Disclaimer: Still don't own anything, still not making anything.
Maude woke up the next morning next to her husband. She felt a smile spread across her face as she thought about that. Her husband, she was married…to Patrick. Her uncle would know by now that she was gone, and most likely he would know why she had left as well, but there wasn't anything that he could do about it. As far as she was concerned she had belonged to Patrick and only Patrick since he had asked her to marry him but now she was completely his. In the eyes of God and the state of Georgia, she was Mrs. Standish and no one, not even Charles Carstairs could change that.
Sighing contently, she moved herself closer to him, just wanting to be in his presence. Maude couldn't recall ever being as happy as she was right now. Her memories of last night were beyond description. She had given everything to Patrick but she had never felt more complete and alive than she did now. She was no longer a solitary person she was now part of Patrick, they were one and Maude never wanted to lose the feeling of intimacy she now shared with Patrick and she wouldn't let anything stop her from enjoying every second of it today.
As she lay there just enjoying the feeling of being with her husband she felt Patrick slide his arm around her and draw her even closer. "Good mornin', Mrs. Standish." He mumbled as he covered her shoulder with kisses.
Maude grinned at his words and rolled over to face him. "Good mornin', Mr. Standish. Did you sleep well?"
"Well," Patrick said with an overly dramatic sigh. "I had some mighty fine dreams last night, but they weren't nothin' compared to being awake."
Maude's grin grow as she laid her head on his bare chest and closed her eyes again. She was determined to make their first morning as husband and wife last as long as she could.
They lay together in silence for several minutes, Patrick gently stroking her hair, before he sighed again, only this sigh sounded more genuine and much heavier than he his last one had. "Maudie, we need to talk." As much as he was enjoying being locked in a room with his wife the cold, hard fact was they couldn't stay here forever, and it would probably be best to get out of Carrollton altogether. He wasn't particularly concerned about Carstairs finding them but still felt it would be prudent to put a bit more distance between themselves and Maude's uncle.
"Not now, Patrick." Maude mumbled. She knew what he was going to say and quite honestly it wasn't something she wanted to think about just yet.
"Maude…"
Maude opened her eyes and pulled back a little. "Why do we have to talk now?"
"Because we need to figure out what we're gonna do. We didn't make any plans past today, we got nowhere to go, I don't even have a job anymore..."
"We can stay here another day." She said interrupted in a pouty tone. She didn't want to have to be serious today, she just wanted to enjoy her husband.
Her pouting didn't make Patrick stop completely but he did lose some of his seriousness as he flashed her one of his crooked, cocky grins. "You married a poor boy, Mrs. Standish. Now I don't know how long you think what I have saved is gonna last but we can't put off thinkin' for too long. Seein's how I don't have an income."
Maude rolled her eyes as she snuggled back against him. "You're not the only one who has savings."
"I'm glad to hear it, but I think we better try and make 'em last. At least until I find some work." He sighed again. "And I really don't know how easy that's gonna be."
His defeated tone worried Maude and she moved back so she could to see him. "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to fight anymore, Maude, and honestly I don't want to run anymore cons either. You deserve a better husband than that. Unfortunately...well, I don't know to much about doing anything else."
"I have every confidence you can find something else. But actually" Maude said a little hesitantly. "I was thinking about going to Alabama, to Athens. Just until we can come up with something else."
Patrick frowned. Maude had been a little too quick to offer a solution, she had obviously already thought about this. "What's in Athens?"
Maude bit her lip. "My brother." she finally replied after a pause.
Patrick felt his stomach start to tighten. Her brother? "You want to go to your brother's?" If her brother was even remotely like her uncle he'd rather come up with something else now.
Hearing the apprehension in his voice Maude propped herself up on her elbow with a smile. "Don't worry Darlin', Edward is nothin' like Uncle Charles." She gave him a quick kiss. "He'll be more than happy to have us."
"Maude."
"Please, Patrick." She said as she wrapped her arms around him. "Let's not talk about it anymore at the moment. I just want to be with you."
Patrick put his chin on the top of her head and remained quiet but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had. "I know I don't have a lot, Maude, but I don't need your family's help to take care of you."
Maude groaned softly and looked back at him. "Patrick, this isn't about you taking care of me, I know you can take care of me. Going to see my brother doesn't mean I doubt you can take care of me, but you've admitted yourself that we needed to make some plans and you don't want to stay in Georgia. It would just be a visit, to give us some time to decide what we're going to do. Please, Patrick, I would love to see Edward again and he has plenty of room for us but I wouldn't want you to be miserable the whole time we're there."
Patrick looked away. He loved Maude and the truth was he was scared to death of losing her. It shamed him to admit it to himself, much less Maude, but he was afraid that going back to a world so similar to the one she had just left would make her regret her decision to marry him. "Maude, I told you I'd do the best I could by you and I don't want your family to have a reason to doubt that. And," He felt a flush come to his face. "I don't ever want you thinkin' you made a mistake by marryin' me."
Maude turned Patrick's face back toward her. "Are you tellin' me you don't want to go because you think my brother won't approve of you? Patrick, I'm your wife. There is nothing anyone can do to change that now." Patrick didn't answer. When Maude said it that way it did sound rather ridicules. "I told you my brother is not a Carstairs. He doesn't share Uncle Charles' views on most anything. And if it makes you feel any better Edward has fallen from Uncle Charles' good graces as well, so I can assure you needn't have any concerns about his opinion of you."
"May I ask what unpardonable sin he committed?" He deadpanned as he rose up on his elbow.
"The same one I did." At Patrick's questioning look she clarified. "He made a less than advantageous marriage."
"Who did he marry?"
"His wife, Lola, is half Cherokee. Needless to say, Uncle Charles thought Edward could do much better for himself, even though Lola's father left quite an estate to them when he passed away."
Patrick was still more than a little uncomfortable with going to see Maude's brother, maybe because he was only to aware of how much better Maude could have done herself, but the knowledge that Maude's sister-in-law was part Indian settled him some. If her brother had made a marriage like that he couldn't be nearly as bigoted as Carstairs, however, it was still Maude's brother and Patrick could imagine he wouldn't be too amused by their elopement.
Maude noticed his still troubled look and kissed him softly bring him back to the present. "I told you the day I married you I would love for the rest of my life. Patrick, I will never think marrying you was a mistake, and I'll never let anyone else tell me it was either, do you understand me?"
Patrick gazed at his wife who was so stubborn and determined, and felt the slightest bit ashamed for his earlier doubts. "Yes, Ma'am." He told seriously.
Maude smiled weakly. She loved this man so much, much too much to try and force him into doing something he was so against. "Patrick, I do want to go to Alabama. I want to see Edward and be able to spend a few weeks not having to worry about what we're going to do tomorrow, but…if you really don't want to go then I want say anything else about it."
He looked down into her blue eyes and saw the sincerity in them. He knew it hadn't been easy for Maude, independent as she was, to say that. He shook his head and chuckled. He had a sneaking suspension that Maude knew he was about to concede before she made the offer but even so, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to deny her anything? "My dear, you are a very persuasive woman."
Maude smiled and ran her hands through his dark hair, pulling him down for a kiss. "You haven't even begun to see how persuasive I can be, Mr. Standish."
"I look forward to finding out." He growled softly as he returned the kiss. At the moment he was more than willing to let Maude claim the victory for this round.
They ended up staying in Carrollton one more night and morning found Maude was up and moving much earlier than she normally would have been. Now that Patrick had agreed to go to Alabama she was finding it hard to contain her excitement and was ready to get under way. She had always had a special bond with her oldest brother but hadn't seen since he had married Lola two years before and she could hardly wait to introduce Patrick to him.
Patrick wasn't quite as enthused about the trip as Maude was, he was tempted to find an excuse to stay in Carrollton another night, but did his best to put on a good front for his wife. He knew that going to see her brother was important to her and regardless of how he felt about the trip he wanted it to be special for Maude. And despite how he felt he couldn't deny that he enjoyed seeing Maude's excitement as got her things ready to go. So it was with giddy, anticipation on Maude's part, and no small amount of trepidation on Patrick's, that the young couple left Carrollton for Athens.
As I turned out Patrick's worries concerning her brother were unwarranted. The couple stayed in Alabama for over five weeks, and apart from an initial speech from Edward in which he threatened Patrick with everything from mild discomfort to death should he ever intentionally hurt Maude, Patrick found Edward and his wife to be nothing but welcoming and accommodating. He also found that Maude had been correct about needing some time where they didn't have to worry about what the next day would hold, and after he'd had a couple of days to get over the awkwardness of being a guest Patrick began to enjoy having uninterrupted time to spend with his new wife. And Lola James made sure the newlyweds had plenty of time together. In fact, Lola's insistence that Maude and Patrick be left alone was the best part of their time in Athens. They had whole days were the two of them could do whatever they wanted and it gave them a prime opportunity to truly get to know one another.
One thing Maude discovered early in their stay was that Patrick was a better than average playing poker. He was a far better than anyone she had ever met and they settled in to a routine of playing at night while they talked. As the weeks went by Maude told Patrick of her childhood, the death of her parents, her four older brothers, the years she lived with her aunt and uncle, and, much to Patrick's amusement, the two years of disastrous courting she'd had to endure. In turn Patrick told her of growing up in Tennessee, the death of his father, his mother who lived with a sister, his other four siblings, and more about Hugh Briggs and how he'd become involved with him. But as much as the two of them enjoyed their stay in North Alabama's picturesque countryside as their fifth week come to an end, both Patrick and Maude were feeling the need to move on and after some discussion the Standish's had made a new plan. It was soon after that the couple said their goodbyes, mixed with a few tears from Maude and Lola, and left Alabama to start their life as husband and wife in New Orleans, Louisiana.
A/N: I'm not one hundred percent happy with this chapter but I hope y'all enjoyed it. I also been toying around with the idea of doing a story similar to this for Ezra. What do y'all think?
