Page 69 of A Convenient Heart
She reached for him and he felt a rush of relief as he stepped closer, as her arms wound around his waist, as his hands rested behind her back. She was in his arms again, and it was heaven.
But he didn’t tip his head to take the kiss he wanted, even though her chin was tilted in delightful invitation.
And then she asked. “Aren’t you going to kiss me? A declaration like that seems as if it should be punctuated with a kiss.”
There was his independent schoolmarm. Not afraid to ask for what she wanted.
“There’s a whole lotta kids up on that stage,” he whispered. “What’re the chances they’ll ignore us?”
“Very low.” But she was grinning up at him. “Lower than finding an ace on your first draw from the deck. But you should probably do it anyway.”
He bent his head and brushed his lips across hers. Joy rose up inside him, full and resonant.
She returned his feelings. She was in his arms.
“Stay in Calvin,” she whispered when they parted. “Build a home here—with me.”
When his eyes started to smart, she pressed her cheek to his shoulder.
That must’ve been the moment the pageant ended, because there was a thunderous roar of applause and stomping feet.
But he was in his own little world, holding the most precious piece of his heart.
Chapter14
Knock, knock.
Another one?
Jack registered the knock on Merritt’s front door from where he squatted in front of the open door of her kitchen stove. He could still hear Merritt in her bedroom, rustling around behind a closed door, so he went into her parlor to answer.
“Happy Christmas!” Both Paul and Daniel stood on the stoop, wearing almost identical smiles.
“Hello,” Jack said, even though tomorrow was Christmas. Word seemed to have gotten out in town that the beloved schoolmarm was traveling to see her cousins.
“We brought Miss Harding a Christmas gift,” Daniel said. He did, in fact, hold a cloth-wrapped bundle in his hands.
“I can see that.” It’d only been two days since the pageant, since Morris had been sent away, and Jack still found himself scanning the quiet street for any sign of danger. It was empty, only the rented horse and carriage waiting for Merritt and Jack, same as it had been for the past half hour. The horse had a bough of green holly with red berries tied to its harness.
Jack stepped aside so they could enter.
He heard Merritt’s bedroom door open, and his heart sped up when she entered the room, a carpetbag in her hands, her face turned back to the bedroom, and her lower lip between her teeth in distraction. He’d been in her presence all morning, but she still affected him. He hoped it would always be like that.
She blinked when she registered her guests. “Hello, boys! Oh, please tell me that’s one of your mother’s famous fruitcakes, Daniel.”
The boy pulled back the cloth to show that it was.
Paul pushed his hands in his pockets as Merritt exclaimed over the treat, taking it to the table where it joined a ham, a book of poetry, and some crudely knitted mittens. Her students had been stopping by all morning.
Daniel glanced at the other boy. “Paul’s got a gift too.”
Jack didn’t see one anywhere. Was this another of the boys’ competitions? Another way for them to harass each other?
“Mine’s not…something you can see,” Paul said awkwardly. His chin jutted up stubbornly. “I decided to apply for some medical schools, like you said.”
Merritt squealed as if she’d received the best news ever. She came to throw one arm around the boy’s shoulder. “I’m thrilled to hear that.”
Paul looked a little chagrined. “I’ll need your help to find some of those scalla—skrulla?—”
