A Virtuous Ruby Read Online Free

eyes seemed to nearly roll back into her head. Adam shifted forward. Maybe he should recommend a tonic. Was she near fainting? But her reaction was only because of the thought of her husband’s indiscretions.
    “He can. He will. Because I say so,” his father spoke with pointed accuracy and calm.
    “Very well. He can stay in the sewing room.” Mrs. Winslow flounced out of the parlor as regally as Queen Victoria.
    “That’ll do fine, Mary. Thank you,” Paul Winslow said to her retreating form. He turned to Adam. “I apologize. She always has been sensitive to the fact I was with Matilda first. Mattie was such a fine woman.”
    “A woman?” Mattie Morson had been eighteen when she died.
    “Yes.” Paul Winslow gave a little laugh. “So sunny, and as sweet as sugar.”
    A slightly sour taste entered his mouth. How dare his mother’s name come from this man’s lips? His father. His mother had died when he was young, and she was barely a woman. He had known so little of her. His father should explain more, and not just talk about her as if she were a slice of cake. His heart panged. Who was Mattie Morson? How to ask this of a stranger who was also his father?
    Still, it rankled him that Paul Winslow dared to say her name. Adam’s countenance grew warm with rising blood. Did he even know what he was saying? Maybe he should remind him of a few things. “She died without proper medical care. At the hands of a dirty Negro midwife.”
    “I know. That’s why…you’re here. To help these colored here in Winslow.”
    “Winslow.” Adam repeated the name of the town again.
    “Yes. They insisted on naming the town after me about ten years ago when I built the mill. It keeps a good many people employed and the n—” Paul Winslow stopped short, seemingly checking himself. “The colored workers are always getting sick and costing me money at the mill. They need their own doctor. You could come here and work and make a fine living.”
    “There’s a doctor here?”
    “Of course,” his father explained, “for the whites. But I am willing to provide a doctor for the colored here.”
    “Why?” He fixed his Winslow gaze on his father.
    “What?”
    “I wonder why. They’ve been sick all this time. Why not let them die off? You can always get more.” He pulled at his collar, loosening it now.
    “Well, that’s not the attitude I expected a doctor to have.” Paul Winslow reached over and took a cigar from a box next to his chair.
    Adam stood. The slickness of sweat on his palm stopped him from clenching his fist. So he kept his hand loose and let the cool air blow over it. “Well, if I don’t get an answer, I’m not going to do it. I’ve had other offers for my services. I was at the top of my class.” The words just slipped out. He did not intend to brag to his father. He shouldn’t have to.
    “I’m sure you have. But you would be paid handsomely here. You could stay nearby.”
    Ruby came to his mind and the prospect of getting to know her was pleasant. A doctor needed to make connections in a community, but something was holding him back.
    Maybe it was the pleading look in Paul Winslow’s eyes. His stomach turned. Why plead to him? “I need to think about it. I’m tired from my travel and I had to treat a man in town. One of your workers, I suppose. He cut his hand.”
    “Ah, yes. See how you are needed here?” His father waved his cigar in the air and a maid appeared quickly. “Please show Dr. Morson to the room Miss Mary wants for him.”
    The young Negro maid’s eyes grew wide. “She say, let him have the sewing room.”
    “Well, take him—Dr. Morson—there. He’s tired.” Paul Winslow’s voice floated out to him. “We can talk further later.”
    He didn’t care. As he went up the grand Winslow staircase, he counted himself in full rebellion mode. Paul Winslow didn’t want to be a father to him. He just wanted Adam to do his bidding. Could he avoid doing what his father wanted and