Robin Lee Hatcher Read Online Free Page B

near the window. Giving in to her vacillating emotions, she lay on her side, hid her face in the pillow, and wept.
    “How long’s she going to stay, Da?” Maeve asked as she walked beside Jakob.
    “How long’s she gonna stay?” Bernard liked to repeat whatever his sister said.
    “She’s staying for good,” Jakob answered. “I told you that before.”
    Maeve frowned. “The others didn’t stay.”
    “They didn’t stay,” Bernard parroted.
    “This is different. After tomorrow, Karola’s going to be my wife and your mother. That means she’ll stay here for good.”
    “But our ma’s in heaven. Uncle Tulley says so.”
    “Yeah, Ma’s in heaven.”
    Jakob pictured Siobhan, riotous hair swirling around her as she spun in a field ablaze with red and orange wildflowers. He could almost hear her laughter floating on the clouds. Oh, she must be setting heaven on its ear.
    “But, Da, what if she—”
    “Maeve.” Jakob stopped on the front porch and looked down at his elder daughter. He understood her uncertainty. There’d been little permanence in her life this past year. “I know it isn’t easy to understand. Just trust me. This time it’s different.”
    Bernard gave his sister a little shove. “Yeah, it’s different, Maeve.”
    She shoved him back, then the two raced inside ahead of their father.
    Jakob carried the still sleeping Aislinn into the parlor where he laid her on the sofa. Before straightening, he caressed the child’s soft cheek, feeling the swell of love in his chest as he did so. When he looked at her …
    He swallowed the lump in his throat.
    He would not—could not—regret asking Karola to come to America. It had been the right thing to do because he was certain she would care for his children no matter how she felt about him.
    The rest would have to work itself out over time.

Chapter Four

    K arola didn’t get a bath her first night in Jakob’s home, for she fell asleep as she wept, still dressed in her traveling clothes.
    Awakening as the sun rose, she sat up and glanced about the child’s bedroom, feeling grumpy and out of sorts. She was hungry, too, but she was certain she would be sick if she tried to eat a single bite.
    Today was her wedding day.
    Mother was right. What a fool I have been.
    From the moment she’d received Jakob’s letter, asking if she would come to America and marry him, she’d purposefully deceived herself. She’d wanted so badly to believe he’d asked because he still loved her that she hadn’t considered any other reason. She’d created a fantasy in her mind that suited her rather than the truth. But Jakob had loved his wife. He’d wanted Karola only because he trusted her to be a good mother to his children.
    Karola knew what Jakob was asking of her happened to women around the world every day. Second wives were frequently taken out of necessity to raise the children of the first, and third wives were taken to raise the children of both the first and second. It was a common occurrence, and there wasn’t any shame in it.
    Would I have been better off married to the cobbler? Karola shuddered at the thought. Nein.
    She closed her eyes. If she was going to be totally honest with herself, she must admit that her reasons for agreeing to marry Jakob had no more to do with love than his had. She’d wanted to leave Germany, to see America. She’d wanted her dreams to come true. Most of all, she’d wanted to prove the gossips in her village wrong. She’d wanted them to know she wasn’t an old maid. She hadn’t been forgotten.
    A soft rap sounded at her door.
    “Karola,” Jakob said softly from the hall.
    She stood, touching her mussed hair with one hand. She must look a sight.
    “Karola?” Another rap.
    “Ja.” She moved to stand by the door but didn’t open it. “I am awake, Jakob.”
    “We’ll want to leave for the church in a couple of hours. Would you like something to eat? I’ve got ham and eggs frying in the skillet.”
    Her stomach