Page 17 of A Groom for Lauren
“Mrs. Hale, do you have some of the women come and help you from time to time?”
She shook her head. “They’ve offered, but I’ve refused.”
“Why?”
“Because of this.” Her arms gestured around the house.
Esther continued to gaze at him. Her pupils become so enlarged he almost didn’t see any hint of color. He didn’t know how to take that.
“I would think the women would be willing to help you.”
She bit at her lower lip, sitting down on a chair. “They would. I know they would. I remember when Altar Laingsburghad her twins, Omega and Alpha.”
“Omega and Alpha?” He blinked. “All right.”
She gave him a hint of a smile. “I overheard her husband, Wolfe say if and when they have another child, she’s not allowed to name any more.”
“God spare the children.”
“But I’m ashamed, Dr. Spaulding.” Her fiddled with her hands.
“Ashamed of what?”
She folded her arms and looked out at something only she could see. “The women in town are able to handle life out here better than me. I’ve been to a few of their houses. They’re immaculate almost, clean, and well stocked. I never cleaned anything in my life. My parents had servants when we were in Philadelphia, and they took care of everything.”
“I see.”
Esther shifted in his arms, and he glanced down to her tiny head snuggled against his chest. As she moved something jolted in his heart. It coiled around it, and squeezed gently, taking root. He knew that, as sure as he knew what his name was.
“When I met Jonah, and he told me about his life here. It sounded adventurous. Exciting. Peaceful.” She shook her head. “The adventure stopped soon enough. The excitement comes in the form of wild animals and Indians and the peace… well, let me just say peace and boredom could be the same. After a few days of bliss, the arduous toil began.”
“Did you ever try to get help?”
“Jonah felt I should learn to take care of the house like all the other women here in Last Chance.”
Christopher frowned. “Not to speak ill of the dead, or criticize your husband, but that doesn’t seem to be fair to you. Didn’t he know you didn’t know how to live out here?”
Lauren shook her head. “We were so silly. We loved each other so much I think we overlooked our faults.”
“In what way?”
“Jonah used to call me his ‘China doll’. He said that I was delicate and fragile. In the past, he used to say this with admiration, but as my ineptitudes became more and more apparent, it began to wear on him.”
A suspicious thought crossed his mind. “Was he cruel to you, Mrs. Hale?”
A startled look came to her eyes. “Cruel? Jonah? Not at all. I do believe he was frustrated with me many times, but he was never cruel.”
The strange panic left.
“That’s good to hear. Some men aren’t kind at all.”
She sent him an odd look, one full of an inward amusement. “If my sister heard that she would correct you. She’d tell you that all men are cruel and they all need to go off to some forsaken war and be killed.”
“Indeed? Is your sister…,” his voice trailed off.
“Yes, she is. And she would be the first to tell you she is a harridan, a bluestocking and a nuisance.”
“She seems charming.”
