Wishes (22 page)

It took a moment but he relaxed against her, moving to the side and pulling her close in his embrace. “I figure I would have made it to Chicago before I turned around and came back. I’m not sure I could make it without you. My entire family—aunts, uncles, cousins, all of them—laughed at me for being so lovesick while I was home. All I wanted was to get back to you.”

She snuggled her cheek against the bare skin of his chest. “I ate. I was so miserable while you were gone that I ate pounds of food. Whole cakes. Pies. One day I ate an entire rump roast.”

He ran his hand down her body, over her flat stomach, down her slim thighs, and frowned. “What happened to you? Half of you is gone.”

“Not quite half. I don’t know, I just kept getting thinner by the day. Don’t you like my new size?”

“I guess I’ll get used to it, but if you wanted to gain some weight I wouldn’t mind.”

She smiled at him. “Every other man thought I was fat before. They—”

“Fat? You looked great. Not that you don’t look great now, but…Nellie, I love you no matter what size you are. Just so long as you aren’t one of those women who picks at her food. I can’t stand that. Women should laugh and eat and sing and enjoy life.” He smiled down at her. “They should be like you were at the Everetts with all those kids.”

“Tell me about the women you know who laugh and eat and sing.”

He pulled her to him and told her about growing up in an old, enormous house in Maine and it being filled with happy, energetic women who came to sing with his mother. He remembered long meals with so much food on the table the center would bow, and the women would eat for hours and tell stories of who was sleeping with whom, and they’d sing. They’d argue about how an aria was to be sung. Jace’s father, ‘Ring, would sit at the head of the table and be the judge. He’d make the women sing the arias again and again and again, then he’d tell the women they were each perfection. The women always pretended to be offended, but they loved having a handsome man as their adoring audience.

“And were you also an adoring audience?”

“I loved every one of them. I loved their voices, their tempers, their demands. I loved their big breasts and big hips. I loved the enthusiasm they had for life. They ate, drank, loved, and raged with passion.”

“I’m not sure I am as…as passionate as those women.”

“You love your family so much you were ready to give
me
up for them.”

She knew he didn’t realize how vain he sounded. “That was no great sacrifice. You were a penniless clerk in my father’s office.”

“I took the job to be near you. I never wanted to imprison myself, but a man in love will do a lot of foolish things.”

She snuggled his arm across her chest. “You came back for me. I did doubt you, and I’m sorry. I won’t doubt again.”

“Now you’ll go with me?”

“I’ll follow you anywhere. I’ll be as faithful as a…as a dog.”

He laughed at that. “What if your little sister tells you I’ve kidnapped the Sunday School class?”

“I might believe the choir, but not the Sunday School.”

He squeezed her tightly. “Nellie, answer me. It’s my whole life you’re playing with.”

Part of Nellie was fearful. Lately there had been something compelling about her family, something so compelling that she felt she
couldn’t
leave. Not as long as her family needed her.

“Nellie,” Jace said, as though warning her.

“Terel needs me.” She could feel him getting angry. “Maybe we could find her a husband. How many brothers do you have?”

He relaxed at her joke. “Not enough for your little sister. She could—”

Nellie turned in his arms and kissed him. “The fire’s going out, and I’m hungry. Maybe we could eat, and maybe we could do this again. Is that possible?”

He bit her earlobe. “I might be able to manage it.” He rolled away from her, then watched her pull the cloth back over her body. “You really don’t mind having our wedding night early?”

“There will be a wedding?” she asked softly.

“As soon as I can arrange it. That is, if you agree—and, considering the hell you’ve put me through, you damned well ought to agree.”

“Yes,” she said, her heart in her eyes. “Yes, I will marry you and live with you and bear your children and love you forever.”

He kissed her hand. “That’s all I want of you: your body, soul, mind. I want every part of you.”

“What do I get in return?”

“All my love. Contrary to popular opinion in this town, I love only one woman at a time.”

“As faithful as a diamond?” she asked, eyes twinkling.

He smiled, then, stretching, reached for his wet coat. He looked in the inside pocket and withdrew a box. “Speaking of diamonds…” He opened the box to show her the ring with the big yellow diamond. “For you,” he said softly. “If you’ll have me. Me and my temper and my jealousy.”

“I’ll have you with or without the ring, with or without money.” She looked at him, love in her eyes. “I really don’t care about your money. It’s you I love.”

“I know that. Give me your hand.”

He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her gently. “Now, about that wedding night,” he said, pushing her to the floor.

They made love, then ate hugely, then made love again, then ate again. Toward dawn they slept, wrapped about each other’s bodies, tired but happy.

A strong, bright ray of sunshine came through a broken window and woke Nellie. She sat up with a jolt.

Jace, still half asleep, reached for her to pull her back down to him.

“I have to go,” Nellie said, trying to pull the tablecloth from under Jace so she could cover herself, but he was too big to budge.

“Nellie,” he said, his tone tempting her back into his arms.

She rolled away from him and went to the corner where her clothes were heaped. They were still damp and cold, but she struggled into them as quickly as she could.

Jace rolled onto his stomach and looked up at her. “Honeymoon over?”

She paused a moment as she looked at him, all six feet of him stretched out, bronze skin against white damask, and almost dropped her clothes and ran to him. She caught herself. “I have to get back. My family will be worried about me.”

“Worried about their breakfast, more likely,” Jace muttered, but not so Nellie could hear. Something she’d said last night had made him pause. She’d asked if he wouldn’t have believed a Montgomery over a stranger. Whatever else Nellie’s father and sister were, they were her family, and it was only right that she believe them.

“I’ll find the horses,” Jace said, and reluctantly he stood and began to dress. “Think there’s any food left in here?” he asked as he opened the basket. There was so much food left it looked as though they’d not touched it. “This thing is bottomless.”

“It seems that way,” Nellie said, looking over his shoulder. He caught her to him. “Maybe it’s just me, but everything seems to be more beautiful than it’s ever been in my life.”

“I agree,” he said, kissing her.

Nellie was the first to push away. “I have to return.”

Jace sighed and released her.
“If
I can find the horses.”

At that moment an answering nicker came from outside, and he opened the door to see both horses standing in the mud as though they were waiting to return. “My luck has run out,” Jace said heavily, making Nellie giggle.

Within minutes he had her buggy hitched and his horse tied behind. As soon as they stepped into the buggy their euphoric mood left them. They didn’t talk. Both of them were afraid of what awaited them at the Grayson house in Chandler.

Berni greeted them at the door. At first she was concerned about their long faces, afraid they hadn’t made up their differences. (Berni had stopped watching them after they’d entered the cabin and had, instead, used her wand to spy on her former twentieth-century friends.) But then she saw their fingers entwined and realized that their sad faces were from dread of Terel and Charles.

“At last!” Berni said. “Nellie, the most incredible thing has happened!”

“Are Terel and Father all right?” Nellie asked dully, clasping Jace’s fingers.

“More than all right. Look at this telegram from your father.”

Nellie read it twice before she looked up. “Terel has eloped?”

“It seems she fell in love with some farmer and married him the same night. She doesn’t even want to come back for her clothes; she wants them shipped. And your father is marrying someone, too. He wants to stay in Denver until the wedding.”

Nellie just stood there blinking.

“You’re free, Nellie, free,” Berni said.

Jace frowned. “You know, there’s something odd going on here. Yesterday there was that pool of water Nellie fell in, and then this morning it was gone. And the horses ran away even though I’d locked them inside the stables. And there was that bottomless basket of food. And now this. I think—”

Berni narrowed her eyes at him. “Haven’t you ever heard the old saying ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’? Nellie is free of her obligations to her family and free to marry you. Are you questioning that?”

“No, I just…” He stopped and smiled. “You’re right. I’m not questioning anything. Well, Nellie, how about marrying me next week?”

“Yes,” Nellie said softly, just beginning to realize that she was indeed free. “Oh, yes, I’ll marry you.” She turned to Berni. “You’ll stay for my wedding, won’t you?”

“I can’t. My job’s done now, and I have a date.” She smiled. “A date with heaven.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Right away.”

“But you can’t, you—”

“Five minutes after I leave you won’t even remember me. No, no protests. You have each other now. You don’t need a nosy old aunt around.”

Nellie kissed Berni’s cheek. “I will always need you. You are a very kind person.” She leaned toward Berni’s ear. “I don’t know what you did, but I know that last night was your doing. Thank you. I will thank you all my life for your generous heart.”

Those words meant a lot to Berni. No one had ever called her generous before, but then she’d never deserved the title before. “Thank you,” she whispered, then she straightened. “I must go.” She looked at Nellie. “Any wishes for the future?”

“I have everything I want,” Nellie said, moving to stand close to Jace.

“I have a wish.” Jace looked down at Nellie and remembered his first wife dying in childbirth. “I hope we have a dozen healthy kids and their deliveries are easy on their mother.”

“Done,” Berni said, then she stood on tiptoe and kissed Jace’s cheek. “You’ll have all your children, and the deliveries will be safe and easy.” She turned and went up the stairs. At the top of the stairs she paused and looked down at them, lovers engrossed in each other. Berni had never done anything that made her feel as good as getting these two together had.

She gave a little sniff, wiped a tear from her eye, and said, “Beam me up, Scotty,” and she was gone from the Grayson household and from the Grayson memory.

Pauline was there to greet Berni, and she was smiling.

Berni, once again wearing her burial clothes, took a moment to adjust to the foggy Kitchen after leaving Jace and Nellie. “I did well, didn’t I?” she said, pretending she’d never shed a tear at leaving. “You thought I couldn’t do it, but I did.”

“You did very well,” Pauline said, smiling brighter. “You did especially well by not making Nellie hate her family. You could have let her see how selfish they really are.”

Berni was a little embarrassed by the praise, even though it felt very good. “There was enough hate and jealousy. I didn’t need to spread any more,” she mumbled.

“You did very well indeed. Now, shall we go to Level Two?”

Berni’s mind was on Nellie. “I guess so.” She started walking beside Pauline, then stopped. “Could I see what happened to Nellie? I’d like to be
sure
she did okay.”

Pauline gave a little nod and led the way to the Viewing Room. Once they were seated comfortably the screen before them began to clear.

“It’s now Christmas 1897,” Pauline said, “one year to the day since you left, and Jace and Nellie have been married for a year.”

The fog cleared, and Berni could see the Grayson house, decorated for Christmas, and it was filled with people. “Who are they?”

“Jace’s relatives came all the way from Maine, and Terel came with her husband, and Charles with his new wife, and then there are the Taggerts from Chandler.” Pauline smiled. “Nellie doesn’t know it, but she’s already carrying her second child. She—”

“Sssh,” Berni said, “I want to see for myself.”

“When will the new house be finished?” ’Ring Montgomery, Jace’s father, asked Charles Grayson, who was sitting at the opposite end of the couch. As he spoke he reached out an arm and caught one of the Tyler boys, who was running through the house at full speed, by the shoulder and gave him a look of warning before releasing him.

“Three more months,” Charles shouted above the din. He and his wife were living in Denver until the old Fenton house could be remodeled to his wife’s taste. It was costing him every penny he had, but it was worth it to see her happy. He couldn’t care less how much he had to spend. “You enjoying Chandler?” he shouted back.