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Rated: T

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter 3

For the better part of five years, Patrick had gotten used to his own conversation. Sure, he'd talked to the families at church and to his family when they would come over for dinner, but for the most part it was just him and Jack, and the cow that sometimes gave milk but more often didn't.

Given his circumstances, he had so much to say Teresa. But he didn't want to bombard her with questions even though there was so much that he wanted to know. Like her music preferences and whether or not she liked Cary Grant better than William Powell. It was things he had wanted to discuss his whole entire life but had never had anybody to discuss it with. His father had been a farmer who preferred he hadn't spent so much time with his head in the clouds. . . his brothers hadn't thought much at all. Grace and his mother had spent most of their time on housework, they enjoyed the occasional movie or novel but quickly returned to reality when the credits had rolled or they had turned the last page in their book.

Patrick had always wanted the best of both worlds, but his father had always told him that he couldn't discuss the rerun of the Thin Man movie at the local theater and plant carrots all at the same time.

He looked at Teresa, peeling potatoes and humming along with the portable radio and tried to find the courage to speak to her like he would when he was trying to make a new friend. But his words got stuck in his throat and he wondered how he had gotten so shy all of a sudden.

"Are you planning on going to church tomorrow?" Teresa asked, not looking up from her dinner preparations.

"Um. . . yes, of course," Patrick answered. "It is Sunday, why wouldn't we go to church? I never miss a service, unless I'm sick or snowed in."

"Me either," Teresa replied. "But then I was the pastor's daughter. I couldn't miss a service unless I was down with a fever or something equally as catching, like the influenza."

"I understand," Patrick said, releasing a deep breath. "Teresa, I need to warn you about something. There's a young woman in our congregation, she's wanted to get together with me for years now. I don't think she'll take too kindly to the fact that I've gotten married."

Teresa raised an eyebrow and finally looked at him. "This young woman, is she the reason you married me? So, she would stop chasing you?"

"No!" Patrick retorted. "Of course not! I told you, I've always wanted to get married and be a husband. Maybe if you hadn't needed somebody to take care of you, I would have eventually wound up married to Lorelei Martins. . . but she just isn't the kind of girl you'd marry. She's fun for a while but there's nothing substantial to her."

"Did you ever have anything with her?" Teresa asked, he knew she wasn't jealous, didn't have any right to be because of the situation they were in, she was just curious.

"No."

"But there was someone?"

"That's a story for another day," Patrick answered.

"When we know each other better?" Teresa asked. "When we can trust each other with our stories and our secrets."

"Who says we can't trust each other now? I wouldn't have married you if I didn't think I could trust you, marriage is built on trust, Teresa."

"I know that!" Teresa answered defensively, filling the pot to the brim with water and slamming it down on the stove. She covered her face with her hand and released a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's fine," Patrick assured her. "Here, I'll finish making dinner for you, you take it easy."

"I'm not fragile, you know, just pregnant."

"Grace had rough pregnancies with both Maddie and Ben, and she's a larger woman than you are. There's nothing wrong with taking it easy," Patrick answered.

Teresa's lips quirked into a smile. "You shouldn't say Grace is large."

Patrick frowned. "I didn't mean anything by it though. I just meant she was tall and strong."

"I'm stronger than I look," Teresa assured him. "I was the one who lifted my mother and bathed her. I did it by myself, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"How long has it been since you've had somebody worry over you?" Patrick asked.

"What?" Teresa asked, startled by his question.

"When was the last time you had somebody to worry over you?" Patrick repeated.

"Oh. Well, it's been a really long time since anybody really worried about me," Teresa confessed.

"You don't have to do it on your own anymore," Patrick told her, looking like he wanted to reach out and touch her but he held back and held her gaze instead, trying to make her see that he was nothing but sincere.

Teresa managed to smile at him. "Thank you," she said even though she wasn't sure she could adjust to being worried over and looked after.

It had been such a terribly long time since anybody had made sure she had eaten breakfast or asked if she had gotten enough sleep the night before. Looking at Patrick, she was sure that he hadn't had somebody to really look out for him in a very long time either.

She had a feeling given sometime they would both be worrying after each other to the point of annoyance. She shook her head as if to snap herself out of it, she didn't want to think about developing any sort of affection for him.

It was strictly a business transaction.

A business transaction that would protect the good name of her and her father. A baby born to a married couple was certainly better than one born to a single, pastor's daughter even if she was essentially living a lie of omission by letting people believe that Patrick Jane had fathered her child.

"You're deep in thought there," Patrick said. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's just fine," Teresa hurried to assure him. "I was just thinking about. . . how somebody your age would be so willing to stay here, stuck on a farm that isn't really running anymore. Don't you ever wonder what's out there beyond the empty fields?"

"Sure I do," Patrick answered. "If I'm being honest, I never imagined that I would be here when I was twenty-five. But when the war started, they wouldn't take me because of some slight hearing loss in my right ear. Anyways, if I had gone then there wouldn't have been anybody to take care of the folks around town or to marry you."

"You seem to think you're getting a really good deal marrying me," Teresa said.

"I am though," Patrick replied. "I'm not alone on this farm with my thoughts and a dog for company. That's the best deal that I've had in a while, if I'm being completely honest. But what about you? Did you imagine a different life than this? Did you imagine seeing the Pyramids or the Eiffel Tower one day?"

"A little bit," Teresa answered. "But in my wildest dreams, I wanted to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Or maybe become a private investigator, I think it would have been fun to run around Chicago, solving murders and wearing a shocking shade of red lipstick because I was doing something shocking."

"I'm afraid there aren't many murders to solve around here," Patrick said. "In fact, I can't remember the last time we had a murder, to be honest. There was a suicide last year though, Dr. Steiner killed himself after he found out his son had been killed in action. I was the one who found him, it had been my turn to bring him dinner and he was on his porch swing. . . as white as a ghost, he overdosed on morphine."

"What a tragedy."

"He was dying anyways," Patrick answered. "When they were exploring the cause of death, they discovered he had advanced cancer. Maybe he knew, maybe his son's death was just what pushed him over the edge."

"My father says suicide is a sin," Teresa said.

"He was suffering though," Patrick replied. "He was a good man, he didn't deserve it. Maybe its better that he went the way he did instead of having to suffer through it."

"I never said I agreed with my father."

"Obviously there are a lot of things you and your father disagrees on," Patrick answered, stopping cold. "I'm sorry Teresa, maybe I shouldn't have said that, although it wasn't a comment about your current state, I promise."

Teresa sighed. "It doesn't matter."

Patrick shuffled his feet awkwardly and then excused himself to go find work to do in another part of the house while she finished dinner.

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"Who is she?"

Patrick groaned inwardly as the lovely and exotic Lorelei Martins fell into place on his free side. He had been dreading this moment all morning, telling the girl who had unashamedly chased him that he was married. He just hopped she wouldn't throw a tantrum.

"Lorelei. . ." he started cautiously. "This is my wife, Teresa."

Lorelei's smile was glacial. "Your wife!? Well, isn't that just. . . that's just lovely! Congratulations! How did you two meet?"

"Chicago," Teresa answered quickly.

"Really? I didn't know you'd gone to Chicago," Lorelei said.

"It was ages ago," Teresa told her aloofly. "When we were both still teenagers, we reconnected recently and decided to elope."

"A whirlwind romance," Lorelei said tightly.

"Yes. You could say that," Teresa replied, smiling kindly at her. "It was lovely chatting with you Lorelei, but we really should go in and get our seat now."

"I have a cake for you in the car, Patrick!" Lorelei said, glancing at Teresa and wrinkling her nose. "I was going to see if you wanted to share it but I guess that request is kind of pointless now, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry Lorelei," Patrick said sincerely.

Lorelei held up one gloved hand and shook her head. "Spare me, please. You and I both know you aren't even a little bit sorry. And don't even bother trying to soothe my feelings by saying there's somebody else out there for me."

With that she spun around on her heel and marched back to her car, getting into it she sped away from the church.

"I didn't intend for her to take it so hard. . ." Patrick told Teresa trailing off as he watched Lorelei's vehicle kick up a trail of dust.

"Don't worry about it," Teresa replied. "She's just upset, she needs some time to herself to get over her disappoint. I think she must have liked you a lot."

"I didn't lead her on, if that's what you're thinking," Patrick said.

"I wasn't thinking that at all," Teresa replied as she made her way up the wooden porch steps and into the cool, dim church. "Oh, look there's May. I'm going to say hello, I'll be right back."

"I'll go and save our pew," Patrick answered, taking her Bible from her and ambling into the sanctuary as he greeted other congregants that were mingling while they waited for the morning service to start.

A few seconds later, May made her way down the aisle and to the piano, she began to play the opening hymn while Teresa settled into the seat beside him, she picked up a hymnal and paged through it like she was making herself familiar with the new pages of familiar songs. He watched her for the longest time before turning his attention back to the front of the room where Reverend Minelli was standing up and starting to make announcements.

He gave a warm welcome to Teresa and extolled the rest of the congregation to do the same while his wife smiled tightly beside him, more than a little embarrassed to be a focal point of attention. It didn't last long though; Minelli said a simple prayer and then instructed everybody to turn to page number 468 in the hymnal.

They all did while they stood and started to sing with one voice about their faith finding a resting place. Patrick knew the song by heart, his mother had sang it on a daily basis while he had been growing up, so instead of keeping his gaze on his book, he found it wondering over to Teresa.

She was standing with her eyes closed, singing the words by heart just like him, but her heart wasn't in it like everybody else's was though and he knew, the words weren't as true for her. Her faith had been shaken; she couldn't sing it with conviction. She could only go through the motions because it seemed like the whole town was watching the newcomer.

They sang another hymn, a new one that nobody had ever sang before, so his attention was drawn back to the page and then Reverend Minelli started his sermon, a loving message taken from one of the Psalms, Teresa fidgeted beside him.

Patrick hesitated for a moment before putting a gentle hand on her knee; she stilled immediately but didn't push him away.

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"Reverend Minelli is different than my father," Teresa said later as Patrick pushed his canoe into the pond before jumping in and starting to paddle. "You would never guess they went to the same seminary."

"What do you mean?" Patrick asked.

"His sermon was so different than my father's," Teresa explained. "The only time I heard about God's love was when I talked to my mother. My father always talked about how He was judgmental and we needed to obey Him or we'd be in danger of Hell fire. It's hard to even believe Reverend Minelli and my father are friends."

"Maybe time and circumstances softened Reverend Minelli," Patrick said, trying his best to keep his eyes on the water and not take in the way Teresa was lounging across the boat, or her red toenails or her crossed ankles, and her face basking in the sun.

"Mmmh, maybe," Teresa agreed, closing her eyes as she skimmed her hand across the water. "It's such a beautiful day today."

"I'm glad that I get to spend it with you," Patrick replied.

Her eyes popped open and she stared at him in disbelief, words were forming on the tip of her tongue like she was going to tell him he couldn't say something like that when they had only known each other for a few days. But instead, she smiled and relaxed again, propping up on her elbows as she thanked him.

TBC. . .

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Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay in posting, real life is driving me crazy. My sister is getting married three weeks from tonight, so advanced warning; there probably won't be a chapter until April 25th. Forget wedding planning, I am the one in charge of the lingerie shower and that is in 13 days, also I am trying to adjust to the fact that my sister isn't going to live here anymore and that I am still single and 25 while my sister is getting married at 20. It isn't a good combination for my inspiration.

But I know where I'm going with chapter 4, parts are already written in my head. I promise, I'll try and have it written for next Friday night. . . although, I do have plans to see a movie with the sister I mentioned above.

Anyways, have a great Easter weekend!

Love,

Holly, 4/3/2015_