Elizabeth by Jo Grafford

Author:Jo Grafford [Grafford, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JG PRESS
Published: 2019-11-14T06:00:00+00:00

Now that the secret was out about the true state of David’s finances, he didn’t bother hiding it any longer. Quite the opposite. He lavished so many gifts on his bride that she started to feel guilty.

“You’ve done enough,” she protested one afternoon. He’d commissioned not one new dress, as originally promised on their wedding day, but three so far. Plus a riding habit, two hats, sturdy black boots, a pair of high-heeled dancing slippers, a crocheted reticule, and so many other odds and ends that she lost count of them. “You are positively spoiling me.”

“Every man has a hobby.” He winked at her. “Mine happens to be pleasing my wife.”

“I am pleased. More than pleased. You can cease and desist your spendthrift ways at once, sweetheart, with my blessing.” Why, the money he’d spend on one dress alone would have fed her mother and sisters for months!

He arched a brow at her. “I do not consider it a waste to dress my wife in style. Can’t blame a man for enjoying the sight of someone so beautiful in a gown or two or three.”

“Or three is right,” she corrected tartly, “and that’s if I don’t count my new riding habit, coat, or cloak.”

They were back in their boarding house room for the evening, having spent a very blustery afternoon at the homestead. The roof was going on slower than they’d hoped, since it was too cold and windy for the workmen to stay outside for much longer than an hour at a time.

David removed the black top hat he’d worn to their dinner at the hotel across town and sent it sailing across the room. It landed neatly on their bed. “It will be four if you count the nightgown of silk and lace I ordered this afternoon while you were selecting your next book from the mercantile.” He shook his head at her growing collection of volumes on the mantle. “Our home isn’t finished being built, and already I’m having to plan the addition of a library.”

“Please don’t,” she begged, gliding across the room. Her new emerald green wool skirts swished enticingly with each step. “Please don’t do any more for me, David. It’s too much.” There was a quiver in her voice she was unable to hide.

“Why, darling!” He reached for her and drew her into his arms. “What is wrong? Surely, my gifts alone cannot be the cause of such intense distress.”

“But they are!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. “Please understand I am grateful for your generosity. It is so kindly meant that I adore you for it a thousand times over. But it also makes me feel guilty, at times.”

“Guilty!” He looked astonished. “Whatever for? You’ve done nothing wrong, and neither have I.”

“No, of course not! It’s just that…” She paused and nibbled on her lower lip. “It’s difficult to have it so good as your wife, while my mother and sisters are barely making ends meet. It doesn’t seem right to acquire another dress or hat or even a book, when they might not be certain of their next meal.

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