shrugged. “I’ll leave that up to you.”
Her hand flew to her throat, resting against her bare throat since she was still wearing her wedding dress. “Me? I don’t usually make the rules. I just uphold them.”
Edward lifted a brow, and one side of his mouth quirked up. “Now you get to make them, too. I’ll back you up, whatever you decide. I know she needs it, but I can’t bring myself to chastise her when she feels she lost so much.”
Adele sighed. “She was very close to her mother I take it.”
He shrugged. “That’s the thing I don’t understand. Catherine didn’t have much time for Lissa. I had no idea what Catherine did with her time who she spent her time with until it was too late. I trusted her implicitly. A mistake I won’t make again.”
Adele understood the pain behind his position, but still felt like she’d been slapped in the face. She ignored it because he didn’t know anything about her any more than she did him.
“I suppose you have the right to feel that way, but I will never cheat. I’m your wife, for better or worse. Of course, you’ll have to wait and see for yourself that I am worthy of your trust.”
He cocked a brow. “We’ll have to wait and see about that, now won’t we. Let’s go inside. You may get to make your first rule depending on what we find.”
“You should know right now that I don’t believe in spanking children.” She remembered all too well her own father wielding his razor strop on her backside. Adele would never do that to a child.
“Good, because I don’t, either.” He opened the door, and smoke came rolling out.
“Oh, my God, it looks like your house is on fire.”
“Lissa! Where are you?”
“I’m here, Daddy.”
She sounded so small.
Adele fanned her face, pulled a hankie from her sleeve and covered her mouth. She recognized the acrid scent and coughed.
Edward ran through the smoke into the kitchen.
Adele followed him, her nose and mouth covered with her hankie.
Whatever was on the stove was burning.
Edward grabbed Lissa from the chair she stood on and ran outside.
Adele looked around, found the sink, put on her gloves and pulled the burning skillet off the stove. When she got it into the sink, she pumped water inside. Steam combined with the smoke making it nearly impossible to see, but Adele made her way to the door and hurried outside, propping the door open with a piece of firewood that was stacked on one side of the porch.
Edward turned as she stopped by him and Lissa. “Thank you.”
She waved him away. “It was no trouble. We’ve all set pots on fire.” Adele looked down at Lissa. The little girl cried with her arms wrapped around her father’s waist and her face buried in his side..
“Hello, Lissa. My name is Adele and I’m your father’s new wife. You and I will be learning how to cook together. We can even make cookies. Would you like that?” She’s the spitting image of her father…thank God.
Lissa gazed up at Adele, her dark blue eyes wide. She nodded and then turned her face into Edward’s leg.
He reached down and patted her back. “Lissa, what do you say to the nice lady?”
Keeping her face on Edward’s leg she shook her head.
Edward looked up, shrugged and then gave her a sheepish smile. “She’s a little shy.”
“It’s all right. We have a long time to get to know each other. Before we get too much more involved, I need to clean the kitchen and then I need a real bath whether anyone comes in or not. I can’t stand it any longer. Do you have a bathing room or just a bathtub? I want to know where to carry the water and I’d rather know now than wait with a bucket in my hand to find out. Those metal handles are too hard on my fingers.”
“We have a bathing room. If you’d clean up the mess I’d appreciate it. Mrs. Underhill is off today. Thank you. This upheaval was not how I anticipated the two of you to meet.”
Adele laughed and waved a hand toward the kitchen behind her. “No one could have anticipated this mistake.”
He chuckled. “No, I suppose not.” He looked down at his daughter. “Lissa, what were you doing at the stove?”
She let go of his leg and backed up a step then she started swaying back and forth, holding her hands behind her. “I was helping Cookie.”
“Cookie