JACOB BUTLER SNEAKED out of the Maddens’ home and trudged over to the greenhouse on Dr. Wade’s property, the glow of the lantern lighting his way. Amelia had sent her man, John, to the house when she’d arrived, with a note and a meeting plan. Jacob had promised her he’d meet her in the greenhouse at eight, but he was a few minutes late due to his need for subterfuge.
He slipped inside the glass structure and closed the door. A wave of warmth hit him, so he set the lantern on one of the tables and shed his outerwear. “Amelia?”
“You’re late,” she complained as she popped up from behind a potting table.
He smiled, his breath catching. She’d let her light blonde hair down and it fell to her waist, and although her dress was simple and unadorned, it didn’t detract from her beauty. He noticed her coat on one of the tables against a windowed wall.
“I know. I’m sorry. I had to wait until everyone left, and then it seemed to take forever for Richard and Charity to go to their room for the night. I had to be careful.” He made his way to her and slid his hand behind her hair. Leaning down, he covered her lips with his. She wrapped her arms around his waist and deepened the kiss, sighing quietly against his mouth when he broke contact.
“I have missed you,” he said.
“I’ve missed you, too. I’m so glad Sophie invited us, but now I’m reminded of how difficult it’ll be to leave you in the spring.”
“Have you told your parents of your plans?”
“Vassar, yes. You? No.” She leaned her cheek against his chest. “Things are complicated right now.”
“Why? Has something else happened?”
Amelia had a difficult relationship with her mother, and it caused her quite a bit of grief, but her voice held the indication of something a little more serious.
“My father is abandoning my mother,” she whispered.
“What?” Jacob lifted her chin. “What do you mean?”
“He’s divorcing her.”
“Are you certain?”
She nodded, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I’m not supposed to know, but their quarreling is so loud, it’s impossible not to overhear.”
“Has it gotten worse since your letter?”
She nodded. “Papa told her two days ago to get her affairs in order and then he brought me to Sam’s.”
Jacob stroked her cheek. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“He’s still in love with your mother.”
“He is?”
“Remember what I told you? About the conversation Papa and Sam had?”
“Yes, of course,” he said.
Amelia had written to Jacob after the disturbing conversation. She’d found out that her father had been courting Jacob’s mother, Wilhelmina, when Vincent Butler swept her off her feet and married her. Amelia had written again about her mother smashing all of her wedding china in a jealous rage after her father admitted he was still in love with Jacob’s mother.
“Papa likes to remind Mama all the time now that he doesn’t love her.” She took the handkerchief Jacob offered her. “I love my father. I don’t understand how he can be so cruel. I can’t imagine how telling her that he’s in love with your mother would make anything better. For either of them.”
Amelia’s parents had always done their best to keep her and Sam away from the Butler family. It wasn’t overly difficult, as they lived a long enough distance from each other in Maryland and didn’t run in the same circles. But when she was fourteen, on a visit with her brother to D.C., Amelia and Jacob had met and he’d always felt their fate was sealed. At least it was from his perspective. They’d managed a few private moments together, and Jacob had tried to write to her every month after that.
“My father says love can be complicated,” Jacob said. “But when I look at you, everything seems simple. I love you. Nothing will change that.”
After a rough start when the letters started to go missing, Della, the Powell’s housekeeper, took it upon herself to intercept their correspondence, making certain Amelia received everything Jacob sent, even though it could cost her her job if she were caught.
Amelia wrote Jacob back, and the letters became more frequent. Their love grew through the pages of parchment and the sharing of private thoughts.
Amelia smiled through her tears. “I love you too, Jacob. I just want our love to last and I’m afraid it won’t.”
He frowned. “It will, sweetheart. I have no intention of letting you go.”
“What if my father won’t let us marry?”
“Then mine will give you refuge.”
“I would never want to put your family in that position. Especially since Sam would object.” She leaned against him. “I wish Vassar wasn’t the only college that accepted women. Then we could be closer.”
Jacob smiled. “There are several excellent schools in New York, Amelia. I don’t have to stay in Pennsylvania to become a doctor.”
“But if you go to New York, you won’t have Dr. Paxton close to ask questions and mentor you.”
“We’ll work it out.” Jacob rubbed her back. “In the meantime, I’d rather speak of things that won’t separate me from you.”
Amelia wiped her tears away. “Are you staying for the whole time, or will you be forced to return?”
“That depends on you.”
She smiled. “Which means if I stay for the duration, you will?”
He tapped her nose with his finger. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
“Will your brother come looking for you tonight?” Jacob asked.
Amelia shook her head. “No. Rayne knows of my feelings for you and has said she will assist us in any way she can. I did tell her I was going to meet you, but I’m confident she won’t tell my brother.”
“How confident?”
“Very.” She kissed his chin. “Don’t worry, Jacob. My sister-in-law is excellent at keeping secrets.”
“I’m not certain how I feel about that.” He released her, making his way to one of the trees in the corner, and picked an orange.
Amelia leaned against the table in the middle of the room. “What do you mean?”
“Well, if you get in the habit of keeping secrets from your brother, and encourage Mrs. Powell to lie for us, you may become quite proficient at deception.” He peeled the orange, sliding the rind into his pocket. “I don’t want secrets between us.”
“That’s a bit of an over statement, don’t you think?”
“How so?”
“Well, just because I’m keeping secrets from my brother... secrets, I might point out, that benefit you as well as me... doesn’t mean I’ll keep any from you.”
“But if you get used to lying, and worse yet, get good at it, I won’t know when you’re being dishonest with me. This is my point.”
“Jacob.” Amelia giggled. “I think you know me well enough to know when I’m lying.” She crossed her arms. “But regardless of that fact, what do you want to do?”
“I want to tell your family,” he said, and handed her a wedge of orange.
She took it, tapping her lower lip with it. “My brother won’t allow us to court, Jacob. Neither will my father.”
“Well, then, we’ll have to figure something else out.”
“I’ve already ‘figured something else out,’” she reminded him. “Rayne will help us with our planning and we can avoid my father and brother altogether.” She finally stopped playing with the orange wedge in a manner that was driving Jacob to almost forget his manners, and popped it in her mouth.
“It’s more important to do the right thing, Amelia, even if it might not go the way we want it to.”
She sighed. “Where do you get this sense of honor from? It’s irksome.”
Jacob chuckled. “Is it?”
She strolled the perimeter of the spacious greenhouse. “Can we just keep our secret for a little while longer?”
“I don’t know how much of a secret this truly is, Amelia.”
“There’s a difference between the suspicion of a relationship and the actual knowing.”
“You have a point.” Jacob crossed his arms. “We can keep our courtship quiet for the moment, however, I have told my father of my intention, and I’d like to speak to yours.”
“Well, he’s not here,” Amelia said in triumph.
“Then I suppose I’ll be forced to speak to your brother.”
“Jake.” Her face fell. “Don’t you remember how that conversation went last time? It was a disaster.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s the right thing to do, even if it didn’t go well last time.”
“Fine.” She took a deep breath. “But only if I’m there... and Rayne is as well. She’ll make him do the right thing.”
Jacob chuckled and handed her the last wedge of orange. “All right, sweetheart.”
She ate the treat and then looped her arms around his neck. “Do you truly believe in forever love?”
He drew patterns on her back with the tips of his fingers. “With you? Absolutely.”
“But your brothers are so much older.” She licked her lips. “Do you think we might be too young?”
“Not at all. Do you think that because they waited, I should?” When she dropped her head and shrugged, he lifted her chin and smiled. “One thing my brothers have always shown me is that when you know something is real, you don’t try to pretend it’s not. It took them longer to find the women they would love forever, is all. I love you. I think I’ve known from the moment I met you, and it’s certainly grown since then. I can’t live without you.”
She smiled. “I feel the same way.”
“Good.” He leaned down to kiss her.
She smiled. “When you kiss me, I want to do things I’m not supposed to know about before marriage.”
Jacob groaned. “Don’t put images like that into my head, Amelia. It’s hard enough waiting to marry you as it is.”
“I don’t think we should wait.” She bit her lip. “To marry, that is.”
“You don’t?”
She shook her head.
“But what about college, sweetheart? Vassar’s only been open for four years. It’s an incredible opportunity to be one of the few women to go to college. I don’t want you to miss out on that.” He wondered how far she’d go in the charade.
She let out a frustrated groan. “I don’t really want to go to Vassar. Not if it means living in New York and so far away from you and my family. Don’t misunderstand, I really would like to learn about medicine, I suppose, but only because I’d like to assist you the way Mrs. Paxton helps Dr. Paxton.” She sighed. “He seems to rely on her quite heavily and I’d hoped to be the same kind of wife to you as she is to him.”
“But you hate blood.”
“I will have to try to overcome that,” she admitted. “But I did manage to survive the sight when I found Captain Ford on our land, so perhaps, I am growing out of it.”
“Well, if you want to go to Vassar, then I won’t stop you, and if you want to stay close to me while I finish medical school, I won’t object.” Jacob smiled and stroked her cheek. “But let me be very clear. If you are bowing out of a college education for me, I’ll be disappointed. I want you to do what you feel is right in your heart. I will support you. Always.”
She kissed him. “I know you will, and I love you for it. With the mess happening between my parents, I guess I wanted Vassar to be a way to escape, but the thought of being separated from you would make it impossible to concentrate on school, anyway. Perhaps I’ll feel differently when things are settled.”
He slid his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out what he’d been carrying around for months. “In that case, Amelia Powell, will you do me the honor of being my wife?” He held the ring his mother had given him in his hand.
Amelia gasped and nodded, reaching for the ring. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He closed his fingers over the ring before she could grab it. “I want to talk to your father and brother before I give you this, but I wanted to be certain you liked it. If you don’t, I’ll buy you something else.”
She gave him a mischievous grin. “We should see if it fits, don’t you think?”
He smiled and slid it onto her finger. She held the unique diamond ring up to the candlelight. A cluster of nine rose-cut diamonds set in silver over yellow gold, sparkled like a diamond flower, with a large central diamond of almost a carat adding to the dramatic piece of jewelry. “Oh, Jacob, it’s stunning.” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Did you buy this before you knew about my opinion on Vassar?”
He chuckled. “I have known your heart for a while, sweetheart. I just wanted you to make the decision without influence from me.”
“Oooh, I think you know me better than I know myself sometimes,” she complained.
He grinned. “Of course I do. You’ll grow accustomed to that fact, I promise. As for the ring, it was my grandmother’s.”
“It was?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears as she focused back on him.
He nodded. “When I told my parents I wanted to marry you, my mother said that such a beautiful girl deserved a beautiful ring. She’s been holding it for me ever since my grandmother passed away.”
“Oh, Jake. Your mother’s so wonderful. I hope I won’t disappoint her.”
Jacob stroked Amelia’s cheek. “It would be impossible. I know you’ve only met her once, but the more you get to know each other, she’ll love you just as much as she loves Hannah and Victoria.”
Amelia nodded, smiling through her tears. “Thank you.”
“Come on. I’ll walk you back to the Fords’. We can talk to your brother tomorrow.”
“Do I really have to give you the ring back?”
He chuckled. “It’s up to you, but I think we should get your brother’s blessing before we announce it to the world, hmm?”
“I’ll wear it around my neck until then. Will that work?”
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
He leaned down to kiss her. “We better get going or I won’t be able to say goodnight.”
She kissed him one more time and then Jacob assisted her with her outerwear and walked her back to the Fords’. Once she was inside and safe, he headed back to the Maddens’, a grin fixed firmly on his face. He couldn’t wait for the morning and the chance to make his engagement official.
* * *
Upstairs at the Fords’, Sam closed the door to the guest room and smiled at his wife. She stood in the middle of the room, staring at the photos Shaye had sent with Mark.
“Shall we unpack tomorrow?” he asked.
“Hmm?”
He closed the distance between them and stood behind her so he could see the photos over her shoulder. “She looks so happy,” Sam said.
Crow stood holding a tiny brunette who was staring at him in adoration, much like Shaye was. Another photo showed Shaye and Crow smiling about something, and another one of them laughing as Cheyenne scowled at her parents.
Rayne nodded, tears sliding down her cheeks. Sam gently took the photos from her and set them on the bureau. “What’s amiss, Angel?”
“I will never know Cheyenne. Never get the chance to love her or her siblings.”
“I know.” He wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “But you can love them from here, sweetheart. And we’ll make sure we keep the plans we made with Crow. It seems as though it all worked. It’s kind of fun to know that our letters make it all the way to the future.”
Rayne nodded and laid her cheek against his chest. “I just wish I could hug her. And kiss that baby.”
“I know.” He rubbed her back. “We’ll just have to make sure we make a lot of our own babies to kiss.”
Rayne glanced up him and raised an eyebrow. “It all comes back to sex with you.”
Sam laughed. “Is that what you heard?”
“Maybe it’s what I wanted to hear.” Rayne slid his jacket from his shoulders and undid the buttons of his vest.
“Ah, the truth comes out.”
“What did Crow send you?”
“A first-place ribbon, a photo of him with Wind, and some of Wind’s mane.”
Rayne grinned. “What did he win?”
“A barrel racing event of some kind.”
Rayne gasped. “Oh, I bet Shaye just loved that.”
“Oh? Why do you say that?”
“Because she hates rodeos, and barrel racing is generally done at rodeo events.” She pushed the vest from his shoulders and started on the buttons of his shirt.
Sam chuckled. “Perhaps she has decided to support Crow in his desire to show off his horse’s skills.”
“Maybe.” She bit her lip. “Speaking of support, when Jacob decides to pop the question, will you support him and Amelia?”
Sam frowned. “I think we’re quite far from that just yet.”
Rayne shook her head. “I’m pretty sure we’re not.”
“Why? What do you know?”
“I know that she’s hopelessly in love with him and that they’ve been writing to each other for several years.”
“Years?” he asked in shock.
Rayne nodded. “Since they first met.”
“I didn’t realize they’d spent enough time together when they met to make an impression. It was so long ago, and she and I were only there for a short time.”
“Well, they have, babe, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to ask her to marry him. If I know your parents, I have a feeling they will deny Amelia their blessing, so what will you do when they do?”
Sam sighed. “I will support them, Rayne, if that’s what you’re asking me to do.”
She unbuttoned his shirt. “I’m asking you to do what you think is right.”
“As you’re undressing me.”
“This?” She grinned up at him and kissed his chest. “This is all for me.”
“Oh, really?”
She nodded. “Yep, I need a distraction.”
He leaned down to kiss her. “I’m happy to distract you in any way you like, Angel. Just name it. Babies, perhaps?”
Rayne slid her hands up his chest. “Shhh. Less of the talky-talky and more of the baby making.”
Sam laughed and obeyed.