Loving Linsey Read Online Free Page A

October air against her skin. For as long as she lived—be it days or months—she’d not take the sensation for granted again.
    The hard part was over, though: telling Addie. They’d stayed up half the night, whispering, reminiscing, planning . . .
    Lordy, she had to stop these melancholy thoughts—she had a list to carry out! Kicking her feet from beneath the thick quilt, Linsey tugged her nightrail so the satin folds fell about her ankles. She still wasn’t sure how she’d accomplish each task she’d set for herself, but lying abed simply wasted time, and that was not a commodity she had in excess. Surely opportunities would present themselves, if only she looked. They certainly wouldn’t come flying through the window into her lap!
    That image made her giggle as she crossed the polished oak floor to stoke the embers in the fireplace. No sounds of stirring came from the next room. Addie undoubtedly slept on. Linsey hated to wake her, but school couldn’t start without the teacher.
    She rapped against the wall that separated their bedrooms. “Addie, time to get up.”
    â€œI’m awake.”
    Assured by the drowsy, muffled reply, Linsey chose a high-necked, black-and-burgundy striped day dress from her wardrobe, then stripped out of her nightgown, tossing it over a chair on her way to the bureau. Lucky trinkets littered the surface: seashells, a Liberty Lady coin, a piece of coal from the first mine of the area.
    Her gaze lit on the daguerreotype of her parents. She brushed her fingers along the silver frame. Her father looked as dashing as a knight of old in his calvary uniform. He was a burly man with dark blue eyes, a shock of flame-colored hair, and muttonchop whiskers. Standing beside him with a dainty hand resting on his broad shoulder, her mother represented the epitome of a refined Southern belle. No doubt men of all ages had been swept away by Genevieve’s wild black curls and striking green eyes. But she’d chosen Lyle Gordon, the son of a neighboring cotton farmer. They’d married before the War Between the States broke out and Linsey had been born soon after.
    When the war ended, Major Lyle Gordon had transferred his commission out West. Mother thought a formal education and stable environment would be better for Linsey than the harshness of military life, so they’d left her in Aunt Louisa’s care. Six months later, Genevieve had been stricken down with fever.
    Linsey thought her father would come forher after her mother died. Instead he married again, a young widow named Evelyn Witt who not only supported his military career, she gloried in it—so much so that her only child, a little girl Linsey’s age, had arrived on Aunt Louisa’s doorstep the very next spring. To this day, Lyle and Evelyn remained in Indian territory.
    Would they miss her? Maybe a little, Linsey decided. She knew her father and stepmother loved her, for they came to visit as often as her father’s duties allowed. They simply loved each other more.
    As the downstairs chime sounded the half hour, Linsey pulled away from the picture before her thoughts turned maudlin. “Addie, you best hurry or you’ll be late for school,” she called.
    Seconds later, Addie’s voice sounded from the doorway. “What are you doing?”
    â€œLooking for my lucky earbobs.”
    â€œToo little, too late if you ask me,” she grumbled.
    â€œIt’s never too late for good luck.” Even in her case. And now she needed all the good luck she could garner. “Aha, here they are!” Finding the pair of rubies buried at the bottom of her jewelry chest, she attached them to her ears, only to stop at the sight of her sister. Her eyes were swollen and red, her complexion paler than normal.
    â€œFor the love of Gus, Addie, you can’t go to school looking like that! What will your students think if they see you looking like you’ve