Enchantress Read Online Free PDF Page B

mother were successful silversmiths, and they were wealthy, though miserly.”
    She was only nineteen. He could see that she was losing some of her fear of him and it gladdened his heart. She wasa rare and beautiful flower, and though he wanted to keep her, he knew that if she did not find happiness here, he would send her to England.
    “Did you like America, Jillianna?”
    “No, I was not happy there,” she admitted. “You see, I was always in a predicament. I have come to believe that the devil was always knocking me down and then kicking me for falling.”
    His lips twitched, and his eyes danced with mirth. “So you were always in trouble?”
    “Yes.” Her eyes sparkled with a determined light. “I tried to be obedient, but I was always doing things like singing an Irish ballad in the church to the embarrassment of my husband and his mother. Then there was the time I caught my slipper on my mother-in-law’s finest shawl, and most of it unraveled before I discovered what I had done. I once spilled a plate of corn in the minister’s lap. And that’s just the start. I am guilty of much worse. My mother-in-law would tell you that I am most disruptive.”
    Simijin found her confession so endearing that a strong urge to protect her took hold of him. “You will not find us so critical of you here, Jillianna.”
    “I am certain that my husband had great forbearance, but he had much to contend with in me.”
    “And did you come to love your husband?”
    She looked at Simijin, not knowing how anxiously he awaited her answer. She had never considered love to be a part of her relation with Matthew Sinclair. “I never really got to know Matthew. We lived in the same house with his widowed mother, and he spent most of his time with her. You see, his mother was a very religious woman, and I fear I was often a great disappointment to her…and to Matthew as well.”
    Simijin could read much of what she had suffered in her eyes. It was apparent that she had known little kindness or happiness with her husband. He found himself wanting to see that she had both kindness and happiness from now on.
    “So, your husband died, leaving you to bear his child alone?”
    “You make it sound like he died intentionally. Matthew had a fever, and he just wasted away to nothing in a matter of two weeks. I was sorry that he died, and I was grievously sorry that his mother had lost her only reason for living. She is a very sad old woman.”
    “What made you decide to leave America and return to England? Surely your mother-in-law would have rather you stayed with her since you were having her grandchild?”
    Jillianna absentmindedly picked up a ripened pear and bit into it. “Mrs. Sinclair was still grieving for her son when she learned that I was…with child, and I feared she might force me to stay with her. But poor Mrs. Sinclair was wishing for death at the time, and when I suggested that I return to England to live with my father, she readily agreed. She provided me with passage money, and was probably glad to see the last of me. I believe she thought of my unborn child as belonging to me more than to Matthew.”
    “Why do you think she was displeased with you?”
    Jillianna took another bite of the pear and savored its sweet taste. “I often wondered that myself. Since I am English, I was raised in the Church of England, while my husband and his mother were Quakers. I am certain they found me sadly lacking in humility and what they considered proper Christian spirit.” She took another bite of the pear and smiled at Simijin. “I fear you will soon see those qualities lacking in me as well.”
    He reached out and took her hand, studying the delicate bone structure. “I believe your husband was undeserving of you, and his mother was a fool for letting you go.” He rubbed his thumb over her wrist. “Shall I tell you something else, Jillianna?”
    She wanted to drag her hand from his grasp, but she dared not. “If you