He shook his head. “No. They’ll build you a house. Did they tell you? It will be strong and you’ll be safe there.”
“You’re building me the house,” she whispered. “This is all you.”
He ignored that. “When you’re settled, I’ll send a couple of professors your way. Men of learning. Men who don’t have such sordid pasts. Men more like your first husband.”
“Zeke, no.”
He pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket and handed her the top card. The queen of hearts. “You deserve the best, but this is what I am. Cleaned up and sometimes dressed in expensive suits. But I’m still that poor child who never went to school and begged for food for his family. I’m accepted because I have money, but I’ve never been a proper gentleman. That’s what you want, Alethea. A man born to it.”
And then she knew everything. He was leaving
She took a step closer, then reached for his hands. “I was fortunate in that I truly loved Wesley. He was a good man and, yes, educated and comfortable in society. I was seventeen when we met, eighteen when we married and not quite nineteen when he died. I was a girl and what I wanted and needed in a husband reflected that.”
She stared into Zeke’s eyes and willed him to believe her. “I’m a woman now, with different desires. I understand that what matters is the measure of a man’s character and his heart. I admire you, Zeke. The truth about your past only increases my feelings for you. Your kindness to me and the town makes me want to be worthy of you.”
He stared at her. “How could you not be?”
She smiled. “I bring so little.”
“You bring everything. You are perfection. Holding you in my arms-touching you, pleasing you-I couldn’t ask for more. Hearing you laugh, listening to you talk, it’s all I want.”
She gathered her courage. “Then why are you leaving me?”
“Alethea.”
“Tell me. I have known love, but I have never felt my heart so full. It overflows for you, Zeke.”
His fingers tightened on hers. Passion and something else, something wonderful, flared in his eyes. “You’re sure?”
She nodded, fighting tears and reaching for hope.
He released one hand to touch her cheek. “I didn’t dare hope.”
“It is true.”
He smiled, then kissed her. “Will you marry me? Stay here with me?”
Joy swept through her, making her feel lighter than air. “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”
He put his hands around her waist and swung her in a circle. “I’ll build you the biggest house Titanville has ever seen.”
She laughed. “I would be happy with something smaller.”
“I wouldn’t. We’ll raise cattle and have children and grow old together.”
“How could I refuse such an offer?” she teased. “It will be glorious.”
He lowered her to the floor and kissed her again, his mouth lingering on hers. “You are glorious, my love.”
“As are you. You’re all that I want, Zeke. For always.”
“Then you shall have me.”
Author’s Note
Alethea and Zeke were married the Saturday after the school year ended. Over the summer they traveled to Baltimore to meet Alethea’s family. By the time they returned in the fall, she was already pregnant with the first of their five children. Three boys and two girls. Zeke and Alethea lived long, happy lives and died within three days of each other, as they both would have wished.
Their oldest son, Joshua, inherited the massive house and thousands of acres that would become Glory’s Gate. Joshua is the great-great-grandfather of the Lone Star Sisters.
SUSAN MALLERY
