"Was he as handsome as Mary said?"
"Did he try to touch your breast?"
"Where did he take you?"
"How tall is he?"
All sorts of questions are spit at Alexa as soon as she returns to the cottage before night fall. Her father sits back, pretending to read his daily newspaper. He only reads the newspaper during breakfast, and Alexa knows that. Valentina is in front of her five other daughters, her eyes wide with hope that her daughter will marry soon.
"Why is everyone so concerned about my outting?" Alexa asks back, avoiding any and all curious looks from her family.
"You are the last one!" Lillian exclaims. "We are all married already. Even Mary is engaged to be married."
Alexa turns her attention to Mary. She was never informed of her sister's engagement. Her upbeat mood plummets. Sadness coats her in a thick blanket.
"Congratulations, Mary." Her voice is emotionless, despite her meaning her congratulations. Mary is a beauty, just like Alexa and all the women in the Hayden family, it's no wonder she engaged so fast. She had been seeing a man of the same class, a market man. He's sweet looking with a round face. Him and Mary sure do match.
Alexa enjoys teasing her sister about not being married, but secretly she loved not being the only unwed sister. Now that Mary is going to marry the market man Alexa is indeed the last Hayden sister to find a husband.
"I didn't want to take away from your big day," Mary says, almost in a pleading voice, "please don't be angry."
Alexa shrugs, picking at her red stained nails. Lillian did them for her the night before.
"There was nothing big about today. I met with Grayson Ryker, that's all."
"But--."
"I am not angry with you, Mary. I am upset that I am last to know. I will get over it."
"Alexa--."
"Congratulations, again, Mary."
Alexa races to her bedroom and gently shuts her door. She undresses from the tight pants and bodysuit, undoes her hair, and pulls a home dress over her naked body.
Grayson was a perfect gentleman, the kind that sticks in your brain for days on end. Alexa drops onto her hay bed with a content smile. Grayson has invited Alexa for an early morning breakfast come daylight. Excitement fills every pour on her body.
➖✖➖
Grayson never enjoyed living alone. His home is medium sized with far too many bedrooms and not enough people. He always imagined by twenty four he'd come home to a wife and children, but at twenty seven he's unwed and childless. That's one of the reasons he insisted on a child foot marked woman. Most men do not crave the child foot marking, it only means child after child. But Grayson smiles towards the possibility of having a dozen children.
He sets his work down, gazing sadly at his office. It reflects his entire home: masculine, boring, lifeless. He wants a wife that will add color to his life, give him children to messy up his home, have dinner repaired for him before he sets foot in their home.
He needs a child's foot.
Meeting Alexa seems like a breath of fresh air. She doesn't care for his wealth or his power, she wants to talk. She wants to get to know the person Grayson has hidden behind his money. The way she'd just listen to him speak about his mother, a market woman, and his father, a soldier who died many years ago, fascinated him. He had forgotten women could be so gentle, so compassionate, so trusting.
She opened up to him about her likes and dislikes and Grayson knew he had to see the beauty again. Inviting Alexa for an early morning breakfast is going to be the best thing he's done in years, he just knows it.
