The covenant - James A. Michener [154]
Abruptly she turned to the problem of her son, the proposed husband: 'Sarel is a fine, honest young man. He's always been overshadowed by the four children he grew up with. My husband, who despises him because he's afraid of what he might become, will tell you within the first ten minutes that Sarel's an imbecile. Sarel will be especially afraid of you, and if you believe my husband, you may shy away.' She paused and took Geertruyd's hands. 'But we never know, do we, what a man can become until we treat him with love?' They talked no more.
When they came off the flats, and the river hove into view, and the horses entered the long lane leading to Trianon, Geertruyd Steen saw for the first time the stunning sight of those enveloping arms, the clean white facade of the house and the two Delft benches defining the ends of the stoep. 'It's beautiful,' she whispered.
'And remember,' Annatjie whispered back, 'it was Paul de Pre who made it this way.'
'Halloo there!' Paul cried as he bounded out of the door to greet his wife and the stranger from Amsterdam. As soon as Geertruyd stepped forward, shining like a red Edam cheese, he thought: Mon Dieu! That one was bred for having children. 'Sarel!' he called. 'Come out and meet your bride!'
These were words well calculated to embarrass the young man, and Annatjie sought to soften them by calling, 'Sarel, here's the most pleasant girl I've ever met.'
From the doorway came the young man, twenty-six years old, weighing not much more than his intended and many times as shy, but when he saw Geertruyd and the frank joy that wreathed her face, he was drawn to her immediately and came forward, stumbling in his eagerness.
'Mind your step,' Paul said, extending a hand to help.
Sarel brushed aside his stepfather's hand as he moved to greet Geertruyd. 'I'm Sarel,' he said.
'My name's Geertruyd.'
'Mother says you come . . . from the same place she did.'
'I do,' the girl said, and the meeting was so agreeable that Sarel was put at ease. He wondered if he should volunteer to kiss the girl, but the question was resolved for him; she stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. 'We're to be married soon, I think,' she said.
'Let's not rush things,' Paul said cautiously, but Annatjie said, 'It will be arranged. The banns will be read.'
Paul objected seriously to having Petronella and her husband attend the wedding, but when Annatjie insisted, a compromise was worked out. Petronella and Bezel would sit in the rear of the church but not participate; Annatjie said that this was a strange way for Paul to act, seeing that he had given the young couple his house, but Paul said, 'What we do at home's one thing. What we do in public is quite another,' and he simply would not listen to Annatjie's further plea that the couple be allowed to sit in the family pew.
When the wedding party returned to Trianon, Paul said graciously, 'Isn't it lucky we built the extra two rooms? The young people can have one of them.' So they were installed, and he began to watch Geertruyd meticulously, to see if she showed any signs of pregnancy, for with the birth of her first child, the Van Doorns would have a potential inheritor of the vineyard, and his own design would fall into confusion.
He knew it was inevitable, yet the possibility made him irritable, and one night at supper he threw down his spoon and cried, 'Damnit all, it's been four months since I've spoken a word of French. Everybody in this house speaks Dutch, even though I own the place.'
'You don't own the place,' Annatjie reminded him, 'You own part of it.'
'Then we should speak part French.'
'I know not a word,' Geertruyd said, and this simple statement angered him further.
'They're even threatening to halt the sermons in French,' he wailed. 'Every time I attend a funeral, it means one less French voice in the colony. And none to come to replace it.'
'Paul,' his wife said with a certain harshness. 'Stop this. It's long past the time to acknowledge what you