Wellington Cross (Wellington Cross Series) by Cheryl Lane

I’d only dreamt about,
wondering if it was a real place.  I had to wonder no more, at least about
this place.  I felt comforted and joyous.  I frolicked up and down
the “Ladies Winter Garden”, now overgrown except for a few roses and lilies,
feeling like a child again.  After dancing back up the hill a little ways,
I rested on a bench by one of the brick columns on the third courtyard down,
which was shaded by fragrant white crepe myrtle trees.  I breathed in the
moist perfumed air, feeling soft breezes creep up from the river against my
face.  Curious bees buzzed by me on their way to the succulent
blooms.  I dabbed sweat off my face with my handkerchief.
    While taking in the peaceful surroundings, I heard shuffling
feet in the dry dirt, crunching on occasional rocks.  Someone was coming
in my direction from the path that led towards the vegetable garden.  I
looked over at the same time that a man came around the corner of a tall
boxwood.  I caught my breath.  There before me was the most handsome
man that I could ever remember laying eyes on.  He was tall and had dark
brown hair which lay softly on his forehead and reached his collar in the
back.  He was wearing a brown hat to shade his eyes from the sun.  He
had thick sideburns, a beard, and a mustache.  He wore a dingy white
long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, brown trousers with braces, and
brown congress boots.  He looked like he had been working out in the
fields, as he was not wearing a waist coat or jacket, so he was probably a
field hand.
    I stood up, and he looked at me.  He froze.  I
froze.  He looked at me as though he were seeing a ghost.  I wondered
who he was, looking at me that way.
    “Madeline?” he asked.  It was him .  The
voice I’d heard in my head.  This was the man I had longed for in my flash
of memory…the one I had been hoping to find.
    To my surprise, he dropped a shovel he had been holding and
quickly shortened the distance between us.  “Madeline, darling.  Is
it really you?” he asked as he reached me.  Before I could answer, he
threw his arms around me and embraced me tightly, lifting my feet off the
ground for a moment.  I had to put my arms around his back for fear of
falling.  “I thought I’d never see you again,” he said.  I felt his
warm breath in my ear.
    I held my own breath.  I didn’t know quite what to
do.  He took me completely by surprise.  But just for a moment, I
felt like I was in heaven.  He put my feet back on the ground and loosened
his embrace, still holding onto my arms, and looked at me with smoldering
eyes.  Fascinating eyes.  They looked light brown and yet sort of
green.  He stood nearly a head taller than me.  Upon seeing his face
up close, I noticed his sideburns ran into his beard, which traced the edge of
his chin, and there was a little small patch of hair directly under his lower
lip.  He took my breath away.  He looked at me with such adoration.
 I wondered again who he was.  I had hoped that Ethan was the one I
had longed for, but now that I saw this man so casually dressed, I was sure I’d
be disappointed, that he wouldn’t be the man I had been married to.
    “Let me look at you,” he said.  “You haven’t changed a
bit.  You look like you’ve been out in the sun a lot.  Have you been
outside working hard?”  He held my hands and looked at them as he spoke, “Look
at your hands.  You have blisters.  You shouldn’t have to work so
hard, Madeline.”  His deep voice warmed and stirred my heart.  He
pulled my palms to his lips and kissed each one ever so gently.  My heart
stopped.  I’d never felt this way when Jefferson had touched me or kissed
me.  This was completely different.
    “Please forgive my appearance,” he said, looking down at his
soiled shirt.  “I, too, have been working out in the fields.”  He
looked me over, seeming to be convincing himself that I was real.  Then he
looked into my eyes again.  I felt