The Widow of Rose Hill (The Women of Rose Hill Book 2), стр. 68

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“Miz Natalie?”

Natalie looked up from the tub of sudsy water where the last of her camisoles sat on the washboard, ready to be scrubbed. Ruth, Adline, and Carolina stood behind her.

She straightened and arched her stiff back. “Please don’t tell me something else is wrong.”

The morning wasn’t half over, but they’d already discovered a fox had been in the hen house, and four chickens were missing. After that, Moses found that three of the new workers were gone, taking a good portion of the Army supplies with them. If these women were there to report more bad news, Natalie might crawl back in bed and call the day finished.

“No, ma’am,” Carolina said with a giggle.

Natalie waited.

With a glance at Carolina, who nodded with encouragement, Ruth stepped forward. “Miz Natalie, Carolina and Harriet been tellin’ us how you’s helpin’ them learn their letters.” She motioned toward Adline, who had never acknowledged Natalie’s presence. Now, however, the woman stole surreptitious peeks at Natalie while Ruth spoke. “Adline and me is wonderin’ if we could come learn our letters too.”

The request came as a complete surprise. She glanced between the women, practically sputtering her answer. “Why, of course you can. I’d be pleased to have you both join us.”

Adline met Natalie’s gaze. A small smile appeared on her face, the first Natalie had ever seen from her.

“We’ll meet under the walnut tree later this afternoon.”

With a happy smile, Ruth said, “Whatever you teach me, I gonna teach my man, Wash, and our chillens.” Adline nodded her agreement before the women returned to the house.

“It shore is nice o’ you to ’llow them to learn to read with us, Miz Natalie.” Carolina gave her a studious look. “That freedom proclamation shore done changed things, hasn’t it?”

“It has at that.”

Carolina eyed her. “You even look diff ’ernt.”

Natalie shrugged. “I hardly recognize myself these days.” She looked at her hands, red and raw from scrubbing laundry with lye soap.

“Seem to me you is more like you ’sposed to be now rather than the way you was before.”

The honest words should’ve offended her, but she knew there was truth in them. “I hope so. It isn’t as though I’ve had much choice.”

Carolina returned to the house. Natalie plunged her hands into the soapy water and set to work on the delicate garment, the servant’s words playing through her mind as she scrubbed. Was she now the woman God had intended her to be all along? She never would have believed it the day Levi and his men arrived with the proclamation.

Levi.

She closed her eyes, remembering how tenderly he’d put Samuel to bed, and then finding herself in his passionate embrace moments later. It ignited a desire she’d never experienced before. Far deeper than mere physical attraction, she knew she wanted him to be the father of her children. She wanted to make a life with him, to raise a family with him, to grow old with him. But she had misunderstood his intentions and felt the fool for it. He planned to return home to Pennsylvania, with or without her. Why couldn’t he understand she must remain in Texas, fighting for her son’s birthright?

Tears filled her eyes, and a painful truth became all too clear.

A future with Levi was impossible.

After finishing her chore, she went in search of Samuel, needing the familiar comfort his sweet presence brought to her. He and Isaac were in the barn with Moses helping him with one of the milk cows that was due to deliver her calf. Wiping the moisture from her brow as she went, she thought back to the day many months ago when Alexander had brought a bull with him on one of his visits. She’d previously mentioned her concern that their milk cows were not producing as they should. She’d long since sold off Rose Hill’s cattle to pay the taxes on Langford Manor, leaving them without a bull to breed and repopulate their small dairy herd.

The image of the handsome Tejano came to mind. He’d been nothing but a gentleman throughout the past year, always paying his rent for the pastures on time and even supplying them with beef occasionally. She believed she could trust him to run Rose Hill and Langford Manor, helping them become the prosperous plantations they’d been before the war, thus saving Samuel’s inheritance. That was what was most important now. It mattered not that she didn’t love him. If she accepted his proposal of marriage, hopefully, her affection, and that of her son, would grow over time.

Putting her troublesome thoughts away, she squared her shoulders and continued to the barn. Samuel’s contagious laughter helped soothe her soul. He and Isaac perched on the top rail of a stall. A wobbly calf took hesitant steps through the straw while its tired mother looked on.

“Mama, look! It’s a boy cow. Ain’t he funny?” Samuel laughed again, and Isaac chuckled beside him when the calf fell flat on its face, its legs giving out from underneath it.

“He nice n’ healthy.” Moses joined Natalie. “Once he weaned, his mama shore to give us some good, thick milk with lot’sa cream.” Natalie watched the mother nudge the calf up with her wet nose then give him a few licks from her enormous tongue. The caring gesture made Natalie smile. She hadn’t witnessed livestock with their young very often. Mama had often reminded her that a young lady’s place was in the house learning the things she would need to run the manor someday. Sewing, music, and proper etiquette were of far more importance, especially when one hoped to secure a good marriage. How disappointed she would be to know George had not been the knight in shining armor her parents believed