She wasn't expecting what he did but the moment her head fornd his shoulder, she dissolved and began to let it all out. She cried for a good while before growing tired and quieting. Then deep and even breathing replaced the choking and gasping of crying. She wasn't quite asleep, but rather, just dozing.

"Oh... Well." Not sure what else to do he gently took her in his arms urging her out of the chair and guiding her toward the chaise longue he normally napped or passed out on. Once she was comfortable he rubbed at his face before he moved to eat though he didn't have much appetite.

She murmured to him sleepily, "Ye should ask me ma and da fer courtin. Angus didn't ask, mayhap ye can get their approval faster than I would." And that trailed into a yawn before she fell into her sleep.

"Oh, uhm, I suppose I could do that." He hadn't asked for permission to court before, to be wed naturally, but courting wasn't nearly so formal a process in America as it was in Britain it seemed. He wasn't even sure how it would go over, he was a widower nearly a decade older than her who hadn't even been able to care for himself until recently.

It was sometime later that she sat across from him again, picking at the cold food and eating a few nibbles here and there. She had finally calmed, but she was quiet and her eyes distant after all the fuss.

She looked at him finally and said, "Me ma warned me against this, but I think she'll change her mind... Especially when she see's how joyful ye make Jacob just when he sees ye. He loves ye, I can tell."

"Your mother warned you against... Expressing feelings for me?" That surprised him a tad though he supposed he could see the reason. He wasn't entirely oblivious to the morays of English culture, now, he'd been doing some reading while she was asleep to alleviate his own confusion.

"Aye," she said... "But I can't fault her fer it." She gave a slight grimace. "Angus was a bad choice but I will ne'er take it out on me boy. I wished e'ry day that Angus had simply just leave so I never have to look at his face. I don't hate him but whatever feelin I thought I had fer him... Well.. tweren't really love in the first place."

She picked at her food for a moment and then said without looking up, "I can't hate the person that drove me closer to ye, Edward. Even if ought came of it... Yer family took me in as a scared wife who needed ta find a safe place. The more I got ta know ye, the more I wanted someone more like ye. Truth be told... I don't know if ye see me as worth any of it, but sometimes I think ye are the only one whoever really listened apart from a few."

"In my experience most people never get to marry for love. It's usually a marriage of convenience or because the person thinks that is what they want at the time. Angus took advantage of you when you were young and you didn't quite know what you wanted. He convinced you it was him. I'm glad you aren't wasting time hating him, he isn't worth further thought."

Giving her a slightly perplexed look he couldn't help but ask. "What do you mean see you as worth any of it? I see you are being worth quite a bit Ruth, you are an amazing woman."

Her fork was poised, mid air when he said his last words as to his end of their conversation. She tilted her head, "Ye do?" The words came out softly and her eyes rivited to his face.

Ruth set the fork of food down... He was the first man she had encountered that ever gave her those words and mean them, she could see it in his eyes. "I've done a lot of things..." She murmured, "I can't imagine me life any different than it is here... It's home now... It has been so for many months."

"Of course I do, but I'm measuring your worth by your personality, actions, and attitude. Not by the merits of birth or circumstance." He knew he was in a position of privilege to be able to do so but it was still how he wanted to deal with people. "I'm glad you've found a home here and it's yours for as long as you need it because you earned it."