Second Chance Bride by Jane Myers Perrine

Author:Jane Myers Perrine
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin (UK) Limited
Published: 2009-08-15T20:00:00+00:00

When she walked into the Hanson house on Sunday, Annie noticed immediately that it was more expensively furnished and impressive than the Sullivans’. The parlors were larger and more cluttered, the dinner table groaned under the number of dishes and the walls of Amanda’s bedroom were covered with pink velvet.

“Let’s look at the stereopticon,” Amanda said after they’d eaten. “We ordered some new slides I know you’ll love. Come over to the sofa and I’ll show you.”

Amanda pulled a tall metal stand across the table and placed a piece of cardboard on it.

“I’ve never seen one of these,” Annie said, inspecting the object.

“Oh, you’ll love it. Look through there.” She pointed at an oddly shaped oval opening. “This one is of the pyramids in Egypt.”

A wonder took place before Annie’s eyes. She felt as if she were there, in this place called Egypt, as if she could reach out and touch the oddly shaped structure even though she knew it was merely a picture on the card Amanda had placed in the stereopticon. Although she felt sure a pyramid was the triangular building in the foreground, she had no idea what it was or where Egypt was or why anyone had built such a thing.

“Here’s a picture of an abbey close to Yorkshire.”

Amanda continued to put in more slides. Something the French were building called the Panama Canal, the countrysides of England and France, views of New York and Chicago and San Francisco. As she watched them, Annie realized how ignorant she was. Oh, she’d worked so hard, but she had so much more to learn, so very much more.

She’d come across a few of these places in her reading, but she’d had no idea the cities were so much bigger than Weaver City, which was the largest place she’d ever been. She’d learned from the picture in the stereopticon that New York had lots of tall buildings and crowds of people—more people than Annie had ever seen in one place at one time.

What was the Panama Canal? Where were these other places and why were they important? She suspected she should know most of them in order to teach history, but she didn’t.

Her mind in a swirl, she leaned back against the sofa. She’d worked so hard and she still didn’t know enough, not nearly enough. Amanda knew all this because she’d lived in an educated household and had gone to school. For years.

How would she ever learn it all? It would take the rest of her life. But she only had a few weeks.

“Matilda, are you all right?” Concern wrinkled Amanda’s forehead.

No, she was not all right but she couldn’t confess that now. “A little overwhelmed,” she said. “I’ve never imagined these places looked like this.” She sat up. “Do you have more slides? I’d like to see them all.”

Because Annie had shown so much interest in the stereopticon, Amanda sent it home with her. She spent the rest of the day looking up the places in the history book and making notes.

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