“That I was Alanzan?” I finished.

Both looked embarrassed, and then Alice asked, “Are you going to convert after you’re married?”

“I hadn’t planned on it.”

“Then why go to the trouble of raising money for Westhaven now?” asked Henrietta. The Galvestons would’ve liked to go there as well but were waiting until the colony was more settled and required no charter fees. They hoped to earn money in gold in the meantime.

“For Cedric. I want him to be able to practice safely. And he’s very interested in taking up a leadership role there,” I explained. “Being a charter member would help with that.” Awkward silence fell, and I tried to fill it when it was clear they wouldn’t. “So. What does the Keeper of Roses mean?”

For a moment, I didn’t think they’d tell me. “It shows a man who works hard in his garden, protecting delicate flowers against harsh conditions. He’s ultimately rewarded with beautiful blooms,” said Henrietta.

I turned to Alice. “So for you, it’s symbolic of the pregnancy. You’re going through a lot of tough times now, facing a lot of hardships on this journey . . . but your baby will be born healthy and strong, ultimately flourishing as the roses do. I’d hope the card’s message could be extrapolated to your family’s all-around prosperity in Hadisen.”

Both women stared at me in astonishment.

“Was I close?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Henrietta at last. “Something like that.” Her eyes lifted beyond me. “Glen! Get down from there before you break your neck.”

The two young Galveston daughters were splashing in shallow water, but the younger son was trying to climb some of the rocky outcroppings that marked the beginning of the foothills and mountains. He wasn’t going to get very high free-handed, but I could understand her concern. He didn’t seem to hear.

“I’ll go get him,” I said. I rose, both wanting to be helpful and get away from the stares.

Glen had made impressive progress getting up, which only meant he was in more danger if he slipped and fell.

“Glen,” I said. “Your mother wants you. It’s too dangerous up there.”

He didn’t even look at me. “Just a minute. I’ve almost got another one.”

“Another what?”

He stretched his arm up to a small jutting of stone and whooped triumphantly. Then he scrabbled down like some kind of rock lizard. The front of his overalls had a huge pocket that was filled with rocks. He slipped his shiny new find in with the rest.

I beckoned him back toward his family. “Isn’t that heavy to carry around?”

“It’s for my collection. I’ve got dozens more. Did you know there are people—special smart people—back in Osfrid who study rocks all the time?”

“I do know that. They’re called geologists.”

“Geologists.” He said the word like he was tasting it.

“The king commissions them to travel and learn new things about rocks and minerals.”

“I’d like to do that. But once we’ve got enough gold for a farm, they say I’ll have to help work it.”

I patted his head. “Never assume you’ll have to follow the destiny someone else has planned out for you. And I’ll show you some other neat rocks.”

I walked him over to the shaded pond, where I’d previously noticed some small mottled pebbles. Glen was fascinated, and I left him to it, figuring he couldn’t get in much trouble. As I approached the others from the back of the shanty, I overheard Henrietta speaking to Cedric.

“—not my place, but are you sure that’s the best idea?”

“Of course it is,” said Cedric. “I love her.”

“That’s fine and well, but you’re letting yourself get charmed by a pretty face. Once you’re out of bed, you’ll see the real consequences. What are you going to do when you have children? I hope you’re at least going to make her convert.”

“No one makes her do anything. As for children . . .” Here, Cedric hesitated. “Well, we’ll get around to discussing it.”

“You’d better discuss it now,” said Francis. “It’s a serious matter. You’re an educated man with a business background—exactly the kind the Alanzans need to go forward and build respectability for the future. Founding Westhaven is the right way to do this. But how will it look if your own wife isn’t a member of the faith?”

“It’ll look like she has her own opinions and goes with them—just as we’ve been telling the orthodox we have the right to do. And the point of Westhaven is to welcome people of all beliefs. Alanzan or otherwise.”

The Galvestons weren’t convinced, and Alice finally concluded with, “Well, there’s a magistrate in White Rock who’s one of us. You should seek his counsel before you do something stupid. She’s a threat to your faith and a threat to our success.”

When I rejoined them, they all tried to act like nothing had happened, but didn’t do a very good job. It was time to wrap up their visit anyway, and we were all a little relieved.

“Oh, Glen,” exclaimed Henrietta when she saw his bulging pocket of stones. “What did I tell you about those rocks?”

“They’re for my collection,” he stated. “I’m going to be a royal geo-geologist.”

“A what? Never mind. We aren’t going to keep hauling rocks around. Leave those here.”

Glen obstinately stuck out his lower lip, and I quickly knelt down before him. “It is a lot to carry around. Why don’t you leave them here? I’ll keep them safe until you’re able to come back for them.”

He didn’t look as though he liked that idea, but he also didn’t like crossing his mother. So, the rocks were left in a small pile by the shanty, and we waved the Galvestons off.

“Don’t say it,” Cedric said, as soon as they were gone. “I know you overheard, and you just need to forget about it.”

“It’s kind of hard to forget being called a threat to you. Or hearing that our marriage would be ‘something stupid.’”

“No religion is truly enlightened. There are closed-minded people in all of them.”

I looked him in the eye. “What are we going to do when we have children?”

“Marvel at their perfection?”

“Cedric! Take things seriously for once.”

His smile faded. “I am. And as for kids, I don’t know. We’ll teach them my beliefs, and . . . whatever it is you believe . . . which I still don’t really know. And they can make their own decisions.”

“I don’t think your Alanzan friends will like that.” It was strange. There’d been so many complications in our relationship. The scandal of it even existing. Our money troubles. The danger surrounding him. But never had I imagined that I’d be the complication in his life. “I haven’t gone through all this—given up so much—just for you to get out of bed one morning and realize you made a mistake.”

“In that scenario, the only mistake would’ve been leaving your bed in the first place.” He took my hands and pulled me to him. “In all seriousness, this issue—our difference of belief—isn’t one that’s taken me by surprise. I knew from the instant I fell for you that we’d have this looming beside us. Beside us. Not between us. We will deal with it, and we will overcome it just like we have everything else.”