A Bargain to Keep by Alena Mentink

Author:Alena Mentink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Electric Moon Publishing
Published: 2023-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

10

Judging by the way Jeanne’s eyes narrowed when she stepped out of Mayfield Mercantile the next morning, Ethan guessed she had expected a good night’s sleep to have cured him of his extra precautions. It hadn’t.

In fact, Ethan had spent most of the night trying to find a more comfortable position in his bed as his mind churned out all the “what if” scenarios it could produce. Jeanne’s pregnancy bothered him more than he cared to admit to himself. It shouldn’t have. She was a healthy woman. She had access to all the nutrition she could need for herself and a growing baby. And she wasn’t his to worry about.

Still, knowing the truth had sent his mind on a journey back into the past, a trip he hadn’t made in a long time. From all appearances, Mamie had been healthy as well. Ethan had made sure she lacked for nothing. And it still hadn’t been enough.

He hated the memory of Mamie’s death, hated remembering the helplessness that engulfed him as she lost the fight and her body slowly shut down. There had been nothing he or anyone else could do, but it felt as if there should have been.

Now he watched Jeanne descend the steps, her waist still so slim that he wouldn’t have guessed she was carrying a baby, and he had to swallow hard. He liked Jeanne. He wouldn’t have thought he could when he first met her two weeks before, but she had grown on him. He wanted her to be healthy and safe—and he was powerless to do anything to keep her that way.

Jeanne stopped in front of him, the highlights in her hair catching the sunlight and making her hair fairly glow. Then Ethan saw her hands on her hips, and he pulled his mind away from pretty highlights. She meant business.

“You’re still worrying, aren’t you?”

Ethan met her gaze. “Reckon I am.”

“Well, don’t.” And just like that, the lecture was over. She brushed past him and was into the wagon before he could even reach out to help her.

Ethan blew out his breath and climbed up after her. “I might stop worrying if you would take this more seriously.”

“I assure you I am very serious.” Jeanne set Vivian on her lap, then flicked a comb from her pocket and began running it through Vivian’s hair. Ethan hadn’t even noticed how tangled her hair was.

Ethan shook his head, then reached under the seat and picked up a jar. “Here,” he said, thrusting it at Jeanne. “When you’re done with that, drink this.”

Jeanne’s eyebrows arched. “And what is it?”

“I promise it isn’t fermented herring. It’s a tea mix that was still in the cupboard from when Mamie was expecting Vivian. She said it always settled her stomach and gave her more energy.”

“Oh—well, thank you.” Jeanne turned her eyes back to Vivian’s hair, her cheeks pinking just a bit. “It was kind of you to think of it.”

Little did she know that she was all he had been thinking about since yesterday.

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