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Jemima stood, watching and listening, at the property line of her family’s farm. She leaned against the fence as Brad Williams clambered over, turned to kiss her one last time, and slowly melted into the darkness beyond. She stood listening as the crunch of his footsteps grew fainter and fainter, until the distant growl of a motor and the faint nimbus of unseen headlights flared, faded and disappeared.
After he had gone, the midnight world was very still and quiet. A solitary owl purred in the distance. Further still, a very faint sound: a train whistle from the crossing beyond town.
Jemima smiled, looked up into the starry sky and hugged herself.
It was turning cool, but the feel of Brad’s mouth still tingled in her own, the warmth of his kisses was still on her lips, her face, her neck. She was trembling slightly. She had never in her life felt so alive. Jemima closed her eyes and replayed every word Brad had pressed into her ear. The way he’d said duchess this time made her look forward to hearing it again.
But best of all, better than anything, Brad Williams—the cynical, fast-talking reporter—had made himself completely, gloriously vulnerable.
He’d admitted that he loved her.
Jemima laughed suddenly, took her skirts in both hands and twirled around, making them billow out into the air like a blooming rose.
When she returned to the house, it was dark and still. There wasn’t a light even in her parents’ window, and the yard and the house were hushed. Jemima entered by the back porch. She opened the door softly, took off her shoes and crept up the back stairs, being careful not to make a sound.
The moon was as bright as day, slanting through the windows and hall floor. Jemima tiptoed past her parents’ bedroom and the sound of her father’s snores. She crept down the long hall, past Deborah’s door. Jemima gave it a wary glance, but there was no light underneath it. Then she slowly twisted the knob to her own door, slid inside and closed it softly behind her.
Once she was safely inside, Jemima smiled and walked to the window. Under that dazzling moon she could see the whole countryside stretching out to the horizon. The dark trees were drawn in charcoal and the rolling hills in white chalk.
She unpinned her cap, unmade her bun and let her silken hair fall free. It cascaded over her hands, over her shoulders and past her waist in shining waves. She brushed it absently, and plaited it into a long braid.
Then she came out of her dress, letting it fall into a heap on the floor. She sat down on her bed, and unrolled her stockings, and tossed them away.
Jemima fell backward onto the bed and stared up at the moonlit ceiling, smiling. Against all odds, Brad Williams loved her.
She closed her eyes, savoring the memory. He’d said that he loved her. And it was true, she could feel it, she could taste it. He’d made himself vulnerable, he’d confessed his weakness against his own will. Oh, Duchess – the shuddering way he had said it, just before the insanity of those kisses – it was the cry of a man in love.
She knew it, she knew it, she knew it.
“Do you know what you do to me?” he had breathed into her ear. “Do you know you make me lose my mind? I should never have come, I should have told you goodbye. This isn’t right, it won’t work, it will only make things harder in the end. I should leave...”
But then he had kissed her like a madman, and pulled her into his arms, and had lost his mind again. And after all the sweet insanity, after the Englischer’s wild kisses, after her confusion and his despair, she was sure of only one thing:
Brad Williams might have lost his mind – but he wasn’t leaving. He would be coming back, and back again, just as he’d done since the first day they met. Only this time, he wouldn’t be after a story.
Jemima smiled again, and bit her nail, and dove under the covers.
The next morning Jemima was up bright and early, neat and trim and pressed. She hummed and smiled over her tasks as she helped make coffee and toast for breakfast. Her parents exchanged a knowing look.
Rachel came up behind her daughter, and slid an arm around her waist. “Well, you look happy this morning, Jemima!” she smiled, and kissed Jemima’s cheek. “And I think I can guess why.”
Deborah was sitting at the table and raised her brows and looked smug but said nothing.
Jemima received her mother’s kiss and blushed. “I am, very happy,” she agreed, and turned her attention to the coffee pot.
Rachel pursed her lips into a knowing smile. “I won’t pry into your love life, Mima,” she said primly, “but I expect you to tell your father and I first – if you have good news.”
Deborah choked on her coffee and hacked horribly for a few minutes, but still emerged looking strangely amused. Jemima colored more deeply, and nodded to her mother and said nothing.
Jacob wiped his mouth with a napkin and added: “Well, now that all the nonsense is calming down at last, we can get back to normal. I’m going to clear the drive and put my anvils back in the shop, and about time.”
Rachel set a plate of biscuits on the table and sat down next to Jacob. She looked at Jemima and added: “You’ll be wanting to go to the bishop today, won’t you, Jemima? You can make out a check to the community fund, and then you’ll have the whole awful thing behind you.”
She looked down mischievously, and smiled: “And certain young men will feel free to come calling, I expect.”
Jemima sat down at the table and shook out a napkin. “I-I think I’d like to take a few weeks to just – just rest,” she stammered. “I don’t want to think about anything, right now. Everything has been so hard and – and trying.”
Jacob looked at his eldest daughter sympathetically. “Yes, my poor girl, you should take a few weeks off to enjoy living like a teenager again,” he told her. “This business has been more than an adult could’ve handled, much less a slip of a girl. You can take your time. Go to all the sings and frolics and games you please. Don’t worry about the money, for now.”
Rachel twitched her brows together, gave her husband a quick look and cleared her throat, but said nothing.
Jemima put a forkful of pancakes in her mouth, and was grateful for her parent’s merciful attitude. But she also noticed, to her alarm, that Deborah’s amused eyes still watched her all throughout the meal.
