Page 3 of My True Love Gave to Me

Anna spun around on the stool to face her mother, tears perilously close to the surface. "Herald Fielder only wants to marry me so he can inherit Daddy's newspaper. This is a business arrangement to him, nothing more. I want a marriage built on love, Mama, not on business. Don't you understand?"

Mama took her hands and pulled her out of the chair and into a hug. "Oh, my darling girl. Of course I understand. And I want that for you. Love and joy and laughter. Those are the things that matter most in a marriage. If you have those, you can endure any hardship. I've told your father as much."

"You have?" Anna pulled back, searching her mother's face. Maybe she did have an ally after all.

Mama nodded. "Mmm hmm. Though I didn't really need to. He values love just as much as I do."

"Then why—"

"Love is more than a mere feeling, Anna. More than the tickle you feel inside when you look at a handsome young man. Love is a decision. A commitment. It's the devoting of yourself to the well-being of another day after day, creating a lifelong partnership. Sometimes falling in love happens in a glorious rush. But sometimes it happens slowly over time, building little by little until you turn around to find it in full bloom."

"Like it did with you and Daddy?" Anna knew the story well. Her mother had been a mail-order bride. They'd married as virtual strangers with only a handful of letters to serve as courtship.

"Yes, sweetheart. Just like that." Mama smiled, a softness entering her eyes that spoke of enduring affection. "Love can grow like that between you and Herald, too, if you both commit to it."

"I'm sure it could if I hadn't already committed my love to Simeon." She stepped away from her mother and paced toward the window. "He's my best friend, Mama. My true love. I would sacrifice everything for him, as he would for me."

Though she prayed it wouldn't come to that. Leaving her family would carve a hole in her heart that even Simeon couldn't fill. But leaving Simeon? That would tear her heart completely from her chest.

"Tell me this," Anna said softly as she turned from the window to face her mother once again. "If you had already given your heart to someone who returned your feelings, would you have answered Daddy's advertisement even if it promised an easier life?"

Her mother held her gaze for a long moment before finally shaking her head. "No. I wouldn't have."

"Then don't force me to do so."

Mama sighed. "I won't go against your father in this, but I'll do what I can to plant seeds. To try to get him to see how much you and Simeon truly care for each other."

Anna ran forward and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist. "Oh, thank you, Mama. Thank you!"

Her mother returned Anna's embrace, squeezing tight. "Your father really does want you to be happy, sweetheart."

Anna closed her eyes, remembering Simeon's arms around her last night and his promise to think of something to change her father's mind.

I believe in you, Simeon. And I'm praying for you—for us—with all my heart.

"What do you like best about the newspaper business, Mr. Fielder?" Anna asked as she dutifully strolled along the path that led through the pasture behind their house to a small stream at the edge of her family's property.

"I thought we decided you would call me Herald." He smiled at her. A rather indulgent, hopeful type of smile. Not condescending or arrogant or any of the other traits she wanted to attribute to him. He truly wasn't a villain. Just a nice man who wasn't Simeon.

"You're right. Herald."

The man was about ten years her senior. Decent in looks and gentlemanly in manners. He dressed well and spoke with an eloquence that came from a refined education. Even now as he answered her question, expounding on the importance of objective reporting and the satisfaction that came from having his words read by others, she could find nothing objectionable in him. Had her heart not been otherwise engaged, he would, indeed, be a fine suitor. Yet her heart was engaged, and it wasn't fair to lead him to expect that anything would come of his visit.

The need to confess built inside her all the way to the stream, and when they finally arrived, it burst from her like a bullet from a gun.

"I'm not going to marry you, Herald."

The man blinked, his ever-present smile flattening a bit. "Did I propose? One would think I would recall such an event. Unfortunately, no such recollection is coming to mind."

Anna's cheeks heated. His kind teasing wasn't making this any easier. "I'm sorry. That must've sounded terribly presumptuous of me, but I want to be honest with you. I know that my father brought you here with the expectation of the two of us making a match. However, I've promised myself to another."

All teasing disappeared from Herald's face. He met her gaze steadily, his dark eyes serious. "Simeon Shepherd," he said. "I'm aware."

"You are?" And he still came?

He folded his arms across his chest. "Your father mentioned your infatuation with another young man. A farmer, I believe."

"If he reported it as a mere infatuation, I'm afraid he misrepresented the facts." Anna crossed her own arms, determined to make her position clear. "Simeon and I have been courting for two years. We plan to wed next fall." If the harvest proved profitable enough.