And he did. Lee told her all about his trip to Washington and his confrontation with Cassandra Millen. He didn't omit a single detail and when he finished telling Mary about that, he told her all about Jeannie Carraway, her father, Edwin, and his own father, Patrick.
Mary held him while he cried. And when Lee finished telling her everything in his past, Mary Alexander Kincaid helped her husband put it behind him. She helped him lay his ghosts to rest by giving him three little words.
"I love you," she said. "I love you."
And then she showed him just how much.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mary gave Lee her little silver two-shot derringer as they dressed for breakfast the following day.
"What's this for?" Lee asked.
"1 won't be needing it anymore," she told him, as she slipped on her chemise. "I can protect myself without it. I have you now and I have Barker too."
"But it was a birthday gift from your uncle."
Mary nodded. "1 got it for my fifteenth birthday and I'm giving it to you for my twenty-ninth. I don't want to run the risk of accidentally shooting you ever again."
"Are you certain about this?" Lee tucked his shirt into the waistband of his trousers.
"Completely. I'm not afraid of the dark anymore."
"I'll keep it for you," Lee said as he walked over to the bedpost and dropped the little gun into the pocket of the canvas duster hanging there. "But if you ever want it back, all you have to do is ask."
"Thank you," she said. "But I don't think I'll be needing it again. Let's save it for Maddy or our other daughters."
"Are we going to have more daughters?" Lee asked.
"Most definitely," Mary teased. "My husband and I have been working on it."
"You'll let me know when this comes about, won't you?"
"You'll be the very first to know." She sidled up to him and kissed his chin before entering the dressing room to get her lingerie.
"What are you doing in there?" Lee asked.
"Getting dressed."
"Not fair," he protested. "Come out where I can see you. Come out where I can watch you." He hurried out of the bedroom to the landing and retrieved the brown paper-wrapped packages he'd dropped last night when Mary had stopped him at gunpoint.
She returned to the bedroom with a corset and a pair of muslin drawers.
"Happy birthday," Lee announced, presenting her with one of the packages.
"What's this?" Mary asked. "First you, then Barker, now this?"
"Yep. Open it." Lee sat down on the side of the bed to watch her.
Mary tore into the package and discovered several pairs of white silk' and satin drawers. She held one pair up and realized they were much shorter than she was accustomed to wearing. In fact, all they covered was her bottom. They stopped above the thigh and didn't conceal her legs at all. They were soft and smooth—the silk ones nearly transparent and the satin ones, luxurious and delightfully sinful. She looked at Lee. "Why? How? Where?"
Lee chuckled. "The why should be obvious after last night and this morning," he reminded her. "As to how and where; remember when we arrived in Utopia? When you took Maddy to the necessary?"
"Yes."
"And you handed me your jacket with clothes bundled up inside?"