New Beginnings (New Beginnings Series) by Doreen Winona Logeot

neck, then whispered, “What kind of trouble can we get into in fifteen minutes?”
    Sara leaned her cheek back against his and answered, “It’ll be at least a couple of weeks before we can get into very much trouble.”
    “Two weeks, two months, whatever it takes, I can wait,” he said rubbing his beard against her cheek, but again the shudder ran through her. “Don’t like the beard?” he asked rubbing his chin with his hand.
    “I can’t imagine you without it.”
    “Neither can I, but if you think …”
    “No Sam, I’ll get used to it.” She placed her cheek back next to his and gently rubbed against it. “See, I’m getting used to it already.”
    Sam pulled her back over to the bed, “Well, if we have to behave ourselves, I guess we better get to know each other better.” Sara sat down, leaning against the wall and Sam placed his head on her lap. She ran her fingers over his chin, feeling the smoothness of his perfectly trimmed beard.
    “What do you want to know, Sam Fielding? What could possibly interest you about a poor peasant girl?”
    “I want to learn everything about you.” He took her hand and looked at it closely, slowly running his own fingers over hers, learning each part, her knuckles, joints, fingernails, every tiny scar. He stopped at her ring finger of her right hand, moving the two gold wedding bands around her finger. “Why two wedding bands? Why on your right hand?” He wanted to understand the real reason before any untrue thoughts might occur to him.
    “This one belonged to my mother’s mother. When she died, her ring was given to Mama. About nine years ago, when my mother died, my father sent me hers and my grandmother’s. I used to think someday I would give them to my daughter, along with my ring, had there been one.”
    “William didn’t give you a wedding ring?” Sam asked, searching the other hand.
    “He said we couldn’t afford it. He could spend money on other women, but he thought a ring was of no use.” Again Sara had the look in her eyes showing no emotion. “Oh well, I won’t have to worry about giving any of them to my daughter.”
    He wanted to ask about the other women William knew, but thought better of it for now. Well aware her husband was a good patron at his saloon, Sam wasn’t prepared to bring the connection so close to home yet.
    Sam took her fingers and kissed the tip of each, one at a time. He thought to himself, ‘we’ll change this … daughters … sons … we’ll change it all.’ But he reminded himself again it was what scared her most.
    They sat down for a late supper together. Sam set the table while Sara brought the meal from the oven. He couldn’t walk past her without running his hand over her arm, across her back or finally over her buttocks. She didn’t say anything, but it did make her smile. He set the plates beside each other and pulled two chairs close together.
    She looked at everything set so close, “How are you ever going to wait?”
    “Don’t worry about me. I could wait a year if it is what you want. As long as I can touch and hold you, I can wait.” He sat down in the chair next to the wall and pulled Sara down beside him, “Besides, we’ll have to be a bit more careful when we are in Brandon. Mary does tend to gossip a bit. I have thought of letting her go, but she is an excellent housekeeper. I’ve learned to be more careful around her, but I would think her imagination will be going wild by now.” He took a bite of his supper. “How did you do this? It’s good … really good,” he said as he placed more food on his fork and offered it to Sara.
    “A lot of practice,” she responded before letting him pamper her.
    As they ate their supper Sara started to ask, “What am I going to do in town?”
    “First, you are going to get back to feeling better. Take it easy … be waited on. Maybe you could work for Doc Brown. He said he asked you before.”
    “And where am I going to live?”
    “Well, until