Page 120 of The Giver of Stars
‘To see …’ she swallowed ‘… if we had …’
‘You had what?’
‘Done it,’ she whispered.
‘To see if you had done what?’
She threw her hands up to her face and wailed, ‘Oh, why are you making me say this?’
‘Just trying to understand the facts of it, Alice.’
‘If we had done it. Married love.’
Fred put down his glass. A long, painful moment passed before he spoke. ‘You don’t …know?’
‘No,’ she said miserably.
‘Whoa. Whoa. Hold on. You don’t know if you and Bennett … consummated your marriage?’
‘No. And he wouldn’t talk about it. So I have no way of knowing. And the book told me some things but, to be honest, I still couldn’t be sure. There was a lot of stuff about wafting and rapture. And then it all blew up anyway, and it’s not as if we ever discussed it so I’m still not sure.’
Fred ran his hand over the back of his head. ‘Well, Alice, I mean – it’s – uh – pretty hard to miss.’
‘What is?’
‘The – Oh, forget it.’ He leaned forward. ‘You really think you might not have?’
She felt anguished, already regretting that this would be the last thing he remembered of her. ‘I don’t think so … Oh, Lord, you think I’m ridiculous, don’t you? I can’t believe I’m telling you this. You must think –’
Fred stood up from the table abruptly. ‘No – no, Alice. This is great news!’
She stared at him. ‘What?’
‘This is wonderful!’ He grabbed her hand, began to waltz her around the room.
‘Fred? What? What are you doing?’
‘Get your coat. We’re going to the library.’
Five minutes later they were in the little cabin, two oil lamps burning as Fred scanned the shelves. He quickly found what he was looking for and asked her to hold the lamp while he flicked through the heavy leather-bound book. ‘See?’ he said, jabbing at the page. ‘If you haven’t consummated your marriage, then you’re not married in the eyes of God.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning you can have the marriage annulled. And marry who the hell you like. And there’s nothing Van Cleve can do about it.’
She stared at the book, read the words that his fingerunderlined. She looked up at him, disbelieving. ‘Really? It doesn’t count?’
‘Yes! Hang on – we’ll find another of those legal books, and double-check. That’ll show you. Look! Look, here it is. You’re free to stay, Alice! See? You don’t have to go anywhere! Look! Oh, that poor damn fool Bennett – I could kiss him.’
Alice put down the book and looked at him steadily. ‘I’d rather you kissed me.’
And so he did.
Forty minutes later they lay on the floor of the library on Fred’s jacket, both of them breathing hard and a little in shock at what had just transpired. He turned to her, his eyes searching her face, then took her hand and raised it to his lips.
‘Fred?’
‘Sweetheart?’
