An Inconvenient Marriage. Christina Miller

her story may have been more complex than his. Perhaps he understood less than he thought. “What happened to the rest of your family?”

      Clarissa gazed into the sky, the waning sun setting fire to the gold flecks in her eyes. “When I was twelve, yellow fever hit the town just after we arrived in the spring. My father came down with it first, then Mother.”

      Her voice dropped, and he leaned toward her to catch every nuance. “Then she went away to heaven.”

      Her sigh came from someplace deep within, a slight duskiness now shadowing the tender, fair skin under her eyes. Samuel shifted a fraction closer to hear her low voice. “And then what?”