They lay there on their back, quietly listening to each other breathe in awkward silence. Finally, they weren't sure who had started, but they both began to chuckle and turned over to face each other.
"This is ridiculous, Nathan," Elizabeth said. "Wasn't it just 10 minutes ago that we were able to converse without stuttering or blushing?" She giggled.
Nathan smirked, "It was, although you wouldn't know it now, would you?"
"I tell you what, Elizabeth said, "Let's use this time to talk and get to know each other. We will take turns asking each other three questions about anything. What do you think?"
"I like that. Do you want to go first?" Nathan asked.
"Okay, can you tell me more about Allie's nightmares so that I will be able to help soothe her?" Elizabeth asked.
Nathan's heart warmed at her first question about Allie. "Her parents died in a bad accident, and she was there. From what we can discern, she dreams about the accident, but most of the time, she dreams something happens to Ma or me." Nathan said. "When she has the real bad ones, she will come in here to me. Sometimes I take her back to her room and rock her to sleep, but if she brings her blankets, I bundle her up tight in them and let her sleep with me."
Elizabeth reached over and touched Nathan's hand in comfort. He looked at her and then turned his over, intermingling their fingers. Elizabeth smiled, and they continued, both enjoying the contact. It would become a daily thing when they would come to bed that they would hold hands as they talked about different subjects.
"Nathan, since Allie's parents are gone, have you considered maybe we adopt her as ours?" Elizabeth asked.
Nathan looked at her in wonder and said, "I was actually going to talk to you about that after we had been married for a while, but I would like to."
"Why don't we start it now and see if we can do it before we go to our new posting? That way, when we have children, she will still feel secure as a daughter. It might help with her nightmares and insecurity. I'm sure that you already feel like she is your daughter anyway, right? Just like I did from the moment, I saw her. Do you think your mother would be all right with it?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ma would be thrilled that you want to adopt her, actually. She has been asking me if it was something we were contemplating." Nathan replied.
Now my first question is, why did you agree to marry me?" Nathan asked.
Elizabeth's smile fell, and she looked away from him. Nathan knew it was a painful subject that appeared to be an important one for them to discuss. He let go of her hand, gently cupped her cheek, brought her eyes back to him, and waited for her to speak.
Seeing the compassion there, Elizabeth asked, "Have you ever read Pride and Prejudice?".
"Oh, many times! She is one of my favorite authors," Nathan said. At her look of surprise, he laughed and said, "Don't look so surprised by that. Colleen is the one who got me started on her. I like Mary Shelley too."
Elizabeth's smile was back, and he could see that she was genuinely happy about his reading preferences which, of course, warmed his heart. He could see her visibly relax as she continued. "Well, my father fancies himself as Lady Catherine or Mrs. Bennet, and I'm the poor unfortunate daughter caught in the middle. But, of course, I'm not the dutiful daughter who would go on with their scheme. In this instance, Mr. Darcy was a man named Phillip Carrington, whose family is highly prominent, like The Thatchers. We had grown up together, and it had been expected that he would marry one of us one day. Something that I was unaware of when they began to send him and me on dates with my sister Julie and Charles Kensington III."
"Wow," Nathan said, "Just hearing that name sounds like I should stand at attention or something. I know someone who would love to mingle with people like that." Hearing his tone, she knew what her next question was going to be about. She could see the pain that briefly flashed in his eyes.
"Yes, well, let me assure you that when we encounter him, remember he is the same as you. Just because his family is prominent doesn't make them any better than the Grants. It's the same for the Thatchers; they aren't any better than the Grants. Whenever we go to Hamilton, we will stay with my Aunt Agatha and not my parents." Elizabeth said. "I wouldn't subject any of you to my family and their pretentious manners."
"So, what is Phillip Carrington like?" Nathan asked.
"Well, he has the features and fortune of Mr. Darcy but with the boorish manner and thoughts of Mr. Collins," Elizabeth said with a giggle. "He asked my father for my hand, and when I got home, Father presented it to me as if it were a done deal." She then told him about how the conversation went up to when she went to her aunts' house the next day. "So, I walked downstairs and overheard Aunt Agatha and Aunt Catherine talking about the mail-order bride solution and you and said I wanted to be the one to come."
"What happened to make you leave earlier?" Nathan asked, squeezing her hand. "We went to Christmas Eve dinner after the service and found out the Carringtons would be coming to dinner the next day. I knew that it was so they could gang up on me in an attempt to get me to change my mind and agree to the marriage. I had planned on just staying home with Faith, but Aunt Catherine and Aunt Agatha had a much better idea." Elizabeth replied. "Now let me ask why you applied for a mail-order bride?"
Nathan's eyes shifted down as he began to speak. With a heavy sigh, he said, "Mine isn't as entertaining as yours, I'm afraid."
Elizabeth took her hand from his, gently put her fingers under his chin, and guided his eyes back to hers. "Tell me what happened, Nathan, because I can see you have been hurt. Who broke your heart?" She asked softly.
"Her name was, or I should say is, Alice Patterson. Her family owns the hotel and diner in town and are prominent members in Aberdeen."
"So, then she will be someone I will meet in town then," Elizabeth said.
"Yes, you will eventually run into her, though not until after the 4th, as they are out of town visiting family in Montreal," Nathan said. "Her family are much like Lady Catherine and look down upon the masses. They reach out and help those in need, but in a way, that's meant to show they are better than the rest of us."
"I'm guessing Alice sees a relationship with you as lowering her standards?" Elizabeth surmised though he saw no judgment in her eyes.
"You guessed it. We courted each other for about a year until four months ago. When I got custody of Allie, things changed." Nathan said, beginning to get choked up. "I went to propose and even had the ring in my pocket and was just about to pull it out." Nathan could not finish and rolled over onto his back, trying to get his emotions in check. Elizabeth's heart went out to him because she could guess what had happened. She scooted over next to him, laid on her back, and leaned her head on his shoulder, not saying anything.
Feeling her close helped him gain control so that he could finish. "She stopped me and told me that she knew I was about to propose but that her family would disapprove because I am a Mountie. She obviously didn't feel the same way about me that I did her. But the worse part was that she said she didn't want to be a mother to Allie or raise another person's child."
"Oh, Nathan, I am so sorry that you had to go through that heartbreak," Elizabeth said. "In Hamilton, that was a common occurrence. I want to assure you that my heart has never been with anyone. I have always steered clear from romantic entanglements but not because of social structure. My sister Viola broke a few hearts until she finally settled on Sir Lionel. Julie genuinely loves Charles, and I hope he returns that love. I found out from my aunt that his family hoped he and I might be a match because they thought my sister Julie was too flighty. But as you can see by our rings, that wasn't going to happen. I would never betray a sister for a man or anything else for that matter." They were silent for a moment before she continued. "It will take some time, Nathan, but I will stand by you and help you heal. But as I said before, people like Alice and my parents may think they are better, but to God and the rest of us, they weigh the same when measured on the scale. In my eyes, you are a prince among men, Nathan Grant. So never feel that you are inferior to me because of where I came from. I ran from that type of ideology and want to be seen as your equal in all things because that is where I see you and our family."
Nathan lay there feeling the tears in his eyes, thinking, 'How did I get so lucky to have been matched with you for a wife,'
"I could say the same about having been matched with you for my husband, and I'll thank God every day for it," Elizabeth said, making him realize he spoke out loud. Then as she leaned over to kiss his cheek, he turned his head, and their lips briefly met instead. They moved quickly to put a little distance between them, attempting to apologize. In the end, they just returned to laying on their backs, not daring to say anything but trying to settle the feelings roiling inside them. Nathan could tell Elizabeth felt like she had done something wrong and reached over to capture her hand, intermingling their fingers. She gave a grateful squeeze as he said, "It's all right, Elizabeth. I know you only meant to kiss me on the cheek. Please don't feel bad for offering affection. It meant a lot to me that you cared enough to want to comfort me. We are married, and it is not improper in any way. Maybe holding hands and kissing on the cheek or kissing your hand is something we can be comfortable with to show our affection for one another?"
"I'd like that, Nathan," Elizabeth added. "Very much. I would also be comfortable with hugging if you are?"
"I would enjoy being able to give and receive hugs from you. I definitely enjoyed the one you gave me earlier." They both chuckled, and the awkward moment was over. They just lay there deep in thought when Nathan noticed Elizabeth's breathing deepened, and he saw that she had fallen asleep. He closed his eyes and fell asleep with the scent of lavender and lily in his nostrils, a smile on his face.
As Elizabeth slept, she began to dream of a handsome Constable rescuing her from outlaws who were holding up her stagecoach. She had been on her way to a teaching position, and they had scattered her trunks, and she was left stranded with her belongings scattered all over the ground as they had searched her things for valuables.
As she crouched down upon hearing hoofbeats, her heart pounded. She could hear footsteps approach her Coach, and she began to shake. The door was wrenched open, and she peeked through her lashes and saw the familiar color of a Mountie's Serge.
"Are you all right, Miss?" a deep voice asked. She looked up at him and saw that the Mountie was Nathan.
"Nathan," she had said softly, causing the handsome Mountie to smile.
"Good morning, wife," she heard, causing her to wake suddenly. To her shock, she realized that she had been dreaming. Then she realized that she was actually lying cuddled up next to her husband and was practically using him for a pillow.
Nathan just watched as she came to full wakefulness. He had woken up twenty minutes before to her wrapped around him. He himself had been having a wonderful dream where he had been about to kiss her in his mother's spring garden. It was all he could do not to lean down and kiss her awake. Just thinking about it now brought a blush to his cheeks.
He knew they had gravitated to each other in their sleep and wanted to prolong the moment as long as possible. Seeing her blush, he wondered if she had been dreaming about him. How she said his name and her smile made him desperately want to know what happened in it.