A Bride for Adam

I found surprising. It’s not every day a beautiful woman with hair the color of buttercups flees from a ship and onto the wharf. Someone had to have seen you. Tully and Manny reported having the same experience. That’s when I got a strange feeling, and we ran back to the ship.”
 “You think me beautiful?” she asked.
“Definitely.”
Greta smiled coyly, before asking, “You seriously thought I’d leave the comfort of the ship to run among strangers?”
“I didn’t think it through. I wondered if, perhaps, you wanted to escape being with me.”
“Why would I want to escape you?”
“I’ve made things rough for you lately. I wanted to make you tougher and connived with Tully to give you more responsibility.
 “Sometimes you’re too nice. You let my mother boss you around...why, I’ve never seen you angry. I’m afraid if you don’t stay married to me, some other man will take advantage of your overly agreeable nature.”
“It’s too late for you to fear we won’t stay married. The attorney told me the annulment would take only a two or three weeks. I’m almost positive we’re no longer married.”
Adam put his hands on her shoulders. “We’re still married.”
“No, I’m sure we aren’t.”
“Before we left, I wrote a letter to Judge Matthews contesting the annulment. Now, it has to be settled in court.”
“What?” Greta pulled away from him. “How dare you?”
“I don’t want an annulment,” Adam said. “I have every right to contest it.”
“Well, I want it.” Greta turned and left the cabin, slamming the door behind her.
Greta headed for the galley where she found Tully, cutting vegetables. “Did Adam tell you to give me more responsibility?” she asked him.
Tully looked surprised and sputtered for a few seconds.
“He already told me he did.”
“Adam was concerned for you. He wanted me to ease you into being in charge of the galley, and you did a great job. I’ve watched you become surer of yourself and more independent.” Tully shrugged. “Seems to me, Adam cares for you more than you realize.”
~~~~***~~~~
Adam smiled. It had worked. Greta was actually angry. He should probably try to soothe her. He’d miss her company if she wouldn’t speak to him for the rest of the journey. How was he to get himself forgiven? He’d become fond of her, and he knew that he wanted to stay married to her because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and not just because of his promise to Seth. He had to find a way to let her know and hope to God she hadn’t already fallen in love with Tanner.
Greta was standing at the rail looking out at the sea when Adam came up on the deck. He leaned on the rail beside her. “I’m sorry,” he said.
She turned and looked him square in the eye. “There are things you don’t know.”
“Like what?”
“Things you would never understand,” she muttered, looking back out at the sea.
“Try me,” he said.
Greta shook her head.
Adam blurted the one thing he feared most. “Are you in love with Tanner?”
Greta swung her head around to look at him. “What?”
“Are you in love with that Tanner fellow?”
Greta laughed and shook her head. “I’ve never done more than speak to him on a few occasions. He asked if he could court me, and I told him I couldn’t court anyone until I annulled the proxy marriage. He agreed to wait.” She frowned. “And what if I was in love with him? What would that matter to you? Oh, yes, you’d fail to keep your promise to Seth.”
 “That was true, but—”
“No, don’t say it. Please leave. I need some time alone to think.”
“But you need to hear this,” Adam said.
Greta covered her ears with her hands. “Please, leave me alone.”
Adam left to go to the helm to put his maps in order. He’d accomplished his goal: he’d made her both angry and independent. She was fighting back, though he now wished he’d have left things alone. The look in her eyes was cold, and he knew he’d lost any hope of a life with her.
He went down to the galley. Maybe Tully would have some good advice. He seemed a wise man.
Tully looked up sheepishly when he saw Adam approach. “Greta knows about our plan. You told her?”
“Relax. I did,” Adam told him, “but our plan worked too well, and she doesn’t want to talk to me now.”
“What the devil happened?”
“She filed an application with her attorney for an annulment, and she just found out that I’m contesting it, and now it has to go to court.”
“Annulment? What kind of a marriage do you two have?” Tully asked.
“She married my brother, and he died on their wedding night.”
“Criminy!” Tully exclaimed.
“She was carrying my dead brother’s child, and my parents asked me to marry her. They wanted to keep the child in the family—which I can understand. I objected at first—I didn’t want to stop sailing—but when I thought about it, I knew I had to do it for my brother.”
“Ah, I think I’m catching on. Would that be why the rumor on the ship is that you two sleep apart?”
“Yes. We haven’t consummated the marriage.”
Tully clapped him on the back. “I should think you’d be relieved that your commitment to her is now null and void, and you can go back to your life on the sea.”
Adam fiddled with a green pepper on the cutting board. “There’s more to it than that—I’ve become fond of her, and there’s another man who’s waiting to court her.”
Tully rubbed his chin. “Then, you better start groveling. Tell her how you feel. Do you love her?”
“I’m not sure I know what love is, Tully. Have you ever been in love?”
“Oh, yes! It’s