Suffolk, England, 1816
“You could have warned me that it took two years to grow these things,” Adelaide grumbled as she waddled into her husband’s specially constructed greenhouse. Layers of carefully made shelves filled with dirt and whatever else it took to grow the tropical fruit lined the room, and at the far end, where the first plants had been planted two years ago, were lovely green-and-brown spike-covered lumps.
Adelaide poked at them, having to fully extend her arm since her belly kept her from getting too close to the shelf. “They’re rather ugly, aren’t they?”
Trent laughed, as she’d intended him to. He’d been beside himself for months, as it became apparent that it was a toss-up which would come first—the harvesting of his first pineapple or the birth of his first child. Adelaide was rather glad it was the pineapple so she could be here for the moment. She would have hated to be confined to her room, recovering from childbirth when he pulled the first plant.
“Shall we?” He held a wicked-looking long knife in one hand, and a gleam of anticipation lit his face. His cheeks were going to hurt later from all the smiling he was doing, but it would be worth it.
“Yes, please.” As much as she wanted to be here for this moment, she also really wanted to sit down. Her back was aching like never before, and her feet were so swollen she’d had to wear her dancing slippers with the extra padding removed.
Trent hacked the first pineapple free from its plant and took it to the worktable at the end of the greenhouse. They’d brought a large platter out with them so they wouldn’t have to wait to taste it.
He cut off a section and held a dripping chunk of yellow fruit out to her. She took it between her fingers and waited while he cut his own. Years of work came down to this moment. Soon after he’d begun his plans in earnest, Trent had offered to buy her a pineapple so she could taste one, but she’d told him she’d wait and let his pineapples be the first she ever tasted. At the time she didn’t know how long they took to grow. Now she just hoped she liked it and didn’t cast up her accounts the moment it hit her tongue.
“Shall we?”
Trent tapped his piece of pineapple against hers, and they both took a large bite.
Adelaide didn’t know what she’d expected, but that wasn’t it. The tart-and-sweet flavor hit her tongue and then seemed to swell through her whole head. “That’s fabulous,” she cried before popping the rest of the chunk into her mouth.
Trent laughed and cut the rest of the fruit up to share with the staff who had gathered for the occasion. It was the first taste of the exotic fruit for more than one person, and it was fun to watch the looks that ran across their faces.
Before long though, she really needed that chair.
And perhaps the midwife.
“Trent.”
“Yes, my love?”
“I think I need to go to the house. And for the last time, we are not naming this child Pineapple.”