Mail-Order Marriages by Jillian Hart

Author:Jillian Hart
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-10-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

When Lucas left for the barn a bit later, his boys in tow, he left Elizabeth with two boxes, both containing books, for he’d remembered another stash in the attic, left from his mother’s things, that might be of interest to her.

She was delayed for a short while when the boy from the emporium drove a wagon up the lane from the town road. She met him at the door and helped him carry in the goods they’d purchased at his father’s store, then filled the pantry shelves with the largesse that Lucas had supplied.

Lucas hailed her from the yard as the boy drove away. “I’ll take care of that beef when I come in, Lizzie. Unless you’re of a mind to cut it up yourself.” He smiled as if he could imagine her thoughts on the subject.

She shook her head. “I’ll leave the job to you. I’ll just watch, thank you. Maybe next time I’ll be brave enough to swing a cleaver and do the cutting up.” That Luc would offer so readily to do such a task almost surprised her, and yet he’d been willing thus far to lighten her load if he could. He’d done much to please her, she realized, not least of which was his attentions to her. And now he’d offered to do a chore she had no liking for, even though it might be considered a woman’s work.

With a wave of his hand he walked around the barn, and she turned back to the parlor to sort through the volumes she’d carried across the country. It was a task she relished. She filled her hands with the books from her childhood, classics and adventure stories alike. Inside the box that had belonged to Lucas’s mother were volumes from the past. A preprimer from that lady’s school days, volumes of history, mostly of Europe and Asia, with a few pages given over to the early years of America. Even a book devoted to cursive writing and instructions for the proper way to print the various letters of the alphabet, and write them in cursive style.

There was a big family Bible with names inscribed within, with Lucas’s name on the page designated for births. An assortment of stories from the Bible, written for children and well thumbed, demonstrated his early reading material. And packed with care, wrapped in ancient newsprint, were pictures of a man and woman and their children.

These she placed on the top shelf of the cabinet—four pictures taken with a photographer’s camera, from those days when men and women hired such a person to capture the present, saving it for the future in a portrait. One of the pictures was of a lovely lady with three little girls and two small boys at her knee, and the younger boy looked so like Toby, it startled Elizabeth. Surely this must be Lucas, she thought, holding it up to the window, the better to gaze upon the small boy’s face.

And she found the answer then to the mystery of why Lucas had taken to her so easily.

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