The Husband Quest by Lori Handeland

Author:Lori Handeland [Handeland, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781459228825
Google: vnoZflIn_L4C
Goodreads: 1904219
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2004-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

JILLY ROCKED THE baby until the infant woke up squalling. Addie’d been right. Anna Mae could raise the roof with her screams.

“Here.” Addie appeared in the doorway. “I’ll take her.”

“No.” Jilly stared at the beet-red baby face. The little girl was twisting and turning, writhing as if in pain. “I don’t mind. What should I do?”

Addie studied Jilly, then motioned for her to stand, which she did. “Hold her against ye, tight like. Her belly to yer chest. Rub her back and sway.” She demonstrated.

Jilly did as instructed. The baby kept crying, but she stopped squirming.

“May take a while, but keep at it. If yer ears start ringin’ and yer eye starts twitchin’, I’ll take ’er.”

The wailing didn’t bother Jilly. The child’s obvious discomfort did.

She swayed with that baby for forty-five minutes before Anna Mae stopped crying and fell back asleep.

“Should I put her down?” she asked Addie.

“Lord, no. She’ll wake right back up. Her ma’ll be here directly.”

When Anna Mae’s mother arrived, Jilly didn’t want to let the child go. She was so soft and cuddly, so warm and trusting. Her little mouth hung open, and her eyelashes created a spiderweb of shadows against her pale cheeks.

“Thank ye.” The young woman slipped the baby out of Jilly’s arms, handing her a burlap sack in return.

Jilly glanced inside and nearly dropped the sack. “What’s with the dead chicken?”

“Payment.” She settled Anna Mae into her car seat. “For your time and trouble.”

“I’d rather have cash,” Jilly muttered as the car drove away.

“Not much of that in these parts.” Addie had come out of the cabin.

“Why not?”

“Just ain’t. Folks use their paper money at the store. What they can pay fer in trade, they do.”

“Here’s your chicken.” Jilly held the bag out to Addie.

The old woman turned away. “That’s yours.”

“What am I going to do with it?”

“Make dinner.”

Jilly peered into the bag again. The thing inside looked like nothing she’d ever found on a plate.

“Never mind,” Addie ordered. “We got customers.”

Jilly looked up and saw an elderly couple approaching on foot.

“Wife’s got the flux,” the man said. “And my bold hives ain’t so good, either.” He squinted at Jilly. “Who in blazes are you?”

“My new helper.” Addie led the old woman to a chair. “Lives at the inn.”

The man’s white eyebrows flew upward. “With Matthew?”

Jilly opened her mouth to deny living with Matthew, but Addie answered, “Of course,” before she could say a word.

“Get my medicine bag, Jilly. Directly inside the door.”

Jilly decided not to bother arguing. Matthew lived at the inn, and no one around here was going to believe otherwise.

She stepped into Addie’s cabin and was struck speechless. Herbs hung from the ceiling. Bottles filled with tonics in every color of the earth lined several shelves and the mantel. Books and notebooks overflowed several tables. The entire place was devoted to the healing arts. Even the stove held bubbling pots of brew.

Jilly should feel uncomfortable, like Gretel blundering into the witch’s lair. Instead she felt as if she’d stumbled upon something wonderful.

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