“Tsk.Tsk. I always thought the future Mrs. Bex would seem happy about our nuptials. That she’d be waiting for me with open arms, not a refuse bucket ready to vomit.”
Ester looked at him then crumpled onto the bed, crying.
His attempt at humor had the opposite effect of what he wanted. A rose only needed so much water to bloom. Flinging his coat to the chair, he sat beside her. With his good hand, he stroked her back. “Time will make things right with your parents.”
“Bex, how do you know this? Have you ever had to reconcile with your parents?”
“No, but then, I was orphaned at six.”
Chin lifting, she curled toward him. “Then you don’t know.”
Her pretty eyes, large topaz-brown pools with flecks of henna and gold, had said so much on their journey, but now they read of pity and disbelief. He didn’t want that from her. She, of all people, had to believe in him, in their union.
“Ester, I do know that sometimes there is no reconciliation. Sometimes the crimes are so great you have to part ways.”
“Crimes? Bex, now you are being dramatic. We’ve done nothing heinous by marrying. And I suppose they’ve done nothing heinous by cutting me off.”
This wasn’t how he wanted to broach this subject of his past. She deserved to know, and there was no one he felt like telling, ever, except Ester. “They’re very upset, but you and I, we are family now. It’s us against the world.”
“Us Bex? Us against the world?” She wiped at the tears staining her face. “Some wedding day.”
Ester was miserable. He’d signed the marriage certificate with the name he’d chosen and had made famous, not his birth name. If he couldn’t make her happy, he’d tell her so she could annul the marriage for fraud. It was her only way out of this situation. But Arthur felt he could make her happy. He’d captivated her on stage, and he could captivate her now. “Today was not all bad. I met your parents. They allowed us to marry. Then there was that moment when you kissed me.”
She tugged at her shawl, her fingers tensing on the folds. “I think it was you who kissed me.”
“What? My bashful bride… You seem to not have a long memory. That might be good for us.”
“Maybe that means you will never be bored with me.”
He looped his fingers with hers, stilling her fidgeting. “Not likely. You’re an enigma, changing from shy to bold, from scared to brave. Enigmas are hard to take hold of.”
Her face had dried, and she looked as if her mood had lifted a little. “What do we do now?”
There were plenty things that came to his head, with Ester the incredible kisser sitting so near him on the very comfortable mattress. “Ester, I told you that I wanted a full marriage.”
She wiped at her eyes. “Yes.” Her voice sounded strained as she smoothed the hem of her skirt. “I suppose it is too late to get to know one another better.”
“Bashful again.” He kissed her fingers. “That skirt has been beaten of wrinkles. Don’t be frightened around me. I can be a patient man.”
“Bex. I… You said if I asked you anything, you wouldn’t lie.”
With a brow raised, he sobered his expression and nodded.
“Why did you marry me? Do you love me?”
He didn’t know how to describe what he felt—part gratitude, part hope, part glad to be chosen—that she cared so much for him. He stood up, pulling her to her feet. “I care for you more than myself. Perhaps that is love. I know what it cost for you to go through with this wedding and to even jump through that window. Your reasons for saying yes matter less to me, only that you did say it.”
She hooked her hand about his neck and draped her head against his bum shoulder. “What does matter to you, Bex?”
“You. You do, Ester.”
She peered up with her mouth slightly open, maybe in want of him.
He put his hand in her hair and flung off the bonnet that covered her tight curls. Grabbing hold of a loose tendril, he drew her face to his. “Say yes again, Mrs. Bex.”
“What are you asking, Bex?”
Part of him wanted everything, but she was far too wary. Like an audience on opening night, she needed to be cultivated, made aware of his presence, enraptured by his words until she asked for more. “Tonight, it is yes to a kiss. Let’s congratulate ourselves on the opening act of this marriage.”
