Mittman, Stephanie (45 page)

Lord
but she was beautiful! She gave him a tremulous smile, and he felt it reach in
and warm his heart.

She
stood waiting at the back of the room, an arm held by Charlie, an arm held by
Bart, as if she'd turn and run if they weren't there to guard her.

"Are
you ready?" Willa whispered, handing her a small bouquet from Jane
Lutefoot's greenhouse. "Should I tell Mrs. Webb to start?"

She
stared down at the roses in her hand and knew that miracles did come true after
all.

"Sissy?
You ready?"

She
wanted to savor every moment, yet she didn't want to waste a single second. She
wanted to hold this moment in time and still move ahead to the rest of her
life. When she turned and left this church she would be tied to Noah for life.
His children would be hers, his farm, his bed. And everything she was and could
be would be his. "Yes," she told Willa. "I'm ready."

The
first strands of "Here Comes the Bride" pealed from the organ.
Charlie covered her hand with his own and squeezed it gently.

"Go,"
Willa said to Bart and gave him a slight shove, setting the three off unevenly.

"Good
luck, Sissy," someone said as they started up the aisle.

"Congratulations,
honey," Jane Lutefoot whispered. Brian Kelly said something that sounded
like "He's a good man."

And
so it went as she made her way up the aisle toward the man who would teach her
that life on a farm with someone you love is far, far better than life in town
with someone you respect.

Her
brothers stopped two thirds of the way down the aisle and waited as Noah stepped
forward to claim his bride. Charlie gave her a kiss and a hug, then shook
Noah's hand.

"You're
getting a wonderful girl," he said, his voice choked with emotion.

"Yes,"
Noah agreed, unable to take his eyes from her own, "I know."

Bart
kissed the top of her head and held out his hand to the man she was about to
marry.

"I'll
take good care of her," Noah promised solemnly.

"You
better," Bart barked back. His voice, too, seemed choked.

Miller
stepped forward from the side of the podium and raised his hands to the couple
to join him at the altar. A hush descended on the church as Annie looked at
Miller. She bit her lip slightly and felt Noah's hand take hers and raise it to
his lips. Then he took her arm and they walked slowly to where the man Annie
had for so long planned to marry stood waiting for them.

"Dearly
beloved," Miller began. His familiar voice sent chills down Annie's back,
and she was grateful when Noah threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed
her hand gently. She looked up into his loving face and read his lips.
I
love you,
he mouthed.

Yes,
she thought. I know.

She
had heard the vows a hundred times before, daydreamed through them, told them
to a mirror when she was young enough to pretend, whispered them into a pillow
when she was too old to even hope.

"I
do," Noah boomed, so loudly that a chuckle went up behind them.

"We
believe you!" someone called out.

And
now she was promising to have and to hold, from this day forth, in sickness and
in health, for richer or poorer.

"I
do," she said softly when it was her turn.

"Can't
hear you," a woman shouted. Annie thought it might have been Risa.

She
turned and looked at the congregation, loving friends and family, each and
every one of them.

"I
do!" she said with a smile. Noah raised their joined hands in a sign of
victory, which prompted several people to cheer, her three brothers included.

"This
is very unorthodox," Miller said when the crowd had settled down.
"But I suppose I should have expected nothing less from Sissy Morrow, for
everything she touches is sparked with joy. Let each and every one among you
look upon this couple and wish them well. And let us all remember that he who
hesitates is lost."

His
meaning was squandered on no one. He shook the groom's hand, kissed the bride's
cheek, and turned them to face the crowd of well-wishers.

***

"Cara
says I'm her cousin now, Papa. Is that right?" Hannah asked as he lifted
her into the back of the wagon.

"I
guess it is," Noah said. He turned to take Julia from Annie's waiting arms
and she gave him a slight nod, as if to say
You tell them.
"You've
got lots of family now. Cousins and aunts and uncles."

"And?"
Annie prompted him.

"And
a mama." The two of them stood staring into the back of the wagon, waiting
for a response. Annie's heart was beating as desperately as a moth's wings
against the porch light.

"That
boy said I didn't have a mama. Wait till I tell him my mama's Miss Annie! He'll
be sorry." Hannah balled her little mittened fist and shook it in the air.

"What
boy?" Annie asked.

Noah
whispered to her that it had been Samuel, and Annie nodded understandingly.
Before he could chastise Hannah, who couldn't really understand that Samuel was
gone forever, Annie lifted Hannah's little chin in her hand and said,
"Let's just be happy about what we have and not worry about anyone else
for tonight, all right?"

"It's
a special night," Hannah told her sister. "It's the first night we
have a mama again."

Noah
cleared his throat and offered his hand to his new wife. "Ready?" he
asked.

She
hoped her smile seemed less tentative than she felt. She'd waited since she was
a little girl to be someone's wife, but from the moment she'd agreed to marry
Noah, everything had been a blur. She'd packed up all her belongings in just
three days, said good-bye to the house she'd lived in all her life, left the
cows she'd milked, the chickens she'd fed, and donned Della's dress to say
"I do."

And
now her husband, wonder of wonders, was waiting to help her into his wagon and
take her to a whole new life. Oh, there would be cows and chickens and dirt,
same as on the Morrow farm, but Annie had the feeling nothing would ever be the
same once she stepped up on the hub of the wagon and settled into a new seat
for life.

"Annie?"
he asked, his hand still outstretched. His Adam's apple bobbed furiously. A
slight twitch she'd never noticed before touched the corner of his mouth,
making him look as nervous as she felt. His one eyebrow was raised in question.

"I'm
ready," she said, with what she hoped passed for a smile. She had time for
one deep breath, then her boot was on the wheel and she was up in the front of
the wagon, Noah's hand steadying her as if he had helped her into a wagon a
hundred times before.

In
a second he was seated beside her. They spread a blanket across the girls'
laps, asked if they were ready, and then waved at the well-wishers who stood on
Risa and Charlie's porch shouting words of encouragement.

"I
could get used to having a large family," Noah said as they headed out
toward the farm.

"I
guess you'd better." Annie laughed. "You're stuck with them
now." And with me.

He
switched Bess's reins into his left hand and took hold of Annie's hand with his
right. "Good," was all he said.

They
fell silent, a companionable silence that promised years of quiet times spent
side by side.

"Are
you nervous?" Noah asked after a while.

Risa
had spoken with Annie again, and while she contended that everything she had
told her was true, she promised it would be better than she had made it sound.
Still, Annie answered honestly. "Maybe a little."

"Yes,"
he agreed. "Me too."

Annie
was surprised, but before she could ask him what he meant, the farm came into
view. In the dusk, something about it looked different. At first she wasn't
sure what. Then she realized what she was seeing.

"A
wind wheel! Noah, there's a wind wheel behind your farm!"

"Our
farm,"
he corrected.

"But
how . . . where . . . Noah, why do we have a wind wheel?"

He
laughed and pulled her closer to his side. "For madam's bathroom, of
course!"

"Whose
what?"

"Papa
isn't building you a bathroom," Hannah piped up from behind them,
"and Ethan isn't helping him!"

"What?"
she asked.

He
stopped the horse by the front of the house. "It's all right to tell her
now, Hannah. You kept the secret real good."

"What
secret?" Annie demanded. She was afraid to hope it was really what it
seemed.

"I
thought if I could offer you a bathroom—I knew that the minister's house had
electricity and plumbing, and I couldn't give you all of that, but I
could
give
you a room with a bath."

Noah,
his children, and a bathroom, too? And she had been sure just moments ago that
things couldn't get any better! "There's a bathroom in there? Where?"

"Ethan
and I are putting it in over the winter." He shook his head and tipped his
hat back. "I never thought I'd get you to say yes so soon."

"Or
you wouldn't have built it?"

"Or
I would've started sooner."

He
kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose, and sighed.

"You
girls tired?" he asked hopefully over his shoulder.

"Ready
for your new mama to put you to bed?"

"I'm
not tired at all," Hannah said rather convincingly.

"Me
too," chimed in Julia with her favorite phrase.

"Great,"
Noah said, but Annie didn't think he sounded like he meant it.

He
jumped down from the wagon himself, then came around to her side and offered
her his hand. When she was close enough, he put his hands on her waist, as if
he'd always been permitted the liberty, and swung her to the ground. He didn't
release her right away but kept her pressed against him.

"Feels
good, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Yes,"
she admitted shyly. As good as she'd always expected it would.

He
lifted the girls out of the wagon and swatted their bottoms gently, herding
them toward the house.

"You
unhitch the horse," Annie offered. "I'll take the girls in and get
their coats off."

He
stood staring at her as if he hadn't heard what she'd said. His mouth opened
slightly and his eyes narrowed in on her lips. Self-consciously she licked them
and waited for him to tell her to go inside. He said nothing at all, just
watched her as if he wondered what she was doing there.

"Papa?"
Julia said softly, pulling lightly on his trouser leg.

He
let his gaze linger just a moment longer on Annie and then looked down at his
daughter. "Hannah," he said. "Show Miss Annie where your
nighties are. It's time for bed."

"But
Noah, it's not even dark," Annie argued. She didn't like being referred to
as Miss Annie, but it wasn't nearly as important as keeping the children up at
least until it was dark outside. She wasn't ready to be alone with her husband
at all, let alone in the light of day.

"They
can at least get ready for bed," Noah replied. "I'll see to the
horse."

By
the time he returned to the house the girls were in their nightgowns and in the
kitchen with Annie, where they were busily making cookies.

"What's
this?" he asked. He did not seem at all pleased, and Annie cringed
slightly when she admitted that the girls hadn't wanted to go to bed so she'd
suggested some cookies and warm milk to help them sleep.

"But
there weren't any cookies," she explained.

"I
guess it was lucky they didn't want turkey or you'd have gone out with a rifle
and tried to find one in the dark."

"Are
you angry with me?" she asked. It was an unfamiliar feeling, one she
didn't like at all.

His
face softened and he ruffled Hannah's hair and pretended to gobble the mess
Julia was mixing. "I just wanted tonight to be special," he said
quietly.

"This
is
special," Hannah insisted. "And Miss Annie said—"

Noah
interrupted her. "She's not Miss Annie anymore," he corrected.
"She's your mama now." He looked at Annie. "If that's how you
want it."

She'd
raised five children, washed them, fed them, nursed them through sickness, and
seen most of them married. In all that time, no one had ever called her Mama.
Only in her most private thoughts and dreams, and those she had given up so
long ago, had anyone called her Mama. And now the two most precious girls in
the world were staring at her intently, waiting for her permission to do just
that.

She
bit her lip to keep from crying. "I'd like that a lot."

"OK,"
Hannah said, as if it was nothing at all. "Mama said we could have honey
in our milk to make our dreams sweet."