She shrugged. "We start wearing them when we're twelve or thirteen. I've almost forgotten what it feels like to not wear a corset."
He kissed her shoulder as he pushed the constricting garment down to the floor. "How many layers of clothes are you wearing?"
She laughed. "A normal amount! A dress, corset, two petticoats. Drawers."
"It's harder than getting into a bank vault!"
"You think? I can undress myself quickly."
"Yes, but then I wouldn't have the pleasure of unwrapping you like you were a wedding present just for me."
She turned and looped her arms around his neck, her eyes dancing with laughter. "Am I not a wedding present just for you?"
"I like that." He leaned down and kissed her again, this time his lips were more insistent. "I need to finish unwrapping you, I think."
"How about I do a little unwrapping of my own?" Her hands went to his suit coat and she pushed it off his shoulders, and then she applied herself to his tie. His shoulders were broad, and she wanted to just run her hands over them, but she was too shy. She carefully unbuttoned his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders. As soon as the shirt was on the floor, she pressed a kiss to his bare skin.
She looked down at the fastening of his pants, and couldn't bring herself to take anything else off him. Her eyes met his. "You're on your own from there."
He laughed. "Lose your nerve?"
"Of course not," she countered. "I never planned on taking your pants off."
"My turn again then?" He reached to her waist and unfastened her top petticoat pushing it to the floor, and followed suit with the next.
She stood before him in just a camisole and her knickers. She'd not been quite so unclothed in front of anyone but her sister since they'd moved to Texas. Her first instinct was to cover herself with her hands, but the look in his eyes stopped her. He was pleased with her. It was right there on his face.
"You're beautiful," he whispered, his voice filled with awe.
She smiled, stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around him. She felt strange just standing there so he could stare at her. "I'm so glad you think so."
"I know so! Your sister doesn't hold a candle to you." He cupped her face in his hands, lowering his mouth to join with hers. He touched her nowhere else, but they stood pressed together from shoulder to hip.
When he finally broke the kiss, he held her eyes as he moved his hands down her sides, and one hand came up to cup her breast in his palm. "You're so soft."
She reached out and touched his shoulder. "You're hard."
"I want to finish undressing you," he said, his voice still soft.
"Do it."
He untied the small bow over her bosom, keeping her camisole closed, and then he released button after button. Opening the camisole, he stared down at what he'd uncovered, one of his thumbs reaching out to flick over her exposed nipple. Never had he imagined a woman would be so soft there.
He pushed the camisole off her shoulders, before taking her hand and leading her to the bed.
Opal sat down, watching him for what he wanted from her. She wanted to be accommodating, but she was so nervous. She wanted this first time to be over with.
"Lie back." He lay on the bed beside her, propped on one elbow. His hand toyed with her nipples, as he leaned over her, pressing his lips to hers. "If I do anything you don't like, tell me," he whispered.
Opal blushed, her hand going to the back of his head to pull him down for another kiss. "The problem is, I seem to like everything," she whispered, just before their lips met.
Nathaniel smiled against her lips, marveling at how different this marriage was from his first.
*****
Much later, Opal turned to Nathaniel in the dark, snuggling closer once again. He held her close, his hands not able to stop touching her. "Thank you," he whispered.
"For what?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbow to look down at his face by the light of the moon shining through the open window.
"For being you. For making today the most wonderful day of my life. For not refusing to have relations with me tonight."
Opal blinked at the last thing. "Why wouldn't I have relations with you? Isn't that a big part of the reason people get married?"
"You'd think." He gathered her back to him, settling her head against his shoulder. "Let me finish my story from earlier."
She put her hand on his chest, her cheek pressed tightly to his shoulder. "All right." She was afraid of what she'd hear, but she knew it was important.
"On my wedding night with Stella, she asked me to give her more time before we consummated the marriage. She said she was too nervous to have relations and wanted to get to know me better first. I had a spare room in my house, so I let her use it with the understanding that I'd give her a little time, and she'd move into my bed within a short period." He raked his fingers of his free hand through his hair. "So I tried, repeatedly, to get her to share my bed. Finally, about a month after we married, she told me she just didn't find me attractive. I didn't know what to do."
"That's crazy! Who wouldn't find you attractive?" Opal asked.
He laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." It was hard to believe she felt so strongly for him with his history, but she certainly seemed to. "Anyway, I waited another month before deciding I should just get an annulment and be done with it. We hadn't consummated the marriage after all, so it shouldn't have been a problem. When I went to her to talk to her about it, she turned, and I noticed her stomach had changed. I don't know how it had escaped me until then. I asked her about it, and she admitted she was four months pregnant."
"And you stayed with her?" Opal's opinion of him went way up at the story he was telling her. What kind of man stayed with a woman who was carrying another man's child?
"She told me she'd tell everyone the baby was mine, and that I'd abandoned her because I was done with her. That I told her I didn't care any longer because her body was so big." He shook his head. "I was an idiot. But I stayed, with the understanding that she had to move here with me, so she'd be away from the father of the baby."
"And she agreed?"
He nodded. "Yes, the father had been trying to get her to leave for some time, because he didn't want the child to be born and look like him. Anyway, we came here, and she had Florence two months later. I took one look at that baby girl, and I wanted her. I could never deny her." He shook his head. "I expected to resent her, not want her at all. But she was mine from the first moment I saw her."
"She's a sweet girl."
"She is. She also looks exactly like her mother." He sighed. "After Florence was born, Stella was good to her. She was one of the best mothers I've seen. Until Florence was asleep, and then she'd go out. Even here in Nowhere, she had no trouble finding men who would take care of her needs. She even came to me once, not long after Florence was born, but I turned her away."
"Why?"
"I didn't want a woman who would come to me after going to another man. I knew she had a least two cowboys she had relationships with here in Nowhere, plus the man back in Kentucky. I was ashamed to leave the ranch and became a recluse. I didn't really leave until after she died, and I had to start buying food so we could survive."
"How did she die?" Opal couldn't imagine how hard it would have been to have been married to someone like that. He was a good, loving man. How could someone treat him that way?
"She got sick. Dr. Iris said it was cancer. She was only sick for a month or two before she died." He closed his eyes. "It was really hard on Florence, though she seems to be doing much better now." He hoped that Opal would help Florence forget all about Stella.
She shook her head. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that. It doesn't make sense to me that a woman would trick a man into marrying her, just so she wouldn't have a baby alone."
"I was easily tricked. I came back from a long absence, and she was at my home when I arrived. We'd been childhood playmates, because our mo
thers were best friends. I took one look at her and decided I wanted her for my wife. She was beautiful." He shrugged. "I should have taken more time to get to know her. We were married within two weeks of me returning. Of course, she's the one who suggested we marry, not me."
"I'm surprised you were willing to rush into a marriage after that."
He smiled. "How could I not be with you? I took one look at you, and knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life making love with you every night. The fact that you and Florence got along so well was just a plus."
"Would you have married me if Florence hadn't liked me so much?"
He turned to her more fully on the bed. "I don't know. Would you have still let me do this?" He reached out and grabbed her breast.
She giggled. "Probably."
"Then yes, I definitely would have married you, even if Florence hadn't liked you. But, she has good taste, so of course she likes you." He pulled her to him, kissing her again. "Speaking of which, she'll be home in the morning. We probably shouldn't waste our time chatting when we could be doing something a lot more fun!"
"Oh! You want to teach me to play poker?"
He shook his head. "You just think you're funny."
Chapter Nine
Opal was sad when she had to kiss Nathaniel before he left to go work. She would have preferred to spend the day with him, but she knew it was her responsibility to take care of Florence and to spend the day at Dr. Iris's house.
She had the kitchen cleaned up before Florence arrived, and once the little girl was there, they were off to work.
By the time they returned home, she was exhausted. The day hadn't been any busier than any other, but she had slept little the night before, having opted to enjoy her new husband instead of sleeping. Florence had been a big help, and she was thankful for that.
Dr. Iris had come home early, claiming the baby was weighing too heavily on her to get much work done, so Opal had finished her work and left a bit early herself.
"I don't like Dr. Iris," Florence announced as they were washing and peeling potatoes for supper.
"You don't? Why not?" Opal had never heard Florence complain about anyone, so she was surprised by the girl's words.
"She let my mama die, and she should have kept her alive." The little girl kept scrubbing the potatoes she'd been given while she spoke, but anger filled her voice.
"Dr. Iris is my friend, and I know she did everything she could to save your mama. I've seen her with her patients, and she cries every time she can't save someone. It breaks her heart."
"She didn't like Mama."
"What makes you say that? Dr. Iris likes everyone." The conversation seemed very odd to Opal.
Florence shrugged. "She just didn't."
Opal studied the girl for a minute, before she decided to let it go. "Did you have a good time with your new grandma and grandpa?"
Florence smiled. "It was wonderful! I got to play and play. Edna Petunia let me help make cookies, and I got to sit with the big girls and listen to them talk about boys."
"They talked about boys, did they?"
"Oh yes. They talked about which boys at school were the nicest and the smartest. Katie wants to marry the smartest boy at school, but Hattie wants to marry the boy who sits in the corner drawing on his slate when he's supposed to be studying."
"Now, why does Hattie want to marry the boy who draws?" Opal asked, not expecting Florence to have an answer.
"Because he told her she's pretty at recess, and he wouldn't let a boy throw an apple at her."
"I see. Do you think that's a good enough reason to marry someone?"
Florence shrugged. "I don't know. Neither of them is Prince Charming, so I know they're not for me!"
Opal laughed. "Your papa has you convinced you're marrying a prince, doesn't he?"
"Of course I am." Florence pushed the last of the potatoes she'd been asked to scrub toward Opal. "Do you need my help for anything else? I want to go play with the new doll my grandma bought me."
"Edna Petunia bought you a doll?"
"Oh yes, and Penny made her some clothes. She's the prettiest doll in the world, and I'll keep her forever." Florence rushed off to play, while Opal peeled the potatoes and put them on to boil.
Opal couldn't help but think that for such a difficult start, Florence was doing very well. She wondered what her father was like, and if Nathaniel knew anything about him. Not that she'd ask. She knew it had to be difficult for Nathaniel to tell her everything he had. She wasn't going to press him for even more information about the way his first wife had betrayed him.
She had never in her life hated anyone, but thinking about Stella gave her someone to hate. If the woman were alive, she was certain she'd stab her in the eye with a fork. Well, no she wouldn't but she'd imagine doing it, and that would be almost as nice.
*****
After a long day of work on too little sleep, Nathaniel approached the house, thrilled to be going home to a good wife and his daughter. It was amazing the difference in his life Opal had already made, and they'd known one another for less than a week. It was so much better to look forward to going home and being with his wife and daughter.
For years he'd dreaded going home, never knowing if Stella would be dressed up and ready to go meet with the man of the day, or if she'd be crying all evening. She'd been up and down with her moods as often as she'd changed men she was having affairs with. Every time he looked at Florence, he was happy she hadn't inherited her mother's problems.
He'd had a ranch hand the first three years they'd been in Nowhere, but when he'd come home at the end of a day of work, he'd found his 'sick' ranch hand in bed with his wife. Three-year-old Florence had been left with one of the neighbors for the afternoon.
He'd refused to have anyone work with him after that. He felt like he couldn't trust anyone. More importantly, he knew he couldn't trust Stella.
He shook his head. Where had those memories come from? He was married to a good woman now. He needed to keep reminding himself of that. Opal would never betray him. It wasn't in her.
He opened the door to his sweet wife putting supper on the table. "I hope you're hungry!" she said with a smile. "I made creamed potatoes with ham."
He grinned, rushing across the room to kiss her. "I missed you today."
"Did you miss me too, Papa?" Florence called from across the room.
"Of course, I did." He turned to Florence and went down on his knees to where she was playing in the corner. She had a doll she was covering up with a blanket. "Who's this?"
"My new grandma gave her to me. And Aunt Penny made her some clothes." Florence held the doll up. "Look, she's wearing a nightgown just like mine!"
"Oh, I like her hair. It's just like yours."
"Orange as carrots," Florence said with a long-suffering sigh.
Nathaniel laughed. "You don't like your hair?"
"I'd rather have blond hair like my new mama's. Hers is very pretty."
"It is pretty, but yours is pretty too. It's just pretty in a different way."
Florence made a face. "I have to wear mine in braids. I want to wear my hair up like Mama does."
Nathaniel looked at Opal, hating his mental image of his daughter with her hair in a bun like Opal's. "Maybe your mama could fix your hair so your braids are up?"
Florence looked at Opal, a longing look on her face. "Could you?"
Opal smiled. "We'll try it tomorrow. For now, it's supper time. Let's eat!"
Florence jumped up, ran across the room to hug Opal, and took her place at the table. "I'm hungry!"
Chapter Ten
When Opal and Florence got to Dr. Iris's house the following morning, they found out they weren't needed. "Dr. Iris is in labor," Tracy Harvey, Iris's sister-in-law, told them. "I'll be staying here for a few days until she's ready to take care of things on her own again."
"Are you sure you don't need me? I can help out at least for today."
Tracy shook her head. "I can
handle it. Iris gave me this for you." She handed Opal two dollars. "She said that's what she owed you, and not to worry about coming back. There won't be a problem finding a replacement before she's ready to go back to work."
"Thank you." Opal looked down on the money in her hand. It felt strange to leave without saying goodbye. "Tell her we're praying for her."
Tracy smiled. "That's all she needs."
Opal took Florence's hand and headed back toward town. "We have all day now. We need to do laundry and bake some bread, but we have a little time to go to town. Do you want to go see Aunt Ruby and pick out some fabric for a new dress?"
"Oh yes! I need another dress. I only have one that fits me."
"I know. We'll find something pretty, and I can have it made in just a couple of days." Opal was thrilled to not be working for Dr. Iris any longer. She'd loved the job, but it was time for her to take care of her family now.
They bypassed the house and went to the mercantile, browsing through the yard goods. It took them twenty minutes to settle on a pretty green calico. "It will match your eyes," Opal said with a smile. "And you have the prettiest eyes I ever did see!"
"I do?" Florence's face lit up at the compliment.
Lewis was at the cash register, and they paid him for the fabric. "Ruby around?" Opal asked.
"She's upstairs. Go on up."
"Thanks, Lewis." Opal took Florence's hand, and the two of them climbed the stairs behind the store.
"I didn't know there were stairs here!" Florence said, her voice full of surprise.
Opal laughed. "This is where Ruby and her family live. Do you want to know a secret about my sister, Ruby?"
Florence nodded. "What?"
"She's going to have a baby. And I think it's going to be twins. Two babies. I always wanted us to have twins."
"What's a twin?"
"A twin is when a mama has two babies at the same time. Ruby and I are twins. We have the same birthday." They stepped into the kitchen and saw Ruby kneading bread. "Some twins look exactly alike, but Ruby and I don't."
Opal (Orlan Orphans Book 3) Page 6