Sophia Sasson - First Comes Marriage

Aaarrghh! This was useless. Her shoulders sagged; it had been a long day and she was tired. Why was she trying so hard? This was a bad plan. Perhaps Raj was right and my expectations are too high. Tears stung her eyes, and she turned to walk to the cottage. She didn’t want to give Jake the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

She felt him grab her hand as she passed him. A jolt sizzled through her arm, and she froze, unable to explain the energy vibrating through her.

“Listen—come inside, have a cup of tea. I bought you a box of English breakfast when I went into town earlier.” His voice was soft, somewhat apologetic.

A cup of tea did sound good. She could come up with a new plan, a way to salvage her ruined trip.

As she walked into the kitchen, Meera noticed the warmth, the smell of food mixed with dish soap. Pots and pans were laid out to dry on the butcher-block counter. Noisy clanks came from a dishwasher. She ran her hand over the large wooden dining table, where everyone had been eating breakfast earlier. It was scratched and dented in several places.

“I need to sand and restain this old thing.” She looked up to see Jake’s eyes following her.

“I like it—the table has character. Mum’s kitchen is always polished, not a pot or pan in sight. Her appliances are those quiet ones that make this really eerie vibrating sound. We have a formal dining room where we eat, which feels a little sterile sometimes.” She touched the dents in the table, enjoying the sensation of the little dips in the wood. “This feels like a home.”

He smiled. “It is home, at least for the month you’re here.”

She felt as if someone had wrapped her in a warm blanket on a cold day. She liked the sound of a noisy, cozy home.

He walked into the pantry and came out holding a kettle and a box of tea bags. He handed them to her, and she noticed his lips curve shyly at her thanks. He could be a sweet man, when he wanted to be.

She went to the sink and poured water into the kettle. She would take a private moment to drink tea and think about what to do. To her surprise, Jake sat down at the table. She set the kettle to boil and pulled out two cups.

“I have a teapot somewhere, but I couldn’t find it.”

She gave him a small smile. “I can make do.” She steeped the tea in the mugs then poured some milk and a little sugar into both, the way she liked it. She handed him a cup, and he took a tentative sip.

“This isn’t half-bad. I think my mother took her tea this way.”

His mother? She wanted to ask but decided not to.

“Listen, I know I’ve been giving you a hard time, but don’t worry. The town will come around.”

She shook her head.

“That’s what I thought this morning, but I don’t think they will. Dr. Harper had me go talk to Marty Jenkins about why Derek couldn’t play. Marty just told me he hit his head all the time when he played and nothing happened to him. Then I went to see Derek’s coach, who said Derek had to toughen up and that if I didn’t clear him, he’d make sure I couldn’t show my face anywhere in Bellhaven.”

Jake’s eyes crinkled, turning an interesting shade of green.

“The icing on the cake was when I walked into a locker room full of half-naked teenagers and had to cover my eyes while they snickered at my explanation.” She took a breath. “I had no patients all day. All my appointments canceled, and everyone who walked in refused to even let me be in the room while Dr. Harper examined them. I sat around doing nothing.”

He laughed. “Oh, give it a couple of days and something else will rile everyone up.” He looked at her with warm, reassuring eyes, tempting her to believe everything would be okay.

“Hardly. When the town loses the football game, it’ll start all over again.” She ran her finger around the rim of the cup, feeling the cracked edge. “The grocer wouldn’t let me buy tea. The diner was all out of veggie burgers and any other nonmeat items, and I got a ticket even though I was parked legally.” She sighed wearily. “They hate me.”

He pushed his chair back and stood up. She turned to see him put a pan on the stove and take food out of the refrigerator. “I’m still a vegetarian, you know.”

He laughed. “I’m making you a grilled cheese sandwich, your highness.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She wasn’t used to someone taking care of her. Growing up, she’d had an army of servants at her beck and call, but she never asked them to serve her. She’d often gone without a snack when hungry, too ashamed to ask the cook to make her something. “Thank you. I appreciate it...you have no idea how much.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, I don’t want you fainting on me.” She sipped her tea and watched him sizzle butter in the pan. She felt herself relax as the warm liquid went down her throat. “On top of it all, Rose seems to think I’m going to take over Dr. Harper’s practice.”

“Well, Dr. Harper has been talking about retiring. His wife is getting worse, but there’s no other doctor in town.”

“I told her I don’t have my sights on his practice—I plan to go back to London to run my father’s clinic.”

“Yeah, they think you’ll like it so much here, you’ll stay. I mean, who would leave the good old US of A to go back to colonial times.”

She pursed her lips to bite back a retort. He was trying hard to keep up the pretense of being a surly rancher; she wouldn’t engage in his ribbing.

“Besides, if you haven’t noticed, I’m the town’s most eligible bachelor and they figure you’ll fall in love with me and never leave.”

She couldn’t help but scoff. He thought a lot of himself. “Well, she has nothing to worry about. I’m getting married a few weeks after I return.” She winced. Her marriage wasn’t a secret, but for some reason she didn’t want to discuss it with Jake.

Crash! Startled, she turned and saw the pan on the floor. Jake recovered quickly.

“Sorry...handle slipped from my fingers. Don’t worry, I saved your sandwich.”

He set a plate down. She picked up the sandwich and took a bite. This is the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. She let the buttery bread and soft cheese melt in her mouth.

“Mmm. Thank you!” She saw him staring at her, his green eyes darkening to brown. She felt herself blush and looked down at her plate.

Jake sat down and splayed his fingers over his half-empty mug.

“I heard something about a fiancé, but this town has a way of embellishing.” He gazed pointedly at her hand. “You don’t wear a ring.”

She chewed slowly. “In Indian culture, the engagement is part of the wedding festivities. My parents wanted it to be the first party of the two-week celebrations.”

“Two weeks?”

“I’m their only child—they’ve always spoiled me.” She kept her eyes on her plate. Her mother had been planning this event for over a year. She was quite upset at the timing of Meera’s trip, but Meera hadn’t wanted to put it off. She needed to do this before the wedding.

“So tell me about your fiancé.” His tone was casual, but there was something new in his voice. She searched his face, but he was studying the table.

“Raj is a family friend. We’ve known each other since we were children. He’s also a physician, and his family is also from India originally, but we both grew up in the UK. We have a lot in common.”

“Is he also a vegetarian?”

She laughed. “Yes, he is. We are very well suited to each other.”

A shadow flittered across his face. “Well suited. That’s an interesting way to put it. Do you love him?”

She frowned. What a strange question. But suddenly her mouth was dry. She took a sip of her tea and rubbed her temples.