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"I have a taste—"
"Mmmm," she said softly, slowly licking her lips. "I have a taste, too."
"Good." He forced himself to respond and quickly removed his hand as though it lay on hot coals, which was exactly how her naked flesh felt to him, hot and ready. "Then you'll bake us a rum cake."
"Rum cake?" she asked, bewildered.
He stood, taking her hand and pulling her up with him. "Yes, rum cake. I have this urge to try it, and you promised to make it for me."
Prudence was out the door of the sewing room and propelled down the hall before she could object. "Zac, I don't understand," she said. Before she could say more, she was deposited in the kitchen.
Her eyes met her mother's, both of them registering shock upon seeing each other. Her mother wore a clean white apron over her blue calico dress. Bowls, flour, eggs, and the like were spread out on the table before her. Prudence now understood everything. She backed up, only to hit the solid wall of her husband's firm body.
"Well, isn't this a coincidence," Zac said, holding Prudence firmly by the shoulders and pushing her stiff body farther into the kitchen.
"I was just going to bake a rum cake for your father," Silver Fox began nervously. "Perhaps you would like to help, like you did when you were little?"
Zac felt his wife's shoulders sag and was glad he held her firmly. He was certain Silver Fox's words disturbed her, and he hoped she would put her doubts aside and accept her mother's invitation to do more than just help.
Prudence's response was slow and shaky. "I'd like that."
Zac kissed her cheek. "I'll leave you two to your baking," he said, but whispered for her ears only, "I’ll be right out back if you need me." He released her, giving her hand a quick squeeze of support before walking out the kitchen door.
"He loves you very much," Silver Fox said seriously.
Prudence walked to the table and pulled out one of the chairs, sitting down to join her mother. "You really think so?"
"I know so. It is written clearly on his face. He cannot hide his feelings for you. They are too strong. And you love him."
Prudence was surprised she stated the fact and did not question it. "Yes, I do, but I can't seem to bring myself to tell him."
"The right time will present itself and you will," Silver Fox assured her. "You must learn to trust."
Her words opened up the way for Prudence to speak, and she didn't doubt that Silver Fox had stated them just for that reason. "I trusted once, but I was hurt badly. Now it is hard for me to trust those who profess to love me."
Silver Fox handed her the eggs to crack, just as she had done when Prudence was a child. "Sometimes we love so much that we make rash decisions, thinking them the best at that moment, only to find them foolish later."
"But how can you leave someone you love?" Prudence demanded, cracking the eggs more forcefully then necessary.
"It isn't easy." Silver Fox mixed the batter, her eyes steady on the bowl.
Prudence felt the ache deep in her heart and the tears close to her lashes. "Father told me why you left us, and I suppose I understand your concern for us at the time. But I loved you so very much, and it hurt so very badly when I was told you had died. It hurt worse to discover you had not . . . that instead you had chosen to leave us."
Silver Fox allowed her tears to fall. Her ache was just as painful as her daughter's, if not more so. "I loved you then and I love you now, Prudence. It broke my heart to leave my little girl, but I thought I was doing the right thing. It was so very foolish of me," she admitted, shaking her head ruefully.
Prudence sniffed back her tears, determined to keep them at bay and finally determined to face her mother with her fears. "When I learned you weren't dead, I thought that you left me because I wasn't as pretty as you and because I was deformed."
Silver Fox's eyes widened in disbelief and shined bright from her tears. "I thought you were the most beautiful child in the world, and whatever do you mean deformed?"
It was Prudence's turn to be stunned. She held her hand up to display the two fingers she no longer hid away in shame, thanks to Zac.
Silver Fox smiled proudly and nodded. "That isn't a deformity."
Prudence looked at her hand as though her fingers had miraculously healed and she had missed the transformation. "They are crooked and useless."
"They are a symbol amongst my family that only a chosen few women bear. It is believed that those who are born such possess strong spirits, and they are regarded with great esteem. I was extremely disappointed when my mother explained this to me, since I did not possess it. She bore the same symbol as you do, and when you were born that way I was proud, for I knew you were endowed with great strength."
