The Secret of Stavewood (Stavewood Saga Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

eyes. “All my life I heard about how you and Daddy were so perfect for one another and that everyone around you knew you belonged together from the beginning. How did you know it was really love and not just a crush or infatuation?”
          Rebecca looked off, her mind traveling back to the early days, when she and Timothy were learning that, despite all of the challenges they faced, they were completely in love.
          She cleared her throat, bit her lip, and looked back at her daughter.
          “At first I was a little afraid of him. I thought he was remarkable and compelling, but a bit frightening too. The first day I was here at Stavewood there was a party that night. He didn’t know I was the mail-order-bride he’d been expecting and I didn’t know he was the man I had come to meet. Even so, he’d given me clothes and a place to stay and I was overwhelmed by his kindness.” Her throat tightened and she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. “But then I walked down the big staircase and he looked up at me as if I was perfect. I felt rare and precious in his eyes and I was everything I wanted to be as a woman. I knew right then that all I ever wanted was to be in his arms and at his side. That didn’t happen right away, though I wished terribly at the time that it had. No, we had to learn about one another, to find our way together. We had to trust.”
          Louisa took a deep breath and looked at her watch imagining Talbot’s piercing blue eyes. He was devoted to her and she wanted terribly to feel the same. She needed to know her feelings for him were more than an infatuation or her fear of never finding love at all.
          Rebecca continued. “Knowing my life would always be empty without him didn’t make it any easier though. Octavia, who always hoped to marry your father, was at the party telling everyone they were engaged. I didn’t know any better. Then later, she told me that someone had sent for a picture bride because they had lost a bet. My whole life had turned upside down. I believed I had traveled halfway around the world for nothing. The night we finally got it straightened out I threw propriety right out the window and before we were wed I lay with him.” Rebecca sighed at her admission.
          “Mama!” Louisa gasped. “You? And Daddy?”
          Rebecca blushed deeply. “I never could say no to him. Especially not that morning when he asked me be his wife. I was afraid, but without him I was not complete. He wanted to marry right away, that very day. So we did and I have never regretted it a moment since.”
          Louisa got to her feet and walked to the window.
          “Talbot is good to me, Mama. He is attentive and always telling me how wonderful I am. When I look into his eyes I have no doubts but other times I’m not sure how I feel. I just wish I knew. I’ve waited a long time for the right man and now I’m afraid I’m being too guarded. I worry that I’ll end up a spinster. I don’t want that. I want what you and Daddy have, what Emma and Roland and Mark and Colleen have found. I wish I knew if it was Talbot.”
          “You came home without him. Why?” Rebecca asked.
          “To write, to clear my head. I want to write your story and maybe then I’ll find my own heart.”
          “But you didn’t bring him here to be with you while you look for that.”
          “I know,” Louisa said, her voice a soft sigh.
          “Well.” Rebecca touched her hand. “If he’s the one you’ll miss him and that will tell you something. You have to open your heart and let it find love, no matter what. You’ll know.”
          Louisa took a deep breath and realized that the aroma of a hearty Stavewood breakfast had filled the air.
         “Let’s go eat,” Rebecca said. “I just want to put a few things away first and get them out of your way.”
          Louisa helped her mother move bolts