Katie: Bride of Virginia (American Mail-Order Brides 10) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the smell of the meal, he couldn't wait to eat.
    Pulling open the drawer, he realized she'd done what he told her and moved things around. Now his underwear were all folded nice and tidy, his socks and handkerchiefs were in order and--fear ripped through him. Hurriedly he searched to find the document he'd hidden. Eloisa's death certificate.
    The parchment paper lay folded in the same drawer where it had been hidden. But had she opened and read the document? Had she learned he'd been married once before?
    He should have told her last night, but he hadn't wanted to ruin the evening by talking about the past. Even now he just wanted to make up to his wife and get a second chance at making her happy. To show her that sex between them could be better than what she'd experienced last night. He'd made a huge mistake, letting his body take over and not taking his time.
    Frankly, he'd been surprised she'd been a virgin. A woman who'd worked in a factory, lived on her own and had to take care of herself. Maybe he was being foolish, but he'd not expected her to be an innocent.
    When he entered the dining room, his mother gazed at him from her chair at the table. “How is work in the fields?”
    “Good. We're prepping the soil for the next season. Plus we're still straining the last batch of wine we produced. What about you, Mother, what did you do today?”
    She laughed the sound almost vicious. “I broke in your new wife.”
    There were times he hated his mother. Since her injury, she'd become a cruel old woman. The mother he remembered had disappeared and he wished something would bring her back. “I'm sure Katie was very helpful to you, Mother.”
    “You can't lie to her anymore. She knows.”
    “I haven't lied, Mother.”
    “But you didn't tell her everything did you?”
    Why did she make it sound so evil? A man didn't want to tell his bride about his first wife on their wedding night. It didn't seem right. And he hadn't been the one to send her that letter.
    “Thank you for divulging that information for me. I had planned on telling her when the time was right. I didn't think that was appropriate talk the first night of our marriage,” he said sarcastically, wishing his mother would learn to keep her mouth shut.
    The older woman cackled and he wondered like he often did of late, if she was losing her mind. Could illness destroy not only a body, but a mind as well?
    “You'll pay for your sins,” she said softly. “I know what you did.”
    “What do you think I did?” he asked. She thought he'd killed Eloise.
    “I saw Eloise leave that night.”
    He sighed and closed his eyes, wishing things were easier. She'd told him before that she saw his wife run out into the snow. But why?
    The door to the kitchen opened and Katie carried a big pot to the table where she sat it down. “I just need to bring in the serving utensils. Mother O'Malley do you want anything besides water to drink?”
    “I'm fine.”
    Katie walked out.
    “She's calling you Mother O'Malley. That has to be a good sign.”
    His mother glanced at him her brown eyes darkening. “No. Not really. It just means she's polite.”
    “And polite isn't good?”
    She shrugged. “It won't win me over.”
    Shaking his head, he laughed. “I've been your son for almost thirty years and that hasn't won you over. I hardly expect her being here one day is going to give her any advantage.”
    Once his mother had been a controlling woman, but now she was hateful and bitter and often times there was nothing nice about her. Yet, she was his mother and he prayed for the return of the mother he use to know.
    “You're being impertinent.”
    “Truthful, Mother, truthful. There's a difference. What happened to make you so angry?”
    “You know what happened--”
    “An accident. You've let a carriage accident turn you into an embittered old woman,” he said being frank. He was tired of her vile tongue and wanted peace in his house for a change.
    “And whose