Matronly Duties by Melissa Kendall Read Free Book Online Page B

greets us at the door, a giant grin on her face. “What happened? I didn’t expect to see you again.”
    Howard responds before I have a chance. “She asked if she could come back here, and I said it was fine.”
    Rhonda cocks an eyebrow at her son, and they stare at one another for a few seconds, seemingly having some sort of silent conversation. With a slight shake of his head and a heavy sigh, they both return their attention to me.
    I thank him for taking me to the post office and then suggest he gets some rest. He looks dead on his feet and, although I wish to talk with him some more, I do not want to keep him from his routine.
    “See you later,” he says as he walks out of the room.
    I am unable to stop myself from watching him as he leaves. While we were riding, the temptation to trace the curves and dips of the muscles I’d seen last night was strong. But the knowledge that I hardly know him kept my hands from roaming.
    “He’s a good man,” Rhonda says, startling me.
    “Is he?” I wonder if it’s true, as well as why she would tell me that. I don’t have to wonder for long.
    “He is. He’ll make an excellent husband.”
    It sinks in—she is trying to pair me up with her son. That isn’t a possibility, though.
    “A relationship with a man is not in the cards for me.”
    “Whyever not?” She sounds genuinely confused.
    I sigh. “It is frowned upon for Matrons to be in any kind of relationship. It would take our focus off our job.” As I say it, I realise how awful it sounds.
    “It is not illegal, though, is it? If you were to be with a man, would you be breaking any rules?”
    I think about it, trying to remember if I had ever seen any law barring Matrons from fornicating. “No, I don’t believe so.”
    I am suddenly overcome with a feeling of regret. How is it I have spent half my life in isolation when maybe it didn’t have to be that way?
    “So, if it’s not illegal, what harm would there be in exploring your options?”
    I blush at her suggestion. Although I don’t think I would be opposed to such types of experimentation at this point, it would hardly be fair to Howard. In a month and a half, I will be our nation’s leader. I will not have the time, or inclination, to be with a man.
    “I don’t think that would be a very good idea,” I say. “For one, I am not a traditionalist, and as interesting as your beliefs are, they are not my own. I would hate to lead Howard on and let him think a relationship would be possible, when it won’t be.”
    She looks at me and shakes her head. “I think you are overthinking it a little but . . .” She stops midsentence and I hope she is not going to continue to push the matter. Thankfully, she changes the subject. “Would you like some tea?”
    “Love some.”
    She leads me into the kitchen and tells me to take a seat. She plugs the stove in, and then pops the kettle on one of the four burners.
    In what seems like no time at all, she is seated across from me and we both have cups of piping hot tea in front of us. As we sit sipping our drinks, curiosity gets the best of me and I eventually blurt out, “How did you get pregnant without the doctors knowing?”
    Rhonda sets her cup down and takes a deep breath. “What do you understand of the current accepted birthing process?”
    “Um, from my lessons I learned that when you are ready to be a mother you go and see your doctor. They will give you a shot that will make you fertile. Then, when the time is right, they will harvest your eggs and mix it with the semen of your donor before implanting it in your womb. Nine months later, a baby is born.”
    “Yes, that is how they do it. But that is not how our ancestors did it and, I am sure, it’s not how Mother Nature intended.”
    I give her a look for her to continue.
    “I was a little younger than you when I met Anthony. I was working in the office at the power production plant, and he was a mechanic there. Like you, I had been taught men