"It's a little small," Kid said as they looked at the outside of the house.
"It's cozy," Ruth corrected, "and it's ours. I can't wait to see the animals and the land."
"Not much to see out here now that it's almost night," he said as he helped her down. He dropped her trunk off inside. "I'll be in after I get the horse unsaddled and put up." It was a warning that if she needed privacy, she had a few minutes of it. It was going to be a mite uncomfortable living with one another in a one-room house, at least until they got to know each other better.
Task done, he knocked on the door for propriety's sake. It would have been embarrassing if she'd been in the middle of dressing or undressing. "Come in" she called.
He looked around. The interior seemed even more bare than before, looking at it through her eyes. Then his eyes lighted on her, sending all other thoughts but the sight of her fleeing from his head.
Hair down to her waist shone red in the waning light, her lips were redder than before probably from nervously pressing them together in anticipation of the wedding night, and red embroidered flowers decorated her snowy linen gown. She moved toward him with a slight, intoxicating sway that she hadn't displayed until now.
The gown and her hair fluttered from the open window and all the color made her look a little like a flame coming towards him, calling attention to a fire he didn't know blazed inside him until that moment. He'd known she was pretty, had felt some strong desires to protect her, and had known he could grow to love her, but he hadn't expect this sensual side of her, and he certainly hadn't expected to be so attracted by it.
And that's exactly how he felt when her lips touched his. Like he'd just touched fire and been scorched. She dragged her lips across his not with expertise but with a raw passion he wouldn't have believed her capable of after all her religious talk. It emboldened him to pull her close against him despite the fact that she was more thinly clad than she had been before.
His lips traveled along her velvety cheek towards her ear, and she called out with delight, "Oh, Stephen."
He stopped. Her skin smelled like honey. Whether that was by design or she always smelled that way, he didn't know, but he buried his nose against her skin. He didn't return to his trail of kissing though.
His chest heaved against hers, not only from the excitement of the kisses they'd just shared and the breathlessness, but from a yearning desire for more.
It physically pained him to say what he was about to say next, but he didn't think he could be with a woman while she was calling out another man's name, thinking of the man in the letters. That would make the deceit even worse. And there was the not so small problem of not being sure if their marriage counted, since he wasn't really Stephen Ball. "I think we should wait until we know each other better."
She pulled away from him faster than he would have liked. "Did I do something wrong?"
She was embarrassed, wondering if she had come on too strongly. He could see it even though the only light now came from the moon. "No, not at all. You did everything right, believe me. There's nothing I've ever wanted more right now than you."
"Oh, forgive me. I don't know what I was thinking. You just buried your brother today."
"No. I did, but that's not why I don't want to do this tonight."
She looked confused and a little hurt, and no wonder. He was making a mess of this. He didn't know how to deal with women, but did any husband? "You're going to think this is stupid, but when we lie together, I want it to be out of love and not lust. I want us to know each other as people and not just as words on paper."
The hurt disappeared and was replaced by a look of tenderness. "That is so sweet. I want to get to know you better, too."
Now that that was settled, it became noticeably obvious to him that there was only one bed, but it would have been silly for them not to share it as married people that were married to each other, at least in theory.
He pulled back the cover and wondered if he should take off his shirt as he usually did or if it would embarrass her. He decided it would probably be better to sleep fully clothed given his resolve to keep things platonic for the time being.
She had gotten down on her knees rather than in the bed. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Praying," she said, patting the floor beside her.
He got down beside her, albeit a little reluctantly. Why did this feel even more intimate than what they might have done if he hadn't put a halt to it?
It shouldn't. He wasn't even sure he really believed in God, at least not in a caring God, but she obviously did, so he bowed his head and closed his eyes while she prayed aloud.
"Lord, we thank You for bringing us together. We ask You to bless our marriage and for Your help in keeping You at the center of it for You are the tie that binds us." She didn't mean to heap more guilt on him, but she was doing a good job of it.
"And we ask You to console Stephen as he deals with the loss of his brother as You are the Great Comforter. Father in Heaven, we ask You to forgive us for any sins we have committed today. We are but poor sinners worthy of hellfire in need of Your grace."
By this point he had raised his head and opened his eyes. He was looking at her incredulously. He'd heard inaugural speeches that were shorter, and she was showing no signs of slowing down.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally wrapped it up. "Show us the ways we can better serve You tomorrow and every day. Oh, and let the cows have lots of babies. In Your Holy name we pray, Amen."
"Amen," he said with relief. His knees hurt a little as he stood up. Then he did a double-take. Had she really just prayed for the cattle to procreate? Was that even allowed?
She wasn't paying him any mind though. He got in bed first and covered up despite the fact that it was slightly warm. She looked at him with laughing eyes, seeming to know he didn't normally get in bed fully clothed.
She got in beside him, and though the bed could easily hold two people, it suddenly seemed a lot smaller. She got under the thin cover too, and he could feel the heat of her body radiating towards him, tempting him to move in closer.
It was a test of his self-control because every fiber of his being wanted to pull her against him, and he had a whole night to get through, but he was too much of a gentleman to take advantage. If she got to know him and decided she loved him that would be different, then this arrangement wouldn't be quite so bad, or so he told himself.