On My Wedding Day, They Tried to Leash Me Like Cattle

The wedding car had barely stopped at the edge of town when Egbert's mother came toward us, all smiles, carrying an animal leash and a length of rope.

Lucy, dear, by the rules of our hometown, a new bride has to wear this when she comes in, so the groom can lead her home.

It means you'll be like a good donkey from now on hardworking, uncomplaining, devoted to the family, good for your husband. Come now, put it on.

The Swanson father stood beside her, stroking his goatee, chiming in.

"This is an old rule handed down by the ancestors. An obedient wife means a life with something to look forward to."

I looked at that filthy leash, then turned to Egbert, standing outside the car door.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

Egbert avoided my eyes and lowered his voice.

"It's just a short walk. Put it on and take a few steps first. Don't make my parents lose face in front of all the relatives."

"You've always been the reasonable one. With this many relatives watching today, you're not thinking of calling off the wedding, are you?"

I looked at him, at how he took it all for granted, and let out a cold laugh.

"And if I don't wear it?"

The Swanson father hardened his face.

"Don't wear it, don't expect to come in. Returned like a bad purchase on your own wedding day. Let's see if you can stand the shame!"

I looked at this family and their ugly faces, and I laughed out loud.

"What a coincidence. My hometown has a custom too."

His mother blinked. "What custom?"

"Before the bride gets out of the car, the groom's parents have to lie flat on the ground as a footstool for me to step over."

"It means every step of my life will rise higher, and I'll never bow my head."

""

The moment I finished, the kindly mask on his mother's face changed in an instant.

"The world's turned upside down. She actually dares make the groom's parents let her step on them. City women just need to be broken in."

"The Swanson family hasn't produced a disobedient wife in eight generations. Today we're going to set the rules straight with you, no matter what!"

The father spat on the ground and turned to call out to the crowd behind him.

"Don't just stand there. Surround the car. If we can't get her in line today, where's the Swanson family supposed to put its face?"

Dozens of people came pouring out, the men with cigarettes hanging from their mouths, the women with hands on their hips.

All of them relatives of the Swanson clan.

I lifted my head and looked at Egbert outside the window.

For three years he'd always seemed gentle, his voice never too loud or too soft, never once raising his temper at me.

But now his face was dark as he yanked at the door handle and growled at me, low.

"Lucretia, what nonsense are you talking? Apologize to my parents right now."

My hand stayed pressed on the door lock, clamped tight, my eyes fixed on his.

"Egbert, did you know about this rule all along?"

His gaze darted away, his lips pressed thin, and he didn't deny it.

In that moment, I understood everything.

Then Egbert's voice shifted into a tone I'd never heard from him before, the corner of his mouth even curling up.

"You took the hundred-thousand-dollar bride price. Today, even if you were a dog, you'd still be getting the chain on and led home."

The villagers watching burst into laughter.

"That's right, a woman who won't listen, strap on the leash and give her a couple of beatings, she'll settle down quick enough."

My fingers clenched the hem of my wedding dress.

My parents had felt sorry for how poor his family was. Asking for a bride price had only been a formality, and they'd handed all of it right back to us.

Even this wedding, from start to finish, had been paid for by my family.

His family's contribution, by my guess, came down to this one leash worn who knew how many years.

And in the rearview mirror, the bridal procession was blocked solid by a tractor and a red banner dozens of yards back.

My relatives were all trapped outside the edge of town, surrounded and pressed for red envelopes.

Across the crowd and the roar of the tractor, nothing happening on this side could reach them.

I turned to the driver.

"Reverse."

The driver had just shifted into reverse when Egbert's mother sprang to the back of the car and lay down flat on the ground.

God almighty, the new bride's trying to run down her mother-in-law!

The driver slammed on the brakes, dead white in the face as he stared back at me.

A few of the village thugs used the chance to rush up on both sides, jamming hoes under the tires and pinning the car in place.

Another one swung a hoe overhead and brought it down on the hood with a crash, leaving a dent.

Egbert pressed his face to the window glass, triumph written all over it.

Lucretia, the bride price is paid, the invitations went out, the relatives are all here.

You walk away now, that's marriage fraud. You want your mom and dad back in the city not able to hold their heads up?

More and more people crowded in, the laughter getting louder, not one of them thinking any of this was wrong.

The way they looked at me was the way you'd look at a beast that had finally been herded into its pen.

The road ahead blocked, the way back cut off, nothing outside the car but villagers with murder in their faces.

I sat there, palms slick with sweat, and had just lowered my head to find my phone, meaning to call for help.

Then, with a click, all four doors unlocked at once.

Egbert had reached in through the window while no one was watching and popped the lock.

The moment the door was yanked open,

two of the thugs grabbed the driver by the collar and hauled him out of his seat.

He was a young guy the rental company had sent, thin and tall, no match for them at all.

Before he could even react they threw him on the ground, and the whole pack started kicking him.

You think you can roll into our village in some fancy foreign car and act like a big shot?

And you've got the nerve to drive off with one of our village women? You got a death wish?

Vivian was shaking with rage. She shoved the door open and charged out in her heels.

What do you think you're doing? Let go of him, now.

She pushed through the crowd, put herself between them and the driver, and held her phone up high.

This is against the law. You don't think I'll call the cops right now?

Egbert's cousin shoved his way out of the mob.

Well over six feet, a slab of a face, half a cigarette hanging off the corner of his mouth.

He gave a low snickering laugh and clamped a hand around Vivian's wrist, the one holding the phone.

Well now, this the maid of honor? Pretty little thing, and a temper on her too.

His eyes crawled over her, top to bottom.

Don't be in such a hurry. In a minute your big brother here'll get a rope on you too, walk you around a couple of laps.

Vivian's hand came back around and cracked across his face hard enough to snap his head sideways.

Mervyn Swanson froze for a second, but the grin on his mouth only spread wider.

He flicked a glance, and two more men shot out from behind him and pinned Vivian down between them.

Big hands roamed all over the maid of honor's dress.

A moment later the skirt was torn open, baring the slip underneath.

Vivian fought for everything she was worth, her knee driving into one man's gut, and got only rougher hands for it.

Look how white this skin is. Bet she'd look even better with all this off, huh?

My eyes burned red, and I already had one foot out the door.

Egbert threw his body across the opening, one hand slamming down on the frame, and shoved me back in.

What's your hurry?

He tilted his head at me, a mocking little smile still hanging on his lips.

Doesn't she know what being a maid of honor's about? Dressing like that, she's asking to be touched. Whose fault is that?

But what Vivian had on today was the dress I'd picked out for her myself, as proper and modest as a dress could be.

I looked at Egbert's face.

Those eyes that once used to look at me so gently held nothing now but naked filth and satisfaction.

Something hot shot straight up into my skull.

I swung my arm all the way back and, through the half-open window, slapped him across the face with everything I had.

My nail caught the corner of his mouth and left a streak of blood.

He stumbled back half a step, hand clamped over his face, stunned for a beat.

"You dared hit my son?"

The mother-in-law had climbed to her feet again somewhere in the chaos, and now she came charging over with an iron basin in her hands.

Inside it sloshed what looked like the blood drained from a slaughtered chicken, feathers still floating on the surface, the reek of it turning my stomach.

She flung the whole basin at the windshield. In an instant the world outside went red, blotted out.

The father-in-law jabbed a finger at me and roared.

"You put that leash on today, or next time this basin goes in your face."

Vivian had been shoved to the ground, both knees split open, blood running down her shins.

But she was up in a second, throwing herself against the car door, shielding me with her body, her voice breaking as she screamed at me.

"Lucy, don't get out. Lock the doors. Forget about me."

I seized my chance while Egbert was still reeling from the slap.

I grabbed Vivian's wrist and hauled her back into the rear seat with everything I had.

Then I yanked the door shut and slammed my hand down on the central lock, sealing us in.

Vivian slumped across the back seat, biting her lip so hard no sound came out, but her hand kept shaking where it gripped mine.

The doors were locked now. The car wasn't running, though, so the windows were still open a crack.

Egbert kicked the side of the car.

"Lucretia, open the door and we can still talk this out nicely."

When I said nothing, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and let out a cold laugh.

He turned, dug through the toolbox on a tractor by the roadside, and pulled out an emergency window-breaker hammer.

Then he set the point of it against the window glass.

"Lucretia, last chance. I'm only counting to three."

The tip of the hammer bit into the glass, and with just a light push he left a white mark on it.

Vivian clung to my arm, the back seat smeared with the blood off her knees.

Egbert stared at me with red-rimmed eyes, the hammer raised halfway into the air.

"So I give you face and you throw it back, is that it?"

"Today, right in front of the whole village, I'm making this rule stick!"

The mother-in-law rushed up to the window, a pair of big scissors clutched in her fist, jabbing them toward me.

"Come out now, or I'll cut this wedding dress of yours into rags."

"Send you through that door naked. Let's see where you hide your face after that."

The crowd of villagers kept growing, and the words set them cheering.

"Yeah, smash the glass already, strip her and drag her out."

"Let's all see just how precious this city woman really is."

Egbert took the hammer and tapped the glass once, testing, trying to scare me with it.

"One."

I cut him off, my voice cold. "Go on. Smash it."

He raised the hammer, made like he was going to swing, but twice he lifted it and twice it never came down.

His eyes darted, sliding over the Porsche emblem.

My father had rented this car, but to save face, Egbert had bragged to everyone that he'd booked the lead car himself.

The rental contract was in his name.

Smash one pane of glass and he'd owe at least fifty grand.

The cheapness bred into his bones, the poor man's stinginess, wouldn't let him bring it down.

"Useless," Vivian rasped from the back seat.

I said, coldly, "Egbert, this is unlawful imprisonment."

"If I call the police, your whole family goes away."

Egbert casually rested the hammer on the roof of the car, propped his hands on his hips, and laughed.

"Call the police?"

He gestured at the barren hills all around.

"There isn't a single cell tower in this village. That little spinning circle on your phone can spin till tomorrow and nothing's going out."

"On my turf, even a dragon has to lie down and behave."

I glanced down at my phone.

Just as I'd feared, the signal bar was empty. Not a single line.

Egbert took the animal leash from one of his relatives, wadded it into a ball, and shoved it through the gap in the window.

Only when the rope came close did I see it clearly. There was a black-brown filth crusted along the hemp, and the stench of it hit me.

Vivian gagged in the back seat, clamping both hands over her nose and mouth.

"Lucy, lean your head over here and let me slip it on."

"It's just for a video, so the elders back home can see. After this, I swear I'll do everything your way."

He'd switched back to that gentle voice all at once, soft and coaxing, like he was talking down a child.

Somehow that tone turned my stomach worse than the filth-caked rope.

I jerked my head away, my stomach heaving.

Egbert's face went dark in an instant.

"So you'll take the hard way instead of the easy one? You think you've got any other choice?"

He rammed the leash harder through the gap, bits of it flaking down onto my wedding dress.

Vivian reached up from behind to shove the thing back out, but Egbert caught her wrist and wrenched it outward.

"This isn't your business."

Vivian cried out in pain.

That set him off completely. His face twisted, the veins standing out on his forehead.

"Today you walk into my house, or you get carried in. Your choice."

He said it, then went vicious.

He threw half his weight against the window gap, forcing his arm through the crack by sheer strength.

His fingers spread, seized my hair at the crown, and hauled toward the window.

The pain tore through my scalp, so sharp my vision went black.

Hairpins flew loose, a few strands ripped clean out and tangled between his fingers.

His forearm was jammed in the gap, veins bulging, his face flushed dark from the effort.

"If I don't lead you in there today, my name isn't Swanson."

He lifted the filthy rope above my neck, about to drop it over my head.

Vivian threw herself forward, crying, and bit down on his arm.

Egbert flinched at the pain, then drove his elbow back and slammed her into the rear seat. Her head struck the door handle.

"Little slut. Once I'm inside, I'm dealing with you first."

She let go, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, but she still gripped his sleeve for dear life.

"Lucy, think of something, tell me how to help you."

The rope had already gone under my chin. A little higher and it would drop over my whole head.

Outside, the villagers pounded on the roof, egging him on.

"Almost got it, one more pull, drag her out of there."

My temples throbbed, the edges of my vision going dark.

But the pain sharpened my mind to a fine point.

I couldn't yank free now. He had my hair, and the harder I fought, the more it tore.

I shot Vivian a look, signaling her to start the car.

Then I stopped struggling and pushed my body toward his hand, closing the gap myself.

Sure enough, the pain eased, and my head cleared.

Egbert thought I'd given in. His grip loosened, and a smug smile pulled at his mouth.

"See, wasn't that simple. Saves you all that suffering."

Right then, Vivian started the car, and my hand found the window switch.

The motor kicked in instantly, the glass rising fast.

The Porsche's one-touch window ran on a special motor, strong enough to crush a carrot.

Egbert's wrist and half his forearm were pinned tight by the glass. The pain made him let go.

Then he screamed.

"You little bitch, put it down, it's killing me, smash it, smash the glass, now."

He kicked at the door over and over, his knee banging the metal panel, thud after thud.

The villagers froze, then caught on and raised their hoes to swing at the windshield.

I didn't look at them again. I reached into the armrest console beside the driver's seat.

Inside sat a two-way radio for the motorcade, one handed to each of my cousins before we set out.

They'd meant it as a precaution, the roads out here were complicated, and if anyone got separated they could stay in touch.

I hadn't imagined it would turn out useful for something else.

I pressed the talk key, and the radio gave a short beep.

"Douglas."

I steadied myself, holding back the urge to cry.

"The Swansons are trying to break me in like an animal. This wedding is off."