The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch

Author:Erica Vetsch [Vetsch, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780825446177
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Published: 2020-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Evan still couldn’t quite grasp all the work his wife had accomplished in his absence, and with little help and no direction from him. Every room on the lower floor had been swept out and cleared. Most of the furniture that was still useable had been brought to the drawing room on the main floor, one of the few rooms where the windows were still intact.

And her lists. The job he’d been least looking forward to was now well on the way to being finished. She wrote with a beautiful hand, much better than the claw marks his own writing resembled. Lists of furnishings, lists of measurements for draperies and wall coverings and trim, lists of linens and household goods, china, cookware, cleaning supplies, room by room she’d gone through the entire house.

Even now she bent over the stacks of pages, organizing, searching for something. “Ah, here it is. My list of lists.” She held up the paper, triumph in her eyes.

“You have a list of your lists?” Evan couldn’t keep the amusement from his voice, but regretted it as she slowly lowered the paper and uncertainty clouded her eyes. “That’s most industrious of you. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

She nodded, glancing away. Sunshine from the window lit her profile, and he drew a deep breath.

He’d missed her, which was odd, since she had been in his life such a short time. But when he’d seen her on the stoop of the inn, he’d almost put his arms around her then and there. He could smell her scent, flowers and soap and femininity. And the rustle of her skirts, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear, the way she pinched her lower lip when she wasn’t sure about something. For all his adult life, he’d lived in a male-dominated universe. To have the care and companionship of a woman such as Diana both scared and fascinated him. Everything about her was foreign and yet intriguing.

He could still feel the softness of her cheek against his lips, the tickle of the hair at her temple as it brushed his nose, and the fineness of her skin, translucent and smooth. Evan swallowed and clenched and unclenched his fists.

Diana tapped her papers into a pile and returned them to the leather folder, leaving the “list of lists” on the top as she gathered everything. They went into the entry hall, where the men moved back and forth with their loads.

He could read the doubts in her face as she watched his cobbled-together workforce. They wouldn’t win any prizes for beauty, but what she didn’t know was the courage that dwelt behind the scars. These men had seen battle and survived. They had done without, endured, and overcome in situations she couldn’t even dream of. Learning carpentry, gardening, farming, horsemanship … these would be nothing. They deserved better than to be cast off from the army as unnecessary.

While he was proud of them, shame hollowed out his chest. If only he could count himself amongst them.

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