After they were finished, the rest of the people followed them to the reception where a live orchestra played while the guests either danced or ate their lunches.

They stood to the sideof the room and shook hands with people who wished to talk

with them.

“I hope your heart isn‟t hurting too bad, darling,” Mr. Sussex told her as he held onto her hand.

“I‟ll survive,” she politely said. She tried to pull her hand away but he wouldn‟t let go.

“You must go on with your life. I know you thought I was a young buck but the truth is I‟m seventy and probably old enough to be your grandfather. Take comfort in austin‟s arms.

He‟s a good boy.”

“I will try.”

“You must, sweetie pie.”

Austin hid his annoyance. He didn‟t care for the way old man Sussex kept slobbering over her. The man is a pervert. As he was about to politely interrupt Sussex , Jenny petty came up to him and put her hand on his arm.

“I am sorry that I didn‟t make my interest known to you sooner,” she cooed. “I never realized you would settle for any old thing.”

He tensed. Her father is wealthy. Don‟t blow it. “Now we both know you‟re much too pretty to settle down just yet. You need to let many men enjoy your dancing.”

Mr. Sussex finally left and Claire breathed a sigh of relief.

“Were you actually in love with Mr. Sussex?”

Jenny giggled, turning to Claire.

“What do you think?” Claire blandly asked.

“I think you did. You have such bad taste.”

“How fitting that such an observation would come from someone who thought nunel thorne‟s The Scarlet Letter was a printing shop.”

Austin coughed to cover his laughter. He didn‟t realize Claire had such wit but it pleased him that she did.

“I think I‟ve just been insulted,” Jenny pouted, looking at Austin .

“Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”“Yes, dear husband. Are you going to dictate how I talk to other people?” Claire pointedly wondered, staring at him in interest.

“I agree with my wife. You were way out of line,” Austin quickly responded.

Jenny gasped. “I can‟t believe you said that. I will tell Mr. Moore that he has a rude employee.”

He shrugged. “I don‟t care what you do as long as you apologize to my wife.”

“I‟d rather eat snake.”

“Wouldn‟t that be cannibalism?” Claire reflected.

She ran off, ready to cry on her father‟s shoulder.

Claire sighed. “I probably just lost you a customer.”

He chuckled. “Are you kidding? That was worth it.

Jenny‟s father isn‟t that prominent in this society, and even if he was, I wouldn‟t let his daughter get away with her comments.”

“Really?”

He noted that she seemed touched by his confession. He grinned at her. “Really. When people insult you, they insult me. I take it personally.”

“As rude as she is, she is harmless. I don‟t believe she will complain to her father. She‟s all talk.”

“But you insist that Jackson Moore isn‟t so docile?”

“No. He‟s up to something.”

He followed her gaze and saw Jackson talking with a few of the guests. From where he stood, Jackson seemed to be

engaged in innocent conversation. He wondered what it was that

Claire saw but he didn‟t.

“Congratulations, sis,” Tristan said.

“Have you actually met my family?” she asked.

Austin shook his head. “Not in person. Which brother is this?”

“I‟m Tristan . I‟ll be eighteen in March. I‟m almost a“Good for you,” Austin replied as he shook his hand.

“Boy, we didn‟t think she was ever going to find someone to marry. You sure did her a tremendous favor.”

“He‟s right,” another brother said, laughing. “I‟m hosea and this is my wife, marie. She‟s the light of my life and almost nine months pregnant. And over there, the boy and girl dancing like crazy on the floor, are Jamie and Teresa the ten year old twins. We‟re all tickled pink to have you join the family. We hope you‟ll be coming out to our place for Christmas. We begin celebrating on December 24 and don‟t stop until New Year‟s.”

“Oh good, here come Mother and Father,” clarie said.

“Despite your help, I was able to take care of the lace,” she told her mother.

“Lace is so pretty.” Her mother shook her head. “You were always such a tomboy.” She turned to Austin . “It‟s a good thing you chose blue and white for the wedding colors or else she would have taken down everything pink. When she gets started

on something, there‟s no stopping her.”

“She means well,” her father interrupted.

“Her heart is in the right place. Being the oldest child, we gave her boy chores on

the farm. I reckon that had something to do with her dislike of overtly feminine things. Though she is true woman deep in her

heart where it counts.”

“I‟m not applying for a job. Do we really need to have this conversation?” claire didn‟t hide her agitation.

“Uh oh. We‟d better scurry. She‟s gonna blow,” hosea half-joked.

They quickly dispersed.

“Thank goodness I‟m not the only one who gets you riled up,” Austin commented.

“They mean well, I suppose. They would do anything for me. When I was at the courting age, they tried to find someone

for me but none of the young men wanted a girl who knew more about taking care of horses and cattle than cooking and sewing.”“So you‟re a terrible cook?”

“I‟m decent at it. I can get by in the kitchen but it‟s not my favorite place. I‟d rather be reading a good book.”

“That‟s why you‟re a librarian?”

She nodded.

“I have a maid who cooks so you don‟t have to worry about that, and I do have my own library that you may check out.”

Her eyebrows rose in interest. “What kind of books do you read?”

“I have some biography, history, and science books but my enjoyment comes mostly from the classics.”

“Greek literature?”

“And Shakespeare. Along with others.”

“So when I referred to Nunel thorne‟s book, you understood what I was telling Jenny?”

“That was clever,” he admitted.

She smiled. “I didn‟t think anyone but Tristan would get it. He‟s as involved with books as I am.”

“It looks like the guests are done congratulating us.

Would you like to sit at the center of the table at the front of the room?”

“Alright.”

During the course of their lunch, Austin was pleased that the guests were well entertained and seemed to enjoy themselves. So far, everything was going along perfectly.

Mr. Bart walked over to him and shook his hand.

“You pulled off the first half of the agreement,” he said. “Now it‟s just a matter of waiting it out for six months. Remember, I‟ll be by at some point during the six months unannounced. I‟ll only intrude on your life for one week. Then at six months, I‟ll give you the rest of the money. Here is a copy of the amount due to you today. I know you consider marriage to be a pain, but she isn‟t that bad and she certainly is beautiful. Perhaps, you‟ll find her to be good company.“I‟m not holding my breath but thanks for the warm wishes.”

Mr. Bart said his congratulations to Claire and left.

Austin turned to her. “It‟s official. Here‟s the amount of money you‟ll find in your bank account on Monday.” He handed

her the piece of paper.

“I‟ve never seen so much money at one time,” she whispered. “Is it normal to feel some fear at the responsibility

when considering how to manage it?”

“If you‟re not used to it, it can be distressing.”

“Whoo hoo!” Tristan yelled as he took a look at the paper.

“You‟re loaded, sis.”

“Can you quiet it down a notch?” she snapped as she shoved it into her shoe.

Fortunately with the orchestra playing and people talking, very few people noticed his statement.

“There goes my big sister, barking out orders as soon as she can,” he said. “We love you, sis, but you are a real pill sometimes. So we got poor Mr. Hansworth here a „how-to-manual‟ on you. Here it is. William Shakespeare‟s The Taming of the Shrew.”

She gasped as he handed Austin the book.

“It gives you a process that‟s guaranteed to work,” hosea called from further down the table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy new year 🎊 🎊 🎊

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V.A 💙