Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule Read Online Free PDF Page B

think it’ll be safe?”
    “Miss Dent.” He turned to her, his expression calm and confident. “I’m sure that it’s perfectly safe. I wouldn’t suggest we cross otherwise.”
    Julia took a deep, tremulous breath and nodded. He chirruped to the horse, which obediently approached the bridge. Just as the horse was about to set hoof to plank, Julia blurted, “If anything happens, I’ll cling to you. I won’t be able to help it.”
    “I’m duly forewarned.” Lieutenant Grant shook the reins, the buggy lurched forward, Julia shrieked and clutched his arm—and then they were on the other side, having splashed over the sturdy planks in less than a minute. The buggy quickly climbed a gentle slope and the sound of rushing water faded behind them.
    “We should be safe now,” the lieutenant remarked, grinning.
    With a gasp, Julia immediately released his arm and scooted a modest distance away.
    “I didn’t mean you had to go so far,” he protested. “I want you always to cling to me when you’re afraid. I want you to cling to me always, and I will to you, whether the creek is high or low, forsaking all others.”
    “Lieutenant Grant—”
    “Julia, I love you.” Never had her name been spoken more tenderly. “Without you, life would be unbearable. I promise I’ll always care for you, and keep you safe, and make you as happy as I know how. Will you be my wife?”
    “I—” Breathless, Julia pressed a hand to her chest. “I don’t know what to say.”
    “Then say you’ll marry me.”
    “I think it would be charming to be engaged, but to be married—” Julia shook her head helplessly, tears springing into her eyes. “Oh, no, indeed! I would much rather be engaged.”
    “You do know that one usually leads to the other, don’t you?”
    “I do, of course.” She took out her handkerchief and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “I just think that being engaged would be much nicer than being married.”
    He nodded and fixed his eyes on the road ahead. “Well, then,” he said after a while, “bearing in mind that I hold to the time-honored custom of engagements culminating in marriages, would you consent to our engagement?”
    “Yes, yes, of course,” she said. “I’d be delighted to be engaged to you.”
    He took her hand, raised it to his lips, and held it for the rest of the drive, his fingers interlaced with hers.
    The wedding was lovely, although Julia was almost too distracted to notice. She fairly burst with her secret, and when her family arrived, she was so worried they would guess the truth before she could properly prepare them that she avoided them until the attempt became comically ridiculous. Lieutenant Grant—Ulysses, she should think of him now—would not dance, as ever, but he seemed to enjoy watching her whirl about with other partners, perhaps secure in knowing that forevermore he would partner her everywhere else.
    After dinner, he took her aside and quietly brought up the subject of marriage again. He wanted to fix a date, preferably soon, but Julia demurred, knowing that Papa liked Ulysses well enough as a man, but as a son-in-law—well, that was something else altogether.
    After that, the rest of Ulysses’s leave passed with bittersweet swiftness. On the day before his departure, he accompanied Julia out to the flower garden, where she untangled rain-battered stems and separated the blooms. With no one to overhear, they spoke quietly and heatedly about their fledgling betrothal. Ulysses wanted to marry without delay; Julia argued the merits of a long engagement. He wanted to speak to her father and set a date before he left for Louisiana; she quaked at the very thought. “Please don’t speak to Papa yet,” she begged. “He’ll raise objections. I know he will.”
    Eventually, reluctantly, Ulysses conceded, but he refused to keep their engagement secret indefinitely. He would write to Colonel Dent upon his arrival at Camp Salubrity, after Julia had prepared him. “When