He turned toward her and shook himself awake.
"I must have dozed off." Sitting up, he put his feet on the floor and yawned. "You look comfortable."
"I am." She looked at her pink fuzzy socks and wiggled her toes. "Very comfortable, and I don't have to worry about the stone floor anymore."
"Good plan," he said with another yawn.
When she was alone in the room, Catherine took the seat Jacob had vacated. With her legs curled up on it, she did as Jacob had and stared into the fire. The quiltpulled snugly around her, combined with the warmth of the fire to do the same thing it must have done to the man who was now her husband.
She found her eyes drifting closed and her mind drifting toward sleep. Confusing and disjointed images went through her mostly-unconscious mind. The faces of her parents, siblings, advisors, aides, assistants, and people of her country she'd met over the years flew at her one by one. Each one saying something to her.
And none of it good.
Even in her dream-altered state, she knew it wasn't real. The things they were saying, even if they'd said them, weren't in context. But it didn't matter.
"Hey."
Catherine startled awake. "What?"
"It looked like you're dreaming and not a pleasant one." He covered her hand with his. "Are you all right?"
She sucked in a deep breath. "I think so. It was disconcerting, but I'm all right."
"Are you sure?"
Catherine nodded. "I am." She set her feet on the floor. "Are you hungry? I know we had the meal, but I want a snack of some sort."
"I could eat something." He held out a hand to help her up.
Catherine reached up and accepted it, a warm feeling spreading through her just as it had the first time she shook his hand.
Together they walked into the kitchen. "I know someone brought food over, " she told him as she reached for the handle to the refrigerator.
"Surely whoever brought it over knows what you like."
She opened the freezer. "Oh! They do!" Catherine pulled a tub of ice cream out and held it up. "Do you want some?"
"Sure."
While she looked for a spoon, he searched the cabinets for bowls.
"I don't see any." He pulled two cups out of a cabinet. "These will work."
Catherine laughed. "Unconventional, but I don't see why not."
Once they had the ice cream served up, Jacob suggested they eat in the living area. Catherine followed him and sat on the opposite end of the couch.
"How do you feel about today?" Jacob didn't look at her, giving her space to answer without him staring at her.
"I feel all right. It's not what I would have expected, but it's what needed to happen for a lot of reasons. In a lot of ways, given everything else, it feels right. I'm grateful you came to town when you did, otherwise Issy would have found this information anyway, and we still would have had to figure something out." She took a spoonful of ice cream and stared at it. "I don't know who we would have found to be my partner in all of this. There's literally no one I can think of who I would want to marry or who would be willing to marry me without something in it for themselves."
"I have no doubt you would have found an acceptable solution, but I'm glad I can be part of that rather than you needing to look for someone else." Jacob finally looked at her and smiled. "It's my honor to be part of the solution, to work by your side and support you through anything that comes."
"Thank you."
"What do you want to do?" he asked. "If you're ready to go to sleep, don't think you need to wait on me." He gave her a smile. "I can keep myself occupied."
"Despite dozing off, I am not really ready to go to sleep." She looked around. "There has to be a telly in here somewhere. Want to find a show to watch? Something we canwatch together?"
