“Ah-ha!” Ashley crowed. “You do!”
“How did we go from kissing to marriage?”
Sera chuckled. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”
Truer words were never spoken. “Is that greedy?”
“Greedy is wantingthreehusbands,” Sera said. “You’re fine.”
“But he hasn’t said anything since,” Maddie went on. “He’s polite and present and entirely himself, but—no declarations.”
Charlene drained her tankard. “So he hasn’t read you any horrific poetry.”
“No, and I don’t need such things. I just want… something. Anything. A clue. A glimmer.”
Ashley leaned in. “You can always do the reading of poetry.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
Her friends laughed.
“Honestly,” Charlene said. “He’s a man, Maddie. They rarelyhavethe words. They have gestures.”
Ashley nodded sagely. “And beer.”
Maddie hesitated again. Then: “I’m not against gestures if it’s… his way of saying he couldn’t find the words.”
“Gestures go both ways,” Sera pointed out.
Maddie considered. “Gestures from ladies would be wildly inappropriate.”
Charlene grinned. “Which makes itperfect.”
Maddie leaned back in her seat, heart a little lighter, and said quietly, “I hope it is perfect.” She looked to Ashley’s belly. “How are you feeling?”
“Oh, I’m barely eating, casting up what I do, and my feet are swollen like sausages. I’m in heaven.”
Ashley’s dry smile made the rest of the table burst into laughter.
“You truly have a way with words,” Charlene said, grinning.
“Iwasa poet in another life,” Ashley replied. “A tragic one. Died of scandal, naturally.”
Maddie smiled, though her fingers were curled around her tankard like it might steady her very soul. “So what am I meant to do now? Wait for him to decide what he wants?”
Charlene tilted her head. “That depends, I suppose. Do you want to be courted like a lady in a novel? Grand declarations, letters folded into handkerchiefs, wildflowers delivered to your doorstep?”
“Saints, no,” Maddie said quickly. “I’d die of embarrassment. Besides, I like things to be… real. Practical. Real.”
“Then why are you waiting for him to take the lead?” Sera asked gently.
This again. Well, she didn’t know how to take the lead, honestly.
“You kissed him,” Sera pointed out. “You made the first move. Besides, the way I see it, you are already in courtship.”
They were?
“That was… impulse.”
