“To pick oranges. Eli wants to cook those birds in the juice of them.”
“That sounds wonderful. I think I could eat them all.”
When there were several large trees between them and the others in the camp, Alex reached out his hand to her. “Come on, slowpoke, let’s go harvesting in an orange grove.”
She took his hand, put her other one to her hat, and they took off running across a field of tall grass to reach the little stand of trees. “They smell heavenly,” she said as she released his hand and twirled about.
“Better than jasmine oil?” He was pulling down pieces of fruit and putting them in the big sack he’d brought.
“I’m not sure anything smells that good.” She put an orange to her nose and inhaled its fragrance.
“Was it the jasmine or my hair that you liked so much?”
“The fact that you were clean was an olfactory delight.”
“I dare you to say that to Tim. He’d probably throw you over the side of the boat.”
“Why does that bratty little boy dislike me so much?”
“Because of that.”
“Of what?”
“Just what you said. You think of him as a little boy and you treat him as one.”
Leaning against a tree trunk, Cay looked up at the beautiful fruit. “I don’t treat him any way at all. I rarely look at him.”
“Exactly. He thinks he’s older than you, and therefore more experienced, so you should look up to him as being wiser.”
“He isn’t wiser than my dolls at home.”
“No,” Alex said as she reached for an orange from a tree. “Not those. Eli said that the ones that grow on the south side of the trees are sweeter. Did you know that oranges aren’t native to Florida but were brought here by some Spanish explorer?”
“Let me guess: Ponce de Leon.”
“Right. Now that you’ve had your history lesson for today, how about if we sit down and do nothing for a while? I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long day.”
Cay couldn’t help smiling, as she knew he was doing this for her. She couldn’t tell that he was tired at all, but she had done more heavy lifting today than she had in the rest of her life total. Alex chose a spot of soft grass under a tree where they could see for a long way over hills and a meadow heavy with flowers.
“Beautiful,” she said as he handed her an orange that he’d cut a hole in the top of. “What do I do with it?”
He showed her how to squeeze the fruit, and suck the juice from the hole.
“Delicious,” she said, “and I feel downright decadent eating an entire orange by myself. I wish I could take a wagonload of these home to Edilean with me. I’d give them out to all the children and even the adults.”
“What about Michael and Abraham? And the other one?”
Cay had to think for a moment. “Benjamin.” She had juice running down her chin, and her orange was dry. Alex handed her another one that he’d cut a hole in.
“The gambler?”
“He is, isn’t he?” She and Alex were sitting close beside each other, and as she reached for a third orange, her arm crossed his chest. She hadn’t been thinking of the kiss they’d exchanged, but when she looked into his eyes, all tiredness left her. One second she was sitting there looking at the scenery and the next, she was in his arms and kissing him. The whiskers on his face annoyed her, as she couldn’t touch all of his skin, but she could feel his mouth on hers.
He opened his lips wider and when the tip of his tongue touched hers, she nearly leaped on him. Her
body lifted up and she pushed against him, almost knocking him to the ground.
It was Alex who pulled back. “Nay, lass,” he said softly. “I canna take too much of that. A kiss is good, but it can lead to other things that I know you don’t want.”