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“Oh dear.” All amusement disappeared from Mrs. DuVere’s face. “Why don’t you come in and sit a spell, and you can tell me about it.”
Mercy glanced at the jailhouse but didn’t see any movement. Gray would probably be occupied there for a little while, so she nodded and followed Mrs. DuVere into her establishment. The madam took the dress from her and gave it to Pearl to put away and then motioned Mercy into an alcove in the parlor.
She glanced around, taking in her surroundings. Mrs. DuVere had ridden into town with experience and money and spared neither when she had set up her place. “No reason we can’t be refined even out in the middle of nowhere,” she always said. The house was comfortable and ornate, full of plush furniture, gleaming wood, and warm, rich colors, but opulent enough to suggest high-quality for everything from the food and drink to, well, anything else that might be desired.
After a few minutes, one of the maids brought in a tray with a teapot, delicate china cups and saucers, and a plate of delicious-looking cookies that had been at the wedding two nights before.
Mrs. DuVere poured and handed Mercy a brimming cup with three lumps of sugar—just as she liked it—and then settled back in her chair with her own cup. She took a sip and sighed happily. “Okay. Now that we are settled, tell me all about the wedding night. And don’t spare any details.”
“I…don’t know what there is to tell.”
“Oh, come on, now. Judging from the smile on your face and the slightly stiff way you’re walking, my guess is the honeymoon has been a success.”
Mercy choked on her tea. It wasn’t that she was necessarily surprised by what Mrs. DuVere said nor was she that embarrassed that the other woman knew what she had been spending the last few nights—and days—doing. She wasn’t even surprised or dismayed by the directness of the question. That was simply Mrs. DuVere’s way. They had just never discussed such things before. Truthfully, she had never discussed such things, at least in detail, with anyone before.
Then again, there had never been a reason to discuss such things before.
“It…has been surprising,” Mercy said.
“Oh really.” Mrs. DuVere selected a cookie and dunked it in her tea. “In what way?”
Mercy crinkled her brow. “I don’t know. I guess…well, just watching him around the house. I can’t get him out of his chair without a gun and a bucket of water. He’d rather nap than do anything else, except eat maybe, so I guess I just didn’t expect him to be so…”
She paused, struggling to find the right word.
“Enthusiastic?” Mrs. DuVere suggested.
Mercy giggled. “Dedicated.”
“Well, that sounds promising.”
“It was,” Mercy said, her body running warm with just the thought of the things they had done between those sheets. And out of them.
“And afterward?” Mrs. DuVere asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, my second husband, Leonard, God rest his soul, made love like a tiger and then promptly rolled over, farted, and fell asleep. Every time.”
Mercy clapped a hand over her mouth and laughed.
“Martin, my first husband, was more of a cuddler. I’d have to wait for him to fall asleep and then push him away to get any sleep myself.”
Mercy considered that for a second. “We cuddle a little, I guess, but mostly we talk.”
Mrs. DuVere nodded solemnly. “I knew you’d be perfect together. And he’d be perfect for this town.”
The small kernel of hope that had been planted in Mercy’s chest when Gray had wandered into her life that first day grew even stronger. For someone who seemed so bound and determined to remain aloof from everyone and everything, he was certainly putting down quite a few roots.
“We didn’t have a chance to discuss it before the wedding,” Mrs. DuVere said, “but are you planning on having children?”
Mercy looked at her, surprised, and Mrs. DuVere hastened to add, “I know that it’s none of my business, but depending on your wishes, ignorance isn’t bliss. There are a few things you should know sooner rather than later.”
“Oh. I haven’t given it much thought. Haven’t really needed to before.”
Mrs. DuVere gave her a wry smile. “Probably not something youneededto give much thought to before. However, now that you’re a married woman with a, as you put it,dedicatedman in your bed, it might be something you want to decide.”
“I don’t know,” Mercy said with a small frown. “Children…” For a moment, a vision of a brown-haired little girl running around her yard, chasing a grumpy, rumpled little boy flashed through her head, and she smiled. “I guess having children might be nice. Someday. Though with things the way they are with Josiah, and with things between Gray and me so new… I suppose if we could wait at least a little while it would be nice. But surely that’s not up to us.”
