Free Hand-Me-Down Princess by Carol Moncado Page B

Malachi sat down second, but he did not want to push her too much too quickly.
    He did want to kiss her again.
    So after both of them changed into pajamas, he did just that. Not long, but a short, sweet, kiss. He let her go to bed by herself, opting to read a book his father recommended in another room until she had a chance to get settled.
    He would sleep on top of the sheet again.
    The next few days followed a similar pattern. Things remained quiet and awkward during their time together. They went window shopping in town, but no matter what Malachi offered to buy her, Jessabelle was not interested. No shoes. No clothes. No jewelry. All she bought was a small key chain as a memento and she bought that herself while he was in another part of the souvenir shop. They spent two days skiing in the more northern portion of the country. Conversations there came a bit more readily, but mainly consisted of discussion about the resort or the skiing itself.
    They returned to the house in southern Ravenzario for two more days where Malachi found several emails from Lizbeth with items that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. He spent the next two days doing far more work and spending far less time with his bride than he wished.
    Finally, on their one week anniversary, he had a chance to spend a few minutes on Google, looking for conversation starter questions he could use to try to pull Jessabelle out of her shell, at least a little bit.
    He found some and read them carefully. No need to have notes at dinner. It had been an unusually warm day, so Malachi decided they should have their meal on the balcony outside their room. He held her chair for her as she sat down. He noticed that her appetite was much greater than he had thought that first night before she asked for help with the corset.
    As they neared the end of their salads, he started with one of the questions. “I want to get to know you better, Jessabelle. Would you answer questions to help us learn more about each other?”
    She pushed a piece of lettuce around her plate. “I can try, I guess.”
    Not ringing enthusiasm, but he would take what he could get. “All right.” He thought for a moment. “What’s your favorite childhood memory?”
    She seemed to turn that over in her mind. “I guess the last Christmas morning before my mother died. Mom had been sick for several days so Dad and I let her sleep in. I could see all of the presents under the tree, but I didn’t want to open them until she woke up. Instead, we took some presents we had bought to one of the orphanages in town. He knew the director, and they knew the presents were coming, but my mom was supposed to take them over and hadn’t because of the flu bug.”
    “Which orphanage?”
    Was she blushing? “The same one your family goes to on Christmas. I actually met all of you, very briefly, that day. I think I shook hands with everyone except your great-grandmother. She gave me a big hug.”
    Malachi grinned. “That sounds like Nana Yvette. None of us were rude, were we?”
    “No,” she answered slowly. “Not rude, per se , just busy. I was just one more in a line of people you would meet. Except for Queen Yvette.”
    “She is not queen anymore, you know?” he asked, amused.
    “I know, but what is her title? Your grandmother is the Queen Mother.” She’d been at the wedding, but had left town for the foreseeable future to be with a sick friend. “Is she the Queen Grandmother?”
    Malachi thought about that for a moment. “You know, I am not really sure, either. To me, she has always been Nana Yvette.”
    “She said something to me.” Jessabelle almost seemed to have forgotten he was listening. “She told me that I would always, always , be loved.”
    He reached over and covered her hand with his own. “I know we did not get married the way most people do, but I can promise you one thing. If my Nana Yvette said that, she meant it. You are my wife. I want to get to know you, to love