Once Upon a Mail Order Bride - Linda Broday Page 0,73
his mouth, lightly raking his teeth across the swollen tip.
Breathing hard, her hands moved along his muscles, kneading, smoothing, working, responding in kind to his movements. Trembling with need, he kissed her deeply, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Neither spoke, their heavy-lidded eyes and ragged breathing revealing the depth of mutual desire.
Hands around her waist, Ridge lifted her up and slowly lowered her onto him. The buoying water helped them set a frantic tempo, friction driving him forward toward the release he sought. His heart thundered from the intense pleasure.
Addie took hers first, as Ridge had intended. She gasped and threw back her head, tightening her hold around his neck. She clung to him with all her strength as though he would vanish if she let loose. Once reassured by her gasps of pleasure, Ridge gave himself free rein. The crashing, thundering, billowing ecstasy rushed from his belly and down his jerking body.
The water settled into a lazy swirl, little waves lapping around them as they rested. Addie lifted her head from his chest, and Ridge pushed back strands of wet hair from her face, staring into eyes as green as spring grass.
His words came out hoarse and raspy. “I’m not the best man for you. Lord knows I ain’t, but no one will ever cherish you as much as I do. I promise you that.”
Addie searched his gaze as though afraid to believe. “Are you sure?”
“Never more so about anything.”
Addie sighed contentedly. “I’ve found the one place in all the world where I am meant to be. Right here. With you.” She got off him and climbed from the pool, wrapping a towel around her. “I want to tell you about my past. I should’ve followed Eleanor’s advice and done so long ago, but it took time to find the strength.”
Ridge followed and picked up the other towel. “I’m a patient man and didn’t want to press you. There’s a lot I do wonder about, though.”
“Do you remember what I told you about my father and the town of New Zion?” She sat on the lush grass, and he joined her.
“Yes. You said he owned not only you, but everyone else.”
“He never let us forget that. I never accepted his ways or that false religion of his, so I continually found myself at odds with him. I taught school and began privately teaching the girls about their bodies and having babies, including what herbs, bark, and roots could stop them from conceiving. Someone told my father what I was doing, and I’d never seen such anger burn inside anyone. I’d gone against him, and he couldn’t let that go or he’d lose face. He whipped me in the public square and burned every schoolbook and pamphlet.”
“The bastard!” Ridge put an arm around her and held her close to his side. He prayed to cross paths with the man one day. As God was his witness, he’d get justice for Addie or die trying.
“My father only had girl babies and blamed my mother for that. He called her inadequate and lazy—among worse things. He ranted like a madman that he needed a boy, a son, to carry on his life’s work. He became obsessed for a son.”
Her voice lowered to nearly a whisper. “I should’ve realized what ran through his demented mind, but I didn’t know the depths to which even he would stoop. One night while I was finishing up my work alone in the classroom, one of my older students, Jane Ann, snuck in. She was in labor and begged for my help. That shocked me, of course. I had no idea of her pregnancy. Although she had begun to wear jackets and baggy dresses, so I guess that kept her growing belly hidden.”
“And of course, you couldn’t turn her away,” Ridge murmured.
“I made her comfortable and ran to get the midwife. Zelda Law and I shared the same opinion about Ezekiel and his teachings. She taught me about herbs and roots. Together, we birthed the babe there in the schoolhouse. It was a boy. Jane Ann was weak and had lost so much blood. Nothing we did would stop the bleeding; she told us she wasn’t going to make it and didn’t want to carry her secret to the grave. She told me…” Addie’s voice broke, and she cleared her throat. “She revealed the identity of her child’s father.”
“Who was he?” Ridge squeezed her cold hand.
“Ezekiel Jancy.”
Twenty
Shock raced through Ridge. Dammit! He thought he’d despised Ezekiel