The Marriage Bed by Stephanie Mittman Read Free Book Online Page B

she'd be taking the Lord's name in vain.
    She fought valiantly with the shoelace, her patience so close to breaking that she considered holding her foot over the lamp and just burning the uncooperative piece of round leather. When she finally freed her foot, she threw the boot across the room with enough force to rattle the window. Then she yanked the buttons on her shirtwaist and nearly ripped the waistband from her skirts.
    Did he have to make her feel as if she were begging him? Was she so very undesirable that he couldn't stand the thought of coming to bed?
    Selfish. Mean. A miser with his affection. That's what he was. Someday he would be sorry for making her feel like he was doing her such a big favor. She swore he would, as she backhanded the tear that rolled down her left cheek. Someday he'd realize she was the most desirable woman in all of Maple Stand. Maybe all of Wisconsin.
    She looked at herself in the mirror. Her braid was half undone, her face streaked with tears. One side of her mouth was caught between her teeth. All right. Maybe not in all of Wisconsin. Maybe not even in all of Door County, or even Maple Stand. She tried to laugh and sniff at the same time and an awful noise that sounded like a lamb stuck in the barn door came out of her throat. Well, she was the most desirable woman in Spencer Williamson's house, anyway. No one could take that away from her.
     
     
    Her smile didn't fool him. He'd made her miserable again. And this time without even trying. Lord, crying over some stupid pie. He decided against having any, just as he had forgone the cakes before it. It seemed to him that the house was crawling with pies and cakes these days, starting with that damn birthday genoise. He hadn't realized that she even made birthday cakes, but it didn't surprise him. If he so much as mentioned something that Kirsten did once, Olivia did it daily. And then she stood there and waited for him to love her because of it. At least that was how it made him feel.
    Especially with those tears that seemed to perch continually on the rims of her big brown eyes. Who'd have thought Olivia to be such a crybaby? Kirsten had never cried at the things that brought Olivia to tears.
    Of course, he'd never refused Kirsten anything that she asked for, nor anything that she gave.
    But Livvy—Lord, there were times . . . He counted on his fingers the weeks he so carefully kept track of and smacked his forehead at his stupidity. Hadn't she just said as much? Her time was coming soon and so now she was shooting the rapids with her feelings once again. Dancing and singing one moment, crying and fighting with him the next. And later tonight, no doubt, her shoes would be outside their door, one facing in, one out, in a superstitious attempt to cut the pain that accompanied her time. If only something could soften the disappointment.
    Yeah, his life stunk, but that came from what had happened to him, not what he was. Being a woman . . . well, at least he had that to be grateful for.
    He returned to his books, and it took him longer than the few minutes he had promised Olivia to finish up. Long enough, he supposed, that she might even have fallen asleep. He got up and stretched out his aching muscles, then picked up the books and returned them to his study. Through the window he could make out the barn. Was the door ajar or was that just a trick of the moonlight?
    Better to check, he thought, and stifled a yawn as he shuffled through the kitchen and took his coat from the hook. He closed the door behind him as silently as possible and made his way slowly to the barn, enjoying the brisk fresh air after spending the evening huddled over his ledgers. The door was closed up tight, but he opened it and listened to hear any unusual noises. Curly George whinnied softly and he answered with a nicker of his own. Everything was as it should be.
    On the way back to the house he stopped at Olivia's bird-bath and lifted the rock she always left near it