Lucius tried his best to look strong and intimidating, however only achieved an only slightly horrified appearance. It had been four days since Ivy had agreed to marry him the next Friday, and he had only just gotten up the courage to discuss it with her father.

“Y…yes, s…sir,” he mentally cursed himself for stuttering like a fool. He rose up straight and clenched his fists at his side, determined to get Mr. Walker to agree to a wedding on such a short notice, “I am quite well enough, Mr. Walker. I have been resting properly and Ivy has been helping me, as you well know, sir,” Lucius cast a hopeful glance at Ivy, who was standing in the corner of the study, beaming at Lucius. He always thought it was funny how she could always tell where he was.

“Papa, Lucius is doing very well,” she grinned at her father, “All of his wounds have healed completely,” she walked over to where Lucius was standing and took his hand in hers, “I want to marry Lucius Friday, Papa,” she felt for her fathers arm in the chair and knelt next to him, “Please, Papa?”

Edward Walker looked sadly at his daughter. His only thought being, ‘I’m losing another one.’ Despite himself, he looked sternly up at Lucius.

“You may marry my daughter, Friday.”

Lucius, before he realized what he was doing, embraced Ivy’s father in a tight hug and Mr. Walker, sympathizing with the boy, knowing what it was like to be in love, patted him on the back in a fatherly manner.

“Well,” Edward said, a hint of melancholy in his voice, “I suppose you two should start planning that wedding! It’s right around the corner,” he said, rubbing his daughter’s shoulder sadly.

“Oh, Papa, thank you so much!” Ivy embraced her father and kissed his cheek before taking Lucius’s hand as they made their way to the entrance of the house.

“Ivy!” Kitty Walker called out to her sister, “Where are you and Lucius going?” she smiled at the couple and quirked her head, knowing that something was different. She wiped her hands (she had come over to help her mother do some canning in the kitchen) and cast a suspicious look at Ivy and Lucius.

“We are to marry!” Ivy replied dreamily.

“Well I know that!” Kitty answered, a slight annoyed edge in her voice.

“We are marrying on Friday, Kitty,” Lucius answered quietly; again, Ivy could hear the slight smile in his voice, which made her squeeze his hand happily.

Kitty’s eyes bulged and she squealed excitedly, “Oh, how wonderful! We have to make your dress Ivy! That’s only four days from today! Does mama know? What food is there going to be? Who are you inviting…” her rambling questions were ignored by the starry-eyed couple who were completely oblivious to anything around them.

Ivy shyly put her hand on Lucius’s face and kissed what she had thought was his cheek and was actually the corner of his mouth. Lucius’s face turned a charming pink and Kitty giggled incessantly.

“We should –ahem- really be going now, don’t you think, Ivy? We need to speak with the minister and such things. Um…I suppose we shall be seeing you later, Kitty,” he was quite relieved when Kitty bid them adieu and re-entered the kitchen.

Lucius quickly grabbed Ivy’s hand, pulled her to the front porch, and kissed her with such passion and happiness she thought she may explode! She wrapped her arms around him as he continued to kiss her deeply. She smiled into the kiss as she remembered that there was no way that there weren’t at least a couple of people watching them. Lucius knew that.

He didn’t care.

They continued to kiss and hold each other until someone very close by cleared their throat. Lucius reluctantly pulled his lips away from Ivy’s, but did not move away from her.

“Lucius, it is good to see that you are up and about and doing so…well,” Ivy blushed prettily and Lucius broke out in a cold sweat. The preacher raised his eyebrows and smirked slightly at Lucius as the younger man tried to regain his composure.

“Err…yes…uh…yes sir, I am feeling much better, thank you,” Lucius coughed slightly and Ivy had to bite the inside of her cheek to prevent the giggles she felt from becoming to obvious. “Ivy and I were just coming to see you, sir,” Lucius smiled at his bride-to-be, “We are getting married Friday, sir.”

“Well, well, well! How wonderful! What time would you like to marry?” the older man asked kindly.

Lucius looked at Ivy and she nodded at him assuringly, “Well, Ivy, how about around…four o’clock?” Ivy smiled and nodded enthusiastically at her future husband.

“That would be wonderful,” she sighed happily.

“Well, I suppose I will see you two on Friday! Again, I congratulate you!” with that, the minister entered the Walker home and Ivy erupted in giggles. Lucius couldn’t help but smile at her kissed her cheek and they went on to what was to originally be their second destination. Their new home.

“I believe some of the men are still working on the interior,” Ivy stated excitedly, “But I know it’s close enough to being done for us to move into it!” the smile on her face made Lucius’s knees grow weak, but they continued on their journey to the more secluded area of the village, where their home had been built.

When, finally, it was in site, Lucius smiled broadly and stopped their excursion to admire it from a distance. It was very similar to all of the other houses, except for one thing. It was theirs. It was white and the perfect size, not too large. If they needed more room, it would be added later. There was a decent sized shed behind the house and a fence that went surprisingly close to the woods that had three sheep and two horses in it.

“It is wonderful, Ivy…perfect,” he kissed her lips tenderly and they ran at a slow gait (because any faster would have been terrible for Lucius) to their new home.

Once they had reached it, Ivy ran her fingers over the wood of the siding and the intricate detail in the door, before opening the door and inhaling the fresh scent of somewhat newly cut wood.

“Ivy, the fireplace is amazing! It is huge and it is stone, rather than brick!” Indeed, the fireplace was a lovely sight. It was very large and was made of lovely grey and white stones.

“Oh, Lucius, I can’t believe this is where we will live our life together,” she hugged him close to her and smiled broadly, “I love you, Lucius.”

“And I love you, Ivy,” he caressed her cheek lovingly and placed a whisper of a kiss on her lips.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Who on earth…?” Ivy raised an eyebrow in the direction of the knocking and Lucius went to the door to see his mother standing on the porch of their new home.

“Hello dears, I thought I might find you here. I brought you some lunch,” she sat a large basket down on the lovely oak table sitting in the middle of the sizable room. “I ran into the minister, I take it Edward agreed to the wedding being Friday?”

“Yes, Mother,” Lucius smiled at his mother, slightly, “Mr. Walker agreed. We are to marry Friday at four o’clock.”

“Yes, I heard about the time from the preacher…I’ve already told half of the village,” she laughed heartily and Ivy smiled at her future mother-in-law.

“Oh, Ivy, I saw your mother, she said to tell you that when you get home tonight, she needs to have a talk with you about something,” Mrs. Hunt cleared her throat uncomfortably…she knew what the ‘talk’ was going to be about, “Lucius Mr. Walker would like to speak with you tonight as well.”

Lucius and Ivy were equally confused, but nodded and said that they would go speak with the Walker’s.

Alice remembered how thrilled she was when Edward agreed to talking with Lucius about the facts of life. Since she had no husband to discuss such things with him, she needed a respected man to talk to Lucius. He already knew a little bit…but only a very little bit.

“Well, some of the ladies are getting together to discuss the making of Ivy’s dress, so I’ll leave you be with your lunch.”

When everyone had had their fill and the baked apple cobbler had been devoured, Mrs. Walker asked Ivy to come help her in the kitchen to wash the dishes and Mr. Walker asked Lucius to his study.

Ivy and her mother were working in the kitchen scrubbing the dishes and bowls quietly and awkwardly. Ivy knew that something was wrong by the way her mother was moving around. Not calm and gentle as usual. She seemed high strung and nervous. That’s why Ivy was so relieved when she finally spoke…or at least she thought she was relieved.

“Ivy dear, there is something we need to discuss,” her voice was shaking slightly and she stopped what she was doing to focus her attention on her daughter.

“Is everything alright, Mama?” Ivy asked innocently.

“Yes my sweet, it’s just…” her voice trailed off and she sighed resignedly, “Ivy there is something you need to know about…marriage.”

“What is it?” Ivy looked very confused, which made her appear very childlike and naïve.

“Ivy, when two people get married, they share everything with each other,” Ivy nodded signaling her mother to continue, “And since they share everything, they share their home and a bedroom and…” she cleared her throat nervously, “A bed,” again, Ivy nodded, “And when people marry, they do…they have…they…” she sighed, frustrated with herself for not just telling her daughter the truth, “When people marry, they share their bed, and they do something in their bed to show each other how much they love each other…” she trailed off again and wiped her brow.

“What do they do?” Ivy asked shyly.

“Well –ahem- they get very, very close to one another,” Mrs. Walker rubbed her hands over her face and exhaled softly, “And they make love.”

“What is,” Ivy wrinkled her brow, “Making love?”

“Well, it’s where two bodies become one,” she replied, feeling a little more comfortable now.

“How do they do that?” Tabitha Walker mentally cursed her daughter’s curiosity.

“Well they take off their clothes and…” she trailed off…again, “God designed our bodies to make it possible,” she answered, “It’s really very nice…although it will hurt a bit the first time.”

“Alright Mama, thank you for telling me,” Ivy replied innocently, a bit worried at the idea of Lucius seeing her without her clothes, but she decided she would worry about it later.

With that, the newly educated Ivy and her mother re-entered the den and to greet a much shaken Lucius Hunt.

Edward Walker stared at a confused Lucius Hunt to the opposite of him as he pulled out his pipe and began to smoke.

“Do you know why you are here, Lucius?” he asked carefully, smoke escaping his lips.

“No, I do not believe so, sir,” Lucius replied nervously.

“Lucius, what do you know about…the facts of life?”

Lucius instantly flushed a very deep red and cleared his throat nervously, “I…well…I mean…I err…I know how a woman gets…enceinte,” his voice was notably shaking.

“Good. So you know what is going to happen the night of your wedding?” In truth, Edward Walker was very uncomfortable discussing this with his daughter’s future husband, but he knew that it had to be done.

“Yes, sir,” Lucius was blushing terribly now and squirming miserably in his seat.

“Lucius, I love Ivy very much,” Lucius nodded, “And I am exceedingly protective of her because of her…blindness,” again, Lucius nodded, as that was all he could do, “I will expect you to be exceedingly protective of her as well. She is very delicate, despite her rambunctious ness,” he added, chuckling slightly.

“I will take good care of Ivy, sir,” Lucius assured the older man, “I love her very much. I would give up my life for her, sir.”

Edward Walker smiled at Lucius and patted him on the back, before leading him from the study and back into the living room.

“Yes, sir,” Lucius replied politely.

“I’ll walk you out Lucius,” Ivy smiled at her fiancé and escorted him out to the porch.

“Goodnight, Ivy,” he kissed her lips soundly, “I love you.”

“Goodnight Lucius, I love you too,” a sweet smile graced her lips and he kissed her one last time before walking back home to his mother.

TBC!

Author’s note: Ok, I hope you all like it so far. This was the longest chapter I’ve ever written, I’m so proud of it! Please leave a review if you like it. Thanks so much!