her. Laughing and telling her stories about Amanda and his mother and a few of his late wife. She’d lied about every single thing she told him. She had no grand stories to tell. Her childhood hadn’t been bad, but it had been lonely. She’d spent endless days standing in a row with the other children in the orphanage as the occasional couple walked down the line looking at each of them in search of a child to adopt. They always took the boys, though, and most of those left behind like her didn’t envy them much. Chances were, the boys were only taken so they could help farm the couple’s land and work the many plantations dotted around Charleston.
Caleb was quiet for long minutes before turning to face her. He leaned an elbow on the rail and cleared his throat. “Is something wrong?”
She shook her head and stared at the water. “No, just remembering the night and committing it to memory.”
“So you had a good time?”
She smiled and for once it wasn’t forced. “I did. One of the best I can recall, actually.” He was still looking at her and for a split second, she could see the rest of her life in his eyes. She imagined morning after morning waking up with him. Of quiet words whispered in the dark and all those little girl dreams she’d had of getting married and living happily ever after seemed so close now. They’d danced and laughed most of the night and she’d never been as happy as she was in those few brief hours.
Caleb had sent away for a bride and even though she wasn’t the real Diana Hale, she wanted her life. She wanted this life, with Caleb and Amanda, and she’d do everything in her power to be exactly the sort of woman he’d asked for.
“I had a nice time, too.” She stilled when he reached out and brushed back a stray curl that fluttered against her cheek. “It’s been a long time since I’ve danced with such a pretty lady.”
She dipped her head, hoping to hide her red cheeks when her face heated, but laughter brought her head up. A man and a woman stepped onto the bridge behind Caleb. Rebecca straightened and her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the woman’s voice. A moment later, she saw the person it was attached to.
Hazel strolled arm in arm with the man she was walking with, her wide smile the same one she’d seen on the train. She’d wondered more than once if Hazel was in town or if she'd been passing through the day she saw her. Now she had her answer.
“What’s wrong?”
Her dismay at seeing Hazel again must have been on her face. Caleb straightened and started to turn but before he could—and before Hazel saw her—she leaned up on her toes as far as she could reach, grabbed Caleb by his coat lapels, and dragged him toward her before slamming her mouth against his.
It took Caleb longer than it should have to process the fact that Diana kissed him. His stupor didn’t last long, though. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her off her feet before giving her the kind of kiss he’d only dreamed about.
Diana gasped the moment he licked her lip, and she opened for him willingly. Her mouth tasted sweet. Like the spiced cider and cinnamon cake Julia had served at her party. Her lack of finesse in kissing him back told him she’d not been kissed often, if at all, but he wasn’t about to complain about it. She’d catch on. He’d kiss her every hour on the hour if he had to until she’d perfected it.
His arms tightened when Diana lifted hers and wrapped them around his neck. He could only imagine what they looked like with her feet dangling in the air. He didn’t care, though. Nor did he care that someone was on the bridge with them, seeing him kiss his future bride with such reckless abandon. He wanted her. Wanted her more than he’d wanted anything in longer than he could remember and he decided that he wasn’t waiting for the new year to marry her. Not if he could help it. Her initiating the kiss proved she didn’t want to wait either, or he hoped it did.
Long minutes passed as he tasted her and he only brought his head up when it grew harder to breathe. Her lips were kiss swollen and pink