Read Online The Preacher's Daughter by Cheryl St.john - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cheryl St.john
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I’ll take her a tray.”
“That was a good idea. Very thoughtful, thanks.”
Lorabeth nodded.
Caleb ate and left the table. It wasn’t long until Sophie joined them. The pretty dark-haired woman was smiling and cheerful, assuring everyone that Ellie was indeed doing well.
Lorabeth asked Flynn to heat water and then she and Nate stacked the plates and washed pans and dishes. Ben and David dried while Lorabeth wiped the table and counters.
Nate and David had school assignments, so she settled them at the clean kitchen table. Minutes later she was pointing over David’s shoulder to show him a step he’d missed.
Without missing a beat, she took cigar boxes from a shelf and set the girls to drawing and cutting.
Ben sat beside Lillith and pointed to a row of paper figures. “What’s this you’re makin’?”
“Miss Lorrie helps us draw pretty dresses for our paper dolls,” Lillith told him. “She looks at the clothes in the catalog and then makes ours just like them.”
“I never did things like this as a girl,” Lorabeth told Ben with a sheepish shrug. “It’s fun.”
Ben knew all about missing out on things as a child, but he couldn’t figure out how Lorabeth fit the picture. She had a respectable family, a concerned father, and lived in a nice home right here in Newton.
She had certainly stepped up and handled things for his sister’s family this past week, and she’d knocked herself out to make sure the children’s routines weren’t upset. His admiration grew by leaps and bounds each time he was around her. She put her energy and talent to good use, and he acknowledged that.
Ben remembered the treats in his jacket pocket and excused himself to go get the bag. When he returned, he found a glass bowl in the cupboard and poured in the brightly colored candies. He set it on the kitchen table. “Each take five the first time to keep it fair,” he told them. “And they can’t all be the same color.”
Anna stuck out her lower lip, but he’d done this before. “Others like red, too,” he admonished, keeping his voice cheerful.
She looked up and tilted her lips into a cherubic smile, and all was well.
The candy made the rounds with each Chaney selecting five jelly beans until the bowl came to Lorabeth. She held it as though she’d been given a stolen diamond. Her wide tawny eyes looked to Ben in surprise. “They’re for the children.”
“Don’t you like them?”
“I think so. A friend of my mama’s gave me some a long time ago.”
“Well, choose yours,” he said with an encouraging nod.
Lorabeth carefully selected five and passed them on. She bit into the first one, and her broad smile gave him an odd hitch in his chest. She appeared every bit as childishly delighted with his surprise as Lillith and Anna.
Flynn came to the doorway and asked Ben if he’d read over an assignment for errors, so Ben gave Lorabeth a glance and headed for Caleb’s den.
After watching him go, Lorabeth ran her tongue across her teeth to glean every last sugary bite. When the dish came to her again, she took five more candies and tucked them into her apron pocket for later.
Dr. Chaney entered the room and asked her for a cup of broth. She handed him a napkin along with the steaming cup. Preoccupied, he returned to his wife.
Lorabeth lit the lamps and lanterns and went upstairs to lay out the children’s nightclothes and turn down their beds. Soft voices could be heard from behind her employers’ closed door. The whole mystery of Ellie’s pregnancy and this process of giving birth fascinated Lorabeth. All she knew about how babies were conceived she’d read in the Bible. “Caleb had ‘known’ Ellie” was vague and mysterious. All that metaphorical stuff about does and lilies in the Song of Solomon made it sound lyrical and lovely. The unknown was bewildering and alluring at the same time.
She escorted the girls to the outhouse and then washed their hands and faces in the wash room behind the
“That was a good idea. Very thoughtful, thanks.”
Lorabeth nodded.
Caleb ate and left the table. It wasn’t long until Sophie joined them. The pretty dark-haired woman was smiling and cheerful, assuring everyone that Ellie was indeed doing well.
Lorabeth asked Flynn to heat water and then she and Nate stacked the plates and washed pans and dishes. Ben and David dried while Lorabeth wiped the table and counters.
Nate and David had school assignments, so she settled them at the clean kitchen table. Minutes later she was pointing over David’s shoulder to show him a step he’d missed.
Without missing a beat, she took cigar boxes from a shelf and set the girls to drawing and cutting.
Ben sat beside Lillith and pointed to a row of paper figures. “What’s this you’re makin’?”
“Miss Lorrie helps us draw pretty dresses for our paper dolls,” Lillith told him. “She looks at the clothes in the catalog and then makes ours just like them.”
“I never did things like this as a girl,” Lorabeth told Ben with a sheepish shrug. “It’s fun.”
Ben knew all about missing out on things as a child, but he couldn’t figure out how Lorabeth fit the picture. She had a respectable family, a concerned father, and lived in a nice home right here in Newton.
She had certainly stepped up and handled things for his sister’s family this past week, and she’d knocked herself out to make sure the children’s routines weren’t upset. His admiration grew by leaps and bounds each time he was around her. She put her energy and talent to good use, and he acknowledged that.
Ben remembered the treats in his jacket pocket and excused himself to go get the bag. When he returned, he found a glass bowl in the cupboard and poured in the brightly colored candies. He set it on the kitchen table. “Each take five the first time to keep it fair,” he told them. “And they can’t all be the same color.”
Anna stuck out her lower lip, but he’d done this before. “Others like red, too,” he admonished, keeping his voice cheerful.
She looked up and tilted her lips into a cherubic smile, and all was well.
The candy made the rounds with each Chaney selecting five jelly beans until the bowl came to Lorabeth. She held it as though she’d been given a stolen diamond. Her wide tawny eyes looked to Ben in surprise. “They’re for the children.”
“Don’t you like them?”
“I think so. A friend of my mama’s gave me some a long time ago.”
“Well, choose yours,” he said with an encouraging nod.
Lorabeth carefully selected five and passed them on. She bit into the first one, and her broad smile gave him an odd hitch in his chest. She appeared every bit as childishly delighted with his surprise as Lillith and Anna.
Flynn came to the doorway and asked Ben if he’d read over an assignment for errors, so Ben gave Lorabeth a glance and headed for Caleb’s den.
After watching him go, Lorabeth ran her tongue across her teeth to glean every last sugary bite. When the dish came to her again, she took five more candies and tucked them into her apron pocket for later.
Dr. Chaney entered the room and asked her for a cup of broth. She handed him a napkin along with the steaming cup. Preoccupied, he returned to his wife.
Lorabeth lit the lamps and lanterns and went upstairs to lay out the children’s nightclothes and turn down their beds. Soft voices could be heard from behind her employers’ closed door. The whole mystery of Ellie’s pregnancy and this process of giving birth fascinated Lorabeth. All she knew about how babies were conceived she’d read in the Bible. “Caleb had ‘known’ Ellie” was vague and mysterious. All that metaphorical stuff about does and lilies in the Song of Solomon made it sound lyrical and lovely. The unknown was bewildering and alluring at the same time.
She escorted the girls to the outhouse and then washed their hands and faces in the wash room behind the
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