Текст книги "Truce"
Автор книги: R. L. Mathewson
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
Chapter 33
“Don’t turn around.”
Elizabeth had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as she looked up from her sewing to share a knowing look with Mrs. Brown, who was sitting on the couch across from her, and looking quite amused with Robert’s latest attempt to sneak a kiss under Mrs. Brown’s nose.
“Go away,” she whispered back, loving this playful side of her husband.
There was a slight pause before Robert whispered back, “I have something for you.”
She just bet he did.
“I’m busy,” she whispered back, not bothering to turn around or look out the window since she already knew that Robert was kneeling beneath the window and out of sight.
It was the same way that he used to torment her when they were children and she was stuck inside to complete her studies. He’d hide beneath the open window, taunting and teasing her until she finally had enough and made some excuse so that she could go outside and box the little beast’s ears. Not that she would ever admit this to him, but she used to secretly love it when he interrupted her lessons. It gave her something to look forward to everyday.
“Meet me outside in five minutes, minx.”
“No,” she said, having too much fun to give in so easily.
Besides, the kisses were always so much better when she made him work for them. There was just something about teasing and tormenting her husband that brought a smile to her face. Every day Robert found a way to sneak inside the house to steal a kiss, doing his best to get in and out of the house without Mrs. Brown finding out.
Not that Mrs. Brown actually cared what the two of them did. She found the whole thing amusing and seemed to enjoy tormenting Robert almost as much as she did. She also doubted that Robert would ever allow anyone to stop him from stealing a kiss from her and was doing everything he could to tease a smile out of her when most days, she hardly had the energy to do much more than curl up in bed and read.
She was only five months into her pregnancy, but she felt like she’d been pregnant forever. Her appetite was almost as large as her husband’s, which truly frightened her. She also found herself sleeping throughout most of the day, having very little energy to be much help. If it hadn’t been for Mrs. Brown, the house would still look like it was decaying, the gardens would still be overgrown with weeds and she doubted that there would be anything to eat since Elizabeth usually fell asleep halfway through making biscuits.
In truth, she was terrified. Between the first doctors misdiagnosing her, her appetite, and the intense exhaustion that she couldn’t shake, she didn’t know what to think or expect from this pregnancy. Every day she worried that she wasn’t giving the baby enough food, resting enough, or a hundred other things that could hurt the baby, and every day Robert did everything he could to make her smile.
He knew her concerns, had comforted her enough times over the past month to know that she was terrified that she was going to lose their baby. He did everything that he could to comfort her and reassure her that everything would be okay and when he couldn’t, he held her in his arms as she cried her eyes out. He was the sweetest man that she’d ever met and she couldn’t imagine what she’d done to deserve someone like him.
“Come on, minx, you know you want to,” he whispered teasingly.
“I thought you were fixing the Marshall’s roof today?” she said, noting that it was barely two in the afternoon. It made her wonder if he’d snuck off from work to steal a kiss from her.
“I finished a few hours early,” he answered, making her smile.
Her husband was a very hard worker as everyone in town had learned over the past month. At first they’d refused to hire him, thinking that he was just the spoiled second son of an English lord looking for a handout, but once they saw some of his work being sold at the shops in town, they couldn’t seem to hire him fast enough. There were several carpenters in town, but none of them had the skill that Robert seemed to have. Not to mention that he worked faster and harder than most men, at least that’s all she ever heard when she went into town. She couldn’t help but wonder if his size or the insane amount of food that he ate everyday had something to do with it.
“Well, I’m still working on the baby’s blanket so you’ll just have to find something else to do, Mr. Bradford,” she said in her haughtiest whisper that she could manage without laughing.
Robert sighed heavily. “Then I guess I’ll just go fishing all by myself.”
“Fishing?” she repeated with interest, her plans to torment him forgotten. She’d never been fishing before. It was one of those things that she’d always wanted to try, but her father had absolutely forbid her from ever doing.
“I was going to take you with me, but since you’re not interested.....,” he said, allowing his words to trail off as she imagined him shrugging even as he grinned that mischievous grin of his that used to irritate her, but she now loved.
“Wait!” she hissed, trying to get to her feet as Mrs. Brown, who was smiling and shaking her head in wonder, reached over and carefully picked the unfinished baby quilt off her lap and set it aside. Once that was done, Mrs. Brown took her hands into hers and did her best to help Elizabeth get to her feet. Although she was only five months along in her pregnancy, her stomach was a bit larger than most women’s at this stage. It was just another thing that frightened her.
Just as she was about to scoot to the edge of the chair with the hope that it would give her better leverage to stand up, she felt Robert’s large hands gently grip her hips to help her stand. Once she was on her feet, she didn’t bother looking back or thanking him since that would only give him a chance to change his mind and she most definitely did not want him doing that.
With a grateful smile to Mrs. Brown, she turned to head out the front door when she remembered the blueberry tarts they’d made that morning. Deciding that she was going to need a light snack to keep up her energy, she abruptly turned and headed in the direction of the kitchen.
“Already packed them,” Robert said, grinning boyishly from the backdoor as she stepped inside the kitchen. He held out his hand for her to join him.
Smiling, she went to him, only pausing twice along the way to grab some cheese, bread and a couple of meat pies along the way. As she stuffed the last meat pie in a sack, she prayed that her appetite returned to normal once she had the baby, because the thought of eating like this for the rest of her life terrified her.
“This way, minx,” Robert said, taking the sack from her and tossing it over his shoulder with the one he held in his hand before he took her hand in his and led her towards the woods.
“Are you really taking me fishing?’ she asked, barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice.
“Why wouldn’t I take my wife fishing?” Robert asked, steering her along an easy path through the woods.
“Because most husbands wouldn’t,” she foolishly pointed out.
“Then that’s their loss,” Robert said with a boyish grin, the one that made her love him even more.
---
“What do we do now?”
Robert chuckled at her excitement. “Now, minx, we wait,” he said, carefully placing her pole against a fallen log near the blanket he’d laid out for her so that they could see the pole dip if she got a bite.
“Oh,” she said with an adorable pout.
“Did you think the fish were going to attack your line,” he teased as he leaned in and kissed her, unable to resist such a sexy little pout.
“Sort of,” she admitted sheepishly.
“It takes time and patience, minx,” he said, chuckling as her pout deepened.
“What do we do until then?” she asked, looking around the grassy bank and then at the large pond that looked very inviting on a hot day like today.
“Normally we’d sit and wait, but today,” he said, pausing to pull his shirt off, “I thought we’d go for a swim.”
Instantly her pout was replaced with a shy hopeful smile as she looked at the pond. “Really?”
“Really, minx,” he said, quickly pulling off his boots and pants before he moved to help her remove her dress.
Her smile faltered when she looked down at herself. “Maybe I shouldn’t,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip even as she shot the pond a wistful look.
“And why is that?” he asked, stepping up behind her so that he could undo her buttons.
“Because I’m fat,” she muttered pathetically.
“You’re not fat,” he said, chuckling as leaned forward and pressed a kiss against the back of her neck, “you’re beautiful.”
She sighed heavily as she held onto the front of her dress so that it wouldn’t drop to the ground. “And you’re a terrible liar,” she grumbled, but she did let him help her out of her dress, stockings and slippers.
Wearing only her shift, she carefully walked to the edge of the pond and dipped a single toe in the calm water. If she hadn’t been carrying their baby he would have probably picked her up and thrown her in just so that he could rile her up. God, he loved it when she was all riled up.
But she was pregnant, so he had to be good. With that in mind, he walked over to her and scooped her up in his arms before she could put up much of a fight. To his utter shock, she didn’t complain at all. Instead, she sighed with pleasure as she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder as he carried her into the water.
Once he was chest deep, he pulled her closer and simply enjoyed having her in his arms. As he carried her through the water, he felt her shiver in his arms. Smiling, he looked down to tease her, but instead, he felt his smile slip as he lost himself in her baby blue eyes.
She was so damn beautiful, so kind and sweet. She made him so damn happy. He couldn’t imagine going a single day without seeing her, holding her, kissing her or showing her just how much he loved her. Every day he did everything in his power to show her how much he loved her, but he’d foolishly never told her how he felt, because he was terrified that she wouldn’t feel the same way.
He’d been so damn foolish.
It would hurt like hell if she didn’t return his feelings, but he didn’t give a damn. He loved her more than anything and he wanted to tell her. He wanted to-
“I love you, Robert,” Elizabeth whispered as she pulled herself up just enough so that she could brush her trembling lips against his.
For a moment he was too stunned to react.
She loved him?
Of course she did, he realized smiling smugly as he brushed his lips against hers. That was the only reason to explain why she hadn’t killed him with her bare hands by now and why she put up with all of his bullshit. It also explained why she’d agreed to his truce, agreed to leave everything behind and move with him to a new country where neither one of them had ever been before. It was so obvious now. She truly did love him, adored him really, but she would never love him as much as he loved her, he realized, still grinning because he was more than fine with that.
“I love you more, minx,” he said against her lips.
“Probably,” she easily agreed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and moved to deepen their kiss.
“Probably?” he demanded in mock outrage as he pulled away from her so that he could glare down at her.
“Definitely,” she said with an innocent expression as she leaned up to kiss him again, but before her lips could touch his he turned his head away.
With a heavy sigh, he carefully placed her on her feet. He rubbed his hands down his face as he said, “Run.”
“W-what?” she asked, sounding confused and more than a little excited.
He dropped his hands down by his sides, careful not to splash his wife in the face. “You have to the count of ten to run before I hunt you down and make you admit that you love me more.”
“You can’t be serious,” she said, biting back a smile even as she started to inch away from him.
“One.”
“Robert,-”
“Two.”
“Wait, let’s talk about this. I was just-”
“Three.”
“But,-”
“Four.”
“There’s no way that I’ll be able to-”
“Five.”
“Can’t we talk about this?’
“No,” he said, grinning in anticipation as Elizabeth noticeably swallowed and shot an anxious look towards the shore, “six.”
“Wait,” she said, taking a step away from him, her gaze shifting between him and the shore. “Can you start over?’
“No. Seven.”
She finally took a step away from him. “What exactly are you planning?”
“For you to scream your undying love for me at the top of your lungs,” he said with a shrug before he added, “eight.”
Her eyes widened with that announcement as self-preservation finally kicked in. With an adorable little squeal of excitement she turned around and moved to finally make her escape, but before she could take a single step he had her back in his arms where she belonged.
“Nine,” he said with a growl as he leaned down to kiss her.
“But you said that you’d give me to the count of ten!”
“I lied,” he admitted as he set his plan into motion.
For the next three hours he kept her on her back and her legs spread as he used his hands, mouth and the painfully hard appendage between his legs on her until she was screaming her undying love for him. Once that was done, he decided to show her just how much he loved her. He didn’t stop showing her until his voice was hoarse, he could hardly move and his minx knew just how much she meant to him.
Chapter 34
Three months later…..
“You spoil him,” Mrs. Brown pointed out with a smile as she carefully placed another apple pie on the table to cool.
“He deserves to be spoiled,” Elizabeth said, easily returning the older woman’s smile as she looked over the pies she’d made to surprise her husband.
For the past four months Robert had been working day and night, taking any job that he could get his hands on to make sure that they were well prepared for the coming winter. They’d heard that winters in New England could be especially harsh, so he was making sure that they were well prepared. When he wasn’t working on a job trying to earn more money for the coming winter, he was chopping wood, building a shed, fixing the barn for their horses, checking the roof, windows and fireplaces to make sure that they were properly secured, building shelves in the root cellar to make sure that they had plenty of space for their food. He was making sure that she and the baby had everything they were going to need.
He was working himself into exhaustion. Every time she pointed that out, he smiled and gave her a kiss as he told her that she was well worth it. He promised her that things would slow down in the winter and he would rest then, but she knew that he was lying. He already had enough orders for furniture, chests and a hundred other things to keep him busy during the winter.
“He’s going to be upset when he finds out that you were working,” Mrs. Brown said as she pulled another pie out of the oven.
“He’s not going to be upset,” Elizabeth said, knowing that was true.
Robert wouldn’t be upset when he found out that she hadn’t stayed in bed like the doctor had ordered, he would be furious, which was why she also made him some apple pastries so that he would be too busy eating to yell at her. He was such a hypocrite, she thought as she loaded a small tray with the pastries with the hopes that they would be enough to soften him up enough to take her for a walk.
It was okay for him to work himself to death, but it wasn’t okay for her to do anything more strenuous than to turn over in bed. She appreciated that he was concerned for her, really she did, but if she had to stay in that bed for one more day she was pretty sure that she was going to scream. She needed to move around, to work, to go for walks, anything that would take her mind off her huge stomach, the cramps that had started yesterday and wouldn’t leave her alone and the fact that she was bored out of her mind.
Taking a deep breath and praying that the walk would help ease her cramps, she picked up the tray and, unfortunately for her, waddled to the doors. It took her longer than she would have liked, but she eventually made it to the door and with Mrs. Brown’s help, managed to step outside. Murmuring her thanks to the older woman, Elizabeth started the long process of walking to the barn where her husband was hard at work building a chest for the Fairchild family.
It really was a beautiful day. The weather had cooled considerably over the past couple of weeks, making it the perfect weather for enjoying the outdoors. She hoped to be able to enjoy it before the baby came along with the snow that was sure to keep them trapped inside for most of the winter.
A few steps later she was forced to stop as a cramp tore through her back and stomach, proving her point that lying around for the past month had done her absolutely no good. She needed fresh air, sunshine and a bit of exercise. Once the cramp had dulled down enough for her to move, she took a deep breath and continued towards the barn, but she didn’t make it five steps before another cramp tore through her back and stomach, robbing her of the ability to breathe.
“Elizabeth?” a familiar voice said, drawing her attention to the very handsome man walking towards her, appearing surprised and pleased to see her. “Is that really you?” James asked, placing his satchel on a bench by the rose bushes as he walked past it on his way to her.
She opened her mouth to answer him, but a choked sob escaped her as she lost her grip on the tray. She bit back a cry as she cradled her arms around her stomach and leaned forward, praying that she wasn’t about to lose the baby. It was too early for the baby.
“Elizabeth?” James asked, sounding worried as he rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her as best as he could, but she was rather large now, making the job nearly impossible. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t get a chance to answer him before she felt a rush of liquid pour down her legs. It was quickly followed by another one of those vicious cramps that left her barely able to breathe. She reached up and grabbed onto James’ arms as cramp after cramp tore through her body until all she could do was scream the one thing that she knew would make it all better.
“Robert!”
---
“It’s beautiful,” Mr. Fairchild said in a reverent whisper as he ran his fingertips over the intricate design of the bassinet. “How much do you want for it?”
Robert chuckled as he placed the sheet back over the bassinet to keep it protected. “Thank you, but it’s not for sale.”
Mr. Fairchild smiled. “Fair enough. For your child?”
“Yes,” Robert said proudly as his gaze shifted to the other covered furniture that he’d built for their baby.
“The baby will be here soon enough,” Mr, Fairfield said with a chuckle as he moved to kneel in front of the chest that Robert made for the man’s future daughter-in-law.
“Not soon enough,” Robert said, leaning back to give the man some space to look over the chest.
Only a month more to go before he was holding their baby in his arms, their miracle child and he couldn’t wait. There were no words to describe how he felt about this child. They were getting a second chance to be parents to this child and he wasn’t going to waste it. He was going to-
“Robert!”
–have a heart attack, he realized as Elizabeth’s blood-curdling scream reached his ears. Before he realized what he was doing, he was running out the door, barely aware of Mr. Fairchild following him or demanding to know what was wrong. The only thing that he cared about at that moment was getting to Elizabeth and killing whoever was hurting her.
When he ran out of the barn and into the yard, terror shot through him as he watched a man hover over Elizabeth as she curled up on her side as she screamed his name over and over until he found himself running towards her and tackling the bastard.
“What the hell did you do to my wife?” he demanded as he shoved the smaller man to the ground and raised his fist, ready to kill him with his bare hands when recognition hit hard. “James? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Besides getting my ass kicked and having your wife scare the living hell out of me?” James demanded as he shoved Robert away and got to his feet. “I came to talk to you.”
Elizabeth’s screams brought his attention back to where it belonged. As happy as he was to see his brother again and that he was talking to him again, James was going to have to wait.
“Minx?” Robert asked as he crawled over to where his wife lay, curled up into a ball and panting. “What’s wrong?”
Instead of answering him, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“Is it the baby?” he asked, praying that the answer was no. It was too soon for the baby. They had another month before the baby was supposed to be born.
Reluctantly, she nodded as a sob escaped her.
Please don’t let us lose the baby, he prayed as he carefully picked her up and carried her into the house, because he didn’t think that either one of them would be able to survive the loss this time.
---
“He’s coming to,” he vaguely heard James say.
“Huh?” was his only response as he struggled to figure out how he ended up lying face down on his bedroom floor.
“I did tell him not to come in here,” James said, sounding amused as he helped roll Robert over onto his back.
“This is why men don’t belong in the labor room,” Mrs. Brown said, sounding put out as she tossed a wet cloth at him. It hit him in the face before falling off and landing on the floor, leaving Robert even more confused.
“What happened?” he asked numbly as he struggled to sit up, but a wave of dizziness had him lying right back down.
His answer was the beautiful cry of a baby. Actually, it sounded more like-
“Twins,” James said with a huge grin as he helped Robert sit up.
“Twins?” Robert repeated, not understanding what James was saying.
“Twin boys,” James said, chuckling as he reached down and dragged Robert to his feet. “That’s why your wife was so huge.”
“I was not huge!” Elizabeth said, not sounding very mad at all as she drew his attention towards the bed where she was curled up onto her side, smiling down at two wiggling, but healthy looking, babies.
“W-what happened?” he asked, struggling to remember what the hell happened.
“What do you remember?” James asked, dragging him over to the bed where his family was waiting for him and helping him carefully lie down next to the most beautiful babies that he’d ever seen.
“Not much,” he admitted, trying to shake his head clear.
“Well, after you carried Elizabeth in here and sent for the doctor, your formidable maid Mrs. Brown kicked us both out. While we waited for the doctor, you and I had a long overdue discussion where you apologized profusely for being a selfish bastard and begged my forgiveness,” James said, sounding amused and drawing Robert’s glare.
With a roll of his eyes and a few muttered words, James carefully sat down at the end of the bed and reached over so that the baby nearest him could grab onto his finger. “Fine. I apologized for being a bastard and not saying goodbye to you.”
“That’s all?” Robert asked with a frown as he reached down and softly caressed his son’s head.
“Well, you did apologize for everything,” James said, sending him a smile. “I’m sorry for not realizing that you were in love with her, Robert. Our parents are sorry as well. They should be here in a few weeks to tell you themselves. I should have realized that something was going on.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Robert said, giving him a reassuring smile before he returned his attention to the baby who was pulling his finger to his mouth.
“Oh, yes there is!” Mrs. Brown said, stepping up the side of the bed to smile down at the babies. “You gave the doctor and me heart failure when you came running in here like that!”
“I ran in here?” Robert asked, wracking his brain, trying to remember, but it was all a bit fuzzy.
James chuckled. “As soon as Elizabeth started screaming you broke free, ran into the room, caught one look at your wife giving birth and promptly passed out.”
“I don’t remember any of that.”
“And I doubt that any of us will ever forget,” James said with a wink that had Elizabeth laughing softly as she leaned down and pressed a kiss against the squirming baby’s foot that kept lightly kicking at her.
He looked at Elizabeth, noting the exhaustion and pure joy in her eyes as she looked down at their boys. She looked so damn beautiful, and he couldn’t help losing his heart to her all over again.
“Twins, minx,” he said, gently pulling his hand away from his son so that he could push a damp strand of hair behind Elizabeth’s ear.
“Twins,” she repeated with a pleased smile.
He leaned in, careful of the baby now trying to grab onto his shirt, and brushed a kiss against his beautiful wife’s lips. “I love you, Beth,” he said, using the name that she hated to tease another smile out of her.
“And I love you, Robert Lemonade.”
