The Recruit Read Online Free PDF

babies than she did.
    She was also older than Mary had realized. “How old are you?”
    “Fournahalf,” she said proudly. Reading Mary’s mind again, she added, “Da says I’m
     small for my age.”
    Mary noticed her cast another longing glance toward the ribbons. “It’s all right,”
     she said. “Would you like to hold one?”
    The girl’s eyes widened to enormous proportions and she nodded furiously. Not giving
     Mary a chance to reconsider, she immediately reached for the bright pink one embroidered
     with silver flowers. She took it between her tiny fingers so reverently Mary couldn’t
     help smiling.
    “You have an excellent eye. I think you’ve picked the prettiest of the bunch.”
    The child’s smile stole her breath. Longing rose up hard inside her before she tamped
     it firmly down.
In the past …
    The mother returned in a flurry of excited breathing and excuses, the wee bandit clamped
     firmly by the wrist. “I’m so sorry.” She placed the purloined ribbons back down on
     the table and relieved Mary of the baby with her newly free hand.
    Mary was surprised by how much she wanted to protest. She felt suddenly … bereft.
    Forcing the oddly maudlin moment aside, she managed a wry smile. “You seem to have
     your hands full.”
    The woman returned the smile, relieved by her understanding. “This is only half. I’ve
     three lads helping their dawith the livestock.” Suddenly, she noticed the bag the baby held in his hand. Her
     eyes widened like her daughter’s had. “Willie! Where did you get that?”
    “Don’t worry,” Mary said, taking it back. “I let him play with it.” Anticipating a
     similar reaction to the ribbon in Beth’s hands, she added, “I hope you don’t mind.
     But I should like Beth to have this.”
    The woman started to protest that it was too much, but Mary insisted. “Please, it
     is a trifling, and she—” she stopped, her throat suddenly thick. “She reminds me of
     someone.”
    It hadn’t struck her until now, but the girl bore a distinct resemblance to her and
     Janet when they were girls. Wispy blond hair, pale skin, big blue eyes, and fair,
     delicate features.
    Seeming to sense the emotion behind the offer, the young woman thanked her and hustled
     her children away.
    “I leave you alone for a few minutes and you are giving the merchandise away for free?
     That’s it, I wash my hands of you. You will never be a tradeswoman.”
    Mary turned, surprised to see the merchant standing there watching her. Though his
     words were chastising, his tone was not. From the glimmer of sadness in his eyes,
     Mary could see that he’d seen more than she wanted him to.
    She gathered the frayed ends of her emotions and bundled them back together. That
     part of her life was over. She’d been both a wife and a mother—even if neither had
     turned out the way she’d planned. There was no use dwelling on what was past. But
     the brief exchange sent a ripple of longing across the quiet life she’d built for
     herself, reminded her of all that she’d lost.
    She might never be able to get David’s childhood back, but she was determined to have
     a part in his future. The handful of opportunities she’d had to see him the past few
     years hadn’t brought them any closer, but she hoped that would change. Her son would
     be leaving the king’s household soonto become a squire, and Sir Adam was doing his best to see him placed with one of
     the barons in the north of England, close to her.
    The merchant handed her a small wooden box.
    “What is this?” she asked.
    “Open it.”
    She did so and gasped at what she saw. Carefully, she removed the two round pieces
     of glass framed in horn and connected by a center rivet from the silky bed upon which
     they rested. “You found them!”
    He nodded, inordinately pleased at her reaction. “All the way from Italy.”
    Mary held them up to her eyes, and like magic the world had suddenly become larger.
Occhiale
, they