Page 62 of Short-Straw Bride

“What?” Cassie stood and unfastened the buttons of her dress.

“We’re finally going to be sisters.”

Cassie gave a little squeal, and Meredith barely had time to turn before she was assaulted by her cousin’s spirited embrace.

The trials facing them seemed to fall away as the two cousins giggled and prattled like a pair of adolescent schoolgirls while they readied themselves for bed. Once they’d scrubbed their faces, changed into their nightclothes, and crawled under the covers, however, reality started to creep back in. At least for Meredith.

Curled up on her side, she stared into the darkened room, her thoughts centered on Travis. Somehow she’d imagined he’d be the first one to share this bed with her. Not Cassie. Scrunching her pillow to her face to muffle her sigh, Meredith closed her eyes and waited for sleep to rescue her from her discontent. But it didn’t come.

Frustrated, she flopped onto her back, careful not to flail her arms. When Cassie wiggled closer to her edge of the bed, as if trying to give Meredith more room, the urge to confide in her cousin grew too strong to ignore.

“Are you awake, Cass?” Meredith whispered, promising herself that if her cousin didn’t answer she’d just bite her tongue and roll back over.

“Yes.”

A staggering relief flowed through her at the quiet answer—followed by a rush of nerves.

“Umm . . . Can I ask you a question?”

“Mm-hmm,” came the sleepy reply.

Cassie made no move to roll toward her, and Meredith relaxed a bit. Staring at the dark ceiling somehow made it easier to voice her secret fears.

“When we were talking earlier, you said that if you had your preference, you’d rather have a normal courtship with Jim so the two of you could get to know each other better. But if you were to marry him tomorrow, would you still want that courtship? I mean, before the two of you . . . you know . . .” Meredith closed her eyes as mortification poured over her in a heated wave.

“I’m not sure,” Cassie said, sounding decidedly more alert. “I enjoyed his kiss, so I’m pretty sure I would enjoy other aspects of . . . well, of married life, but I imagine it would be easier if we didn’t feel so much like strangers.” She fell quiet for a moment or two, then cleared her throat. When she spoke, her whisper was so low Meredith had to strain to catch the words. “What was it like with you and Travis?”

Meredith bit back a moan. “I can’t tell you, Cass.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s just that I don’t know what to expect, and Mama surely isn’t going to tell me anything. I’m not certain I’d trust her opinions on the matter, anyway.” Her words tripped over themselves trying to cover up her obvious hurt. “I just thought that since you and Travis were in much the same situation when you married that you might be able to give me some advice, but it’s much too personal, of course. I shouldn’t have—”

“Stop, Cassie.” Meredith rolled toward her cousin and laid her hand on her arm. “It’s not that I don’t want to answer your question. I wish with all my heart I could.”

“What . . . ?” Cassie squirmed sideways until she faced Meredith. “What do you mean?”

Meredith nibbled her lip as she summoned her courage. “Travis sleeps on a cot in Neill’s room.”

“Oh, Meri.” It was too dark to see, but it sounded very much as if there were tears in Cassie’s eyes. “I know how much you care for him. How awful. Why, I have half a mind to storm into that room and kick his sorry hide off that cot and onto the floor. The dog. How could he treat you so cruelly?”

A chuckle escaped Meredith’s lips as Cassie swung from sleepy little girl to sympathetic confidante to vengeful angel all in the course of a single minute.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You.” Meredith smiled into the darkness. “Travis hasn’t rejected me.” Although it was harder to believe that when she lay alone in the big bed with nothing but a spare pillow to hold. “He is trying to be chivalrous. To court me first.”

“So he’s kissed you?”

“Yes.” Meredith pressed her palm against her stomach as she recalled the heart-stopping kiss they’d shared by the creek.

“More than once?”

Warmth spread through her midsection as she thought about the kiss he’d given her that very afternoon. “Yes.”

Cassie shifted to a sitting position an instant before her pillow collided with Meredith’s face. “I hear that dreamy, besotted sigh in your voice, Meredith Archer.”

Meredith grabbed the pillow and retaliated, smiling in triumph when it plowed into the side of Cassie’s head. “No more than the way you sounded when you talked about Jim.”

“But I haven’t been mooning over Jim for half my life the way you have Travis. You’re tired of the chivalry, aren’t you?”