caused me to move around and find out if I was all there. Moving around also caused me to unhook one of the monitor wires, which summoned the nurse.

The nurse was HOT.

I wanted to find out how HOT, but I knew better, even if Mr. Johnson did not. She stood five-four and weighed a little over one-hundred pounds. Her figure could stop a bus and make a priest give up his collar. Taking all of that in, I wondered where all this testosterone was coming from, but I didn't have time to frame an answer, because the nurse took one look at me and exclaimed,

"You're awake."

'Congratulations, you've won the award for stating the obvious, ' I thought, reconsidering how hot could a brainless wonder really be.

She stopped, considered my wide awake and seemingly healthy state of being, and said, "Your family will be thrilled. I will go call them and your doctor, right now. You stay there and don't fall asleep, or you will disappoint a lot of people."

Well, Ok.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I was willing to consider staying comfortably reclined in the fresh, clean, bed. Snuggling myself more comfortably into the mattress, I decided to turn on the TV, watch the twenty-four hour news, and enjoy the quiet and calm.

It didn't last.

The door flew open., A doctor marched in, switched on the lights, pulled out his trusty eye-looking-at thing, and looked in my eyes. It seemed to comfort him knowing that I had two eyeballs, and he decided to look to see if I had two ears, which were conveniently located on either side of my head, right where they belonged.

With those four things decided, he moved on to see if I had a pulse, blood pressure, and respiration. Once it was established that I had all the necessary functions to pronounce me alive, he did so. "Noah," he said seriously, "You look just fine."

"That's good," I said, "since I feel just fine." I matched his tone and tempo of speech almost precisely, but he never noticed, so I gave up.

He looked confused or unsure of himself. "When you fell, we all thought you might have severely damaged your brain and either wouldn't regain consciousness at all, or do so but lack much awareness.

"None of that is even remotely true, son. You look perfectly healthy. Other than your bump on the back of the head, I can see no reason to keep you here, so when the folks arrive, we will be releasing you without delay.

"I KNOW that will please the entire family, what with all that's going on around you right now."

I wondered just what ALL was going on around me, right now, but wisely kept that question to myself.

I tried out my legs and discovered I could sit up, stand, walk, and get dressed. Even if Noah's clothes were somewhat under whelming, they fit, and that was a big advantage to me. By the time I was washed up and dressed, had my head bandage changed, and the wound thoroughly cleaned by the HOT nurse, I was ready for ... something... ?... ?

My confusion was resolved and made worse right then, because a BUNCH of people ran in, hugged and kissed on me, told me repeatedly how happy they were to know I was just fine, and couldn't wait to get me out of there so we could complete the 'ceremony.' I was a little apprehensive, because of all the back slapping, good natured kidding about what a lucky dog I was, and repeated references to what would be doing once the 'ceremony' was finally over.

These were ordinary looking people, but everything was at least one note off. Their clothes were working men's clothes, and their speech was too. I understood that the assembly was uncles, brothers, cousins, and male relatives of one kind or another, and that something big was happening that concerned the guy whose body I got shoved into.

Beyond that I was completely in the dark.

Obviously the universe wasn't. So I had to go along to find out. It was the only choice I was given.

I was driven to a farm way out in the country, where my 'family' was gathered, waiting for my return. The women of the family were dressed very plainly and stayed away from all of the men. It took me by surprise, but I realized these were some off-branch type of Quakers, Dunkers, or German Baptists, who self-segregated males and females. That could mean that I was about to get married, which would explain all the hoopla, good natured joshing, and general merriment. I vaguely remembered reading a book about how many off shoots of the old European, strict religions there were, and how many little hamlets of those folks still existed out in the country all over America.

As soon as I was out of the pick-up truck, I was led to the farm house, where everyone gathered – men on the right, women on the left. A strong looking, stern, older man waited holding a huge Bible, covered with a beautiful hand tooled leather binding. He smiled and said, "We weren't sure you would be Ok to proceed, Noah. We sure are glad that God has saved you for tonight's ceremony and all it means to the entire clan."

He consulted his Bible while people entered and settled themselves. Turning back to me, he said, "You know that even though you and your parents went away, they kept the land in the family and saved it for our use all these years. And you know that we have cultivated it, protected it, and used it to grow our food and feed our cattle. You don't know how badly certain 'outsiders' want to take your land from us, evict us from our ancestral home, and dig deep pits to extract phosphorous.

"Your grandfather and father – God rest his soul – and now you have been our salvation through generations, because your land has sustained us with God's divine help. Now some of those foreign interests are threatening us and have wooed Cephus to their side. The only way to cut them off from the land is to join the families in marriage, which is why...

He looked around and nodded. An older woman softly opened a door off the living room and three young women were led to the center of the room by another woman who had to be their mother. They were dressed identically in white, and their faces were covered with a fine veil. Each girl – I could see that none of them were more than eighteen – smiled at me with what appeared to be utter hero worship, and the veils couldn't begin to hide their joy. 'Noah must be something special for his bride to be attended this way, ' I thought.

The leader spoke, and I returned my attention to him. "Noah Guthrie ... You come to us from the far world, where men live a different sort of life. Your worldliness and broad experience were sent to us, in our time of need, by a beneficent and loving God, whose Son died to save our immortal souls.

"Son, we can never tell you how much your unselfishness means to us, and even though you'll leave us after the marriage is witnessed, our admiration and appreciation will go with you always."

He turned to three men standing near him. "Jonas, Barnabas, and Mahlon, you three bore witness that Adam Josiah Williams freely offers his daughter in marriage to Noah Guthrie. Do you affirm this before the assembled witnesses?" They all nodded solemnly.

"And do you affirm that Paul Williams offers his daughter to be married to Noah Guthrie?" They all nodded once again. "And do you affirm that the youngest daughter of Cephus Williams comes to this marriage by the offering of her grandfather, Justin Williams?" They nodded even more solemnly.

"Then do you affirm that there is no reason to halt this ceremony. All three women are freely given to be joined to Noah, first born of Timothy Guthrie, here in this hamlet?"

All three nodded solemnly, and the leader continued. "Noah Guthrie, given as three elders of the clan witness this most important moment, and since none are present to deny this marriage in the manner sanctioned in our laws, I pronounce you husband to Mary, Martha, and Marian Williams. Forevermore, let all men know these three women as Mary, Martha, and Marian Guthrie.

"Let all who come after us know that this marriage binds the three Houses of Williams to the House of Guthrie, and forever cements the rights to our land in the hands of our family. Noah, your goodness in taking on three wives to save our ancestral homes, will be remembered forever, and the story will be inscribed by my hand inside the Holy Bible brought from the old country by our ancestors. Now you, the husband of Mary, Martha, and Marian, go forth and populate our lands with children to inherit our homes, our lands, and our belongings."

I was married?!?!?!

If that wasn't bad enough, I was married to three backwoods, teenaged girls. What the hell was the universe up to? Sure, they had all the right parts and looked pleasant, happy, clean and they were definitely unsoiled, but what the heck was I doing married to all three?

So caught up in my astonishment, I missed the last thing the elder said, but his declaration at the end of whatever it was appeared to be the end of the ceremony. The girls lowered their gaze immediately and were led towards the back of the house, while the men went to start the party outside. I had no idea what was expected of me, and waited until the woman who had to be the girl's aunt - or something - came and led me to them.

I found the girls sitting on the bed in the back bedroom. They appeared excited and terrified at the same time. We eyed one another for few moments, mostly because I was unsure what was expected of me. The oldest looking girl, Mary, turned to the woman who brought me back and said, "Aunt Ruth, are you going to witness the confirmation of marriage?"