Jennie Kissed Me (22 page)

“Mrs. Irvine knows how to do it,” Jennie said.

Mrs. Irvine turned a gimlet eye on me. “I trust we are looking at a wait of at least nine months for this son!”

“Really, Mrs. Irvine!” I gasped.

“Nine and a half,” Marndale said, unfazed. “It will take us two weeks to get the wedding prepared. Meanwhile, there will be no necessity for coal scuttles or any other foreign matter in our beds.”

“Indeed there will not, for I’ll lock her door and keep the key myself,” Mrs. Irvine announced in a voice of sour triumph.

“There is always the window and a ladder....” my fiancé said musingly.

“Marndale! Mrs. Irvine! For goodness’ sake. Are you forgetting Victoria?”

Victoria gave a precocious shake of her head, as if to say, what am I to do with these unruly children? I recognized it well, for it was a habit she had picked up from me. “A little decorum, if you please,” she said demurely. “I think this occasion calls for champagne. It will be served in the saloon in ten minutes. You will want to tidy your toilette, Jennie. Mama,” she added, with a smile. “Do you mind if I call you so?”

I took her hand and we walked toward the house. “Strictly speaking, I will not be your mama until Marndale and I are married. However, I see no harm in practicing.”

Marndale and Mrs. Irvine followed close behind us. I heard him say, “What was Vickie saying about twins?”

“Why, Marndale, I am surprised you don’t know. What you have to do—”

I didn’t bother trying to divert her. Enforcing social decorum was a job for a schoolmistress. I had to begin practicing the much freer manners of a marchioness.

Copyright © 1991 by Joan Smith

Electronically published in 2010 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads

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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.