When I first met Beauregard Wayne, I hated him. I wanted nothing to do with him and did everything in my power to avoid him. You see, at the time I just wanted to be left alone. I didn't want anything to do with anyone and I was perfectly happy if my whole day went by without speaking to a single person. That all changed when my conscience got the better of me and I rescued Beau's baby sister Ginny from being run over by a wagon after she fell into the mud. Of course, as my luck would have it, she had wondered off from her family and I was now stuck with her.
A few days later she took off running and I followed, hoping to keep her from getting hurt…but she had suddenly remembered that her family was nearby and we found all eight of them huddled together in an alley. The young man that stood and came over to us was the tallest person I had ever seen…and the biggest. He looked like he could have easily lifted the four youngest of them at the same time without a problem. My problem was that he was also the best looking young man I had ever seen. I wasn't one to swoon over every looking young man I saw…most didn't even make me turn for a second glance, but there was something about this one. And I knew I was in trouble because I had lost the ability to think before I spoke and offered to help them find a place to love…in my building no less. I should have walked away as soon as I saw that tiny girl jump into his big arms and nearly disappear when he hugged her.
They moved into the flat below mine and that was the beginning of my downfall. He slowly broke through my defenses by asking me to babysit or inviting me to join them at the park or, worst of all, bringing me food. One of his sisters was an amazing cook and he was always bringing food by to tempt me with. I had never eaten so well in my life.
I'm still not sure to this day how we managed to go from acquaintances to friends to sweethearts without my realizing it, but sure enough we did. But one day I realized that I loved him and that I would be content spending the rest of my life with him. Believe me, falling in love had been the last thing on my mind.
Beau was having a hard time trying to work to support his family as well as raise the younger ones. So my adopted father bought a big house and allowed Beau and his siblings to move in with us until they got on their feet. Until that point Beau and I had only talked about getting married one day, but I knew that he wanted to make sure that his family was well cared for before he would feel comfortable with getting married. And I was perfectly fine with that…this whole thing was still new and confusing to me and I didn't want to rush either.
Then one day Cap's mother came to see me with a gift. I suppose that she would have been considered my grandmother, but to me she had always been a friend. Her gift to me was a strand of pearls that had belonged to her own mother. I had held jewels as fine as this in my hands during my days as a thief, but I never had they actually belonged to me, a orphaned child of the streets. I wore them for the first time a few months later…on my wedding day.