“Why not?” he asked.
She stared at him mutely.
“Because you are afraid I will do this?” he asked, closing the distance between their mouths and kissing her with parted lips.
She still said nothing when he lifted his head, but stared at him with wide gray eyes brimming with tears.
“Is this why you have disliked me?” he asked her. “Because I have threatened your world?”
“I haven’t disliked you,” she whispered.
“What, then?” he asked.
“I want to go back,” she said, her voice shaking.
“What, Annabelle?” he said, lowering his head, his eyes on her lips. “Tell me.”
“I worshiped you as a child,” she said, closing her eyes, “because you were always so handsome and so carefree and full of laughter. And I haven’t been able to stop. I have tried and tried. I used to listen to stories of your wild ways and your women, and I would try to despise you, to become indifferent to you.”
“But you couldn’t?” He brushed at her tears that had spilled over onto her cheeks.
She shook her head. “And I really thought I would die when we heard that you were hurt and then heard nothing and nothing for so long. And then when I heard that you limped and would never be able to walk without a limp ever again, I thought my heart would break.”
He kissed her softly on the lips.
“Now laugh at me,” she said. “Tell me what a child I am.”
“I am awed,” he said, “to know that I have been loved for so long.”
“Tell me.” She looked up at him suddenly with tormented eyes. “Tell me that you are not going to marry Aunt Rosa. I have seen you with her, both of you laughing and happy. And I saw you leave with her the night my betrothal was announced. But please, Joshua. Anyone else. Anyone else I will be able to bear, but please not Aunt Rosa.”
“I’m going to marry you,” he said.
She stared at him through her tears and laughed shakily. “Oh, yes,” she said. “We will get Grandpapa to substitute your name for Justin’s tonight. It’s all very simple.”
“There will be no announcement tonight,” he said. “It would be in bad taste to have my betrothal announced when many people are expecting Justin’s. We will let it be known some time next week.”
“Joshua ...” She reached into a pocket of her dress for a handkerchief and rubbed at her eyes with it. “Take me back to the house now. You have heard me make a perfect idiot of myself. Now you can feel satisfied.”
“I love you,” he said.
“Oh, don’t,” she said crossly. “I have bared my soul to you. It is cruel to mock me.”
He took the handkerchief from her hand and put it into one of his pockets. And he drew her away from the tree and into his arms. And set about kissing her very thoroughly and with the expertise of years.
“I love you,” he said at last, looking down into her dazed face. “And in a moment I am going to ask you to marry me. But before I do, I want you to know that I will look after everything—all the explanations, all the awkwardness. And after I have asked you and you have said yes, I will tell you something that will ease your guilt. Understood?”
“No,” she said. “No, we can’t be doing this, Joshua. This is madness. My promise is given.”
He kissed her again, even more thoroughly than before. “Understood?” he asked.
“Joshua ...”
“Will you marry me, Annabelle?”
“Please, Joshua ...”
“Will you?”
