Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Seth pulled his pocket watch out for what felt like the thousandth time, saw that Annaliese had been catching up with her aunt for almost two hours, and tried to ignore the niggle of worry that had been plaguing him for quite a few days now.
He wasn’t exactly certain why he was still worrying because when he’d admitted—and in front of Annaliese, no less—that she’d captivated him from the moment he’d first laid eyes on her, something warm had settled in her eyes.
One would think that warmth would vanquish his worry since it suggested she might be somewhat captivated with him as well, but . . . she hadn’t said anything about discussing what he’d disclosed before she’d gone off to speak with her aunt and . . . that right there was worrisome.
“Something bothering you, Seth?” Flick suddenly asked, yanking Seth from his thoughts as the former strongman moved to sit beside the cannon Seth had been attaching a very long fuse to, and a cannon the captain had told him had been found buried in the sand.
“I’m just not sure I’ve put in enough fuse to where, if this cannon is faulty, it won’t blow us all up when I try it out.”
“Nah, I don’t think that’s what’s bothering you,” Flick began. “It’s Annaliese.”
“Why would you say that?”
“It didn’t escape my notice that the two of you don’t seem to be making much progress in the romance department, and that was after me and Miranda made a big show of getting engaged, which usually results with other would-be couples deciding to make their own big show.”
Seth frowned, but before he could say anything to that, Norma Jean came breezing up to join them, where she promptly sat down beside Flick and shook her head.
“Annaliese isn’t ready for a big show, Flick,” Norma Jean began as she leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees.
“Sure she is,” Flick countered. “No lady looks at a gentleman the way Annaliese looks at Seth and isn’t hearing wedding bells clanging in the near future.”
“Unless said lady proclaims—and this is something Annaliese proclaimed to Phoebe, and something that Mabel then proclaimed to me after I stopped talking to Phoebe—that she’s far too busy for romance.
” Norma Jean gave a knowing nod. “I just recalled Mabel telling me that while I was sorting through some silver pieces the captain found, but if I’d recalled it sooner, it would have allowed me to figure out Annaliese’s reluctance to discuss courtships days ago. ”
“I’m not sure where you’re going with that,” Seth admitted.
“It’s not steam-engine science,” Flick said before Norma Jean could respond. “Your sister’s simply trying to explain that Annaliese has been enjoying a sense of freedom ever since she landed in Chicago and probably doesn’t want to abandon that freedom even though she cares about you.”
Norma Jean beamed a smile at Flick. “That was exactly the point I was about to make.”
“Were you also going to tell your brother that Annaliese isn’t a conventional lady, and as such, the very thought of a traditional courtship might leave her feeling disconcerted?” Flick asked.
“I hadn’t gotten that far in my thought process,” Norma Jean admitted, “but you’re right.”
Seth frowned. “I don’t understand what Annaliese’s unconventional attitude has to do with anything since that’s one of the things I adore about her.”
“It has to do with everything if you haven’t told her that you adore that about her.”
His brow furrowed. “That would be an odd thing to blurt out, though, don’t you think? Annaliese might decide I’m odder than everyone even imagines if I suddenly declare I adore her unconventional attitude, especially if we’re in the middle of a conversation that concerns, say, bugs.”
“An excellent point,” Norma Jean returned. “That’s why I’m now going to suggest, to avoid Annaliese concluding you’re a lunatic, that you simply cut to the chase and tell her you’re in love with her and see what happens.”
“I didn’t say I love her.”
“Well, not out loud, but you know you do.”
Seth pushed himself to his feet, dusted the sand from his trousers, then held out his hand and pulled Norma Jean to her feet, who promptly quirked a brow his way.
“You’re not going to admit it out loud to me?” she pressed.
“Are you going to take to nagging me if I don’t admit that?”
“Indeed.”
His lips began to curve. “Well, since I definitely don’t want to suffer through a nagging session, fine. Yes, I am, indeed, in love with Annaliese.”
It was somewhat confusing when Norma Jean, instead of gloating, suddenly gave a less-than-subtle jerk of her head at something behind him.
“She’s standing right behind me, isn’t she?” he forced himself to ask.
“Yep.”
Drawing in a breath, he turned and found Annaliese standing a mere five feet away from him, a rather bemused expression on her face.
“Have a nice chat with your aunt?” was the only thing he could think to say.
“It was very nice, thank you.” She took a single step toward him. “Would you care for me to expound on what my aunt and I chatted about, or was there something else you might want to expound upon with me first?”
“I take it you overheard what I was just telling Norma Jean?”
She inclined her head. “I did, and I apologize for not making my presence known sooner, but I had no idea I’d stumble upon a conversation where you were declaring yourself in love with me.”
“I wasn’t actually intending on holding a conversation about love in the first place, but now that you overheard me, was there any, ah, response you’d like to make?” he asked.
Instead of answering him, Annaliese considered him for a very long moment until Norma Jean stepped directly up next to her and gave her a bit of a poke, which probably went against a whole slew of decorum rules, although it merely earned his sister an arch of a brow from Annaliese.
Norma Jean ignored the brow and gave Annaliese a nudge, which was slightly better than poking her. “This is where you’re supposed to tell Seth that you’re in love with him as well,” his sister whispered, although given that he could hear her, it was a rather loud whisper.
“And this is where I suggest you and Flick make yourselves scarce as there’s much your brother and I need to discuss,” Annaliese said instead of professing her love to him.
Norma Jean drew herself up. “I’m not making myself scarce because if you’re about to declare yourself not in love with my brother, I’m going to have a few words to say to you, whether that’s a departure from proper civility or not.”
Annaliese’s lips twitched. “And while it’s admirable you feel compelled to defend your brother, there’s no need.
I’m not going to say anything of a hurtful nature, but he needs to know, before we speak another word about love, that I’m not a conventional lady, and as such, I’ve decided I don’t want a conventional life. ”
“Excellent to hear” was all Norma Jean said to that before she grabbed hold of Flick’s hand and pulled him into motion, leaving Seth all alone with Annaliese a few seconds later.
“Excellent was not something I was expecting your sister to say,” Annaliese admitted as they watched Norma Jean and Flick disappear from sight before she nodded to a spot of sand. “Shall we sit?”
“Shall I assume there really is much to discuss since you want to sit down?”
After Annaliese sent him a nod, Seth shrugged out of his jacket, placed it on the sand, then waited until Annaliese took a seat on it before he sat down beside her.
“Do you really love me?” Annaliese asked before he’d done more than stretch his legs out in front of him.
He smiled. “I must admit that I do.”
She turned her attention to the ocean, considered it for a long moment, then returned her attention to him and released a sigh, something he found less than encouraging.
Bracing himself for the worst, he was surprised when Annaliese reached out, took hold of his hand, and gave it a squeeze.
“I’ve realized, and only recently,” she began, “that besides thinking about kissing you often, that I love you as well.”
All the air seemed to get sucked out of his lungs for the briefest of seconds until he realized that she wasn’t exactly looking like a lady who’d just declared herself as being in love. He gave her hand a squeeze.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I don’t want to be a conventional wife.”
“I know you wouldn’t want to be a conventional wife.”
Annaliese blinked. “And even knowing that, you still think you’re in love with me?”
“I know I’m in love with you, and one of the reasons I love you is because of your unconventional attitude, something I was just discussing with Norma Jean.”
“That almost sounds as if you were engaged in an in-depth conversation about me with your sister.”
“That’s because I was, and it turns out that Norma Jean is incredibly old for her years and lent me some sound advice, along with her thoughts on why you’ve seemed unsettled of late.”
“I am unsettled.”
“Because you believe I want a traditional wife?”
She nodded.
“But I don’t want that, nor do I understand why you think every lady has to have a traditional marriage when your own sister certainly doesn’t have that with Rhenick,” Seth said.
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“You should have because Drusilla never considered giving up her position at the academy when she agreed to marry Rhenick. And I know Rhenick never expected her to do that anyway as he knows that the academy makes Drusilla happy.”
He gave Annaliese’s hand another squeeze.
“That’s all I want to do, Annaliese. Make you happy, just as you make me happy by simply being you.
” He shook his head. “No one has ever literally snapped me out of my thoughts before, thinking, what with my odd mind, that my thoughts are too important to interrupt. But you don’t seem to hesitate to interrupt my thoughts, one of the first things I found fascinating about you. ”