Mail Order Maternity (Brides of Beckham Book 6) by Kirsten Osbourne Read Free Book Online Page B

thought this could be the nursery, and you can sleep there until you feel better.”
    She nodded, thankful he was going to give her time to get over how queasy she was before expecting her to have sex with him.  It would make it much easier for her.
    His room was small, but there was a large bed and a sturdy looking chest of drawers.  In the room he’d dubbed the nursery, there was a small bed and a rocking chair.  “This will work nicely for the baby.”
    “I’ll make a cradle before it comes.”  He’d thought a lot about what he needed to do before the baby arrived.  Keeping busy would help him feel more connected to the child.
    “Thank you for accepting my child.  I know it’s an awkward situation, but I think we’ll get through it.”  He seemed to be a good man.  He had to be.  Otherwise he would have sent her vomit-covered-self back to Beckham.  She didn’t know if she’d have been able to do what he’d done.
    Walking into the nursery, she made up the small bed with the sheets on the dresser.  She would spend tomorrow baking and doing laundry.  His sheets looked as if they hadn’t been washed in a while.  She was glad she felt strong enough to work, even though she was so sick when it came to food.  It would be nice to be able to show him she’d be able to carry her weight on the farm. 
    He hovered in the doorway for a moment, before saying, “I’ll leave you to it, then.  Goodnight.”
    She smiled, thankful he wasn’t trying to kiss her again.  She wasn’t ready for that.  “Goodnight.  Wake me if I’m still asleep when you get up, so I can get breakfast going for you.”  She’d try to wake herself before he was up, but she was sleeping a lot more now that she was pregnant.
    She changed into her nightgown and settled into bed, feeling sure of her decision to marry a stranger for the first time since she’d made it.  Thomas was a good man, and he’d be a good father to her child, even though he hadn’t fathered it.  She fell asleep, at peace with her life for the first time since Charlie died.
     
    *****
     
    Esther woke to the short knock on her bedroom door.  “I’m going to milk now.”  The deep voice outside her door was both familiar and foreign at the same time.  Who was he?
    It took her a moment to remember where she was and why she was there.  “I’ll start breakfast.”  She rolled to the side of the bed, doing her best to calm the nausea already rising in her throat.  She stood slowly and changed into a day dress.  She hoped to get a bath after breakfast, because of the vast amounts of vomiting she’d done on the way to the homestead the previous day.
    She mixed the batter for pancakes and fried up some bacon, but waited until he came back to the house to actually pour the pancakes.  He took longer than he had the night before, and just as she was starting to worry, he came in carrying a large tin bathtub.  He set it next to the table and put a huge pot of water on the stove.  “I thought you might like a bath after breakfast,” he said by way of explanation.  “I’ll give you privacy.”
    She nodded thankfully.  “I could use it.  Thank you.”  She didn’t know if he was thinking of how bad she must feel or worrying about how she smelled, but either way, she appreciated not having to carry the tub into the house herself. 
    She poured the pancakes and watched as he carried in bucket after bucket of water to fill the tub for her.  She had eight pancakes on a plate for him and four more in the pan when he sat down, ready to eat.  When the last four were ready, she dropped three more on his plate and sat down with one pancake and a piece of bacon.  He looked at her plate and shook his head.  “Are you trying to starve that baby?”  He watched as she poured milk from the pail he’d just brought in for each of them.
    She smiled.  “I wish I could eat more.  He seems to be growing, though.”
    “He?  You think it’s a boy?”