The pie was flaky and soft, much better than what he got at home. If it were possible, he would have married her on the spot for her baking alone. But, it occurred to him that she wasn't interested in pie.

"Is something wrong?" he asked

"No," she said honestly, "I just don't want any pie." She wanted more kisses, and that made her feel a little greedy. She smiled and said, "You look like you're enjoying it though." She had gotten the apples, canned by the cook at Carrington Manor, the apples were from their own trees, so she was proud of them. "My family grew the apples."

"A cook and a baker? You're a very talented women, Pearl. Have you ever climbed an apple tree?"

"Yes, to my mother's horror. I also swim in the sea when nobody is watching." She chuckled. Her eyes kept looking at his lips from across the table.

"A climber and a swimmer too?" Replied Joe admiringly. Setting his fork down he studied her face. What was she thinking about?

"I wonder if there's anything you can't do?" he asked.

"I cannot sing very well," she said. It wasn't true, but she believed it. But then she went on to say, "I cannot paint watercolors like my sisters." Pearl chuckled. Then she bit her bottom lip for a moment. She had to distract herself and so she moved from the table to fill her sink with water, then grabbed plates to scrape into the refuse bucket.

"I can't paint or sing for nowt."  Joe said rising from his seat.  Not that he had ever really tried either one, but he just assumed he was bad. He started to gather up some of the remaining items.  In the Blacke household, only Mister Blacke the elder was excused from tidying away dinner.  Joe smirked at recalling his mother's regular admonishment: I'm your mother, not your slave....

"And me needlework's even worse.  Can I 'elp?"

"If you'd like," she said. No, she thought, I want another kiss! The leftover food was put away except for the pie, which she was going to let him have since she wasn't as big on eating the sweets as making them.

Joe hovered near Pearl. He did want to help her, but he also wanted to be close to her. Maybe he could steal a soapy kiss?

She turned to him when all the dishes were in the sink, looking at him and how close he was. Then she was closing the distance between them and doing exactly that, kissing him if he didn't stop her from doing so. She liked kissing him, she found.