Beloved Counterfeit (26 page)

Ruby’s chuckle held no humor. What would Tommy say to that? She shrugged off the question with a roll of her shoulders, for what did it matter tonight? Why ruin a wonderful evening with thoughts of a man who no longer had a place in her life or the lives of the girls? She leaned as far as she could outside the window. In both directions, the seas were calm, no sails that she could spy.

Nothing but the moon teasing the waves.

“Can’t you sleep?” This from Micah, who leaned up on one elbow to watch her.

“Perhaps it is the unfamiliar room.” She forced her back to the sea, offering the suggestion even though she knew the real cause lay elsewhere.

Micah rolled over to light the lamp, casting the room in a brilliant golden light. “Perhaps.” He stretched and leaned back against the pillows, the sheet tangled around his legs and torso. “Might I entice you to return to bed, Mrs. Tate?”

“Of course.” Ruby averted her gaze and felt uncharacteristic heat rise in her cheeks. Where was the woman she’d been? The woman who in years past had felt nothing when faced with a man wearing only a sheet and a smile.

This man was declared before God to be my husband.

And I am declared clean and new through Jesus.

She went to him then as his wife. As a woman already smitten with a man she’d married only for the protection of the children in her care.

“ ‘Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies,’ ” Micah whispered against the sensitive skin of her neck as he lifted the sheet to cover her. “ ‘The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.’ ”

“That’s beautiful,” she whispered. “So very beautiful.”

“It’s the Lord’s promise,” he said, “for a husband with a wife such as you. The woman I safely trust.”

Safely trust.
Ruby’s heart lurched. Would Micah always feel this way about her?

“Far above rubies,” he said as he extinguished the light. “I warrant it is no accident you are so aptly named.” Micah embraced her then kissed her forehead. “It’s the girls, isn’t it? You’re worried about them.”

She remained silent, unwilling to mar their wedding night with her fears.

He touched the tip of her nose then gathered her closer. “Would you feel better if we went and got them?” A pause. “The truth. Always the truth from now forward.”

Always the truth. Ruby sighed. From now forward, she’d never have to worry about telling the truth.
Thank You, Lord, for letting me start over. And for Micah.

“Yes,” she said as she turned in his arms to face him. “I think I would like that very much, though I wonder if the Carters would mind the intrusion on their evening.”

As it turned out, they neither minded nor asked why the newlyweds had returned so soon. Rather, the pastor offered to carry a sleeping Tess himself, while Mrs. Carter promised to come and cook breakfast for the boarders just as she’d planned.

Ruby’s protest fell on deaf ears; thus she found herself faced with the unexpected luxury of lying abed past the time the sun rose. With the girls safely asleep in their own beds, even Tess, Micah Tate returned with two cups of coffee and a smile.

Luxury indeed.

“I cannot linger but a moment,” he said as his lips brushed her cheek. “I’ve a meeting with Caleb to discuss his departure. Thanks to the Dumont fellow taking on Emilie’s duties as teacher, it appears they’ll be sailing in a few days.”

Ruby accepted the coffee then held it out at arm’s length until Micah had settled on the end of the bed. “Thank you,” she said after taking a sip of the heavenly brew. “Mrs. Carter makes wonderful coffee. I’ll have to ask her what her secret is.”

“I made the coffee,” he said as his gaze scorched her, “and I’m sure you’ll pry the secret out of me somehow.”

Ruby blushed to her roots. “Micah, honestly.”

Micah took two gulps of coffee then cradled the dainty teacup in his oversized hands. “Ruby, I know you don’t love me yet, but I hope in time that you will. Until then, I’m going to be the husband to you that I ought to be.” He paused to study the cup then swung his attention back to her. “You’re a wife who would make a man proud. Just so you know.”

“Thank you, Micah.”

She should have told him somewhere between yesterday’s swim in the ocean and last night: She’d found feelings for him that might surely bloom into a love that would last. She should have said that she, too, felt proud to be the wife of a man like Micah Tate.

Instead, she set the cup on the bedside table and rose up on her knees to make her way toward her husband, dragging half the bedcovers with her. What Ruby meant as a quick kiss caused Micah to latch the door and miss a meeting.

Chapter 31

After a full month of married life, Ruby had almost managed to forget what life was like waking up with Tess’s foot in her back. Now she awoke to snores in the night, to be sure, but at least when Micah touched her, it usually was not in his sleep.

Blushing at the thought, she turned away from the stove to swipe at her forehead with the corner of her apron. This morning’s letter from Mrs. Campbell had offered encouragement that perhaps a replacement had been found for her in the boardinghouse kitchen. She’d tucked the letter in the Bible Micah studied after supper each night so he’d be sure to find it.

What she would do once her days weren’t filled with cooking and cleaning for the ever-changing array of boarders, Ruby couldn’t quite imagine. She pressed her hand to the belly that just this morning had rebelled against breakfast. Dared she hope there might be a babe to tend to by then?

A flash of color in the distance caught Ruby’s attention, and she went to the window. From her vantage point, she watched Maggie returning from school with Tess following a few paces behind. The eldest child seemed to be doing her best to keep the youngest from catching up.

Ruby frowned. Tess must have done more than her usual best to bother Maggie. They rarely walked any way but hand in hand.

Straining her neck, Ruby looked to see if perhaps Carol was lagging again. Since Micah had joined their family, Carol seemed bound and determined to leave it.

“Where’s your sister?” she asked as the girls arrived on the porch.

Maggie shrugged past Ruby and walked through the kitchen without stopping while Tess made her way to the plate of treats cooling on the windowsill. Stepping onto the porch, Ruby looked both ways in case Carol had chosen another route home from school.

Seeing no sign of Carol, Ruby came back inside to follow Maggie to the stairs and watched her until she reached the topmost landing. “Maggie, I asked you a question. Where is Carol?”

“Dunno,” Maggie muttered as she opened the door to their rooms and slipped inside.

“Now that was strange.” Preoccupied with the fact that Maggie had ignored the treats altogether, Ruby almost missed Tess’s attempt to stuff a spare one into her apron pocket. “Put that back,” she said. “What’s gotten into you?”

Just yesterday she’d found the child filling a bucket with food from the larder. When caught, all Tess would say was that she’d decided to play house and needed things for her kitchen.

She waited until the child returned the contraband to the plate before lifting her into her arms and swirling her around the kitchen. Tess giggled but held firm to her treat until Ruby set her on the stool and gave her a plate.

“So, Tess,” she said as casually as she could manage, “is something wrong with Maggie?”

Her mouth full, Tess said something that sounded like “Carol” and then perhaps “scenic house.” Or was it “secret mouse”?

“Carol has a mouse?”

When Tess shook her head, Ruby tried again. “You have a mouse?” Another no with Tess still chewing, and Ruby was about to give up. “Secret house?” she finally said.

Tess froze, and her face took on the look she wore when she’d been caught at something naughty. Or had given away a secret.

As she swallowed with some difficulty, the child’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

Deciding to play along, Ruby shrugged. “Mamas know things, sweetheart,” she said. “But what I wonder is why Maggie seems upset about this secret house.”

“That’s ’cause Carol says Maggie has Micah for a papa.” She took another bite and turned her attention to the window. “What kind of bird is that?”

Still puzzling through Tess’s statements, Ruby took a moment to answer the question. “An orangequit,” she finally said when Tess asked her once again.

“But it’s not orange,” she protested.

“You’re right about that.” Ruby paused. “Tess, can you tell me what a secret house and Micah being Maggie’s papa have to do with one another?”

The front gate banged. Carol walked through the front doorway. Ruby looked up as she paused at the dining room door. “Come and have a treat with us.”

“It’s yummy.” Had there been any doubt, the goo on Tess’s face would have given away the truth of her statement.

“Here, Tess,” Ruby said as she handed the girl a length of toweling. “You’ve a mess that needs washing off.”

Footsteps retreating gave Ruby notice that Carol, too, had chosen an escape upstairs over indulging in the treats that were their favorite. Something was wrong.

“Carol,” she called from the base of the stairs. “I’d like to see you in the kitchen, please.” When the girl paused but did not turn around, Ruby added, “Now.”

Reluctantly Carol made her way back down the stairs to stop at the kitchen door. “At the table.” She placed two treats on Tess’s tray. “Go on upstairs and take this one to Maggie.” Before Tess could ask, Ruby added, “And you might consider sharing the other with her, too.”

The prospect of even half another treat seemed to placate Tess’s obvious disappointment at being banished from the impending conversation. Ruby placed two more treats on a fresh plate and brought them to the table.

“Here, sweetheart,” she said to Carol, who merely sat with her all-too-familiar sullen look. “All right, then.”

Ruby crumbled a corner off the treat and popped it in her mouth, all the while praying it would stay down. Just this morning, she’d had an awful experience with scrambled eggs that made her reluctant to attempt lunch. Now that it was halfway to dinnertime, her stomach seemed to be warring with the dual missions of being fed and staying empty.

While Carol studied the ceiling, Ruby studied the situation. With Maggie and Tess, the direct way was best. A question asked was usually a question answered. Only when they had something to hide did she find she must chase the tail of the trouble for a bit before she arrived at the source.

But Carol, she was different. Too much like her mama and too quick to both love and hate. It was a fine balance, this art of conversing with the high-strung middle child.

With the first bite successfully down, Ruby attempted a second. The instant she bit into it, she realized her mistake.

Yet she had a mystery to solve.

As she chewed slowly, she watched Carol’s eyes dart back and forth between the ceiling, the floor, the window, and just about anything else she could look at other than Ruby. Even as Ruby’s stomach began to protest, something more troublesome niggled at the corners of her mind.

House.

Micah.

Papa.

A thought occurred, and immediately Ruby prayed she was wrong. Tommy was back, and he’d hidden himself somewhere on the key then found the girls and coerced them into bringing him food. No, she corrected, not Maggie. That would explain why she seemed to be on the outs with the other two.

“Do not move,” she said to Carol as she stumbled from the table and out into the afternoon sun to find a place behind the outhouse where she could once again relieve her roiling gut.

When she returned, Ruby found the girl sitting obediently in place. Though Ruby noticed Carol had wolfed down one of the treats in her absence, she said nothing. Rather, she found a knife and cut the other treat in half, then pushed the untouched portion toward Carol.

“Are you sick again?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“What do you mean ‘again’?”

Carol picked at the edge of her treat much as Ruby had done, though she made no move to eat it. “I saw you this morning,” she accused, “and I know what you and that man have been doing.”

Instantly Ruby felt her cheeks flood with heat. “What are you talking about?”

“I see him looking at you and saying things in your ear that we aren’t supposed to hear,” she said. “And I know what that means.”

Ruby let out a long breath and sent up a quick prayer for wisdom. When she took on the raising of these precious girls, she never expected there would be times like this.

She swung her gaze up to meet the girl’s stare. “Perhaps you should tell me what that means, Carol.”

Carol pushed away from the table with such force the chair fell backward. “It means you are going to have a baby and you won’t want us anymore.” She flung the statement at Ruby then grabbed the plate and stormed from the room.

A baby.
Hearing the words she’d just only begun to hope were true spoken in this fashion caused Ruby’s breath to freeze in her throat.
 

“Carol O’Shea, come back here this instant,” she called when she could manage it.

True to her nature, the girl did as she was told, though her expression plainly showed she wasn’t happy about it. For a moment Ruby breathed a sigh of relief that the situation might be easily diffused. “What?” she said with disdain. “And maybe I want to be called Caroline Hawkins like my mama named me.”

“Maggie,” Ruby called upstairs. “Please watch Tess while Carol and I take a walk before dinner.” She waited for Maggie’s somewhat sullen response then turned to regard Carol.

Before she could say anything, Carol blurted out, “I don’t want to.” She took a bite from Ruby’s treat and chewed it slowly.

So this is what rebellion looks like with a child who aims to please.

Her gut still protesting, Ruby took a deep breath and let it out with care. Keeping as even a temper as possible, she removed the plate from Carol’s hand and placed it less than carefully on the table.