When he hooked the horses up and sat next to me, I
asked, “What if our parents do find us?”
He paused for a moment. “Then we were meant to
stay in Virginia.”
I frowned. Why did we have to rely on horses for
transportation when trains were much more practical?
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“Actual y, I am.”
He grabbed a blanket from behind the seat and
wrapped it around my shoulders.
“Thank you,” I whispered, pleased by his concern.
He stared at me, as if he wished to say or do
something. Suddenly, I felt strange. We were married now.
How would things change between us?
The moment passed, for he must have decided
against whatever thought raced through his head. I chose
not to ask what he wanted. Instead I closed my eyes. We
didn"t say much that night as we traveled. It seemed that
words weren"t necessary. I was actually comfortable in the
silence we shared. Eventually, I went back into the wagon
and fell asleep.
***
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
Todd didn"t sleep that night. He made frequent stops
so the horses could rest. I slept through most of the night,
which proved my mother correct when she once commented
that I could sleep through anything. By the time dawn
arrived, I woke up. My back and neck were stiff. I never
experienced such discomfort before and asked Todd if it
was normal. He assured me it was and stopped the horses
so I could stretch and walk around in order to loosen my
tight muscles.
When we were ready to ride again, he handed me
food called jerky. “It won"t last us all the way to North
Dakota but it"s suitable for now.”
That was the first cold and tough meal I ever ate, but
I was so hungry that it tasted better than the meals I was
used to.
By mid-day, my dress became unbearable. I asked
him to stop so I could change into one of my more
comfortable dresses. He stopped so I could do so. I took
one of my other dresses out of my carpet bag and went
behind some bushes to change. In all my years of wearing
dresses, I had never dressed myself. Ginny had done that
for me. I stood, surrounded by bushes, wondering how I
was going to get my pink dress off. There were so many
buttons in the back and most of them were out of my reach.
I hated to ask Todd for help but seemed to have no other
choice.
I peeked through the bushes. He wasn"t at the
wagon. When I saw the horses weren"t there either, I knew I
would have to wait until he returned with them. I sighed. I
wasn"t used to waiting. I paced back and forth, anxious for
the horses to be done drinking and eating.
I really needed to learn patience. At home, my every
desire was met immediately by the servants. How did
someone learn to wait and like it? As I turned to pace in the
other direction, something moved on the ground. A snake! I
tried to scream but couldn"t find my voice. I stumbled
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
backwards and fell on my rear end. My hat flew off my head
and I heard my dress tear in the side. The snake, more
frightened of me than I was of him, slithered out of the
bushes. I took a deep breath, relieved it hadn"t been
poisonous.
I stood up to examine the tear in my dress. This was
the only pretty dress I had taken with me, and I had no idea
how I could repair the damage. I wiped the tear that fell on
my cheek and frowned when I realized I had dirt on my
hands. I didn"t have to look down at my dress to know it
was dirty as well. I quickly wiped my hands and cheek on
the clean part of my dress.
I decided I wouldn"t tell Todd how hard and
confusing this new life was for me in case he decided I
couldn"t handle it and took me back to my parents. I would
rather roll around in the mud than face Kent and Rebecca. I
forced back my tears and ripped the dress and six out of
eight petticoats off of me. I was tired of being hot and
sweaty. I could handle two petticoats much better than the
mountain of eight of them. Besides, no one could tell how
many I wore anyway.
My sudden determination prompted me to put on my
other dress. I couldn"t button some of the top buttons, so I
decided it was time to get Todd"s help. I peered out of the
bushes and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw him hitching
up the horses. As soon as he was done, I called out his
name. Even though no one was around us for miles, I
couldn"t go out into the open without all of the buttons
fastened.
He walked to me, careful to keep his eyes on my
face. I blushed, grateful for his consideration.
“I can"t button my top buttons in the back of this
dress. Can you help me?”
He nodded shyly. I smiled to myself as I felt his
hands tremble as he fastened the rest of the buttons. It was
a relief to know I wasn"t the only one who was nervous.
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
When he was done, he spotted the torn and dirty dress and
petticoats on the ground next to my hat.
“Have some problems?” he grinned good-naturedly.
My face flushed hot from embarrassment. “I didn"t
like that dress anyway,” I lied as I picked them up.
“I could carry those for you, if you"d like,” he offered,
probably trying not to laugh.
“I can handle this myself,” I stiffly responded.
I hastened past him and threw the clothes into the
back of the wagon. I hopped up into the front, glad to be
able to move around freely. Unable to make eye contact, I
stared at the ground as Todd got in beside me and urged
the horses to start moving. We rode in silence for awhile.
The sun was hot but it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn"t
wearing a hat or carrying my parasol. I closed my eyes and
enjoyed the freedom of letting the sunlight hit my face.
Later that afternoon, he said, “We should be entering
the next town soon. I think we should stop there for the
night. What do you think?”
“You"re asking me if I want to stay in the next town
tonight?” I couldn"t remember ever being asked if I wanted
to do something.
“Yes.”
I found that I liked to have a choice to make. “I
would like to sleep in a soft bed tonight.”
We reached the next town by sunset. By this time, I
was hungry and tired. We ate first, but as the meal
continued, I grew nervous. I knew how a married couple
consummated their marriage. I just couldn"t imagine myself
making love to him. I made my vows before him and God. I
would fulfill my wifely duty if I had to, though it was difficult
for me to make the leap from friendship to romance.
When we checked into our room for the night, he
took my hands in his and asked, “Do you need more time
before we consummate our marriage?”
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
Once again, he was asking for my opinion. He had
no idea how much I appreciated it. “I don"t feel ready yet,” I
slowly admitted.
“Thank you for being honest. Wil you tell me when
you"re ready?”
“Yes. I will tell you.” I tilted my head curiously.
“What about you?”
He smiled. “I won"t be ready until you are.”
I knew he meant it too. He would never force himself
on me.
I hugged him and thanked him for being
understanding.
He set his pillow and blanket on the floor. He
insisted that I use the bed. And so, our sleeping
arrangements were established.
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
Todd’s Point of View
Though the journey was arduous, I enjoyed every
minute of it because I was learning more about Ann and she
seemed to enjoy learning about me. The more time I spent
with her, the more I wanted to be with her. She did mention
missing her parents and Agnes, but she didn"t express a
desire to go back to Virginia. Instead, she confessed that
she was beginning to look forward to our new life.
“It"s an adventure,” she said.
I was secretly pleased that she still wanted to stay
with me.
“Do you remember that time you brought my
homework to me when I was sick?” she asked. “I believe it
was in October.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Do you also remember one of the days you came
over, I said I wanted to go out in the sun with my hair down
and not have a hat or parasol with me? You said you
wanted to be there when it happened. Well, here we are
and I"m out in the sun!”
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
“I didn"t think you remembered any of the
conversations we had.”
“Of course I do. It may not have seemed like it, but I
did consider you a friend.” She frowned. “I suppose my
manner toward you was rude. I"m sorry for that.”
I shrugged. “Since you didn"t love me, you probably
worried that if you showed more interest, I would have taken
it the wrong way, and then you would have had to tell me
that I misunderstood your actions. I understand.”
“Yes, I did worry about that.” She looked down at her
hands.
“If I were in your position, I probably would have
done the same thing. I didn"t realize my feelings were
obvious until my father told me. I tried to hide them.”
“I"m glad you weren"t able to.” She looked up at me
and smiled. “It gave me the courage to ask you to take me
with you.”
“Let"s just put the past behind us and start our new
life getting to know each other? You know, as friends first.”
“Yes, I would like to start at friendship. It would
make me feel less uneasy. I"m going to do everything I can
to be a good wife for you. I will love you the way a wife is to
love her husband. You treat me so well. Please, be patient
with me.”
“We have our whole lives ahead of us. Patience is
not a problem.” I smiled as I took in her long wavy hair
falling gently over her shoulders. “You"re beautiful. I am
happy that I got to see you with your hair down in the
sunlight. It"s too bad you weren"t able to do that in Virginia.
You look lovely no matter what you do with your hair, but I
always liked it best when it was down.”
She touched her shiny brown hair. “I"l have to wear
it down more often then.”
I was surprised that she would do such a thing
because I liked it.
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Falling In Love With Her Husband
We spent the next few weeks talking about things we
would and would not miss about Virginia, her experiences
with Agnes, and the fun times we had while growing up. I
didn"t realize she had a sense of humor, for she seemed
serious most of the time.
“I do have to admit there was one prank that Alex
pulled that was funny,” she admitted. “I don"t think he
intended for it to end up the way it did though. It was the
Christmas show we were forced to participate in when we
were fifteen. Alex brought that bag of nuts along so when
Mr. Clemmens came on the stage to introduce the play, he"d
step on the nuts. I don"t know how that squirrel found its
way into the bag, but I"l never forget how loud Alex
screamed when he opened it and the squirrel jumped on
him.”
“He suspected you had something to do with it,” I
informed her.
Her eyes widened. “Me? Why in the world would I
put a squirrel in his bag? I wouldn"t touch one of those
disgusting things.”
“That"s what I told him. Ever since that day we threw
pebbles in your hair, he suspected you were going to do
something else to get even with him.”
“I was just glad he left me alone. I didn"t want to do
anything to get even.” She placed her blue hat on her head.
“Why did you join him in throwing pebbles at me anyway?”
“To be honest, it was a bet we had. I told him that
you wouldn"t put up with his pranks like the other girls did. I
told him you stood up to me plenty of times whenever your
parents brought you over to my house. He wouldn"t believe