With a jolt, she realized where he was leading them. “River House,” she said. Kit was silently asking if that was all right.
Olivia hadn’t believed that her happiness could be increased, but it was. This was the day they’d sneaked over the stone wall to Camden Hall. Today they’d make the memory that Olivia had repeated with Elise. I mustn’t forget to leave my bra behind, she thought, and laughed again.
At the sound, Kit tightened his grip on her hand and began to run faster. When they reached the wall, Olivia knew how to get over it. The first time, Kit had been the one to figure it out, but this time she already knew and she couldn’t wait. Back then, it had been under twenty-four hours since they’d last made mad, passionate love. But this time, it had been over forty years.
She ran along the wall, ducking under overhanging branches until she reached the big limb that went over the side. She bent her leg for Kit to give her a boost up, then he vaulted up behind her. When they stood up, for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her, and her eyes flickered in anticipation.
Smiling, knowing what she wanted, he caught her about the waist and stepped past her to walk along the tree. But he didn’t kiss her.
“I’ll get you for that,” she said.
“That is my hope.” His tone was so suggestive that Olivia’s gasp made the leaves move.
When they were on the other side of the wall, Kit silently jumped down and held up his arms to catch her. As he swung her down, it was her turn to put her lips close to his, then turn away. He laughed in delight.
She knew where they were going, so she took his hand. To reach the bridge, they had to walk through water that was a lot deeper than it would be when she and Elise went through it. On the island, the ruins of the little building were still there, surrounded by trees and pretty flowers, all of them left over from when the estate was loved and lived in.
Stopping in front of the little building, she turned to Kit. As she started to say something, he grabbed her to him, his mouth coming to hers with all the passion they both felt.
In an instant, her clothes were discarded and his shorts fell to the ground. Before she could take a breath, he was inside her. Strong and fast, as only all-consuming desire—and youth—could make it.
Long, hard thrusts, so deep she thought they were hitting her heart. She was no longer a living, breathing person but something primitive, all feeling, with no thoughts.
It didn’t take long before the first round ended, then Kit picked her up, her nude body against his, and laid her down on a mossy bit of ground.
They made love again, taking their time, kissing and touching, stroking and caressing.
Exploring their young, beautiful bodies that were so full of energy and need.
When they fell back from each other, sated at last, the sun was low in the sky. This time around Olivia’d had a lifetime of being responsible for other people’s food and clothing and transportation, and with Alan, supporting the families.
“We should go,” she said softly, but she didn’t move. Her head was on Kit’s bare shoulder, her leg between his. Oh! The sweaty skin, the happy exhaustion. How had she forgotten all this?
“What’s happened to you?” Kit asked. “You’re different. What’s done this to you?” There was worry, maybe even fear, in his voice.
She took a long, slow breath to give herself time to think. If she was to make this permanent, that meant marriage. But how could she ask him to marry her? Should she tell him she knew about his secret mission that she wasn’t supposed to know about? Or tell him that it was possible she was carrying their baby? If it was true that she’d forget their alternate future, for the rest of her life she’d wonder if he married her because he felt he had to. “When are you going to leave Summer Hill? I was wondering because I have to go to New York soon.”
“About that.” His arm tightened around her. “I was thinking about... You see, I have something coming up but I don’t know exactly when it will be.”
When he said nothing else, Olivia looked at him. “That was clear. Now that we have that settled, we can go home. I need to cook—”
He didn’t let her go. “I’m here in Virginia for a reason.”
She was trying not to enjoy herself at his expense, but she was. Kit had told her how much he regretted not telling her about the mission he was to go on, and how difficult it had been to keep the secret from her. He’d said, “Back then, I thought my country was more important than you were. I was a fool!”
“And what would that be?” she asked. “Did Uncle Freddy’s family send you here to put some muscle on him?”
Kit didn’t smile. “I’m going away.”
“Oh? Anywhere interesting?”
“Olivia,” he said slowly, “I was wondering if you’d...”
She drew in her breath. Was this it? The moment she’d regretted not having for the last forty-plus years?
“Marry me before I leave.”
She drew in her breath at his words. This was different. It hadn’t happened the first time they did this. If it had, what would she have said?
Whatever the reason, this was what she wanted, but... There was something missing.
For one thing, where were the words of “love forever”? She felt herself hesitate. “We’re very young, you especially. And you have college to finish and—”
He rolled over so he was looking down at her. “I’m with the military. I can’t tell you any more than that, but they’ll come to pick me up and I’ll be away for a year. If you and I are married, they’ll tell you where I am. They’ll send my paychecks to you. They’ll—”
She lifted her head to kiss him. “Is this the only reason you want us to marry?”
Kit lay back down beside her. “You know how when you go to a car dealership and right away you know which vehicle you want? Maybe it wasn’t the one you thought you’d want but when you see it, you know.”
“Are you saying I’m like a used car?”
Again, he didn’t smile. “The day I saw you in that tight green dress and you sailed over the cabbages and ordered everyone around and cooked a second lunch just for me and—”
“You knew that?”
“You think the kids could keep that a secret?”
She laughed. “Of course they wouldn’t.”
“But it didn’t matter how you felt about me. Even if you truly believed I was a worthless boy, I still knew. You’re the one I want.”
Olivia lay on the sweet-smelling grass, looking up through the tree leaves to the sky, smiling. Kit had told her all this on their honeymoon, but how she wished she’d known it earlier. And why was it changing now? What had made him ask her this time around? It didn’t make sense. It was as though he remembered that they had been separated and he was trying to prevent that. “When?” she asked.
“Six weeks? Is that too soon?”
The military would come for him in half that time. “So you do know when they’ll pick you up?” She could feel the tiny stiffening in his body. He didn’t want to tell her more.
“No, I don’t. They said it would be in the fall.”
“What happens if we aren’t married before they show up?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I’ll go away and you won’t hear from me until I knock on your front door a year later.”
It will be three years, Olivia thought, then more time for him to recover from a vehicle turning over with him in it. She wanted to be there while he healed. She turned to face him. “Okay. Six weeks.”
Kit blinked at her a few times. “You’re saying yes? You will marry me? I never in my life believed—”
She lay back down. “Me neither. Especially with this unromantic marriage proposal. No ring, no one knee, no—”
She broke off because Kit had sat up and was now on one knee in the traditional proposal stance—which was awkward since they were both completely naked.
He picked up his shorts, put his fingers into an inside pocket, and withdrew what Olivia knew was his grandmother’s ring. It was so beautiful in its old-fashioned setting.