“Jonathan, how would you like to attend school in New Orleans?” Wade asked.
The boy looked up suspiciously. “You mean and come home to you and Caroline every night?”
“That is exactly what I mean.”
He was still untrusting. “Why would you let me do that when you said I couldn’t before?”
Wade looked at Caroline. “You will have to ask your mother.”
His little face crumpled into a frown. “You found my mommy, and she’s going to take me away? No, I won’t go with her. I won’t—I won’t!”
“I have not found the mother who gave birth to you, but I hope you will like the one I have chosen for you.” Pain shot through Wade’s heart when he watched the confusion in the child’s eyes. He remembered wanting Anton to love him like a father and knowing that he never would. This child would have a better chance at happiness than Wade ever had.
“Caroline and I are going to be married.”
The boy’s eyes brightened. “And she will stay with us forever?”
Wade’s gaze went back to his bride-to-be. “I hope she will never want to leave us.”
Jonathan threw his arms around Wade, taking him completely by surprise. He was awkward at first, but then he patted the child’s back.
“You did it! I hoped you’d marry her so we could keep her.”
The sound of a genuine laugh came from Wade. “Caroline has something to tell you.” He nodded at her. “I hope you will be pleased, Jonathan.”
The child turned inquiringly to Caroline. He thought the two adults were acting very strangely.
She took his face between her hands and looked into his eyes, her own were already brimming with tears. “Wade has arranged for us to adopt you, Jonathan. As of today, you will be our son, if that is your wish.”
For a moment, Jonathan did not quite understand what she was saying. But as the truth finally became clear to him, all doubt left his eyes and he smiled widely. He was crying and laughing at the same time. He jumped off the sofa and danced around in a circle. “I knew it—I knew it! Mary told me if I wanted my wish to come true, it would help if I wished upon a star.” He blinked back tears and shook his head. “I had such a big wish, so I had to wish upon the moon and the stars!”
Caroline held her arms out to him, and he rushed to her. “And your wish came true,” she said.
He pulled away from her, looking first at Wade and then back to her. “Shouldn’t I call you Mommy now?”
“I would like that,” she told him.
He looked hesitantly at Wade. “And what do I call you?”
Wade’s voice was husky when he answered. “I believe it would be appropriate for you to call me Father.”
Jonathan ran to the door and then back again. “I’m going to tell Mary. And I want to tell Louis and—” He stopped to catch his breath. “I want everyone to know.” In his exuberance he ran back to Caroline and gave her another hug. “Mommy.”
He ran out of the room, his light footsteps disappearing in the direction of the kitchen. Wade slid his arm around Caroline. “Have I made all your wishes come true?”
For a moment, she wondered if he had gone through with the adoption merely to please her. She hoped not. She wanted him to love Jonathan as much as she did. “What I want from you now is not the fulfillment of a wish, but more of a promise.”
“You have only to ask.”
“No matter whether we have children of our own, and I’m sure we shall, I always want Jonathan to feel that he is our eldest son with all the privileges that go along with that claim.”
He pulled her to him. She had a way of saying the unexpected and taking him completely by surprise. He swallowed twice before he could answer her. “The law allows and upholds that fact,” he assured her. “We both signed the paper to set it in motion.”
She rose and walked to the double doors that led to the garden, allowing the breeze that came off the river to cool her face. She was too overcome to speak. When he came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist, she leaned her head back against his shoulder.
“It is a good day, mon amour. I want all your days to be good. I wait for the day when you no longer fear anyone.”
She could have told him that she was never afraid when he was with her. His strong presence had given her hope for the future, and she no longer looked over her shoulder in fear that Brace would be there.
“You have made Jonathan very happy. He is a very lucky little boy to have you for a father. Of course, you have taken care of him for years, but it isn’t the same as giving him your name, is it?”
“Would that all your requests could be so easily granted.”
“I ask for nothing more than what you have already given me.”
He held her hand, looking at the delicate fingers. “Someday I will ask something of you. I hope you will grant it.”
“What can it be?”
He shrugged and changed the subject. “I believe we should talk about the wedding. I have invited Mr. and Mrs. Grady, and, of course, Jonathan and the servants will attend. Do you mind that the ceremony will be an informal affair with only a few guests?”
Because of his standing in the community, she imagined that there would be many people who would want to attend the wedding. She was glad he had chosen a private ceremony. “I prefer it that way.”
“Then I did right in choosing the rectory? If you have no objections, the ceremony will take place at four o’clock this afternoon.”
He had suddenly grown solemn and methodical—no detail was too small to escape his notice. She wondered if she would ever understand this complicated man. “I have no objections.”
“I have also made arrangements for us to go up the Mississippi on a riverboat, the Cotton Maid. Will that meet with your approval?” His voice deepened, and he reached for her hand, raising it to his lips. “It will give us a chance to be alone.”
She laughed up at him. “How can we expect to be alone on a boat with other people?”
He stared at her lips for a long moment before he said, “By remaining in our cabin.”
Her heart started beating faster, and she felt her face flush. “I have never been on a riverboat.”
He laughed softly and rested his chin on the top of her golden head. “You have many new experiences awaiting you.”
“You are right, I do.” In true woman fashion, she asked, “When did you decide that you wanted to marry me?”
“I believe a hint of the notion came to me even before we met.”
“That is not possible.”
He guided her toward the hallway. “I am sure you have things to do. This day will be long for me.”
She turned away from him. “I do have to get ready.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his forehead. “Thank you for the lovely wedding gown.”
“It is my pleasure.”
He thought as he watched her rush from the room, Fly away, little bird. You have been running for so long, you do not know I am about to end your wandering.
Nelly arrived at the house early so she could help Caroline dress. Mary had brought pink roses from the garden, and Nelly wove them into Caroline’s hair.
The filmy pink gown came floating down over her head, and Nelly hooked it up the back. Caroline slid her feet into the pink satin shoes and glanced into the mirror.
“How do I look?”
Nelly came up beside her, noticing the flush in Caroline’s cheeks. “Like a happy bride. I think you love this man.”
Caroline bit her lip. “Perhaps. I just know I want to make him happy and never to cause him pain. I want to help him come into the sunshine.”
Nelly looked skeptical. “And you think you can rescue him?”
Caroline remembered another husband she had not been able to help. “That would be presumptuous of me. But, yes, I would like to try.”
Nelly straightened the gown and watched her friend in the reflection of the mirror. “Now is your time to run if you are go
ing to.”
“No more running.”
“Well then, we had better leave for the church. Yance has gone with your groom, and a carriage is waiting for us.”
As they left the house, Caroline’s heart was suddenly filled with happiness. Today she would not only have a husband, but a son as well.
She would have a family.
Louis helped Caroline and Nelly out of the carriage and escorted them to the back of the church where the rectory was located.
Jonathan stood beside Wade and the bishop, watching the back door open. Nelly took her seat beside Yance, and Caroline continued to walk toward Wade.
Wade could see his future in Caroline’s shimmering blue eyes. Her gown was a mere whisper against the polished wooden floor, and he had never seen a vision as beautiful as she was to him in that moment.
Jonathan, dressed in a fine blue suit, stood solemnly beside his new father. When Caroline drew even with them, Wade took her hand and felt it tremble. When they knelt before the bishop and each gave the appropriate responses to the age-old ceremony, Caroline was so overcome with emotion, she could not look at Wade—but she could feel his eyes on her the whole time.
Wade’s mood was serious, and Caroline’s was hesitant. She had been in this position before, on her knees repeating the same vows.
But this time it was different.
A revelation hit her when the bishop asked them to lower their heads in prayer. “Dear God,” she prayed silently, “here in Your house I realize that I love this man with my whole heart and soul. I pledge that I will do all in my power to make him happy.” The truth of what she was feeling was like opening a floodgate, and she was afraid to look at Wade because he might read the love in her eyes.
It somehow seemed unreal when the bishop pronounced them man and wife. Wade seemed oblivious to anything but her. He swept her into his arms for a slow, lingering kiss.
Well-wishers pressed in around them, everyone laughing and offering best wishes.
Caroline hugged Nelly, and her friend assured her that she and Yance would be returning to New Orleans to make sure everything was running smoothly in Caroline’s life.
Jonathan elbowed his way forward and beamed up at them. Caroline bent down to him, and he threw his arms around her neck. “We are a family now,” he said, grinning.
She kissed his cheek. “I was just thinking that myself. Yes, Jonathan Renault, we are a family. No one can take you away from us.”
“Not never?”
She laughed and kissed his cheek again. “Not never!”
She took the child’s hand, and he walked beside her and Wade through the door of the rectory. When Louis pulled up with the buggy, Caroline once more bent down to the child.
“You do understand that we are going away for a short time? You are not to worry, because we will be back very soon.”
He nodded. “Mary said you were going to the moon.”
“Not to the moon, Jonathan,” Wade said in amusement. “We are going on a honeymoon.” He bent down to the boy. “You will look after things at home until we return, will you not?”
He nodded. “I’ll take care of everything.”
Nelly came forward and took the child’s hand while Wade helped Caroline into the carriage.
His hand slid across the seat, and she felt excitement building inside her. She was still trying to accept the fact that she had fallen in love with Wade.
When had it happened?
How had she gone from being terrified of him to loving him so desperately?
“I have you now,” he said, pulling her head to his shoulder.
“Yes,” she whispered. “And I have you.”
Chapter Twenty-four
On the carriage ride back to the house, Wade took her hand in his. “This is all new to me, Caroline.” His smile was warm with amusement. “I have never shared a room with anyone before.”
He was so near she could smell his clean male scent, and all she could think about was later that night when she would be in his bed. “Perhaps you will want separate bedrooms.”
He pulled her roughly to him and said, “I want you in my bed so you will always fall asleep with my kiss on your lips and wake up in the morning ready for me to make love to you.”
Heat rose through her entire body as she thought about his words. “I have always slept alone as well,” she reminded him.
He looked at her strangely, and he suddenly became silent and withdrawn. Her hand still rested in his, but she could tell that his mind was on other matters, leaving her to wonder what had caused his abrupt mood change.
When they arrived at the house, miraculously Mary had arrived ahead of them and was waiting on the veranda. “Mr. and Mrs. Grady asked if they could take Jonathan for a carriage ride along the river. He was excited about going with them, so I agreed that he could. He wanted Mr. Grady to tell him all about Texas and his ranch.”
Wade led Caroline inside the house. “He will barely finish one question before he will fire another at them. He has a very curious mind.”
“Is that your way of saying my son is very intelligent?”
“Oui. He is.”
“I have prepared a special meal for the two of you, and I took the liberty of choosing the smaller private dining room,” Mary said, her face reflecting her happiness. “Your trunks have been taken to the dock,” she told Wade. “I laid out your traveling gown for you,” she told Caroline.
Caroline moved toward the stairs. “I will just go upstairs and change. I won’t be long.”
Her hands were shaking as she slipped out of the filmy pink gown and into the more suitable gray silk. She patted her hair into place and went downstairs to join Wade. Her heart was in her mouth as he walked across the polished floor toward her, looking more handsome than a man had a right to. With those glorious golden eyes focused on her, she felt her heart leap.
He raised her hand to his mouth. “Mrs. Renault, you have made me a very happy man today.”
But he wasn’t happy. When he seated her at the table and sat beside her, he was unusually quiet.
Something was definitely wrong.
Of course, he had married her for the wrong reason—guilt. That would make any man pull into himself, she thought with an aching heart.
“Jonathan seemed to be enjoying the wedding and the attention from Nelly and Yance,” she remarked, at last breaking the silence that hung between them like a heavy fog.
Wade was silent for a moment, and then smiled and nodded his dark head. “He was telling everyone who would listen that he has the best mommy in the whole world.” Her hand was resting on the table, and he stared at the ring he had slid on her finger a few hours earlier. “And I must say that I agree with him.”
“Wade, I feel I should tell you I do not expect you to cater to my every whim. You do not have to make all my wishes come true.”
“Is that not what a husband does?”
“Not for this wife. I do not expect to be treated like a porcelain doll. I am strong, and I can take care of myself.” Her gaze dropped to her plate. “I know you must think I am delicate because I was so ill—but I’m not.”
He had a faraway look in his eyes. “You may very well be in need of that strength before the night is over.”
She wondered what he meant by his cryptic remark. But Mary entered carrying a large lamb roast, so Caroline’s question was never uttered.
His eyes once more filled with warmth. “Nelly has been a very good friend to you, Caroline.”
“Yes, she has. I don’t know many people who would take time from their honeymoon to go dashing across country to rescue a friend.”
“Nelly and Yance seem to be ideally matched.”
Caroline frowned. “In what way?”
“She is impulsive and forward, while he is calm and adores her.”
“That is exactly right. How could you know what they are like on so short an acquaintance?”
“It was my profession to be able to r
ead people. My life often depended on how well I knew my prisoner.”
Her head dropped a notch. “And you think you know me so well, don’t you?”
His gaze met hers. “You are the only one I was wrong about.”
This was not at all the conversation Caroline would have expected on her wedding day, and she turned the topic back to her friends. “Yance and Nelly have loved each other for a long time.”
“Tell me something, Caroline. Before I came along, was your life happy in San Sebastian?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I am just trying to understand what your life was like there.”
“When I first arrived, Nelly was my only friend. I took in washing and ironing in those first few months because I didn’t have any money. Then, with Nelly’s help, I became a seamstress and life was better.” She thought back to her time in San Sebastian. “I was as happy as I could have been under the circumstances. I left behind some very good friends.” She started to take a bite and then said, “I hope someone will take my place in teaching the young recruits to read and write.”
He remembered a time when he had thought she was giving the cavalrymen more than reading lessons. But he would never tell her what those first impressions had been. To do so would only be courting folly. “If Yance is to be believed, the whole cavalry is devoted to you.”
She laid her fork down and laced her fingers together. “Not the whole cavalry. Just a few young men who were far from home and needed a friend. They were always very respectful to me.”
He shoved his plate aside, the food uneaten. “Do you really believe that they only came to your house so you could teach them to read?”
His words had come out like an accusation. “I don’t understand. What are you implying?”
“How could you be expected to understand how a man reacts when he is near you?”
“I don’t think that is a fair assessment of the situation. And your making such an assumption does no credit to me or the young men who wanted so badly to learn.”
“I ask your pardon. Of course they had an apt teacher in you.” He ran his hand over his closed eyes. “Please forgive me. I have had a lot on my mind,” he said, thinking of her father and wondering how he would find the courage to tell her about his death.
The Moon and the Stars Page 21
