“He wants a fifteen thousand pound settlement."
"Fifteen thousand!"
"He says you're a great deal of trouble."
She hesitated for one startled moment before choking back a laugh.
"I am."
"I thought so." He leveled Drew a look. "If I pay you the fifteen thousand, do you swear to keep her?"
Drew reared back his head. "Forever?"
Her father scowled. "Forever."
"Oh, I suppose." He gave a long-suffering sigh. "If I must."
She bit the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing outright.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“She hated Mr. Meanie. But she'd gotten to know him and they'd reached an understanding of sorts. Now she was to have him for supper.
"Don't tell me you're feeling guilty?"
Breaking off a piece of the wing, she brought it to her lips and took a bite. It did taste good. Very good.
"I wonder if all grouchy males are this palatable."
Drew choked.
She looked up, tilting her head.
"Are you all right?"
He turned a dull red.
"Eat your supper, Connie.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“That first scream, my lord, was indeed your daughter, my wife, and if you kill me, your grandchild will be quite without a father. Won't you come in?”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“You were kidnapped not?"
"I was kidnapped."
"You were forced not into marriage?"
"I was forced into marriage."
"You want not an annulment?"
"I want not an annulment.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Their daughter scrunched up her hands and legs, waving them wildly in the air. He opened his palm, allowing the babe to kick his hand.
"Is she like a puppy?"
Constance choked. "What!"
He looked up. "Will she get her spots later?"
Laughter bubbled up from within her as she playfully whacked him on the shoulder.
"Yes. Yes, I'm afraid she will. As soon as the sun touches her skin, the freckles will appear."
A delicious two-dimple grin spread across his face.
"Good. I find I'm rather partial to freckled redheads.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“You next," he said. "Out of those clothes and into bed."
She nodded but didn't move from Sally's side. The thought of undressing exhausted her. Where would she find the strength such a task would require?
"I'm filthy. I'll ruin the new bed."
"I'll bring you some fresh water."
"I've no clothes to change into."
His grin was downright wicked. "I know."
A short laugh escaped her.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Where are you going?"
"To get my Bible."
"Right now? You can't get your Bible out right now! I'm, I'm, we're just about to..."
She'd never be able to go through with this if he got out his Bible. She wiped all humor from her face.
"I believe you. Proverbs 5:18. Rejoice, relish, and romp with your husband."
He chuckled. "I'm serious, Connie, and I won't have you feeling ashamed or unclean over anything we do in that bed, tonight or any other night."
"I won't. I feel unashamed and very clean. I promise. But please don't get out that Bible."
"What? Think you that God can't see us right now?"
Groaning, she slid off his lap and covered her face with her hands. He sunk to his knees in front of her, drawing her hands down.
"I love you. You love me. We are man and wife. God is watching, Connie, and He is very, very pleased.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Thought you didn't like red hair."
One of Drew's dimples kicked in as he draped an arm about Grandma's shoulder.
"Must have me confused with someone else, but I'm not surprised. Seems to happen to most of the older set at some point or other.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Bitter disappointment pushed tears from her eyes.
"Now what's wrong? I said you could wear it."
She drew in a shaky breath.
"I w-wanted you to l-like my dreeessssss."
He moved his gaze over her.
"The gown makes my mouth water, love.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“You could have arrived atop a wildcat and no one would have said a word. They will adore you.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Look. Isn't he beautiful?"
Drew's expression softened. "Ah, Nellie. He's bald, pink, and has no teeth. What's so beautiful about that?"
Nellie's laugh tinkled out like musical chimes while she covered the babe back up.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Lord Randall barreled inside, brandishing his cane in Drew's face.
"You beggarly knave, I was told this marriage was in name only! Who gave you permission to consummate the vows?"
"Theodore Hopkin, governor of this colony, representative of the kind, and it's going to cost you plenty, for that daughter of yours is nothing but trouble. What in the blazes were you thinking to allow her an education?"
Drew bit back his smile at the man's shocked expression. Nothing like landing the first punch.
Lord Randall furrowed his bushy gray brows.
"I knew not about her education until it was too late."
Drew straightened the cuffs of his shirt.
"Well, be prepared to pay dearly for it. No man should have to suffer through what I do with the constant spouting of the most addlepated word puzzles you could imagine."
-----------------------------------------
"I require fifteen thousand pounds."
Lord Randall spewed ale across the floor. "What! Surely drink has tickled your poor brain. You're a FARMER, you impudent rascal. I'll give you five thousand."
Drew plopped his drink onto the table at his side, its contents sloshing over the rim. A satisfied smile broke across his face.
"Excellent." He stood.
"When will you take her back to England with you? Today? Tomorrow?"
The old man's red-rimmed eyes widened.
"I cannot take her back. Why, she's already birthed a child!"
Drew shrugged. "Fifteen thousand or I send her AND the babe back, with or without you.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Oh, they'll never believe a woman could solve such puzzles. They'll just assume I'm humoring you by editing it myself and allowing you to put your name to it."
She raised her eyebrows. "But you wouldn't be."
He humphed. "They'll never hear me admit it."
"I will," she said, a smile curving her lips.
He shrugged. "They'll believe me, not you.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Sneezeweed, Drew?"
He grinned. "Jealous?"
"Surprised."
"Remind me, and I'll have a talk with Gerald. Give him a few tips."
"Promise?"
"Absolutely.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Ho! Wise men say, 'He who hath not a good and ready memory should never meddle in telling lies.'"
Drew smiled. "I have a good and ready memory.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“I give up, God. You made me. You know how I am. I cannot keep my distance. Nor can I keep those I love alive. Only you can do that. Only you are God. I give over. I fall prostrate before you. What you see fit to bless me with I will rejoice over. When you takest away, I will turn to you for solace. For you are the one and only God.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
“Drew had never before shot like he did that day, nor has he since. It was something to see. The contest had just begun when he walked up, aimed, and felled a cluster from the very top of the boughs.”
― Deeanne Gist, quote from A Bride Most Begrudging
Deeanne Gist
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“In time, in time they tell me, I’ll not feel so bad. I don’t want time to heal me. There’s a reason I’m like this. I want time to set me ugly and knotted with loss of you, marking me. I won’t smooth you away. I can’t say good-bye.”
― China Miéville, quote from The Scar
“He laughed. “You’re actually kind of cute. You should totally wear that your first day of school.”
― C.L. Stone, quote from Introductions
“Why are there so many shadows in the world, Kate? Shouldn’t there be just as much light?”
― Victoria Schwab, quote from This Savage Song
“Human beings don't work like this in China. Time goes slower there. Here we have to hurry, feed the hungry children before we're too old to work. I feel like a mother cat hunting for its kittens. She has to find them fast because in a few hours she will forget how to count or that she had any kittens at all. I can't sleep in this country because it doesn't shut down for the night. Factories, canneries, restaurants - always somebody somewhere working through the night. It never gets done all at once here. Time was different in China. One year lasted as long as my total time here; one evening so long, you could visit your women friends, drink tea, and play cards at each house, and it would still be twilight. It even got boring, nothing to do but fan ourselves. Here midnight comes and the floor's not swept, the ironing's not ready, the money's not made. I would be still young if we lived in China. (1983: 98)”
― Maxine Hong Kingston, quote from The Woman Warrior
“To lose one’s name is the beginning of forgetting.”
― Keith Donohue, quote from The Stolen Child
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