That nothing was impossible.
The thought was inspiring.
“Careful when you pick him up,” Charlaine cautioned as Daphne reached her little hands into the bucket. “You don’t want to hurt him.”
Daphne squealed when her fingers touched the frog. “Ugh! He’s so cold and slimy!” She looked up at Susan. “Do you want to kiss him first?”
Susan frowned, reluctance marking her little face. “I don’t know how. Do you?”
Daphne shook her head. “Charlaine, do you know how to kiss?” She sat up. “How about you kiss him first?”
Charlaine grinned. “But what if he turns into a prince when I kiss him?” she asked, looking from one girl to the other. “Will I be his bride then?”
Quite obviously, that thought had not occurred to either one of the girls for their expressions became contemplative. “I suppose we need to think about this,” Daphne declared before her gaze swept the rim of the bucket. “I think we should dig it out and take him back with us.”
Susan nodded her approval and, a moment later, the two girls were digging out the loose dirt around the bucket with their hands, careful not to shake it too much in the process. Their gazes drifted back to the small, green animal within again and again, curiosity mixing with a hint of apprehension. “I wonder who ever got the idea of kissing a frog,” Daphne remarked, frowning. “I’d certainly not mind kissing a prince, but a frog?”
Again, Susan agreed.
Nathanial watched as Charlaine rose to her feet, laughing. Then her sparkling, brown eyes met his as though they shared a secret no one else knew about. “Well, I suppose the idea is that you need to have faith, that you need to prove your devotion before receiving something in return.” She sighed, watching the girls slowly lift the bucket out of the hole. “Life sometimes leads us down a difficult path, but we must never lose faith that eventually all will be well again.”
Nathanial knew that Charlaine spoke from personal experience. He knew that her path had been a most trying one, and he also knew that she had shown true strength in her convictions to emerge from this dark time with her spirits intact.
Daphne and Susan had both known hard times when they had been very young. Still, here and now, out in the country, away from all that had ever darkened their world, they knew only joy and peace.
Nathanial was glad for it.
With the bucket held between them, Daphne and Susan began their way back toward the house with Charlaine and Nathanial walking behind. “We still don’t know how to kiss,” Susan remarked with a sideways glance at Daphne.
Daphne shrugged. “I suppose it’s no different than kissing your mother. You purse your lips and then…” She smacked them loudly.
Susan frowned, clearly not convinced. “But on the lips? I saw Pierce and Caroline kiss like that.”
Nathanial fought to contain a laugh as Daphne turned around to look at them. “Do we have to kiss the frog on the lips?” She paused. “Does it even have lips?”
Charlaine chuckled, and Nathanial held his breath to keep silent. His head felt like it would explode. “That, I cannot say,” she replied after a deep breath. “I’ve never quite looked at a frog with such diligence. But I do suppose it has lips.” She grinned. “Green ones.”
The girls’ noses scrunched up in a show of disgust. “I’m not sure if I still want to kiss it,” Susan stated with a doubtful look down into the bucket. Nathanial noted how she had suddenly switched from referring to the frog as he to it.
“It would still be good practice in case we ever meet a prince,” Daphne said reasonably before her gaze moved from Charlaine to Nathanial and back.
For a reason Nathanial could not name, he felt a slight shiver dance down his back.
“Will you show us how to kiss?” the girl asked.
Susan nodded eagerly. “Oh, yes, please!”
Charlaine smiled. “But then you have to promise you will at least test your theory?”
“What theory?” the girls frowned.
“The theory that a kiss will transform the frog into a prince,” Charlaine elaborated as she leaned down, her eyes level with theirs. “You’ll have to kiss him. Both of you.” She looked back and forth between the two of them, waiting for their answer.
“We’ll do it!” Daphne suddenly exclaimed like a warrior, declaring he was ready to charge into battle. Susan, on the other hand, looked doubtful. Still, she nodded in agreement.
Nathanial stepped up to Charlaine as she straightened, inhaling what seemed like a fortifying breath. “Are you truly going to kiss that frog?” he asked quietly. Never for a moment had he thought the girls would truly see their plan through to the end. He had thought their dream would pop like a bubble the moment they caught a frog.
Green and slimy, as Daphne had said.
Turning to look at him, Charlaine smiled. “Of course not.”
Nathanial frowned. “Then how—?”
In the next moment, she stood before him, her hands cupping his face before she pressed her lips to his. By all accounts, it was a chaste kiss and lasted no more than a second or two. However, for Nathanial, it set his world on fire.
Instantly, he felt reminded of the moment they had shared in the stables after the rain. The closeness of her body, the warmth of her skin, the soft brush of her breath. Longing surged through him, quickly replacing his initial shock, and he tensed, balling his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her, to keep from deepening the kiss, to keep from turning this into something it was not.
After all, Charlaine was only kissing him to accommodate the girls’ curiosity. Two girls, who at this very moment were watching them most intently.
“There,” Charlaine said as she pulled back, her hands dropping from his face as she smiled at him as though they were confidantes in a secret game. “This is how you kiss. It’s simple.”
Nathanial swallowed, completely overwhelmed by what had just happened. Indeed, for him, there had been nothing simple about this kiss. In fact, he had no doubt that in the weeks ahead it would prove to be a problem because, to his great regret, Nathanial had to admit that this one simple kiss only made him want another.
“Well, he didn’t turn into a prince,” Daphne observed as she looked at him as though she had every right to blame him for failing to live up to her expectations.
Susan giggled. “At least, he didn’t turn into a frog.”
Then the girls turned back toward the house and walked ahead, arguing about who had to kiss the frog first and whether or not the creature had lips which ought or ought not to be kissed.
Beside him, Charlaine chuckled. “Aren’t they adorable?” she asked, her gaze soft as she watched them proceed up the small slope.
Nathanial didn’t know what to say. When she made to follow, his hand caught her arm, pulling her back. “Why did you kiss me?” he asked without thought, yet unable to stop himself.
Her brown eyes looked up into his and, once again, Nathanial felt as though she knew exactly what lived in his heart.
He gritted his teeth. “Could you not have kissed the blasted frog?”
One corner of her mouth curled up. “I suppose I could have,” she replied before a teasing note came to her voice, “but he’s so green and slimy.” Then her gaze sobered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” She placed a gentle hand on his arm. “I’ll not do it again. I know I promised you before.” Contrition came to her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. Can you forgive me?”