Chapter Six

"There was a moment when I knew the devil had won, and I had fallen out of God's world and into his. And then I saw you. The face, the love, the light shining from it. And then I knew in that instant that even if I was in the dark and Godless universe, there was still love. There was still you." ~ Cotton Mather

As I predicted, he arrived by carriage the following day, a handful of bright lavender flowers grasped within his hand. "Miss Hale," he said as he smiled at me. His handsomeness took my breath away!

"Please call me Anne," I spoke as I gave him a gentle smile.

I took the flowers from Cotton as his eyes seemed to devour me. "Something has changed about you," he said as his green eyes twinkled. "It is as if overnight, you have blossomed."

I felt myself blushing. For all intents and purposes, I was a virgin and I had never flirted with a man before. "Do come in," I said as I offered for him to enter my home.

"I heard you went to Boston," I said as I placed the lovely flowers in a vase and set it in the middle of the dining room table. "What brings you back so quickly?"

"I wanted to speak to you, Miss Hale... I mean, Anne. I had a dream about you last night."

From the look on his face, it must have been an erotic dream - one of passion. I too had been having passionate dreams. My fantasies were quite intense, his skin against mine as he made sweet love to me. I wanted that. I wanted our wedding night to be special and full of ecstasy. I was barely breathing as I thought of how deeply I desired him.

"Wh- what did you dream?" I asked.

"I dreamed I asked you to marry me..." he said. "And you accepted."

I looked at him in a bit of a daze. Could it be that my spell was working? Was the dashing reverend falling madly in love with me; a witch?

"I would like to speak to your father. There is something I must ask of him."

"I- I..." I stumbled over the words. "My father; he is away."

"Where is he?"

"He is gone."

"And where is your mother?"

"She's gone, too," I said, fidgeting nervously with the lace at the edge of the table cloth.

"So you are here, all alone?"

"Yes," I said. "All alone."

"That is a pity. I intended to speak to your father. I wished to ask him for your hand in marriage," he said to my great joy.

"Truly?" I said, the excitement evident in my voice.

"That is if you'd have me."

Suddenly he dropped to one knee, placing his dark head upon my lap. I could feel the heat of his flesh against my right inner thigh as his face pressed against the royal-blue skirt of my gown. "Anne, will you marry me?"

"Ohhh Cotton! This is so sudden!"

He stood up carefully then, gazing into my eyes. "You are all I can think about," he admitted. "My heart... it beats with love for you..."

"Truly?" I repeated, my words a little more than a whisper.

He nodded. "Anne Hale, will you please do me the honor of becoming my bride?"

I couldn't hold back my joy a moment longer. "Yes. YES!" I said as I threw my arms around him. "I will marry you, Cotton."

A chuckle rumbled in his chest as he held me tightly, crushing me close. "I knew that you wanted me, too," he said as he pulled back just a fraction and looked into my eyes. There was so much love and adoration in his gaze. "I never knew I could love someone as much as I love you."

And with those words, his lips sunk onto mine for the sweetest and most delicious kiss. I nearly swooned. All the breath was sucked out of me as he made my lips his own.

After the kiss had ended, I was bedazzled. "When are we to be married?" I heard myself asking.

"Immediately. I won't go another day without YOU as my wife."

As happy as his words made me feel in which was incredibly blissful, a part of me was downcast with regret and aching sorrow. My spell had made him come to me. He REALLY didn't love me. Not without the spell.

"What is it, my sweet Anne?" he asked as he looked at me, his green eyes glittering with love and devotion.

"It is nothing," I said as I embraced him tightly. "Can we be married now? I do not wish to wait a single moment."

"Yes," he said as he showered me with kisses.

He left no part of my face untouched. I trembled from head to toe as his smooth lips grazed my flesh. I was about to become Mrs. Reverend Mather.