Sweet Annie Part 21

She raised her face to his in invitation. Before he could lower his head, she wrapped one hand around his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him fiercely, possessively.

"When did you first know you loved me?" she whispered against his ear.

He squeezed her gently. "I'll have to think on that."

"Well, what are the possibilities?"

"Maybe when I saw you eating peppermint ice cream."

"Maybe?"

"Maybe. Or maybe when you smiled at me across a stack of denims in the mercantile."

She drew back to see his face. "When was that?"

He shrugged. "A long time ago. You were with your Aunt Vera and Charmaine. I remember that because if it had been your mother she'd have dragged you from the store as soon as she saw I was there."

"Maybe then, huh? It must have been a good smile."

He grinned. "It was."

"Or when else?"

He twined a ringlet of her satiny hair around his finger. "Or maybe when you cried because Burdell punched me."

She frowned. "After the Fourth of July dance?"

He shook his head. "No. After I took you for a ride."

Her eyes searched his. "I was only ten years old."

"I was fourteen. Not that much older. I told you I'd have to think about it."

She pulled from his arms and took his hand. "All right. But I'm going to ask you again."

"I'm sure you will."

"Let's go rescue Charmaine from the sun."

"Your cousin is a gem."

"I know. She deserves the next too-good-to-be-true man." Annie hooked her arm through Luke's and he led her through the house to the door.

"I love the house," she said, stopping him before he opened it. "Truly. Thank you."

"I just want you to be happy," he told her with all the sincerity he felt in his heart. "I never want to see you hurt or unhappy again. I want to give you so much."

"You have," she a.s.sured him. "Already you have. I don't need much more than your love and acceptance."

He knew she believed that now. But she still needed a nice home and comfortable furnis.h.i.+ngs and the acceptance of friends and family. He prayed he could give her all she deserved.

The night before the wedding, Annie couldn't sleep. She'd lain awake for hours, staring at the moonlight on the ceiling and telling herself all the reasons why she shouldn't be worried. Finally, she got up, donned her flannel wrapper, and went out to the kitchen to see if any warm water remained.

A sound from the other room startled her, and she limped into the sitting room where a soft light glowed.

Her mother sat in an elegant velvet-upholstered chair, her hair down around her shoulders.

"Mother? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"I wasn't going to bother to make tea just for myself, but if you'll join me I'll kindle the fire in the stove."

"I've already brewed a pot. Help yourself."

"Oh." Annie hadn't noticed the silver service on the low table. Only Mildred Sweet.w.a.ter would prepare tea in a silver pot in the middle of the night. She poured herself a cup and sat on the divan. "This feels good. It's a chilly night."

Her mother stared at the embers in the fireplace.

"Did you have trouble sleeping, too?" Annie asked.

"I haven't slept a night since this ordeal began."

"I a.s.sume you mean since Luke's been courting me."

"Courting," she sniffed. "I haven't seen flowers or gifts."

"He's spending all his money on our house and furnis.h.i.+ngs, Mother."

"Harrummph."

"Why won't you give us a chance?"

"Because I don't want to be disappointed," she said stiffly. "Like you're going to be disappointed." She raised a hand and flicked her fingers. "When all your fanciful dreams go up in smoke. When you discover he can't take care of you like we can." She arched one brow and delivered a stinging prediction. "When you can't please him."

Chapter Twelve.

Annie mulled those words over. Couldn't please him? "What do you mean?"

"Men are carnal creatures, Annie. Their tastes are not as delicate as a woman's. And you-you're just a girl."

Annie's lungs burned when she drew a deep breath. "Are you speaking of pa.s.sion, Mother? Because I want Luke as badly as he wants me."

"Maybe you do, little girl. But will his supposed love for you last? If a crippled girl can't keep up with a strong man while walking or running, how will you please him intimately?"

Pain twisted in Annie's chest. She set her cup down so hard, liquid splashed over the edge onto her mother's starched and pressed doily. She wanted to cover her ears and refuse to listen to this foolishness and cruelty. "I don't-I don't think that comparison is fair. Yes, he's strong and he's healthy, but he's tender and-and he's loving."

"You're not listening to me," Mildred said, her voice once again low. "You've never wanted to listen to reason. Do what you like, what you're determined to do, but don't cry to me when you learn I was right."

Annie scooted to the edge of the chair. "You're not right. He loves me. He sees me as a whole person."

"Believe what you must."

Annie stood. In the dim light of the lamp, she stared at her mother for a full minute, but the unrepentant woman met her gaze with icy superiority. "Thank you so much for your gracious help and motherly guidance. A woman always remembers her wedding, and I will remember that you refused to take the smallest measure to support me."

"I'm not going to be responsible when this *marriage' breaks your heart."

"That would be impossible. You have already done that." Annie limped from the room, wis.h.i.+ng she could walk gracefully, knowing this was the best her gait would ever be, and praying her mother was wrong about everything else.

She sat on the edge of her bed until dawn crept under the window shades and cast a tangerine glow on the floral carpet. A knock sounded once the sun was up.

Had her mother had a change of heart? "Come in."

Glenda peered around the door. "Morning. Did you sleep?"

"Maybe a wink or two."

"I was the same way, I was so excited."

"You're not usually here on Sat.u.r.day."

Glenda came toward her. "I heated water for your bath and I'll help you wash your hair and dry it."

Annie stood, holding the hem of her night-rail and hugged the other woman. "Thank you," she managed to say in a throaty voice.

Glenda led her to the bathing chamber off the kitchen where she had a fire going in the fireplace and hot water steaming in the copper tub. "Here are your bath salts and your lilac water. There's a stack of clean toweling."

Annie smiled her appreciation and Glenda turned away while Annie removed her cotton gown and stepped into the water. The tub had only been filled half-full because Glenda had several buckets of warm water ready for the rinse.

Annie lathered her hair and Glenda poured water over her head. Once she was bathed and wrapped in a warm robe, they sat before the fire and Glenda gently worked the tangles from her hair and helped it dry.

"I wish I could brush some of these curls out for good," Annie said.

"No, no, don't brush them out-let them spring. The charm of your lovely hair is the way it curls around your face and neck. Us ordinary-looking women would give anything for hair like yours." She finger-wove a few spirals into place.

Annie held up her silver-backed hand mirror. "I've always thought this mop was atrocious because it wasn't dark and lovely like Mother's."

"Your mother is beautiful, but you have a beauty all your own. Inside and out."

Their eyes met and neither said any more about Mildred. "Luke thinks I'm beautiful."

"He's right."

The doorbell sounded.

"I'll get that." Glenda hurried from the room and returned with Charmaine.

"Oh, Annie, I'm so excited, I think I'm going to burst! How can you look so calm?"

Annie laughed at her cousin's exuberance. "Lack of sleep perhaps?"

"Let's go get you dressed."

Glenda remained to clean up the bathing chamber while Charmaine led Annie to her room. Charmaine helped her pack her belongings and Glenda went for Tim who took the trunks and boxes to the livery.

Hours later, dressed in her white satin gown and slippers, the beaded headband and veil upon her head, Annie emerged from her room and met her father in the foyer. Dressed in a black frock coat and striped trousers, he made a das.h.i.+ng picture.

Eldon stared at Annie, his expression softening and his eyes misting with unshed tears. "You are so beautiful, my daughter."

"Thank you, Daddy. Thank you for everything." She swept forward in a rustle of silk to give him a careful hug and a peck on the cheek.

"All I want is for you to be happy."

"Luke makes me happy."

Clearing his throat against the tide of emotion, he nodded.

Annie voiced her newest concern. "I don't want to take that dreadful chair, but there is only one doorway-the one at the back of the church. Would I be too c.u.mbersome in this dress for you to carry me up the aisle?"

"Carry you?" His brows shot up in surprise. "Why on earth would I carry you?"

"Well, so I don't have to-to walk down the aisle in front of all those people, of course."

His expression grew stern. "Suddenly you don't want to walk in front of people? Nothing stopped you from walking across the floor at the social hall in front of a hundred eyes. What's different about this?"

"This is my wedding! I don't want everyone to see how clumsy I am." Her mother's criticism had raised her self-consciousness.

"Do you want to appear fragile? Incapable?" He made a clucking sound. "I'm shocked."

She stared, amazed at the challenging words he'd spoken. "Are you telling me to walk down the aisle in front of the whole population of Copper Creek?"

He raised his chin. "With your head held high."

Of course. She wanted to walk down the aisle to her husband. "You're right, Daddy." Tears blurred her vision and he handed her a handkerchief. "Thank you."

He turned and called up the stairwell. "It's time to leave, Mildred!"

Annie'd been wondering all along if her mother would actually attend, but there was no room for argument in her father's authoritative tone.

Mildred appeared at the top of the stairs in a lavender silk taffeta gown that emphasized her slender waist and dark hair. She examined Annie as she descended the stairs, her gaze neither approving nor disapproving. Annie knew she'd chosen well, from her elbow-length gloves to her slippers and veil, but she didn't expect her mother's approval at this late date.

"Your mother and I have something for you." Eldon turned to the cherry table behind him and picked up a small flat box, which he handed to Annie.