Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
“ G ood night, Mommy,” Lavinia said.
Charity swallowed before she replied, “Good night, Lavinia.”
She walked out of the door, breathing a sigh of relief. She had held up rather well, she thought, considering that she had a pretty huge shock at the beginning of the evening.
She and Wilson had been married a month.
She’d woken up smiling over their anniversary, although still frustrated because their relationship seemed to be going nowhere.
He still slept downstairs on the couch, only on his couch now that they’d moved, and she slept upstairs in the room that used to be his bedroom but now was solely hers.
She supposed this was what she got for agreeing to a marriage of convenience.
Although, she couldn’t blame it all on that.
It was very difficult to find time alone without the children.
They got up early, and while they didn’t go to bed super late, by the time she got them in bed and tucked in with all the stories and drinks and bathroom runs and changes of clothes and baths, she was exhausted. She assumed Wilson was the same.
She just couldn’t wait to go into her room, close the door, and try to process what she learned tonight.
“I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes.” Wilson’s voice came down the hall, and she turned, not seeing him there at the top of the steps in the dark.
“Of course,” she said. She wasn’t mad at him. Not really. She was more mad at herself. For being so stupid. Hoping that they would have something more than just a friendly relationship; she should have known better. She didn’t even know what she wanted.
She just knew that she wasn’t expecting to hear that Wilson was the one who had made sure that her children had gifts and who made sure that she had money for groceries and who had brought her electric bill current so that her lights didn’t get turned off.
It was embarrassing, of course, but more than that, she felt betrayed, because she hadn’t known.
Wasn’t him marrying her taking the Secret Saint thing a little bit too far?
Why hadn’t he said anything? Surely he could have told her, “Hey, I’ve been doing some nice things for you, one more nice thing I’d like to do is to marry you. ”
Of course he couldn’t say that.
“Today is one month since we got married,” he said softly.
“I know. I woke up thinking about it, but then the kids got up, and I never said anything to you. But happy anniversary.”
It was like a teenager, who celebrated the anniversary of going out with her boyfriend, except she was married. And she didn’t know her husband any better than a teenager might know that boy she was dating. Less probably.
“I got you something. I am a little nervous, because I wasn’t sure whether you’d like it. And actually there’s something in there for me too.” He handed her a little box. It was a jewelry box, and her heart stirred while her hand went to her mouth.
“Aren’t you going to open it? Are you going to leave me here nervously wiping my hands on my jeans and praying that you like it indefinitely?”
“You’re nervous,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Yes. I thought long and hard about this, and I almost took you with me to pick them out, but I wanted it to be a surprise. You don’t get too many of those.”
She didn’t. But she’d had a different surprise tonight. One that wasn’t nearly as good. She needed to talk to him about it, but she didn’t want to ruin this moment. He was making it so sweet.
Admitting that he was nervous, wanting her to like it, wanting her to have a surprise. She really couldn’t complain about any of it. In fact, it was also very considerate of him.
She slowly opened the lid of the box, savoring the idea of a gift. They hadn’t exchanged gifts at Christmas. She hadn’t even known that he was going to be in her life, when she had thought about shopping, not that she had any money to buy anything.
And she assumed the same was true for him, since there had been a gift from the Secret Saint saying…that had been him. She shook her head, and then pushed the thought aside. She’d take that up with him in a minute, but first, she wanted to appreciate whatever it was that he had gotten her.
He said there was something in there for him, and so when she opened it and saw a set of wedding rings, she wasn’t exactly surprised. But the diamond ring that winked beside them just threw her a bit.
“Wow,” she breathed, touching them gently with her finger, like they were going to feel like anything other than cold metal and stone.
“I ask your friend Kyra what your finger size was. She didn’t know, but she took her best guess. They might not fit, but the jeweler said he could resize them.”
“Oh. I… I wanted a ring, but I hated to ask, because… It seemed frivolous with all the other things, and that’s something that you never even talked about—the expense of taking on five children and a wife.
Your grocery bill might only have doubled, but there are so many other things that have to be bought. I’m sorry.”
“It’s what I want to spend my money on. Trust me. I thought long and hard about it, and I couldn’t think of anything more worthy.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that.”
She looked up at him, and he seemed to know what she meant because he nodded, and then he said, “Want to see if the rings fit first?”
The thought went through her head that maybe he was giving her the rings to butter her up because he knew that there was going to be a confrontation, but she shook the thought aside immediately.
Of course he wasn’t doing that. He couldn’t have gone to the store and bought the rings after he heard her finding out about him being the Secret Saint.
And she believed him when he said he wanted to do it to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
It all made total sense, and she needed to just accept his words at face value. After all, she wanted him to accept her words the same.
He had gotten her ring out first, the diamond. It wasn’t huge, but it sparkled in the light and was nicer than anything she ever had, including the diamond ring that she sold once her husband had left her. It had bought groceries for a week.
She didn’t get nearly what they had paid for it, but groceries had been more important than rings at that point in her life.
“It fits perfectly.” She held her hand up, admiring the way the band looked on her finger.
“I’m pretty sure the diamond goes on first? Or is it the wedding band?”
“I think the wedding band goes on first.” She really wasn’t up on all those things, but that was the way she had always seen them.
“Then, here, take that off for a second and let me slip this on first. They should look good together, because they were a set.”
He didn’t say anything else as she slipped the diamond ring off, and he slid the wedding band on her finger.
She went to put the diamond ring back on, but his hands met hers and he grasped the ring in her fingers. “May I?”
“Of course,” she said.
“With this ring, I thee wed. Forsaking all others, I pledge my life to you, until death do us part.” He spoke the words as he slid the ring on her finger, similar to the vows they’d spoken at their wedding, but these came from his heart.
They made tears prick in her eyes. She swallowed hard, staring down at her hand but not seeing it.
He’d been better to her than anyone in her life had ever been.
He treated her well, had stood by her, even when her kids had been a disaster, had chosen to marry her when his life would have been so much easier if he hadn’t.
Had taken her children as his own. Had given her everything she needed, and told her that whatever was his was hers too.
He hadn’t said a word when she rearranged a few things in the kitchen and had gladly given up his bedroom so that she could have it while he slept on the couch.
“They’re perfect,” she said with a slight tremble in her voice, but she looked up and smiled at him to let him know that there was nothing wrong. “Can I put yours on?”
He nodded.
She took the ring, fingering it for a moment, knowing it would fit because he had bought it, and wanting to do the same for him that he had done for her.
She took his hand and slid the ring over his finger, wriggling it a bit as it got stuck on his knuckle. “With this ring, I thee wed. I pledge my life to you, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”
The light in the hall was bright enough for her to see his teeth glint as he smiled.
Maybe she held his hand a bit too long, but somehow their fingers twined together, and he turned a little, and she took a step closer, his free hand coming up and pushing back the hair away from her temple as his lips came down and he touched them to her forehead.
“Thank you,” he whispered, and she didn’t know why he was thanking her.
“It’s me that should be thanking you. These rings are beautiful. I’m honored to wear them.”
“No. Thank you for pledging your life to me. A good woman is rather to be had than great riches. You’re worth more than any material things to me. You, and your children, our children, have filled a spot in my life I didn’t even know was empty. I just wanted to thank you.”
Maybe that was what the rings were. A thank you for all the things he just said.
She hadn’t gotten a chance to try to figure it out or unentangle it and explain to him that she was the one who was grateful, and he said when he pulled back a bit, “I wanted to apologize for the way you found out about the Secret Saint tonight.”
It all came rushing back, the betrayal, the clenching of her chest as she realized that maybe he hadn’t lied to her, but he had definitely kept something from her that was rather important.
She didn’t say anything, but involuntarily her fingers clenched around his.