decorum.
It took restraint, but he was able to master himself knowing there would be more kisses to come. So he released her, keeping hold only of her elbow to escort her back to the seminary. “I’ll be back for you at three this afternoon. Is that sufficient time to pack up a lifetime at this place?”
She squeezed his hand. “I hope so.”
“Until this afternoon then,
my
lady.”
Chapter V
On the twenty-sixth of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, Margaret Ruth Hampton married Theodore Eugene Ward.
Margaret recorded the event in the grandest possible terms in her family Bible. It was one of the few relics of her long-dead parents that she possessed and one of very few personal items that filled the two trunks she had taken from the seminary the day before. She smiled down at the entry, amused that it omitted that her marriage had been prompted by a few moments of madness in a stable and her desire not to end her days at the Middletown Female Seminary. Those facts did not need to live on for prosperity. The official record was downright spotless compared to reality.
She set down her pen down and turned to ponder Theo, who was stretched out on the bed in their room at McDonough House, still asleep. They had decided to spend their honeymoon away from his mother. Margaret wasn’t sure the poor woman would ever recover from the shock of yesterday. For that matter, she herself might not either.
She played idly with the simple gold band he had placed on her finger. It was strange and unfamiliar. Her husband sighed, and one hand began moving over the bed, searching for her. Husband. The word baffled.
“Am I never to wake and find you beside me?” he asked, blinking the sleep from his eyes.
“Not if you slumber until after seven.”
“Come back here, and I’ll show you just how roused I am.” He grinned at her impishly and her heart squeezed.
Ignoring it, Margaret shook her head with a laugh. “Indeed I will not. You promised Josiah you would be at work for the rest of the week to help him address your caseload in anticipation of your departure. There is nothing new to discover in bed.” That wasn’t quite true. The previous evening had been far more satisfying than that in the stable. Perhaps a bed made all the difference.
As if he knew her thoughts, Theo raised a brow at her and scoffed. “How wrong you are, madam. I leave for Hartford in less than a month, a time insufficient to exhaust the possibilities.”
Contemplating his departure was too difficult, so she seized upon this statement. “After all your compunction about
me
, I think
you
are the party who came into our marriage with compromised virtue.”
Theo swung his legs off the edge of the bed and took her hand. “I have not had lovers, if that’s what you mean. At Yale, I — ” She silenced him with a wave of her head. She did not truly want to know. “I was not so innocent as you, Margaret, but neither was I a degenerate. I have never cared for a woman as I do for you.”
She took her hand away and turned back to the desk. In a crisp, light voice she said, “We do not need to say these things to each other, Theo. We know what we are and what we are not.”
He nodded and rose, dropping a kiss on the crown of her head as he walked to the basin to wash. Acutely aware of a sudden ache in her chest, she wished she believed her own words.
“What will you do while I am at the office?” he asked.
“I have a hundred letters to write. I find that I do not know how to explain the last two weeks to my friends. And I thought I might call upon your mother.”
Theo turned and grinned at her. “Alone? Brave girl. Shall I meet you there for luncheon?”
“As you wish.”
“How will you and Mother fare during my absence?”
“I don’t know where you ever acquired the idea that your mother and I don’t get along. Our interactions have always been most civil.”
“Perhaps from each of you telling me
It took restraint, but he was able to master himself knowing there would be more kisses to come. So he released her, keeping hold only of her elbow to escort her back to the seminary. “I’ll be back for you at three this afternoon. Is that sufficient time to pack up a lifetime at this place?”
She squeezed his hand. “I hope so.”
“Until this afternoon then,
my
lady.”
Chapter V
On the twenty-sixth of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, Margaret Ruth Hampton married Theodore Eugene Ward.
Margaret recorded the event in the grandest possible terms in her family Bible. It was one of the few relics of her long-dead parents that she possessed and one of very few personal items that filled the two trunks she had taken from the seminary the day before. She smiled down at the entry, amused that it omitted that her marriage had been prompted by a few moments of madness in a stable and her desire not to end her days at the Middletown Female Seminary. Those facts did not need to live on for prosperity. The official record was downright spotless compared to reality.
She set down her pen down and turned to ponder Theo, who was stretched out on the bed in their room at McDonough House, still asleep. They had decided to spend their honeymoon away from his mother. Margaret wasn’t sure the poor woman would ever recover from the shock of yesterday. For that matter, she herself might not either.
She played idly with the simple gold band he had placed on her finger. It was strange and unfamiliar. Her husband sighed, and one hand began moving over the bed, searching for her. Husband. The word baffled.
“Am I never to wake and find you beside me?” he asked, blinking the sleep from his eyes.
“Not if you slumber until after seven.”
“Come back here, and I’ll show you just how roused I am.” He grinned at her impishly and her heart squeezed.
Ignoring it, Margaret shook her head with a laugh. “Indeed I will not. You promised Josiah you would be at work for the rest of the week to help him address your caseload in anticipation of your departure. There is nothing new to discover in bed.” That wasn’t quite true. The previous evening had been far more satisfying than that in the stable. Perhaps a bed made all the difference.
As if he knew her thoughts, Theo raised a brow at her and scoffed. “How wrong you are, madam. I leave for Hartford in less than a month, a time insufficient to exhaust the possibilities.”
Contemplating his departure was too difficult, so she seized upon this statement. “After all your compunction about
me
, I think
you
are the party who came into our marriage with compromised virtue.”
Theo swung his legs off the edge of the bed and took her hand. “I have not had lovers, if that’s what you mean. At Yale, I — ” She silenced him with a wave of her head. She did not truly want to know. “I was not so innocent as you, Margaret, but neither was I a degenerate. I have never cared for a woman as I do for you.”
She took her hand away and turned back to the desk. In a crisp, light voice she said, “We do not need to say these things to each other, Theo. We know what we are and what we are not.”
He nodded and rose, dropping a kiss on the crown of her head as he walked to the basin to wash. Acutely aware of a sudden ache in her chest, she wished she believed her own words.
“What will you do while I am at the office?” he asked.
“I have a hundred letters to write. I find that I do not know how to explain the last two weeks to my friends. And I thought I might call upon your mother.”
Theo turned and grinned at her. “Alone? Brave girl. Shall I meet you there for luncheon?”
“As you wish.”
“How will you and Mother fare during my absence?”
“I don’t know where you ever acquired the idea that your mother and I don’t get along. Our interactions have always been most civil.”
“Perhaps from each of you telling me
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