Part 25 (1/2)
”Iait was after I'd shot the snake. I was afraid. I suddenly realized thet if somethin' happened to youathet I wouldasuffer terribly. Thet you were much more than aaprisoner thet I was bound to free. I loved you. I realized thet then.”
Ariana stirred dreamily.
”That's when I first knew, too,” she told him.
She turned and reached up to run a finger gently along the scar. ”And to think that I might have never met you. That you could have diedaas a baby. You know, I owe Will Russell so much. For saving you, then forafor kidnapping me.”
She giggled. ”That sounds like a silly thing to say, doesn't it? But itait turned out very welladon't you think?”
He nodded, his heart too full for an answer.
”You know,” went on Ariana, ”our backgrounds really aren't that different. Both orphans. Both lost our folks in an Indian raid. Rather ironica”or coincidentala”don't you think?”
Laramie nodded, his head bent over Ariana's.
”Well, all that's behind us. Nowanow we have the whole future ahead of us. We canacan make up for all the pastain the years ahead.” She sighed deeply.
”G.o.d has been good,” said Laramie.
”He has. Laramiea”” Ariana caught herself and laughed softly. ”You know,” she hastened on, ”it's hard for me toato switch to Burke. I like that name. Burke. It's just that I've always thought of you asaLaramie. Will you mind if I slip now and then?”
Laramie smiled good-naturedly. ”It's hard fer me, too,” he admitted. ”It takes some gettin' used to. I still have to stop and think when I go to sign my name or even when someone speaks to me. I guess we'll get used to it in time.”
Ariana nodded. ”It's hard to make a changea”as an adult.”
They stood in silence for a few minutes and then Laramie spoke. ”What if we keep the Laramie? It seems thetawell thet I owe thet much to myapa. He did do his best. He could have jest left me to die. It must have been an awful nuisance fer a man like himato raise a child.”
Ariana smiled. ”Mrs. Laramie Burke Lawrence,” she said softly. ”It sounds just fine to me.”
Laramie worked hard and saved his money for his upcoming marriage. They would not be wealthya”but neither was anyone else on the prairies. At least they would be together.
Ariana, too, was saving each penny she could from her small stipend as a schoolteacher. She was certain they would manage just fine. Her uncle Jake had given them a small parcel of land down by the creek and neighbors had promised a house raising just as soon as the crops were out of the fields. Ariana was fully confident they would have a snug little dwelling all their own by the time their important day in December arrived.
Her mother and father arrived two weeks before the wedding. Ariana was so excited when she met their stage that she thought she was acting like one of her first-graders.
”Oh, I'm so anxious for you to meet him,” she bubbled. ”I know that you're going to love him just as mucha”well, almost as much as I do.”
Her papa smiled and her mama held her close. ”I knew it,” she insisted. ”I could sense you were in love with him when we were here before.”
”Oh, Mama,” laughed Ariana. ”I scarcely admitted it myself then.”
”Well, I knew it. You can't hide the look of a girl in love.”
Ariana laughed joyfully. ”We're going to need to fix that gown,” she reminded her mother. ”Did you bring the satin?”
”Oh yes. I didn't forget. Perhaps Molly will do the sewing. She is much better with a needle than I am.”
Ariana fairly skipped her way back to the house. In only two short weeks she would finally be Mrs. Laramie Burke Lawrence. It still seemed like an impossible, beautiful dream.
”Ariana?”
It was Laramie who called.
”In here,” she answered, her cheeks flus.h.i.+ng with pleasure. She and her aunt Molly were busy at the kitchen table, studying the lace wedding gown, figuring just how to cut the satin for the new cuffs.
”I suppose we could undo this cuff and see just how it is put together. We would then have a pattern,” Aunt Molly was saying.
Laramie stood in the doorway. Ariana looked up and smiled.
”It's okay,” she a.s.sured him. ”I'm not superst.i.tious. You can see the gown before the wedding day.”
He moved forward then. He knew nothing about gownsa”but the gown that hung before him looked beautiful.
”You'll beawearing that?” he questioned, his eyes traveling from the gown to Ariana and then back again.
She nodded, excitement flus.h.i.+ng her cheeks and making her eyes s.h.i.+ne.
He reached for her hand. ”I had no ideaa”I mean, I've never seen a wedding gown before. I had no idea they were soasoa”
Ariana laughed joyfully. ”They aren'ta”always,” she admitted. ”It just happens that you are seeing theathe most beautiful gown in all the Americas.” She laughed again. ”It's speciala”even for a wedding gown. Imported lacea”right from Spain. Isn't it gorgeous?”
He nodded. ”I can hardly wait to see you in it,” he said quietly.
”Well, first, we have this little problem,” stated Ariana.
”What is that?”
”This sleeve. See how that other cuff is? It b.u.t.tons on. This one is missing.”
”Can you make another?” Laramie inquired with a shrug of his shoulders.
”Not to match. We'd never match the lace. So we have to make two new onesa”out of the satin. We're just trying to figure out if the cut is on the bias ora””
Laramie leaned closer and took another look. He frowned.
”Wait a minute,” he said as he reached to finger the material. ”I jest might have something to help you. I'm almost surea””
Ariana looked at him in surprise.
”In my ma's little chest. I saw a sc.r.a.p of materiala”almost like that. I don't think someone would notice any little bit of difference.”
Ariana's eyes took on a s.h.i.+ne.
”Could you get it?” she asked hurriedly. ”It would be wonderful if we could keep the cuffsa””
”I'll go home and pick it up,” he a.s.sured her. ”I'll be back in an hour or so.”
Laramie retrieved the small chest from its place of safety and flipped up the lid. He was anxious to get back to Ariana.
Hurriedly he put aside the small baby gown and fumbled through the hankies, searching for the bit of material he had seen in the box. He did hope that he hadn't inadvertently lost it.