“There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casteth out fear.”
—1 John 4:18
Trenton Calder paused at the door and adjusted his collar, though it didn’t need adjusting. He was feeling as nervous as a maiden in a mining camp. Shaw Tucker was sitting at the kitchen table, and Alafair was bustling around from stove to cabinet to table, serving her husband cornbread and butter and refilling his coffee mug. Shaw smiled when he saw who had come in, but the smile dropped away when he gauged the look on Trent’s face. His eyes narrowed and he put his cup on the table.
“Sit yourself down, Trent,” he said. “Mama, get this boy something to wet his whistle.”
Trent sat down opposite him and thanked Alafair when she brought him a glass of something. He wasn’t paying much attention to anything but the look on Shaw’s face. Amused.
Shaw had been through this with four daughters before Ruth. He could smell the flop sweat on a prospective son-in-law from a mile away.
Trent decided to jump right in with both feet. “Mr. Tucker, I’d like your permission to ask Ruth to marry me.”
Alafair made a little noise and Shaw turned to look at her. They stared at one another for about an hour, by Trent’s reckoning, before she walked over to stand behind Shaw’s chair.
“I suppose you think that surprises me, son,” Shaw said. “I assume Ruth is open to the notion.”
“Yes, sir, she is.”
Shaw leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “What are your plans?”
He didn’t have to explain to Trent what plans he meant. There was a war going on. “Well, sir, my number came up, all right, but I’ll be joining the Navy, if they’ll have me. I know Ruth and me can’t be married until I come back for good. I’d never ask her to saddle herself with a cripple or end up a widow before she’s twenty.”
“You and Ruth have talked about this, about what it really means for you to be going off to war?”
“Yes, sir. She says she don’t mind waiting for me.”
Alafair had placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder. Trent couldn’t tell if she was kindly disposed toward the idea or not. His mouth was so dry that he feared he would never be able to spit again.
Shaw wasn’t finished with his interrogation. “What do you intend to do after the war, if you manage to come back all in one piece?”
“I’m thinking I might stay in law enforcement, sir. Maybe get on at the Muskogee Police Department. Might even study to be a lawyer eventually. It all depends on how things are after we win the war.”
Shaw’s mouth twitched at this show of bravado. “Well, Trent, Miz Tucker informed me some months ago that this was going to happen, so I’ve had time to gird my loins. We’ve pondered the idea at some length and come to the conclusion that having you in the family wouldn’t be the worst thing that ever happened.”
Trent flung himself across the table to grab his hand, and Shaw laughed. “No need to pump my arm off. Now go find Ruth and start making your arrangements, because I expect she’s out there on the porch about to bust.”
Alafair hadn’t said a word during the entire conversation, but she couldn’t keep quiet one more second. “Trenton Calder, it’s about time, is all I can say! I was afraid I was going to run out of daughters before one of them fell for you.”
Trent leaped to his feet and reached for her hand as well, but she pulled him in for a hug before he ran to find Ruth.
“Well, Shaw,” she said, “looks like we’re going to have some redheaded grandchildren.”
“I kind of wish they had waited a while longer, though, honey. I’d hate to see Ruth get a broken heart if something happens to him.”
“It’s too late to worry about that. Whether they’re betrothed or not, she’s already in love with him.”
“I notice that you’re mighty pleased about it.”
“Well, I am. I’ve had a soft spot for that boy since he was knee-high. Only problem is, now I have one more boy to worry about getting killed in the war.”