Read Online After the Storm by Jo Ann Ferguson - Free Book Online Page A

cold toast.”
    â€œThank you.” She took a bite and savored the flavor of the jam and fresh butter.
    â€œIt must be quite a shock for you to see Lottie wearing glasses,” he said, as if there had been no pause in the discussion.
    â€œA big shock.”
    â€œWithin a few days of her arrival,” he said, leaning one hand on the footboard, “I noticed she was squinting at everything. I thought at first it might be the bright sunshine, but it quickly became clear she was having trouble seeing.”
    â€œI was afraid that was so, for I had noticed her squinting when we were crossing the sea to America. I wanted to take her to see a doctor in New York, but I wasn’t sure where there was one.”
    â€œDoc Bamburger examined her. Now if we can just convince her to stop using words she doesn’t mean …” He smiled. “She wants to be as big as her sister and brother.”
    â€œWho is Doc Bamburger?” she asked, although she wanted to hear more about her youngest, who had been speaking like a baby when Cailin last saw her. “Will he be willing to tell me if her eyes might get worse?”
    â€œHe’s the doctor in Haven, and I’m sure he’ll be glad to assure you—as he did me—that there’s no reason to think she may become blind.”
    Again she flinched. “I’m glad to hear that.”
    â€œDoc Bamburger is a good doctor. He got the village through diphtheria with only a few deaths.”
    â€œDiphtheria?” She sat straighter. “You have that here?”
    â€œIt was in Haven earlier this summer, but no one in this house got sick.”
    â€œThank heavens.”
    â€œMy thoughts exactly.” This time when he smiled, she did as well.
    â€œAs I’ve already said, but I doubt I can ever say enough, I appreciate you taking such good care of Lottie and making sure she can see. I feared what I might find when I got here. Anyone can see how well you’ve taken care of the children. Far better than I was able to.”
    â€œOur situations are quite different.”
    Her shoulders stiffened, and she closed her eyes before sudden tears could flow from them. That remark sounded too much like Abban’s mother when she had looked down her nose at Cailin and denounced her as a liar. No Rafferty would marry riffraff like an ignorant Irish farm girl . Those words had plagued her for the long weeks of her grief at the dashing of her dreams.
    â€œCailin?”
    At the concern in Samuel’s voice, she shoved aside the tentacles of those memories. She opened her eyes to discover him so close to her, as he searched her face while he waited for her answer, she hardly dared to breathe. His breath, flavored with strawberry jam, brushed her face, and his lips were only a finger’s breadth from her mouth.
    They were alone in this room with, she noticed with abrupt uneasiness, the door closed. Caught up in her conversation with Samuel, she had not seen Lottie or Brendan close it. Or had they? Had Samuel closed it after they left?
    Her daughter and his hired girl probably were just beyond the door, but they might as well have been on the far side of the ocean. She could think only of how this strong, quiet man, who was not afraid to show his attachment to her children, possessed an undeniable male charm. As his hand rose toward her, she was torn between cringing away and lifting her own hand to touch it.
    He put his palm against her forehead, shattering her delusion that he was as mesmerized as she. She should be grateful he only wanted to see if the fever had returned, but she could not be. For a moment, she had imagined his hands holding her as gently as he did one of the children. But she had not wanted him to hold her with a parent’s care. She had imagined him holding her far more intimately.
    â€œNo fever,” he said. “Is something else wrong?”
    â€œNo fever at all?”
    â€œNone at all.