Because otherwise I wouldn’t be here, and I’m very glad to be here.”
Edward looked at her, eyes narrowed. “You are? But you don’t even know me. Was what you left so bad that you’d become a mail-order bride?”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t bad, but I was no longer needed, and I decided I want children of my own. You can give them to me, and Lissa is the icing on the cake. I accepted your offer because of her.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “You did? But I thought you wanted children of your own.”
Adele gazed at him. “Now that we are married, Lissa is my own. She’s my daughter, whether she accepts that fact or not. I will always treat her as if she was born to me.”
He gave her a small smile. “I’m very glad to hear that. I know she’ll be difficult to begin with, but you have to have patience. She’ll come around the more you include her in things. Let her help you make cookies. Start teaching her to cook, to sew, and to embroider. Whatever you do, teach her. She’ll start to warm to you and miss her mother less, since Catherine never included her in anything.”
“Thank you for the instruction. I’ll take your advice. I want to spend time with her, anyway, and teaching her to do things is a good way for us to get to know each other.”
“Exactly.”
He pulled to a stop in front of the house’s side door.
“Mrs. Underhill is off today so this is where we’ll likely find Lissa…bothering Cookie for some treat. But we don’t have any right now. I didn’t pick up anything at the bakery.”
“Perhaps this is a good time to start her lessons. I can teach her to make cookies.”
“I leave that up to you. I thought you might like a bath before anything.” He set the brake and jumped down from the wagon. Then he came around to her side held his arms up toward her.
“I would like a bath, but I don’t want to take it when any of the men might walk in.” She looked down at him. “Well, I guess you wouldn’t go through all the trouble of marrying me to let me die getting off the wagon.”
He chuckled. “No, I don’t suppose I would.”
She stepped down to the top step and then leaned forward with her arms outstretched to reach his shoulders.
Edward caught her just as he had at the preacher’s home, with his hands just under her bosom.
She had the same sensation of wanting his hands on her body. She’d never felt this way with Richard.
When she was on the ground, she looked up into his handsome face. “Thank you. I appreciate you not dropping me.” She quickly lowered her gaze and ran her hands down her coat for something to do with them. She really did want a bath. The trip was so long even her wool coat was wrinkled. But Lissa came first.
“Nervous?”
She took a deep breath. “Does it show?”
He smiled, took her hand and put it through the crook in his elbow. “Just a bit. I’ll come back for your bags.”
Her stomach tied in knots as she looked at the door. She hadn’t expected it to open and stopped abruptly when it did. Then thinking Lissa would come out, her eyes widened when a grizzled old man ran out.
“I’m gonna kill her. That child is a menace.” He ran up to Edward. “She needs to be spanked, Eddie. You have to stop letting her do as she pleases.”
With that, the man stomped off toward the bunkhouse.
She lifted her brows and gazed up at Edward. “Eddie?”
“That’s Cookie and he’s known me practically all my life. That’s what he called me when I was a kid.”
She tilted her head. “What about his complaint about Lissa? Is he correct?”
Edward let go of her hand and ran a hand behind his neck. “Probably. I’ve been lax in discipline since her mother left.”
She widened her eyes. “You’ve been letting her run wild for a year? Edward, what were you thinking? Even I,” she thumped her chest with a hand. “Who haven’t had children know you must have discipline for the child to grow into a good adult. I had lots of younger brothers and sisters…” She suddenly remembered she was supposed to be a governess. “And, of course, the children I’ve governed for the past seven years. You must give them rules, and consequences if they break those rules.”
He frowned and then