Alex and Eliza: A Love Story(86)
Bouncing on the balls of his feet like a besotted schoolboy, Alex crossed both hands over his heart. “More than any man has ever loved.”
The dim light flickered across Eliza’s shoulders, and Alex felt his blood rise tight under his skin. It was time for this soldier to rally. “Indeed, the truth is, Mrs. Hamilton—you take my breath away. What ever shall we do about it?”
Unbuttoning her white satin gown, Eliza let it drop to her feet.
ELIZABETH SCHUYLER HAMILTON stood next to her husband as he skimmed rocks across the Pastures’ frozen duck pond. A nearby flock of geese rose from the riverbank and squawked at the two of them, switching directions in midair at the sound of Alex’s sliding another rock across the ice.
She dug her gloved hands into her hips and turned her pretty face toward the afternoon sun. “They must think I’m going to bake them into a pie!” Alex laughed as the birds disappeared in noisy protest.
Eliza had never seen Alex quite so happy and relaxed. She shook her head and laughed at the incongruity of it all: Imagine General Washington’s famous aide-de-camp taking the time to stop and admire the birds!
“One day, Alex, when you tire of being a soldier, we will spend all of our days just like this, watching birds and taking in the sun, surrounded by children of our own. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, my love?”
“Eliza, you and the Pastures have already taken a perfectly fine soldier and turned him into a lovesick pup. And at this moment, on this very day, there’s nothing and nowhere I would rather be.”
A WEEK INTO their honeymoon, Alex had confided to his bride that this was his first few days off in five years. As General Washington’s right-hand man, Alex was always at the general’s beck and call, expected to be ready to write or ride at a moment’s notice. Yet, here at the Pastures he was well away from his work-obsessed life. His days were tasked only with leisurely horseback rides and pulling his boots off by the fire, with Eliza reading at his side or challenging him to a shrewd game of backgammon. Surrounded by family for the first time in his life, he basked in the healthy glow of his wife and the entire Schuyler clan.
As Alex and Eliza spent the last few blissful days of their honeymoon traipsing through the snowy woods or adventuring out on that long-awaited open sleigh for a ride through the streets of Albany with loyal Hector out in front, their future stretched before them with all the hope and promise a new country had to offer.
And at last, the lonely young man who belonged to no one finally belonged to someone, forever, and the practical girl who would not settle for less than a love story for the ages found the lifelong romance she had yearned for all her life.