“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.”