“My own...lines of credit?” Mary felt foolish parroting every word Alex spoke to her, but it was almost too much to believe and she swallowed thickly at the news. Her mother had never so much as given Mary anything more than pocket money and only enough to buy a meal here or there. Her father had ensured Mary was set up with accounts but those had all been closed and lost to her with his passing. Her fingers touched the coarse material of the bank book and she could scarcely breathe as she flipped it open to find her name typed in neat script.
Minnie Pierce.
Her eyes filled with tears. It was a lovely sight, one that touched her far deeper than she realized. “You had them put my name as Minnie,” she said simply.
“I did,” Alex said and then she cleared her throat and gave her wife a pained look. “Ought I not to have? I mean….well, it’s just that I’ve thought of you as nothing else but Minnie,” she hurried on to add when Mary gave a slight sniffle, “but we can have it changed first thing to Mary. It’ll be an easy fix, you’ll see.” Alex pulled a handkerchief out and held it out to Mary with a grimace. “Oh, I’ve made a right mess of this haven’t I? I’m sorry, Min--Mary, please don’t cry. I’m an idiot and---”
Mary reached out, catching her wife’s hand and gave a quick shake of her head. “No, don’t say it like that.”
“Say it like what?”
“Mary,” she said, voice scarcely above a whisper and she sniffled past her tears as she spoke. “Call me Minnie. Please, Alex. I--that’s what I would have you call me.”
“Then why are you crying so?”
“These are happy tears.” Mary laughed when Alex gave her an unconvinced look. “I swear it.”
“Do you promise?” Alex leaned across the table and pointed a finger at her wife with a solemn look. “Swear it now, or I’ll have them change it.”
Mary gave a shaky laugh. “I swear it, Alex. I do. I love it. She raised the bank book. “I love this, and I-I would have you call me nothing else than Minnie. I swear it.”
Alex looked at her for a moment longer before she nodded and relaxed. “I’m awful when you take to crying. You’ll see. I’ve never been any good at it.”
“It’s only tears.”
Alex snorted. “To you perhaps, but I have no clue how to help or stop them. Tears are-are…”
“What are they?”
“Frightening is what they are.” Alex crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “You’ll never know the fear they strike into the hearts of good spouses across the world.” She clasped a hand to her chest in emphasis making Mary giggle.
“You’re quite dramatic Alex.”
“Right you are.” Alex winked at her. “Makes life a bit more tolerable, don’t you think?” She reached out and took Minnie's hand as she stood from her chair and pressed a slight kiss to her knuckles. “I’ll be outside seeing to the horses. Get your things together for the journey into town, hmm?”
“Ah, yes,” Mary managed to get out. “I’ll be there shortly,” she said. Alex gave a wave of her hand and continued on, her footfalls slowly fading and then going silent as she left the house. Once the door shut behind her Mary sagged back against her chair and let out the ragged sigh she hadn’t been aware she was holding in.
“Oh, dear,” she whispered, hands going to her face. She held up the hand Alex had kissed in front of her, the gesture had been so casually done and without thought that Mary found it all the more precious and significant. It was as if they had been together for far longer than their scant day of marriage, their handful of acquaintances, as if the other woman had never been without her. That kisses should pass so freely and easily between them was a thing that made Mary’s heart flutter and she shifted, leaning forward onto the table holding the hand up in front of her with wide eyes.
Perhaps her marriage was not purely of kindness after all.
Chapter 12
“You mean that I am free to choose whatever I like?” Mary asked. She was currently standing in front of the mercantile with a hastily scribbled list she had put together on their ride into town. She bit her pencil and looked at her wife curiously when Alex rocked back on her heels and gave her a nod.
“Yes, whatever you like. Pick it out and we’ll have it packed up. The shop will settle the bill with me at the end of the month. I’ll be just up the way talking with Stark about a set of rockers I’ve had on my mind to get. Now is just as good a time as any.” Alex made to move away, and Mary found herself unable to stagger towards her wife with an outstretched hand.
“And you...won’t need to look it over?” she asked.
“No,” Alex answered, and then paused looking back at Mary, “is there a reason I would need to Minnie?”
Mary stopped and considered her words. In her life she had been trusted with precious little. Her mother had always been at the forefront of all decisions, even down to the color of dresses Mary wore, or how she curled her hair. Her father had allowed her some freedom, but it had always been the root of an argument between her parents and led to a sour dinner with all three in tense silence. Mary had learned from a young age to want for little and to ask for less.
“Well, no, I suppose you would not need to but I--” Mary’s voice trailed off when she saw a flash of red and saw it was nothing less than her mother’s hair. Sarah James was beautifully done up in the dress Mary had last seen her fitted in.
Her wedding dress.
In her hand was a bouquet of white roses and on her arm was a dapper dressed Mister Rutherford. It seemed the elder James could not be outdone by her daughter’s impromptu wedding and so had secured one of her own after all.
