“But it’smylist,” he said, leading us down the corridor to the stairs. “You don’t get to add items.”
“Then I’ll have to make you add one.”
He chuckled. “Somehow, I don’t think you are as threatening as you think you are. You think it a punishment for me to add to a list of actions that will make our marriage feel conventional? It isn’t.” We descended the stairs.
“My goal is not to punish you. I’d like to make you happy.”
His eyebrows furrowed, and he shook his head. “Anna, are you in earnest?”
“Of course I am.”
With another low chuckle, he turned his head to look at me as if didn’t believe me. “You’ve been making me happy for years.”
He led me to a set of double doors I hadn’t seen last night, then stopped and turned toward me.
I put a hand on my hip. “You say things like that, but I have no idea what you mean. We only had one summer together.”
He grinned, his eyes bright in a way that made me feel young again. “You taught me what happiness was, Anna. Anytime I’m happy, it makes me thankful for you.”
“Oh,” I said, that sneaky warm feeling encompassing my chest and working its way up to my cheeks. When it became clear that I wasn’t going to add anything else to that statement—because how could I?—David pulled the doors open to the breakfast room.
Mama and Julia were seated at a table with plates less than half full of food, and they both jerked their heads toward us in surprise when we walked in.
“Awake already?” Mama asked. “Julia and I were just conspiring as to how to make ourselves scarce for the next few days. I suppose we will have to come to breakfast half an hour earlier tomorrow.”
“No, Mama,” I said quickly. “There is no reason for that.”
Mama ignored my reproach. “Or I suppose we could have breakfast sent to our rooms, couldn’t we, Julia?”
Julia glanced at her brother. “If you would like us to, David, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Don’t do anything of the sort on our account,” David said as he reached for two rolls from the sideboard and placed them on a plate for me and a plate for him.
“Ah.” Mama snapped her fingers. “Better yet, I’ll ask the servants to have a breakfast tray sent to the two of you.”
Was she trying to embarrass us?
“Mama, we are happy to eat breakfast with you. If David and I want to be alone, this home is quite large enough for us to find a place without anyone in it. Do not feel the need to conspire with Julia over such things.”
Mama shrugged an I-was-only-trying-to-help shrug. She had three pieces of fruit and some sliced meat on her plate when David started dishing up our breakfast, but by the time we had gathered our food and sat down, she’d already finished eating and was pulling on the back of Julia’s chair.
“Come, we will visit with them more tomorrow, if they insist. Today, let’s allow them to take their breakfast in peace.”
Julia glanced at David, unsure of what she should do. David gave her a slight nod. She nodded in return and trudged after Mama, leaving behind half a plate of food.
I grimaced and turned to David. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been happier to see my mother leave a room.”
David lifted a berry from his plate and threw it into his mouth. “Somehow, I think she knows that, even if it is not for the reason she presumes.”
I practically snorted. “I’m certain you’re correct. It is a little strange to me that she imagines us so very much in love when I told her you were only marrying me to help us, and we have only spent a few weeks in each other’s company.”
At that, David raised an eyebrow. “I’ve told you several times already that she believed it the moment she and the Prestons opened the door and found you in my arms.”
I waved away his explanation. “I think in her case, having my happy marriage solve all our problems doesn’t hurt.” She’d also seen me crying over him, and in general, I wasn’t one to cry over trifles. But I didn’t want to admit that to David. Not when we were enjoying our first breakfast together, crossing an item off his list.
His memories of me were the kind that brought happiness. He’d as much as said so just before we’d entered the breakfast room, so I would hide my growing longing for him, and I wouldn’t melt in the face of the lovely things he said about me. I would be a delightful wife within the bounds he’d set and tuck my yearning deep inside my heart.
“I believe my next duty as your wife is to enjoy some time with Julia. What are her interests?”
