My In-Laws Tested Me at the Door, So I Refused to Marry In

1: 1

I had barely stepped down from the wedding car, hadn't even found my footing, when a crowd of the groom's relatives closed in on me, bamboo canes in hand.

I'd heard beforehand that weddings out here included a humbling ritual, but Matthew Stephens had told me plainly that it had been dropped.

Matthew saw my displeasure, and his eyes went uneasy. "My mom says people will look down on us if we skip it. But don't worry, it's only for show."

"Please. Just do it, for the elders' sake."

Seeing how torn he looked, I softened and agreed. But the moment I took one step forward

Thin bamboo canes came down all over me, lashing my wrists and my shins, the burning pain driving through skin and flesh into the bone.

This was not for show. I cried out from the pain.

"What are you screaming for? A few little taps and you already can't take it!"

The cruel words came wrapped in the crack of the canes.

Shaking all over with fury, I threw up my arm on instinct and knocked away the next cane hard, breaking free of the people ringing me in.

"What bride doesn't take a beating like this? You think you're too precious for it?"

"If we don't grind that pride out of you today, you'll be walking all over your man for the rest of your life!"

Matthew hurried to grab my arm, his whole tone begging me to give in. "Stop making a scene. Just bear it and it'll be over. Don't give the relatives something to laugh at."

I turned my stiff body to look at him. There wasn't the slightest ache for me in his eyes, only worry that he'd be laughed at.

A moment ago he'd jumped back at the sight of the canes, terrified of catching a stray blow himself.

I looked down at my arms, covered in red welts, the scalding sting of the canes unmistakable.

The gongs and drums were still clamoring in my ears, and everyone was waiting to watch me bow my head and submit.

But inside I had gone cold, and I quietly made up my mind.

This wedding was off.

...........

"Matthew, before the wedding you promised me none of these backward customs would happen. But it happened today, and you're still telling me to submit."

I looked at him, full of disappointment. His shoulders hunched and his eyes darted away, not daring to meet mine.

"BeccaI said so. But my mom wouldn't agree."

Watching this spineless, gutless side of him, I sobered up in an instant.

Plenty of men had chased me back then, but he was the one with no temper at all. Whatever condition I set, he never argued, playing the perfectly devoted boyfriend.

That was why I'd agreed to date him. I figured that if two people were going to build a life together, it was more comfortable to be with someone who went along with everything.

I never thought it came with one fatal flaw. Not a shred of backbone.

"Matthew, what are you still wasting words on her for?"

Matthew's mother, Zara Lambert, planted her hands on her hips, chin high and haughty. "Around here we don't have wives lording it over their husbands. If you don't lay down the rules for her today, how are you going to live with her later?"

The women beside her, canes in hand, chimed right in. "That's right, nephew, don't bring shame on the Stephens family."

"Every new bride who marries in here has had the rules laid down for her. What makes her so special? Don't you go ruining the way we do things."

Matthew looked at me warily and reached for my sleeve. "Becca, just bear it a little longer, for my sake. I'm begging you."

Looking at this gutless version of him, I was crushed with disappointment. My fist trembled where I'd clenched it, and I stared straight into his eyes. "Matthew, are you really going to make me suffer this humiliation?"

Once again he flinched away from my gaze, dropping his head and saying nothing.

My heart went cold, piece by piece. This was the man who last night had murmured in my ear that he'd cherish me for a lifetime, that he'd never let me suffer the smallest slight. And now, for the sake of some so-called rules, he couldn't get out a single word for me.

"Matthew, this wedding is off."

2: 2

Matthew's eyes went wide with shock, and he grabbed my wrist, panic all over his face. "Becca, what do you mean? We've already had the ceremony. The banquet's about to start, we're supposed to go toast the relatives."

"You just have to hold on a little longer. Once you step through the front door, the ritual's over. It'll be quick."

I looked straight at him. So he could get out a whole string of words when he wanted to. A minute ago all he'd asked was that I endure it.

And now, standing here, all he could still say was that I should hold on.

From where I stood to the courtyard gate was a hundred yards, with at least a dozen people lined up on both sides holding canes. I didn't want to imagine what shape I'd be in if I really endured it all the way to the gate. There probably wouldn't be a patch of skin left on me that wasn't bruised.

In his mouth it was nothing. Just a light little line. It'll be over soon.

Zara jabbed a finger at me, her eyes full of contempt.

"Look at you, thinking you can turn the whole world upside down. You can't get through even the first custom, and now you're throwing a fit, saying you won't marry. If we let this slide, how are we ever supposed to keep this daughter-in-law in line?"

The first custom? I turned to Matthew, studying his face. "Matthew, what does she mean, the first custom? Are there more of these ordeals coming after this?"

His eyes slid away, guilty, his whole body at a loss. His lips worked but nothing came out. "I..."

Zara cut him off at once. "What are you looking at my son like that for? This new bride really does think she can walk all over us. Let me tell you, we've got plenty of customs."

"Once you're inside the courtyard, you kneel on a dustpan for twelve full hours. No food, no water, no sleep."

"Then the next day you kneel to thank the whole village so they'll accept you as the new bride. And after that..."

Her mouth opened and shut, on and on, and none of it was anything Matthew had ever told me.

His eyes kept sinking with guilt.

"You understand now? Marrying into the Stephens town isn't easy. If you can't do it, we won't recognize you at all."

I looked around at this poor, backward little town. Matthew had told me before how run-down and behind the place was, how a lot of the older single men couldn't find anyone to marry.

And I hadn't held his poverty against him. I'd been willing to marry him anyway, so surely, he'd said, he would treat me well.

I hadn't thought much of it at the time. I'd just figured young people these days put too much weight on money. Looking at it now, it made perfect sense that no one would marry into a place like this.

I shoved Matthew's hand off my wrist and turned to Zara. "You're right, I can't do any of that. So there's really no need to go through with this wedding."

"Go find yourselves a girl who's willing to obey your customs."

With that I turned to leave, but the crowd blocked me again, hemming me in on every side. Zara pointed at me, seething with humiliation. "Does this woman have any upbringing at all? We ask you to honor our ancestors' customs and you throw a fit about not marrying?"

"Matthew, get your bride under control, or you'll never be able to hold your head up as long as you live."

The women packed around me joined in, egging him on. "That's right, Matthew, you can't let this stand. Show some backbone, act like the man of the house."

"When I came in, I went through every last custom. If you let her off today, then every new bride after her will follow her example. Who'd ever respect their husbands then? They'd all think they could get away with anything."

I looked at these women rotted through by the old feudal ways, and all I felt was how pitiful and absurd it was.

They'd been humiliated themselves, so they couldn't stand to see anyone else spared. They were women too, and yet they'd ground themselves willingly into the dirt just to please a man.

Seeing they had no intention of letting me go, I fired off a quick text to a number. "Come get me."

3: 3

"You've still got time to play on your phone? Get over that threshold and take your humbling ritual, now."

Zara Lambert reached out to grab me. I stepped back out of her hands.

I looked at her, cold, my voice all mockery. "Did progress just skip this whole town somewhere back in the day? Your heads are stuffed full of feudal relics, and now there's a humbling ritual too. If you're all so happy keeping these rotten little rules, keep them yourselves. I'm not an idiot."

"Let me be clear. You can talk yourselves blue, and I still won't go through with this wedding."

Zara's face twisted at once. She pointed at me with a look that said she'd kill me if she could. "You lawless woman. You've come into our town and you're wearing our family's wedding dress. It isn't over just because you say it's over."

"Take the humbling ritual, now, or don't blame us for what comes next."

I took a step back and closed my hand over the car door. "What are you saying? You'd actually force someone into a marriage?"

They said nothing, but their eyes told me plainly: yes, that was exactly what they'd do.

A chill ran through me. I yanked the door open, dropped into the wedding car, and slammed the lock down. "Driver, turn around. Get me out of here."

Before the driver could react, a crowd of burly men had surrounded the front of the car.

Zara hauled at the door and screamed through the window. "You little slut, get out here. You're doing this to shame me today, aren't you?"

"You think getting in the car means you can run? Let me tell you, once you're in our town, nobody leaves."

With that, the crowd swung their bamboo canes and hammered at the car like madmen. Terrified, the driver unlocked it fast. "Miss, don't drag me into this. I just bought this car to make a bit of money. I can't let them wreck it."

Zara dragged me straight out of the car and slammed me down on the ground.

She sneered. "Weren't you going to run? What happened to running?"

I looked over at Matthew. He was hiding behind the crowd, not daring even to look at me, and certainly not coming to help me up.

"Matthew, are you really just going to stand there and watch them do this to me? Did you forget what you said to me yesterday?"

"You said you'd protect me for the rest of my life. You said you'd never let me be hurt. Is this how you protect me?"

Only then did Matthew creep over to me. He'd barely reached to help me up when Zara blocked him. "Are you even a man? Are you going to let her jerk you around your whole life?"

"She kicks up a fuss over one little thing and calls off the wedding. If we hadn't stopped her just now, she'd have run."

"You're a man. Stand up straight and act like it, understand?"

Matthew's hand, already reaching for mine, pulled back in that instant. "Rebecca, apologize to my mother, then go through the rest of the rituals properly, and we'll forget today ever happened."

I stared at him, unbelieving. "What did you say? After all this, you still want me to go along with these rituals?"

"I already told you. If accepting these rituals is the condition, I won't marry you."

I didn't expect him to suddenly flare up. "Rebecca, that's enough. I've put up with you long enough. Who around here didn't come through this same way? I'm only asking you to go through the motions like everyone else, and you're bent on humiliating me, aren't you?"

"You say I don't protect you. What about you? You said you'd always love me, but the moment you're asked to follow a few rules, you want to cancel the wedding. Have you ever put me first at all?"

I looked at him, dazed. This was the first time I'd ever seen Matthew lose his temper, and it wasn't to protect me. It was to make me obey his town's rules.

I'd expected too much of him.

I held out my arm and showed him the welts running across it. "So these rules of yours mean letting me get hurt?"

Matthew looked at the marks on me, and something like pain flickered in his eyes. He'd just opened his mouth when Zara cut him off. "So what? Who didn't come through it the same way?"

"Today you take this humbling ritual, no matter what. Sisters, pick up the canes. We start right here."

4: 4

The canes came down again, harder than before, and I bit back a moan of pain.

I tried to get up, but I couldn't. All I could do was lie there and take it.

Both hands pressed to my belly, I stared straight at Matthew. "Make them stop. You'll regret it if you don't."

Zara sneered. "Still threatening my son after all this? Sounds like you haven't learned to bow yet. Keep hitting her."

Matthew looked down at me, just as cold. "Rebecca, stop threatening me. I'm not falling for it. Mom's right. You have to be broken once and for all."

"You want fewer strokes, then apologize to my mom right now. Get her to go easier on you. Otherwise it's still you who gets hurt."

Inside, I laughed bitterly at myself. I should have listened to my mother.

She'd met Matthew back then and hadn't thought much of him. "One look at this man and you can tell he has no backbone, nothing to stand on. He's not someone you can lean on. I won't agree to you marrying him."

But at the time all I wanted was to marry him. "He's not spineless, he just has a gentle temper. I like that he gives in to me on everything. Dad was the one who was so headstrong he ended up with a mistress and threw us away."

My mother's face went cold. "You'll regret this someday."

Back then I swore up and down that I never would. Now I truly did.

Cramp after cramp tore through my belly, and my whole body felt like it was being ripped apart. I couldn't stop myself from going pale. "Matthew, my stomach hurts so much. Make them stop. I'm pregnant."

Matthew froze all over, and Zara and the others stopped their canes in an instant.

"Becca, you're really carrying?"

Matthew rushed over, shaken, and reached to help me up. By now the pain had me seeing stars, my hands clamped tight over my belly. "My stomach hurts so badly. Take me to the hospital, quick."

"Okay. I'll take you to the hospital right now."

But Zara threw out her arm to stop him. "Matthew, don't let her fool you. If she's pregnant, why didn't she tell you sooner? I think she just doesn't want to be beaten, so she's lying on purpose."

"You're too soft, that's why she can lead you around by the nose."

Matthew's face went cold at once. "Rebecca, you're lying to me."

I shook my head. "I'm not. I really am carrying a child."

He gave a cold snort. "Something this important, and you never told me ahead of time? You're lying on purpose so you can run. I'm not falling for your tricks again."

I'd only wanted to surprise him. I'd meant to tell him on our wedding night.

The cane cracked down on me again, hard. "How dare you lie to my son. Today I'm breaking you no matter what."

Someone beside her tried to talk her down. "What if it's true? What if you damage the baby?"

Zara snorted coldly. "So what? She has to be broken today, or how will my son ever hold his head up again?"

"She can have more anyway. If this one drops, she just gets pregnant again. Isn't that right, son?"

Matthew's eyes were ice. "Do what Mom says."

Then more than a dozen canes came down on me again, hard.

I felt something warm run out from under me.

"Stop! Let go of my daughter!"

"Oh God, look, there's blood all under her!"