Chapter 14
There was nothing left. The little home he just finished repairing, the little home they celebrated her move in, was so much cinder and ashes.
Bill wasn’t sure how long he sat on the grass, holding Junior as Ann sobbed uncontrollably beside him. When Junior began to cough from the smoke, he touched her back. “Ann.”
She pushed him away.
“Ann,” he said again more forcefully, “Junior is coughing from the smoke. We have to go. Please. Let’s get in the car.”
“And go where?” She turned on him, desperation written in every feature. “Who would take me in? Everything I own was in that house. Everything. Without it, I have nothing.”
She had him, he wanted to say. He was all hers. But this wasn’t the time.
“My parents will take you in. I’ll take you to their house. Please say you’ll go, at least for tonight. We can figure out what comes next in the morning.”
It was obvious what came next, at least to him, but this wasn’t the moment to propose it. “Come. Please come. For Junior’s sake if not your own.”
At last, that got through to her, and she pulled herself up, accepting his support as he walked her to the car. He eased her in gently. She was shaking all over. Shock. He’d seen it in the war.
“Will you be all right to hold Junior?” he asked, needing to make sure.
She nodded.
Hurrying to his side of the car, he started it as quickly as possible, driving away from the horrid scene.
On the short drive to Mineola, Ann rocked and wept silently by his side, clutching a fussing Junior to her breast. When they pulled up in front of his parents’ flower shop, he let her lean on him as they climbed the stairs. He used his key to let them in.
His mother came rushing out in her nightgown to see what was causing all the noise. She took in Ann’s grass-stained dress and the scent of smoke. “What in heaven’s name happened? Were you in an accident? Is Junior all right?”
“Everyone’s all right, but there was a fire while we were at the wedding, and…” Bill took a deep breath, steadying himself to deliver the news. “Ann’s house burned down.”
“Lord have mercy on us all.” Mum crossed herself and turned to Ann. “There, there, dear. Let’s get you cleaned up and into some clothes that don’t smell of smoke.”
Ann acquiesced in silence. She hadn’t spoken a word since Merrick.
“You can have the upstairs apartment until we get you sorted. Rory just moved out.” Mum went and got a nightgown. “This will be far too large for you, but better to wear this than the smoky dress you have on. Let’s get you settled upstairs.”
She helped Ann up and led her upstairs. With a little shake of her head, she discouraged him from following, so he stayed at the dining room table and waited, alone with his thoughts.
The path forward was clear, at least to him, though it might take some convincing on her part.
They needed to marry. It was the obvious solution, and, surprisingly, the idea didn’t scare him at all.
This was something he wanted, even if it was happening sooner than he thought.
He had planned to take his time wooing her and let her come around to the idea when she was ready. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
When Mum came back down, she made them both tea. “Son, far be it from me to rush things, but it’s clear as day what you need to do.”
So, Mum had reached the same conclusion.
It reassured him that she agreed. It would mean putting off his dream of starting a passenger flight business indefinitely.
After all, he’d need to use his savings to buy a house.
But it was a small sacrifice to make to give Ann her life back.
“I know. I’ll speak to her tomorrow. I didn’t want to do it tonight. She’s in too much shock.”
“Good.” She sipped her tea. “I know it’s soon, but I think you’ll be happy together. She seems like a sensible woman. She’ll see that there’s really no other option.”
That rankled. He didn’t want to win this way. “I don’t like being her last resort. I was hoping with time to convince her to marry me by choice. It bothers me to force her hand like this.”
Mum patted his hand. “You aren’t forcing her. Circumstance is. You’re saving her from total ruin.”
It was true, much as he hated it. He nodded and said nothing.
“You should go to bed, son. There’s nothing more you can do tonight. Come back tomorrow morning for breakfast, and you can settle things between you.”
Bill headed back to his apartment a few blocks away, changed out of his smoky clothes, and took a bath.
In bed, he lay awake, turning over the best way to approach the topic of marriage with Ann.
Her first instinct would be to balk, he was sure.
How could he convince her it was the best thing and that they could be happy together?
How could he ask without seeming like he was giving her no choice?
He slept restlessly, knowing the fraught conversations the next day would bring. In the morning, he woke with the sun. He’d been up and dressed for several hours when he headed over to his parents’ place.
When he arrived, Ann was wearing an ill-fitting shirtwaist and skirt that belonged to his mother and had obviously been pinned to size.
Even so, she looked breathtaking. Desolate, but beautiful.
She hardly spoke through breakfast. Bill stayed relatively quiet as well as he sipped his coffee and ate soda bread with butter and jam and scrambled eggs.
When the meal was over, he asked Ann if he could have a few words in private.
Together, they walked up to the third floor and sat in the sitting room on the sofa together. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Bill,” she said after a long silence. “My teaching position doesn’t start until September, and I don’t have enough money in the bank to pay rent.”
“Shh. Everything will be fine.” He held her hand and ran his thumb across the back of it in soft strokes.
“You don’t understand. I have no one to turn to.”
It stung that she thought that after the night before, but he squeezed her hand and tried to catch her gaze. “You have me.”
At his words, she looked up, brow furrowed. “Bill, you’ve done too much already. I couldn’t possibly ask more of you.”
Seeing his opening, he said, “Maybe I have something to ask of you.”
He watched as realization dawned on her. “Oh, Bill. You can’t mean…”
“Ann Prince, will you marry me?” He’d meant to ease into it, but the words tumbled out. And now his heart hung by a thread.
As she pondered his words, he could practically see the gears of her mind turning. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and she tried to blink them away. “Why would you marry a widow with a child and not a cent to her name—a woman who would be nothing but a burden to you?”
He took both her hands in his own and looked in her eyes. “Because I care for you, Ann. Deeply. And Junior too.” To tell the truth, he loved her, but he knew better than to say so.
She frowned at him and shook her head, blinking back more tears. “I’ve told you I’m not ready, that I may never be ready. I care for you, but my heart still belongs to Roger.”
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. It wasn’t easy to hear she loved a dead man more than him, even though he knew it was the truth.
“I’m sorry to put it so bluntly,” she said.
“I don’t want to hurt you. It’s beyond generous of you to offer your hand.
I can see how that might seem like a solution to everything, but I need you to understand the state of my heart.
It is bruised and battered and bleeding.
I don’t have the capacity to return your affection as you deserve.
Are you truly prepared to marry a woman who is still in love with another man? ”
It was no use pretending her words didn’t wound him to the core. He wanted her love, needed it, but it didn’t change his mind about what he had offered. If she was his wife, hopefully she would grow to love him in time.
“Ann, I can’t say it’s easy for me to hear that, but it isn’t a surprise either.
You’ve made yourself clear ever since we first met.
But I know my own heart and mind, and my offer stands.
Please marry me, Ann. Maybe someday your heart will heal, and you’ll learn to love me too.
I’m not asking you to forget Roger, just to be open to a future with me. ”
“And what about your dream of starting a passenger air service? Wouldn’t supporting a family eat into your savings?”
It was touching that she cared. The truth was that it wasn’t easy to put off his dream like this, but he knew it was the right thing to do. And she was absolutely worth it. “Don’t worry about that. It will just mean deferring things a while. But I would do it gladly for you.”
She looked at him long and hard, gritting her teeth.
“I’m not so foolish as to think I have any other options.
Marriage to you is a far better fate than being destitute on the streets with a child to care for.
I know you’ll be a good father to Junior.
” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“For his sake as much as mine, I have no choice but to accept your offer.”
Bill closed his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t the enthusiastic, romantic moment he dreamed of with her, but he knew it was the most he could hope for under the circumstances.
“I promise to be a good husband to you and a good father to Junior, come what may. We should go to city hall today. We can plan a religious ceremony for a later date. It will have to be a Methodist ceremony unless you want to convert to Catholicism.”
She shook her head.