The Kitchen Marriage by Gina Welborn

Author:Gina Welborn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

The Pawlikowski house

A month ago, Zoe stood in this very spot at the bottom of the steps, listening to Jakob boast about the locally quarried blue granite that framed his parents’ three-story home. While the raised first floor, wraparound porch, and magnificent tower added a whimsical beauty to the house, what appealed to her most were the front steps. Painted red, the twelve steps matched the porch columns, railings, gingerbread trim, and the house numbers on the wooden shingle hanging from the porch awning. Four, perhaps, five people could sit across each stair tread.

A month ago, she had daydreamed about sitting on this porch with Jakob and their children, his brother, and his brother’s wife and children for a family photograph. Mr. and Mrs. Pawlikowski would be in the middle, surrounded by their legacy. Love, so much love, would be captured in the photograph. For years, they would repeat this pose on these steps, well into the next century, when Zoe would be in the middle with her husband, surrounded by their legacy.

A month ago, she had hope.

Now she was determined to make her daydream a reality.

Smiling, she strolled up the steps to the double front doors and knocked.

The right door opened.

A bony woman with gray-tinged auburn hair cut close to her scalp stood there, curiosity in her blue-green eyes. “Can I help you?”

“Mrs. McCall sent me to provide ze assistance you requested.”

The woman’s amused gaze fell to Zoe’s sapphire silk day dress. “You seem to be a woman of good breeding. I appreciate your willingness, but I need muscle, not beauty.”

Zoe hesitated, unsure of how to respond, so she said the only thing that came to mind. “I am Zoe de Fleur.”

The woman gasped. “Oh! You’re Jakob’s girl! Come in, come in.” She pulled Zoe inside, tossed her umbrella onto the hall tree, and then shut the door. She leaned close and sniffed. “Jakob was right—lilacs at first bloom. His brother said you smelled like a bridal bouquet. I told Mr. Gunderson he needed to learn to be more romantic if he ever wanted to win a girl’s affections, but he insisted he wasn’t trying to be romantic, that the description fit.”

Warmness spread under Zoe’s skin. A bridal bouquet was far more romantic in her opinion than lilacs in bloom. The latter, to be fair, was the exact name of the perfumed glycerin soap she used—Colgate & Co.’s Lilacs in Bloom.

The housekeeper studied Zoe. “Goodness, you’re so pretty. I took this job hoping to ingratiate myself so much into Jakob’s life that he realized he couldn’t live without me. My plan was to marry him this summer, but now that you’re here . . .” She sighed. “You’re fortunate I’m not fifteen years younger. I’m sure I could lure him away from you.”

“I zink you are joking with me, but if you are not”—Zoe smiled and gave the housekeeper’s arm a consoling pat—“zen I am sorry I ruined your plan to marry Jakob.”

Merriment danced in the housekeeper’s eyes. “You’re here, so I might as well put you to work.

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