Woodiwiss, Kathleen E - Come Love A Stranger by Woodiwiss Kathleen E

Author:Woodiwiss, Kathleen E [Woodiwiss, Kathleen E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-12-10T12:13:31+00:00

The hour was late when Ashton paused outside the back door to shed his muddy boots and as much attire as he dared. He had accomplished the first and had shrugged out of coat and vest when he became aware of muffled sobs coming from the kitchen. With worry crowding his mind, he leaped up the steps and entered the room in stockinged feet. Willabelle turned about with a start, clasping the hem of her apron over her mouth. From her eyes streamed a torrent of tears, and the red-eyed stares of Luella May and Bertha convinced him that they also shared in the sorrow. When Willabelle recognized the mud-smeared visage of her master, she drew a deep breath and began to sob with renewed vigor.

“Why are all of you crying?” he demanded. “What’s happened?”

“It’s Miz Lierin, massa,” Willabelle moaned, and the other two dissolved in a fresh spate of sobs and sniffles.

Sharp talons of dread raked Ashton’s heart, and his mind began to race. “Where is she?” he cried. “Has she been hurt?”

Again Willabelle supplied the information as she wept in her apron. “Gone, massa.”

“Gone? Gone where?” He was completely bewildered.

The housekeeper sniffed loudly and, wiping her face with the apron, drew a quavering breath as she struggled for control. “Ah don’ know, massa. Dat Mistah Somerton, he come out here an’ talk wid her for some time. Den Mis Lierin an’ him jes’ up an’ left widout nobody knowin’. Yo grandma an’ Miz Jenny…dey took to deir beds wid a powerful case o’ de mulligrubs.”

“But why?” Ashton asked, confused and hurting. “Why would she go?”

Willabelle lifted her massive shoulders in a helpless shrug. “Ah don’ know, massa. Maybe Mistah Somerton, he worked her into believin’ she was Miz Lenore.”

A great weight descended on Ashton’s shoulders. Of a sudden he was tired, and his body ached from the abuse it had taken. His mind labored to sort out the realities, but he felt the pressing burden of a mountain he could not climb. Blinking at the gathering moisture in his eyes, he turned away and blindly made his way to the door. “I’ll find her,” he mumbled. “I’ll start the search in the morning.” He paused in the portal and lamely gestured toward the back door, remembering that he had left Sarah somewhere outside. “I brought a woman home with me. Take care of her and give her something to wear.”

The wails began anew, and he turned his head to bend a gloomy regard on the housekeeper.

“What is it now?”

“Nothin’, ’ceptin’ Miz Lierin done gone off widout her clothes,” Willabelle choked out. “All dem purty gowns you bought, she left dem all behind. She left jes’ like some ghost, needin’ nothin’ an’ takin’ nothin’ wid her.”

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