Cat smiled and her heart rose. “I think that’s a wonderful proposition.”
“I’m not sure how he expects us to fund it. He said something about donations.”
“I can work, can’t I? And you can probably still work for Tate part time.” Cat seized his hands and squeezed them gently, heedful of healing skin. “You have to do it, Jamie. No one understands those poor creatures better than you.”
“There’s another thing.” He drew a breath so deep it expanded his chest, and for the first time his gaze wavered from hers. “We’re about to get married, Catherine, and as far as I’m concerned that’s for good. I can’t offer you much, and God knows I’m no prize. But Kelly also told me he spoke with Dr. Roesch on my behalf.”
“Who’s Doctor Roesch, exactly?”
“He’s the man I mentioned back at Mrs. Pidgeon’s, who’s worked extensively with the automatons. In fact he’s growing Kelly’s skin back now and helping make the rest of his repairs. Dr. Roesch does a lot of reconstruction work.” Determinedly, Jamie’s eyes met Cat’s again. “And Kelly’s persuaded him to operate on me.”
“What!” Cat dropped his hands.
“Work on the scarred side of my face, I mean. So you see, there’s hope. If you do marry me, I might not always look like this—”
“What will you look like?”
“Eh?”
“This doctor, how does he accomplish the ‘reconstruction’?”
“He takes a face from someone else, usually a cadaver—”
“So that side of your face wouldn’t look like you. It would look like somebody else—somebody who died!”
“It will look human, Catherine.” Impulsively he caught her hands again. “Not like a hideous monster. People wouldn’t stare at me on the street. Our children” —abruptly he faltered—“if we have them, wouldn’t have to be afraid to look at their father’s face.”
Cat’s eyes flooded with tears. “Oh, Jamie, Jamie,” she cried. “I thought you knew better than that! I hoped you knew better than that.”
Baffled, he shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“My love,” she stepped up to him, so close her wedding dress rustled against his knees, “why do you want this thing? If it’s for you, because you mind the way you look so much, then I’ll stand behind you even though it will grieve my heart.”
“Grieve you?”
She laid her hands on both sides of his face. “It’s just that I love you so very much the way you are. This is the face with which I fell in love. Don’t change it on my account, Jamie, or for our children who will love you for your gentle strength, your great kindness, and all the beauty you carry inside.”
“My God, Catherine.” He bent his head and kissed her hands, one after the other. “Do you mean that?”
“Look at me, Jamie Kilter. Do you see any lies?”
He gazed deep into her eyes, and she hid nothing from him. She saw the joy rise from his heart and flow to engulf her, lighting him like flame.
“No lies,” he whispered, “not ever, between us.”
“Then put away all this nonsense. We’ve a wedding to attend and a very special best man waiting.”
“He’ll just have to wait another minute while I kiss the bride,” Jamie said, and to Cat’s great satisfaction Kelly waited a considerable length of time.
A word about the author...
Born in Buffalo and raised on the Niagara Frontier, Laura Strickland has been an avid reader and writer since childhood. To her the spunky, tenacious, undefeatable ethnic mix that is Buffalo spells the perfect setting for a little Steampunk, so she created her own Victorian world there. She knows the people of Buffalo are stronger, tougher, and smarter than those who haven't survived the muggy summers and blizzard blasts found on the shores of the mighty Niagara. Tough enough to survive a squad of automatons? Well, just maybe.
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