T'on Ma (20 page)

"So you think I should say yes," Lana said quietly.

"I sure do. I know he loves you. And I know he'll take good care of you."

Lana sighed. "I need to sleep on this. If you'll excuse me, I'll say goodnight now."

"Goodnight, honey." Joshua watched Lana walk toward the tent she now shared with her mother.

When she was out of earshot, May turned to Joshua. "I hope you don't live to regret that advice, Joshua Cooper."

"Oh, dear. 'Joshua Cooper,' huh? I must be in trouble." Grinning, he pulled May to him by her waist and kissed her hard. "It's going to be fine. It really is."

"How can you be so certain? If they marry and the Army reassigns him, we may never see her again."

"I know," Joshua grimaced. "But I'd rather have her safe with Liam than living as…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but they both knew what he meant. Kiowa.

The next morning, the Coopers were having breakfast around their campfire when Liam walked into their camp.

"Good morning," he greeted them.

"Morning. Sit and have some coffee," Joshua invited.

"No, I can't stay. I'm bringing an official invitation for you and your family to have dinner with the colonel in the Officer's Mess tonight."

Joshua looked at May, who nodded. "That's very kind," Joshua said. "We'd be honored."

"Good. I'll tell him."

Before he left, Joshua stopped him. "Say, do you know where I could get a dairy cow? I've got a little cash money set aside for one."

"Hmmm. Talk to the Supply Sergeant. He might know."

"All right. I will. Thanks."

Liam turned again to leave, but, as he did, he winked at Lana. "Morning, beautiful."

"Morning," she answered cheerily.

"Sleep good?"

"Oh, I had the
best
sleep."

"So, nothing on your mind or anything? Just a good sleep?"

"Like I said. The best sleep ever." She smiled guilessly at him. In truth, she had tossed and turned all night, keeping her mother awake for a good part of it. But she wasn't going to admit that to him.

Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Well, I'll see everyone this evening." With that, he left.

"Have
you made up your mind?" Joshua asked.

"No. And, please, let's not talk about it." Lana stood up and walked into the tent, ending that discussion.

The Coopers spent the day productively. Joshua spoke to the Supply Sergeant, as Liam had suggested, and managed to wrangle a deal for a dairy cow. May bartered with some of the Army wives, trading her fresh eggs to get sewing needles, canned fruit, candles and anything else of value she could find.

Nathan and Christina made a brief appearance at lunch, but then disappeared again until dinner.

After clearing up the breakfast remains and tidying up camp, Lana strolled through the compound, wondering if she should drop in on Nathan and Christina. Her stroll was short-lived, though.

"Miss Cooper!" a soldier called as he sprinted toward her.

"Yes?"

He stopped in front of her and smiled. "I wanted to thank you again for dancing with me last night. I had such a good time."

"You're more than welcome," she smiled in return, and started to resume her walk, but he stopped her.

"I also wanted to tell you how beautiful you looked in that dress. I've never seen anything that fancy."

"Thank you." Trying once again to walk away, once again, the soldier stopped her.

"One more thing," he hesitated. "Um - well - would you care to have a picnic with me this evening? I get off at four. We could go to the river."

"Excuse me, but what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Sgt. Mark Kensington."

"Sgt. Kensington, I'm flattered. I really am. But, I have to decline your kind invitation. I'm sorry." Lana finally escaped his attention, but only got three yards away when another soldier walked up to her, offering the same type of conversation she had just shared with the sergeant. Seeing the futility of staying on the compound, Lana walked a mile away from the fort, and from the ever-attentive, woman-starved soldiers.

Once on her own, surrounded by countryside, solitude, and her thoughts, Lana found shade under a knot of cottonwood trees and sat down. At first, she chuckled at the soldiers she had just encountered. They had been so sweet and polite and nervous as they talked to her. But her thoughts turned to Liam and his proposal. What should she do? Liam wanted her to marry him. Her pa wanted her to marry Liam. Her ma? Well, her ma wanted her to follow her heart. The question was - what did her heart want?

Her heart wanted Two Hawks! Tears fringed her eyelashes as she felt the fierceness of that desire. Closing her eyes, Lana recalled the last time they'd been together, before the argument. They had lain together by the river, lost in loving each other. His dark brown eyes filled with his love for her, with his desire for her body. His hands taught her delightful secrets. And his kisses - oh! Lana sighed and wiped an escaping tear from her cheek. She
loved
his soft, warm kisses.

"Stop it!" she fussed at herself. "You can't be with him, so quit thinking like this!" Standing and straightening her skirts, she resumed her walk, determined to figure this out.

"Liam. What am I going to tell Liam?" After hours of meandering aimlessly, she finally sorted through her concerns and confusion. Liam loved her. Of that, she was certain. Did she love him? Her answer surprised her. Yes. In many ways, she did.

At the Officer's Mess for dinner, the long table had been laid out with its finest appointments. A white, heavily starched tablecloth lay beneath slightly chipped china. Wine glasses of unmatched design formed an uneven line down both sides of the table while several candles sputtered and dripped yellow wax onto their holders.

Once again, Lana shone as the belle of the ball, even though she had on her old dress. It didn't seem to matter. After a few glasses of wine, even some of the married officers flirted with her. Liam sat across the table and one chair down from her, watching and listening to everything that was said to her. In spite of some of the more obvious remarks, she handled herself well, able to turn them into a joke.

"If I were twelve years younger," one of the married men remarked suggestively to her.

"Then I would only be six," she smiled.

"Would you care to go for a morning ride with me tomorrow?" another queried hopefully.

"Oh, my brothers and I would love to go for a ride. Wouldn't we, Paul?"

"You were the most beautiful girl at the dance last night," a third tried his luck.

"Seeing that I was the
only
girl last night, that's hardly a surprise."

Liam couldn't help but grin, proud of how she kept them all in line. But, through all of this attention, other conversation flowed around the table. Conditions with the Kiowa and Apache were discussed at length. Growing unrest between the north and south got a lot of attention. Much of the conversation bored Lana, and, after a while, the men took sides and argued simply for the sake of arguing. There was no debate, no quest to get at the truth. They all insisted on being right.

After the meal, Lana sent Liam an unspoken signal of needing to be rescued. When he nodded, she stood up.

"Colonel, excuse me, please. But I have a slight headache and wish to lie down."

"Certainly." The men at the table stood in a respectful gesture.

Liam walked around the table to Lana. "Miss Cooper, may I escort you back?"

"Yes, please." Turning to her mother, she added, "I'll see you later. Please, don't hurry on my account."

"All right, dear. Feel better."

Liam escorted Lana out, his hand in the middle of her back. Once they were outside in the cool spring night, she smiled and stretched her arms out. "This is so much better," she sighed.

Liam watched her, simply enjoying the sight of her. As they walked across the compound, she took his arm and fell into step with him. They didn't speak until they reached her tent.

"So," he said, "Do you have an answer yet?"

"Stir up the fire while I get us a blanket to sit on. Then we can talk."

In a few minutes, they were seated next to the fire, Lana facing him. "Before I answer your question, I have to ask a few of my own."

"Of course. What do you want to know?"

"I'm not quite sure if I'll say this right," she began nervously, "But here goes. As much as I feel for you, I think you have stronger feelings for me right now."

"Granted. I've known for quite some time now that I love you."

"You don't mind that it's uneven between us?"

"No, because I am sure that your feelings for me will grow deeper, just like mine will for you. That doesn't worry me at all."

"All right. Good." She turned to watch the fire for a moment. "Do you want children?"

"Yes. I do."

"Me, too." As she looked back at him, she added, "I don't know anything about your family. I know you're from Georgia, but where in Georgia? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Tell me about yourself."

"All right." He smiled and reached for her hand. "That's easy enough. My family lives in Atlanta. I have two sisters and one brother. I'm next to the youngest. The oldest is my sister, Colleen. The next oldest is my brother, Patrick, Junior. The youngest is my sister, Mary. My father is Patrick, Senior and my mother is Maeve. In case you couldn't guess, I'm Irish. My grandfather came over in 1804.

"I am a West Point graduate and, after the military, plan to make politics my career. I love dogs and hate cats. I'll eat lima beans, though I don't particularly like them. Don't, under any circumstances, try to feed me liver. I hate the stuff." He stopped to listen to her giggle. "Let's see. What else? Oh, my birthday is September 14. How's that for a start."

"That's plenty," she laughed. "What's West Point?"

"That's an Army college."

"You've graduated from college?" Lana's eyes went wide at that. "I only got as far as the eighth grade and I was proud to get that far. There were only two other girls in my class." She paused before she asked, "Don't you want someone with more of an education?"

"Lana, honey, there are book smart people and then there are naturally smart people. You are naturally smart, and I'd rather have that in my wife than all the book smarts in the world."

"Promise?"

"Promise. So, any more questions? Or will you answer mine now?" He grew serious as he waited, watching her face in the flickering firelight.

"No. No more questions." Lana, too, grew quiet. "Liam, are you sure about this? You really want to get married? And, of all people, to me?"

"I've never been more sure about anything," he reassured her. "And especially to you. Only to you."

"Well, if you're sure, then, yes. I'd be honored to be your wife."

"Yes? You said yes?"

She laughed and nodded. Liam stood up quickly and reached to pull her to her feet.

"Come here, woman," his handsome face smiled, "I have to kiss you now. I think that's an Army regulation or something." He quit smiling as he looked into her beautiful blue eyes. "You have just made me the happiest of men. And I intend to make you the happiest of women." With that, he leaned down and kissed her.

"When?" she asked when he finally let her go.

"When?"

"Yes. When do you want to get married?"

"I don't know. I mean, the sooner, the better. What do you think?"

"Don't you have to go through the Army? Get permission from someone? Do you have a place for both of us? How long will it take to get a place?"

"I don't know any of this," he sounded perplexed. "I'll have to ask in the morning."

"Then we won't know until you get some answers, so we'll just have to wait to decide."

"You're a very logical woman," he pointed his finger at her. "This is going to work out great!"

Liam waited with Lana until her parents came back from dinner. At the young couple's news, Joshua was ecstatic.

"Welcome to the family," Joshua said as he pounded Liam on the back. "This is such good news!"

May hugged her daughter and whispered, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Ma. I'm sure."

"Well, then, I'm happy for you." Turning, she gave Liam a hug as well. "No need to call me Mrs. Cooper any more. I'm Ma now."

"Yes, Ma," Liam grinned at her.

Liam hit the ground running the next morning. He first stopped at the commander's office. Obtaining permission to marry Lana proved much easier than he had expected because the commander had already met and liked the Coopers. Next, he saw the Quartermaster about housing. Liam and Lana could have their choice of the two places available.

Liam then went looking for the Coopers and found them in the mess hall. "I think I've got some answers for us," he said after he kissed Lana good morning.

When he told her of his news, she turned to her father. "So, Pa, I'm wondering when the best time would be to get married. Do we wait till after planting? Or till after harvest this fall?"

"Or do we wait at all?" Liam chimed in. "I don't know if I'll still be here this fall."

"Goodness!" May sat with a concerned expression on her face. "This is all so fast."

"It
is
fast," Lana agreed. Turning to Liam, she asked, "How long do we have to choose quarters?"

"Two weeks."

"Two weeks!" May looked dazed. "That's all?"

"Yes, ma'am. We're expecting replacements in soon, and some of the new officers will have families with them."

"I suppose we ought to go look at our choices," Lana suggested.

May stood up to go with them, but Joshua put his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. "No, Mother," he said gently. "This isn't your decision. Besides, they need a little time alone to talk."

"You're right." She patted his hand. "But two weeks!"

"Want to know what I suggest?"

"What do you suggest?" she echoed.