It's not legal in much of the US either. They exploited a loophole in Blount County. This was years ago, of course, so I can't say if it still exists.

It's one of those things that is dictated by state law mostly, making the whole thing a muddled mess rife with corruption and exploitation.

This marriage also came about because they paid off a preacher to marry them, against the mandates of the church. There's literally no telling what all that involved.

Like I said, when I think about One these days, it really gets my dander up.

But yeah. I knew a child bride. I actually knew 3. Every single one of them were tales of woe. Shit that shouldn't happen to girls in a supposed first world or developed country.

Just goes to show, well....a lot of things.

It’s funny, when my family moved to Alabama, I got put down a lot for being Hillbilly, coming from an area known for widespread rural poverty. Even though my dad was an engineer, both my parents were college educated, and we were doing okay. We weren’t rich, but we weren’t poor or living paycheck to paycheck either.

But back home, you just didn’t hear about stuff like this. It’s not like there weren’t child brides on occasion, but all the other stuff? Let’s just say it’s far more likely there would have been several beat downs back in the day. Like, at least 4. Probably more. None of them would have been the 13 year old.