“You may change your mind about that,” Blake said. “When I went into town to pick up Eliza, my aunt and her traveling companion were also on the stage. Aunt Hortense fainted when she learned I was already married, and she and Constance are spending the night at the hotel, but they’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”
Sarah frowned for a moment before her smile returned, and she said, “I’ll do my best to make everyone welcome.”
“I’ll help,” Eliza offered.
The two women began chatting as they walked into the house, leaving a smiling Blake standing on the porch. Things seemed to be going well if only Aunt Hortense didn’t cause any problems, but Blake had his doubts that his aunt would act civilly when it came to Eliza and his marriage.
Blake carried Eliza’s things into the bedroom and then followed the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. When he entered the kitchen, he found Sarah wiping flour from her hands and Eliza slicing apples.
Eliza smiled and said, “We’re making an apple pie. Sarah said it’s your favorite. I need to know all these little things about you. I have a feeling your aunt is going to ask me a lot of questions, and if she knows we were just married by proxy, I think she’ll cause more trouble.”
“I agree with that, but the laughter I heard couldn’t have been about apple pie,” Blake said as he took a slice of apple and popped it in his mouth.
“No, it wasn’t,” Eliza explained. “Sarah was telling me about one of your new horses and how the first time you rode him, he wasn’t happy. I understand after you dismounted, he nudged you hard enough to knock you over into a puddle of mud.” Eliza giggled again, her eyes filling with merriment.
Blake raised his eyebrows and looked at Sarah. “If you’re going to tell stories, I hope you also share happy ones.”
Sarah laughed. “That was a happy one. We all laughed. Remember? You weren’t hurt, and you and that horse now have a great deal of respect for each other.”
Blake shrugged. “I remember. The horse is still spirited. I’ll introduce you to him later, Eliza. He seems to like the ladies better. He never acts up around Sarah.”
“Smart horse,” Eliza said, and she and Sarah burst into more laughter.
“Seriously,” Blake said. “I don’t know why you need to share these stories.”
“Most people share things about themselves while they’re courting. We didn’t court, and you certainly don’t want your aunt to know that, so you should tell me all about you. What you love and hate. Favorite color, food, time of day. Is there anything you refuse to eat? I dislike fish, and I do my best to avoid it. You need to know things about me, too,” Eliza said as she handed the bowl of sliced apples to Sarah.
“All right,” Blake relented. “I’ll tell you about myself while I give you a tour of the house. Since we’ve officially been married a few days, you should be familiar with the house. Come on, we’ll start upstairs.”
Eliza nodded and followed Blake up the wide staircase to the second floor.
Blake opened the first door, and Eliza gasped at all the empty bookshelves. One bookshelf was full of books and sat beside a large fireplace.
“Do you intend to fill all these empty shelves with books?” Eliza asked as she lovingly ran her hand over the volumes on the full bookshelf. You must have over fifty books now.”
“Someday, I will. I buy books when they come into the mercantile or if I read about one in the paper that sounds interesting, I’ll order it. You can do the same. Just tell the mercantile owner the titles of any books you want, and he’ll order them,” Blake explained.
“Truly?” Eliza answered. “This would be my dream to be in a room full of books. Not a public library but one where I live. I mean, I know I won’t live here long, and I shouldn’t order books since I might not be able to take them with me, but it was generous of you to offer. Now, I know one more thing about you. You’re generous.”
“If you order books, I’ll be sure to ship them wherever you want to go. After all, it wouldn’t be generous of me to give you books and then take them back,” Blake said, giving Eliza a deep sweeping bow.
Eliza giggled again. “You’re also funny. See how easy this is. You only need to add a few details.”
They left the library and walked down the hall toward the only open door. “This is the simple bedroom I mentioned. I’m not sure Constance will like it.”
Eliza glanced in and agreed. “It is quite simple. If you had more time, we could add a colorful quilt and some nicer curtains. This does look like a room that would appeal to a man.”
Blake shrugged. “There might be a quilt stored somewhere. We’ll ask Sarah, but it’s too late to add curtains.”
As Blake showed Eliza the three empty rooms, he said, “My favorite color is red, I prefer sunsets, I eat just about anything except I don’t care for tomatoes, but Sarah insists they’re good for me and I’ll eat them in a stew or soup but not plain, and I broke my left arm when I was ten trying to swing out over the pond and missed. I hit the ground rather hard.”
Eliza winced. “That must have been painful.”
“It was. Do you have any favorites?”
“My favorite color is blue, and I also love watching sunsets. I told you I don’t care for fish, but I love sweets. I suppose that’s because I had very few growing up.”
“Who could deny a pretty little girl her sweets?” Blake asked.
“I grew up in an orphanage, we did without a lot, but I made some dear friends and I survived,” Eliza said as
