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Authors: Lisa Higdon

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BOOK: Unforsaken
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The older woman drew her shoulders back and eyed him with a look that made him squirm. “You must think of the child, Matthew Bowen. Not your own pride."

She wouldn't let him deny it. “Whatever happened between you and Olivia is in the past. Refusing our help now only hurts your little girl and does nothing to atone for whatever wrong was done."

Without another word, she brushed past him and went inside the kitchen. He could hear her talking with Sarah and the child's cheery response. What was he supposed to do?

His pride wouldn't do him much good if he lost his land and had no home for his daughter, but he hated the thought of sending her away, even temporarily. Sarah was still confused by her mother's death and often asked when her mommy was coming home. How could he explain sending her to stay with strangers? Would she believe that she would be able to return when her mother hadn't?

At last, he stepped inside his own kitchen. Eula Chandler had seated herself at the kitchen table next to Sarah and had the child completely enraptured with a story about a gingerbread man who ran away when someone failed to close the kitchen window.

"Would you like to help me make some gingerbread men ... just like that one?” Sarah nodded earnestly in reply. “Wonderful, but we mustn't forget to close the window."

Eula's expression was very solemn and she managed to look quite startled to notice Matthew standing just inside the door. Her face brightened as if she'd just had a wonderful idea. “Do you think your papa would let you come to my house and help me?"

Sarah glanced toward her father, her eyes brimming with anticipation. How could he say no?

Chapter Five

"Go ahead. Say it."

Olivia watched her best friend struggle with her feelings. At last, all Nancy Potter could think to say was, “I just don't see how you can
deal
with those people as if the war had never happened."

By
those people
she was referring to most of Olivia's clientele at the lumber mill. Nancy had arrived at the mill just in time to see Olivia shaking hands with the local Union Army commander and thanking him for sending her more business.

"I know the war happened, but we lost and these are the consequences."

"Olivia!” she gasped. “You make it sound ... like nothing."

"If they don't buy lumber from me, they'll buy it somewhere else. And what do you think would happen if I lost the business? Every man at the mill would be out of a job and sooner or later his home. All that will do is give the Yankees more to buy up and use against us."

Her friend made no reply and they walked on in silence. Olivia had tried to ease Nancy's discomfiture by inviting her home for tea, but her real motive was needing someone to talk to about a delicate subject.

Olivia's home sat at the far end of one of the loveliest streets in town, and the clear spring weather only served to enhance the picture-book setting. Dogwoods and tulips were in full bloom, and the branches of the trees lining the street almost touched, creating a shady canopy.

Tentatively she broached the subject, hoping to sound nonchalant. “Aunt Eula and I saw Matthew Bowen yesterday."

Her friend only nodded. “Did he have the little one with him? She certainly is pretty."

"No. He said he had managed to find someone to keep her for him while he worked."

Nancy's steps halted and she looked surprised. “You actually
spoke
to him?"

"Of course.” Olivia only shrugged. She had never breathed a word about her fateful Christmas Eve encounter with Matthew to anyone, not even to her best friend, but Nancy knew that her hurt and resentment ran deep. “It would have been impolite to do otherwise."

Nancy gave a very unladylike snort of disbelief. “Since when have you bowed to decorum? Under any circumstances?"

Olivia resumed walking, ignoring her friends good-natured teasing, but said nothing. Nancy was at her elbow. “You have to tell me what was said."

"I do?"

"You do. Every word."

"My goodness, to hear you, one would think the exchange of a few pleasantries meant—"

"A chink in your armor?"

"What armor? You're talking nonsense."

"Tell me what he said."

"Nothing more than a few comments about the weather and the fact that nursemaids are a thing of the past.” She came to a halt, resting her hand on the iron gate to her front walk. “I can't imagine how he manages taking care of a child and working all that land alone."

"Olivia Chandler, you vowed you wouldn't spit on that man if he were on fire and now you tell me you're concerned about his child?"

"I didn't say I was concerned,” she quickly denied her friend's interpretation. “I just can't imagine how anyone can work and tend to a small child at the same time."

"They can't,” Nancy didn't hesitate to conclude. “That's why men remarry so soon. Look at Joe Nathan. His wife died and left him with a houseful of children ... ten, wasn't it? Well, his wife wasn't dead a month before he married her sister!"

"That's disgusting.” Olivia frowned. “Besides, caring for one child isn't the same as ten."

"It's worse. At least in a large family, the older ones can look after the little ones."

Olivia didn't like the turn of the conversation, not one bit. “Well, I suppose you think he should marry the first woman he can find. Maybe he should hang around the funeral parlor so he can have first pick of the new widows."

A smile crept over Nancy's features, and she barely smothered her laughter behind her gloved hand. “I never thought I would live to see the day. Olivia Chandler, you are jealous."

Olivia's eyes narrowed and she hurried up the walk, not looking to see if her friend was following, but she heard Nancy's footsteps close behind her own.

"Don't deny it. You are absolutely pea green."

"Just what am I so jealous about?"

"Your pride won't let you offer to help Matthew, but it's killing you to think of all the women who will."

"I would never envy a woman who would be willing to be nursemaid to a houseful of brats just so she can have a husband."

"Olivia,” Nancy's tone became reproachful.

"Well, why haven't you married one of those needy widowers?"

"Because I was in love once,” she replied. “And once you've known love, you'll never settle for anything else."

"I'm sorry, Nancy.” Olivia hadn't meant to drag up painful memories. “I was speaking theoretically."

"I know."

Nancy's husband had been killed in battle just before the end of the war, and Olivia knew she still grieved despite the brave front she put on for everyone.

They had married just two weeks before his regiment left to join the fighting, and had seen each other only twice in all that time. Olivia had often wondered what might have happened if she had married Matthew before he left. No doubt her father would have locked her in her room if any such thing had even been suggested.

"Aunt Eula says we should offer to do something,” she spoke quietly, more to herself than her friend. “Something to help Matthew with the child."

"What would you do?"

Reality washed over her and she snapped her head up as if the matter was irrelevant. “Oh, I don't know. Perhaps offer to hire a nurse for the child."

They stepped inside the spacious foyer and began removing their gloves; all the while Nancy studied her with obvious disapproval. “You can't always throw money at your problems, Olivia."

Olivia turned around, her feelings smarting from her friend's criticism. “This isn't my problem. I'm willing to help, but—"

Before she could finish, a loud crash sounded from the kitchen, followed by shrieks of delight and cries of dismay. Aunt Eula's voice could be heard clearly. “Come back here! You're all wet!"

Suddenly, the door leading from the dining room burst open, and Olivia barely dodged a collision with a barreling youngster and her aunt, who was is pursuit.

"What in the world?” Nancy was laughing, and Olivia scowled at her.

Olivia hurried into the parlor to find her aunt draping a towel around a tiny naked body despite the little girl's protests.

"Will you
please
tell me what is going on here?"

Eula and the child both gaped at her.

"Olivia, darling, this is Sarah. You know, Matthew's little girl."

"But, I didn't—” Olivia's words were lost as Sarah grasped the sudden opportunity and fled from Eula's hold, streaking out of the parlor and down the long hall leading to the back porch. “I never said—"

Eula wasn't listening; instead she took off after the girl, calling out for Maddy.

"Looks like you've got your hands full for the afternoon.” Nancy stood in the doorway of the dining room. “I'll just run along now, and we can have tea another time."

"You can't—"

Olivia stopped herself before insisting that her friend stay, and ... do what? The truth was, she wanted to leave herself and not face whatever her aunt had gotten her into.

Nancy was already out the front door before Olivia could reach her. Rushing out onto the front porch, Olivia tried to stop her. “Don't just run off. Let me find out—"

A shrill squeal interrupted her and Olivia look up, dismayed to see the little girl far outdistancing Eula. Without a stitch of clothes, the child ran lickety-split around the side of the house into the front flower beds, trampling tulips and buttercups. Ladies out for their afternoon stroll stood gaping at the spectacle, and Nancy waved good-bye with a smile.

"Sarah, come back here!"

Oblivious to Eula's exasperation, the child giggled all the more and dashed toward the back once again. Hesitantly, Olivia followed the path they had taken around the house and found Aunt Eula leading her wayward charge up the steps. The child's hair was a mass of dark curls, still dripping wet, and her eyes were bright with mischief. Olivia could tell little else about her for the towel draped over her shoulders, except, of course, that her bare feet were muddy from a dash through the flower bed.

"Aunt Eula, we need a chance to think this over."

"What do we need to think over?” Eula brushed past Olivia and led the child into the kitchen. Maddy hurried to hoist the little girl back into the tub of water, scolding her for running off and for tracking dirt on the freshly mopped floor.

"There is a great deal to consider."

Eula motioned for her to be quiet and led her out into the hall while Maddy bathed the little girl for the second time.

"You would actually consider turning away a motherless child?” Eula's hushed tone didn't disguise her disappointment. “You were raised better than that, Olivia Chandler. And you of all people should sympathize with her situation."

Indeed, Olivia remembered very well the overwhelming sense of loss at her own mother's death, but she resented the comparison. “I was much older than she is, and—"

"You loved your mother less when you were younger?"

"Don't twist my words around.” Olivia cringed inwardly, hating the way she sounded. “I only meant—"

Maddy led Sarah into the hall, once again clean and draped with a towel, and issued the child a stern warning. “Don't let me catch you traipsing through this house with muddy feet again, you hear?"

Sarah nodded, and Maddy returned her to Eula. With hardly a glance in Olivia's direction, her aunt dismissed the entire conversation, saying only, “We'll talk about this later."

Eula held out her hand to Sarah and led her toward the stairs. “Come along, child. We have to get you dressed before your papa gets here."

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. Matthew was coming for the child, so the arrangement was only fleeting. Thank goodness. When he arrived she would offer her solution to his problem—a full-time nursemaid to care for the girl and ease her own conscience.

She followed Maddy into the kitchen. “Will it be too much trouble if Mr. Bowen stays for supper?"

"Of course not.” Maddy stooped to open the oven door and check whatever was baking inside. The wonderful aroma of apples and cinnamon filled the kitchen, and Olivia remembered how Matthew always bragged on Maddy's apple pie. “He'll be coming for supper most every night."

"Every night?” Obviously Maddy remembered as well.

"As long as the child is staying with us.” Straightening up, she closed the oven door and began checking each of the simmering pots on the stove. “I say it's for the best. The child won't think he's took off and left her."

"Well, it seems you and Aunt Eula have everything worked out,” she snapped. “I wish you had taken the trouble to ask my opinion."

Maddy eyed her with a solemn expression. “We figured you was Christian enough not to have any different opinion."

Olivia opened her mouth to rebut but said nothing. Instead, she turned and left the kitchen without a word, refusing to accept the dilemma everyone seemed determined to force upon her.

* * * *

"Good evenin', Mr. Bowen. Come right on in."

"Hello, Maddy.” Matthew stepped inside the foyer of the house he knew so well as a boy. Glancing around the spacious entryway, he was astonished to see that the interior of the house was just as he remembered. Nothing had been changed or even rearranged. It seemed a lifetime since his last visit, and it saddened him to think how much
had
changed since that time. “It's good to see you."

"Daddy!"

He turned at the sound of his baby girl's voice and smiled at the sight of her running toward him. He knelt down and scooped her into his embrace, savoring the feel of her arms around his neck. “Hello, sweetheart. How's my girl?"

"I had a baf',” she informed him, leaning back to study his face. “Got soap in my eyes."

"Well, you look awfully pretty.” Lowering the child to her feet, he took her hand and twirled her about as if waltzing. The dress she was wearing was one he'd never seen, and it was obviously brand new and very costly. “Where did you get the new dress?"

"Eu-la give it to me.” She stepped back and hiked the skirt up to her waist. “Lace panties, too."

He laughed at her and smoothed the dress back in place. “Those aren't for showing off."

BOOK: Unforsaken
13.48Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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