Chapter Four

For the first time, she awoke wrapped in his arms.

At first, before her eyes were even open, she was startled by the heat and confinement. But once she opened her eyes and saw his sleeping face, all of her fears dissipated. Yes, she had made the right decision after all.

Amelia tried to shift slightly, one of her arms feeling like it was still asleep, when Cooper murmured something and then opened his own eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, Amelia wondering what he was thinking, if he, too, was remembering all of the events of the night before. How he had held her, once again, while she sobbed, but this time it was different. How he had stayed in her bed, not leaving once her tears had quieted, how they had laid so close and talked for what felt like hours. She had told him her needs, that if she stayed she could not stay trapped inside all day, she needed fresh air, and she longed to ride a horse again. They talked honestly about their hopes and dreams and wishes and fears, the first time since she had returned that they had talked like that. It was like when they were on the prairie again, a meeting of the minds, their topics as wide and as free as the open sky, no judgements, no expectations.

He smiled. "Good morning."

She smiled back. "Good morning."

Cooper reached up and ran his hand along her face, before pulling her head in closer. His lips touched hers, and she melted into them. Gradually, he pressed harder, and then she felt the thrill of his tongue running along her lips. Just as he had on the prairie, before they both stepped into the time machine. Amelia opened her mouth, just as she had before, to receive the aura he was giving to her. But instead of his breath, she felt his tongue invade her mouth. Her eyes popped opened, but Cooper held her head firmly. Then, slowly, he started to caress her own tongue with his. Amelia stopped fighting. Whatever this strange form of kissing was, it was running through her entire body. How was it that every time he touched her in some new, unexpected fashion the sensation was even more intense than the time before?

Suddenly he pulled away. "Sorry. I need to stop." He paused and looked at her deeply. "Please tell me it wasn't all a dream. Please tell me you really are staying."

"I am." She bit her lip and looked down at his plaid-covered shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Cooper. I suppose I just needed to recognize that wanting isn't the same thing as having."

"Spock said something similar once."

"Who is Spock? A friend of yours?"

Cooper smiled. "In a fashion. He's a very wise man. I'll introduce you some day. And no more apologizes. I've learned a lesson, too: I should just tell you the truth and trust you'll tell me when you don't understand it." Then he pulled away enough to stretch his long arms. "I guess we should get up and eat breakfast. I don't know how long the line at city hall will be, but we don't want to be at the end of it."

"What is city hall? And why are we going there?"

"You're staying here, so we're getting married. That was the plan," he said, raising his eyebrows.

Amelia sat up. "Today? Just like that? And at city hall? And what is that? I've never heard a church called that before."

"No, it's a municipal building, like a courthouse. Oh." Cooper's eyebrows dipped. "I don't go to church, Amelia. No, that's not true, I go once a year as part of a contractual obligation. Is a church wedding essential to you?"

"I don't know. I guess I just assumed that's where everyone got married. I've never heard of something else. And why don't you go to church?"

"Because I believe in the power of science, not superstition. Why do you go to church? I have to admit the Amelia who washed and dried a naked stranger did not seem like a religious woman to me."

Amelia blushed, remembering how she both thought it was a sin and found sin exciting. "Because - because that's what you do on Sundays."

He took her hand. "If you want to go to church on Sundays, I won't stop you. If you want a church wedding, if it's important to you, we'll find one."

"I guess I just want it to be sacred." She shrugged. Why did she go to church? No one she knew had ever questioned that before.

"Sacred?" Cooper's eyebrows went up again.

"Yes, don't you think it should be sacred? It's the most important day of our lives, the most solemn thing we will ever do."

Cooper smiled at her. "Okay, sacred it is. A sacred place. But it doesn't have to be a church? Or a minister? Leo got ordained on the Internet for our friend Herman's wedding."

Amelia tilted her head and thought for a moment. "No, it doesn't have to a be a church. And Leo is fine. Is there somewhere that is sacred to you?"

"I have some ideas. I'll need a few days to work out the details. You don't mind waiting?"

She smiled and lay back down next to him, never letting go of his hand. "We've waited 140 years already."

The whole experience was dizzying. After their deep conversation in the night, Cooper had taken walks with her every day for the past two days, getting her used to the outdoors, the sounds of traffic, the bustle of the sidewalks, the endless rows of windows, full of countless goods to purchase.

But nothing had prepared Amelia to get into that machine called a car with Penelope and traveling at terrifying speeds. Only to land in Oz. But instead of the emerald city from the movie she watched with Cooper the night before, it was a white city. White and ivory, lace and sparkles. Penelope kept picking dresses up, making suggestions, but just the thought of putting on something so fancy, so expensive, something more fit for Queen Victoria or one of her daughters made Amelia's throat close up.

"Amelia, you have to pick something. The wedding is tomorrow. Cooper said the sky's the limit, whatever you want. I know these ready-to-wear dresses aren't as fancy as the ones you order, but we don't time for that."

All she could do was shake her head. She couldn't even imagine a fancier dress. She couldn't be so selfish. Her family could live for a year or more on the money these dresses cost. She wondered away from the finery, drawn to the brighter colors across the store. And there it was, on a mannequin.

"A bridesmaid's dress?" Penelope said behind her.

"It reminds me of spring. It's the color of wildflowers. It's so beautiful," Amelia said. She took another step closer and touched the lavender eyelet.

"But it's so plain. I'm not even sure it's a bridesmaid dress. It's really just a dress for a shower or something," Penelope protested.

"Please? Can we try this one?" Amelia asked, not even caring why one would buy a dress just to get wet.

Penelope smiled at her. "Sure. I'm under strict instructions. Whatever you want."

Amelia had never worn anything so fine, so soft against her skin. She couldn't believe it was her looking back from the mirror.

"I have to admit that color really makes your eyes look green. It needs a sash or something, but it's very pretty," Penelope said. "So, is it the one?"

"It doesn't have sleeves," Amelia said with a frown, looking at the beautiful blonde friend of Cooper's through the mirror. It was so close to perfect, why couldn't it be perfect?

"We'll get a cardigan or a wrap or something. Wait here." Penelope disappeared, leaving Amelia to run her hands down the front of the dress. She wanted it so badly, and she felt guilty for wanting something so expensive. But maybe she could wear this again, she'd have to ask Penelope. And, after all, didn't she have a brand new wool suit that she and her mother had sewed together for weeks, based on one of the newest patterns they had seen in the Sear and Roebuck catalogue? A wool wedding suit. Sensible and suitable. And predictable.

"Got it!" Penny called, coming back with her arms full. "It's more purple than lavender, but there's a matching sash. Let's see."

After putting on the cardigan and tying the sash, Penelope put her hands on Amelia shoulders, and they looked together at the reflection. Amelia whispered, "It's the one."

Penelope nodded. "Okay, let's take it off and have them pack it for us. We have something else to buy. This is a surprise for Cooper."

Intrigued, Amelia complied and, back in her regular but still strange clothes, she followed Penelope down the stairs to another level. She stopped dead in her tracks on the bottom step. "Penelope?"

"Lingerie, sweetie."

"Women wear this? One would be practically naked!"

"That's the point. You've got to get out of granny panties sometime. Come on."

Amelia tried to not even look at all the strange things they are passing. She ignored Penelope's comments. She most certainly would never wear something like this. And what were granny panties?

"Okay, how about this?" Penelope sighed. Amelia did glance up and was relieved to see a plain white nightgown. It was shorter than she would have preferred, with no sleeves, but it was simple. And the pink flowers at the top reminded her of the one she had made with her mother.

"I guess that would be okay," she said, not wanting to frustrate Penelope further. She really had been so kind.

"Good, let's find your size." Penelope sifted through the rack until she pulled one out. "Got it!"

"Never mind. You can see right through it!" Amelia protested.

"Again, that's the point," Penelope laughed. Then her face became serious. She leaned closer. "Amelia, have you have, uh, touched Cooper? Or, well, any man?"

Amelia's face flushed. "We kiss."

"Okay, good."

"And he put his tongue in my mouth," Amelia said with emphasis. She hoped her voice did not betray her surprise when Cooper had done that, how shocked she had been at first, but then how excited it made her feel.

"I should hope so." Penelope seemed unimpressed. "So I take it you two haven't discovered an even better place for his tongue yet."

"What?"

Penelope raised her eyebrows, and then grabbed Amelia's hand and pulled her into another set of those little dressing rooms. Without letting go, she quickly ran between the six rooms, pushing each door open. Then she pushed Amelia into one and shut the door, sitting on the bench with her.

"Sweetie, do you know about sex?" she whispered.

"Sex?" Amelia whispered back, her face burning.

"Oh dear, I knew you were naive but . . . Making love? The wedding night as it used to be called?"

Amelia was not used to being the person in the room who knew the least. "Of course I know about the wedding night. My mother told me once."

"So, how detailed did she get?"

"Um, she said . . " and then Amelia whispered what her mother had told her.

Penelope tilted her head. "Well, that's the most concise explanation I've ever heard."

"She also said occasionally it may feel good, like waves." Then Amelia frowned. "But she said the first time is painful."

"Only occasionally?" Penelope rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Listen, sweetie. If you want, I'll tell you everything. Later, at home, over some wine, not hiding in a dressing room."

Amelia nodded, self-conscious that she lacking in this knowledge, that Penelope felt she was so uninformed and childish.

"Did you hear about our argument?" Amelia said quietly.

Penelope nodded. "Cooper told Leo the gist of it."

"Penelope . . . do you think Cooper will be disappointed in me? Because I'm not . . ." Amelia took a deep breath. "I watched a movie, Shakespeare in Love, and it was . . . different than I thought it would be. When we were in Kansas, he told me once that physical love is more . . . inventive now. And he said, when we were fighting, that he likes . . . to wear costumes."

Amelia had never seen a face quite like Penelope's before, with her eyebrows so high and her mouth screwed up so tight. "Cooper, Cooper, you sly dog . . . " she mumbled before raising her voice, "Listen, sweetie, don't be frightened. It's never like the movies. And Cooper may be the strangest man I know, but he's a good guy. He knows that you're inexperienced. He's crazy about you. All that matters in the long run is that you love each other, that's what makes it the best."

"Is it bad that we fought?"

"Of course not. Didn't your parents ever fight?"

Now that Penelope mentioned it, she had heard sharp words between her parents before. They tried to hide them, but sometimes she heard them out in the barn or after she was supposed to be asleep. "I guess so."

"You'll fight again. It happens. But what matters more is how you make up, that you're honest with each other."

Amelia nodded. It was true that she had never felt closer to Cooper than she had when they were curled up together, her head on his chest, just talking the night away. Nothing had been left unsaid, they had shared everything. Perhaps they would have never talked like that if they hadn't fought first. Not that she wanted to make a habit of it; she would tell him that, too, later. That they should talk like that more often, without a fight first.

"Come on, let's go pay for our stuff, and then I'm taking you to get a mani-pedi. And we are definitely getting this nightie," Penelope said.

"What's a mani-pedi?"

"It's fabulous. The scrub your hands and feet and make them all soft and then put whatever color of polish you want on them. And, then, on the way home, we're stopping by the pharmacy to buy you a razor so you can shave your legs."

"Shave my legs? Why would I ever do that?"

Penelope laughed. "Oh, sweetie. Cooper may have fallen in love with these adorable braids - " she flipped one of Amelia's braids playfully "- but believe me when I tell you he did not fall in love with those legs."

"Okay, last step. Open your mouth a little." Amelia parted her lips and watch Penelope's face floating in front of her, as she applied something sticky to her lips. The she stood back up and smiled. "There. You look gorgeous."

Amelia smiled softly but felt very strange. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure. Look in the mirror, you don't even look like the same person," Penelope said.

Not sure if that was a good thing, Amelia walked to the bathroom and closed the door. She walked over to the mirror and gasped. The woman - and it was a woman - who looked back at her looked nothing like the face she knew as her own.

The top of the lavender dress was just as pretty as she remembered, but her hair looked so different put up on top of her head. Her mother was always telling her she should be wearing her hair up now that she was a woman, and certainly once she was married it would be expected, but Amelia had always preferred the ease of her braids. And her face! It was so strange. It did look smoother and her eyelashes looked darker and her lips gave off a pleasing shimmer, but . . . It was bad enough she had agreed to wear these sheer tights called pantyhose, with her ankles and newly hairless calves on display for the whole world to gawk, but the face was just too much. She felt like someone else, not the Amelia that Cooper had met. She knew change was inevitable, especially here in the future, but she did not want to lose herself, her roots, where she had come from.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the faucet on. She scrubbed her face, and she then she took down her hair. She brushed it and managed to plait it, even though it was stiff from whatever Penelope had put in it. She smiled at the reflection. Yes, this was Amelia.

"I'm sorry, Penelope, don't be mad," she said softly, when she opened the door and walked toward her new friend.

Penelope looked up from her own miniature magic slate, raised her eyebrows for a minute but then smiled. "You know what? It's perfect."

"Do you think Cooper will mind?" Amelia asked.

"No, because he's Cooper. And, besides -" Penelope flicked one of her braids playfully just as she had the day before, when they had gone shopping - "I'm pretty sure he loves the braids. Now come on, let's go get you married to your time traveling physicist!"

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