Jade Star - Catherine Coulter [44]
“You may kiss her now, Saint,” Dwight said.
Saint dipped his head and gently touched his closed lips to hers.
Mrs. Baldwin, a placid, plump woman, hugged Jules, and to Dwight’s surprise, Jules said with some of her old enthusiasm, “I’d forgotten how beautiful your garden is, ma’am. The kukui, bananas, guava, kou—”
“Don’t forget the grape arbors,” Saint added, giving her a tender smile. “Surely, Mrs. Baldwin, you remember what a naturalist Jules is. Have you any new plants to show her?”
“Figs,” said Mrs. Baldwin. “If you like, Juliana, we can serve you some at the wedding dinner.”
Jules turned wide eyes on her hostess. “Wedding dinner? But there is no one to come.”
Dwight said easily, though he thought he actually felt her pain for a moment, “Of course we’re having a celebration dinner, my dear. You and Saint have many friends here. True friends, you know, remain just that.”
“I do not wish,” Jules said to Reverend Baldwin, “for you to be in disagreement with my father. It could not be comfortable for you. You have already done so much for me . . . for us.”
He wanted to tell her that he thought her father was the most unnatural creature imaginable, but he didn’t. There was no reason to upset her further. “I will be just fine, Juliana. You are not to worry about anyone save your new husband, and I think the poor man is becoming faint from hunger.”
“I agree,” Saint said. “You are to talk about me, my empty stomach, and not about the Baldwins’ garden.”
Jules took him at his word, and to his consternation, began to tell the Baldwins about his fine and selfless work in San Francisco.
“I think that soon you will be as noble as your nickname, Saint,” Dwight said with a crooked smile sometime later in the crowded Baldwin parlor. “You’ve got yourself a fine woman.”
“Yes,” Saint said, looking over to where Jules stood speaking to several local Hawaiian families. “I never thought this would happen, even two days ago.” He shook his head. “Life is bloody strange.”
Dwight laughed. “I’m just glad you weren’t already married. Then we would have been in the stew!”
Saint said before thinking, “No, marriage wasn’t for me. I . . .” He broke off suddenly, a flush rising on his cheeks.
Dwight patted his arm. “You’ll think differently—quite soon, I would imagine. My, my, look who is here.”
Thomas DuPres, dressed in his Sunday black suit, stood uncomfortably in the doorway, his hands nervously picking at the rim of his hat.
Saint, without another word, strode to his new brother-in-law and extended his hand. “Thank you for coming, Thomas,” he said.
Behind him he heard Jules’s soft voice. “Thomas!” He stepped aside and watched brother and sister embrace, Thomas awkwardly patting Jules’s back.
Saint said quietly, “After everyone has left, Thomas, why don’t you stay awhile? We can talk. As for you, my dear,” he continued to his new wife, “would you care for a glass of punch? I’m sure Thomas is also very thirsty.”
Before the evening was over, Saint was approached by two ships’ captains. Captain Richards of the Occidental said, “Wilkes has been a thorn in my side for years, Saint. David Gascony and I were talking. When we get to San Francisco, we’ve decided to look the bastard up and—”
“And what?” Saint asked, touched and amused by their concern. “There’s nothing any of us can do, unfortunately. If you and John made a fuss in San Francisco, my wife’s reputation would be seriously damaged, and she would be hurt even more than she has been here.”
“Damn,” said David Gascony. “I hate to think the bastard will simply get away with it!”
“At least,” Mark Richards said, stroking his full whiskers, “you didn’t let her bastard of a father get away with his rotten words, blast him.”
Dwight Baldwin said, humor lacing his deep voice, “I agree completely, Mark. Would you believe it? Etienne