“Kids.” He was looking at her with an odd expression.
“Kids,” she replied, and the look she gave him was both shy and excited. “Do you like kids?”
“I love them,” he said huskily.
She recalled that his fiancée had gotten rid of his. She reached over and slid her hand into his big one. “I’m an only child. I’d love to have several children, if we could afford them.”
“Nobody can afford children,” he teased, “but they have them anyway. So will we.” His dark eyes held her blue ones. “Our daughters will be beautiful if they take after you.”
She flushed and laughed. “You’re very good-looking, too, Butch,” she said, sighing. “Our boys will have to look like you.”
“We’ll put in an order for one, right after we’re married,” he said with a big grin. “You do know that the stork brings them, right? There’s bound to be some sort of store where you can order the kid you truly want.”
She grinned. “You nut,” she accused, and hit him playfully. “We’ll take what we get and be grateful.”
“Works for me,” he said, and grinned back.
* * *
They were married at the local Methodist church on a Sunday after church in the chapel, with most of Benton in the pews. J. L. Denton and his wife, and Parker and his wife, stood up with them as best men and matrons of honor, and Teddie, Parker and Katy’s daughter, was the flower girl.
The church was full of roses. They were a present from the Dentons. The smell was awesome. Standing up with Butch in a pretty white dress off the rack at a department store, with a veil that she found at a thrift shop, with Butch in his only good suit, they were married by the church’s minister.
When Esther came to the vows, she looked up at Butch and spoke them with her heart in her eyes. She hadn’t planned on getting involved with anybody when she ran away, but it seemed as if fate had pushed her into Butch’s cabin and given them both a second chance at happiness. Esther had come to adore him in the weeks they’d been together. Butch was happier than he’d ever been. It was a marriage that would succeed. They were both sure of it.
They exchanged the simple yellow gold rings they’d purchased, and when they were pronounced man and wife, Butch lifted her veil and looked at her for a few seconds with an expression she couldn’t puzzle out before he bent his head and kissed her with breathless tenderness. Seconds later, before she even had time to enjoy it, they were running down the aisle and out the front of the church.
The girls in the Gray Dove with whom she worked had produced a beautiful wedding cake and they’d organized the reception, which drew most everybody in town.
Esther in her lacy white dress felt like Cinderella, and Butch was definitely her idea of Prince Charming. He’d certainly charmed her. The only shadow on her happiness was the threat of Darrin, somewhere out there, waiting for a chance to pounce. He’d get what money was available, most likely, because Esther couldn’t be found. But that investigator, Cameron, had found her and Darrin knew where she was. Cameron had seen the diamond ring on her finger, the one that Butch thought was paste. It sent cold chills down her spine. She was worried for Butch, who had been so kind to her.
“Hey, this is a wedding, not a wake,” Butch teased at her ear. “Why so sad? Are you having second thoughts?” he added, and looked suddenly worried.
She bumped her hip against him. “I am not having second thoughts,” she murmured. She peered up at him with mischievous eyes. “And you’d better eat lots of cake. You’re going to need all the energy you can get, later.”
It took him a few seconds to puzzle that out and he actually flushed.
She laughed softly, flushing a little, too, at her own boldness. “Sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. I love it.” He grinned down at her. “You’d better eat a lot, too, honey girl.”
She sighed. Let Darrin do his worst. This was her wedding day, and she was married to a man she could love and respect. In fact, she thought, as she looked up at him while he accepted congratulations from the Dentons, she already loved him. It was like a jolt of lightning. She loved him! And what a time to find it out. He was