“Promise?”
“Forever.”
“Even when I’m old and gray and wrinkled?” Jim grimaced as he looked at her smooth skin and golden hair. “You planning on doing that anytime soon?”
“No … but I’ve thought about getting fat.” His hands spanned her slender waist. “How fat? Fat like my horse? Or fat like the hog we’re gonna slaughter next week? Or fat like Mrs. Quincey in town?”
“No, more like fat as in the family way.”
She had planned to save her news until Christmas, but suddenly a week seemed far too long to wait. Watching comprehension dawn on his face was like watching the sun rise.
“You’re going to have my baby?” he asked with a mixture of awe and dread. Melanie’s agonizing death was still too new for him to easily forget it.
“I guess I take after my mother.” March smiled, showing her delight at the situation. “I hope you like children, because we may well be starting a calendar of our own … you’ll have to help me with my lessons, so that I don’t forget how to spell them correctly.”
“Twelve babies?” he asked in disbelief.
“I’m young … could be fifteen or sixteen before I get too old.”
“My God … I don’t think I’ve got that much life in me!”
“Don’t worry, my sweet husband.” March lowered her voice and her hand. “If all else fails, I’ll remind you of Saturday.”
Jim’s lips met hers in a kiss of overwhelming tenderness, as memories of the lovemaking they had christened with the names of the days of the week drifted around them.
He wanted to name their new baby … she refused. She was stuck with March for the rest of her life, and it was a terrible name but not nearly as bad as his choice.
When she threatened to never spell another day or month in his presence, he grudgingly conceded; by now he knew that she always kept her promises. She named the baby Katherine Virginia, deciding that it was a beautifully feminine name.
He was soon calling her Katie. However, for the rest of his life, Jim always thought of his first born daughter as Saturday. He just hoped March never knew.
She did.
Table of Contents
One
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR