Read Online Sweet Forever by Ramona K. Cecil - Free Book Online

glanced down at her gloved hands folded in her lap. “It’s my hands, you see.”
    “Your hands?”
    “Yes. As I mentioned to you after services last Sunday, I suffer from rheumatism. My hands have been hurting worse than ever, and Dr. Morgan suggested that playing the piano for services may further aggravate the inflammation.” With her left hand, she rubbed the knuckles of her right.
    “I know this leaves you without a pianist, and I know Roscoe, too, will be so disappointed. . . .” Her words broke on a soft sob. She dabbed again at her eyes. “But it seems to be either that or my sewing, and I simply will not abandon my needlework.”
    “No, no, of course you mustn’t.” Jacob reached over to pat her hand, his heart going out to the woman. “I’m sure someone will step forward and fill the void.”
    Suddenly she sat straight up, a flash of inspiration registering on her face. “I nearly forgot. My niece, Sophie, will be arriving next week from Miss Ely’s Young Ladies’ Academy in Cincinnati. She has undoubtedly mastered the piano. Why, you must know her—Sophie Schuler? She hails from your home village up in Hamilton County.”
    “Sophie Schuler is your niece?” Stunned by the revelation, Jacob barely noticed Rosaleen enter with the tea and cakes.
    “Why, yes. When Sophie was born, I promised my sister, Gerite, Sophie’s mother, that Roscoe and I would see to her formal schooling.” Murmuring a thank-you to Rosaleen, Myrtle accepted the offered tea. After pausing to take a sip, she chatted on about how she planned to bring Sophie into Madison’s social circle and hoped to persuade her niece to make Madison her permanent home.
    Allowing the woman to prattle on uninterrupted, Jacob found his mind flashing back to his earlier acquaintance with the young Miss Schuler. He’d known Sophie since she was a child. Two years ago, while spending a summer with his brother’s family, he’d briefly courted the then seventeen-year-old Sophie. However, at that time, he’d felt the seven-year age difference too great, and they’d gone their separate ways—him to Madison and her to. . . her to a young ladies’ academy .
    “Oh Reverend, I feel so much better.” Brightening, Myrtle Stinnett nibbled on a seed cake, her attitude much revived. “Of course Sophie can play the piano!”
    Jacob’s heart slumped with his shoulders.
    Oh Lord, help me. What am I to do now?

Eight
    “Wonder what the reverend thinks ’bout his ole flame comin’ to spend the summer in Madison?” Patsey asked as she cut out biscuits at the kitchen table.
    At Patsey’s giggled question, Rosaleen’s gaze jerked up from the strips of bacon sizzling in the frying pan. She wondered whom Patsey could mean.
    The housemaid’s next words supplied the answer. “Yes sirree, wish I could’a been in the parlor when Mrs. Stinnett told him who her niece is! I can jist imagine the look on his face.”
    A sharp glance from Opal shushed Patsey, drying up her chuckle.
    Patsey’s inadvertent disclosure only added to Rosaleen’s discomfort when an hour later, sitting beside the piano among a parlor full of worshipers, she found herself in the last place she’d wanted to be.
    Rosaleen had been prepared to dislike Sophie Schuler, but she couldn’t. Throughout the service, she’d found her attention drawn to the girl.
    Her heart wilting, Rosaleen was forced to admit that the young woman would be a perfect match for Jacob. Her honey blond hair peeking from beneath her rose-studded bonnet matched his almost exactly. Her pale blue eyes were but a few shades lighter than his.
    Squished between her aunt and uncle on the black horsehair sofa, the quiet, petite young woman seemed the picture of demure grace. Sophie’s carefully fashioned side curls framed her face in gold ringlets. With the slightest movement, they brushed against her alabaster cheek that bloomed the pale pink of wild roses. Mostly, the Stinnetts’ niece kept her gaze fixed on her