“Good morning!” Charlotte bubbled cheerily, putting her basket down on the ground. 

“Morning Charlotte!” the older woman behind the counter greeted in return, “What can I get you today?”

“The usual,” Charlotte instructed, and the old vendor, Ruth, grinned knowingly.

“Bringing that husband of yours lunch again?” Ruth questioned as she moved about her small stand in the market, collecting rolls, cheeses and meats to make a good lunch. 

Charlotte nodded, “He’s been working really hard lately. After Christmas he’s going to be teaching his own class instead of just helping out and he’s really nervous. He’s been dividing his time between his own school work, assisting at the primary school and coming up with a lesson plan for his class.”

“I can’t imagine primary school students would require much of a lesson,” Ruth chuckled as she packed everything into the basket Charlotte had handed her. 

“Well, no,” Charlotte admitted sheepishly, her cheeks blushing slightly, “His students are going to be around 5 years old, so it will mostly be reading and comprehension.”

“5 years old?” Ruth asked in surprise, “People sure are sending kids to school young these days!”

Charlotte laughed and put some money into Ruth’s gloved hand, “Some parents are putting their children in school at 3 or 4. Times are changing Ruth, you’d better keep up!” 

“I’ll do my best,” Ruth grinned, “Now go deliver lunch before he wastes away, and if I don’t see you two, Merry Christmas!”

“Happy Christmas,” Charlotte returned with a smile then set off walking back through the market. It felt a little bit more like an England Christmas than a Maine one. The weather was cold, but very mild; the sun even felt a little hot hitting her face. The winter’s previous snow storms had all but melted, leaving just a small layer of snow and slush littering the ground. People in town kept saying they hoped it would snow and they could have a snowy Christmas but Charlotte had a theory that the weather was helping her through the fact that she wouldn’t be at home with her parents for the holiday. It was obviously impossible for the weather (or whomever was controlling it up there) to know that she was homesick, but she was sticking with her suspicions. 

A stand set off in the corner caught Charlotte’s attention and she made her way over, smiling at the man running the stand. It was very strange to see a stand like this one during the winter because it was full of fruits. 

“Would you like to try an apple?” the man asked, holding up a piece of a small apple that he’d cut off. 

“Sure,” Charlotte nodded and bit into the tart apple, “It’s good.”

“Maine apples,” he told her, putting a few of them in a bag for the young woman, “Here, my treat, you’ll fall so in love with them you won’t be able to stop eating them!” 

“Thank you!” Charlotte grinned and took the bag from the man. She chatted with him a little while longer then put the apples in her basket and returned to her mission of getting Nick his lunch. 

The primary school wasn’t far from the market, but she found herself walking faster as it got a little colder outside. Charlotte pulled her coat closer around her body, the wet bottom of her dress hitting her boots with a smack as she briskly walked down the street. 

Children filled the school yard, enjoying their lunch hour by throwing snowballs at each other, full of grass and rocks. One whizzed by her as she approached the main stairs and she jumped in surprise.

“Sorry Mrs. Carter!” a young boy yelled out, giving her an apologetic smile before running back off to get back in the fight. 

Charlotte chuckled and walked into the school, headed towards the classroom that Nick used as his office while the kids were on break. When she opened the door she saw him diligently grading papers and she stopped for a moment to watch him. She was really proud of everything he’d done since she’d gotten there. He managed to juggle his own classes, doing his work experience at the school, their home life and finances and never asked for a stitch of help. 

“Is it lunch already?” Nick asked, surprised to see Charlotte standing in the doorway.

“Just about,” she nodded and smiled, moving into the room. She took a seat on the edge of the desk, putting the basket down in front of him, “Is everyone ready for their holiday break?”

“Of course, they’re counting down the hours,” Nick chuckled, silently thinking that he was looking forward to the break himself. He started taking things out of the basket, holding up a cloth bag questionably, “What’s this?”

“Apples,” Charlotte said, taking the bag, “A man in the market gave them to me.”

“He gave them to you?” Nick asked sceptically, “You shouldn’t take things from people you don’t know.”

“He seemed nice enough,” Charlotte shrugged and started taking the rolls and cheese out of the basket. 

“Lots of people seem nice but they’re not,” Nick warned her, “He probably thought you were attractive and didn’t know you were married because of your gloves and thought he could charm you with free apples.”

“Are you jealous of the apple man?” Charlotte teased with a laugh. She shook her head at her husband’s ridiculous thoughts and put a cloth napkin down on the desk in front of him to use as a plate. 

“Of course not,” Nick muttered, biting into a piece of cheese. 

Charlotte snickered, “You’re jealous,” she sang, watching his cheeks turn progressively redder. 

“I have no reason to be jealous of some guy selling apples!” he huffed. 

“Exactly,” Charlotte agreed, sticking her tongue out at him quickly. 

“I wanted to talk to you about something actually,” Nick said, changing the subject. He continued to eat his lunch, glancing up towards Charlotte who was looking at him curiously, “I was going to wait until Christmas for this but apparently you need to sign something so I’m going to give it to you now.”

“What are you going on about?” she asked with a laugh. 

Nick quickly got up and grabbed an extra chair, setting it next to his. Charlotte sat down in the chair and he pulled a small booklet out of his coat pocket, handing it to her. 

Charlotte looked at him curiously then looked down towards the booklet, Winter Harbor Savings and Loan scrawled in fancy handwriting across the front, “What’s this, our bank account?”

“Your bank account,” Nick corrected, “You gave me that money you had saved up for your tuition and you shouldn’t have, it wasn’t mine to take. You were saving long before we had ever been together. It was your money, so I put it in a savings account so you can do whatever you want with it. You can save it for something special and it’ll accumulate interest and you’ll have more money in the end. You can add money to it when you want, and I don’t have to know about what you do with it. I don’t even want to know, I won’t ask.”

Charlotte’s eyes were wide and she opened the little book to see that every penny she’d given Nick when she came to America was in the account, as well as some extra start up money, “I’ve never had my own bank account before,” she smiled touching the book as if it were made of delicate paper, “I think I’ll save it. I’ll start a college fund perhaps?”

“You want to go back to school?” he asked curiously. 

“No, a college fund for our children,” Charlotte corrected and Nick smiled slightly, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“If we have any,” he said sadly, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

“Actually,” Charlotte whispered, “I was going to wait until Christmas too…but since we’re gifting early, I should probably let you know that I think I’m pregnant.”

Nick’s head snapped up and he quickly searched Charlotte’s eyes for any indication that she might be joking, “Really?” he questioned, his voice surprisingly shaky. 

“I won’t know for absolute certain for another couple of weeks, but I had suspected, and that’s why I had to get up early the other day. I wasn’t really going to get milk; I was seeing a midwife to ask her opinion.”

“Wow,” he grinned, “I’m going to go crazy for the next couple of weeks then.”

“That’s why I was saving it for Christmas, I didn’t want to find out it was a false alarm and have you be disappointed,” Charlotte sighed.

“Don’t worry,” Nick assured her, “If that’s the case then we’ll move on but... I have a really good feeling.”

“I do too,” Charlotte smiled and leaned over to give Nick a tight hug. She was running her hand idly through the back of his hair when someone suddenly cleared their throat loudly.

“Oh! Mr. Tucker!” Nick said to the short, older man who had walked into the room, straightening his hair and jacket quickly. He stood and gestured towards Charlotte, “You haven’t met my wife yet, Charlotte.”

The old man tipped his head quickly in Charlotte’s direction and muttered a hello before turning back to Nick, “You are aware of how improper it would look if the children came in and saw you cavorting with a woman in your class room?”

Nick’s face reddened and he looked between his wife and the crotchety old school teacher, “Well I’m sorry sir but I’m fairly sure the children are well aware of the fact that sometimes adults will hug. They do it too, I’ve seen them.”

“I don’t take kindly to jokes at my expense Mr. Carter,” the old man guffawed, “Next thing you’ll be telling me that the children will be perfect fine should they come in here and find your wife splayed across the teacher’s desk in nothing but her skin while you ravish her because maybe some of the children would be aware it is something adults do too!” 

Nick was completely wide-eyed as Mr. Tucker stormed from the room and he had barely turned to Charlotte before the two of them burst into uncontrollable laughter.

~*~

Nick stuck his finger under his nose, pretending it was a moustache and looked over at Charlotte, “I would like nothing more than to come in here and find your wife splayed across the desk in nothing but her skin while you ravish her!” 

Charlotte couldn’t keep herself from laughing, having to bend over and hold her stomach to keep from hurting herself. Since the moment Nick arrived home from work they’d been laughing themselves silly while making fun of Mr. Tucker’s ridiculous complaints from earlier. They had managed to keep themselves under control at dinner but now that Charlotte was heating up water for the bath they were back at it again. 

“He should know that you would never in a million years do that,” Charlotte grinned, and pulled a bucket of water off the range. She brought it over to the tin wash tub Nick was sitting in and dumped the hot water in.

“Ouch, that’s hot!” Nick called out, not able to stop laughing as the water hit his legs, “and what do you mean I would never do that? Why wouldn’t I do that?”

Charlotte laughed again and lifted one eyebrow, looking at him as if he had horns growing from his head, “Are you kidding me? We’re talking about you here! You would never be caught in a classroom naked and screwing me on a desk!”

“Don’t say screwing,” Nick grimaced.

“See?! You can’t even handle hearing impolite words! Face it Nick, you’re a bore!”

“I am not boring!” he challenged, sitting up straight in the tub, “I…I…I’m very entertaining!”

Charlotte scoffed and dumped a small bucket of water on Nick’s head, hoping to douse his visions of grandeur, “Have you not noticed that all of your friends are more boring than you and that’s why you seem really interesting? When in your whole life have you ever done anything spontaneous or fun?”

“I asked you to marry me didn’t I?” he asked, looking proud as punch.

“No, I believe you said ‘do you think we should get married?’ because you had thought long and hard about whether our parents were preparing us for marriage and then you asked me if you could kiss me. Wow! What a wild adventurer you are! I can see you now exploring the jungle; your biggest defence mechanism would be putting angry natives and ferocious beasts to sleep with your stories!”

“You’re so mean!” Nick said, trying to sound upset even though he was smiling. 

Charlotte shrugged and moved to switch her empty bucket with the full one on the stove when suddenly she was grabbed from behind and pulled down into the tin wash tub. She gasped and looked over at Nick who was grinning goofily, “I’m all wet!”

“Aren’t you proud of me?” he asked smugly, holding her in the tub with him.

“Proud? Why exactly would I be proud?” she asked, trying to look mad though she was fighting back a smile.

“Yeah, because I impulsively pulled you in here; I was spontaneous and it was fun,” Nick chuckled, moving one hand so he could push his wet hair from his face. 

“Fun for you maybe,” Charlotte chuckled, letting him pull her against him.

“It was,” Nick confirmed and smiling pressed his lips against hers.

She ran her hands through his wet hair then pulled away slowly, arms still wrapped around him tightly.

“So have I proven myself? Am I spontaneous?” he grinned cheekily.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and chuckled, “Doing something spontaneous in front of me is one thing, but doing it in public is something else. You’re so concerned about what other people think of you, and the image you present to the public. You would never have done what you just did surrounded by people, but I love you more for trying,” she smiled and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

“What do I have to do to make you think I can be daring?” Nick wondered aloud, “Run down the street, through the snow, in my underwear?”

“Now there’s an idea!” Charlotte’s eyes lit up like a child on Christmas and she pulled herself from Nick’s arms so she could get out of the tub, “I’ll do it if you do it!”

Nick looked at his wife wide eyed, “I was most certainly not serious!” he exclaimed, watching as she grabbed a towel so he could get out of the now cold basin. 

“Why not, what’s stopping you?” Charlotte asked seriously, wrapping the towel around his waist as he stepped out of the tub. 

“Well, lots of things are,” Nick stuttered, “I have a job, and I’m from here, I've already been kicked out of one school and what if we get sick?”

“None of those things matter on the grand scheme of things. No one will see us and even if they did it wouldn’t reflect on your professionally. Mr. Tucker would probably like the story,” she laughed, “And you have two weeks of vacation starting today so I’d say you don’t have to worry about getting sick.”

Charlotte knew she would never be able to convince him to do it since it was so off the wall. She wasn’t really sure she wanted to do it herself but she figured she would offer anyway, since obviously it would never happen. She went about cleaning things up from the bath, deciding to take hers another time despite the effort involved. 

“Okay,” Nick suddenly spoke and Charlotte looked at him curiously, “Let’s do it!”

“What? You’re serious?” Charlotte asked, almost fainting when Nick nodded his head confidently.

“You’re absolutely right. Nothing bad is going to happen if I embarrass myself a little. If anything it will give us something to laugh about later on.”

Charlotte was speechless; she couldn’t believe he was seriously going to do it. She couldn’t help but smile, actually proud that he was going to do it, “Don’t think I’m making you.”

“I don’t,” he assured her, slipping on his calf length underwear, “Shoes?”

“I think it would be best,” Charlotte nodded then started peeling off her wet layers until she got down to her camisole top and drawers, “I’m in complete awe that you’re going to do this.”

“Well when I freeze to death you know who to blame,” he laughed then grabbed her hand, pulling her through the kitchen to the side door, “How far are we going?”

“Go all the way to the big oak tree and back,” Charlotte instructed, not wanting to have to spend too much time outside because Nick did have a point about it being cold, “Should we race?”

“Think you can beat me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, “I’ll give you a head start.”

“You’d better,” Charlotte pinched his side quickly then opened the door, shivering at the cold air. She took a second to adjust then went for it, running all out down the walkway and into the dark, empty street. 

Nick hesitated for a moment, but knew that he had to prove he could be just as wild and crazy as the next person. Not for Charlotte’s sake but for his own. He bolted out the door after her, the cold hitting him like a slap to the face. He easily gained on her but held back, letting her get to the oak tree just seconds before him. 

“It’s freezing cold out here!” Nick yelled out once they reached their finish line, “...but I’m glad we did this.”

Charlotte was laughing too hard to speak so she nodded her head in response, “I won!”

“You did,” Nick nodded and smiled at her. He moved towards her and picked her up so she was as tall as him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he kissed her passionately, not caring if every person on the street had heard the noise and come out to be nosey, “I love you,” he whispered against her lips.

“I love you too,” Charlotte rubbed her nose against his then pulled back, letting him put her down. She touched his arm quickly then started back towards the house.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked, watching her go.

Charlotte turned and smiled, barely able to see the detail of his face in the dark, “Home,” she replied.

“Home?” he wondered aloud and she pointed towards their house, “I thought that wasn’t home.”

“Sure it is,” Charlotte nodded and walked once again, “Home is wherever you are.”

Nick smiled and looked towards the heavens, watching the stars shining brightly. The clarity he had at that moment, standing in the middle of the street in the dead of winter in nothing but his underwear and a pair of boots was unreal. He might have been a man burdened with a wife who was a bit of a handful, brash, impulsive, and independent but he would never change her. He loved her just the way she was, flaws and all, and knew the same to be true for her. He only hoped that the child they were going to receive would take after her, and be everything they could ever dream of, and stop at nothing to get it. 

The End