Read Online The Preacher's Daughter by Cheryl St.john - Free Book Online

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    The rasp of the front doorbell caught their attention, and Lorabeth got up, wiping her hands on her apron. A moment later she returned.
    “It’s a man looking for you.”
    Ben strode through the hallway to the foyer where Matt Dearborn stood hat in hand, clearly uncomfortable in the Chaneys’ expensively furnished home.
    “Matt,” Ben said.
    “D’you have time to come by and look at my bay?
    Pennie’s bloated and she’s not eating.”
    “I’ll come right now,” Ben told him. “My other appointments can wait until later in the afternoon.”
    “Much obliged, Doc,” the other man said with a look of relief.
    Ben turned to find Lorabeth holding his hat. She extended it toward him.
    He thanked her and followed Matt into the sunlight.
     
    Late that afternoon, Ben finished his work at the Iverson ranch where he’d inoculated Pete Iverson’s yearlings and examined a mare with matted eyes. He’d applied salve and left a tube with Pete after showing him how to pull down the mare’s lid and squeeze a line of ointment into its eye once a day.
    He mounted Titus and rode into town. The library was already closed as he rode past. He stopped for a few supplies at the mercantile. As a last thought, he asked Hazel Paulson for a couple scoops of jelly beans and tucked the bag into the pocket of his jacket after paying.
    Relieved he didn’t have to cook for himself, he rode toward his sister’s, reminding himself this visit was at Ellie’s request. He reined in and tied Titus to the post beside the front gate. The sight of all four youngsters and Flynn sitting in a row on chairs across the front porch brought him up short.
    Flynn loped down the stairs, and the others followed.
    Buddy Lee followed at their heels, meowing. The children all spoke at once.
    “Mama’s having the baby!” Lillith said excitedly.
    “Caleb’s been up with Ellie since this afternoon,”
    Flynn said.
    “Mrs. Connor is here, too,” Nate told him.
    “I’m hungwy,” Anna piped up.
    “It’s time for dinner,” Ben said, guiding them back toward the house. “I’m hungry, too.”
    “Mith Lorrie’th fixing it by herthelf,” Anna replied.
    “Why didn’t a couple of you help her?”
    “David and me was helping, but she told us to watch Anna,” Lillith replied.
    Ben could imagine how much help David and Lillith had been.
    He pointed to the swing in the side yard. “Why don’t you girls swing while I go check on your dinner?”
    Lillith and Anna ran down the stairs. Flynn accompanied Ben into the house. “How long does this baby stuff take?” Flynn asked with a furrow between his brows. “I don’t remember it taking this long when Anna was born.”
    “I don’t think there’s a hard-and-fast rule,” Ben told him.
    He found Lorabeth in the overly-warm kitchen, strands of her honey-colored hair stuck to the back of her neck.
    She glanced up from the bowl of potatoes she was mashing and gave him a quick smile. “Hello, Benjamin.”
    He opened the back door and the ceiling-high window to let in some air. Buddy Lee immediately shot inside, and Ben spent five minutes getting the cat out from under a cupboard and back out. “How are you faring?” he asked Lorabeth.
    “Things got a little chaotic this afternoon. I ran an errand for Dr. Chaney and ended up getting supper started late.”
    “Flynn and I will help.”
    A look of relief crossed her features, but she said, “That’s not necessary.”
    “Probably not, but we’re helpin’ anyhow. What can we do?”
    “You can take the roast out of that pan and slice it. I didn’t get the potatoes peeled in time to cook them with the meat, so I boiled them. The children like them better mashed, anyway. Flynn, will you please set plates around the table in the dining room? It will be cooler in there. Ask the boys to wash their hands and help you with silverware and napkins.”
    Ben removed the lid from the roasting pan, and the savory aroma of beef and browned carrots made his