Where the Wild Rose Blooms (8 page)

Eddie climbed up onto the double bed beside Jackie, but she did not touch the lantern. Jackie had already closed her
eyes,
but a moment later she realized something was wrong. She opened her eyes to find Eddie sitting and staring at her.

"Aren't you going to turn out the light? I'm tired."

"He's probably going to fall in love with you."

"Who?" the younger girl frowned in confusion.

"Robert."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because all the men who meet you fall in love with you."

It did seem that way, so Jackie didn't deny it, but she did try to reason with her older sister.

"Eddie, Robert already loves you."

"That's because he's never met you."

Jackie now pushed herself up against the headboard. "Do you really think hes coming all this way just to lose interest?"

Eddie dropped her eyes. She was always the sure one, but tonight she wanted to panic. Robert was coming the day after tomorrow, and she was ready to snap under the pressure.

"Eddie?"

The older girl looked up.

"Do you think I would try to take your boyfriend?"

"No, Jackie!" Eddie was horrified. "I didn't mean that at all. Its just that we met for such a short time, and I'm afraid he's forgotten what I really look like. And I can't help but ask myself if you'd been there that day if he'd have fallen in love with me in the first place."

Jackie leaned forward in a rare show of affection and hugged her older sister. She spoke with her arms holding her tight.

"Robert Langley loves the woman who writes the letters you've shared. He might have been attracted that day at Aunt Lacey's, but his real love for you has come through your letters."

Jackie wasn't sure where the words had come from, but Eddie looked relieved. She admitted, "At first it felt like he would never get here, but the time has flown. I just don't know if I'm ready."

"You're ready. I know you are."

They fell silent for a time until something compelled Jackie to ask, "Eddie, what are you really afraid oft"

Eddie sighed deeply. "I think I'm afraid that he'll ask me to marry him, and I'll know it's right. Then I'll be torn between two worlds."

Jackie didn't need her to elaborate. She had thought of this same thing many times herself. Where would they all end up? Her father and Uncle Mitch had been separated for years and by many miles. The war had torn families apart from coast to coast. Where would they all be in ten years' time? Jackie reached for Eddie again and they clung together. Neither one wanted to cry, but suddenly separation felt imminent.

At that moment the door opened with a low groan. Addy came in without rebuke and joined them on the bed.

"It's getting late." Her voice was hushed.

"We were just talking," Eddie told her.

Addy nodded. She reached and brushed a wayward curl from Jackie's cheek and then tenderly stroked Eddies.

"He'll be here before you know it, and then you'll know your heart. He'll either be everything you remember and more, or your heart will be cold."

"What if his heart is cold toward me?" Eddie couldn't keep the tremor from her voice.

Addy smiled. "If that was the case, then he wouldn't be taking a southbound stage to see you."

Both girls suddenly smiled at their mother. When Addy stood they lay down, dark heads finding comfortable places on the pillows, and their mother tucking them in like they were young. Addy moved to Jackie's side first, pulling the covers high and then bending to kiss her. She received a surprisingly tender hug for her efforts before moving to Eddie's side. They kissed and embraced as well, before Addy turned the lantern down and moved to the door. Her soft "Good-night, my darlings" floated over them like a warm caress.

Once in the hall, the door closed behind her, Addy trembled from head to foot.

He's going to come and claim her heart, Father, and I don't know if I can stand the separation. He's going to take my Eddie, and even though I see the love in her eyes whenever Robert's name is mentioned, I'm not ready to let her go.

Morgan had fallen asleep in his chair downstairs, but Addy didn't go back down. She moved further along the upstairs hallway and into their room to ready for bed. Her movements were laden. She was tired, and that always produced exaggerated emotions. She knew that sleep was her best option right now. As her own head lay on the soft pillow, and the light quilt setded around her, Addy said another prayer.

Help me to remember how far You've brought us. Lord. Help me to remember to trust as I've done before. You love Eddie more than I do. Help me give her to You. Robert too. And bless Morgan, Lord. As always, help him see that this time on earth is like a speck in light of eternity.

"One minute I feel like I just wrote that letter, and the next it feels like an eternity has passed."

Addy smiled but didn't comment. It was no good telling Eddie to sit down, for she would only pace on.

"Is it unkind of me to be glad that the girls won't be home for several hours?"

"No, dear." Addy's voice was calm as she went on with her quilting. "Your father and I certainly don't want you children with us 24 hours a day."

Eddie suddenly sat down so close to her mother that she was nearly stabbed with the needle.

"Mother, were you terribly afraid of
that
part of marriage?"

Addy looked into her
eyes.
"A little. But I love it when your father takes me in his arms. And if you and Robert love each other, you're going to love
that
too."

Eddie's smile was dreamy. "He took my hand before he left Aunt Lacey's."

"And what if he wants to do more than hold your hand this time?"

"Well," Eddies brow furrowed in thought. "If he's asked me to be his wife, and I've agreed, then it's all right."

"How much is all right?"

"Oh." Eddie finally understood her mothers full line of thought. "What do you think?"

"I think it's all right if he holds your hand."

"All right," Eddie agreed. "What about kissing?"

"Well, it's like you said, it depends on whether or not he's declared his intentions."

Eddie nodded, clearly ready to talk. "Okay, lets say he's asked and I've accepted. What then?"

Addy's eyes came off her sewing again. Suddenly her daughter sounded very young, but what other time would she have asked about this? Morgan had never even allowed the girls to date.

"I think that if you plan to be husband and wife, then you can hold hands and hug and kiss, but I must warn you, Eddie, its very easy to go too far. Until you become husband and wife before God, you must show restraint. Robert will certainly desire you, and I assume he will be respectful as well, but you must be fair with his feelings. The time to stop is long before you sense things are spiraling out of control."

Eddie nodded, her
eyes
intent on her mother.

"The place to find out about the intimate side of marriage is in your bedroom on your wedding night, not in some buggy parked in the shadows of the woods. God will honor you both if you will obey Him in this area of your lives."

There was a note of fierceness in her mothers voice that Eddie had never heard before, and it caused her to ask a question she would normally never have broached.

"Did you do it the right way, Mother ... with Father?"

"No, Eddie, I didn't," her mother told her with a sigh. "I saved myself for your father, but not for our wedding night, and I will regret that for all of my life."

Eddie saw in that brief sentence how hard it had been for her. The younger woman leaned close and kissed her mothers cheek. Just as she drew back, a knock sounded at the door. Eddies
eyes
flew to her mother.

"It could be Father."

Addy smiled. "Your father wouldn't have knocked."

Eddies eyes were huge as she rose slowly and walked from the living room. Her hand was slick with perspiration as she opened the door. There he was, taller than she remembered and so handsome in a dark suit and white shirt that it took her breath away.

"Hello, Eddie." His voice was mellow and kind.

"Hello, Robert. Won't you come in?" Eddie stepped back and let him enter. His bag bumped the wall as
he
moved in, and Eddie hoped he would be comfortable in the room they had prepared for his arrival.
She
expected him to at least glance around and see what he could of the house, but he turned and his eyes came immediately back to her. The warmth she saw in them made her blush.

"When I left your aunts home in New York, I took your hand. You blushed then." Roberts voice was warm with remembrance. "My head was on nothing but business and then there you wete. I've never been so glad that I got the wrong address. I never did make that appointment, but I didn't care."

Eddies blush only deepened. She gave a self-conscious laugh, and her hands gripped the fabric of her dress. "I can't seem to help myself."

"Don't apologize."

Not wanting to seem so young and naive, Eddie shrugged a little and cast about in her mind for something to say. "How was your trip?" came out in a sudden rush. rine, now.

"What does that mean?"

"Only that I wasn't certain what I would find, but I need not have worried. You're everything I remembered and more."

Eddies breath caught in her throat. Those had been her mothers very words.

"Would you like to come in and meet my mother?"

"Very much."

Eddie gestured with her hand, and Robert placed his small black bag in the entryway and preceded her through the door into the living room. Eddie looked at his dark suit and noticed how his broad back filled the jacket. Her heart raced as she thought of his words to her.

If I doubted my feelings for you, Robert Langley, I doubt them no more. I am a woman in love.

Eddie watched as Robert laughed at a comment from Lexa and mentally shook her head. How could she have thought he was coming all this way only to fall in love with Jackie? He'd been laughing and teasing
all
of her sisters since they'd come home from school, but the eyes that turned tender with love were for her alone.

"All right, girls," Addy admonished, sticking her head in the door. "Come help me with dinner."

Robert rose as the four younger Fontaine girls stood, but Eddie kept her seat.

"What about Eddie?" Sammy wished to know as she exited, but Addy told her youngest only that Eddie had the evening off Robert sat back down when their footsteps died away, his eyes immediately finding Eddie's.

"Your sisters are fun."

"They like you too," she told him and then looked away. "I actually thought you might come all this way and decide you might prefer one of them to me."

Robert had a good laugh over this until he saw the pain in Eddie's eyes.

"You're serious," he said softly. Eddie felt a fool. "Eddie," Robert leaned forward and went on gently, "I did a horrible job of expressing myself if you believed that."

"I'm sorry, Robert."

"No, Eddie. I'm not trying to wring some sort of apology out of you, I'm trying to tell you how I feel." He stopped then and looked out the window, his mind racing. Moving from where he stood across the room, he settled on the sofa within a few feet of Eddie, who faced him on her favorite chair.