“Coffee, please.” Selah smiled, feeling more herself than she had since their ordeal began. Xander’s homecoming had struck one worry from her list, at least.
“We were just praying for the search party.” Candace set down her cup. “Perhaps it’s best we stay on here at Rose-n-Vale for now.”
In case there’s further trouble.Selah heard all her mother did not say. How safe she felt here in company. Cocooned from Laurent especially. Even her grief seemed blunted. She had no wish to return to Hopewell Hundred. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
“Have breakfast, my dear.” Widow Brodie had hold of a savory dish. “Cook has made a delicious pumpkin pudding.”
Selah took up a spoon, her mind not on the fare before her. “Surely we can be of some help, not just sit waiting. I shan’t be a loiter-sack.”
“Well said by the future mistress of Rose-n-Vale.”
A delicious warmth stole through her. Had Xander made known his intentions? She smiled back at Widow Brodie, noting the nurse’s surprise and her mother’s undisguised delight.
“I doubt Alexander will want you laboring like an indenture,” Widow Brodie said. “Perhaps we can sew men’s shirtsand breeches, knit stockings. The indentures’ quarters are half burned, their belongings with them.”
A plan was made to retrieve their sewing notions and other personal belongings from Hopewell Hundred as soon as possible.
“I can’t thank you enough for making us all feel so welcome,” Candace told her. “Izella seems quite content in the kitchen helping Cook.”
“She’s an excellent hand in the garden too. We’ve been needing more servants with Rose-n-Vale expanding. Betimes my nephew forgets the household and just supplies the fields.”
“I can certainly join you making garments,” Nurse Lineboro said. “Earn my bed and board till I settle elsewhere. Master Renick no longer needs my services, especially with Oceanus gone over to the Naturals.”
“Have you made plans to return to Britain?” Widow Brodie was good at ferreting out most anything. “Or is Virginia more to your liking than when you arrived?”
“I’m still undecided.” She gave a small, mysterious smile. “I shall ponder it more thoroughly while I ply my needle.”
Selah breakfasted, listening as they spoke at length of the fire’s devastation. The sun was up, streaming through the windows like a benevolent guest. It cast the room in a palette of yellows, making it seem their hard circumstances were naught but a bad dream. If only Father were here—and Shay and Watseka. If only the fire had never happened. Their thoughts could be happily occupied with other things, like a wedding—
A sudden barking sent Widow Brodie to a window, where she blinked at the glorious light. “The search party has returned at last.”
Abandoning her breakfast, Selah passed into the hall, already feeling at home in the house. A dozen questions clamored, though no doubt she’d have her answers when she first saw Xander’s face.
He came in the back door, leaving Jett and Ruby outside. He was red-eyed and unshaven, sweat- and soot-stained from his collar to his boots, his eyes telling a long story, though he said nary a word. Never had she seen him so spent. She daren’t ask him anything.
She laid her head upon his wrinkled shirt as her good arm stole about his waist. “Promise me you won’t go out again till you’ve eaten and slept.”
A prolonged pause. His bristled jaw rested atop her coif. “Marry me, Selah.”
’Twas the last thing she expected to hear. Her answer was no less startling. “I will, Xander. Today, if you like.”
He looked down at her. A smile blurred his exhausted edges. Just a ghost of a smile, but it left him looking more like the handsome man she loved.
“You see, the hospitality of the house is bursting. I’ve nowhere to put you. I’ve run out of room.” He studied her, all levity aside. “So we’d best get the deed done. Today, aye.”
“I heard the itinerant pastor’s voice but a few moments ago.” She looked toward the half-open door. “Surely he’d pause to perform a wedding of only a few minutes’ making.”
He drew her close again. “Promise me you’ll wear your purple gown. The one I’m partial to.”
“’Tis at Hopewell Hundred and needs sent for.” She wouldn’t sayhome. Home was here. Nothing mattered so much as now. With circumstances as they were, they had no promise of tomorrow.
“I don’t want you to go alone, nor your mother, not without an escort. I’ll send a wagon with you to bring all that is needed back here as well.”
“We can go right away. The day’s young.” She looked into his eyes with certainty. “And what a glorious day it is for a wedding.”
He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “But first a word, aye?”
He led her back toward the feminine voices in the dining room. All quieted when they stood before the three women still at table.
