Page 105 of Magnolia Summer

He sighed again. “I guess that means you’ll be going back to Nashville.”

Was he angry that she was going away? She didn’t think so, or he wouldn’t be letting her sit on his knee. But she shouldn’t be sitting on his knee. Celia’s cheeks stung and she tried to get to her feet.

“What?” Truett asked.

“What if someone sees us? Let me up.”

He let her stand. “Are you only worried about someone seeing us?”

“No.” She was also worried about her own reaction to him. But how could she tell him that? “I just think it’s . . . well . . . it isn’t proper.”

He smiled slowly, and she was sure he was reading her mind. Heat crept up her neck and into her cheeks. She crossed her arms.

“All right. Will you sit with me?” He stood up until she sat down on the bench, then he sat back down beside her.

He took her hand in his and looked her in the eye. “Will you marry me, Celia? I know your mother is doing better now, and because of the ginseng, you have the money to go back to Nash—”

“Yes.”

“You probably can’t leave Bethel Springs fast enou— Did you say yes?”

“Yes.” Celia smiled into his deep blue eyes. “How many times do I need to accept your proposal of marriage before you will marry me, Truett Beverly?”

He laughed, then kissed her hand. “So, about where we will live . . .”

“I just assumed we would live here, in Bethel Springs.”

“Is that where you want to live?”

“No. I mean . . . I don’t know. Where do you want to live?”

“You don’t want to live here, Celia, I know that.”

“You’re right. I don’t. But I don’t want to live without you, either.”

He was drawing lazy circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, sending tingles all through her. She desperately wanted to kiss him.

He closed his eyes, as if he was fighting the same temptation she was. Finally, he cleared his throat and went on. “Since you need to continue to pursue your dream of opening your own dress shop, we’ll live in Nashville.”

Celia stared at him. “You would do that? You would leave Bethel Springs and go to Nashville?”

“Of course. I thought you knew that, Celia.”

“How could I know that?”

“As soon as things settle down here, and I’ve had time to scout out a new doctor for Bethel Springs, I’ll come to Nashville and set up an office there.”

“You would do that? And would you let your wife work as a seamstress? And later, own her own business?”

“Why shouldn’t I? I don’t want to control you, Celia. I want to love you.”

Celia realized her mouth was hanging open. She closed it. “So—you could—work as a doctor in Nashville?”

“Why not? I have friends there. I even completed some of my study there. I’d always hoped to go back and study under a certain surgeon, Dr. Hollenberry.”

She leaned into his side, not sure what to say. “But once I have children,” she said, thinking out loud, “I couldn’t possibly run a shop.”

“Perhaps not. Perhaps you could. We’ll see when the time comes.”