Cheryl Reavis by Harrigans Bride

Author:Harrigans Bride [Bride, Harrigans]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-07-04T18:05:26+00:00

Chapter Nine

Abiah walked carefully past the marble-topped table in the foyer. The mail had arrived, each letter carefully placed on a silver tray for the judge’s perusal. She could read the addresses clearly. None of them was in Thomas’s handwriting. None of them was for her.

Given the chance, she had no doubt that she would recognize anything written in his hand quite easily now. She was ashamed of how many times she had reread his letter to Elizabeth Channing. She couldn’t seem to help herself, and she couldn’t seem to part with it—when she should have shredded it and tossed it in the nearest fire.

She knew exactly why she hadn’t. Because Thomas himself had written it. And even if it was meant for another person, it was the only thing of his she had. She had no hope of receiving word from him. None. She took some comfort from the fact that she wasn’t dwelling on his lack of correspondence. Captain Appleby, the British sea captain who had brought the copies of The Woman In White from England, had very graciously agreed to hand deliver Abiah’s letter to Miss Gwen the next time he shipped supplies to New Bern. Abiah hoped that some contact with Miss Gwen would make her feel less alone in the world. Gertie’s presence, lively though it was, hadn’t remedied that awful, unprotected feeling of having no family to rely upon.

Which brought her to the other reason she’d come downstairs. The judge had returned from his sudden trip to Washington. It was amazing to Abiah the effect the man’s comings and goings had on the Winthrop household. It was almost pleasant when he was away. Mrs. Harrigan hummed as she went about her housekeeping duties. Bonnie and the rest of the servants actually felt at ease enough to laugh out loud from time to time. Abiah herself didn’t have that feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach anticipating having another of their one-sided conversations. She had come to understand Thomas’s reluctance to be here. It wasn’t that the judge was violent or verbally abusive. It was that he was never, ever satisfied. He was a master at misinterpreting intentions and keeping everyone perpetually off balance and in the wrong. She had completely given up trying to please him.

First, he perceived her staying in her room, even before she felt well enough to be up and about, as overt rudeness on her part. It was her Rebel arrogance and her disdain for the good people of Maryland—what must they think of the Winthrops if she insisted on behaving so? When Abiah sought to make some small effort to appease him by sitting quietly in the gallery and listening to the musical performers, she was then embarrassing him by provoking untoward comment and attention among the convalescent soldiers who attended. When she withdrew from that, she was deliberately trying to malign him in the eyes of his honored guests by making it seem as if he had refused her a simple pleasure.

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